The operators of Taiwan’s first privately run megawatt-level geothermal power plant in Yilan County have revealed that the site has produced more than 38 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity since opening in October 2021.
Staff at the 4.2MW Cingshuei Geothermal Power Plant shared the information during a visit by Minister Without Portfolio Wu Tze-cheng (吳澤成) and Yilan County Commissioner Lin Zi-miao (林姿妙) on Friday.
The development of the geothermal power plant in Datong Township (大同) was contracted to Yi Yuan Co (宜元股份), a joint venture of Fabulous Power Co (結元能源開發) and Taiwan Cogeneration Corp (台灣汽電共生), on a build-and-operate, and rehabilitate-operate-transfer model, when Wu was acting Yilan County commissioner in 2017.
Photo courtesy of Yilan County Government via CNA
The power plant then began operations October 2021 during Lin’s term and has produced 38 million kWh of power as of the end of July, its operators said.
The construction began in 2017 with an initial investment of NT$765 million (US$23,90 million), and the power plant was completed in September 2021 before securing a license from the Bureau of Energy a month later.
The plant has adopted “binary-cycle generators” that cause less damage to turbines and less precipitation of solids. the Yilan County government said.
The 38.25 million kWh generated can meet the demand of about three-quarters of the combined households in Datong Township and the neighboring Sanshing Township (三星), the county government said.
The two townships consist of about 10,000 small households.
When Wu, who concurrently serves as head of the Executive Yuan’s Public Construction Commission, inquired whether the accumulation of solid substances — commonly known as “fouling” — could possibly again affect the plant’s operations, he was assured by Yi Yuan Co that the new generator units have been efficient and so far the fouling rate has been better than before.
Touting the power plant as a crucial energy provider for Yilan County and a milestone for Taiwan’s effort to achieve sustainable development, Lin said she is expecting to continue local-central collaboration on power generation in the future.
Taiwan’s technology protection rules prohibits Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) from producing 2-nanometer chips abroad, so the company must keep its most cutting-edge technology at home, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks in response to concerns that TSMC might be forced to produce advanced 2-nanometer chips at its fabs in Arizona ahead of schedule after former US president Donald Trump was re-elected as the next US president on Tuesday. “Since Taiwan has related regulations to protect its own technologies, TSMC cannot produce 2-nanometer chips overseas currently,” Kuo said at a meeting of the legislature’s
TECH WAR CONTINUES: The suspension of TSMC AI chips and GPUs would be a heavy blow to China’s chip designers and would affect its competitive edge Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, is reportedly to halt supply of artificial intelligence (AI) chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) made on 7-nanometer or more advanced process technologies from next week in order to comply with US Department of Commerce rules. TSMC has sent e-mails to its Chinese AI customers, informing them about the suspension starting on Monday, Chinese online news outlet Ijiwei.com (愛集微) reported yesterday. The US Department of Commerce has not formally unveiled further semiconductor measures against China yet. “TSMC does not comment on market rumors. TSMC is a law-abiding company and we are
FLEXIBLE: Taiwan can develop its own ground station equipment, and has highly competitive manufacturers and suppliers with diversified production, the MOEA said The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday disputed reports that suppliers to US-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) had been asked to move production out of Taiwan. Reuters had reported on Tuesday last week that Elon Musk-owned SpaceX had asked their manufacturers to produce outside of Taiwan given geopolitical risks and that at least one Taiwanese supplier had been pushed to relocate production to Vietnam. SpaceX’s requests place a renewed focus on the contentious relationship Musk has had with Taiwan, especially after he said last year that Taiwan is an “integral part” of China, sparking sharp criticism from Taiwanese authorities. The ministry said
US President Joe Biden’s administration is racing to complete CHIPS and Science Act agreements with companies such as Intel Corp and Samsung Electronics Co, aiming to shore up one of its signature initiatives before US president-elect Donald Trump enters the White House. The US Department of Commerce has allocated more than 90 percent of the US$39 billion in grants under the act, a landmark law enacted in 2022 designed to rebuild the domestic chip industry. However, the agency has only announced one binding agreement so far. The next two months would prove critical for more than 20 companies still in the process
RSS