Taya Group, a company that excels in cables, has been actively implementing for renewable energy, and the 76MW ground solar power plant established by its subsidiary Sin Jhong Solar Power in 2020, which is also the first private large-scale power plant approved for land alteration, has hosted an earth-thanking ritual and initiation ceremony recently. The power plant is expected to generate over 1.8 billion kWh of electricity and derive NT$9 billion of power revenue in the next 20 years.
IEA pointed out that the new power generation volume from renewable energy had reached to new height in 2020, where almost 90% of new power came from renewable energy, and merely 10% was generated by natural gas and coal firing. Green electricity is expected to replace the leading status of coal firing that occupied for half a century, and become the largest power source, by 2025.
Sin Jhong Solar Power, a subsidiary of Taya Group, obtained the development license for the Tainan Syuejia 76MW solar power plant in 2020, which is the first solar power plant that underwent land alteration, and had connected to the grid for power generation on December 8th 2020. Occupying 71 hectares of land, the power plant has a capacity of 76MW, and is equipped with an internal 600°C energy storage system that is able to release 200kWh of electricity per hour.
As pointed out by the press release, Yunlin, Chiayi, Tainan, and Kaohsiung in southwestern Taiwan are important aquaculture locations, though the relevant output has not been conforming to economic efficiency due to the diminishing farming and fishing population in recent years, which resulted in the severely insufficient manpower. Hence, the area has started to alter lands for private businesses, and aquaculture has since been changed to solar power sites.
Taya commented that the construction for this particular site adopts the natural detention basin method, implanted piles, and no earth fills, with no damages to the current status of the fish farms, which are able to accumulate rain water and detent floods after construction, and help with drainage and ecology rejuvenation during rainy seasons. Furthermore, the water storage fish farms can also avoid dust derived from northeast monsoon.
Taya Group has been active in the green energy industry in recent years, and had participated in cogeneration, offshore wind power, and ground wind power, with the company now focused on the solar industry. Ryan Shen, Chairman of Taya Group, commented that the company currently has 53 affiliated solar power plants that are generating revenue from electricity sales, equaling a total installed capacity of 120MW, and the total power generation volume had accumulated to 13 million kWh at the end of 2020.
(Cover photo source: Taya)