The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal to build a “green” energy park in the Shalun area (沙崙) in Tainan’s Gueiren District (歸仁) to attract NT$1.2 trillion (US$37.93 billion) in investment in the renewable energy industry.
The 22-hectare park near the Taiwan High Speed Rail’s Tainan Station will comprise a 5-hectare joint research center and a 17-hectare testing facility that will be operated by the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The park is to develop renewable energy sources, in particular solar power, biomass and offshore wind power technologies; energy storage technology, including lithium battery, fuel cell and grid energy storage systems; energy conservation technology for electric vehicles and energy-saving motors; and “green” architecture and system integration engineering, said Chen Tzong-chyuan (陳宗權), director-general of the Ministry of Science and Technology’s Department of Foresight and Innovation Policies.
In addition to research bodies under the two ministries, Academia Sinica, National Chiao Tung University and National Cheng Kung University will establish facilities and campuses in the park to boost their research capacity.
“The park has been in the planning for some time and is part of the government’s program to develop the ‘five plus two’ industries. There is a very high degree of consensus [over the project], and hopefully it will yield concrete results in a short time,” Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) quoted Premier Lin Chuan (林全) as saying.
The “five plus two” industries include an Asian Silicon Valley, “intelligent” machinery, “green” energy technology, biomedicine and national defense — plus establishing a new agricultural paradigm and a circular economy, which the government has been promoting to boost the nation’s economy.
The park, which is scheduled to be completed in 2019, aims to boost the nation’s wind-power generation capacity to 4.2 gigawatts and solar-power generation capacity to 20 gigawatts by 2025.
The project is expected to create NT$1.2 trillion in private investment and introduce 1,000 researchers to the park, Minister of Science and Technology Yang Hung-duen (楊弘敦) said.
The park will also include commercial and residential areas, and the government is to invest more than NT$50 billion in infrastructure, Tainan Deputy Mayor Wu Chong-rong (吳宗榮) said.
A film studio is to be established at a 200-hectare site at Taiwan Sugar Corp’s (台糖) Shalun Farm, which is separated from the park’s residential area by a large greenway, Wu said.
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POWERFUL DETERRENT: Precision fire and dispersed deployment of units would allow Taiwanese artillery to inflict heavy casualties in an invasion, a researcher said The nation’s military has boosted its self-defense capability with the establishment of a new company equipped with the US-supplied High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS). The company, part of the army’s 58th Artillery Command, is Taiwan’s first HIMARS unit. Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄), who presided over the formation ceremony in Taichung on Friday, called the unit a significant addition to the nation’s defensive strength, saying it would help deter adversaries from starting a war. The unit is made up of top-performing soldiers who received training in the US, according to the Ministry of National Defense. The HIMARS can be equipped with
UNILATERAL: The move from China’s aviation authority comes despite a previous 2015 agreement that any changes to flight paths would be done by consensus The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday slammed Beijing for arbitrarily opening the M503 flight route’s W121 connecting path, saying that such unilateral conduct disrespected the consensus between both sides and could destabilize the Taiwan Strait and the wider region. The condemnation came after the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC) earlier yesterday announced it “has activated the W121 connecting path of the M503 flight route,” meaning that west-to-east flights are now permitted along the path. The newly activated west-to-east route is intended to “alleviate the pressure caused by the increase of flights,” China’s state-run Xinhua news agency quoted China’s Taiwan Affairs Office
STRONG WINDS: Without the Central Mountain Range as a shield, people should be ready for high-speed winds, CWA weather forecaster Liu Yu-chi said Danas was yesterday upgraded to a typhoon and could grow stronger as it moves closely along the nation’s west coastline, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Hsinchu and Chiayi cities, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung, as well as Hsinchu, Miaoli, Changhua, Yunlin, Nantou, Chiayi, Penghu and Pingtung counties have canceled work and school today. Work and school in Keelung, Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan, and Yilan, Taitung, Hualien, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties would continue as usual, although offices and schools would be closed in Taoyuan’s Luju (蘆竹), Dayuan (大園), Guangyin (觀音) and Sinwu (新屋) districts. As of 5pm yesterday, the typhoon’s
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