The Executive Yuan has approved measures to liberalize the power market and break up state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), as well as increase the number of public kindergartens by 1,000 by 2020 to expand childcare coverage and increase women’s participation in the workforce.
The Executive Yuan yesterday passed an amendment of the Electricity Act (電業法) that would deregulate the power market and promote “green” energy.
The proposal calls for Taipower to transform into a holding company with subsidiaries.
Photo courtesy of Taiwan Power Co
According to the draft amendments, “green” energy firms will be allowed to sell and transmit electricity to users directly, with pricing being freely negotiated between generating companies and clients, Bureau of Energy Director-General Lin Chuan-neng (林全能) said.
Currently, firms can only sell power to Taipower, Lin said.
Businesses will be permitted to operate traditional power plants, but they can only sell electricity to Taipower, he said.
To complete the separation of power generation and electricity distribution, Taipower has to be divided into subsidiary companies in six to nine years following the passage of the draft amendment by the Legislative Yuan, with a company responsible for power generation and another for distribution and retailing, Lin said.
The “public electricity retailing industry,” which is to be composed of Taipower spinoffs, would be obliged to supply power to the public, which will also have the choice to purchase “green” energy, he said, adding that “non-renewable” electricity rates would be regulated to offset price fluctuations due to global fuel costs.
The Executive Yuan was planning an across-the-board liberalization to deregulate both the traditional and renewable energy markets, but the latest amendment is mainly focused on the “green” energy sector, Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.
The traditional power sector would be liberalized in the next round of legislation to allow operators to freely enter electricity retailing, Hsu said.
“The government has adopted a gradual approach to liberalization to prevent the legislation from being stalled,” he said.
The legislation is necessary, as Taipower’s monopoly of the industry is what is prohibiting rapid growth in the renewable energy industry, Premier Lin Chuan (林全) said, adding that it is the government’s priority to liberate the “green” energy market during this legislative session.
“Criticism saying that the legislation would lead to higher electricity prices and the monopolization of the power market by business groups is incorrect,” Hsu quoted the premier as saying.
“The percentage of green energy in the nation’s power grid is too low and even if the price of green energy increases several times over [following the liberalization], it would not affect electricity supply,” Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said.
Hydroelectric and nuclear power plants will continue to be state-run.
Meanwhile, the Executive Yuan is to budget NT$6.2 billion (US$196.6 million) to establish 1,000 kindergartens in the next four years.
Minister of Education Pan Wen-chung (潘文忠) said the plan is to boost the number of “non-profit kindergartens” — facilities run privately on refurbished public properties — and public kindergartens.
The plan is expected to raise the percentage of children enrolled in public or non-profit kindergartens from 30 percent to 40 percent by 2020, Pan said.
“The measure will provide affordable childcare to allow women to enter the workforce,” Pan said.
‘NO SURRENDER’: A blockade or outlying island seizure would be an act of war, and China’s drills last month have emboldened Taipei in its response plans, an official said The Republic of China Army Command Headquarters has agreed to purchase 5,000 Kestrel close-range anti-armor missiles worth NT$400 million (US$12.63 million) from the Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology, according to the military’s latest arms purchase bid notice. The army asked the institute to complete the order within 13 months, a military source said on condition of anonymity. Kestrel missiles are designed to penetrate armored vehicles and are used in anti-surface warfare, as they feature optical sights and night vision, and can be operated in all weather conditions. The missile has a 400m range, or a 150m range when used for breaching brick
IF THE CHIPS ARE DOWN: The US secretary of state warned that a disruption to the supply of Taiwanese semiconductors would play havoc with the global economy If Taiwan were attacked, the global economy would face devastation, as that is where most of the world’s semiconductors are produced, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sunday. In an interview that aired on the 60 Minutes television program, Blinken was asked whether instability across the Taiwan Strait would be felt around the world. Blinken said that China has been increasingly aggressive against Taiwan, posing a threat to peace and stability in the region, while economically the world would feel the effects of such aggression. Blinken was interviewed for the program after meeting with Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi
‘ABSURD’: UN Resolution 2758 expelled the Chiang Kai-Shek government without mentioning Taipei, something the Chinese minister did not acknowledge, Taipei said Taiwan yesterday criticized Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) for “intentionally misinterpreting” a 1971 UN resolution to misrepresent Taiwan’s status to the global community. In his address on Saturday to the UN General Assembly, Wang cited Resolution 2758 as a basis for Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China. He said that Beijing considers Taiwan an “inseparable part of China’s territory since ancient times.” “Only when China is completely reunified can there be enduring peace across the Taiwan Strait... Any move to obstruct China’s reunification is bound to be crushed by the wheels of history,” Wang said. General Assembly Resolution 2758
The UK is determined to work with its allies to ensure that Taiwan can defend itself, British Prime Minister Liz Truss said on Sunday, a pledge that drew expressions of gratitude from Taipei. “What I’ve been clear about is that all of our allies need to make sure Taiwan is able to defend itself, and that is very, very important,” Truss said in a CNN interview, when asked whether the UK was willing to match the US’ pledge last week to defend Taiwan militarily in the event of an attack by China. Truss said her government was working with its G7 allies,
RSS