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State-run Taiwan Power broke ground on its first "geothermal exploration well" on Green Island on Dec. 28, 2017, as part of its effort to develop green energy in recent years.
The project aims to take advantage of the island's abundant geothermal resources, deriving from its volcano, giving a strong boost to the company's green energy program, which has focused until now on PV power and wind power. The company targets attaining 1.8 million kilowatts of accumulated installed green-energy capacity by 2025.
Taipower noted that the exploration of geothermal sources will not affect the island's hot-spring resource, as geothermal energy and hot spring derive from different layers of heat sources. Hot spring is a major attraction of the island, which attracted 360,000 tourists a year. The most famous is "Chao-jih" hot spring, on the southeastern side, which is one of three major sea-bottom hot springs worldwide.
Taipower aims to install one 200-kilowatt experimental geothermal generating unit by 2019. The project will employ ORC (Organic Rankine Cycle) generator, developed by the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), boasting high geothermal power generating efficiency, as it can generate power with heated water at only 80 degrees Celsius. Afterward, the company plans to build a 2,000-kilowatt exemplary geothermal power plant, with annual output reaching 10.512 million kilowatts/hour, capable of meeting the bulk of the island power need, at 16.288 million kilowatts/hour, on top of cutting CO2 emission by 5,516 metric tons a year (based on 2016 power emission coefficient of 0.529 kg/kilowatt-hour).
Taipower pointed out that the project has secured the blessing of the local community, following an explanation session, held at the library of the Green Island village government in May 2017, when the company pledged to contribute to the development of the island's tourism industry.
Thanks to its stable supply, geothermal power, a clean energy, can be used as base-load power source. Cheng Wen-jen, village government chief, welcomed the project, noting it can cut the island's reliance on thermal power, facilitating its development into a low-carbon island, which can benefit its tourist industry.
Taipower pointed out that geothermal power costs only NT$6 per kilowatt/hour, much lower than NT$14 for diesel oil-fueled thermal power (including transport of oil), capable of cutting power cost, especially during busy tourism season. Taipower will minimize the impact on the environment and life of local residents during the two-year construction period for the projected exemplary geothermal power plant and will green the environment after its completion.
(Source: Taipower)