Huge Anti Nuclear Power Demonstration/Protest In Taipei Tomorrow

Why will it? Where did you get “70%” from?

Nuclear energy appears cheaper because the gov’t brushes all sorts of hidden costs under the rug: decommissioning, disaster insurance, sequestration of waste - it’s invariably paid for out of taxes. The price you see on the bill is maybe half of the actual cost; less in the case of Taiwan, because the gov’t forces Taipower to sell electricity below cost - again, with taxes making up the shortfall.

A decent solar-thermal collector on the roof of an average 10-storey building would provide for wintertime heating needs and summertime cooling needs (via an absorption cooler) very cheaply. They require minimal maintenance - certainly no more than a typical centralised aircon system.

I estimate total system cost for a 50kW(th) system, connected to 20 homes, at about NT$3m ($2m for the solar collectors and chiller, $1m for the domestic heat exchangers, piping, and controls). That represents an upfront cost per home about twice as high as you’d pay for an individual aircon installation, but ongoing costs would be next-to-nothing. In practice, the building company (or management company) could install power metering, charge each homeowner a nominal installation fee - say, NT$50K - and recover the rest ($2m) via usage billing.

Assuming a 15-year lifetime, each home might pay ~NT$700/month (at today’s prices) for ~250kWh/month of heating or cooling (absorption chillers have a low COP, around 1, when operated at solar temperatures), or $2.8NT/kWh. The “correct” price for electricity (not Taipower’s deeply-discounted rate) is about NT$8/kWh - so if you were running a traditional aircon unit with a COP of 4, that would be NT$2/kWh(th). In other words, in this application, the solar solution costs slightly more (+40%) to build and operate as the fossil- or nuclear-fuelled solution. It also offers the advantage that the community’s grid connection can be MUCH smaller than it might otherwise be. If it were commonplace, economies of scale would easily eliminate the higher cost.

Right. The commissioning/decommissioning costs of nuclear power, plus maintenance and waste disposal, make nuclear energy far less affordable than advertised. When all costs are considered, renewable energy is about par with nuclear power. Taiwan is the second leading nation in solar cell production, yet domestic solar installations are miniscule. A smarter idea would be to use the money otherwise used for nuclear power to support domestic solar power generation, both thermal and PV. It would help support an important domestic industry while providing a much safer energy option that also reduces pollution generation. The perceived benefits of nuclear energy are misleading and just not worth the risk. IMHO of course

I don’t know, it probably has to do with the short sighted nature of Taiwanese businessmen and the cost of solar panels…

The industry is encouraging it. The government and financial institutions are the ones hesitant to give support. Solar panels prices have dropped significantly the last couple of years. Most producers of solar cells and modules are selling them below costs. Referring to what finely said, if the electricity rates weren’t subsidized then renewable energy would be more cost effective in Taiwan. There isn’t a reasonable economic explanation that gives a strong argument against the use solar power in Taiwan. Taiwan is a low-energy-resource country that is already one of the leading producers of one of the solutions

Well, there you go. Government and financial institutions tend to be very conservative. They still prefer to go with the “old way” despite overwhelming evidence that there’s a better way. Especially when the old way generates a lot of short term profits to politicians and various “well respected businessmen”.

tbh - I still find the electricity cost low in the summer. My two month peak (Jul/Aug) was 2700NT and I simply run the AC (at 26-27C) at home in the summer.

how big was your room? I air condition maybe about 10 ping of space at a time, but like 24/7 and the cost ended up around 5000nt. I air condition the room I sleep at but I also air condition the shop when I work.

My main room is about 10 ping (I think) with the living room and kitchen. I was working M-F 2-9 so I wasn’t home during the peak heat.

It’s not businessmen that are the problem (they make the panels remember), its the government who have a lack of understanding and vision, they are dinosaurs after all.

According to Gigastorage (local solar wafer supplier) solar electricity is already competitive in Taiwan.

