Taiwan's Energy Policy Research Articles

A hybrid optimisation decision model for a smart green energy industry park: Exploring the impact of the carbon tax policy in Taiwan

Smart green energy development is an increasingly pressing public concern for the government advocate policy, as it responds to the challenges of climate change. The national green energy policy can promote the development of optimal electricity portfolios from smart green energy industry parks, thereby ensuring the maximized benefits of energy supply, energy storage, and energy-saving technologies, while accelerating the promotion of green energy industry economics. This study presents a novel 0–1 Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) decision model that focuses on the scenario project costs, the feed-in tariff prices and the quantity of the carbon footprint, in relation to the effects of the tax policy, for determining maximum scenario project profits. The major contributions of this study are as follows: [1] The integrated model can help green energy contractors to understand how to allocate resources and funding for sustainable environmental activities of each scenario project, by using appropriate cost drivers; [2] The obtained portfolio shows the maximum profits for green energy planning and contributes to the development of the national energy policy in Taiwan; and [3] This study contributes to innovative industrial engineering research into the problem of green energy planning, by considering a portfolio with different energy categories, and the results prove the superiority of smart green energy planning that considers a carbon tax policy.

Activity-determined Steps on the Attenuation of Atmospheric PM2.5 Concentration Environmental Kuznets Curve (EKC) at the Country Level: Empirical Evidence in Taiwan

Finding ways to minimize the atmospheric concentration of PM2.5 is an emergency issue throughout the world. This research has found a method to calculate historical PM2.5 data and to define the PM2.5 environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) pattern in Taiwan. From the analysis of the Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency’s public emission data, results showed that the continuous decay of PM2.5 is mostly contributed by the energy policy, while several short-term regular stepwise fluctuations in PM2.5 concentrations are caused by natural activity. Our study also proved that the linear decay with stepwise fluctuations also exhibits an EKC pattern.
 The results herein mean that the continuous decay of PM2.5 is caused by the energy policy, while the regular fluctuation of PM2.5 concentrations is caused by natural activity, like the La Nino phenomena. Based on the viewpoint of this paper, the oil consumption percentage for electricity generation should be first reduced to zero. However, oil-based power plants are an important emergency source of electricity supply. If Taiwan wants to continue the reduction of PM2.5 in the future, then a big capacity electric storage facility should be built as an emergency source of electricity supply. The energy policy in Taiwan at 2025 will be 50% natural gas, 30% coal, and 20% green energy. As oil fuel will reach 0%, PM2.5 will be affected by the energy intensity contributed from coal and natural gas, meaning that PM2.5 will maintain a long-term attenuation trend until 2035.

Injustices in phasing out nuclear power?: Exploring limited public participation and transparency in Taiwan’s transition away from nuclear energy

Transitions to non-nuclear energy systems are assumed to be positive phenomena. However, there is existing literature on how such transitions can result in new injustices. Since 2016, the government of Taiwan has promoted renewable energy and pursued the objective of establishing a nuclear-free homeland by 2025. Despite public enthusiasm for this green shift, there is a danger that concerns over accompanying environmental and energy injustices are being ignored. This paper addresses the gap between enthusiasm for environmental reforms and blindness to possible social consequences by applying procedural justice to an examination of the shift in energy policy in Taiwan. In 2018 and 2019, 45 interviews were conducted with relevant governmental entities, academics, industry, advocacy organisations (including pro- and anti-nuclear groups), and senior journalists, with the aim of shedding light on how Taiwan’s energy transition and phasing out of nuclear energy by 2025 could both represent a commitment to environmental justice and yet result in the creation of new injustices. This research contributes to the wider debate on procedural injustices arising from transitions to non-nuclear energy sources. We emphasise the need to consider procedural justice in green transitions, and assert that doing so will help achieve the smoothest possible energy transition.

Effect of Taiwan's energy policy on unit commitment in 2025

This study presents the effect of Taiwan's energy policy on its unit commitment in the year 2025. Taiwan's energy policy has been changing since 2005, since when it has required the decommissioning of nuclear power plants in response to the crisis in Fukushima, the adoption of the Kyoto Protocol, and the increase of renewable sources of power generation to 20% of its energy mix. The paper models the unit commitment for the Taiwan power system under Taiwan's energy policy. The study compares unit commitments in 2018, summer 2025, and winter 2025 using AMPL Software with the CPLEX 12.9.0 Solver. The results show that the net demand curve will change by 2025, forming a “duck – curve” model due to the high penetration of renewable energy. The daily carbon dioxide emission in 2018 for five percent (5%) spinning reserve is 392,151,000 kg. The said amount is larger than in winter 2025 when it will be 311,314,000 kg indicating the importance of the full implementation of renewable energy projects in helping to reach Taiwan's goal to limit carbon dioxide emission by 2025. Pumped storage scheduling changes from conventional pumping in the early morning to pumping from around noon to late afternoon due to the high penetration of renewable energy. The construction of combined-cycle units will have a critical role in the achieving of the spinning reserve capacity goal set by the Taiwan government, to avoid the importation of energy and to maintain the energy security of the country.

