State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) has denied media reports that a proposed new liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Keelung would create traffic jams and pose safety risks to one of the country’s busiest ports.
Taipower’s plans to build the new LNG terminal, the country’s fourth, are designed to accommodate the conversion of the nearby 2,000-megawatt oil-fired Hsieh-ho Power Plant into a gas-fired plant.
The utility’s initial proposal to build the terminal off the coast of Keelung’s Waimushan (外木山) was put on hold after critics said that it would endanger a coral reef.
Taipower then issued a revised proposal to move the terminal’s location from the west to the east side of the power plant, closer to the mouth of the Port of Keelung.
The plan is undergoing a preliminary environmental impact assessment.
The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday published a front-page report quoting anonymous Keelung Port officials as saying that the utility was moving ahead with the plan “at all costs,” disregarding its impact on port operations so that it can meet Taiwan’s energy needs.
LNG shipments would snarl ship traffic in the port and create a risk of gas leakage or explosions, which could force a stoppage of port operations and risk injuries, the newspaper quoted the officials as saying.
Taipower yesterday strongly denied the claims in a statement, saying that a similar LNG terminal inside the Port of Taichung has received more than 1,000 gas shipments without any adverse impact on ship traffic.
The utility said it had also conducted “simulations” showing the terminal would not affect ship traffic, and pledged that as long as the facility was effectively managed, it would not pose any danger to the port.
Taiwan has in the past few years relied on an increasing number of LNG imports as it attempts to meet the government’s goal to phase out nuclear power.
LNG last year accounted for 37.2 percent of Taiwan’s energy mix — compared with only 25.46 percent in 2011 — while coal accounted for 44.30 percent, nuclear 9.55 percent, oil 1.83 percent and pumped storage hydropower 1.09 percent.
The remainder came from a variety of renewable sources, Bureau of Energy data showed.
A plan to build the country’s third LNG terminal off the coast of Datan Borough (大潭) in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District (觀音) passed an environmental impact assessment in March.
The plan last year survived a national referendum to have the terminal relocated.
POWERING UP: PSUs for AI servers made up about 50% of Delta’s total server PSU revenue during the first three quarters of last year, the company said Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) reported record-high revenue of NT$161.61 billion (US$5.11 billion) for last quarter and said it remains positive about this quarter. Last quarter’s figure was up 7.6 percent from the previous quarter and 41.51 percent higher than a year earlier, and largely in line with Yuanta Securities Investment Consulting Co’s (元大投顧) forecast of NT$160 billion. Delta’s annual revenue last year rose 31.76 percent year-on-year to NT$554.89 billion, also a record high for the company. Its strong performance reflected continued demand for high-performance power solutions and advanced liquid-cooling products used in artificial intelligence (AI) data centers,
SIZE MATTERS: TSMC started phasing out 8-inch wafer production last year, while Samsung is more aggressively retiring 8-inch capacity, TrendForce said Chipmakers are expected to raise prices of 8-inch wafers by up to 20 percent this year on concern over supply constraints as major contract chipmakers Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and Samsung Electronics Co gradually retire less advanced wafer capacity, TrendForce Corp (集邦科技) said yesterday. It is the first significant across-the-board price hike since a global semiconductor correction in 2023, the Taipei-based market researcher said in a report. Global 8-inch wafer capacity slid 0.3 percent year-on-year last year, although 8-inch wafer prices still hovered at relatively stable levels throughout the year, TrendForce said. The downward trend is expected to continue this year,
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
RSS