The Legislative Yuan yesterday passed a non-binding resolution calling for the phaseout of coal use at the Taichung Power Plant by 2028.
The motion, introduced by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators Lo Ting-wei (羅廷瑋), Liao Wei-hsiang (廖偉翔), Huang Chien-hao (黃健豪), Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) and Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Legislator Chang Chi-kai (張?楷), passed in a vote along party lines, with the opposition dominating the 113-seat legislature.
Plans to build more gas-fired units should allow the Taichung plant to eliminate coal by 2028, they said, adding that the plant uses outdated subcritical coal-fired units, which have the lowest power generation efficiency.
Photo: CNA
The resolution said that two newly added gas-fired units in Phase 1 of the Taichung Power Plant, along with the privately owned Chung Chia gas-fired power plant, are scheduled to begin operations by 2026 and could replace the electricity generated by the plant’s coal-fired units.
Under the government’s 2034 target, 71 percent of coal units would still be operational in 2031, which runs counter to its pledge that “for every new gas-fired unit added, one coal unit will be retired,” the resolution said.
The Taichung Power Plant should be prevented from operating six coal-fired and six gas-fired boilers concurrently, the resolution said.
Photo courtesy of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) said the Taichung plant was built by the then-KMT government, with its peak coal consumption coinciding with the tenures of then-president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), and then-Taichung mayors Jason Hu (胡志強) and incumbent Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) — all KMT members.
Since the DPP took over the presidency in 2016, it has reduced coal consumption by 6 million tonnes and air pollution by 77 percent, Wu said.
DPP Legislator Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) said that the KMT’s and the TPP’s opposition to coal to protect public health is just a show given their advocacy of restarting the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant in Pingtung County.
Chuang accused the two parties of “ruthless politicking” with their push for nuclear power and leaving more nuclear waste in Pingtung County.
State-run Taiwan Power Co (台電) issued a statement later yesterday, saying it has set 2034 as the target year to facilitate the phaseout of coal power to avoid jeopardizing the nation’s energy supply.
The company is to decommission two coal-fired boilers at the plant by next year, and progress on plans to end all coal use by 2034 is on track, it said.
Additional reporting by Lin Hsin-han
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
RSS