Taiwan: Government Should Choose Geothermal Energy Over Nuclear - Politician

DPP lawmaker pushes for geothermal power (Taipei Times)

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Ou-po talks to reporters in Taipei yesterday about the prospects for developing geothermal energy. Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times

The Taiwanese government should include geothermal energy development in the Forward-looking Infrastructure Development Program budget because resuming construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant is not the way to address the nation’s electricity shortage, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Ou-po (陳歐珀) said yesterday.

A study by the National Science Council conducted in 2010 and 2011 found that the geothermal energy reserve in Yilan County — particularly from Cingshuei (清水) to Touchang (土場), Longde (龍德) to Lize (利澤) and Sansing (三星) and Jiaosi (礁溪) townships — can generate as much electricity as two-and-a-half nuclear power plants, Chen said.

Geothermal energy would be a safe energy source and help reduce the nation’s carbon emissions, he added.

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