Taiwan is preparing to launch commercial operation of its first geothermal power plant that draws energy from a volcano, with the capacity to provide electricity to about 1,500 households in New Taipei City, New Taipei City Deputy Mayor Liu Ho-jan (劉和然) said on Tuesday.
The Sihuangziping Pilot Geothermal Power Plant (四磺子坪先導地熱發電廠) in the city’s Jinshan District (金山) has been connected to the electricity grid, drawing on the Datun Volcanic Group (大屯山火山群) to power its 1 megawatt (MW) generator, Liu was cited as saying in a city government news release after he visited the plant.
The launch of commercial operations later this month would be a milestone in Taiwan’s renewable energy efforts, as it would be the first plant powered by volcanic energy, he said, without giving a specific opening date.
Photo: Lu Hsien-hsiu, Taipei Times
Currently, the Sihuangziping plant can generate enough power to supply 1,500 four-person households for a year, according to the city government, which listed its annual power generation at 6.4 gigawatt-hours.
While Taiwan’s renewable energy efforts so far have been focused mainly on wind and solar energy, geothermal power is also being researched and developed, Liu said.
It is a stable and good base-load power source, with the capacity to remain in operation around the clock, 365 days a year, he said.
There is a high-temperature geothermal reservoir under the Datun Volcanic Group, which accounts for 70 percent of the country’s shallow geothermal energy resources, Liu said.
At the end of the year, construction would begin on a second geothermal plant powered by the volcanoes in the cluster, and it is expected to have a capacity of 4MW, with an annual generation of 27 gigawatt-hours, the New Taipei City Government said.
New Taipei City Economic Development Department head Ho Yi-ming (何怡明) said that geothermal investigation of the Datun Volcanic Group began as far back as 1966, but the fluid was too acidic, a problem that could not be solved with the technology at the time.
Fabulous Power Co, which was contracted to develop geothermal energy in the country, has since introduced the latest global technologies, including the use of dry-steam power generating sets and other techniques to deal with the acidity problem, Ho said.
Taiwan has four types of geothermal energy: magmatic-volcanic, extensional domain, orogenic belt/foreland basin, and geo-pressured geothermal, according to an article by National Taiwan University geology professor Song Sheng-rong (宋聖榮) published in a science education periodical in 2021.
The geothermal energy of magmatic volcanoes comes from the magma in shallow subsurface areas, while that from extensional domain volcanoes comes from temperature differentials caused by the rapid extension of the continental crust. The energy source of orogenic belt/foreland basin type volcanoes comes from the rapid uplift of the crust in the mountain-building process, and the geothermal source of geo-pressured geothermal systems comes from either the heat, mechanical energy, or methane dissolved in brine from the stratum, Song wrote.
Extensional domain energy is being generated at the Cingshuei Geothermal Power Plant in Yilan County, which has a capacity of 4.2MW, while an orogenic belt/foreland basin geothermal plant with a capacity of 0.5MW began commercial operations in Jinlun (金崙) in Taitung County’s Taimali Township (太麻里) in April.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
RSS