Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) yesterday began operation of a new solar power plant — created through a NT$6.2 billion (US$200.52 million) investment and the state-owned utility’s biggest solar project so far — as it continues efforts to increase the amount of electricity generated from alternative energy sources.
The plant is being built on a 140 hectare plot in Changhua County, on which Taipower originally planned to construct a coal power plant. The utility halted the project due to concern over carbon emissions.
Yesterday, the plant began generating power, making 14 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity available to the power grid, Taipower said in a statement, adding that the plant would have a total generating capacity of 100MW a year.
Taipower said it plans to complete construction of the plant in February next year, after which the plant would generate 130 million units of electricity a year to power more than 30,000 households.
The utility said it is working on two additional solar power projects to accelerate its shift away from coaled-fired energy, with plans to generate 11.3MW a year by mounting solar panels on rooftops in Changhua and 150MW a year by constructing a ground-mounted solar panel farm in Tainan.
To harvest wind energy, Taipower said it would install four onshore wind turbines in Changhua, which together would generate 9.2MW a year.
Several offshore wind turbines are to be constructed in Changhua, Yunlin and Chiayi counties, Taipower said, adding that the first phase of the project would generate 110MW a year and the second phase 300MW a year.
The utility said it aims to generate as much energy as possible from renewable sources — mainly from solar and wind — to reach help the nation reach its goal of lowering the share of coal-fired power to less than 30 percent of overall electricity production by 2025 and of increasing energy from renewable sources to 20 percent.
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