The Pingtung County Government on Tuesday said that its pioneering green embankment project is to be expanded following the venture’s initial success.
The county government launched the 2 megawatt (MW) project last year, installing solar panels along a 2km section of the Lili River (力力溪) embankment. The installation can generate 6,500 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per day, enough to power 650 households.
“The Lili River solar project makes the county the first in Taiwan to produce energy on an embankment,” Pingtung County Commissioner Pan Men-an (潘孟安) said.
Photo: Lo Hsin-chen, Taipei Times
The county has built solar farms at sea, promoted power generation from biomass and ocean currents, and placed solar panels in detention basins in an effort to support the central government’s renewable energy policies, Pan said.
With the aim of relying solely on renewable energy, the county in 2016 joined the Global 100% Renewable Energy Cities and Regions Network, an international organization that assists regional governments with environmental sustainability, Pan said, adding that the county is the only local government in Taiwan participating in the network.
Other network participants include Hawaii, Vancouver and South Korea’s Jeju City, he added.
Although other local governments have worked on green embankment projects, most of them have ground to a halt due to the technical complexities involved, Pingtung Department of Water Resources Director-General Chiang Kuo-feng (江國豐) said.
The planned expansion would increase the installation of solar panels to a 2.4km section of the embankment, with a total power generation capacity of 2.5MW, Chiang said.
Once completed, it would generate 8,500kWh of electricity per day, or enough to power 850 households, he said.
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