Environmental groups yesterday urged the government to speed up progress on cutting coal-fired electricity generation, adding that it should publish a detailed road map to achieving its promise of reducing it to 30 percent of total power production by 2025.
In a public hearing at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators Chen Man-li (陳曼麗), Su Chih-feng (蘇治芬) and Wu Kun-yuh (吳焜裕) invited environmentalists and officials from the energy sector to address coal reduction and air pollution abatement.
About 45 percent of the nation’s electricity is generated from coal, but that will be reduced to 43 percent by 2020 and to 30 percent by 2025, Bureau of Energy Deputy Director-General Lee Chun-li (李君禮) said.
Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) plans to decommission two of the four coal-fired generators at the Sinda Power Plant (興達電廠) in Kaohsiung in 2023, which is ahead of the company’s original schedule, Taipower vice president Chen Chien-yi (陳建益) said.
Until 2025, Taipower will only install new coal-fired generators at the Dalin (大林) plant in Kaohsiung, and the Linkou (林口) and Shenao (深澳) plants in New Taipei City, Chen said, adding that more natural gas-powered generators would be installed.
“If there is consensus about cutting coal in society, is the utility planning to build a new plant in the north in 2025?” Green Citizens’ Action Alliance Wu Cheng-cheng (吳澄澄) asked.
Taipower would be virtually building a new plant in Shenao, given that it stopped operations there about 10 years ago, Wu said.
Even if the government promises to reduce coal-fired power from 45 percent to 30 percent, it has not proposed detailed plans to achieve the goal, Greenpeace Taiwan campaigner Lisa Tsai (蔡佩芸) said.
The coal-fired capacity at the Sinda plant should be decommissioned earlier, or residents in Kaohsiung would have to put up with the air pollution for another six years, Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan Energy and Industry Division director Tsai Hui-sun (蔡卉荀) said.
To stop highly polluting industries from further expanding, the government should not approve CPC Corp, Taiwan’s plan to expand its naphtha cracker in Kaohsiung, she said.
The government’s plan for coal reduction omits many numbers, such as pollution data for independent power plants (IPP), cogeneration plants and privately owned factory boilers, she said.
Above all, the government should present more concrete plans to reduce energy use and prevent the nation’s electricity consumption from rising further, she added.
The Executive Yuan’s Office of Energy and Carbon Reduction is working on an inventory of electricity consumption across the nation, the results of which will be published next month, office Deputy Executive Officer Lin Tze-luen (林子倫) said.
At the end of the meeting, DPP lawmakers requested that officials publish data about coal use by all utilities and IPPs, as well as their polluting emissions, within a month.
The government should also publish plans for the nation’s energy transformation after 2025 as soon as possible, the lawmakers said.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is maintaining close ties with Beijing, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday, hours after a new round of Chinese military drills in the Taiwan Strait began. Political parties in a democracy have a responsibility to be loyal to the nation and defend its sovereignty, DPP spokesman Justin Wu (吳崢) told a news conference in Taipei. His comments came hours after Beijing announced via Chinese state media that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command was holding large-scale drills simulating a multi-pronged attack on Taiwan. Contrary to the KMT’s claims that it is staunchly anti-communist, KMT Deputy
RESPONSE: The government would investigate incidents of Taiwanese entertainers in China promoting CCP propaganda online in contravention of the law, the source said Taiwanese entertainers living in China who are found to have contravened cross-strait regulations or collaborated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) could be subject to fines, a source said on Sunday. Several Taiwanese entertainers have posted on the social media platform Sina Weibo saying that Taiwan “must be returned” to China, and sharing news articles from Chinese state media. In response, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has asked the Ministry of Culture to investigate whether the entertainers had contravened any laws, and asked for them to be questioned upon their return to Taiwan, an official familiar with the matter said. To curb repeated
Myanmar has turned down an offer of assistance from Taiwanese search-and-rescue teams after a magnitude 7.7 earthquake struck the nation on Friday last week, saying other international aid is sufficient, the National Fire Agency said yesterday. More than 1,700 have been killed and 3,400 injured in the quake that struck near the central Myanmar city of Mandalay early on Friday afternoon, followed minutes later by a magnitude 6.7 aftershock. Worldwide, 13 international search-and-rescue teams have been deployed, with another 13 teams mobilizing, the agency said. Taiwan’s search-and-rescue teams were on standby, but have since been told to stand down, as
RSS