The Executive Yuan on Wednesday designated about 2,500 hectares of farmland no longer suitable for agriculture in central and southern Taiwan as sites for the construction of solar power facilities to develop renewable energy.
The act gave the nation’s solar power industry the green light to build facilities in Yunlin, Chiayi and Changhua counties, where large amounts of farmland have turned fallow due to ground subsidence.
Severe ground subsidence caused by excessive groundwater extraction led to 1,253 hectares of farmland in Yunlin, Chiayi and Changhua to be designated as unsuitable for agriculture.
A corridor spanning 1,266 hectares surrounding the high-speed rail line in Changhua and Yunlin was also on the Executive Yuan’s list, as ground subsidence related to train operations has greatly affected the area.
The designation was made after Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) heard an interministerial report by the National Development Council, the Council of Agriculture and the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
Saying that upholding “the principle of agricultural land solely for agricultural use” remains the government’s top priority, the Executive Yuan expressed its worry that quality farmland might be used for solar power should too many regions be designated for energy development, as generating electricity is generally more profitable than growing crops.
As the 2,519 hectares are undoubtedly unsuitable for farming, reutilizing that land for solar energy will not spark opposition, it said.
The government is to survey whether more farmland could be used to generate electricity, especially severely polluted fields.
Trips for more than 100,000 international and domestic air travelers could be disrupted as China launches a military exercise around Taiwan today, Taiwan’s Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said yesterday. The exercise could affect nearly 900 flights scheduled to enter the Taipei Flight Information Region (FIR) during the exercise window, it added. A notice issued by the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration showed there would be seven temporary zones around the Taiwan Strait which would be used for live-fire exercises, lasting from 8am to 6pm today. All aircraft are prohibited from entering during exercise, it says. Taipei FIR has 14 international air routes and
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City buses in Taipei and New Taipei City, as well as the Taipei MRT, would on Saturday begin accepting QR code payments from five electronic payment providers, the Taipei Department of Transportation said yesterday. The new option would allow passengers to use the “transportation QR code” feature from EasyWallet, iPass Money, iCash Pay, Jkopay or PXPay Plus. Passengers should open their preferred electronic payment app, select the “transportation code” — not the regular payment code — unlock it, and scan the code at ticket readers or gates, General Planning Division Director-General Liu Kuo-chu (劉國著) said. People should move through the
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
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