On February 7, the bid for Taiwan Water Corporation’s (TWC’s) Nanhua small hydro project was completed. The project is scheduled to be accomplished in 2025 with an electricity generation capacity of 330 million kWh (for 40-year use).

In response to Taiwan’s goal of generating 20% electricity from renewable energy by 2025, TWC has identified four potential hydropower plant sites in Nanhua, Ligavon, Liyu Lake and Shalu and actively encouraged participation from the private sector. Among the four sites, where electricity will be generated through the potential energy created by the hydraulic head, the small hydro in Nanhua is the most promising.

Having been devised in September 2016, the Nanhua project intends to generate electricity through the hydraulic head between Nanhua Dam and its water treatment dam. However, the project skidded to a halt because pipe-flow small hydro had yet to be included in the Renewable Energy Development Act. In 2019, an amendment to the act included pipe-flow small hydro as part of hydraulic development, providing a legal basis for small-scale, community-based hydraulic projects to proceed.

After the Nanhua hydropower plant is completed, it can help reduce about 168,631 tons of carbon emissions (calculated based on the principle of 0.509 kg reduction per kWh issued by the Bureau of Energy)—that is the forestation equivalent of 534 Daan Forest Parks.   

While developing waste-free and net-zero small hydropower plants, TWC uses oil-free, zero-pollution turbines with green certification to generate electricity. Additionally, to ensure sufficient water supply for the Greater Tainan and trillion-dollar Tainan Science Park, the company plans to establish a raw water backup pipeline or complete the Tsengwen/Nanhua Reservoir Pipeline Interconnection Project before putting the hydropower plant into operation.

 (First image credit: Taiwan Water Corporation)