Taiwan energy supply depends heavily onimported fuel, which reached 96% of totalenergy needs by the late 1990s. To reduceenergy imports and accommodate the KyotoProtocol on global carbon dioxide emis-sions, the government has accorded therenewable energy programme top prioritywithin Taiwan's overall energy developmentpolicy. Efforts to develop the use of renew-able energy for power generation will bebacked up by two new pieces of legislationwhich currently are working their waythrough the Legislative Yuan (Parliament) toensure government targets are met.

Legal amendmentsUnder one tabled amendment to the existingelectricity industry laws, state-run TaiwanPower Company (Taipower) will becomeresponsible for building part of Taiwan'splanned renewable power generation facilitiesalong with some liquefied natural gas (LNG)power generation units planned to enter ser-vice in future. While the remaining facilitieswill be built and operated by private compa-nies, the purpose of the legal amendment is tomake Taipower responsible for constructingany planned renewable generation facilitiesallocated to private developers that the privatesector fails to build. The second tabled legalchange will require Taipower and indepen-dent power producer (IPP) companies to paya levy on their non-renewable and non-LNG-fired generation. The levy collected will bepassed to a foundation that will use themoney to promote the development ofrenewable electricity generation.

The passage of legal amendments toencourage the construction of renewablegeneration power schemes is underway at atime when Taipower is about to launch animportant long term mini hydropowerplant construction programme. Taipower'shydropower development plans are part of awider government initiative to raise the levelof power generation from renewable energyas well as to expand Taiwan's overallhydropower development. The scheme willinvolve starting construction on an average

of two mini hydropower projects a year forthe next five to 10 years.

RE programmeTaiwan's renewable generation programmewas drawn up by the Energy Committeeunder the Ministry of Economics followinga series of public consultations in the late1990s. The Energy Committee has ann-ounced that by 2020 power stations totaling6,500MW installed capacity will be fuelledby renewable energy. Hydroelectric powerdams are planned to reach 2,500MWinstalled capacity, including existing damstotaling 1,820MW, and will be Taiwan'slargest renewable energy source. Wind farmsinstalled with generating sets totaling1,500MW will be the second largest sourceof renewable power generation, while solarpower facilities will reach 1,000MWinstalled generating capacity.

Other fuel sources will include biomassand refuse burning for which stations totaling550MW installed capacity will be builtincluding methane-fired facilities totaling50MW compared with 23MW at present.Power stations burning other refuse and bio-mass products including sugar cane leaves,rice husks, pulp, petroleum char and old tyreswill supply a further 750MW of generatingcapacity. In addition Taipower has plans tobuild geothermal power plants capable ofgenerating 150MW. Taiwan's renewablepower generation target is regarded as ambi-tious by some observers due to the increasingdifficulty of finding suitable land to buildpower plants. Public opposition to proposeddevelopments has lengthened the planningand preparation time for many large conven-tional power plant schemes. Smaller renew-able power plants could also face local oppo-sition for similar reasons.

Although Taiwan is following the interna-tional trend to develop renewable energy, thesuccess of the renewable generation pro-gramme will be important as Taipower hasannounced it will decommission its threeexisting nuclear power stations before the end

of their planned 40 year working lives.Taipower's number one nuclear station wasdue to be retired in 2018 but now will betaken out of service in 2011. The numbertwo and three nuclear stations also will beretired earlier than originally planned.Renewable power generation will help replacepart of the lost nuclear baseload electricitygenerating capacity.

Fair windsTaiwan has a half-year prevailing northeastseasonal wind with the potential to be devel-oped to generate about 3,000MW of electric-ity. Recent research has shown that windprone areas with a wind speed of more thanfive metres per second in the western, centraland offshore island regions total about 2,000square kilometers. Phase one of Taipower'swind power programme calls for the installa-tion of 64 wind turbines between 2003 to2005 totaling 102.4MW installed capacity.The wind farms will be built at eight sites -including the Pescadores islands where fouradditional 600kW turbines will be installed.Four 600kW units already are in service onPenghu island in the Pescadores after theywere commissioned in September 2001 toreduce the islanders' reliance on more expen-sive diesel-fired power generation. "Ren-ewables are difficult to exploit here. There areonly limited sites available in Taiwan," com-mented Yu Shang Hsiung, director ofTaipower's power development department,"Houses are dotted about on farmland. Wehave to locate wind turbines at least 300metres from houses; so there are few sites."

