Taiwan and the UK on Tuesday vowed to deepen their cooperation on developing offshore wind power as Taiwan ramps up efforts to develop sustainable energy to meet its net zero carbon emissions goal.
Speaking at the fourth UK-Taiwan Energy Dialogue, British Representative to Taiwan John Dennis said that the British Taipei Office would be working with Taiwan International Ports Corp on port affairs related to offshore wind power development and with the Taiwanese government on power grid transitioning projects.
Taiwan announced its policy to achieve net-zero emissions soon after the third dialogue last year and has taken action to achieve its goal, highlighting its ambition to lead in the offshore power generation sector in the Asia-Pacific region, Dennis said.
Photo: Lu Yi-hsuan, Taipei Times
UK-Taiwan collaborations are growing, with 36 British companies establishing bases in Taiwan and supporting domestic development of Taiwanese industries, Dennis said, adding that he believed ensuing collaborations would deepen UK-Taiwan collaborations in the energy sector and in dealing with climate change.
Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said that Taiwan is committed to producing net-zero emissions by 2050 and has proposed concrete measures to achieve this goal.
The UK is a leader in transitioning to a zero-emissions model and in developing offshore wind power, and Taiwan hopes to work with it to develop more low-carbon-based power generation, Wang said.
With both nations sharing a common goal of attaining net zero emissions, Taiwan looks forward to continuing bilateral exchanges of ideas in the energy sector, she added.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has plans to turn Taichung Harbor and Anping Harbor into pre-fab and maintenance bases for offshore wind turbines, Bureau of Energy official Chen Chung-hsien (陳崇憲) said at the meeting.
Julie Scott, head of energy diplomacy at the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, welcomed Taiwan Power Co’s planned visit to Drax power station — a large biomass power station in North Yorkshire, England — later this year.
Promising to assist the visit in any way she could, Scott said it could be the precursor to more collaborations on biomass power generation for both sides.
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