The Ministry of Economic Affairs yesterday warned that electricity prices could soar by 40 percent if the country abandoned nuclear power as its major electricity source.
If the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) is prevented from becoming operational, while the first and second nuclear power plants are retired, state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) would have to increase electricity rates sharply to cope with the high costs of generating power by using coal or natural gas, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said at the legislature, calling on lawmakers to be prepared for price increases when making decisions.
As nuclear power plants can generate electricity at a lower cost compared with thermal, wind or hydroelectric power farms and emit less CO2, it could be a better option to generate electricity, said Chai Fu-feng (蔡富豐), chief nuclear energy engineer in Taipower’s power generation department.
“It is understandable that there are safety concerns from the public, but the company has invested heavily in building safety systems to prevent accidents,” Chai said by telephone yesterday.
Chai said that Taipower has completed about 95 percent of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant’s construction and about 63 percent of its equipment had begun test operations.
Asked by lawmakers when the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant could begin operating, Shih said Taipower will submit a timetable in the second half of this year.
Shih told lawmakers that the ministry plans to invest billions of dollars of its budget in the purchase of fuels for the new power plant’s reactors in the second half of this year.
That will be the last phase of Taipower’s investment in the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, after investing a total of NT$283.8 billion (US$9.79 billion) over the past few years, Shih said.
Taipower plans to submit reports to the Atomic Energy Council for operation of the new power plant by June, Taipower chairman Hwang Jung-chiou (黃重球) said.
UNPRECEDENTED PACE: Micron Technology has announced plans to expand manufacturing capabilities with the acquisition of a new chip plant in Miaoli Micron Technology Inc unveiled a newly acquired chip plant in Miaoli County yesterday, as the company expands capacity to meet growing demand for advanced DRAM chips, including high-bandwidth memory chips amid the artificial intelligence boom. The plant in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼), which Micron acquired from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion, is expected to make a sizeable capacity contribution to the company from fiscal 2028, the company said in a statement. It would be an extended production site of Micron’s large-scale manufacturing hub in Taichung, the company said. As the global semiconductor industry is racing to reach US$1 trillion
Singapore-based ride-hailing and delivery giant Grab Holdings Ltd has applied for regulatory approval to acquire the Taiwan operations of Germany-based Delivery Hero SE's Foodpanda in a deal valued at about US$600 million. Grab submitted the filing to the Fair Trade Commission on Friday last week, with the transaction subject to regulatory review and approval, the company said in a statement yesterday. Its independent governance structure would help foster a healthy and competitive market in Taiwan if the deal is approved, Grab said. Grab, which is listed on the NASDAQ, said in the filing that US-based Uber Technologies Inc holds about 13 percent of
ABOVE LEGAL REQUIREMENT: The Ministry of Economic Affairs is prepared if LNG supply is disrupted, with more than the legal requirement of 11 days of inventory Taiwan has largely secured liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies through May and arranged about half of June’s supply, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. Since the Middle East conflict began on Feb. 28, Taiwan’s LNG inventories have remained more than 12 days, exceeding the legal requirement of 11 days, indicating no major supply concerns for domestic gas and electricity, Kung said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. The ministry aims to increase the figure to 14 days by the end of next year, he said. While one or two LNG or crude oil shipments for May
Taiwan’s food delivery market could undergo a major shift if Singapore-based Grab Holdings Ltd completes its planned acquisition of Delivery Hero SE’s Foodpanda business in Taiwan, industry experts said. Grab on Monday last week announced it would acquire Foodpanda’s Taiwan operations for US$600 million. The deal is expected to be finalized in the second half of this year, with Grab aiming to complete user migration to its platform by the first half of next year. A duopoly between Uber Eats and Foodpanda dominates Taiwan’s delivery market, a structure that has remained intact since the Fair Trade Commission (FTC) blocked Uber Technologies Inc’s
RSS