Taiwan May Shelve Coal Fired Power Plant

Taiwan could shelve the proposed re-opening of the coal-fired Shenao power plant if a planned LNG terminal in Taoyuan City gets the requisite environment approval, Taiwanese premier William Lai said October 5, reported state-owned Central News Agency (CNA) the same day.

He said that if the terminal gets the green light and a gas-fired power plant can meet the power demand, the government will re-examine its energy policy. Taiwan at present has two LNG import terminals and the one proposed at Taoyuan City will be its third. Construction of the third terminal has been delayed due to lack of environmental approvals, CNA said. The Taoyuan City LNG terminal has been proposed by state-owned CPC Corporation and will have a capacity of 3mn mt/yr.

Lai said the ministry of economic affairs would conduct a fresh feasibility study of the Shenao plant, and whether gas-powered electricity can meet demand instead. Taiwan is looking to reduce the share of coal in power generation and increase the share of environment friendly fuels like natural gas.

The old 1,600 MW Shenao power plant was decommissioned in 2007 and demolished in 2011. But state-owned utility Taipower now plans to revive Shenao as a 1,200 MW supercritical coal-fired power plant and commission it in 2025.