September 25, 2004
Pingtung County, the southernmost county in Taiwan, is known for its sunny weather, wind and ideal growing environment. While these assets are already the foundations of some of the county's main economies, namely tourism and agriculture, county officials are looking to exploit these features for some environmentally-friendly purposes by developing wind power, solar energy and biomass energy.
Pingtung County has already begun to work on the development of wind power and one Pingtung township is seeking government subsidies for its plans to build a "Solar City." The county also has plans to install solar-powered street lights along one of its highways. In addition, county officials have applied for subsidies it hopes to use to encourage private enterprises to turn the county's tons of agricultural waste into bio-mass energy.
The county is famous for its massive seasonal Luoshan Wind which pours off the mountains to the north from October to March each year, and is even capable of overturning trucks. Seemingly intangible, this wind has made Pingtung a world-class destination for the adventure sport of paragliding, and is now drawing another type of wind lover. In 2002, the Japanese-owned Pingtung Wind Power Company began its project to develop wind power in the county. Pingtung's Environmental Protection Bureau (EPB) expects to see electricity from this project flow into Taiwan's power grid by 2008.
While Taiwan boasts of other favorable sites for the development of wind power, in particular the northeast and west coasts, Pingtung is even more ideal due to its low population and long coastline. Some experts are suggesting that Pingtung take advantage of these assets by building offshore windmills. And, with Taiwan's love of economic integration, some have even recommended that the county follow Germany's lead by installing observation platforms on its windmills in order to develop them as tourist attractions.
As for sun power, the county has already installed solar powered street light at three locations. With its "Solar City" plan, Dingkan Township seems to be setting itself up as Taiwan's alternative energy leader. In addition to this solar plan, electricity from a municipal waste incinerator currently powers the township's streetlights and solar energy is used to heat its public swimming pool.
Pingtung County officials look forward to using agricultural waste to generate biomass energy. In addition to generating cheap electricity, this plan would also greatly reduce the county's air pollution problems caused by the open burning of this formerly useless matter.
Pingtung's EPB also sees the excreta from the county's numerous pig farms, one of the major forms of pollution in Taiwan, as an ideal source for methane power generation, and has decided to implement related plans this year.
(Central News Agency)
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