Mailiao Power Corp (麥寮汽電), Formosa Plastics Group’s (台塑集團) coal-fired power subsidiary, yesterday urged the Yunlin County Government to extend the permits for using coal at the firm’s power generators in the county, as the two-year permits expire tomorrow.
Mailiao Power chairman Chen Bao-lang (陳寶郎), who is also chairman of Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), said the power company has abided by the county government’s requests, including a request to reduce its annual power generation by 28 percent, since 2015.
“Mailiao’s coal-fired generation units produced 5 percent of Taiwan’s total power supply last year. We hope the county government will take the nation’s power supply stability into account when reviewing our application for a permit extension,” Chen told reporters on the sidelines of a news conference at the Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taipei.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Economic Affairs
The company sells electricity to state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電). It has three coal-fired electricity generators with a combined installed capacity of 1.8 megawatts, making it the largest privately owned coal-fired power plant operator in the nation.
The Bureau of Energy presented Mailiao Power’s electricity generation data and its potential effects on the nation’s power supply to the county government, bureau Director-General Lin Chuan-neng (林全能) said, adding that the bureau hopes the county will make a decision in consideration of the nation’s electricity supply stability.
Yunlin County Commissioner Lee Chin-yung (李進勇), who attended the news conference, told reporters that the county government’s top priority is to reduce air pollution and protect people’s health when reviewing the firm’s applications for a total of 10 permit extensions.
“We will also consider the nation’s power supply and Mailiao Power’s request,” Lee said, adding that the county government is expected to reach a conclusion on Monday next week.
Mailiao Power and the county government yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) at the ministry regarding the company’s plan to convert its three coal-fired power generators to gas-fired facilities by 2025 to reduce emissions.
“The MOU was not signed in exchange for permit extensions from the county,” Chen said. “It was because we understand that the public wants cleaner energy sources.”
The company does not have a detailed timetable for the project yet, but it has begun consulting domestic and international experts in building gas-fired power plants, Chen said.
However, there are issues that need to be resolved before the conversions can start, such as whether the firm could sell gas-generated electricity to potential clients other than Taipower, Chen said.
The firm also needs to know if state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) would help set up gas distribution pipelines or whether the company would need to build them on its own, Chen added.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs appreciates the company’s and the county government’s efforts to produce “clean” energy, as the central government cannot accomplish goal of phasing out nuclear power by 2025 without support from the local governments and businesses, Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said.
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