1st local-government-led small hydro plant begins operations in Taichung

Taipei, July 17 (CNA) A small-scale hydropower plant in Taichung, the first of its kind in Taiwan initiated by a local government, began operations on Wednesday.

The Shishuike River Small Hydropower Plant has an installed capacity of 185kW, meaning it can sell around 1,000 renewable energy certificates a year, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) told an opening ceremony for the plant.

Each certificate represents 1,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of green power generated from renewable sources and can reduce approximately 0.5 metric tons of carbon emissions.

The green energy generated from the plant and the renewable energy certificates will be sold to Delta Energy, a subsidiary of Delta Electronics, according to Lu.

The core services of Delta Energy include assisting businesses in procuring green energy and achieving zero-carbon goals, according to the company.

Lu said the project was launched based on the build, operate, transfer (BOT) public-private partnership model, under which the city signed a 20-year cooperation contract with partner companies investing in the building of the plant that would be transferred to the city government after 20 years of operations.

She also touted the city government's efforts in promoting renewable energy, saying that all government offices and schools in Taichung are required to have solar panel installations on their rooftops.

More than 85 percent of schools in the city have installed solar panels, she added.

The city's renewable power generation reaches 2.56 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) per year, which is equivalent to one-third of the power generation of Taichung Thermal Power Plant, according to Lu.

On the same occasion, Minister of Environment Peng Chi-ming (彭啟明) indicated that the Taichung City Government's experiences in combating climate change can be taken as a reference by other local governments.

A transition to renewable energy is essential to mitigating climate change, Peng said, adding that while small-sized hydropower plants can generally produce only small amounts of power, they can generate great benefits cumulatively.

Peng also indicated he hoped the first local-government-initiated small hydropower project would attract more copycats to emulate it.

Turning to renewable energy certificates, Peng said that after companies purchase green electricity certificates, they can be used to offset carbon fees in the future as Taiwan has yet to set a carbon fee rate.

To cope with future carbon tariffs, companies would work to achieve net zero, he said, adding that therefore, the market of green certificates is promising.