The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday said alternative energy generation should be developed in Taiwan to replace nuclear energy, and approved a proposal demanding that the cities and counties it governs develop safer, green energy.
The proposal, initiated by former premier Frank Hsieh (謝長廷), suggests that geothermal power could be developed in Yilan County and solar power should be developed in southern cities and counties, such as Yunlin, Greater Tainan, Greater Kaohsiung and Pingtung, where sunlight is abundant.
Taiwan has an abundance of the natural resources required to develop alternative energy and has among the largest energy-saving and renewable energy equipment production in the world, and there is no reason why it should not develop green energy, DPP Chairman Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told the party’s weekly Central Standing Committee (CSC) meeting.
State-owned Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) monopoly explains why Taiwan has been slow in developing alternative energy to replace nuclear energy, Su said.
“It’s time for the government to set a goal of alternative energy development and stop wasting taxpayers’ money on nuclear energy, so that Taiwanese and future generations no longer live in fear of a nuclear disaster,” Su told the meeting.
Lin Ching-fuh (林清富), chairman of National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Photonics and Optoelectronics, briefed the meeting in his report on low-cost solar power, DPP spokesperson Lin Chun-hsien (林俊憲) said.
The spokesperson said that according to the professor, the cost of solar power, which accounts for only 0.07 percent of annual electricity output in Taiwan, would gradually decrease and could be lower than the cost of nuclear power in only five years.
Also to Taiwan’s advantage are the more than 160 companies and a complete upstream and downstream supply chain in the solar energy sector, the spokesperson said, although less than 3 percent of the companies’ products are sold in the domestic market.
Solar power installation in an area of 100km2 would be able to generate the same output of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City (新北市), showing that the controversial plant is not necessary, as the government claims, Lin Chun-hsien said.
An amendment of the Electricity Act (電業法), which eases regulations on alternative energy development, would be crucial, but the DPP understood that the amendment requires time in the legislature, which was why the party decided to begin with developing such energy in the region it governs, the spokesperson said.
WANG RELEASED: A police investigation showed that an organized crime group allegedly taught their clients how to pretend to be sick during medical exams Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) and 11 others were released on bail yesterday, after being questioned for allegedly dodging compulsory military service or forging documents to help others avoid serving. Wang, 33, was catapulted into stardom for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代). Lately, he has been focusing on developing his entertainment career in China. The New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office last month began investigating an organized crime group that is allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified documents. Police in New Taipei City Yonghe Precinct at the end of last month arrested the main suspect,
A cat named Mikan (蜜柑) has brought in revenue of more than NT$10 million (US$305,390) for the Kaohsiung MRT last year. Mikan, born on April 4, 2020, was a stray cat before being adopted by personnel of Kaohsiung MRT’s Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station. Mikan was named after a Japanese term for mandarin orange due to his color and because he looks like an orange when curled up. He was named “station master” of Ciaotou Sugar Refinery Station in September 2020, and has since become famous. With Kaohsiung MRT’s branding, along with the release of a set of cultural and creative products, station master Mikan
LITTORAL REGIMENTS: The US Marine Corps is transitioning to an ‘island hopping’ strategy to counterattack Beijing’s area denial strategy The US Marine Corps (USMC) has introduced new anti-drone systems to bolster air defense in the Pacific island chain amid growing Chinese military influence in the region, The Telegraph reported on Sunday. The new Marine Air Defense Integrated System (MADIS) Mk 1 is being developed to counter “the growing menace of unmanned aerial systems,” it cited the Marine Corps as saying. China has constructed a powerful defense mechanism in the Pacific Ocean west of the first island chain by deploying weapons such as rockets, submarines and anti-ship missiles — which is part of its anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy against adversaries — the
Eleven people, including actor Darren Wang (王大陸), were taken into custody today for questioning regarding the evasion of compulsory military service and document forgery, the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said. Eight of the people, including Wang, are suspected of evading military service, while three are suspected of forging medical documents to assist them, the report said. They are all being questioned by police and would later be transferred to the prosecutors’ office for further investigation. Three men surnamed Lee (李), Chang (張) and Lin (林) are suspected of improperly assisting conscripts in changing their military classification from “stand-by
RSS