Converting plant to natural gas facility
The project is being carried under a full engineering, procurement, and construction contract issued by the plant owner Ta-Yuan Cogen, a developer of cogeneration plants.
The order with Wärtsilä was placed in February.
The plant, located in Taoyuan City was originally equipped in 1998 with three Wärtsilä 46 engines.
As part of the conversion project, these will be changed to three Wärtsilä 50DF dual-fuel engines providing a power output of 32 MW.
The electricity produced will be delivered both to the grid and to local industrial consumers, while the generated heat will be supplied to industries in the vicinity of the plant.
The conversion will improve the efficiency of the plant, provide the needed flexibility to allow participation in the ancillary service market, notably improve environmental sustainability by reducing emissions, and support grid balancing as energy from renewable sources, such as wind and solar, is added.
“Our company is committed to promoting cogeneration, improving energy efficiency to ease pressure on the domestic power supply, and to save environment. By converting this plant to operate on gas instead of HFO, we are endorsing this commitment. We have enjoyed a long-term relationship with Wärtsilä and appreciate their professionalism and expertise in planning this project,” said Jeff Chang, president of Ta-Yuan Congen Co.
Nicolas Leong, director, North & South East Asia, Wärtsilä Energy, added: “The goal for Taiwan’s power utilities is to have twenty percent of their energy from renewables by 2025. This will affect the stability of the grid, and efficient balancing to offset the inherent fluctuations in supply is essential. The Wärtsilä engines have the fast-starting and stopping flexibility to meet this need and to deliver the system reliability required.”
The project is expected to be fully completed in early 2022.