Gas-fuel conversion plan for Keelung's oil-fired power plant approved

Taipei, Feb. 26 (CNA) Plans to repurpose Taiwan's only dedicated oil-fired power plant into a gas-fired facility was approved with modifications at an environmental impact assessment meeting in Taipei on Wednesday, following scuffles between local residents for and against the change.

The Environmental Impact Assessment Review Committee under Taiwan's Ministry of Environment (MOENV) reached a consensus on requiring Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) to address potential soil contamination issues in connection to its plans to refit Keelung City's Hsieh-ho Power Plant and build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receiving station next to the plant.

The committee's decision on Wednesday means that the plans have now cleared the second stage of the environmental impact assessment, which included six preliminary meetings since 2018.

The committee had originally set a limit of 20 speakers during the meeting but instead agreed to allow all 51 people who had registered by a 9.30 a.m. deadline a chance to speak.

Those opposing the power plant's shift from oil to gas fuel accused Taipower of concealing information about soil and groundwater pollution, and raised procedural issues.

This led to a deadlock, prompting the committee chairperson to adjourn the meeting until midday.

After the recess, heated exchanges between residents supporting and opposing the state-owned power company's plans descended into minor physical altercations.

Around 2 p.m., the committee decided to continue discussing the plans in a closed-door session that included the media and government agencies but excluded the protesters.

During the meeting, a Taipower representative said that converting the Hsieh-ho Power Plant into a gas-fired facility was necessary to stabilize the power supply in northern and northeastern parts of the country, which currently has a demand of 6 million kilowatts.

If the Hsieh-ho Power Plant is decommissioned, the northeastern grid will largely be dependent on the coal-fired Hoping Power Plant in Hualien County, which only has a capacity of around 1.3 million kilowatts, the company said.

Taipower also said the planned LNG receiving terminal -- located on the waterfront to receive imports of the flammable fuel -- would have strict safety regulations, and that "internationally no explosions have occurred in similar storage facilities."

Shih Wei-jeng (施偉政), a Keelung City councilor of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), said that 20 out of 24 ward chiefs in Zhongshan District where the plant is located had expressed support for the plans.

He said that the oil-fired plant currently causes "a lot of dust [pollution]" that falls on "residents' cars, clothes and rooftops" and that local people "need better air quality."

Keelung City Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) of the main opposition Kuomingtang (KMT) also attended the meeting on Wednesday.

Located on Taiwan's northern coastline near Keelung City's main urban area, Hsieh-ho Power Plant currently has two oil-fired units each capable of producing 500 megawatts each that began operating in 1980 and 1985, according to information on Taipower's website.

The plans are in line with Taiwan's official energy strategy, which is to "promote green energy, increase natural gas, reduce coal-fired, achieve nuclear-free," according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs' website.

In 2024, Taiwan's 251.44 terawatt hours (TWh) of net power (generated and purchased) included gas (47.2 percent), coal (31.1 percent), renewables (11.9 percent) and nuclear (4.7 percent) sources, according to Taipower's website.