The Changhua County Government on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with offshore wind energy developers from Canada and Singapore that will see them invest NT$157 billion (US$4.9 billion) in “renewable” energy resources.
The MOU was signed by Changhua County Commissioner Wei Ming-ku (魏明谷), Canada’s Northland Power (NPI) commercial development manager Sean McDermott, and Singapore-based Yushan Energy PTE Ltd chairman Ian Hatton, and was witnessed by Industrial Development Bureau Deputy Director-General Leu Jang-hwa (呂正華).
The companies also signed a joint MOU with National Changhua University of Education vice president Chen Ming-fei (陳明飛) to forge academic exchanges.
Changhua is ideally located to become a major contributor to “renewable” energy development because of its collaboration between academia, industry and government, Wei said, adding that the companies’ development teams had been investigating prospective development areas in the county, Wei added.
“NPI and Yushan have established positive relations with the community through the Hai Long offshore wind farm project,” he said.
The Hai Long project, in collaboration with NPI, is expected to contribute about 1,200 megawatts (MW) of power. The first stage of the project is to utilize turbines between 6MW and 8MW, with an installed capacity of about 700MW, the Yushan Web site said.
Wei said that the county government has been working closely with the central government on a policy to make Taiwan nuclear power-free by 2025.
“The exploration area off Changhua coast spans 2,300 square kilometers, which is an ideal development area for the world’s leading ‘green energy’ companies,” he said, adding that the area’s projected investment potential is about NT$1 trillion, with a maximum capacity of 4 gigawatts.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last