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.
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS