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 would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
President William Lai (賴清德) has appointed former vice president Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) to attend the late Pope Francis’ funeral at the Vatican City on Saturday on his behalf, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today. The Holy See announced Francis’ funeral would take place on Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square. The ministry expressed condolences over Francis’ passing and said that Chen would represent Taiwan at the funeral and offer condolences in person. Taiwan and the Vatican have a long-standing and close diplomatic relationship, the ministry said. Both sides agreed to have Chen represent Taiwan at the funeral, given his Catholic identity and
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
RSS