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.
ECHOVIRUS 11: The rate of enterovirus infections in northern Taiwan increased last week, with a four-year-old girl developing acute flaccid paralysis, the CDC said Two imported cases of chikungunya fever were reported last week, raising the total this year to 13 cases — the most for the same period in 18 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said yesterday. The two cases were a Taiwanese and a foreign national who both arrived from Indonesia, CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Deputy Director Lee Chia-lin (李佳琳) said. The 13 cases reported this year are the most for the same period since chikungunya was added to the list of notifiable communicable diseases in October 2007, she said, adding that all the cases this year were imported, including 11 from
Prosecutors in New Taipei City yesterday indicted 31 individuals affiliated with the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) for allegedly forging thousands of signatures in recall campaigns targeting three Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers. The indictments stem from investigations launched earlier this year after DPP lawmakers Su Chiao-hui (蘇巧慧) and Lee Kuen-cheng (李坤城) filed criminal complaints accusing campaign organizers of submitting false signatures in recall petitions against them. According to the New Taipei District Prosecutors Office, a total of 2,566 forged recall proposal forms in the initial proposer petition were found during the probe. Among those
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) today condemned the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) after the Czech officials confirmed that Chinese agents had surveilled Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) during her visit to Prague in March last year. Czech Military Intelligence director Petr Bartovsky yesterday said that Chinese operatives had attempted to create the conditions to carry out a demonstrative incident involving Hsiao, going as far as to plan a collision with her car. Hsiao was vice president-elect at the time. The MAC said that it has requested an explanation and demanded a public apology from Beijing. The CCP has repeatedly ignored the desires
The Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant’s license has expired and it cannot simply be restarted, the Executive Yuan said today, ahead of national debates on the nuclear power referendum. The No. 2 reactor at the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County was disconnected from the nation’s power grid and completely shut down on May 17, the day its license expired. The government would prioritize people’s safety and conduct necessary evaluations and checks if there is a need to extend the service life of the reactor, Executive Yuan spokeswoman Michelle Lee (李慧芝) told a news conference. Lee said that the referendum would read: “Do
RSS