Regarding the development of renewable energy, the Yunlin County Government recently sent a letter to the Ministry of Economic Affairs requesting that the central government establish total capacity control and operation specifications standards.
It also suggested that operators obtain approval for site construction from the location prior to submitting applications. Until those improvements are implemented, the county government would temporarily suspend issuance of consent letters for the establishment of renewable energy power plants.
If Yunlin does not want to use green energy, what kind of energy would it use?
Yunlin County had a population of 659,521 in July, Ministry of the Interior population statistics and Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) sales data showed. That same month, Taipower recorded total electricity usage of more than 526 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) in the county. This equates to an average electricity consumption of 798kWh per Yunlin County resident in that month.
The average electricity consumption per resident in counties with similar industries and lifestyles were 729kWh for Yilan County, 612kWh for Chiayi County, 606kWh for Pingtung County, 518kWh for Nantou County and 845kWh for Changhua County. It is evident that Yunlin County ranks among the highest in energy consumption.
Given its situation, the Yunlin County Government must find proper energy sources for its residents. If it does not wish to use solar or wind energy, what on earth does it plan to use? Coal or gas-fired power plants? Or perhaps it wants to inherit the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) long-standing plan and advocate for the construction of more nuclear power plants?
In this world, there is no energy policy without imperfections. If you expect a horse to run, it would need to eat grass. Taiwan is only so large. Counties and cities cannot simply dump their energy dilemmas onto their neighbors — they must put forth their own best efforts to address these issues.
Huang Tzu-wei works in public service.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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