GE Vernova Inc, one of the world’s biggest gas turbine makers, says Taiwan is its fastest-growing Asian market, as the nation’s plan to phase out nuclear energy forces it to rely more on fossil fuels to power its world-leading chipmaking industry.
Turning off nuclear in Taiwan “is leading to a steeper curve of replacement demand,” and “gas is the most applicable replacement to nuclear,” GE Vernova chief executive officer Scott Strazik said.
“We have a lot of opportunity in places like Taiwan that see a lot of electricity growth with chip demands in front of it,” he said in an interview in Singapore.
Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba, AFP
Taiwan — home to the world’s biggest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) — plans to phase out its last nuclear reactor by May even as power demand is expected to rise in the coming decades. Efforts to develop offshore wind have also faced challenges as rising costs and worsening delays plague the industry, leaving the nation with fewer low-carbon energy options.
However, Taiwan remains open to using new nuclear technology, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said in an interview with Bloomberg News late last year. As long as there is a consensus on safety and good waste management, Taiwan can have a public discussion about the use of nuclear power, he said.
For GE Vernova, which also makes small modular nuclear reactors, the global interest in nuclear energy represents an opportunity down the line, Strazik said.
“There’s been an incredible level of enthusiasm for new nuclear, but it’s going to take some time to materialize,” he said. “We’re very motivated with our small modular reactor technology that will be commissioned in Canada in 2029 with the first plan, and then we see it playing a more material role in the rest of the world.”
In Southeast Asia, GE Vernova, which was spun off from General Electric Co last year, sees opportunities in nations such as Malaysia and Indonesia, where gas demand is growing as more data centers are sprouting and the need for electricity is rising.
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