Marshall Islands President Hilda C. Heine and her husband, Thomas Kijiner, Jr., led a delegation to Taiwan on a state visit. The delegation from Marshall Islands, which has formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, was composed of 20 high-ranking Marshallese officials, including Paramount Chief and Senior Advisor to the President Iroijlaplap Lein Tawoj Zedkeia, and Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister John M. Silk. President Tsai Ing-wen accompanied the visiting presidential couple and delegation on a visit to Tainan on July 31. They toured the Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau and observed the floating solar power generators on public detention ponds in Tree Valley Park. As this is a first visit from a Marshallese president, Tainan City Mayor Li Men-yen escorted the group during the entire visit and gifted the guests with Anping sword lion koji pottery artworks and silk scarves. Li also briefed President Tsai and President Heine on the current status of Tainan’s green energy industry developments.
While they were at Tree Valley Park, Mayor Li gave his remarks in English and pointed out that energy is the fundamental driving force behind national economic development. In order to achieve the goal of becoming a nuclear-free homeland in 2025, the Executive Yuan proposed three major energy directions: diversified energy sources, smart energy conservation, and technology for energy storage. One of the goals of diversified energy sources is to install sufficient solar PV equipment to generate up to 20 GW and eventually replace 20% of the electricity currently generated via nuclear power.
Mayor Li mentioned that Tainan has abundant sunshine and a robust green energy industry. In 2011, the city launched the Solar City Project; and as of the end of June, 2018, Tainan has approved 4,950 solar PV installation applications, amounting to 512 MW of installed capacity. The annual power generation capacity has reached 660 million kWh (kilowatt hour), and reduced about 350 thousand tons of carbon emission, which is equivalent to the annual carbon reduction of 1,076 Tainan Parks.
Furthermore, Li stressed that peak energy consumption periods are also the time when the floating solar power generation system generates the largest amount of energy. Thus during peak hours of electricity consumption, the system can effectively lessen the power supply load, and it also brings in a rental income of about USD 150 thousand per year. The detention ponds, in addition to preventing floods, now serve additional functions such as power generation and environmental education.
Mayor Li later relayed the comments of the two Presidents after the briefing. The Marshallese delegation was very interested in Taiwan’s solar energy generating technology and system, and looked forward to establishing collaboration projects with Taiwan. President Tsai also expressed that the Bureau of Energy of Ministry of Economic Affairs could foster exchanges with Marshall Islands and provide assistance and export the technologies.
Since President Heine came into office, Marshall Islands has had frequent interactions with Taiwan. This is their third visit to Taiwan and first visit to Tainan. In addition to touring the Southern Taiwan Science Park Bureau and floating solar power generators in Tree Valley Park, the delegation also visited Chimei Museum. They returned to Taipei in the afternoon.