Taiwan is poised to expand its infrastructure to accommodate an expected increase of imports of liquefied natural gas in anticipation of surging demand for the clean fuel, writes Xu Yihe.

Local industry officials said that Taiwanese officials have tabled plans to build up to seven new LNG terminals across the island in anticipation demand for LNG will grow to 30 million metric tonnes per annum, from 18.61 million tonnes in 2018.

The new facilities are in addition to two existing LNG terminals already in operation at Kaohsiung and Tai-chung.

The new terminals, when finished by 2030, will boost local LNG import handling capacity to more than 30 million tonnes per annum.

One will be a floating terminal to be built by Taipower in Keelong city in 2025. Taipower recently issued tender documents to seek contractors for the engineering, procurement and construction contract.

In addition to one being built by local oil company CPC Corporation in the central part of Taiwan, which will be completed in 2022, two more are in the bidding process, including one invested in by Taipower and one by CPC.

The other three — one to be built by CPC and the other by Taiwan’s petrochemical giant Formosa — are under planning.

Officials noted that Taiwan’s gas pipeline grids are well connected on the west coast, while the gas users on the east coast do not have access to the pipeline system. They added that Taiwan will face challenges to build new pipeline grids to allow it to extend to the east, in part due to high investment and difficulties in claiming land.

Taiwan relies on LNG imports to meet 98% of local gas demand, while remaining demand is covered by local gas production. All the LNG imports in Taiwan are being handled by CPC. Officials said more traders will embark on LNG importing in the future as recently relaxed government policy allows independent and private trading houses to trade LNG.

Major gas demand is derived from power generation, with combined-cycle generation turbine capacity expected to double to 30,000 MW. The local government hopes 50% of power generation units will be powered by gas by 2025.

Taiwan now generates about 233 billion kilowatt hours of electricity per annum, with about 39% of the electricity produced by gas-fired turbine and another 39% by coal and the rest by nuclear, fuel oil and renewable energy.

The island plans to boost the percentage of power produced by renewable energy to 20% by 2025.

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Taiwan to gear up for rise in LNG imports