On Nov. 24th, Taiwan held referendums on 10 topics. All three referendums related to energy passed, and included Proposition 7 against air pollution (“Do you agree ‘to reduce by 1% year by year’ the electricity production of thermal power plants?”); Proposition 8 against the Shenao Power Plant (“Do you agree to the establishment of an energy policy to ‘stop construction and expansion of any coal-fired thermal power plants or generator units (including the Shenao Power Plant currently under construction)?’”); and Proposition 16 on going green simultaneously with nuclear (“Do you agree to repealing Article 95 Paragraph 1 of the Electricity Act, in which it says, ‘Nuclear-energy-based power generating facilities shall wholly stop running by 2025’?”).
The passage of Proposition 16 suggests that there is no longer a requirement for all of Taiwan’s nuclear power generation plants to be shut down before 2025.
However, the plan to make Taiwan nuclear-free by 2025 will not be affected by the referendum results. Taiwan currently has three nuclear power plants, including Jinshan Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Shihmen District, the Guosheng Nuclear Power Plant in Wanli District, and the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Ma-anshan, Pingtung County. The two reactors in the Jinshan plant are slated to be decommissioned, one today and the other on July 15 next year, and the Guosheng and Ma-anshan plants will also be decommissioned before 2025. Executive Yuan spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka said that the decommissioning plan for the three plants is law, and it is too late for the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District to begin commercial operations.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Liberty Times
照片:自由時報記者蔡淑媛
Taipower chairman Yang Wei-fuu said that the options on which there was most consensus concerned the goals of Taipower’s energy policy, and that Taipower will continue to cooperate with the government’s policy and promote the energy transition plan in stages.
To improve air pollution, according to the plan, coal-fired power generation will be reduced year by year. Natural gas units will be installed in Taichung Power Plant and Kaohsiung’s Hsinta Power Plant to either convert existing coal-fired units into standby units or to for them to be decommissioned. The goal is to increase the proportion of natural gas power generation to 50% by 2025 and reduce coal-fired generation to 30%.
In addition, the plan is to simultaneously increase the proportion of renewable energy provision. The plan is to build offshore wind farms with a capacity of 5.5GW and solar power farms with a capacity of 20GW by 2025, bringing the percentage in the energy mix of green electricity to 20%.
(CNA, translated by Lin Lee-kai )
上月二十四日台灣舉行公民投票,十項公投題目中有三項跟能源有關,且皆通過,包括:第七案「反空汙」公投(你是否同意以「平均每年至少降低百分之一」之方式逐年降低火力發電廠發電量?)、第八案「反深澳」公投(您是否同意確立「停止新建、擴建任何燃煤發電廠或發電機組(包括深澳電廠擴建)」之能源政策?)、第十六案「以核養綠」公投(您是否同意:廢除電業法第九十五條第一項,即廢除「核能發電設備應於中華民國一百十四年以前,全部停止運轉」之條文?)。
第十六案「以核養綠」公投案闖關成功,意味核能發電設備將不限於在民國一一四年以前全部停止運轉。
然而,二○二五年非核家園政策目標,將不會受公投結果影響。台灣目前有三座核電廠:位於新北市石門區的金山核能發電廠(核一)、新北市萬里區的國聖核能發電廠(核二)及屏東縣的馬鞍山核能發電廠(核三)。核一兩部機組將在今日及明年七月十五日除役,接下來核二、核三廠也都會在二○二五年前陸續除役。行政院發言人Kolas Yotaka(谷辣斯.尤達卡)表示,核一、核二與核三廠的除延役期程,均已依法排定,且核四(新北市貢寮區的龍門核能發電廠)也來不及商轉。
台電董事長楊偉甫表示,聚集最多社會共識的選項,就是台電推動能源政策目標。未來台電仍將配合政策,按部就班推動能源轉型計畫。
為改善空汙,依規畫將逐年減少燃煤(火力)發電量,例如將台中電廠與高雄的興達電廠陸續加入燃氣(天然氣)機組商轉,把現有燃煤機組轉為備用機組或除役,目標是在二○二五年時,把天然氣發電比例提高至百分之五十,燃煤則降至百分之三十。
此外也將同步提高再生能源比重,預定二○二五年前建置五‧五GW離岸風電、太陽光電二十GW,讓綠電比例達到百分之二十。
(中央社)
The strongest earthquake to hit Taiwan in 25 years killed at least 16 people and damaged dozens of buildings, but the destruction was largely contained thanks to decades of preparedness work. Taiwan sits on the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of intense seismic activity along the Pacific Rim, and — much like neighboring Japan — has a long history of catastrophic quakes. How does April 3 compare with other recent quakes? The April 3 earthquake, which measured 7.4 on the moment magnitude scale, was felt across Taiwan. It was the most severe since a 7.6 magnitude quake in 1999 killed
A: Artificial intelligence technology has been causing controversy lately: a student was caught cheating with AI to win the grand prize in an art contest. B: That’s so absurd. Does this mean that AI paints better than humans? A: Maybe. Luckily, the student was later disqualified. B: And more absurdly, it’s becoming more and more popular to use AI technology to “resurrect” people. A: Yeah, some netizens even posted videos featuring the late singer CoCo Lee, who was “resurrected” by them with AI software. A: 人工智慧的爭議不斷,有學生違規使用AI參加美術展,甚至贏得首獎。 B: 真誇張,這是不是代表AI比人類還強大? A: 或許吧,幸好得獎資格被取消。 B: 還有更誇張的︰讓死者重現的「AI復活」技術越來越熱門。 A: 對啊,還有網友製作已故歌后李玟「復活」的影片呢! (By Eddy Chang, Taipei Times/台北時報張聖恩)
Around the time of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, the streets of Taiwan are filled with the delightful aroma of zongzi, a traditional snack made of sticky rice wrapped in leaves. The leaves are folded into a cone and then filled with sticky rice and other ingredients such as braised pork belly, peanuts and salted duck egg yolks. The filled leaves are then tightly tied with kitchen twine and ready for cooking. 每到六月端午時節,街頭巷尾就會飄出粽子的香氣。粽子是將糯米包進粽葉的傳統美食,先將粽葉折成圓錐狀塞入糯米,以及紅燒肉、花生、鹹鴨蛋黃等配料,用棉線綁緊後即可烹煮。 Dragon Boat Festival (n. phr.) 端午節 aroma
It’s another school day with the same ritual. You wake up to your smartphone’s alarm, scroll through messages during your commute, and listen to your favorite playlist with your wireless earbuds between classes. These devices, integrated smoothly into your daily routine, certainly make life more convenient. However, where do these devices end up after you replace them? In fact, the issue of electronic waste is a growing global concern. According to the United Nations, in 2019 alone, we generated an astonishing 53.6 million tons of e-waste—an average of 7.3kg per person. Projections hint at the figure soaring to 110