Abstract
Because of the serious scarcity of energy resources in Taiwan, energy supplies entirely rely on imported energy at up to 99%. Although Taiwan’s government invested vast resources to develop nuclear energy in the past decades, the construction work of new nuclear plant cannot continue but was asked to be stopped and the plants sealed, after the public faced the nuclear disaster caused by the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan in 2011. People are paying increasing attention to concerns about nuclear safety and environmental jeopardy. A movement asking for a nuclearfree homeland has sprung up. In recent years, woody bioenergy has been rapidly developed as a renewable form of energy in advanced Western countries, and the development has not only increased annually, but there are targeted goals for the medium and long term in their future energy policies. By analyzing the current domestic status of various renewable energy utilizations, the objectives of this study were to assess the feasibility of developing woody bioenergy in Taiwan and make policy recommendations to the related energy authorities. Research results showed that the cost of power generated by woody bioenergy was around New Taiwan (NT) $2.24~2.7 kWh-1 (EUR$1≈NT$38.04), which was less than fossil fuels at NT$5.99 kWh-1 and natural gas at NT$3.25 kWh-1. In regions where conventional hydropower, wind power, and solar photovoltaic cannot effectively be supplied, there are mass distributions of woody bioenergy throughout the island. Based on existing data, which were collected on materials of thinning of plantations and residues of wood processing, woody bioenergy was estimated to substitute for around 2.5~5.9% of power generation capacity each year of a new nuclear power plant, if these materials were properly distributed and managed. This alternative could upgrade energy diversification, improve power shortages due to the closing of nuclear power plants, and grasp the opportunities for a low-carbon energy economy.