The Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA) 2023 is pleased to honor 30 outstanding business leaders and enterprises for championing sustainable and responsible business practices. Presented by leading regional NGO Enterprise Asia, the AREA is the most reputable award recognition program recognizing organizational efforts in creating a culture of compassion, integrity, and in being socially responsible corporate citizens. The AREA serves as a badge of excellence to spur further innovation and best-practice sharing for your organization and the world at large.
Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) was among the recipients who were conferred with the Social Empowerment and Green Leadership Awards. Established in 1946, Taipower is a state-owned power industry group that operates in the generation, transmission, distribution, and sale of electricity. In response to climate change and energy transition, Taipower created a “Sustainable Development Plan” and aligned itself with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
For its Social Empowerment Award, Taipower was committed to restoring the historic site of the Jinguashi Shrine and launched a Golden Gala Art Festival in conjunction with the revival of the centuryold shrine, rekindling the cultural heritage in the Jinshui area of Northern Taiwan. Taipower’s cultural assets in the Jinshui area include the Lile Copper Refinery, the Jinguashi Shrine, the Taizi Guesthouse which is currently undergoing restoration, the Shuinandong Smelter, and flue pipes at the Taiwan Gold LianDong Copper Refinery. These initiatives mark the beginning of community revitalization efforts that will contribute to the company’s SDGs.
In response to the decline of the mining industry in the late 1980s, Taipower has actively engaged in the preservation of cultural heritage and combined it with public art to promote diversified local development in recent years. Taipower has decided to gradually elevate cultural asset protection to the governance level. Through the execution of the “4-Year Public Art Project” from 2020 to 2024, the company aims to revive local culture, history, and vitality.
To restore and revitalize cultural assets, Taipower also partners with the private sector such as enterprises, schools, experts, and art groups, among other stakeholders. The Golden Art Festival also made over a hundred participating VIPs praised and affirm the thoughtful reception, and received extensive and in-depth reports from the mainstream media. The project continues to exert its impact by significantly enhancing the number of visitors and tourists to the Shuinandong and Jinguashui areas of Northern Taiwan.
For its Green Leadership Award, Taipower’s Tainan Salt Field Solar Power with energy storage system project features a capacity of 150MW, 480,000 solar panels, and a 20MW energy storage system with over 1,000 lithium-ion battery modules. This project emphasizes the importance of ecological preservation and environmental education.
In response to the challenges posed by climate change, Taipower has actively aligned itself with company’s sustainable development goals by 2030 and reach Net Zero by 2050. As a provider and a pioneer in smart grids, Taipower is also dedicated to promoting energy storage development that will ensure a stable power supply while developing renewable energy and driving the green energy transition. This includes integrating green energy into the grid, fortifying the power system. The fact that Taipower partnering with renowned renewable energy company United Renewable Energy Co. to establish the Salt Field Solar PV Farm in Tainan would be a great example, which has become the country’s largest demonstration site for solar power integration and energy storage.
To assist in maintaining a high-quality, stable power supply for the electrical grid, Taipower is making good use of the land space within the Tainan Salt Field Solar PV Farm . The facility contains a total of eight energy storage containers that use lithium-ion batteries and are each capable of storing 2.5MWh of electricity. In total, the storage system can store approximately 20MW, which, if discharged entirely within one hour, can provide electricity for around 40,000 households.
In addition to providing clean and renewable energy at the project site, during the project’s site construction, ecological functionality was considered by employing elevated structures that will allow for flood control and drainage, as well as being friendly for bird habitation. This project creates a tourist and recreational destination that balances both power generation and ecological sustainability while preserving the integrity of the wetland ecosystem.
To promote green energy, Taipower collaborates with the private sector such as design companies and universities, using the theme “Light the Dream” and symbolizing it through lightning, light spots, frames, and other designs to create a brand image for this project site. It also promotes education programs with a focus on sustainable energy and environmental education, with 647 participants educated so far.
About Enterprise Asia
Enterprise Asia is a non-governmental organization in pursuit of creating an Asia that is rich in entrepreneurship as an engine toward sustainable and progressive economic and social development within a world of economic equality. Its two pillars of existence are investment in people and responsible entrepreneurship. Enterprise Asia works with governments, NGOs and other organizations to promote competitiveness and entrepreneurial development, in uplifting the economic status of people across Asia and in ensuring a legacy of hope, innovation and courage for the future generation. Please visit https://www.enterpriseasia.org/ for more information.
About Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards (AREA)
The Asia Responsible Enterprise Awards program recognizes and honors Asian businesses for championing sustainable and responsible entrepreneurship in the categories of Green Leadership, Investment in People, Health Promotion, Social Empowerment, Corporate Governance, Circular Economy Leadership, Corporate Sustainability Reporting, and Responsible Business Leadership. For more information, visit: https://enterpriseasia.org/area/.
