The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) on Monday approved an environmental impact assessment for two planned natural gas-fired generators, which are to be constructed at the Taichung Power Plant.
The generators are to have a combined installed capacity of 2.6 million kilowatts, said state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower), the plant’s operator.
The generators and related facilities are to be built on land already owned by the company, so as not to impact the environment, Taipower said.
The EPA reviewed the project three times from October 2018 to June last year.
In October last year, it was reviewed a fourth time, and on Monday it was discussed at an environmental impact assessment meeting attended by officials, energy experts and environmental advocates.
During the five-hour meeting, environmental groups criticized the plant for failing to reduce its number of coal-powered generators, saying that “without doing so, [the project] will be an expansion of the power plant.”
The Taichung plant has 10 coal-fired power generators, but plans to only use six of them after the two natural gas generators are activated, it said, adding that doing so would reduce its emissions of air pollutants by 64 to 72 percent.
Experts at the meeting said it would be a waste to burn natural gas to generate power, as gas is more effective when used in the form of liquefied natural gas.
However, natural gas resources are stable to operate, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) told the meeting, adding that when operating the two new units, tighter standards would be applied to regulate emissions of sulfur oxides and nitrogen oxides.
Tseng also promised stricter management of the plant’s existing coal-fired units, saying that the plant would only be allowed to operate more than six generators simultaneously for 240 hours per year, and that the power plant would not be allowed to operate more than 10 units (coal-fired and natural gas-fired) simultaneously.
It was unacceptable that the two units passed the environmental impact assessment, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) said.
The Taichung City Government strongly objects to the ruling and has lodged a protest, she said.
The fossil fuel-dependent Taichung Power Plant, one of the largest of its kind in the world, was slapped with hefty fines last year for breaching regulations, including by using more coal than is permitted for the year and failing to cease using raw coal.
Taiwan is to commence mass production of the Tien Kung (天弓, “Sky Bow”) III, IV and V missiles by the second quarter of this year if the legislature approves the government’s NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.78 billion) special defense budget, an official said yesterday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, a defense official with knowledge of the matter said that the advanced systems are expected to provide crucial capabilities against ballistic and cruise missiles for the proposed “T-Dome,” an advanced, multi-layered air defense network. The Tien Kung III is an air defense missile with a maximum interception altitude of 35km. The Tien Kung IV and V
The disruption of 941 flights in and out of Taiwan due to China’s large-scale military exercises was no accident, but rather the result of a “quasi-blockade” used to simulate creating the air and sea routes needed for an amphibious landing, a military expert said. The disruptions occurred on Tuesday and lasted about 10 hours as China conducted live-fire drills in the Taiwan Strait. The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) said the exercises affected 857 international flights and 84 domestic flights, affecting more than 100,000 travelers. Su Tzu-yun (蘇紫雲), a research fellow at the government-sponsored Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said the air
Taiwan lacks effective and cost-efficient armaments to intercept rockets, making the planned “T-Dome” interception system necessary, two experts said on Tuesday. The concerns were raised after China’s military fired two waves of rockets during live-fire drills around Taiwan on Tuesday, part of two-day exercises code-named “Justice Mission 2025.” The first wave involved 17 rockets launched at 9am from Pingtan in China’s Fujian Province, according to Lieutenant General Hsieh Jih-sheng (謝日升) of the Office of the Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Intelligence at the Ministry of National Defense. Those rockets landed 70 nautical miles (129.6km) northeast of Keelung without flying over Taiwan,
A strong continental cold air mass is to bring pollutants to Taiwan from tomorrow, the Ministry of Environment said today, as it issued an “orange” air quality alert for most of the country. All of Taiwan except for Hualien and Taitung counties is to be under an “orange” air quality alert tomorrow, indicating air quality that is unhealthy for sensitive groups. In China, areas from Shandong to Shanghai have been enveloped in haze since Saturday, the ministry said in a news release. Yesterday, hourly concentrations of PM2.5 in these areas ranged from 65 to 160 micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m³), and pollutants were
RSS