Challenges for Integrating Strategic Environmental Assessment to Enhance Environmental Thinking: A Case Study of Taiwan Energy Policy

There is an increasing need to evaluate environmental impacts at higher policy planning levels, especially after the European Union (EU) strategic environmental assessment (SEA) directive proposed in 2001. However, integrating SEA and policy planning processes is challenging owing to institutional challenges and/or political problems. We aimed to explore the challenges of this integration process through in-depth interviews with core stakeholders in Taiwan energy policy making. Our results reveal three main types of challenge related to policy planning, SEA implementation, and difficulties in dealing with environmental issues. The first includes the policy planning model, transparency in the policy planning process, and controversial issues clarification; the second includes the different types of SEA purposes, unclear feedback on policy planning, and public participation limitation; the third includes a lack of knowledge of brokerage processes, scientific uncertainty, the role of the Taiwan EPA (TEPA) for environmental thinking, and the influence of local information in policy planning. The results of this study can be applied to countries that use impact-oriented SEA (currently the most common type of SEA) and consider environmental issues during the energy policy planning process.

Spatial optimization of the food, energy, and water nexus: A life cycle assessment-based approach

Since the Bonn 2011 Conference, the Food-Energy-Water (FEW) nexus has become one of the most popular global research topics. Understanding and addressing the complex interactions between the FEW components is essential for sustainable development. This study proposes an environmental impact minimization model, which considers the FEW nexus under four climate change scenarios, to optimize the spatial distribution of three energy crops (rice, corn, and sugarcane). Life cycle assessment (LCA), linear programming, and a climate change simulation model are integrated to analyze appropriate bioenergy production rates while comparing the benefits of bioenergy with the current renewable energy policy in Taiwan. The major findings of LCA in this study indicate that electricity generation using bio-coal produced from rice straw is very beneficial to the environment. Considering the spatial characteristics of Taiwan, simulations from the spatial optimization model suggested that (a) the rice and corn cultivation areas should be increased in southern Taiwan for bio-coal and bioethanol production, in accordance with the “food and feed priority policy”; and (b) the rice cultivation area should be decreased across Taiwan, based on the “water conservation policy”. In addition, compared to solar power, the development of bioenergy can simultaneously enhance food and energy self-sufficiency.

Analysis of strategic environmental assessment in Taiwan energy policy and potential for integration with life cycle assessment

Strategic environmental assessment (SEA) has been implemented in many policies in the European Union since 2001. In Taiwan, SEA has been implemented for 28 cases since 2001, which includes various types of policies. National energy policy is the most challenging type. There are three most important steps in SEA process: alternative planning, scoping, and impact assessment. However, the current limitation of method application affects the effectiveness of SEA. In this case, life cycle assessment (LCA) is integrated with SEA for clarifying the role of LCA in whole SEA process. The method of combining LCA and SEA has been developed and is applied in a case of Taiwan's energy policy. Benefits from LCA in alternative planning, scoping, and impact assessment steps are explored. Finally, suggestions for enhancing LCA's application, for scoping operation, and for the improvement of SEA are proposed.

An optimization portfolio decision model of life cycle activity-based costing with carbon footprint constraints for hybrid green power strategies

A stable electricity supply is indispensable for both economic development and residential life. Social economic growth has caused a significant deficiency of conventional energy; hence, reducing the use of energy and developing new electricity sources are topics that have attracted wide attention from both academia and industries. In a green electric power system, reasonable costs and benefit controls, as well as carbon footprint computations, are considered to be the key barriers encountered. This study focuses on the total cost, feed-in tariff price, and carbon footprint of a power system, and proposes a 0–1 mixed integer linear programming (MILP) decision model for achieving an optimization portfolio of green electric power systems, using activity-based cost (ABC) and lifecycle assessment (LCA) approaches. The major contributions of this study are, as follows: (1) the integrated model can help green power suppliers to more accurately understand how to allocate resources and funding for energy-saving activities to each green electric power system through appropriate cost drivers; (2) the proposed model provides cost and benefit analysis information, which will assist management in planning clean energy production systems; and (3) the obtained portfolio shows that the maximum profits for green power planning contribute to the development of a national energy policy in Taiwan.

Air Conditioning — Optimizing Performance by Reducing Energy Consumption

In response to the needs of energy policy in Taiwan, it is important and urgent to promote energy efficiency in energy-intensive systems and equipment, especially air conditioning. Conventional refrigeration systems rely on experienced human beings to operate the load of components. This method is inefficient and non-reliable and causes excessive energy consumption. The present study applies the equal marginal utility theory (EMUT) from economics to a typical refrigeration system for energy saving analysis. The result of the analysis suggests that energy consumption in part-load conditions of the system was reduced by 4.74% by optimising the load on online components without significantly modifying the configuration (replacement of equipment or resetting of parameters) of the equipment. Therefore, optimising the energy use on the basis of the EMUT is highly recommended for decreasing energy consumption in air-conditioning systems.

