• With its green circular economy concept, Taipower has formed a team of "Fish Herding Masters" to propose the idea of a "shared ocean farm," breeding fish with warm water discharge from power plants and fixing CO2 with algae. The team won the highest honor with the "Excellent Team Award" in the Presidential Hackathon Award once again. Taipower Chairman, Wei-Fuu Yang (7th from left), and his team received the award from President Tsai Ing-wen (6th from left) today.

To drive innovative energy, the Executive Yuan has held the Presidential Hackathon Award since 2018 to invite experts from different fields and big data experts to work together to propose creative solutions for social problems. This year, with the green circular economy as the competition theme, Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) joined hands with National Taiwan Ocean University and the Keelung Fishermen's Association to form a team of "Fish Herding Masters" to propose the idea of a "shared ocean farm" to breed fish with warm water discharge from power plants and to fix CO2 with algae. The team's project stood out among 164 participating projects, and won the highest honor with the "Excellent Team Award" in the Presidential Hackathon Awards once again. Taipower indicated that the experimental data from the ocean farm will be shared with fishermen to facilitate the development of aquaculture, and that the Company will continue to start from its position in the power industry to create the application of big data and cooperate with other fields.

• Taipower grows microalgae to absorb carbon dioxide. Microalgae that fix carbon dioxide can be used as bait for fish, and can also be made into skincare products and nutritional supplements, achieving the goal of carbon reduction and waste energy recycling.

      The awards ceremony for the 2021 Presidential Hackathon Award took place at the Office of the President today (26th). Taipower Chairman, Wei-Fuu Yang, received the award from President Tsai Ing-wen. Taipower pointed out that the Company has made efforts in recent years to optimize the reuse rate of electricity-generation by-products. In addition to mixing soot with cement for pipe trench backfill, soot is also blended with porcelain to make super popular cultural and creative cup coasters. Moreover, Taipower changes the temperature of warm water discharge from power plants to make it suitable for fish habitation, and grow microalgae for absorbing carbon dioxide. Microalgae that fix carbon dioxide can be used as bait for fish, and they can also be made into skincare products and nutritional supplements to help achieve the goal of carbon reduction and waste energy reuse.

• Taipower reuses warm water discharge. Through the recycle and reuse of waste heat from power plants, the Company helps fishermen adjust to an extreme climate. The photo shows the ocean farm experiment carried out in the warm water discharge canals from the Company's Linkou Power Plant.

      Taipower explained that due to the impact of an extreme climate, record-breaking temperatures in summer and cold waves often cause fishery loss. To be friendly to the environment and make resources recycled and sustainable, Taipower reuses warm water discharge as a resource. Through the recycle and reuse of waste heat from power plants, the Company assists fishermen to adjust to extreme climate, reducing carbon emissions from heated facilities for aquaculture in winter. It is estimated that over 30,000 tons of carbon dioxide will be reduced every year.

• Since 2016, Taipower has started planning and promoting its ocean farm project. The Taiwan Research Institute has conducted fish farming experiments at the Linkou Power Plant, showing that warm water discharge from power plants is beneficial to aquaculture.

        Taipower said that Taipower's team of "Fish Herding Masters" has also invited Dr. Fan-Hua Nan, a professor at National Taiwan Ocean University and his team to improve aquaculture techniques for the ocean farm. Meanwhile, Chien-Hui Chien, Chairman of the Keelung Fishermen's Association, and Wen-Chin Chen, the Director-general of the fishermen's association, have exchanged opinions with fishermen, and instructed Taipower to raise indigenous species to protect the local ecology. Additionally, they help enrich marine resources through fish fry release. Since 2016, Taipower has started planning and promoting the ocean farm project. The following year, the Company conducted fish raising experiments. At present, Jianshan Thermal Power Plant in Penghu is breeding fish fry with warm water discharge. Moreover, the Taiwan Research Institute has carried out fish raising experiments at the Linkou Power Plant, and selected five main fish species: giant grouper, brown-marbled grouper, black king fish, bat fish and milkfish. Milkfish is the only species that can be raised during fishing seasons all year round. Furthermore, warm water discharge from power plants in winter helps increase the sea water temperature in the fish farming regions, providing an excellent environment for both fish and algae.

• Giant grouper raised in cage nets at Linkou Ocean Farm can weigh up to about 8 kilos.

      Taipower pointed out that the cultural farming environment created by warm water discharge and with bait made from carbon fixation by algae prevents fish from being affected by cold weather, and that fish has passed sanitation standards for aquatic animals. Meanwhile, Taipower shares information with fishermen collected from the experiments carried out at the ocean farm including temperature, nutrient sources, breeding environment, fish pathological tests and other data. In the future, Taipower will plan to make the ocean farm a location for environmental education, and promote it to public and private offshore wind farms to develop smart cage nets and ocean carbon sink. Meanwhile, Taipower will cooperate with fish farmers to launch a business model, gradually realizing the objective of self-sufficiency.

• Dr. Hsi-Nien Chen of Taipower's Taiwan Research Institute holds a giant grouper bred at the Linkou Ocean Farm.

      Furthermore, Taipower stated that since 2016, Taipower has held numerous creative open data competitions. A total of 164 projects were entered into this year's Presidential Hackathon Award. Among these, three teams formed by Taipower passed the preliminary review, and the "Fish Herding Masters" team made it to the final review, winning the "Excellent Team Award" once more. This shows the endeavors and achievements of Taipower's data talents. In the future, Taipower will start from its core industry of electricity to provide a stable power supply for the diverse development of society with reasonable costs. Additionally, Taipower will cooperate with other professional areas to solve everyday life problems, becoming an all-directional green enterprise.

Spokesperson: Ting-Shu Chang, Professional General Manager
Tel No.: (02)2366-6271/0936-625-552
Email: u742433@taipower.com.tw

Point of Contact: Tian-Te Cheng, Director of Electricity Generation Office
Tel No.: (02)2366-6500/0921-796-103
Email: u575656@taipower.com.tw