Seasonal winds bolster Taiwan's wind power generation: Taipower

Taipei, Oct. 11 (CNA) The strengthening of seasonal northeasterly winds has been helping to bolster Taiwan's wind power generation, according to Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) on Friday.

Instantaneous wind power generation has remained above 2 gigawatts (GW) since 5 a.m. on Wednesday, Taipower said in a news release.

With this kind of output generated over the past two days, it was enough to supply the daily electricity needs of nearly 10 million households, according to Taipower.

The state-run utility firm pointed out that 2 GW of wind power generation is equivalent to more than 48 million kilowatt-hours of green energy.

Records are also being set for wind power generation, according to Taipower, with the instantaneous type reaching 2.93 GW on Sept. 28.

Renewable energy has seen rapid growth with government and private sector support in recent years, the company said, citing for example that Taiwan has so far completed the installation of 372 offshore wind turbines.

With more offshore wind turbines completed in the future, Taiwan's wind power generation capacity will gradually increase and complement similar gains achieved in solar power generation, Taipower said.

As renewable energy power generation increases, the dependence on coal-fired and gas-fired power generation will decrease, in turn giving the latter two options more time to undergo their annual maintenance, according to Taipower.