興達

The coal-fired units of Hsinta Power Plant are located on the coast of Yong'an District, Kaohsiung, alongside the plant's gas units. They have long supplied southern Taiwan's grid, with some older units retired as new gas capacity comes online.

Hsinda's four coal-fired units entered service in stages between 1982 and 1986, together totaling roughly 2,100MW at their peak. As new gas units at the same site came online, Units 1 and 2 were retired in 2023 and placed on emergency-reserve standby, followed by Unit 3 in 2025, now started only when the grid is under acute strain.

興達 (Coal) currently reports a net generation of 0 MW across 4 unit(s), against an installed capacity of 550 MW (0% utilization).

Coal units are large thermal steam plants that take hours to start up and ramp slowly, making them best suited for steady baseload operation rather than flexible dispatch. Coal itself can be stockpiled for months, giving very stable fuel supply, but per-unit CO2 and air-pollutant emissions (SOx, NOx, particulates) are higher than gas.

Coal was historically Taiwan's largest source of baseload capacity, and the Taichung Power Plant was once among the largest coal-fired plants in the world by capacity. Air-pollution and decarbonization policy has since pushed toward reducing coal's share in favor of gas and renewables, with older units being retired or converted. Until new LNG terminal capacity comes fully online, coal remains an important baseload backstop.