Taichung power station

Part of the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project.

Download full dataset

Report an error

Related categories:

Oil & Gas power stations Health Effects of Gas Plants Oil and gas extraction Oil and gas pipelines LNG terminals

Part of the Global Coal Plant Tracker, a Global Energy Monitor project.

Download full dataset

Report an error

Related coal trackers:

Global Coal Mine Tracker Global Coal Terminals Tracker Global Coal Project Finance Tracker

Taichung power station (臺灣電力台中發電廠) is an operating power station of at least 5780-megawatts (MW) in Longjing, Taichung, Taiwan with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating. It is also known as Zhonghuo.

Location

Table 1: Project-level location details

Plant name	Location	Coordinates (WGS 84)
Taichung power station	Longjing, Taichung, Taiwan	24.2194242, 120.4731345 (exact)

The map below shows the exact location of the power station.

Loading map...

{"type":"HYBRID","minzoom":false,"maxzoom":false,"types":["ROADMAP","SATELLITE","HYBRID","TERRAIN"],"mappingservice":"googlemaps3","width":"600px","height":"500px","centre":false,"title":"","label":"","icon":"","lines":[],"polygons":[],"circles":[],"rectangles":[],"copycoords":false,"static":false,"visitedicon":"","wmsoverlay":false,"zoom":16,"layers":[],"controls":["pan","zoom","type","scale","streetview","rotate"],"zoomstyle":"DEFAULT","typestyle":"DEFAULT","autoinfowindows":false,"resizable":false,"kmlrezoom":false,"poi":true,"cluster":false,"clustergridsize":60,"clustermaxzoom":20,"clusterzoomonclick":true,"clusteraveragecenter":true,"clusterminsize":2,"imageoverlays":[],"kml":[],"gkml":[],"searchmarkers":"","fullscreen":false,"scrollwheelzoom":false,"locations":[{"text":"","title":"","link":"","lat":24.2194242,"lon":120.4731345,"icon":""}]}

Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):

• Unit 10, Unit 11, Unit 12, Unit 9: 24.2194242, 120.4731345
• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7, Unit 8: 24.2131, 120.485
• Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit CC1, Unit CC2, Unit CC3, Unit CC4: 24.212265, 120.485459

Project Details

Table 2: Unit-level details

Unit name	Status	Fuel(s)	Capacity (MW)	Technology	CHP	Start year	Retired year
Unit 1	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	1991	2030 (planned)
Unit 1	operating	light fuel oil	70	gas turbine	not found	1980	2028 (planned)
Unit 10	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	2006	2035 (planned)
Unit 11	cancelled	coal - bituminous	800	unknown	–	–	–
Unit 12	cancelled	coal - bituminous	800	unknown	–	–	–
Unit 2	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	1991	2030 (planned)
Unit 2	operating	light fuel oil	70	gas turbine	not found	1980	2028 (planned)
Unit 3	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	1992	2035 (planned)
Unit 3	operating	light fuel oil	70	gas turbine	not found	1980	2028 (planned)
Unit 4	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	1992	2035 (planned)
Unit 4	operating	light fuel oil	70	gas turbine	not found	1980	2028 (planned)
Unit 5	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	1996	2035 (planned)
Unit 6	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	1996	2035 (planned)
Unit 7	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	1996	2035 (planned)
Unit 8	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	1997	2035 (planned)
Unit 9	operating	coal - bituminous	550	subcritical	–	2005	2035 (planned)
Unit CC1	construction	liquefied natural gas	1300	combined cycle	not found	2025	–
Unit CC2	construction	liquefied natural gas	1300	combined cycle	not found	2026	–
Unit CC3	announced	liquefied natural gas	1300	combined cycle	not found	not found	–
Unit CC4	announced	liquefied natural gas	1300	combined cycle	not found	not found	–

CHP is an abbreviation for Combined Heat and Power. It is a technology that produces electricity and thermal energy at high efficiencies. Coal units track this information in the Captive Use section when known.

Table 3: Unit-level ownership and operator details

Unit name	Owner	Parent
Unit 1	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 1	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER)	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]
Unit 10	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 11	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 12	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 2	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 2	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER)	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]
Unit 3	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 3	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER)	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]
Unit 4	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 4	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER)	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]
Unit 5	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 6	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 7	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 8	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit 9	Taiwan Power Co (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]	–
Unit CC1	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER)	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]
Unit CC2	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER)	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]
Unit CC3	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER)	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]
Unit CC4	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER)	Taiwan Power Company (TAIPOWER) [100.0%]

Background

Taichung power station is one of the the top ten biggest coal plants in the world.

Two gas combined cycle units, each with a capacity of 1,300MW, are currently under construction at the plant site.

Taichung power station consists of ten 550 MW coal-burning units, making it the world's largest coal-fired power plant.

Four original units were commissioned in 1991-1992. In 1996-1997, four additional units were added. The eight older units have a total estimated coal requirement of around 12 million tons of bituminous coal and 2.5 million tons of sub-bituminous coal a year. In June 2005 and June 2006, 550 MW sub-critical pressure units 9 and 10 were installed. Coal is received through the Taichung Port. The power station and port are located on the Dadu River Estuary, an important habitat for the critically endangered Taiwanese white dolphin.

