The Executive Yuan has allocated NT$4.061 billion (US$125.6 million) for a two-year project to accelerate the production of hydrogen power for domestic use.
The plan, which is being enforced by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, the National Science and Technology Council and three state-run corporations — China Steel Corp (中鋼), CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Taiwan Power Co (台電) — earmarks NT$953 million for this year and NT$3.108 billion for next year, it said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has established a task force for hydrogen energy development to take charge of policy and applications planning.
Photo: Taipei Times
Energy and industrial department officials estimated that the nation would need 4.35 million tonnes of hydrogen per year by 2050, with 3.25 million tonnes imported from other countries.
Energy administration officials in June tasked Kawasaki Heavy Industries with assessing whether the Port of Kaohsiung would be a good location to build liquid hydrogen receiving stations, with a detailed analysis due by the end of this year.
Japan has extensive experience in building such facilities, and Japanese specialists would evaluate whether the Port of Kaohsiung is fit to accommodate such infrastructure, officials said.
They would have to negotiate with Taiwan International Ports Corp (台灣港務) about using 496 hectares of its property around the port, officials said.
The Executive Yuan has set a goal of deriving 9 to 12 percent of the nation’s power from hydrogen by 2050.
To attain that goal, Taiwan Power has chosen Hsinta Power Plant to be a testing ground to generate hybrid hydrogen power, Cabinet officials said.
As a trial run of hybrid hydrogen power generation is scheduled to start at the end of year, it is hoped that the goal of having 5 percent of the plant’s power generated from hybrid hydrogen can be achieved earlier than scheduled, they said.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Transportation and Communications has proposed a hydrogen city bus project, in which bus operators would receive funding over four years if they use hydrogen vehicles on at least one of two bus routes.
Hydrogen vehicles, when fully charged, can operate 400km to 600km at a time, a transportation official said, adding that bus operators have expressed an interest in participating in the project.
CPC Taiwan is planning to build a mobile hydrogen refueling station, which would be able to refuel seven hydrogen buses, although the company said that it would be a challenge to complete the station as scheduled.
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