Mailiao power station
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Mailiao power station (台塑麥寮發電廠) is an operating power station of at least 4200-megawatts (MW) in Mailiao, Yunlin, Taiwan with multiple units, some of which are not currently operating.
Location
Table 1: Project-level location details
| Plant name | Location | Coordinates (WGS 84) |
|---|---|---|
| Mailiao power station | Mailiao, Yunlin, Taiwan | 23.803419, 120.189024 (exact) |
The map below shows the exact location of the power station.
Unit-level coordinates (WGS 84):
- Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4, Unit 5, Unit 6, Unit 7: 23.803419, 120.189024
- Unit 1, Unit 2: 23.7945566, 120.197263
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 | 600 | supercritical | – | 1999 | 2025 |
| Unit 1 | pre-permit[1][2][3] | fossil gas - LNG[4] | 1200[2] | combined cycle[4] | – | 2028[5] | – |
| Unit 2 | operating | coal - bituminous | 600 | supercritical | – | 1999 | 2025 |
| Unit 2 | pre-permit[1][2][3] | fossil gas - LNG[6] | 1200[2] | combined cycle[6] | – | 2028[5] | – |
| Unit 3 | operating | coal - bituminous | 600 | supercritical | – | 2000 | 2025 |
| Unit 4 | operating | coal - bituminous | 600 | supercritical | – | 2002 | 2025 |
| Unit 5 | operating | coal - bituminous | 600 | supercritical | – | 2002 | 2025 |
| Unit 6 | operating | coal - bituminous | 600 | supercritical | – | 2000 | 2025 |
| Unit 7 | operating | coal - bituminous | 600 | supercritical | – | 2002 | 2025 |
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 |
|---|---|
| Unit 1 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 1 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 2 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 3 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 4 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 5 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 6 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
| Unit 7 | Mai-Liao Power Corp [100.0%] |
Project-level captive use details
- Captive industry use (heat or power): chemicals
Project-level coal details
- Coal source(s): imported
Background
It appears to be separate from the smaller Mailiao Formosa Petrochemical power station, which also burns coal.
Two new natural gas units, each with a capacity of 2,400MW, are expected to be constructed at the plant site in 2025.[7]
Mailiao is a 7 x 600 MW supercritical coal plant in Mailiao,[8] commissioned from 1999 to 2002. The power station is owned by the Mai-Liao Power Corporation (MPC)[9] and Formosa Petrochemical Corporation (FPCC). Coal is imported via an adjacent coal port.[10][11]
In response to a new government policy related to Independent Power Plants (IPP), Formosa Plastics Corp. (FPC), Nan-Ta Plastics Corp.(NPC), Formosa Chemical-Fiber Corp. (FCFC), and Formosa Petrochemical Corp. (FPCC) appear to have co-invested and established a new company, Mai-Liao Power Corporation (MPC) in 1996. MPC initially gained an 1,800 MW capacity contract allowing it to become the biggest IPP in Taiwan with FP1 commissioned in June 1999, FP2 in September 1999, and FP3 in September 2000.[12]
The units at the power station are often referred to as Units 1-5 (1999-2002) and Units A-B (2000, 2002). Five pulverized coal-fired units appear to be owned by MPC and two pulverized coal-fired co-generation units appear to be owned by FPCC.[13]
The power station is or was the world's sixth largest coal-fired power plant and causes serious air pollution. For example, in 2015, the Yunlin county government requested Formosa take responsibility and loadshed to suppress the air pollutants during the high pollution season, usually around October to March.[14] In addition, in 2017, the power station reached a coal-burning quota, putting it in non-compliance with the county’s environmental regulations.[15]
Formosa spent 1.9 billion yuan to install wet electrostatic precipitators and low-nitrogen burners in coal-fired power units, with construction expected to be completed in 2021.[16]
Planned retirement and gas-fueled replacement
In 2016, the legislature’s Economics Committee passed a nonbinding resolution that privately owned coal-fired power plants should be transformed to gas power plants before their electricity supply contracts with Taipower can be renewed. The committee said the coal-fired power plants should suspend operations if they cannot be transformed into gas power plants and that Taipower should not renew the contracts if privately owned utilities fail to do so. This appeared to include the Mailiao station, whose contract with Taipower reportedly expires in 2024.[17]
