Taiwan’s electricity operating reserve margin dropped to less than 5 percent several times this summer due to the most severe water shortage in 67 years.
The margin plunged to a 10-year low of 2.46 percent in early July because of the breakdown of four power generation units, with power-rationing measures for industrial users on standby should the figure have fallen further to 1.5 percent, or below 500,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of operating reserve.
Taiwan faces an increasing risk of power shortages.
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has forecast that the nation could face power shortages as early as 2018, when the reserve energy capacity drops to less than 10 percent of the nation’s needs at peak times.
Taipower also predicts the energy reserve capacity margin could plunge to 4.8 percent by 2019, following the retirement of the Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District (石門).
To reduce the chance of power shortages, Taipower has suggested that consumers conserve energy and that the government speed up the installation of renewable energy sources, such as solar and wind power.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said that the government plans to boost the target for total installed capacity of renewable energy sources from the previous target of 13,750 megawatts (MW) to 17,250MW by 2030. It also aims to increase the power contribution of renewable energy resources from this year’s 11.6 percent to 30.7 percent by 2030.
The ministry has researched floating solar power plants to increase renewable energy capacity. Japan has successfully installed floating solar panel power stations in Kato City’s Nishihira and Higashihira ponds, making further use of reservoirs.
The floating power plants, built by Kyocera Corp and Century Tokyo Leasing Corp in May this year, have 11,256 solar modules that can generate 3.3 million kWh for use by 920 households per year, the ministry said.
“It is a smart way to build a solar panel power station, floating on the surface of water, at a time when it is becoming harder to find a plot of land suitable for the construction of a power plant in Taiwan,” Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Yang Wei-fu (楊偉甫) told the Taipei Times during a trip to Pingtung County’s Mudan Reservoir (牡丹水庫) earlier this month.
The floating solar modules were supplied by Taiwanese manufacturers, Yang said, adding that the ministry appears to be more confident in considering similar projects in Taiwan.
However, some questions remain before construction of floating power stations can begin, such as whether a floating station could endure typhoon season and if the solar panels would become stuck in mud in the reservoirs when water levels drop in the dry season.
As most of Taiwan’s reservoirs are bowl-shaped, the surface area of reservoirs fluctuates, adding to uncertainty for the installation of solar panels on the surface of the water. The project could prove inefficient if a reservoir could only host a few solar panels.
“We need to test the stability and feasibility of a floating station,” Yang said. “The efficiency of the electricity supply from a floating power plant must be more than the investment.”
Since the project is not finalized, the ministry has not yet drafted a budget for the experiment.
The ministry is in the process of measuring several reservoirs and consulting local companies about manufacturing costs.
Yang said the ministry is seeking suitable locations in southern Taiwan, such as the Mudan Reservoir and Tainan’s Nanhua Reservoir (南化水庫) and Zenweng Reservoir (曾文水庫) for the construction of pilot floating solar power stations.
“The government is trying to find the best solution amid the increasing possibility of power shortages,” he said.
The government is on the lookout for potential reservoir sites, but the experimental solar power stations must not affect reservoirs’ sustainable operations, Water Resources Agency spokesman Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) said.
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