The three candidates in next month’s presidential election yesterday clashed over their visions for the nation’s energy policy in a second televised policy presentation hosted by the Central Election Commission (CEC).
The Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) presidential candidate, Vice President William Lai (賴清德), said he would use digital transformation and the transition to net zero emissions to drive Taiwan’s “second economic miracle.”
As lawmakers passed the government’s goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was the first president to push an energy transition by reducing coal power and using natural gas as a temporary replacement, while developing renewable energy, which accounted for 10 percent of total electricity generation last year — more than nuclear power, he said.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The nation’s lowest operating reserve (standby power) was 1.64 percent, when former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) handed over the post to Tsai in 2016, but it is now constantly between 10 to 15 percent, even in peak electricity hours, Lai said.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has said that before 2030 it can supply more power than any increase in demand, so “the time of insufficient power supply has passed,” he said.
The second energy transition requires the development of diverse sources of renewable energy, including wind, solar, hydrogen and tidal energy; working with the private sector to build power storage facilities; and developing regional power grid networks to bolster energy security, efficiency and resilience, Lai said.
Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman and presidential candidate Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) said Lai and the DPP government should not have aimed to achieve a “nuclear-free homeland” by 2025, and forced the development of renewable energy, leading to corruption scandals.
The retirement of the Guosheng and Ma-anshan nuclear power plants should be postponed and the mothballed Fourth Nuclear Power Plant should be inspected to decide its future, he said.
Ko asked the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) presidential candidate, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜), why, if he claims to support postponing the retirement of the nuclear plants, the New Taipei City Government has repeatedly refused to approve Taipower’s application to build a dry-storage facility for spent nuclear fuel rods.
Hou said he supports the development of renewable energy, but opposes the DPP government’s method of destroying national land and the environment to achieve it, so if he were to be elected, he would establish a national land planning institute to ensure a balance is found between renewable energy and the environment.
Hou asked if Lai would give up his “2025 nuclear-free homeland” goal, as several advanced countries agreed at the UN’s COP28 climate summit to triple their nuclear energy capacity by 2050, indicating that his vision runs against the global trend.
Lai said that tripling nuclear energy capacity was only declared by some countries, while the final COP28 declaration stated the aim of tripling renewable energy capacity and doubling energy efficiency improvements by 2030.
He asked why Hou and Ko, when they were mayors, promised that there would be no nuclear power if it was unsafe or there were no proper nuclear waste disposal options, but now want to postpone the deactivation of the operating nuclear plants and possibly even activate the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant.
A referendum held in 2021 rejected a proposal to restart construction on the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant, so had the two candidates decided to ignore the legality of the referendum, Lai asked.
During his presentation, Ko also focused on his visions for improving education, solving problems related to the nation’s low birthrate and rapidly aging population.
He said that the government needed long-term plans to solve the nation’s water, energy, workforce, talent and arms supply shortages.
Hou concentrated on his strategies to combat fraud, drugs, guns and organized crime; improve farmers’ livelihoods; and increase the number of female government officials, expand women and childcare policies, and alleviate household stress among women.
Lai presented his visions for expanding childcare and long-term care policies, providing tuition and rent subsidies for students and young people, and boosting the nation’s semiconductor industry and developing AI technology to help companies with digital transformation
He said that the KMT would push Taiwan to depend more on China and restore the brand of politics associated with organized crime and money that it has long been associated with.
A signaling system malfunction disrupted high-speed rail (HSR) services beginning at 8am today, with trains temporarily reduced to three northbound and three southbound trains per hour as authorities conduct inspections. The malfunction occurred on a section of track in Miaoli County during pre-operation checks early this morning, forcing northbound and southbound trains to use a single track, the HSR operator said. The regular schedule has been replaced with three hourly trains offering only nonreserved seating in each direction, stopping at every station, it said, adding that business class cars would still have reserved seating. Departures from terminal stations are scheduled at the top
DRONE CENTRAL: Taiwan aims to become Asia’s democratic hub for drones, with most exports focused on high-quality military-grade models, an official said Taiwan’s drone industry is expected to expand significantly by 2030, producing 100,000 units per month and exporting half of them, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Current drone production capacity is about 15,000 units per month, but the industry can quickly scale up as demand increases, Industrial Development Administration Director-General Chiou Chyou-huey (邱求慧) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s drone output grew 2.5-fold last year to NT$12.9 billion (US$408.3 million) under a government program to develop the uncrewed vehicle sector, he said. The Executive Yuan in October last year approved plans to invest NT$44.2 billion into domestic production of uncrewed aerial
VERBOSE VESSELS: A CGA cutter and a China Coast Guard exchanged verbal barbs for more than a day in Taiwanese-controlled waters before the Chinese vessel left The Taiwanese and Chinese coast guards had a standoff near the strategically located Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島) in the north of the South China Sea, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The two sides engaged in intense radio exchanges over sovereignty claims during the 33-hour standoff. China Coast Guard vessel 3501 eventually left the restricted waters, 26.6 nautical miles (49.2km) west of the Pratas Islands, at 5pm yesterday, the CGA said. Lying approximately between southern Taiwan and Hong Kong, the Taiwan-controlled Pratas are seen by some security experts as vulnerable to Chinese attack due to their distance — more than
WARNING: China should stop engaging in actions that undermine regional peace and stability, as it would only build resentment among people across the Strait, the CGA said China has deployed more than 100 navy, coast guard and other vessels in waters from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea and the western Pacific since US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met in Beijing, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said yesterday. “In this part of the world, #China is the one & only PROBLEM wrecking the #StatusQuo & threatening regional peace & stability,” Wu wrote on X. In a separate post, he said Beijing was coercing Taiwan’s maritime domain, calling it illegal and provocative, after the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) expelled a
RSS