If the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant cannot become operational due to public opposition, the operational periods of the three existing plants will have to be extended, which could cost between NT$35 billion and NT$40 billion (US$1.16 billion and US$1.33 billion) to renew equipment, Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) said.
Company spokesman Tsai Feng-fu (蔡豐富) said that if service is extended by 20 years, the three plants could generate 40 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity per year, or 800 billion kWh in 20 years.
If other energy resources are used to generate electricity, such as coal or natural gas, the cost could be NT$1.6 trillion, he said.
Tsai said that with thermal power plants heading for decommissioning in the coming years, there is a risk of power shortages by 2016, of which northern Taiwan would bear the brunt.
He said that if the fourth plant in Gongliao District (貢寮), New Taipei City, is not brought online, other energy resources will need to be found to fill the gap, and extending the service of the three existing plants is one option.
He said that the two units of the fourth plant could generate about 19.3 billion kWh per year, while the electricity generated by the Jinshan, Guosheng and Ma-anshan nuclear power plants is 9 billion kWh, 16 billion kWh and 15 billion kWh respectively.
Considering that northern Taiwan is more likely to face electricity shortages, priority will be given to extending the service of the Jinshan and Guosheng plants, both of which are in New Taipei City, but the decision will ultimately be based on government policy, he said.
According to the Atomic Energy Council Web site, the two units of the Jinshan plant in Shihmen District (石門) will expire in 2018 and 2019 respectively, while the two units in the Guosheng plant in Wanli District (萬里) will expire in 2021 and 2023, and the two in the Ma-anshan plant in Ma-anshan (馬鞍山), Pingtung County, in 2024 and 2025.
Applications to extend service need to be submitted five years before a plant’s expiration date.
The extension service application for the Jinshan plant was submitted before the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant disaster in the wake of the March 11, 2011, earthquake in Japan.
Meanwhile, Taipower estimated that despite electricity rate hikes in October last year, the company’s losses this year will amount to nearly NT$10 billion.
As of the end of last month, the company had accumulated losses of NT$209.4 billion.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
China might accelerate its strategic actions toward Taiwan, the South China Sea and across the first island chain, after the US officially entered a military conflict with Iran, as Beijing would perceive Washington as incapable of fighting a two-front war, a military expert said yesterday. The US’ ongoing conflict with Iran is not merely an act of retaliation or a “delaying tactic,” but a strategic military campaign aimed at dismantling Tehran’s nuclear capabilities and reshaping the regional order in the Middle East, said National Defense University distinguished adjunct lecturer Holmes Liao (廖宏祥), former McDonnell Douglas Aerospace representative in Taiwan. If
‘SPEY’ REACTION: Beijing said its Eastern Theater Command ‘organized troops to monitor and guard the entire process’ of a Taiwan Strait transit China sent 74 warplanes toward Taiwan between late Thursday and early yesterday, 61 of which crossed the median line in the Taiwan Strait. It was not clear why so many planes were scrambled, said the Ministry of National Defense, which tabulated the flights. The aircraft were sent in two separate tranches, the ministry said. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday “confirmed and welcomed” a transit by the British Royal Navy’s HMS Spey, a River-class offshore patrol vessel, through the Taiwan Strait a day earlier. The ship’s transit “once again [reaffirmed the Strait’s] status as international waters,” the foreign ministry said. “Such transits by
RSS