Energy: Wind power piques Germans

A German wind power development company is interested in the Hsinchu County Government's wind energy development projects and is willing to invest NT$2.5 billion in wind power generation systems in coastal regions of the county, a company spokesman said yesterday. The spokesman said that InfraVest GmbH in the past year has conducted on-site wind-speed measurements and several European financial institutions have agreed in principle to support the investment projects. Hsinchu County Commissioner Cheng Yung-chin (鄭永金) is scheduled to visit InfraVest's wind power generation facilities in Germany in September, according to the spokesman. An important alternative source of energy, wind power is pollution-free because wind turbines use only the energy from the wind to generate electricity, the spokesman said. Since 1999, InfraVest has been involved in a series of projects in China.