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.
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