Premier Cho Jung-tai pledged on September 4, during a visit to Taipower's Taichung Power Plant, that the plant would generate electricity without coal by 2034 as new gas-fired units replace its coal units. Six coal units will be kept only as emergency backup, to be started for limited periods in cases of national security, natural disasters or other major events. Cho said air-pollution emissions at the plant had already fallen by as much as 80 percent from 2014 levels, PTS reported.
When will gas take over? The first new gas unit is about to begin commercial operation, and the second can accept dispatch from October. Four more second-phase units have passed environmental review and will come online between 2031 and 2034, after which the existing coal units will be dismantled, CNA reported. Between emergencies the six backup units would run only for maintenance and testing, and Cho asked the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taipower to review them and propose a better plan. He said the 2034 pledge depended on every gas unit being finished on schedule.
What did Taichung's mayor ask for? Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen urged the central government not to break its promise to add gas and remove coal, and asked for a timetable for dismantling the old coal units and chimneys, PTS reported. "Once the gas units come online, the coal units and the chimneys must be dismantled immediately," Lu said. Taipower chairman Tseng Wen-sheng said coal units 1 and 2 would be taken down before the end of 2026 under a contract already awarded, and the company urged the city government to speed up its permit reviews. Ho Hsin-chun, a legislator and the Democratic Progressive Party's candidate for Taichung mayor, cited figures to accuse Lu's city government of holding matters up for 15 months, the Liberty Times reported.
What do environmental groups say? Environmental groups, in objections carried by PTS, said they could not accept keeping the old units as backup and questioned whether Taipower had active plans to cut coal over the next few years. Hsu Hsin-hsin, executive director of a government-oversight alliance, said coal units kept as backup would still count toward the plant's installed capacity, so that it "may once again become the world's largest." The groups said the government should leave power capacity for emerging technology industries rather than simply build new plants, and urged it to deliver on its promises faster.