In September 2022, Taipower discussed strategy changes aimed at avoiding outages like what occurred at the Hsinta power station in March 2022. They would attempt a distributed microgrid method, which reduces interregional power supplies and increases resilience. Taichung power station would supply the Central Taiwan Science Park. The company planned to invest NT$564.5 billion (US$18.13 billion) towards this goal over ten years.

Public opposition, fines, and closures

In November 2015, in response to public protests, Taipower and the local government agreed the plant would cut generation when particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution hit 71 micrograms per cubic meter at most of the 11 monitoring stations in the city. Taiwan Healthy Air Action Alliance argued the plant should cut generation three days ahead of predicted peak pollution days and demanded the utility switch to cleaner generation. In March 2016, the city government requested Taipower lower output at the plant when the index for PM2.5 hit “extremely high” levels.

In November 2019, Taipower said three of the plant's units had been put on suspension, while several others had also cut back on power generation. The company said it expected the annual consumption of coal at the Taichung plant to fall below the 16 million ton per year cap mandated by the city government to limit pollution.

In December 2019, the Taichung City Government revoked the operating permit for units 2 & 3 of the power station effective January 1, 2020, saying operation exceeded the city's coal consumption cap. In February 2020, the Taiwan Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) nullified the city decision, saying it did not find evidence of violation. On June 24, 2020, Taipower restarted unit 2. City officials responded by suing the plant owner and threatening jail time, saying the EPA's decision had not yet been approved by the executive branch meaning the city's ban on the operation of units 2 and 3 were still in effect.

In July 2020, unit 1 of the power station also resumed operation.

In April 2021, Taipower once again said that it would contest a NT$20 million (US$ 703,556) fine imposed by the Taichung City Government for restarting unit 3 without obtaining prior approval. Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen defended the city’s decision to fine Taipower as “fighting for the health of Taichung residents.”

An April 2021 article in Aerosol and Air Quality Research evaluated the "Impact of Air Pollutants Emitted by Taichung Power Plant on Atmospheric PM2.5 in Central Taiwan", finding that periods of extreme pollution were not uncommon in the Taichung area.

Clean Air Taichung wants the plant closed by 2030, and NGO groups remain hopeful the government will embrace alternatives to the proposed additional gas units.

In December 2023, several environmental groups called on the local government to demand the phasing out of coal at Taichung power station by the end of 2026.

Decommissioning plans

In January 2021, the Parliament of Taiwan adopted a resolution to accelerate the decommissioning of the power plant. The ten 550 megawatt coal-fired units are to be retired by 2035 instead of 2046 as initially planned by Taipower. The subcritical coal units are to be preserved as a national security emergency reserve. Four gas-fired power plants are to be built on the site to replace the coal units, though a commissioning date for these new plants is unclear.

In March 2021, Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen demanded that instead of holding four coal-fired units in reserve after the two new gas-fired ones go into operation, Taipower should scrap the four coal-fired generators altogether.

In January 2023, it was reported that Taipower planned to decommission units 1-2 at Taichung power station before 2030. Units 3-4 would be placed on standby, but would be considered for decommissioning before 2030 as well, if the gas-fired units under construction were successfully operating. Two gas-fired units were expected to be in service by 2026, after which the power station would reportedly adopt an operation mode of "2 gas and 6 coal" units. The Vice President of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan had proposed that the six remaining coal-fired units (units 5-10) be decommissioned by 2035.

In May 2023, it was reported that two units (presumably Units 1 and 2) could be shut down as early as 2026.

Coal storage

In January 2023, it was reported that Taipower was considering increasing its coal reserve from 40-42 days to 50 days, and looking into potential locations for storage in the event of a blockade. A partial blockade was imposed around Taiwan when China carried out drills in August 2022. Possible coal storage sites included Linkou power station and Taichung power station.

Description of Expansion

Taipower said there was an expansion plan to build two new 800 MW units at the power station by 2016, later pushed to 2021.

However, as of 2015, the proposed new units are not listed in Taipower's 2014 Annual Report, nor on the company's list of projects under construction. The expansion appears to be deferred or abandoned.

In February 2016, Cai Qichang, Vice President of the legislature, said that Units 11 and 12 will be natural gas generation and that Units 1-10 will be gradually retired.

The construction of Taichung gas generating units was blocked by the Taichung City Urban Design Review Committee for 15 months, leading to slow progress on Taiwan’s "gas-to-coal" exchange. However, in June 2021, the Minister of Economy Wang Meihua said that the National Construction Agency determined that the station's expansion would not need to pass local reviews and should be underway as soon as possible so that the new gas units can be online by 2025 and 2026.

Articles and Resources

Additional data

To access additional data, including interactive maps of the power stations, downloadable datases, and summary data, please visit the Global Coal Plant Tracker and the Global Oil and Gas Plant Tracker on the Global Energy Monitor website.