An unpublished report by state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) said that the nation could have a positive electricity reserve margin even without nuclear power plants — an estimate that differs from the previous prediction — which was described as an energy policy U-turn following the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) election victory.
According to a Central News Agency report on Monday, Taipower said it could manage a positive energy reserve margin in the next eight years if the three operating nuclear power plants are decommissioned on schedule and a mothballed plant remains shuttered, which contradicted the company’s energy report last year, which predicted that the reserve margin would be shortfalls of 1.6 percent and 3 percent in 2023 and 2024 in the event of a nuclear power phase-out.
The new estimate was criticized as a U-turn to meet the DPP’s nuclear-free policy — which seeks to eliminate nuclear power generation by 2025 — as the new outlook came just two days after the party clinched a landslide victory in the presidential and legislative elections on Saturday.
Taipower spokesman Hsiao Jin-yi (蕭金益) yesterday confirmed the company’s new estimate without specifying the exact figures of the reserve margin, which he said would be released later.
“The latest correction [of the electricity reserve margin] was not made because of a change in government, but because since last year’s report, the general economic environment and public awareness of energy conservation have changed, while the company has come up with solutions to avoid power shortages,” he said.
The reserve margin went from negative to positive because economic growth has been predicted to slow and energy conservation awareness has been on the rise, so the company adjusted the nation’s power demand downward, Hsiao said.
The development of sources of renewable energy and the expansion and upgrade of facilities at power plants in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), Kaohsiung’s Siaogang District (小港), Miaoli’s Tongsiao Township (通霄) and Taoyuan’s Datan Township (大潭) would boost the reserve margin, he said.
“Taipower would be useless if it had a negative reserve margin and did nothing about it. The adjustment had nothing to do with the elections,” he said.
Although the operating margin went from negative to positive, the risk of power shortages still exists, as the margin remains low, while energy supply would be a pressing issue if nuclear power is phased out, Taipower said.
The three functioning nuclear power plants are to be deactivated in 2019, 2023 and 2025 after each has run for 40 years — the designated service life of each plant, the company said, adding that the three plants generate about 20 percent of the firm’s power.
CHANGING LANDSCAPE: Many of the part-time programs for educators were no longer needed, as many teachers obtain a graduate degree before joining the workforce, experts said Taiwanese universities this year canceled 86 programs, Ministry of Education data showed, with educators attributing the closures to the nation’s low birthrate as well as shifting trends. Fifty-three of the shuttered programs were part-time postgraduate degree programs, about 62 percent of the total, the most in the past five years, the data showed. National Taiwan Normal University (NTNU) discontinued the most part-time master’s programs, at 16: chemistry, life science, earth science, physics, fine arts, music, special education, health promotion and health education, educational psychology and counseling, education, design, Chinese as a second language, library and information sciences, mechatronics engineering, history, physical education
The Chinese military has boosted its capability to fight at a high tempo using the element of surprise and new technology, the Ministry of National Defense said in the Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR) published on Monday last week. The ministry highlighted Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) developments showing significant changes in Beijing’s strategy for war on Taiwan. The PLA has made significant headway in building capabilities for all-weather, multi-domain intelligence, surveillance, operational control and a joint air-sea blockade against Taiwan’s lines of communication, it said. The PLA has also improved its capabilities in direct amphibious assault operations aimed at seizing strategically important beaches,
‘MALIGN PURPOSE’: Governments around the world conduct espionage operations, but China’s is different, as its ultimate goal is annexation, a think tank head said Taiwan is facing a growing existential threat from its own people spying for China, experts said, as the government seeks to toughen measures to stop Beijing’s infiltration efforts and deter Taiwanese turncoats. While Beijing and Taipei have been spying on each other for years, experts said that espionage posed a bigger threat to Taiwan due to the risk of a Chinese attack. Taiwan’s intelligence agency said China used “diverse channels and tactics” to infiltrate the nation’s military, government agencies and pro-China organizations. The main targets were retired and active members of the military, persuaded by money, blackmail or pro-China ideology to steal
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
RSS