Military manufacturing schedules remain on-time, while renewable energy generation is stable and looking to expand, an Executive Yuan report on government policy and achievements to the Legislative Yuan’s new session showed yesterday.
The Ministry of National Defense as of the end of last year had delivered 27 of the 66 Brave Eagle, or Yung Ying (勇鷹), Advanced Jet Trainers it has ordered, the report said.
The defense ministry and the Ministry of Economic Affairs had selected eight companies to produce 36 commercial-grade uncrewed aerial vehicles of five different types for military use, which are expected to be delivered starting this year to 2028, the report said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
The military is awaiting delivery of the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, submarine; anti-air and anti-submarine variants of guided-missile frigates; and an auxiliary rescue and salvage ship that was launched for trials on March 27 last year, following its acquisition of the Yushan (玉山) amphibious transport ship, which was delivered to the navy on June 19 last year, it said.
The defense ministry last year obtained 293 technologies, facilities or products to ensure that its maintenance capability can keep up with its new acquisitions, the report said.
It had listed 700 defense-related restricted products and is encouraging domestic manufacturers to shift track to join the domestic national defense supply chain, it added.
The ministry would arrange meetings to attract potential suppliers to enhance the national defense industry’s autonomy, it said.
The report also touched on electricity supply issues, saying that power generation this year is expected to be stable, while policies are being deployed to expand renewable power storage to 29 gigawatts (GW) by next year.
National power density rose to 6.14 percent in the third quarter of last year compared with the same period in 2022, it said.
The inclusion of new natural-gas boilers to the national grid, new pricing and continued growth of renewable energy sources had increased power reserves from a 2015 nadir of 1.64 percent back to a stable reserve of 6 to 10 percent last year, the report said.
As new natural-gas boiler units are expected to be completed this year, power generation is expected to be stable, it added.
As of November last year, renewable energy storage capacity nationwide was 17.51GW, with solar comprising 12.01GW and wind contributing 2.67GW, the report said.
As of December last year, the National Renewable Energy Certification Center had issued 3.51 million National Renewable Energy Certificates (T-REC), equivalent to 35.19 billion kilowatt-hours (kWH), while the center had registered the use of 30.5 billion certificates, or about 31.86 billion kilowatt-hours, it said.
Each T-REC represents 1kWh of renewable energy. Companies can use the certificates to “buy” renewable energy from power generators.
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
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