TAIPEI (TVBS News) — Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, 台電) on Tuesday (Dec. 17) addressed concerns over the safety of its Hsieh-ho Power Plant (協和更新計畫) expansion, asserting that no global incidents of LNG storage tank explosions have occurred. The company reassured the public that even an explosive attack would not trigger an explosion.
Activists and legislators raised alarms during a press conference about potential national security threats at Port of Keelung (基隆港) due to the expansion. Taipower emphasized that experts have thoroughly studied the project's safety, ensuring no adverse effects on port security or vessel traffic.
The company highlighted a looming power supply bottleneck in the northeastern grid, predicting electricity demand to reach 6 million kilowatts in 2025, with a potential supply-demand gap of 4.7 million kilowatts. Taipower stated that increasing natural gas and reducing coal align with the national energy transition policy, aiding private power plants and cogeneration operators in fuel conversion to achieve carbon and pollution reduction goals.
Professor Hsu Chi-ming (徐啟銘) from National Yunlin University of Science and Technology (雲科大) supported the company's claims, noting the difficulty of causing an LNG tank explosion. He explained that LNG requires high heat to vaporize into gas, making explosions nearly impossible without a fire source.