As Taiwan grows more enthusiastic over the development of renewable energy, a researcher is suggesting that the government put the brakes on traveling in that direction before more energy is wasted.
"Many studies have found that the energy devoted to produce renewable energy and biofuel has exceeded output energy," Daigee Shaw (蕭代基), president of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院), said at a press conference yesterday.
More energy is required to produce a solar cell than the cell can generate in its lifetime, Shaw said.
Attacking enthusiasm for cure-all renewable energy, Shaw said pollution and greenhouse gas emissions are still being generated during production of green energy.
Limited and unstable supplies of renewable energy, such as through wind power, solar power and hydraulic power, can hardly meet growing demand, Shaw said.
As a result, the government should review its energy policy and develop renewable energies that can yield net energy, he said.
The institution has submitted suggestions to the government for re-examining renewable energy policy. But the Cabinet insisted on a policy of pushing the installed capacity of renewable energy to 10 percent by 2010, Shaw said.
Taiwan imports more than 98 percent of its energy, and feels the pinch whenever energy prices rise.
The nation may suffer power shortages within five years unless additional generators are built, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in June last year.
The government will favor plans for coal-fired stations when it awards contracts to build new capacity next year because they are cheaper to run and easier to supply than those fueled by gas.
"It looks like we'll have to rely on coal," Chan Wen-hong, an executive officer at the Bureau of Energy, said on Thursday.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower,
The new projects aim to supply an extra 1,980 megawatts of capacity, enough to meet 5 percent of the nation's peak summer electricity demand. Tenders close on Dec. 5, and the government is likely to name two or three contract winners before the end of this February, Chan said.
"The choice of coal is pragmatic," Jeffrey Bor (
Gas-fired power plants are less favored because of shortages in supply and the time needed to build pipelines, he said.
EXPANSION: The investment came as ASE in July told investors it would accelerate capacity growth to mitigate supply issues, and would boost spending by 16 percent ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it is investing NT$17.6 billion (US$578.6 million) to build a new advanced chip packaging facility in Kaohsiung to cope with fast-growing demand from artificial intelligence (AI), high-performance-computing (HPC) and automotive applications. The new fab, called K18B, is to commence operation in the first quarter of 2028, offering chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) chip packaging and final testing services, ASE said in a statement. The fab is to create 2,000 new jobs upon its completion, ASE said. A wide spectrum of system-level chip packaging technologies would be available at
Taiwan’s foreign exchange reserves hit a record high at the end of last month, surpassing the US$600 billion mark for the first time, the central bank said yesterday. Last month, the country’s foreign exchange reserves rose US$5.51 billion from a month earlier to reach US$602.94 billion due to an increase in returns from the central bank’s portfolio management, the movement of other foreign currencies in the portfolio against the US dollar and the bank’s efforts to smooth the volatility of the New Taiwan dollar. Department of Foreign Exchange Director-General Eugene Tsai (蔡炯民)said a rate cut cycle launched by the US Federal Reserve
HEAVYWEIGHT: The TAIEX ended up 382.67 points, with about 280 of those points contributed by TSMC shares alone, which rose 2.56 percent to close at NT$1,400 Shares in Taiwan broke records at the end of yesterday’s session after contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) hit a fresh closing-high amid enthusiasm toward artificial intelligence (AI) development, dealers said. The TAIEX ended up 382.67 points, or 1.45 percent, at the day’s high of 26,761.06. Turnover totaled NT$463.09 billion (US$15.22 billion). “The local main board has repeatedly hit new closing highs in the past few sessions as investors continued to embrace high hopes about AI applications, taking cues from a strong showing in shares of US-based AI chip designer Nvidia Corp,” Hua Nan Securities Co (華南永昌證券) analyst Kevin Su
Nvidia Corp’s major server production partner Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) reported 10.99 percent year-on-year growth in quarterly sales, signaling healthy demand for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Revenue totaled NT$2.06 trillion (US$67.72 billion) in the last quarter, in line with analysts’ projections, a company statement said. On a quarterly basis, revenue was up 14.47 percent. Hon Hai’s businesses cover four primary product segments: cloud and networking, smart consumer electronics, computing, and components and other products. Last quarter, “cloud and networking products delivered strong growth, components and other products demonstrated significant growth, while smart consumer electronics and computing products slightly declined,” compared with the
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