Taipower to pour USD 699m into solar power, add over 300 MW

Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) intends to boost its installed solar power capacity by over 300 MW by 2020 with an investment of TWD 21.05 billion (USD 699m/EUR 623m), the Taipei Times said today, citing spokesperson Lin Te-fu.

The plan is in line with the government’s strategy to end the use of nuclear energy and will include four separate projects.

The state-run company will start with the construction of a 100-MW photovoltaic (PV) park, worth TWD 6.25 billion, at a site in Changhua county, which was previously chosen for a coal-fired power plant. When completed, it will become the largest ground-mounted solar facility in the country.

An additional TWD 13 billion will be allocated for 200 MW of solar parks in salt evaporation ponds in Tainan. Taipower has still not finalised the project, awaiting land issues to be resolved. In the meantime, it is working on a project for building a transmission and distribution system in Tainan and expects to start its construction at end-2017 at the latest.

As part of its ambitions plan, Taipower will partner with Taiwan Water Co for the installation of floating PV plants in eight reservoirs in Chiayi county and also hold tenders for the construction of solar systems at 41 of its properties.

(TWD 10 = USD 0.332/EUR 0.296)

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