Wind power is practical in Taiwan

The Bureau of Energy has dismissed skepticism about the practicality of wind power in Taiwan where capacity factor in the summer is estimated at very low levels by some critics.

While some critics estimate the summer capacity factor (actual utilization of capacity divided by installation capacity) for wind power generation in Taiwan at as low as 5%, the bureau claimed that the capacity factor during June-September is 14.1%.

For land-based wind turbines installed in Penghu County, the capacity factory in June-September exceeds 30%, the bureau said. For the two offshore wind farms already in commercial operation, the capacity factory is 23% in May, 28% in June, 11% in July, 34% in August, 14% in September, 66% in October, 62% in November and 68% in December, with an average of 22% for May-September, the bureau indicated.

While many other countries seem to focus on onshore wind farms, the bureau argued that Demark installed the first onshore wind turbine around the world in 1891 while Vindeby, the first offshore wind farm around the world, came into operation only 27 years ago. Global additional installation capacity for onshore wind turbines grew 13-19% annually during 2011-2016, while that for offshore wind turbines rose 18-40%, the bureau cited Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) statistics as indicating.