The liberalization of the energy industry is a likely solution to the nation’s current disputes over nuclear energy, the root cause of which lies in the sector’s monopolization by state-owned Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), academics said yesterday.
The administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is insisting on raising electricity prices and ensuring the commercial operation of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in New Taipei City’s (新北市) Gongliao District (貢寮) “to make up for Taipower’s losses,” National Taipei University economics professor Wang To-far (王塗發) told a seminar.
The seminar, organized by Taiwan Association of University Professors and Taiwan Environmental Protection Union, was held to discuss the liberalization of the energy industry and the use of nuclear energy following the recent release of several white papers by the Executive Yuan.
Photo: Chien Jung-fong, Taipei Times
Free competition and the separation of electricity producers, distributors and sellers would “naturally rationalize the price of electricity,” Wang said.
Taipower could continue operating the nation’s nuclear power plants and hydropower stations could remain state-owned, but the rest of the market should be opened to private businesses, he said.
Citing the privatization of the nation’s telecommunications market as an example, National Chung Hsin University professor Chen Chi-chung (陳吉仲) endorsed Wang’s proposal, saying that the liberalization of the telecom market contributed to lower prices and an improvement in the protection of consumer rights.
If Taipower was in charge of electricity distribution and power plants were privatized and alternative energy promoted, the market would benefit consumers and energy efficiency would be improved, Chen said.
With regard to the debate about nuclear energy, academics said the government is misleading the public by claiming that power shortages would occur if the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant does not go into operation.
The potential risk of electricity shortages is a “flat-out lie,” Taiwan Thinktank president Wu Rong-i (吳榮義) said, adding that the nation has a reserve energy capacity of more than 10 percent “even if nuclear power was abandoned altogether.”
National Taiwan University atmospheric sciences professor Gloria Hsu(徐光蓉) said past incidents and investigations have shown that nuclear energy is “neither safe, cost-effective nor sustainable.”
“Over the long term, the development of alternative and “green” energy sources is still the best option and the cheapest,” said Chen Yen-hao (陳彥豪), an assistant researcher at Taiwan Institute of Economic Research.
Developing alternative energy sources serves two goals: the ultimate replacement of fossil fuels and the curbing of carbon emissions, he said.
Global bodies should stop excluding Taiwan for political reasons, President William Lai (賴清德) told Pope Francis in a letter, adding that he agrees war has no winners. The Vatican is one of only 12 countries to retain formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, and Taipei has watched with concern efforts by Beijing and the Holy See to improve ties. In October, the Vatican and China extended an accord on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four years, pointing to a new level of trust between the two parties. Lai, writing to the pope in response to the pontiff’s message on Jan. 1’s
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
TAKE BREAKS: A woman developed cystitis by refusing to get up to use the bathroom while playing mahjong for fear of disturbing her winning streak, a doctor said People should stand up and move around often while traveling or playing mahjong during the Lunar New Year holiday, as prolonged sitting can lead to cystitis or hemorrhoids, doctors said. Yuan’s General Hospital urologist Lee Tsung-hsi (李宗熹) said that he treated a 63-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙) who had been sitting motionless and holding off going to the bathroom, increasing her risk of bladder infection. Chao would drink beverages and not urinate for several hours while playing mahjong with friends and family, especially when she was on a winning streak, afraid that using the bathroom would ruin her luck, he said. She had
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS