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.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
STILL DANGEROUS: The typhoon was expected to weaken, but it would still maintain its structure, with high winds and heavy rain, the weather agency said One person had died amid heavy winds and rain brought by Typhoon Krathon, while 70 were injured and two people were unaccounted for, the Central Emergency Operation Center said yesterday, while work and classes have been canceled nationwide today for the second day. The Hualien County Fire Department said that a man in his 70s had fallen to his death at about 11am on Tuesday while trimming a tree at his home in Shoufeng Township (壽豐). Meanwhile, the Yunlin County Fire Department received a report of a person falling into the sea at about 1pm on Tuesday, but had to suspend search-and-rescue
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