"Now we are using beaches for wind tur-bines, but it is difficult as these are wildlifeand marine life protection areas. We havelocated one potential wind farm site nearwetlands in central Taiwan that are famousfor seasonal birds. We are doing an environ-mental impact study now. People are con-cerned whether the wind turbines will killthe birds or scare them off." Taipower plansto install 18 wind turbines at the new site incentral Taiwan, each rated at 1.8MW. Yupointed out the utility is trying to standard-ise on 1.8MW for its largest wind turbineunits and 600kw for the smallest units. Infuture 100kW size wind turbine units willbe used for offshore wind farms.

November/December 2003 REFOCUS www.re-focus.net42

F E A T U R E – T A I W A N T U R N S T O R E

Turning to RETaiwan launches major RE programmeTaiwan has embarked on a major programme to develop the use of

renewable energy for power generation to make greater use of

indigenous energy resources. David Hayes reports.

1471 0846/03 ©2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

"We have forecasted that by 2010 Taiwan'srenewable power generation capacity willreach 3,300MW of the total 6,500MWplanned," Yu said, "Of the 3,300MW, some470MW will be from wind power, of whichTaipower will own 300MW and privatedevelopers 170MW. Private wind farm devel-opers have to apply for land from the govern-ment and then submit a study on their finan-cial viability and the impact on our electrici-ty system to the government." Taipower willinstall about 200 wind turbine units to meetits target of developing 300MW of windpow-er by 2010. To overcome planning problemsthe utility plans to locate many of the windturbines at existing wind prone power plantsites including the number one and plannednumber four nuclear plant sites as well asTaichung coal-fired station and gas-firedTatan power plant.

Wind power already appeals to some pri-vate power plant developers. FormosaPlastic Corporation has installed four660kW wind turbines at its new oil refineryin Miaoli county in central Taiwan to gen-erate electricity for the refinery's internalpower use. Elsewhere, a 3.5MW windfarmconsisting of two 1.75MW wind turbineunits is being built in Hsinchu in northernTaiwan by a paper pulp company for itsown captive power use.

"In future some foreign investors will be interested in wind power here," Yu said, "Infra Wind Co of Germany and J-Power of Japan, formerly the Electric PowerDevelopment Corporation (EPDC), areinterested in wind farms in Taiwan." Mostrenewable power generation will be connect-ed to Taipower's national high voltage trans-mission grid. However, some private devel-opers including the Formosa Plastic andpaper pulp company wind farms are beingbuilt to generate electricity for their own use.

Other energy Taiwan's Environmental Protection Admin-istration (EPA) is encouraging developmentof landfill gas recovery by offering a subsidyof NT$0.50 (US$0.02) per kilowatt-hour toowners or operators of sanitary landfill siteswho sell electricity to Taipower. By the endof 2004 the total thermal energy potentialgiven off by Taiwan's sanitary landfill sites isforecasted to reach 266MW. EPA has set amodest initial target and is hoping that facil-ities to utilise 13.3MW, just 5% of the esti-mated landfill gas discharge, will be in serviceby the end of 2004. EPA's waste-to-energyrecovery from incineration targets are higher.Taiwan's Energy Committee has calculatedthat about 2,000MW of thermal energypotential is available using waste incinera-tion. EPA hopes that waste incineration facil-

ities will produce about 30% of that total,approximately 626MW of thermal powergeneration by 2004.

To reach their waste-to-energy goals,Taiwan's authorities plan to complete con-struction of 21 incineration facilities by 2005,which will be able to handle 7.2 million met-ric tons of garbage per annum. EPA is pro-moting construction of incineration facilitiesusing the Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT)and Build, Own and Operate (BOO) projectfinance methods to increase incineration to9.92 million metric tons of garbage.Meanwhile, at the end of 2002 Taiwan had atotal installed electricity generating capacityof 31,915MW of which independent powerplant (IPP) projects accounted for 4,850MWor 15.2% of total capacity.

