CIRES & Maiora Renewable Energy forum

Date: 2022.08.04

Site: Meeting room of College of Environmental Studies and Oceanography

Following the signing of a memorandum of cooperation between National Dong Hwa University (NDHU) and Maiora Renewable Energy Pte Ltd (MRE), the Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Ecology and Sustainablity (CIRES) organized a symposium to further enhance mutual understanding of their expertise. At the meeting, President Hui-Ping Li of MRE explained that the MRE Group, combining its investment and asset management teams with its green energy business development team, has developed and constructed over 200 renewable energy power plants worldwide. In 2019, MRE expanded its solar energy business into Taiwan, with two projects already under application in central Hualien. President Li hopes to collaborate with the CIRES team, leveraging their expertise in ecology and governance to create green energy projects that combine environmental conservation with local social development.

CIRES Director I-Fang Sun introduced the team members and pointed out that CIRES hopes to establish a standardized monitoring method to collect landscape-scale assessment frameworks, conduct socioeconomic assessments, and work with stakeholders such as businesses, local residents, and NGOs to try to solve the problem of where to locate "the right renewable energy facility."

Clay Kinney, a partner at MRE, and Wen-Hsiang Liu, a development manager, both mentioned that they maintained friendly communication with environmental groups throughout the development process. However, the groups' opinions were often raised at the last minute, often catching them off guard. Futhermore, they encountered unscientific and emotional responses, which caused difficulties during development. The CIRES team pointed out that if a clear understanding of the local ecological environment is achieved before construction, developer can present data and evidence to communicate with local residentsand environmental groups. Another possible solution, which the National Technology and Science Council has emphasized in recent years, is to incorporate co-design, co-production, and co-delivery into the project. For example, the MRE development project involved stakeholders such as local residents, NGOs, civil society groups, and experts and scholars from the outset to ensure that the project design met the needs of various stakeholders. The next step is for the developer to collaborate with academic groups and even environmental NGOs to generate local knowledge and ultimately share this knowledge with all stakeholders. Because all stakeholders are involved in this process from beginning to end, communication opportunities are increased and trust between different groups is promoted. Through this, we hope to achieve the win-win situation we all pursue: green energy, environment and society.