A series of services and applications to facilitate the development of the nation’s green energy industry were launched by the Central Weather Bureau (CWB) and the Bureau of Energy yesterday.
The Meteorological Information-based Green Energy Operations Center Web site, which allows green energy operators to try the applications, was also launched.
The government has been actively promoting the use of solar energy, offshore wind energy and other renewable energy sources, CWB technology center director Lin Hsi-ming said.
Last year, 46.8 percent of electricity in the nation was generated by burning coal, followed by natural gas at 34.7 percent, Lin said, adding that renewable energy accounted for only 4.5 percent.
The government wants to elevate the contribution from renewable energy sources to 20 percent by 2025, Lin said.
Among renewable energy sources, 44.5 percent is generated by hydroelectric facilities, while wind and solar energy account for 14 percent and 13.9 percent respectively, so there is plenty of room to grow, Lin said.
Weather plays an important role in how wind and solar energy operators choose sites for power generators and how they forecast the amount of electricity needed to be generated, Lin said, adding that such information is also critical in helping operators dispatch power.
“The services developed by the two government agencies include an application to help green energy operators identify the locations with the highest green power density, which can be used as a reference when they need to choose sites for power generators,” Lin said.
Another app forecasts the green power that can be generated, which is used to assess the reliability of solar and wind energy over the subsequent three to seven days, Lin said.
This would also help the operators dispatch power and provide value-added services using smart grids, Lin said.
Industrial Technology Research Institute senior researcher Yen Chieh-cheng (顏厥正) said that the Bureau of Energy has developed an offshore power assessment system for different models of wind power generators to help operators decide how they want to arrange power generators in a wind farm.
It has also developed a system that allows power operators to dispatch and track wind power maintenance ships by combining information on the weather and shipping to help operators reduce maintenance costs, Yen said.
The Web site provides three types of information on wind and solar energy: historical averages, surveillance analyses and forecasts, the weather bureau said.
Preliminary analyses found that the ideal places to develop solar energy in the nation are the coastal areas in Yunlin and Chiayi counties as well as Tainan, which is the optimal location, the CWB said.
Wind energy can be developed off the coasts of Taichung and Miaoli and Changhua counties, as well as Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) in Pingtung County, it said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Former Taiwan People’s Party chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) may apply to visit home following the death of his father this morning, the Taipei Detention Center said. Ko’s father, Ko Cheng-fa (柯承發), passed away at 8:40am today at the Hsinchu branch of National Taiwan University Hospital. He was 94 years old. The center said Ko Wen-je was welcome to apply, but declined to say whether it had already received an application. The center also provides psychological counseling to people in detention as needed, it added, also declining to comment on Ko Wen-je’s mental state. Ko Wen-je is being held in detention as he awaits trial