ITRI TODAY Summer issue 2023

New Green Energy: Sustainable Energy Developments Bring New Opportunities

Countries around the world are changing their energy consumption structure, developing low-carbon energy sources, and actively moving towards their net-zero goals to mitigate the climate change crisis. “Energy creation is crucial to reaching net zero emissions goals. New and renewable energy will dominate future energy structures,” said Hou-Peng Wan, Deputy General Director of Green Energy and Environment Research Laboratories at ITRI. According to estimations of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), by 2050, 90% of energy will come from renewable sources. “Technology innovation is key to realizing net-zero emissions,” Wan added. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has gone through 400 new technologies and found that nearly half of them are still in the development stage. As countries continue to innovate and deploy wind and solar power infrastructures, technology breakthroughs in alternative advanced energy sources such as hydrogen, geothermal, and ocean energy are also essential in realizing net-zero emission goals.

Chung-Hsin Electric & Machinery Manufacturing Corp. (CHEM) COO Sung-Chin Shen pointed out that according to the IEA, vehicle electrification and renewable energy generation will be the two global net-zero trends for the coming decade, while hydrogen energy plays a crucial role in both. “Years between 2023 and 2025 are significant to the hydrogen energy industry, as it will dictate the massive scope of hydrogen technology applications around the world from 2026 to 2030.” According to Shen, CHEM has been actively developing hydrogen-powered vehicles in recent years. Dividing low-power vehicles or commercial vehicles into various system modules, the company offers one-stop services – from design, certification, to mass production – to swiftly mass-produce hydrogen cars with a price advantage. So far, the company has successfully developed commercial low-power two-wheeler, three-wheeler, and four-wheeler hydrogen vehicles. This year, CHEM officially opened the Hydrogen Energy Manufacturing Center in Hwa Ya Technology Park, which will mainly produce key components.

Semisils Applied Materials Corp. Chairman Jia-Xiong Chen noted, “When it comes to clean energy, hydrogen energy is always brought into the conversation because hydrogen is the cleanest and most efficient energy we can use. Yet how to effectively extract and utilize it is still a major issue.” Semisils has the world’s only patented semiconductor waste silicon sludge recycling technology, which is a typical example of the circular economy. According to the EPA, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry produces more than 6,000 tons of waste silica sand every year; Semisils can produce high-purity hydrogen gas when the company processes waste silicon sludge. The collected hydrogen, which has a purity of 99.999%, after going through a purification system can then be used for industrial purposes or power generation. Working with ITRI, Semisils applied its self-produced green hydrogen on hydrogen fuel cell power generation systems that now power the company’s factories. This application helped the company obtain the world’s first green energy certification for hydrogen power generation.

In 2022, 16.1 GW of geothermal power was generated globally. Plus GeoEnergy Co. selected Taitung’s Jinlun area to develop geothermal power in 2017. The first phase of the company’s power plant began operations in 2021 and has an installed capacity of 500 KW. Plus GeoEnergy Director Xi Shen Chen stated that the company has adopted a philosophy of having its team learning all aspects of geothermal power generation, including well drilling, well production, power plant design, construction, and full automation. “It took four-plus years to build the power plant, but the team has acquired valuable knowledge and experience related to geothermal energy,” said Chen. Plus GeoEnergy also leveraged these experiences in other geothermal development projects. In 2023, the team will complete second phase developments at the Jinlun site with another 500 KW capacity. In parallel, the company is close to selecting a new site in the Jinlun area for a larger geothermal plant with a 4 MW capacity.

Responding to the net-zero era, the Yuen Foong Yu Group established Effion Enertech Co. to develop competency in circular economy structures and smart energy sectors. Effion Enertech Chairman and Yuen Foong Yu Group Carbontech & Management Group Leader Huey-Ching Yeh explained that Yuen Foong Yu’s pursuit of net-zero stems from the “saccharide economy” concept. Starting from forestation, the vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide and forms a carbon sink, which through photosynthesis turns into water, oxygen, and glucose. The glucose then forms polysaccharides that can be derived into organic compounds including starch and fiber, which are then transformed into different materials via technology. These can then be utilized as non-plastic materials and low-carbon energy. “The carbon sink, non-plastic materials, and low-carbon energy thus form Yuen Foong Yu’s circular economy, which forms the basis for the Group’s transition towards net zero,” added Yeh. In this circular economy framework, the Group has devoted itself to the development of biomass energy. For example, Yuen Foong Yu built Taiwan’s largest lignin biomass power generation system with a capacity of 20 MW at its pulp plant in Hualien. The Group also established the first coal-less co-generation solid recovered fuel (SRF) boiler to power a paper factory. The boiler burns SRF as an alternative fuel source using more than 5,500 tons of SRF per month, and solves the issue of waste removal. The Group also set up the largest biogas power generation system in Taiwan, reducing coal consumption by more than 24,000 tons per year, significantly accelerating the progress of reaching net-zero goals.