Prospects of Renewable Energy Development in Taiwan

Highly dependent (about 99%) on imported energy Taiwan, a country in the subtropics, has limited natural resources. In this regard, renewable energy sources like biomass, wind, and solar are becoming attractive. On June 12, 2009 the Renewable Energy Development Act, which was aimed at promoting the use of renewable energy, boosting energy diversification, and helping reduce greenhouse gas emissions, was passed by the Legislative Yuan of Taiwan government. The objectives of this article are to make a comprehensive analysis of current production, national goals, and governmental policies for renewable energy in Taiwan. Further, mini-reviews on the bill are also presented. As a newly-developed country, Taiwan's energy policy and regulatory system concerning renewable energy development have been established successfully, and will provide a feasible solution to those countries that are developing their clean energy from renewable sources.

台湾低碳电力结构优化分析

本研究假设CCS未来能成功应用在燃煤与燃气发电上之情景，届时，不管是否有废核，在无须大幅扩充再生能源与核电，并化石燃料发电容量接近BAU的情况下，整体发电与减排目标皆能充分满足，并且，发电成本最多增加约34%。本研究结论是：CCS是台湾达成低碳电力结构最经济且最有效的方法。然而，CCS短中期内能否商业化尚是一个疑问，加上台湾缺乏化石能源，而再生能源则蕴藏丰富，不可讳言，再生能源即使短中期内无法成为发电主流，但是，科技长期进步与累积，终必克服其供电不稳定与价格偏高的缺点，以能源安全角度来看，再生能源的发展绝对是台湾能源政策上不可或缺的重要一环。 The study assumes that CCS can be successfully applied on the coal-fired and gas-fired power generation in the future, then regardless of the existence of nuclear power, without the substantial expanding of renewables, and with the fossil fuel generation capacity close to the BAU scenario, the overall power and emission reduction objectives can be fully met, with the increase of power cost up to about 34%. This study concludes that CCS is the most economic and effective method for Taiwan to construct a low-carbon power infrastructure. However, the commercialization of CCS in the short-and-medium term is still a question, plus it is no doubt that Taiwan lacks fossil energy but reserves abundant resources of renewable energy. Even renewable energy cannot become power mainstream in the short-and-medium term, under the technology’s progress and accumulation in the long-term, at end the renewables will overcome their shortcomings of power instability and partially high price. In the view angle of national energy security, the development of renewable energy is an indispensable ring of Taiwan energy policy.

The Subsidy-Based Solar Energy Policy in Taiwan

There are five major factors affecting the adoption of renewable energy for the households in Taiwan: price, environmental consciousness, education, geography, and building density. However, although people usually tend to be environment-friendly, the price is still the major concern for households in considering the adoption of renewable energy equipments. Therefore, subsidies have become the major policy instrument to promote household installation of renewable energy devices. This study takes the case of the solar water heaters (SWHs) as an example of how Taiwan subsidizes households to adopt renewable energy equipments.

Energy Policy in Taiwan: Historical Developments, Current Status and Potential Improvements

Recognizing the importance of energy as a vital component in economic development, the Taiwanese government has been continuously revising its energy policy, seeking to balance economic development, energy supply, and environmental protection (3E). Some measures, in an attempt to achieve the 3E balance, were previously implemented in Taiwan; nevertheless, some unresolved issues departing from certain core principles of Taiwan’s sustainable energy policy and an international initiative for a low carbon society remain. The aim of this paper is to examine the energy supply and demand structure of Taiwan and the present status of individual energy carriers (including coal, petroleum, natural gas and electricity). In addition, it investigates the current energy policy framework and its implementation in Taiwan, identifies unresolved issues regarding sustainable energy development, and formulates key policy solutions for certain identifiable problems to enable the achievement of a liberalized, orderly, efficient, and clean energy supply and demand system.

The Evolution of Taiwan's

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the context of energy policy in Taiwan over time (ie. before and after the oil crises) and analyze its effect on the energy industries and other sectors. Emphasis is placed on laws, regulations and measures which relate to energy policy. A model employing a Divisia index to decompose the components of energy intensity of Taiwan's industrial sectors from 1961 to 1990 is utilised. The paper also draws policy implications and discusses the outlook for Taiwan's energy policy in the future.

Coal Transportation System Modeling—The Case of Taiwan: A Comment

In his recent Energy Journal article, G. H. Tzeng emphasizes on the transportation aspects of increased coal use in Taiwan. He does not, however, offer much detail on the economic basis for the switch in National Energy Policy from imported oil to coal. While such a switch confirms that the exercise of rational fuel mix choices has found its due place in Taiwan, it seems appropriate to examine the efficiency of such a switch and its implications, especially for import balances. The new Taiwan energy policy Tzeng describes would increase coal consumption from 7.8 million tons (MT) in 1982 to 43.4 MT over the period ending in 2001. Ninety percent of this requirement would be imported. Of this, more than half would go to the electric power industry (23.8 MT by 2001). The total growth in coal consumption projected by Tzeng for this period amounts to 456 percent in 19 years.