Can Geothermal Power Save Taiwan From Energy Catastrophe?
Haley Zaremba

Taiwan is facing an energy crisis that could prove existential. Not only is the country’s energy demand outpacing its grid’s capacities, the country is heavily dependent on energy imports, making the island nation highly vulnerable to military blockades from neighboring China. If Taiwan is not able to build up its own energy supply in a hurry, it will become increasingly difficult – if not impossible – to continue resistance against the Chinese agenda to annex the island under its One China policy. 

Taiwan’s isolated energy grid supports a population of 23 million – equal to the population of Australia on one 200th of the land mass. And not only is Taiwan’s grid responsible for supporting a dense population, it’s also upholding one of the most advanced and energy-intensive tech sectors in the world. In fact, while Taiwan is home to just 0.3 percent of the world’s population, it hosts about 18 percent of the world’s semiconductor manufacturing capacity and a whopping 92 percent of the world’s most advanced computer chip manufacturing capacity, according to figures from the United States International Trade Commission.

“As the age of energy-hungry artificial intelligence dawns, Taiwan is facing a multifaceted energy crisis: It depends heavily on imported fossil fuels; It has ambitious clean energy targets that it is failing to meet; And it can barely keep up with current demand,” Yale360 reported in September of last year. “Addressing this problem, government critics say, is growing increasingly urgent.”

Against this backdrop, China is also ramping up military campaigns in the waters around Taiwan, flexing its military might. If China chose to blockade Taiwan’s energy imports, this would be absolutely disastrous for the nation’s sovereignty and security. And, as an island nation, it has no neighboring grids to turn to in times of crisis. As a result, James Yifan Chen, a scholar of international relations, has warned that "Taiwan is more vulnerable than Ukraine.”

Taiwan’s government is well aware that the country’s energy supply is its “Achilles heel of national security.” National leadership has been working to strengthen the island’s energy independence by “encouraging the development of renewable energies, diversifying fossil fuel suppliers, increasing fuel storage capacities, and enhancing the security of the power grid,” according to the French Institute of International Relations (IFRI). But the feasibility of those plans, and their potential to actually fill the country’s significant energy needs, leaves major room for doubt and key vulnerabilities. 

Moreover, Taiwan has shot itself in the foot by eliminating one of its only domestic forms of energy production. In May of this year, Taiwan shuttered its last remaining nuclear power plant, making good on a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) policy promise to achieve a "nuclear-free homeland" by this year. At one time, nuclear met half of domestic energy demand. Now it provides zero. This decision was made after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in 2011, and local outcry over nuclear waste disposal. This leaves the country between a rock and a hard place in terms of both energy security and national security.

But necessity is the mother of invention, and some industry insiders believe that Taiwan is on the brink of an energy revolution. Without nuclear energy, and no fossil fuel reserves to speak of, Taiwan will have to look elsewhere for potential domestic power production. And that elsewhere might be deep, deep under the ground.

“Sandwiched between two tectonic plates on the Pacific Rim, Taiwan is rich in geothermal resources,” a recent Foreign Policy report states. “Although they have so far mostly gone untapped, that could soon change.” If the country can take advantage of its natural geothermal energy potential, this could provide a near silver-bullet solution to the grid’s woes. Not only is geothermal energy completely carbon-free, it’s a baseload power, meaning it produces energy around the clock. 

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has shown favor for pursuing geothermal energy development, and the state oil company has already begun to repurpose some wells for geothermal exploration. However, there are some key challenges to developing the sector to provide a meaningful share of the country’s energy mix. For one, the trade requires highly specialized engineers, and Taiwan is facing a staffing issue in this regard. Moreover, building out geothermal capacity will require lots of research and development when Taiwan lacks the luxury of time.

The fact that Taiwan is so instrumental to global tech supply chains means that a failure of the nation’s energy system could derail the world’s AI boom – and ironically, that vulnerability could end up being the nation’s saving grace. Deep-pocketed companies like Google are now stepping in to support geothermal energy buildout in Taiwan to protect their own interests, meaning that a geothermal revolution may not be such a pipe dream after all.

By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com

Haley Zaremba is a writer and journalist based in Mexico City. She has extensive experience writing and editing environmental features, travel pieces, local news in the Bay Area, and music/culture reviews.

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