The 985 MW second unit of Taipower's Kuosheng nuclear power plant, located in northern Taiwan, has been taken offline and will be decommissioned following the expiry of its 40-year operating licence. Construction of Kuosheng 2 began in March 1976 and the boiling water reactor entered commercial operation in March 1983. Kuosheng 1 (985 MW) has been offline since June 2021.
Taiwan’s current government, which came to power in 2016, is planning a nuclear phase-out for the island by 2025, which was confirmed after a 2021 referendum. Unit 1 of Taiwan's oldest plant, Chinshan, was taken offline in December 2018, followed by Chinshan 2 in July 2019. The Taiwanese Government now aims for an energy mix of 20% from renewables, 50% from liquefied natural gas and 30% from coal. The Tongxiao and Datan 8 coal-fired units are expected to be brought online during the course of 2023, with a total capacity of 1.3 GW.
At the end of 2021, nuclear still represented about 5% of Taiwan’s installed capacity with 2.9 GW, and about 9.5% of its power generation with 28 TWh. With the closure of Kuosheng 2, the island has only two remaining operational nuclear reactors (Maanshan 1 and 2).
Interested in Global Energy Research?
Enerdata's premium online information service provides up-to-date market reports on 110+ countries. The reports include valuable market data and analysis as well as a daily newsfeed, curated by our energy analysts, on the oil, gas, coal and power markets.
This user-friendly tool gives you the essentials about the domestic markets of your concern, including market structure, organisation, actors, projects and business perspectives.