President Lai: Taiwan's power supply is stable, welcomes Jensen Huang to visit power plants

(Central News Agency, reporter Lai Yu-chen, Taipei, June 5) As international tech giants invest in Taiwan, the stability of the power supply has drawn attention. President Lai Ching-te said today that Taiwan's water and electricity supplies are stable, and he welcomes NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang or anyone concerned about Taiwan's power supply to visit power plants or attend relevant briefings. He also mentioned that the extension of the No. 3 nuclear power plant has entered a review process, and if nuclear safety is assured, nuclear waste has a disposal site, and there is social consensus, the government will restart it according to law.

TTV and UBN TV aired the interview with President Lai today, covering topics such as 18 new population strategy measures, Taiwan's economic development strategies, energy strategies, and national vision.

Regarding whether Taiwan's energy is sufficient for the wave of international tech investments in the AI era, President Lai said he strongly agrees that "electricity is computing power, and computing power is national power," and the government is strengthening power supply in this direction. He noted that Taipower's forecasted reserve margin rate has exceeded 20% in the past week and is normally above 10%, meaning the power supply is stable.

President Lai said he welcomes Jensen Huang or anyone concerned about Taiwan's power supply to visit power plants and listen to briefings from Taiwan Power Company (Taipower). He also suggested that when Huang visits Taiwan next time, he could invite Taipower Chairman Tseng Wen-sheng to a dinner to discuss Taiwan's power situation.

He also mentioned that while Taiwan's power supply is stable, green energy is still insufficient. Therefore, the government is actively developing diverse power sources such as solar, wind, small hydropower, and hydrogen energy. Taiwan's wind power generation is now the 5th largest in the world.

On nuclear energy, President Lai said the government has not ruled out advanced nuclear energy. As society hopes to extend the operation of the No. 2 and No. 3 nuclear power plants, this has entered a review process. In the future, if nuclear safety is assured, nuclear waste has a disposal site, and there is social consensus, the government will proceed with restarting them according to law.

President Lai also proactively discussed water supply. He said the government has implemented the "Pearl Necklace Plan," connecting western reservoirs and ponds through pipelines, like stringing pearls into a necklace. This project is nearly complete. Therefore, although this year's spring rain was the lowest in 75 years and the plum rain season did not arrive in May, the water shortages and water trucking that previously occurred in science parks have not happened for several years. (Editor: Yang Kai-hsiang) 1150605