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Wind Power News: Taiwan
These news and opinion items are gathered by National Wind Watch in its noncommercial educational effort to help keep readers informed about developments related to industrial wind energy. They do not necessarily reflect the opinions of National Wind Watch. They are the products of and owned by the organizations or individuals noted and are shared here according to “fair use” and “fair dealing” provisions of copyright law.
Soudelor does US$18m of damage to wind turbines in Taiwan
Typhoon Soudelor left behind widespread damage when it barreled through Taiwan on Saturday, including an estimated NT$560 million (US$17.7 million) in damage to eight wind turbines operated by Taiwan Power Company (Taipower). The state-run energy supplier said the typhoon’s powerful gusts of up to 202 to 220 kilometers per hour blew six of its 18 wind turbines at Taichung’s Gaomei wetlands to the ground and severely damaged two of its six turbines in northern Taiwan’s Shimen Wind Power Station. The . . . Complete story »
Taipower to investigate why wind turbines toppled during typhoon
The state-owned Taiwan Power Company (台電公司) has formed a committee to examine why seven of its wind turbines collapsed during Typhoon Soudelor last weekend, a Taipower official said Wednesday. The results of the investigation will be published in two months’ time, said Lee Wen-bing (李文彬), deputy head of Taipower’s Department of Renewable Energy. Lee was responding to concerns about the issue, which were raised by Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇) of the opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) earlier in the day. . . . Complete story »
EPA asks wind power firm to move turbine
The Environmental Protection Administration’s (EPA) Environmental Impact Assessment Committee yesterday accepted a motion that German wind power company InfraVest Wind Power Group should change the proposed site of its A1 wind turbine, to be built in Miaoli County’s Houlong Township (後龍), on the basis that it poses a potential threat to the habitat of the threatened Indo-Pacific humpback dolphin. The company planned to set up four wind turbines in the township, of which the A1 turbine’s proposed site falls in . . . Complete story »
NPA criticized over ‘martial law era’ tactics
National Police Agency (NPA) documents instructing police to stay on top of online postings against nuclear power, the cross-strait service trade pact and wind turbines has drawn criticism that the government is trying to bring back martial law. An anonymous netizen posted photographs on Wednesday evening of what was claimed to be documents from Special Police Second Headquarters, giving instruction for police units to establish an “Internet army” (網軍) to monitor online postings. The documents said the first and second . . . Complete story »
Wind farm protesters stage sit-in at Economic Ministry
More than 20 members of a group opposed to the building of wind turbines in Yuanli Township, Miaoli County stormed the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and staged a sit-in protest Wednesday at the ministry’s inner courtyard. They did not disperse until MOEA Vice Minister Shen Jong-chin promised to hold a meeting to discuss their grievances. A wind turbine construction project planned for coastal areas of the township has incited a series of protests among local residents, and the stalemate . . . Complete story »
Wind turbine protesters stage sit-in
About 30 protesters yesterday staged a sit-in at the Ministry of Economic Affairs to express their objection to the government’s management of a wind turbine construction project in Miaoli County’s Yuanli Township (苑裡). The protesters, mostly members of the Yuanli Self-Help Group (苑裡反瘋車自救會), accused the ministry of twice extending permit for German wind power company InfraVest Wind Power Group to set up six wind turbines at Yuanli without previously consulting the residents. They demanded the ministry conduct hearings so that . . . Complete story »
Windmill opponents occupy MOEA
In a move reminiscent of the 24-day occupation of the Legislative Yuan, opponents of a windmill park in Miaoli County on Wednesday occupied the inner court of the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Students occupied a large part of the legislative compound from March 18 to April 10 in protest against the ruling Kuomintang’s efforts for a quick passage of the trade-in-services pact with China. Around 10 a.m. Wednesday, about 20 members of an action group in the Miaoli County township . . . Complete story »
Activists pan power firm for violence
Activists against a wind turbine construction project in Miaoli County’s Yuanli Township (苑裡) yesterday criticized wind energy firm InfraVest over violent acts by security guards during a protest by local residents at the construction site. Showing pictures of construction site security guards and workers clashing verbally and physically with protesters at 2am yesterday morning, activists accused InfraVest of attempting to illegally continue wind turbine construction early in the morning before the Bureau of Energy was due to hold a special . . . Complete story »
Yuanli residents protest building of wind turbines
Residents of Miaoli County’s Yuanli Township (苑裡) who worry about the impact of wind turbines close to their homes, yesterday staged a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taipei and asked the ministry to come up with a mandatory safe distance between wind turbines and residences. “We want a safe distance! No to black-box operations!” dozens of residents from Yuanli and their supporters chanted as they threw eggs at portraits of Bureau of Energy Director-General Ou . . . Complete story »
Taipower says it will fix broken turbine
State-owned Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) Renewable Energy Section on Saturday promised to repair a wind turbine at the Kuanyuan wind farm in Taoyuan County’s Guanyin Township (觀音), after complaints that a blade that broke off last year has been left on a nearby beach. The Kuanyuan wind farm, constructed in 2004, is the nation’s oldest wind power plant and is equipped with 23 64m tall turbines, which have three 37m long blades that weigh 2 tonnes each. The broken blade came . . . Complete story »
