The Ministry of Economic Affairs emphasized that the decommissioning of power plants has been scheduled and called on the amendment to the air pollution law not to impact the stability of power supply in advance. (Photo by reporter Lin Jinghua)
[Reporter Lin Jinghua/Reported from Taipei] On the 10th, the Kuomintang members of the Legislative Yuan and the People's Party proposed amendments to Articles 28 and 30 of the Air Pollution Law, which directly framed the early decommissioning of coal-fired units and restricted the conversion of decommissioned coal-fired units into emergency backup. The Ministry of Economic Affairs continued to indicate on the 12th Warning, this amendment will lead to four major risks, including that the reserve power will plummet and turn negative in the next year. Moreover, the stability of power supply is related to national security and industrial development. The decommissioning of power plants has an established schedule, and rashly advancing it will seriously affect the stability of power supply. We call on all walks of life to support the maintenance of the current provisions of the Air Pollution Law.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs pointed out that in response to the growth of electricity consumption in industries such as AI and semiconductors, the government has fully planned the time for adding new units and decommissioning them. However, the Legislative Yuan has amended the law to force coal-fired units to be decommissioned earlier, which will result in four major crises: the reserve power will fall into negative numbers, the power supply risk in the Northeast Power Grid region will increase significantly, the lack of backup units will increase dispatch risks, and the closure of power plants without completion of the review within the time limit will lead to investment risks.
First, the reserve power will be reduced to negative numbers, forcing Taichung Power Plant’s 8 units of 4.4GW, Heping Power Plant’s 2 units of 1.32GW, Dalin’s 3 units of 2.4GW, and Linkou’s 2 units of 1.6GW, totaling 9.72 GW, it is expected that the reserve capacity rate will plummet into negative values in 2028 and 2029, and the impact on the annual power generation will be approximately 58 billion kilowatt-hours, exceeding the actual electricity consumption of approximately 14 million households across the country by 51 billion kilowatt-hours, and the impact will be huge. Among them, if the existing coal-fired units are forced to be decommissioned before the end of 2028 before the second phase of the gas-fired units of the Taichung Power Plant comes online, it will affect the regional power supply, and Taichung Science Park may have difficulty in using electricity for new industries in the future.
Secondly, the risk of power supply in the Northeast Power Grid region has increased significantly. If the Heping Power Plant is decommissioned early, the power supply gap in the Northeast region will be as high as 4.7GW, exceeding the 4.2GW integration limit of the Northwest Power Grid, increasing the risk of power supply in Taipei City, Keelung City, Yilan City and the area east of Banqiao, New Taipei City.
In addition, the absence of spare units will increase dispatch risks. Retaining decommissioned units for emergency use will help maintain power system dispatch flexibility and national security response capabilities. International countries such as Japan have included eligible existing thermal power units in backup, and South Korea has also delayed the decommissioning of some coal-fired power plants to take into account pollution reduction and energy resilience. The current draft not only goes against the international trend, but also limits the flexibility of national security emergency dispatch and increases national security risks.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs also warned that if local governments fail to complete the review within 4 months, closing power plants will increase investment risks. The Ministry of Economic Affairs explained that according to this draft, if local governments fail to complete the power plant license extension review in time within 4 months, the power plant will immediately cease operations. This will not only limit the flexibility of power supply dispatching, increase the risk of industrial supply chain interruption, and affect corporate investment confidence and willingness to expand plants.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs emphasized that the government has not added new coal-fired power units since 2018, and the proportion of coal-fired power plants has dropped from 47.3% in 2016 to 35.4% in 2025. Taipower's overall air pollution emissions in 2025 will be reduced by nearly 70% compared to 2016, Taichung Power Plant's coal consumption will be reduced by 6.73 million metric tons, and air pollution will also be reduced by 80%; research shows that the power industry's impact on PM2.5 in Taiwan accounts for about 2.3%. The Ministry of Economic Affairs calls for the stability of power supply to be related to national security and industrial development. Air pollution control should take into account the win-win situation of environmental protection and power system stability. It hopes that all walks of life will support the maintenance of the current provisions of the air pollution law.
