Several academics and specialists yesterday said Taiwan has the natural resources to develop geothermal energy, but there are still many obstacles that need to be overcome, including strict regulations and a lack of government funding.
While government officials from related agencies say they look favorably upon developing geothermal energy, legislation needs to be amended and a Bureau of Energy official said it would be difficult to replace nuclear power in the short term.
The remarks were made at a public hearing on developing geothermal energy in Yilan held by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday.
Song Sheng-rong (宋聖榮), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Geosciences, said an estimated 33,640 megawatts of electricity could be generated by using geothermal energy in four main areas — Hualien and Taitung, Nantou, Yilan and the Tatun (大屯) Volcano Group in Taipei.
It is wrong for the government to use a failed geothermal power plant test in Yilan County’s Qingshui (清水) between 1981 and 1993 as an excuse for refusing to invest in geothermal energy, Song said.
Song said the early stages of developing geothermal energy — exploration and drilling — have the highest risks and would need more government support, but on the whole, geothermal energy is relatively cheap, safe and clean.
After analyzing the environmental conditions at the four main hot spring and active fault areas, Chen Wen-shan (陳文山), a professor at National Taiwan University’s Department of Geology, said Lanyang Plain (蘭陽平原) in Yilan County is the best area to develop geothermal energy, while mountainous areas of Nantou County are probably only suitable for small-scale development.
Lee Chao-shing (李昭興), professor of applied geosciences at National Taiwan Ocean University, said the geysers in northern California are the world’s largest geothermal field, containing 22 geothermal power plants which can generate about two times the electricity of the proposed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s Gongliao District (貢寮).
Moreover, geothermal energy accounts for 25 percent of Iceland’s energy resources and the country has the least carbon emissions in the world, he said, adding that nearby countries such as the Philippines and Japan are also developing geothermal energy and Taiwan should make use of this natural energy resource too.
Former president Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) mention of Taiwan’s official name during a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Wednesday was likely a deliberate political play, academics said. “As I see it, it was intentional,” National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies professor Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said of Ma’s initial use of the “Republic of China” (ROC) to refer to the wider concept of “the Chinese nation.” Ma quickly corrected himself, and his office later described his use of the two similar-sounding yet politically distinct terms as “purely a gaffe.” Given Ma was reading from a script, the supposed slipup
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
The bodies of two individuals were recovered and three additional bodies were discovered on the Shakadang Trail (砂卡礑) in Taroko National Park, eight days after the devastating earthquake in Hualien County, search-and-rescue personnel said. The rescuers reported that they retrieved the bodies of a man and a girl, suspected to be the father and daughter from the Yu (游) family, 500m from the entrance of the trail on Wednesday. The rescue team added that despite the discovery of the two bodies on Friday last week, they had been unable to retrieve them until Wednesday due to the heavy equipment needed to lift