Hydroelectricity is the lowest-cost clean energy source that can be started up quickly, generating electricity as easily as turning on a tap. This is critical to the stability of the nation’s power system, especially when coupled with pumped-storage hydroelectricity.
The Dajia River (大甲溪) in central Taiwan is the nation’s only river with a series of reservoirs and hydropower plants, from upstream to downstream, making full use of the energy of flowing water to generate electricity.
The Dajia River Power Plant consists of five stations — at Taichung County’s Deji (德基), Cingshan (青山), Guguan (谷關), Tianlun (天輪) and Sintianlun (新天輪) reservoirs — with a total capacity of 1,010 megawatts, greater than the 951 megawatts of the Maanshan Nuclear Power Plant.
Unfortunately, there is no reservoir along the Daan River (大安溪), which is north of Dajia River, nor is there one along the Dadu River (大肚溪) in the south. The Jhuoshuei River (濁水溪), the longest in Taiwan, has only one reservoir, in Nantou County’s Wushe (霧社).
Neither the Laonong River (荖濃溪) nor the Cishan River (旗山溪) has a reservoir, meaning that the large amounts of water running through them year-round travels into the sea.
If a major river can produce as much electricity as a nuclear power plant, it is possible for Taiwan to develop another 10 gigawatts of capacity, with cheap green electricity. If this were coupled with pumped-storage hydroelectricity, the problem of energy storage with urgent demand could be solved.
The development of more reservoirs could simultaneously alleviate the nation’s water and electricity shortage issues, but reservoir silt accumulation remains a concern. Thankfully, there is a solution to this: the now-mature technology of sediment-sluicing tunnels used in the Shimen (石門), Zengwen (曾文) and Nanhua (南化) reservoirs.
As there are no migratory fish in Taiwan’s rivers, reservoirs would have a minor ecological impact, and the freshwater lakes formed by the dams and their surroundings could become homes to rich ecologies.
Taiwan’s reservoir construction technology is world-class, and government regulations require overall safety assessments of reservoirs every five years, so the their stability can be ensured.
In times of electricity and water shortages, and with the need to develop sustainable green energy sources, Taiwan should promote the construction of hydropower plants.
Lee Chyi-tyi is a researcher at National Central University’s Earthquake-Disaster and Risk Evaluation and Management Center.
Translated by Lin Lee-kai
Weeks into the craze, nobody quite knows what to make of the OpenClaw mania sweeping China, marked by viral photos of retirees lining up for installation events and users gathering in red claw hats. The queues and cosplay inspired by the “raising a lobster” trend make for irresistible China clickbait. However, the West is fixating on the least important part of the story. As a consumer craze, OpenClaw — the AI agent designed to do tasks on a user’s behalf — would likely burn out. Without some developer background, it is too glitchy and technically awkward for true mainstream adoption,
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
A delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials led by Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is to travel to China tomorrow for a six-day visit to Jiangsu, Shanghai and Beijing, which might end with a meeting between Cheng and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). The trip was announced by Xinhua news agency on Monday last week, which cited China’s Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) Director Song Tao (宋濤) as saying that Cheng has repeatedly expressed willingness to visit China, and that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee and Xi have extended an invitation. Although some people have been speculating about a potential Xi-Cheng
RSS