[quote]The firm pointed out that the average effective sunshine hours in central and southern Taiwan are about four hours. For every kW, the systems can generate around 1,450kWh of electricity per year. For every kWh of electricity generated by a solar PV system at a size around 5-8MW, the cost (taking into consideration of construction costs, 20 years of amortization, as well as operating and maintenance costs), is only NT$2.7 (US$0.09), said Gigastorage. Normally, a solar PV system can last for 25 years, so if the amortization is spread over 25 years, the cost of producing electricity will only be NT$2.3/kWh, added Gigastorage.

Power generated from solar PV systems can meet electricity demand during peak hours during the day or in the summer. For industrial use, the electricity price during the peak hours in the day is higher than the night price. The current price during the peak hours in the day is around NT$3.15/kWh, and in October 2013 the price is expected to increase to NT$3.5/kWh. An average household uses around 700kWh of electricity per month; that means the price of electricity is around NT$3.37/kWh. In October, after the expected price hike, the electricity price for households is likely to increase to NT$3.58/kWh. Compared to these prices, the cost of generating power using solar energy is relatively low and quite competitive, according to Gigastorage.[/quote]

http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20130307PD215.html

However for individuals or a building committee, the initial investment is very high and not a lot of people can stick that much money down up front. Also a lot of them can’t really think beyond a few months into the future so they don’t view this as a priority compared to something like education.

Why are you stuck on this individual or building committee thing? This would similar to the gov’t building a power plant. Except that it would instead be replacing a power plant. The big problem is finding the land although I think that sorts itself out if the gov’t and the people make clean air a priority.

Because the government can’t or won’t invest in such a thing so it would often be up to individuals to do this. Also Taiwanese while they complain about the bad air they often throw up their hand and say they can’t do anything about the government’s policy, so they can just do whatever they want to suit their interest.

It would take a mindset change but the gov’t needs to lead any energy policy change. Very little progress would be made at an individual level.

The taipower monopoly is the main problem, whereby the feed in tariffs are set too low and they spend their budget on crony contractors. The government could easily lead a solar panel installation program with mass purchasing agreements, cheap loans, guaranteed feed in tariffs etc, Taiwan is really well placed to take advantage of solar power, and the money would stay in Taiwan as the panels are manufactured here and would help replace oil and coal imports (Taiwan imports 99% of its energy…something ridiculous like that).

I think SOE’s are another source of Taiwan’s problem. Both oil and electricity are all controlled by SOE’s and they operate just like any other government agencies: really hard headed and stubborn as well as inefficient. It was said managers in those SOE’s get huge bonuses (like 10 months or more), whereas any other companies losing as much money as these SOE’s would be having mass layoffs, let alone giving away bonuses!

Is that right? Anywhere else - especially, say, a very small country living under the shadow of a large, aggressive one - might consider that a fairly major national security issue. A simple six-week blockade would put Taiwan on its knees.

Is that right? Anywhere else - especially, say, a very small country living under the shadow of a large, aggressive one - might consider that a fairly major national security issue. A simple six-week blockade would put Taiwan on its knees.[/quote]

Oil and coal alone account for about 80% of Taiwan’s energy, all of which is imported.

Is that right? Anywhere else - especially, say, a very small country living under the shadow of a large, aggressive one - might consider that a fairly major national security issue. A simple six-week blockade would put Taiwan on its knees.[/quote]

It’s more complicated than that. Taiwan is a major player in the crude-oil refinery industry.
A blockade would not only disrupt Taiwan therefore…

Is that right? Anywhere else - especially, say, a very small country living under the shadow of a large, aggressive one - might consider that a fairly major national security issue. A simple six-week blockade would put Taiwan on its knees.[/quote]

Oil and coal alone account for about 80% of Taiwan’s energy, all of which is imported.[/quote]

source http://www.indexmundi.com/taiwan/oil_exports.html