MARGIN CALL: The nation’s electricity reserve margin would fall further from this year’s 7.1 percent if new-generation capacity is not brought online, the economy ministry said

Taipei Times
Date: Mar 17, 2018
By: Kuo Chia-erh  /  Staff reporter

The government would not be able to reach the power reserve margin target it set for

2025 if fails to commence operations at the coal-fired Shenao Power Plant (深澳電廠) as scheduled, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The nation is likely to see a power shortfall by 2025, as the reserve margin is expected to decline 1.4 percent if the plant does not come online in July that year, the ministry said in a statement.

The government aims to improve the margin to 15 percent after next year from 7.1 percent this year by accelerating construction of several power plant projects, including upgrading the Shenao plant in New Taipei City’s Rueifang District (瑞芳).

Upgrading the plant would ensure a stable power supply and improve energy efficiency, the ministry said, adding that the facility’s lower heating value — its efficiency taking into account the energy lost as water evaporates during combustion — is forecast to grow to 45 percent from 38 percent after the upgrades are completed.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-03-15

Taiwan may get some newly designed currency, but the changes would come at a cost.

The push for change is coming from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). The

party says that political figures should be removed from the New Taiwan Dollar notes and coins, because they encourage a cult of personality.

But the Central Bank says the move would be expensive and take a long time. They estimate it would take six years to make the switch, and nearly NT$50 billion (US$1.7 billion).

Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long says that the bank will carry out the changes if ordered to do so. He was responding to questions from KMT lawmaker Lai Shyi-bao in the legislature on Thursday. Yang said the directive could come from a new commission on transitional justice, which is set to soon open its doors.    [FULL  STORY]

The Ministry of Science & Technology gave a report on the progress on bio-tech and bio-medicine as par of  Taiwan’s ‘5+2’ industrial innovation strategy
 
Taiwan News
Date: 2018/03/15
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – On March 15, Premier William Lai heard a presentation from the

Ministry of Science and Technology of the Executive Yuan on the progress of the nation’s strategy to promote the biomedical industry.

Taiwan’s government plans for biomedical technology to develop into a NT$1 trillion dollar industry over the coming years, which is one of the key industries of the Tsai government’s “5 plus 2” strategy for innovative industrial development.

Taiwan hopes that cooperation between various agencies and private industries in Taiwan will lead to Taiwan becoming a major hub for creating cutting edge medicines and medical technologies.

Taiwan’s Academia Sinica, in cooperation with several government agencies, is preparing to build a National Biotechnology Research Park (國家生技研究園區). After it is completed it will drastically increase the pace of innovation and research in the areas of biomedical science and technology.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwanese businesses are not concerned enough about cyber security

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/03/14
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwanese businesses should take cyber security more seriously

because it is a matter of national security, Economic Minister Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said Wednesday.

Speaking at the Cyber Security Summit in Taipei, the minister said that first enterprises should focus on improving their information security, and later security could be corporatized, the Central News Agency reported.

Shen said most Taiwanese companies needed to do more about the issue, and he mentioned the example of Japan’s NEC, which had formed a special taskforce to launch cyber attacks against the company’s affiliates, which then showed more concern as a result.

The economics minister called on corporations in Taiwan to train experts in research and development, to integrate knowledge from across various sectors, and then apply it to improve cyber security.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/03/14
By: Tsai Yi-chu and Flor Wang

Taipei, March 14 (CNA) Starting salaries for workers hired in Taiwan’s construction/real-

estate sector averaged NT$32,900 (US$1,123) per month in 2017, the highest of all professions, 1111 job bank reported Wednesday.

The figure, a rise following three years of falling salaries, is NT$100 higher than that received by employees in the electronics technology/information/software/semiconductor sector, which came second and was highest in 2016, 1111 Job Bank vice president Daniel Lee (李大華) said.

The real-estate sector was able to retake the top spot thanks to a rebounding housing market, after several years of weak performance, he said.

Employees at financial, trust and investment/insurance firms enjoyed the third-highest starting monthly salary of NT$32,664, according to the survey conducted among job bank members from January to December 2017, with 289,422 valid samples. It had a confidence level of 95 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.    [FULL  STORY]