Assessing Power Sector Carbon Emission Intensity in Taiwan: Status Quo and Net-zero Future Perspectives

Abstract

To combat climate change, countries across the globe have successively committed to achieving net-zero emissions by 2050—including Taiwan. The power sector accounts for more than half of Taiwan's total greenhouse gas emissions, suggesting that decarbonizing the power sector is essential to attaining the net-zero target. With the growing diversity of energy sources, the "Electricity Carbon Emission Factor" defined by The Electricity Act will no longer be appropriate when we evaluate the nationwide average carbon intensity of electricity. Based on the publicly available data, this study conducts a comprehensive bottom-up analysis for quantifying the carbon emissions associated with electricity production in Taiwan from now to 2050—at the power generator level. The results reveal great variations in carbon emission intensity across fossil fuel generators, even with the same fuel type. The carbon emission intensity, defined as the ratio of carbon emissions from electricity generation and gross electricity production, is expected to decline to 0.118 kg CO₂e/kWh when shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy under the 2050 Net-Zero Pathway. Taiwan's energy system is undergoing a far-reaching transition toward net-zero emissions; the results presented here serve as an important reference for assessing the climate benefits of sector coupling.

@article{tseng2022assessing,
  title={Assessing Power Sector Carbon Emission Intensity in Taiwan: Status Quo and Net-zero Future Perspectives},
  author={Tseng, Wei-Chun and Chen, Hou-Chuan and Chang, Tsung-Heng and Chang, Tien-Yu and Hsieh, I-Yun Lisa},
  journal={Journal of Taiwan Energy},
  volume={9},
  number={4},
  pages={307-321},
  year={2022},
  month=dec
}