On the first anniversary of the release of Taipower's environmental white paper, the emission of air pollutants was halved ahead of schedule! Taipower today (August 18) in the launching conference of the 2020 Environmental Month reviewed last year’s environmental protection achievements. In addition to receiving recognition from environmental protection awards such as the Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Award (TCSA), the Annual Enterprises Environmental Protection Award and the Circular Economy Award, Taipower also released the environmental white paper for the first time to declare a balanced stable power supply and environmental protection policy, and the promise that the emission of air pollutants from power plants will be reduced by 30% to 50% from 2021 to 2030. Taipower stated that through the efforts of all employees in "advance deployment", the air pollution reduction target for 2030 has been fulfilled in 2019 ahead of schedule. The Taichung power plant alone reduced emission of air pollutants by more than 20,000 tons last year compared with 2014.

Taipower held a press conference for the launching of the 2020 Taipower Environmental Month, the "Communication, Electricity - Environmental Leadership and Sustainability Commitment", at the Taipower Building this afternoon (August 18). During the conference, Taipower Chairman Wei-Fuu Yang reviewed Taipower’s environmental protection achievements in the past year with the participants, including Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs Wen-Sheng Tseng, experts and scholars in related fields, environmental protection groups, and representatives from the Offices of the US, the UK, and Australia in Taiwan, to witness together Taipower’s efforts and commitments in environmental protection.

Taipower pointed out that electricity is generated for the needs of the people. In addition to generating electricity, Taipower continues to demand itself and strives to respond to the society’s greater expectations for environmental protection. Therefore, it released the environmental white paper for the first time in April 2019, declaring a balanced stable power supply and environmental protection policy, and a promise to reduce the emission of air pollutants, develop renewable energy, and achieve a new generation of world-class power business.

 The environmental white paper specifically promises the target of air pollutant emission reduction for power plants. In 2021, the intensity of air pollutant emission will be reduced by 30% compared with 2016, while that in 2025 and in 2030 are 40% and 50%, respectively. For the emission of carbon in terms of greenhouse gases, Taipower also promised that the net emission intensity of coal-fired power plants in 2021 will be reduced by 7% compared with 2016, while that in 2025 and in 2030 are 15% and 20%, respectively (Air pollutant emission intensity refers to the total emission of air pollutants including particulate matter (PM), sulfur oxides (SOx) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) produced per kilowatt-hour of electricity, while the net emission intensity of coal-fired power plant refers to the amount of CO₂ released for every kWh of electricity generated)

Taipower explained that through the efforts of all employees in "advance deployment", the air pollutant emission intensity of coal-fired power plants in 2019 was reduced by about 0.4 g per kilowatt-hour of electricity compared with 2016. The emission was reduced by more than 50%, reaching the target ahead of schedule. Therefore, Taipower took the initiative to make further commitment in the press conference, and revised the 2025 emission reduction target to a reduction of more than 60% compared with 2016, and set the target of 70% in 2030. The net emission intensity of Taipower’s coal-fired power plants last year was also reduced by 4.3% compared with 2016, reducing about 29 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) per kilowatt-hour of electricity. The reduction in emission is expected to reach the target of 7% next year.

Over the past years, Taipower has actively promoted the advancement of green power, environmental protection scheduling, natural gas increase & coal reduction, and the renewal & improvement of the existing power plants for reducing the emission of air pollutants. For example, in 2019, the renewable energies in Taiwan generated a record high of 14 billion kWh of electricity. In response to air quality conditions, Taipower also prioritized the dispatch of gas-fired power plants, or implemented friendly output curtailment to reduce the emission of air pollutants during the period with poor air quality. As of July this year, output curtailment has been conducted 2862 times, with a total reduction of 22.05 billion kWh of electricity. In addition, the three new gas-fired generators of Tongxiao Power Plant have also been fully operated in May this year, adding about 2.7 million kW of installed capacity, which will allow the overall gas-fired power generation to officially surpass coal-fired power generation in 2019, becoming the largest source of power in Taiwan. Taipower will also promote the renewal of gas-fired generators in Taichung Power Plant and Xiehe Power Plant.

For the renewal and improvement of the existing power generators for air pollutant emission reduction, Taipower will invest about NT$ 70 billion from 2017 to 2025 to promote the improvement of coal-fired power plants. For example, Units 1 - 4 of Taichung Power Plant have completed the upgrade of related equipment at the beginning of this year, and the emission of air pollutants last year has been significantly reduced by more than 20,000 tons compared with that 5 years ago, achieving a reduction of 51%. Taipower will continue to challenge itself, and set the goal to halve the air pollutant emission again by 2025.

In addition to the improvement of power plants to reduce air pollutant emission, Taipower has also successfully built 4 ecological power plants, including Wanda Power Plant to restore native soybeans, Dajiaxi Power Plant Maanba Ecological Park, Linkou Power Plant to restore native lilies and Taichung Power Plant to create habitat for little terns. Furthermore, Taipower has also engaged in the research of carbon capture and carbon reduction technologies and has installed two sets of micro carbon dioxide capture testing facilities at Taichung Power Plant. Last year, the facilities have collected approximately 560,000 L of carbon dioxide.

Taipower said that this year's Environmental Month activities include Taipower Green Net achievement exhibition, issue exchange forum and environmental education promotion activities such as the "Little Doctor of Energy", the "Wind Chasing and Power Building Summit", etc. Among them, the 5th anniversary of Taipower Green Net achievement exhibition will be held until August 28. The event is admission free and visitors also have the chance to win a Nintendo Switch video game console. In addition, the energy transformation issue exchange forum, the "Big Difference in Energy and Small Innovation", will be held on September 3, which can be registered online (https://www.surveycake.com/s/YPAyz).

Spokesperson：Professional Chief Administrator, Ting-Shu Zhang
Tel：(02)2366-6271/ 0936-625-552
Email： u742433@taipower.com.tw

Contact Person： Director of Department of Environmental Protection, Yuan-Long Liu
Tel：(02)2366-7200/0972-103-889
Email：u854315@taipower.com.twm.tw