Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電), Asia’s biggest importer of thermal coal, could cut purchases of the fuel by 7 percent this year as a recession saps electricity demand.
The state-run utility plans to buy 26.8 million tonnes of coal this year, lower than 28.68 million tonnes last year, the company said in a report.
The monopoly grid operator expects Taiwan’s electricity consumption to fall 2 percent this year following a 0.6 percent decline last year, chief engineer Tu Yueh-yuan (杜悅元) said by telephone yesterday.
Electricity use in Taiwan is falling as manufacturers cut consumption after receiving fewer orders for computer chips, mobile phones and chemicals.
The nation’s GDP will probably shrink 2.97 percent this year, after a record 8.36 percent drop in the fourth quarter, the statistics bureau said on Wednesday.
“Our fuel purchase plan is based on the latest GDP data,” Tu said.
Coal-fired generators provided 43 percent of Taiwan’s electricity last year, compared with 23 percent from natural gas-fueled plants and 20 percent from nuclear reactors, Taipower said. The country also gets electricity from hydropower and renewable sources such as wind.
Taipower bought 60 percent of its coal from Indonesia last year, 28 percent from Australia and 12 percent from China, the company said. The country doesn’t produce the fuel.
STIMULUS PLANS: An official said that China would increase funding from special treasury bonds and expand another program focused on key strategic sectors China is to sharply increase funding from ultra-long treasury bonds this year to spur business investment and consumer-boosting initiatives, a state planner official told a news conference yesterday, as Beijing cranks up fiscal stimulus to revitalize its faltering economy. Special treasury bonds would be used to fund large-scale equipment upgrades and consumer goods trade-ins, said Yuan Da (袁達), deputy secretary-general of the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission. “The size of ultra-long special government bond funds will be sharply increased this year to intensify and expand the implementation of the two new initiatives,” Yuan said. Under the program launched last year, consumers can
Citigroup Inc and Bank of America Corp said they are leaving a global climate-banking group, becoming the latest Wall Street lenders to exit the coalition in the past month. In a statement, Citigroup said while it remains committed to achieving net zero emissions, it is exiting the Net-Zero Banking Alliance (NZBA). Bank of America said separately on Tuesday that it is also leaving NZBA, adding that it would continue to work with clients on reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The banks’ departure from NZBA follows Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Wells Fargo & Co. The largest US financial institutions are under increasing pressure
FUTURE TECH: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang would give the keynote speech at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, which is also expected to highlight autonomous vehicles Gadgets, robots and vehicles imbued with artificial intelligence (AI) would once again vie for attention at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this week, as vendors behind the scenes would seek ways to deal with tariffs threatened by US president-elect Donald Trump. The annual Consumer Electronics Show opens formally in Las Vegas tomorrow, but preceding days are packed with product announcements. AI would be a major theme of the show, along with autonomous vehicles ranging from tractors and boats to lawn mowers and golf club trollies. “Everybody is going to be talking about AI,” Creative Strategies Inc analyst Carolina Milanesi said. “From fridges to ovens
Twenty years after he was a young, struggling actor in Toronto, Thomas Lo (盧瑞麟) is now the one giving young Asian actors their big breaks. He just had to go to Hong Kong to do it. The Chinese Canadian has been the creative director of one of the territory’s biggest TV broadcasting companies for only a few years, but is already making original English-language content to reach viewers around the world. “It was a bit of a full-circle moment for me,” Lo said. “You see more Asians, but you’re still seeing the same Asians on screen, right? We’re looking for more opportunities
RSS