The government plans to spend NT$2.5 billion (US$81.82 million) improving infrastructure at Taichung Port to transform it into a base for the development of offshore wind energy, the Taiwan International Ports Corp (TIPC) said.
The project would be funded mainly by a special budget for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Construction Project, a series of projects that the government plans to finish within eight years, TIPC said.
TIPC Taichung branch office chief secretary Cheng Shu-hui (鄭淑惠) said that the funding would be used to renovate the port’s 5A and 5B docks and build a new dock, No. 106, with those areas to be used to assemble offshore wind power generator components.
The work is to be completed by 2019, Cheng said.
TIPC is to provide 100 hectares of Taichung Port land and spend NT$350 million building roads and other infrastructure to attract investments from domestic suppliers that produce parts for wind power generators, she said.
Cheng said that the government has been pursuing the development of “green” energy infrastructure and electricity generated by offshore wind turbines is a key source.
The Executive Yuan approved a plan to build 1,000 wind turbines on land and offshore, Cheng said.
The plan stipulates that offshore wind turbines would have storage capacity of 3 gigawatts by 2025, she said, adding that sources of renewable energy would account for 20 percent of the nation’s electricity supply in the same year.
Based on evaluations conducted by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Cheng said the most ideal area for wind energy development is the coastal area south of Hsinchu County and north of Changhua County.
Most of the sites chosen by the ministry to install wind turbines are off the coast of Changhwa, she said.
“Offshore wind turbines are large machines that require a lot of space to assemble,” Cheng said. “Taking into account the risks of installing the turbines at sea and accessibility to the generators, one has to choose the port that is closest to the wind farm.”
Apart from being an international port and the closest seaport to the wind farm, Cheng said that Taichung Port was chosen as a base because it is a deep-water port that can accommodate large ships that are needed to transport parts for turbines.
The port has well-established infrastructure and lots of space for logistics support, she added.
Domestic and international wind power suppliers have expressed interest in establishing logistics zones at the port, TIPC said.
TIPC vice president of business Tsai Ting-yi (蔡丁義) said the company is confident that the port would become a base for the wind energy industry.
The company could raise funds to continue the project if a special budget for the Forward-looking Infrastructure Construction Project is not approved by legislators, Tsai said.
FATAL FIRE: The health department is trying to contact the inspector who visited the site of the illegal nursing home to ask why they did not advise follow-up checks The Taipei City Government yesterday said that a health department inspector last year had visited the site of a long-term care facility in Neihu District (內湖) after receiving a report questioning its status. A fire broke out at the facility on Tuesday afternoon, killing three people. The Taipei Fire Department said that it received a report about a fire on the first floor of a four-story residential building on Kangning Road Sec. 1 at 2:38pm on Tuesday, firefighters arrived at 2:43pm and the fire was put out by 3:07pm. The firefighters found three men in beds and rushed them to hospital for
THE CHINA CONNECTION: As Beijing’s aggression increases, so does Taiwanese consciousness, making a new constitution imperative, Hsu Wei-chun said If the nation is to ratify a new constitution, it must first end any illusions about the current document’s relevance to Taiwan, an academic told a forum in Taipei yesterday. For the constitutional revisionist movement to succeed, it needs public enthusiasm, the right timing and a clear plan of action, Chung Yuan Christian University associate professor Hsu Wei-chun (徐偉群) told attendees at the event titled “Imagining a New Constitution for a New Era,” which was organized by the National Taiwan University Graduate Student Association. The Constitution exists under the “one China” framework and has little relevance to Taiwan, Hsu said, adding that
Yuchi Township (魚池) fishers have appealed to the Nantou County Government for help in dealing with an invasive fish species in Sun Moon Lake (日月潭), where it has devastated the local ecosystem. Fishers at Sun Moon Lake have been using electrofishing in an attempt to eliminate the giant snakehead fish — found in Africa and Southeast Asia — but they have struggled to keep up with the growing population of the species, which breeds during September and October, the county government said on Monday. The county has contacted researchers at National Tsing Hua University, saying it hoped they could come up
Former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday urged Beijing to respect the median line of the Taiwan Strait by immediately stopping its military intimidation of Taiwan, as such actions would only hurt the feelings of Taiwanese. Beijing should immediately stop making military provocations against Taiwan, Ma wrote on Facebook after Chinese warplanes in the past week have made numerous forays across the median line that divides the Taiwan Strait. Although it has never officially acknowledged the median line, Beijing used to respect it, Ma said in response to comments on Monday by Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin (汪文斌), who said
RSS