Amid rising calls for the scrapping the nation’s use of nuclear power, iron and steel product manufacturers have expressed concern over the effect such a move would have on the steady supply of electricity, which they said is crucial to their companies’ competitiveness.
Chairman of Taichung-based Feng Hsin Iron & Steel (豐興鋼鐵) Lin Ming-ju (林明儒) said despite concerns about safety at the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), the scrapping of nuclear power and shifting to a reliance on renewable energy sources is not feasible, as the nation’s electricity supply would not be stable.
Company spokesman Lin Da-chun (林大鈞) said an unstable power supply would mean power disruptions and could cause halts to production. He said the company could ask for compensation from state-owned Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, 台電), but he said what the company wants is a stable supply of electricity rather than compensation.
Lin said that geothermal and nuclear power are still the most stable sources of electricity at present.
Use of renewable energy sources would not provide a stable supply, he said.
In terms of electricity sales last year, Taipower provided the most electricity to the electronics industry, selling it 30.54 billion kilowatt-hours, or 21.95 percent of the electricity sold to all sectors.
The iron and steel industry came in second, purchasing 11.54 billion kilowatt-hours, or 8.3 percent of all electricity sold.
Huang Hsiao-hsin (黃孝信), secretary-general of the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association (台灣鋼鐵工業同業公會), said that besides an unstable supply of electricity, steel product manufacturers are also worried about electricity rates going up, which they said would undermine their competitiveness.
However, Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp (東和鋼鐵) said it welcomed the current debate on nuclear power, and added that faced with a potentially unstable electricity supply and electricity price increases, the firm needs to plan how to reduce its electricity use and improve efficiency.
“Rather than worrying about insufficient power supplies in the future, it is better to start saving electricity,” a company spokesman said.
More than 20,000 employees at Apple Inc supplier Foxconn Technology Group’s (富士康) huge Chinese plant, mostly new hires not yet working on production lines, have left, a Foxconn source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The departures from the world’s largest iPhone factory dealt a fresh blow to the Taiwanese company, which has been grappling with strict COVID-19 restrictions that have fueled worker discontent and disrupted production ahead of Christmas and January’s Lunar New Year holiday. Concerns are mounting over Apple’s ability to deliver products for the busy holiday period as the worker unrest lingers at the Zhengzhou plant, which produces the
FACTORY TUMULT: The departure of new workers impact production less than the quarantines imposed on existing employees, a worker at China’s ‘iPhone city’ said Turmoil at Apple Inc’s key manufacturing hub in Zhengzhou is likely to result in a production shortfall of almost 6 million iPhone Pro units this year, a person familiar with assembly operations said. The situation remains fluid at the plant and the estimate of lost production could change, the person said, asking not to be named discussing private information. Much depends on how quickly Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the Taiwanese company that operates the facility, can get people back to assembly lines after violent protests against COVID-19 restrictions. If lockdowns continue in the weeks ahead, production could be set further
’INHERENT VULNERABILITIES’: The country has been working with the US to build its own lithium and rare earth mines in a bid to curb China’s dominance in the market Australia is vowing more assertive scrutiny of foreign investments in key commodities tied to electric vehicles and clean energy, in a potential warning to China which dominates the market. Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has asked the country’s Treasury to work with the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board and other stakeholders to undertake a review of foreign investment in sectors such as lithium and rare earths, he told a conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’ll need to be more assertive about encouraging investment that clearly aligns with our national interest in the longer term,” Chalmers said. Although Chalmers did not directly identify China investment as
HOLIDAY SEASON OMEN: Low-cost brands and high-end retailers had the most foot traffic, leaving mid-range stores struggling on what used to be their biggest sales day US retailers discounted heavily on Black Friday to clear out bloated inventories, but customers responded with only modest traffic, leaving profitability in doubt for many chains. Brick-and-mortar retailers, which were hit hard by COVID-19 closures and shoppers seeking to avoid the virus, saw in-store traffic on Friday tick up 2.9 percent from last year’s shopping event, data compiled by Sensormatic Solutions showed. US consumers are still spending, but they are growing more cautious after contending this year with the highest inflation rates in four decades. They are also keeping a sharper lookout for deals, and retailers — many of them still heavy
RSS