The development of decarbonized hydrogen technology would help Taiwan meet its energy needs and nuclear-free target, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) told lawmakers at the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee in Taipei yesterday.
Liu, a former chairman of PwC Taiwan’s Business Consulting Services, said there is no need to dwell on the energy-mix issue, as the nuclear-free policy is doable with the development of “green hydrogen.”
“The Cabinet is giving its top priority to ensuring sufficient electricity supply while seeking to reduce carbon emissions and fulfill the net carbon goal toward 2050,” Liu said, adding that a decarbonized hydrogen technology being developed by Academia Sinica is a potential solution for Taiwan and the rest of the world.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Hydrogen used by other countries still has pollution concerns, but the decarbonized technology would break natural gas into carbon and hydrogen, and then burn the hydrogen to generate electricity, Liu said.
Academia Sinica is experimenting with a process by which thermal energy is applied to methane to crack the chemical bond between the carbon and hydrogen comprising natural gas, generating hydrogen gas and a solid carbon product without carbon emissions, a Ministry of Economic Affairs task force said earlier.
The task force comprises representatives from government ministries, as well as Taiwan Power Co (台電), CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and China Steel Corp (中鋼), the Energy Administration has said.
Importing and producing hydrogen are potential strategies, with the goal for hydrogen to account for 9 to 12 percent of Taiwan’s energy mix, the Energy Administration said.
The development of artificial intelligence applications would increase the nation’s power consumption by 30 percent and sectors appear to care more about whether there is sufficient electricity supply rather than energy origins, Liu said.
Liu said he has no objection to nuclear power plants, if they meet safety and environment protection requirements, and there is the imminent threat of an electricity shortage.
However, extending the lifetimes of nuclear power plants and building new ones would first require the removal of legislative obstacles, a process that could take several years, and that is without factoring in societal resistance, he said.
The government has no intention of ditching the effort to make Taiwan nuclear-free while supporting economic growth, he said.
It would take another five years to complete the decarbonized hydrogen technology, while it would not enter commercial use until at least 2035, Liu said, citing Academic Sinica.
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
UPDATED FORECAST: The warning covered areas of Pingtung County and Hengchun Peninsula, while a sea warning covering the southern Taiwan Strait was amended The Central Weather Administration (CWA) at 5:30pm yesterday issued a land warning for Typhoon Usagi as the storm approached Taiwan from the south after passing over the Philippines. As of 5pm, Usagi was 420km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost tip, with an average radius of 150km, the CWA said. The land warning covered areas of Pingtung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春), and came with an amended sea warning, updating a warning issued yesterday morning to cover the southern part of the Taiwan Strait. No local governments had announced any class or office closures as of press time last night. The typhoon
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
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