The Taipei City Government yesterday held a launch ceremony for a photovoltaic power plant named Taipei Energy Hill, which is capable of generating 2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year.
The power plant in the Fudekeng Environmental Restoration Park in the city’s Muzha (木柵) area, is built on the site of of a former landfill and consists of 8,000 solar panels covering about 3 hectares.
The electricity generated by the plant would help the city reduce yearly carbon dioxide emissions by 1,000 tonnes, which is three times the amount that Daan Forest Park can absorb in a year, the Taipei Department of Environmental Protection said.
Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
The department in July last year signed a contract with Taipei-based Tatung Co (大同), a leader in the nation’s photovoltaic industry, to build the power plant.
Touting the facility as a model for “green” electricity generation, Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said at the ceremony that the power plant has generated 153,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity since it went online last month, which translates into an about 80-tonne reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.
The city provided the land on which the power plant was built and Tatung provided the photovoltaic panels, Ko said.
The electricity generated by the plant would be sold to state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), he said.
According to the contract, Tatung is to pay the city government 10 percent of the revenue it makes from selling electricity, which costs about NT$5 per kilowatt-hour, which is like “rent” paid by the firm, the mayor said.
To boost solar energy generation, the city government has contracted out two projects to Tatung to install solar panels on the roofs of central and city government agencies, Ko said.
In other news, Ko yesterday fielded media questions about illegally built mezzanines in Neihu District (內湖).
The Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister newspaper) yesterday reported that the city government has made an exception for the district to legalize the mezzanines by allowing property owners to pay a fee for the additional floor space.
Ko took issue with the word “legalize,” saying the city government would ensure that owners pay fees that apply to extra floor space created by mezzanines, adding that structures that do not conform to regulations would be torn down.
If property owners do not contact the city government by July 1, the structures would be torn down, he said.
Taipei Construction Management Office spokesman Horng Der-haur (洪德豪) said people started building mezzanines in Neihu in the early 2000s after the former industrial zone was designated as a science park, which allowed offices and stores to be established.
As a result, people who own factories with raised ceilings built mezzanines into their houses and rented them out, he said.
There are 147 units in 52 buildings in Neihu with illegal mezzanines, he said.
RESPONSE: The transit sends a message that China’s alignment with other countries would not deter the West from defending freedom of navigation, an academic said Canadian frigate the Ville de Quebec and Australian guided-missile destroyer the Brisbane transited the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning, the first time the two nations have conducted a joint freedom of navigation operation. The Canadian and Australian militaries did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The Ministry of National Defense declined to confirm the passage, saying only that Taiwan’s armed forces had deployed surveillance and reconnaissance assets, along with warships and combat aircraft, to safeguard security across the Strait. The two vessels were observed transiting northward along the eastern side of the Taiwan Strait’s median line, with Japan being their most likely destination,
‘NOT ALONE’: A Taiwan Strait war would disrupt global trade routes, and could spark a worldwide crisis, so a powerful US presence is needed as a deterrence, a US senator said US Senator Deb Fischer on Thursday urged her colleagues in the US Congress to deepen Washington’s cooperation with Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific partners to contain the global security threat from China. Fischer and other lawmakers recently returned from an official trip to the Indo-Pacific region, where they toured US military bases in Hawaii and Guam, and visited leaders, including President William Lai (賴清德). The trip underscored the reality that the world is undergoing turmoil, and maintaining a free and open Indo-Pacific region is crucial to the security interests of the US and its partners, she said. Her visit to Taiwan demonstrated ways the
GLOBAL ISSUE: If China annexes Taiwan, ‘it will not stop its expansion there, as it only becomes stronger and has more force to expand further,’ the president said China’s military and diplomatic expansion is not a sole issue for Taiwan, but one that risks world peace, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that Taiwan would stand with the alliance of democratic countries to preserve peace through deterrence. Lai made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). “China is strategically pushing forward to change the international order,” Lai said, adding that China established the Asia Infrastructure Investment Bank, launched the Belt and Road Initiative, and pushed for yuan internationalization, because it wants to replace the democratic rules-based international
RELEASED: Ko emerged from a courthouse before about 700 supporters, describing his year in custody as a period of ‘suffering’ and vowed to ‘not surrender’ Former Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was released on NT$70 million (US$2.29 million) bail yesterday, bringing an end to his year-long incommunicado detention as he awaits trial on corruption charges. Under the conditions set by the Taipei District Court on Friday, Ko must remain at a registered address, wear a GPS-enabled ankle monitor and is prohibited from leaving the country. He is also barred from contacting codefendants or witnesses. After Ko’s wife, Peggy Chen (陳佩琪), posted bail, Ko was transported from the Taipei Detention Center to the Taipei District Court at 12:20pm, where he was fitted with the tracking
RSS