According to Taiwan’s Pathway to Net-Zero Emissions in 2050, renewable energy will account for 60-70% of the total power generated in Taiwan by 2050. This goal underscores the importance of developing multiple renewable energy sources. The Taiwan Strait, which is one of the best wind sites in the world, coupled with Taiwan’s location in the Pacific Ring of Fire where strong wind power and geothermal heat exist, offers great potential for wind power and geothermal renewable energy development.

ITRI has been developing wind power since the 1980s, completing research on wind power generators in 1985 and building a wind power station in Hukou, Hsinchu. At that time, the power generation capacity of a single turbine could reach 150kW, a world leading technology, laying the foundation for locally developed wind power technology. Since 2000, Taiwan has actively promoted renewable energy, including solar, wind, biomass, geothermal, and marine energy generation, leading to a significant increase in installations and capacity. Taiwan’s offshore wind power operation and maintenance market is estimated to be worth tens of billions of dollars, and ITRI has used digital operation and maintenance technologies to reduce costs and improve reliability, making them highly suitable for wind power development.

On geothermal development, the Taiwanese government conducted a geothermal census due to the 1973 global oil crisis. At the time, ITRI was the only research and development institution in Taiwan with a one-stop technology for developing geothermal power plants. In 2012, ITRI built a 50 kW enhanced binary-cycle power generation demonstration system at the Chingshui Geothermal Park, the first pilot geothermal power plant in Taiwan. The power plant officially opened for commercial operation in 2018. In 2015, ITRI developed a system to assist geothermal experts in decision-making, which accurately evaluated potential locations for geothermal development. Since 2020, the government and private companies have been actively investing in geothermal development, with more than 4 MW capacity in operation across Taiwan by the end of 2022.