Taipower head wants power sector at the table in tech decisions

Taipei, Oct. 12 (CNA) The chairman of state-run Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生), said Monday that the electricity industry should be brought into technology-sector decision-making as soon as possible.

Speaking at a news conference ahead of the 2026 Net-Zero Taiwan and Energy Taiwan exhibitions, which open Wednesday, Tseng said energy would become increasingly important to the technology industry because computing power depends on electricity.

Electricity will also become a critical part of the supply chains of the semiconductor and technology industries, he said.

As industrial power supply and demand patterns evolve, Taipower should play a greater role in industrial decision-making rather than simply providing electricity, Tseng said.

He said parts of Taipower's operations should take a more industry-oriented approach, enabling the company to better understand the technology sector's operating models, business challenges, financial arrangements and supply chain partnerships.

As businesses' demand for renewable energy grows, electricity suppliers and consumers should jointly discuss energy procurement, the acquisition of renewable energy certificates and energy storage, he said.

Tseng noted that because the industry sector changes rapidly, the time frame for electricity investment decisions has shortened from about 10 years to five years, or even three.

He said he hoped to hold more talks with the technology, renewable energy and other industries to discuss electricity market rules and ways to cooperate.

Asked whether Taiwan's current electricity supply was sufficient, Tseng said it could meet the country's industrial development needs. He cited Taiwan's global ranking in investment in natural gas-fired power generation, third in 2024 and sixth in 2025, as evidence of the rapid pace of investment in power generation.

However, he warned that electricity demand from artificial intelligence applications could grow exponentially. If companies build their own data centers or keep computing operations on-site to protect trade secrets, demand for computing power in Taiwan could also become more difficult to predict, he said.

Taipower is closely monitoring electricity distribution and the growth in demand for high-voltage power, Tseng said.

Meeting the rapidly growing demand for computing power will require not only enough electricity generation but also a grid that can deliver power where and when it is needed, while coordinating with renewable energy sources and energy storage systems, he said.