In June 2017, Formosa Plastics Group signed a memorandum of cooperation with the Yunlin County Government and the Energy Bureau of the Ministry of Economic Affairs, investing a total of 57 billion yuan in the construction of natural gas power plants and receiving stations. However, Formosa Plastics was then hoping that coal-fired and gas-fired power plants would run in parallel after 2025, and it had not yet made progress in negotiating with the Bureau of Industry to build natural gas receiving station sites. That year, the power station was facing the expiration of multiple unit licenses and the County government was reluctant to issue new licenses. Formosa Plastics therefore promised to change its petcoke to coal-fired, and signed a memorandum with the county government to convert coal-fired power generation to natural gas power generation in 2025.[16]
According to the 2018 National Electricity Resources Supply & Demand Report ("107年全國電力資源供需報告"), Mailiao No. 1 and No. 2 were to be decommissioned in 2024, and No. 3 in 2025, with the plant fully decommissioned in 2025. (Is was unclear how Mialiao Nos. 1-3 relate to the station's unit 1-7.)[18]
In March 2021, the Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua stated: "If we can build an LNG power plant in Mailiao and replace existing coal-fired plants, that would help greatly in our goal of reducing the use of coal and air pollution. We will be happy to assist [Formosa Plastics Group] in such a project."[19]
As of May 2021, a new natural gas unit appears to be expected to operate by June 2027 at the earliest. Some have raised concerns about potential future electricity shortages given the potential coal units retirements scheduled for 2024 and 2025.[20][21][22]
Capacity uncertainty
In May 2022, reporting on Formosa Plastics Group's energy transition listed the plant as 3 X 600 MW, rather than 7 X 600 MW.[23] Various other reports in 2021 and 2022 referred only to the 3 x 600 MW units and implied that they alone constitute the total capacity of the power station.[24][25] Further, Mai-Liao Power Corporation's annual generation reports from 2018-2023 list only the three 600 MW units (total 1,800 MW) in their capacity reporting, indicating that no further capacity is in operation at the Mailiao power station.[26]
Articles and Resources
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20230802003906/https://www.eventsinfocus.org/issues/2879. Archived from the original on 02 August 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 https://web.archive.org/web/20230501192940/https://udn.com/news/story/7238/6839312. Archived from the original on 01 May 2023.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 3.0 3.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220709123807/https://tw.news.yahoo.com/%E9%BA%A5%E5%AF%AE%E9%9B%BB%E5%BB%A0-%E7%85%A4%E8%BD%89%E6%B0%A3-%E8%A8%88%E7%95%AB-%E6%93%AC%E8%93%8B%E5%A4%A9%E7%84%B6%E6%B0%A3%E6%8E%A5%E6%94%B6%E7%AB%99-050910938.html. Archived from the original on 09 July 2022.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|archive-date=(help); Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 4.0 4.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220119203228/https://www.pecl.com.tw/en/projects_info.aspx?mid=31&id=40&chk=a6db1be2-61a6-485d-b35b-500777918606. Archived from the original on 19 January 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 5.0 5.1 https://eiadoc.epa.gov.tw/EIAWEB/11.aspx?hcode=1110331A&srctype=0.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ 6.0 6.1 https://web.archive.org/web/20220427154641/https://news.pts.org.tw/article/559759. Archived from the original on 27 April 2022.
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|title=(help) - ↑ '台塑化砸千億 拚煤改氣發電'經濟日報,04/06/2022
- ↑ "Mailiao Coal Power Plant," Industry About, last updated August 16, 2016
- ↑ "History," Mai-Liao Power Corporation, accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ "Mai-Liao (Mailiao) Coal Power Plant," Global Energy Observatory, February 5, 2010
- ↑ "麥寮發電廠," Wikipedia, accessed August 2017
- ↑ "About Us," Mai-Liao Power Corporation, accessed June 22, 2021
- ↑ "Supercritical Fossil Power Plant," GIBSIN Engineers, Ltd., accessed March 1, 2014
- ↑ "The county government requests Formosa Mailiao power plant to shed generation loading to improve the air quality," Yunlin Country Government, November 13, 2015
- ↑ "Coal-fired power plant to shut down," Taipei Times, October 12, 2017
- ↑ 16.0 16.1 "捨不得燃煤機組停用，天然氣接收站場址難覓 台塑麥寮電廠2025年轉型之路崎嶇," The Storm Media, August 5, 2018
- ↑ "Closure of Formosa generators to affect power supplies: Lee," Taipei Times, October 27, 2016
- ↑ "要工安 反空污 麥寮設第三接收站替代方案不可行 縣府配合中央麥電燃煤屆滿除役," Yunlin, March 19, 2021
- ↑ "Mailiao cannot replace Datan: MOEA," Taipei Times, March 16, 202
- ↑ "5月就缺電？台塑麥寮電廠2025年除役 最快2027年發電," Liberty Times Net, May 18, 2021
- ↑ "台塑籲檢討能源政策 確保供電無虞," Epoch Times, May 24, 2021
- ↑ "2025年，台灣進入限電 「黑燈」時代?" 遠見, May 29, 2021
- ↑ "Is Formosa Plastics Ready to Go Carbon Neutral?" AmCham Taiwan, May 18, 2022
- ↑ 要工安 反空污 麥寮設第三接收站替代方案不可行 縣府配合中央麥電燃煤屆滿除役, Yunlin County Government, March 19, 2023
- ↑ Formosa Plastics: Ready to take on carbon?, CommonWealth Magazine, April 6, 2022
- ↑ Power generation annual report, Mai-Liao Power Corporation, Accessed: Nov. 14, 2023
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.
