The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) yesterday approved Danish energy developer Orsted Wind Power’s wind farm projects off the coast of Changhua County, but rejected a project proposed by demonstration developer Taiwan Generations Corp.
An environmental impact assessment grand assembly was held yesterday to review four offshore wind farm projects by Orsted, three by Swancor Holding Co and one by China Steel Corp (CSC), as well as a Taiwan Generations proposal and one by Wpd Taiwan Energy Co off the coast of Yunlin County.
The assembly approved the projects of CSC, Orsted and Swancor, but asked Wpd to submit more documentation about migratory birds and underwater construction and rejected Taiwan Generations’ project.
On Wednesday, Orsted chief executive officer Martin Neubert unveiled the company’s plan to set up its first energy storage system in Asia in Changhua, expecting to invest between NT$50 million and NT$200 million (US$1.70 million and US$6.80 million) in the system.
Orsted plans to install a maximum of 301 wind turbines at planned sites Nos. 12, 13, 14 and 15, with their capacity to reach 2.4 gigawatts (GW), it said, adding that it intends to work with local universities to cultivate specialists for the local energy industry.
Working with the Macquarie Group, Swancor plans to install a maximum of 228 turbines at sites Nos. 11, 16 and 17, with their capacity to total 2.004GW.
Swancor general manager Lucas Lin (林雍堯) said the company would help cultivate local talent and has already worked with the county’s Dayeh University (大葉大學), after the Changhua County Government demanded it promise to foster a local industrial chain.
However, the grand assembly rejected Taiwan Generations’ Fuhai (福海) wind farm project off the coast of Changhua, citing the company’s continuous delay of its first-stage turbine construction, its inability to solve conflicts with local fishers and its greater environmental impact, even though Fuhai is one of the three demonstration sites selected by the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ Bureau of Energy in 2013.
In the EPA’s review process, a proposed project enters initial reviews by a committee before reaching the grand assembly, which grants final approval.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
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BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
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