LAST YEAR, the pan-Blue camp went on the attack over the destruction of 145,000 solar panels by Typhoon Danas. In particular, pan-Blue media outlets, as well as KMT legislators, alleged that this shows government corruption in terms of the push toward solar power. More broadly, the pan-Blue camp has used the destruction of the solar panels to allege that the DPP is only interested in green power because of graft, and to cast doubt on green energy as a whole. This proves telling about the contentious energy debate in Taiwan at present.
The destruction of the solar panels by typhoons in the summer of 2025 primarily impacted Tainan and Chiayi. Fish farms and ponds were impacted, in that 2,300 tons of equipment was destroyed and dispersed by the typhoon.
This added to the damages caused by Typhoon Danas, which caused over 2.6 billion NT in agricultural damages and left over 900,000 homes without power. One Taipower worker was also left in critical condition in Chiayi after being electrocuted while conducting repairs.
Subsequently, news articles suggested that the damaged solar panel parts would not only cause environmental pollution, but would also be eaten by fish and, in turn, be consumed by people. The Ministry of Environment argued otherwise, stating that there was no lead and copper pollution from the damage, and that the damage was a result of the extreme weather conditions. Indeed, Typhoon Danas followed a rare trajectory that resulted in landfall in Chiayi, which is highly unusual.
An unusual claim that appeared in the news, however, suggested that the DPP was covering up the dangers of solar panel pollution and compared this to pollution caused by nuclear waste. Concerns about nuclear waste storage have historically been a concern that undergirds opposition to nuclear energy, given Taiwan’s limited landmass.
Moreover, the 2011 Fukushima disaster led to concerns regarding the impact that the frequent typhoons and earthquakes that Taiwan could see on nuclear power plants, seeing as the catastrophic meltdown of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor took place after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Like Japan, Taiwan frequently sees seismic activity and typhoons, though tsunamis and other tidal events are less common.
The attempt by pan-Blue outlets, then, would be to dismiss such concerns by suggesting that solar energy is similarly dangerous. The pan-Blue camp has traditionally been pro-nuclear. Arguably, this is less about the power source itself, as more about the KMT’s appeal to historical nostalgia.
In past years, before the shuttering of the Ma-anshan reactor last year, nuclear power hovered at around 10%. Nevertheless, nuclear energy once consisted of more than 50% of Taiwan’s energy mix. This coincided with the time in which the KMT was the sole ruling political party in Taiwan, in the course of Taiwan’s authoritarian period, as well as the high period of economic growth in Taiwan.
The KMT has sought to link its past governance with Taiwan’s past prosperity, in framing the KMT as technocratically preternaturally adept in managing the economy, and so should return to power in order to allow for a return to this period. Likewise, the KMT has also sought to link this vision of past prosperity with nuclear energy, suggesting that economic prosperity would also return with a shift back to nuclear energy.
Consequently, the KMT has sought to attack forms of green energy, suggesting that they are newfangled, untested, and even potentially dangerous. The KMT has sought to attack DPP politicians ranging from Tsai Ing-wen to Lai Pin-yu, in suggesting that DPP politicians only are interested in green energy due to investments in green energy companies. This line of argument draws on how many in Taiwan may be unaware of international trends toward green energy. Moreover, pressure on major Taiwanese companies to transition to green energy has often been external, as a result of pressure from major world players such as Apple, rather than as a result of domestic pressures.
It is to be seen if the KMT’s line of argumentation resonates with the Taiwanese public or if the issue fails to catch on. Certainly, solar power has continued to be contentious as an issue in the past year. Still, the debate about energy in Taiwan more broadly reflects the stark partisanship that exists in Taiwan at present.
Chinese Nationalist PartyKMTKuomintangsolar energy in TaiwanSolar panels in TaiwanTyphoon Danas
Brian Hioe is one of the founding editors of New Bloom. He is a freelance journalist, as well as a translator. A New York native and Taiwanese-American, he has an MA in East Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University and graduated from New York University with majors in History, East Asian Studies, and English Literature. He was Democracy and Human Rights Service Fellow at the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy from 2017 to 2018 and is currently a Non-Resident Fellow at the University of Nottingham’s Taiwan Studies Programme, as well as board member of the Taiwan Foreign Correspondents’ Club.
丘琦欣，創建破土的編輯之一，專於撰寫社會運動和政治的自由作家偶而亦從事翻譯工作。他自哥倫比亞大學畢業，是亞洲語言及文化科系的碩士，同時擁有紐約大學的歷史，東亞研究及英文文學三項學士學位。
New Bloom is an online magazine covering activism and youth politics in Taiwan and the Asia Pacific, founded in Taiwan in 2014 in the wake of the Sunflower Movement. We seek to put local voices in touch with international discourse, beginning with Taiwan. Among our other endeavors, we currently run a community space in Wanhua, Taipei.
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