Coal news and updates

The Taichung City government and the state- owned electricity supplier, Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower), were at loggerheads Sunday on whether some of the Taichung Power Plant's coal-fired units should be scrapped after Taipower adds new gas-fired counterparts to the plant in the future.

 

As one of the world's largest coal-fired plants, the Taichung Power Plant currently consists of 10 coal-fired units.

 

Taipower is planning to add two natural gas-powered units to the plant in 2025 in line with the government's policy of decreasing coal consumption to improve air pollution.

 

After installing the two gas-powered units, Taipower said four of the original coal-fired boilers will only be decommissioned and held in reserve, not scrapped, in case they are needed when electricity is in short supply.

 

However, that proposal needs approval from the Taichung City government, which has long criticized the power plant as a major source of air pollution for the city.

 

Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) on Sunday demanded that instead of holding four coal-fired units in reserve after the two new gas-fired ones go into operation, Taipower should scrap the four coal-fired generators altogether.

 

"Having more generators in Taichung means the air quality in the city will only become worse," Lu told reporters.

 

"It will be unfair for Taichung citizens to have to continue to endure poor air quality simply because those aging coal-fired generators are not being replaced," she added.

 

In response, Taipower spokesman Chang Ting-shu (張廷抒) said the 10 coal-fired generators in the Taichung plant are all relatively new and still more than a decade away from reaching the required retirement age.

 

Taipower is mulling whether to add two gas-fired units to the plant to meet the rising demands in Taichung that has for two consecutive years become the the city/county in Taiwan that saw the highest rise in

 

electricity consumption, Chang said.

 

The four coal-fired units will only be used when the air quality in Taichung is relatively good and when the nation's electricity operating reserve margin is less than 8 percent, meaning that electricity is in short supply, Chang added.

 

Source : https://focustaiwan.tw/business