Windpower in Taiwan

On top of one of the engineering buildings on the Cheng Kung University campus we have a wind turbine.

Being on the west coast of Taiwan, the wind can be fairly strong but it is not consistent. Sometimes the windmill is not moving at all. This problem of siting is the make or break criterion for whether windmills are economically feasible. An irregular wind make the investment not worthwhile.

In the CiJin park in KaoHsiung they also have small windmills but mostly as decorations. Notice the propeller is chained down in this photo.

But from the train from Tainan to Taipei there are now a string of windmills south of HsinChu. I think HsinChu is called the "windy city" and is actually the sister city to Chicago. So it sounds like a good place for siting.

These windmills look like they're a 100 feet in the air the propellers maybe 50 feet long(I'm just guessing). But in the few times I've taken the train only a few have been in operation. Again I think that the economics make it better to shutdown the windmill unless the wind is strong enough to drive it at it's optimal speed.

Not to be left out, my dorm is also in the windmill business, we just haven't figured out the transmission problem yet.