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.
Intel Corp chief executive officer Lip-Bu Tan (陳立武) is expected to meet with Taiwanese suppliers next month in conjunction with the opening of the Computex Taipei trade show, supply chain sources said on Monday. The visit, the first for Tan to Taiwan since assuming his new post last month, would be aimed at enhancing Intel’s ties with suppliers in Taiwan as he attempts to help turn around the struggling US chipmaker, the sources said. Tan is to hold a banquet to celebrate Intel’s 40-year presence in Taiwan before Computex opens on May 20 and invite dozens of Taiwanese suppliers to exchange views
Application-specific integrated circuit designer Faraday Technology Corp (智原) yesterday said that although revenue this quarter would decline 30 percent from last quarter, it retained its full-year forecast of revenue growth of 100 percent. The company attributed the quarterly drop to a slowdown in customers’ production of chips using Faraday’s advanced packaging technology. The company is still confident about its revenue growth this year, given its strong “design-win” — or the projects it won to help customers design their chips, Faraday president Steve Wang (王國雍) told an online earnings conference. “The design-win this year is better than we expected. We believe we will win
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) chairman Barry Lam (林百里) is expected to share his views about the artificial intelligence (AI) industry’s prospects during his speech at the company’s 37th anniversary ceremony, as AI servers have become a new growth engine for the equipment manufacturing service provider. Lam’s speech is much anticipated, as Quanta has risen as one of the world’s major AI server suppliers. The company reported a 30 percent year-on-year growth in consolidated revenue to NT$1.41 trillion (US$43.35 billion) last year, thanks to fast-growing demand for servers, especially those with AI capabilities. The company told investors in November last year that
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said it plans to ship its new 1 megawatt charging systems for electric trucks and buses in the first half of next year at the earliest. The new charging piles, which deliver up to 1 megawatt of charging power, are designed for heavy-duty electric vehicles, and support a maximum current of 1,500 amperes and output of 1,250 volts, Delta said in a news release. “If everything goes smoothly, we could begin shipping those new charging systems as early as in the first half of next year,” a company official said. The new
RSS