TCSA (Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards) ::TCSA (Taiwan Corporate Sustainability Awards)

APSAA 亞太永續行動獎(Asia-Pacific Sustainability Action Awards )-Sustainability Action Award SDG7:Bronze

Environmental Protection Bureau, Pingtung County Government 屏東縣政府環境保護局

Rebirth and Transformation of Badlands: Gaoshu Photovoltaic Green Demonstration Zone!

Gaoshu Township in Pingtung County is surrounded by streams on three sides and has good gravel geology. In the past, gravel extraction by unscrupulous operators often left many large and unsightly pits several meters deep, affecting the safety of the local environment. To address this, the Pingtung County Government cooperated with the National Property Administration (NPA) and utilized the earth and rocks from the Ministry of Economic Affairs' Water Resources Agency to backfill and level the pits over a period of five years. However, because of the poor nature of the backfilled land and the lack of surrounding water infrastructure for agricultural cultivation, the land was left idle and barren, and the remote location was not easy to manage, often encountering the illegal dumping of waste. In order to revitalize and utilize idle land, the county government launched the “Gaoshu Photovoltaic Demonstration Project” in 2016. 112 land plots, approximately amounting to 37 hectares in total, were selected by the county government for public investment bidding, and a zero-budget implementation model of “zero government funding and incentives for investors” was offered to create a pioneering demonstration zone in Taiwan where backfilled gravel pits from illegal extraction are transformed into a green energy demonstration zone. Since there was no precedent to follow in this project, and it was at the early stage of the domestic policy to promote energy transition, the project encountered a problem of insufficient feeder lines during the construction process. In order to allow the photovoltaic facilities to be integrated into the main grid smoothly, the county government coordinated with the Bureau of Energy, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) many times before concluding that the operator (investor) shall construct its own booster station and part of the power facilities, and then have Taipower build a transmission tower across Laonong River to integrate the transmission line to Ligang Township over a long distance, making it the first renewable energy case in Taiwan to be grid-integrated over a long distance across a river. With the close collaboration between the county government, the investor, and the NPA, the project will be completed and grid-integrated by the end of December 2021 with a capacity of 41MW, and is expected to generate 50.75 million kWh of electricity per year to supply electricity to about 9,100 households in Gaoshu Township. The project has also signed a green power bulk sale and purchase agreement with TOPCO Scientific Co., Ltd., and will provide 250 million kWh of green power over the next 10 years to alleviate the demand for green power from domestic enterprises and enhance their international competitiveness.

The demonstration site has also exemplified the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) from planning and design to completion, such as generating about NT$4.11 billion in output value and creating more than 200 jobs to attract young professionals back to the community (SDG-8: Decent Work and Economic Growth), remediating the site's illegal mining and gravel pits, removing trash, dirt, and waste, and backfilling the site with earthworks (SDG-11: Sustainable Cities and Communities), and revitalizing idle land by installing clean renewable solar power (SDG-7: Affordable and Clean Energy). Moreover, through site flood detention and drainage planning and design, the impact of climate change on the surrounding land can be mitigated (SDG-13: Climate Action). Through the promotion of the demonstration zone and Taipower's power infrastructure improvement project, a total of 200MW of extra-high voltage transmission lines was added in Gaoshu Township. The distribution lines required for civilian needs will be increased, so that the future use of electricity or grid integration can reduce the occurrence of cross-county electricity dispatch from Kaohsiung (SDG-9: Indusrty, Innovation and Infrastructure). By establishing this demonstration site, it is hoped Gaoshu Township will be transformed into a more resilient township. Finally, through the improvement and construction of the aforementioned power facilities, Gaoshu Township shall have a total of 200MW of grid-integration potential. After the completion of the “Gaoshu Photovoltaic Demonstration Project (41MW),” Taipower feeder lines still have about 159MW of grid integrated capacity. In order to encourage people in the neighboring areas to join in the green energy industry and provide new land-use options to landowners, the county government has started to inventory the land adjacent to the demonstration sites. In the future, it is expected to promote the transformation of 160 hectares of unsuitable agricultural land into a photovoltaic site, and to integrate the resources of landowners, operators, and the government to establish a “zero budget” implementation model with policy incentives, operator obligations, landowner rights, and public trust, and to revitalize existing land use practices with energy transition to address the problem of aging in rural communities.