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.
AI BOOST: Although Taiwan’s reliance on Chinese rare earth elements is limited, it could face indirect impacts from supply issues and price volatility, an economist said DBS Bank Ltd (星展銀行) has sharply raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 5.6 percent, citing stronger-than-expected exports and investment linked to artificial intelligence (AI), as it said that the current momentum could peak soon. The acceleration of the global AI race has fueled a surge in Taiwan’s AI-related capital spending and exports of information and communications technology (ICT) products, which have been key drivers of growth this year. “We have revised our GDP forecast for Taiwan upward to 5.6 percent from 4 percent, an upgrade that mainly reflects stronger-than-expected AI-related exports and investment in the third
Mercuries Life Insurance Co (三商美邦人壽) shares surged to a seven-month high this week after local media reported that E.Sun Financial Holding Co (玉山金控) had outbid CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) in the financially strained insurer’s ongoing sale process. Shares of the mid-sized life insurer climbed 5.8 percent this week to NT$6.72, extending a nearly 18 percent rally over the past month, as investors bet on the likelihood of an impending takeover. The final round of bidding closed on Thursday, marking a critical step in the 32-year-old insurer’s search for a buyer after years of struggling to meet capital adequacy requirements. Local media reports
TECHNOLOGICAL RIVALRY: The artificial intelligence chip competition among multiple players would likely intensify over the next two years, a Quanta official said Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), which makes servers and laptops on a contract basis, yesterday said its shipments of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s GB300 chips have increased steadily since last month, should surpass those of the GB200 models this quarter. The production of GB300 servers has gone much more smoothly than that of the GB200, with shipments projected to increase sharply next month, Quanta executive vice president Mike Yang (楊麒令) said on the sidelines of a technology forum in Taipei. While orders for GB200 servers gradually decrease, the production transition between the two server models has been
ASE Technology Holding Co (日月光投控), the world’s largest integrated circuit (IC) packaging and testing supplier, yesterday announced a strategic collaboration with Analog Devices Inc (ADI), coupled with the signing of a binding memorandum of understanding. Under the agreement, ASE intends to purchase 100 percent shares of Analog Devices Sdn Bhd and acquire its manufacturing facility in Penang, Malaysia, a press release showed. The ADI Penang facility is located in the prime industrial hub of Bayan Lepas, with an area of over 680,000 square feet, it said. In addition, the two sides intend to enter into a long-term supply agreement for ASE to
RSS