• November 14, 2023 - Taipower and Academia Sinica Hosted the “Methane Pyrolysis Hydrogen Power Generation Technology Press Conference” today at Taipower’s Taiwan Power Research Institute (TPRI) in Shulin. President Tsai Ing-wen and many distinguished guests attended the event to commend the research achievements and witness a milestone in hydrogen energy technology development. (From left to right in the photo: Legislator Shen-Han Hong, Legislator Chiao-Hui Su, National Policy Advisor to the President Mei-Yueh Ho, Acting Chairman of Taipower Wen-Sheng Tseng, Academia Sinica President Chun-Chih (James) Liao, President Tsai Ing-wen, Secretary-General to the President Chia-Lung Lin, Minister of Economic Affairs Mei-Hua Wang, Chairman of the National Science Council Tsung-Tsong Wu, Deputy Secretary-General to the President Dun-Han Chang, and Deputy Chairman of the National Development Council Xian-Gui Gao).

In pursuit of the goal of achieving “net-zero electricity”, Taipower is actively developing new energy applications. In February of this year, Taipower selected the Hsinta Power Plant in Kaohsiung as its hydrogen blending power generation demonstration base. It also signed a memorandum of cooperation with Academia Sinica, one of the top academic research institutions in Taiwan, to promote methane pyrolysis hydrogen power generation. On November 14, 2023, Taipower and Academia Sinica held a joint press conference to showcase their achievements: successfully taking hydrogen production and combustion for power generation through methane pyrolysis out of the laboratory and integrating it with commercial small-scale power generation units, envisioning a future for zero-carbon hydrogen energy generation. Taipower stated that it will continue to collaborate with domestic gas manufacturers through Academia Sinica with the aim of producing methane pyrolysis hydrogen for use in gas blending power generation demonstration at the Hsinta Power Plant by the end of the year.

On the morning of November 14, Taipower and Academia Sinica jointly held a “Methane Pyrolysis Hydrogen Power Generation Technology Press Conference” at Taipower’s Taiwan Power Research Institute (TPRI) in Shulin. President Tsai Ing-wen attended the event to commend the research achievements. She was joined by various distinguished guests, including Secretary-General to the President Chia-Lung Lin, National Policy Advisor to the President Mei-Yueh Ho, Academia Sinica President Chun-Chih (James) Liao, Minister of Economic Affairs Mei-Hua Wang, Deputy Chairman of the National Development Council Xian-Gui Gao, Chairman of the National Science Council Tsung-Tsong Wu, Acting Chairman of Taipower Wen-Sheng Tseng, Legislator Chiao-Hui Su, Legislator Shen-Han Hong, National Applied Research Laboratories President Faa-Jeng Lin, National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology Vice President Yi-Chung Lo, and others, all coming together to witness a milestone in hydrogen energy technology development.

• Minister of Economic Affairs Mei-Hua Wang mentioned in her speech that Taiwan’s path to carbon reduction is transitioning from low carbon to zero carbon. In addition to promoting increased gas usage and reduced coal consumption, Taiwan is actively developing renewable energy sources and incorporating the research and development of new technology. Minister Wang expressed her pleasure in seeing the close collaboration between Taipower and Academia Sinica, which combines Taipower’s expertise in power generation with Academia Sinica’s research capabilities to connect research and application in the field of hydrogen energy generation and realize the transition to a clean future with net-zero emissions.

• In his speech, Academia Sinica President Chun-Chih (James) Liao emphasized that in the face of international trends toward net-zero emissions and energy transformation, methane pyrolysis hydrogen technology offers a new option. Through the collaboration with Taipower, they have successfully verified that methane pyrolysis hydrogen technology can integrate with the domestic power generation system. He expressed hope that through the application of new technology research and development, the proportion of carbon-free electricity in Taiwan’s energy mix can be increased.

Taipower has pointed out that methane pyrolysis hydrogen is produced by high-temperature cracking of natural gas to obtain hydrogen gas and solid carbon (carbon black). This technology was traditionally used for industrial carbon feedstock production. However, in recent years, in line with the international trend toward net-zero emissions, countries like Germany, the United States, and Australia have been experimenting with it as one of the sources for hydrogen production, particularly in the field of power generation. Taipower and Academia Sinica signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) in February of this year, formally initiating commercial application experiments in this regard.

• President Tsai Ing-wen attended and commended the research achievements, expressing gratitude to Taipower and Academia Sinica for their collaborative efforts. She acknowledged that this achievement marks an important milestone for Taiwan in promoting hydrogen energy generation and progressing toward the goal of net-zero carbon emissions.

Taipower explained that the hydrogen produced from methane pyrolysis technology can be used for electricity generation and industrial purposes, whereas the carbon black byproduct can be used as a raw material in precision and high-value-added chemical industries. Compared to existing natural gas steam reforming technology, this technology reduces the energy required for hydrogen production by nearly 40% and does not produce carbon dioxide. However, in the past, the high engineering and technical barriers and the absence of commercially viable production equipment on the international market presented challenges. Through collaboration with Academia Sinica, Taipower has successfully taken this technology out of the laboratory and into practical electricity generation, offering both carbon reduction and economic benefits.

Taipower explained that the methane pyrolysis hydrogen technology, developed by Academia Sinica, was integrated with Taiwan Power’s first domestic 65 kW hydrogen-blended micro gas turbine power generation system. In September of this year, they successfully operated the power generation system with a 10% hydrogen blend. Subsequently, Academia Sinica will expand the application scale in collaboration with domestic gas manufacturers. The goal is to use the hydrogen produced through this collaboration in a hydrogen-blended combustion demonstration at the Hsinta Power Plant units by the end of the year. With stable hydrogen supply sources and well-developed transportation and storage facilities, it is estimated that by replacing 5% of natural gas with hydrogen, over 7,000 tons of carbon emissions can be reduced annually. In the future, as technology develops, they plan to gradually increase the hydrogen blending ratio and extend this practice to other power plant units in Taiwan.

• Academia Sinica President Chun-Chih (James) Liao presented a methane pyrolysis hydrogen power generation model to President Tsai Ing-wen as a gift.

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