Hydroelectric schemes totaling 4,381MWaccount for 13.7% of Taiwan's total installedgenerating capacity. Of the installedhydropower capacity, pumped storageschemes provide 60% and conventional dams40%. Renewable energy generation schemesin Taiwan, not including hydropower total132MW, while renewable energy generationschemes including hydropower total about2,000MW, equivalent to 6.2% of Taiwan'stotal generating capacity.

Hydro powerPumped storage schemes totaling 2,602MWaccount for 8.2% of Taiwan's total installedelectricity generating capacity while conven-tional hydropower schemes amounting to1,779MW represent 5.6% of capacity. Thesefigures compare with Taipower's 5,144MWnuclear power capacity representing 16.1% oftotal installed capacity, while coal-fired sta-tions totaling 11,197MW account for 35.1%of installed capacity. In addition LNG-firedstations amounting to 7,482MW represent23.5% of installed capacity, while oil-burningstations totaling 3,579MW account for11.2% of Taiwan's installed capacity. Powergeneration from renewable energy, notincluding hydropower, will rise six fold overthe next 10 years. By 2013 power plantsfueled by renewable energy are expected togenerate 2,952 GWh of electricity annually.

"There is still some potential hydropowerto be developed but most sites with easyaccess or a high water head already are exploit-ed," Yu commented, "The total potential infuture for exploitation, not including re-sources in national parks, is 1,517MW. If weinclude that figure the potential is 2,300MW.We are sorry that some is in national parks asthe national park authorities are reluctant tocooperate to develop these hydropowerreserves." Meanwhile, Taipower's plans tobuild a series of mini hydropower projects aredue to get underway shortly. All mini hydro

projects are planned to connect withTaipower's national power transmission grid.From 20 to 30 mini hydro schemes could bebuilt. "We are planning the dams," Yu said,"We will submit at least two projects a year forapproval for the next five to ten years."

Proposals to build two mini hydro schemestotalling about 44MW installed capacity weresubmitted for government approval early in2003. The Chubin hydropower scheme isplanned to consist of one 18.2MW turbineand one 2MW turbine while the otherhydropower dam is the 24MW single turbineWusheh extension scheme. Wusheh extensionwill involve building a new intake structureon the right bank of the reservoir about 300metres upstream from Wusheh dam, while a362 metre head tunnel will divert storageflow from Wusheh reservoir into the pro-posed Wusheh extention power plant. A newvertical 24MW Francis type unit will beinstalled. Construction is due to begin in July2007 for commercial operation to begin inmid-2011. Taipower plans to offer both theChubin and Wusheh minihydro turbine con-tracts for international bidding. Local compa-nies will be invited to bid as well. Yu pointedout that several Taiwanese companies havethe technical capability to make minihydroturbines though they will need to considerwhether it is economically viable for them tobuild the turbines before bidding. The con-struction time for individual minihydro pro-jects, like other larger hydropower schemes,will depend on the characteristics of each par-ticular site. "First we must build the accessroad for construction and power plant equip-ment. It can take two years for this," Yu said,"Most projects are underground so it takes atleast five years. If we build the minihydro sch-eme in a stream it takes only two years but thesite location for this type of scheme is limited.

"Some stream and river owners say theywill build these schemes as IPP programmescan be very profitable for them. Agriculturalassociations will build them. Already the8.8MW Wusantou scheme which started upin September 2002 has been done this wayand the 12MW Hsikou minihydro to start inOctober 2004 will too." Another minihydroIPP project under planning is the 19MWMing Chien scheme in central Taiwan whichthe state-run Water Bureau will build as aBuild, Operate and Transfer (BOT) project.The Ming Chien project will be the firsthydropower BOT scheme in Taiwan. Waterrights are owned by the Water Bureau whichwill supply the water for this hydropowerdam. Yu explained: "The Water Bureau want-ed Taipower to build the power plant butsince then plans have changed and a privatecompany is due to cooperate with the WaterBureau to develop the project.”

November/December 2003 REFOCUS www.re-focus.net 43

F E A T U R E – T A I W A N T U R N S T O R E