Premier William Lai (賴清德) yesterday told the Cabinet to provide more accurate forecasts and proposals before its scheduled announcement next week of a set of policies to tackle the electricity shortage in the industrial sector.
Lai convened a Cabinet meeting yesterday to discuss renewable energy options and the policy announced on Wednesday to promote rooftop solar systems, Executive Yuan spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.
Ministries and Cabinet agencies were told to propose renewable generation plans to achieve the goal of boosting the share of renewable energy to 20 percent by 2025, Hsu said.
The policies to be announced on Wednesday next week are part of a package aimed at resolving five shortages facing the industrial sector: power, water, land, workforce and skilled workers.
During yesterday’s meeting, the Bureau of Energy presented its stimulus plan aimed at encouraging the public and businesses to construct rooftop solar systems to increase the solar power generation capacity by offering subsidies to households that would cover 40 percent of construction costs and 100 percent of design costs.
The two-year subsidy would begin next year, the bureau said.
The bureau also presented a review of the nation’s wind, solar, geothermal and hydropower generation capacity and operating reserve, Hsu said.
Lai told the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taiwan Power Co to determine how much renewable power generation capacity can actually be obtained and how much capacity is needed for the nation to achieve the goal of raising the renewable energy portion of its electricity supply to 20 percent by 2025 when the nation has planned to phase out nuclear power, Hsu said.
Solar, wind and hydro power generation can often be restricted by seasonal and climate factors, while major technological breakthroughs are needed to effectively tap the geothermal heat.
Lai also asked the ministry and the bureau to provide an accurate estimate of the rooftop solar system subsidy program, its efficiency and budgeting, with the ministry ordered to announce a complete subsidy procedure this week.
The economics ministry was also asked to cooperate with the Ministry of Science and Technology in developing a plan to encourage businesses in industrial parks and science parks nationwide to install solar-panel systems on their roofs.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
A senior US senator on Monday questioned the willingness of some US allies to help defend Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion. Although Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) expects the US and Japan to respond in a war in the Taiwan Strait, he was “a little less confident what our other allies would do,” US Senator John Cornyn said. Australia and New Zealand have voiced support for Taiwan, but it “is a far cry from committing troops to repel an invasion,” Cornyn said during a discussion on China, Russia and the state of US military readiness at a forum hosted
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the
RSS