Representatives of the green energy sector yesterday urged the government to accelerate the development of renewable energy sources after Taiwan became the first nuclear-free country in East Asia after shutting down its last nuclear reactor on Saturday.
The shutdown of the No. 2 reactor at Pingtung County’s Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant is the prelude to the “nuclear-free homeland” era, Democratic Progressive Party Legislators Lai Jui-lung (賴瑞隆) told a news conference, attended by the Taiwan Renewable Energy Alliance (TRENA), along with representatives from green energy sectors.
Such an energy transition policy was carefully planned with safety, sustainability and global trends in mind, Lai said.
Photo courtesy of Lai Jui-lung’s office
The government continued to bolster the development of renewable energy by establishing the Renewable Energy Development Act (再生能源發展條例), following the legislation of the Basic Environment Act (環境基本法), he said.
The proportion of power generation from renewable sources rose to 14.6 percent in March from 4.8 percent in 2016, he said.
The installed capacity of renewable power generators amounted to 35 percent of the total installed capacity of all power generation facilities last year, which would provide stable electricity in place of nuclear power, he said.
The government would cooperate with industries and the public to achieve the goal of boosting the proportion of green power use to 30 percent by 2030, as well as lead Taiwan to a net zero emissions, sustainable future, Lai said.
Taiwan has become the fifth-largest offshore wind power-using country, and had the most newly constructed wind power facilities last year, TRENA vice chairwoman Chang Ya-tun (張雅惇) said.
PV Generation System Association vice chairman Huang Cheng-hung (黃正泓) said that solar power is the fastest-growing renewable energy source worldwide, with an additional capacity of 447 gigawatts (GW) last year, accounting for 75 percent of global green energy growth last year.
Geothermal energy is promising and competitive renewable energy, of which the commercialization costs are expected to be lower than fossil fuel power by 2030, Taiwan Geothermal Association executive director Wang Shou-cheng (王守誠) said.
The development of small hydropower units in agricultural irrigation facilities and water distribution systems should be accelerated in line with the RE100 renewable energy initiative, Taiwan SHP Industries Alliance chairman Hong Cheng-chung (洪正中) said.
Ocean Energy Taiwan chairman Chuang Min-chieh (莊閔傑) said that Taiwan is surrounded by the sea and has the potential to develop 28GW of ocean energy, equivalent to 10 nuclear power plants.
The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday said it had deployed patrol vessels to expel a China Coast Guard ship and a Chinese fishing boat near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙群島) in the South China Sea. The China Coast Guard vessel was 28 nautical miles (52km) northeast of Pratas at 6:15am on Thursday, approaching the island’s restricted waters, which extend 24 nautical miles from its shoreline, the CGA’s Dongsha-Nansha Branch said in a statement. The Tainan, a 2,000-tonne cutter, was deployed by the CGA to shadow the Chinese ship, which left the area at 2:39pm on Friday, the statement said. At 6:31pm on Friday,
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