LNG

The Russian government said the Asia-Pacific region would likely largely replace Europe as a recipient of natural gas and petroleum in the wake of Western sanctions over Ukraine while European spot natural gas prices failed to move significantly higher in the wake of expected events.

Russian natural gas deliveries to Germany via the Nord Stream I pipeline, the main route for Russia’s gas exports to the European Union, will be temporarily halted again for three days on the night of Wednesday August 31.

Russian natural gas company Gazprom said exports to countries outside the former Soviet Union were down more than 33 percent year-on-year in the 2022 period from January through July 15 as the Nord Stream I pipeline to Germany was closed for a seventh day of a scheduled 10 days of maintenance.

Gazprom, the main supplier of pipeline natural gas to Germany, has cut supply volumes through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline by another third, after an initial reduction on June 14 and has also cut flows to Austria and Italy.

Siemens Energy said its HL-class gas-fired power technology is poised to enable particularly low-emission, economical and flexible power generation from mid-2024 for Taiwan's increasing LNG imports.

Taiwan in July 2021 signed a new LNG supply with Qatar Petroleum for 1.25 million tonnes per annum of cargoes as the Taiwanese use more of the fuel and expand their infrastructure.

Taiwan is still Asia’s fifth-largest importer after North Asia’s top three of Japan, China and South Korea and with India in fourth place.

The Taiwanese are constructing a third LNG import terminal to meet increasing demand after imports rose 6 percent last year to 17.75 million tonnes.

Under the Taiwan expansion plans, the national energy company CPC Corp. is developing its third LNG import terminal in the Taoyuan district of Datan Borough.

The first phase is under construction and could be completed by 2023. A second expansion phase is also proposed with the target of full commissioning by 2025.

The first expansion of Taiwan’s existing Tai-Chung LNG terminal was completed at the end of 2019.

Further work is planned, including the addition of another berth and associated tanks, to be carried out in two phases.

The 1.8 MTPA expansion project at Taiwan’s second terminal, the Yung-An facility, including three new storage tanks and related regasification facilities, is expected to be completed by the end of 2026.

Consortium

Siemens Energy, together with its consortium partner CTCI Corp, the leading Taiwanese engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company, will build the Sun Ba Power Phase II combined-cycle power plant.

“The plant will be an important building block in Taiwan's energy transition, which aims to shift from coal and nuclear power to environmentally friendly gas-fired power plants and renewable energies,” explained Munich-based Siemens Energy.

“The Sun Ba II facility will be built in Tainan in southwest Taiwan, and have an installed electrical capacity of 1,100 megawatts (MW),” added the company.

“It will be fired with regasified liquefied natural gas and Siemens Energy will also provide long-term service for the plant's core components,” it stated.

The customer is the independent power producer Sun Ba Power Corp.

“We are very excited to contribute to the energy transition of Taiwan with our leading HL-class gas turbine technology,” said Karim Amin, Executive Vice President Generation at Siemens Energy.

“This technology offers substantial value for Sun Ba Power Corp.'s project, as it combines high power density with world-class efficiencies,” added Amin.

“As a result, a large amount of electricity can be produced at the lowest possible cost while driving significant CO2 reductions at the same time,” he explained.

As one of the world's foremost manufacturers of semiconductors and a technology leader, Taiwan depends on secure and affordable power supply.

“Since Taiwan must import its entire natural gas requirements as LNG at comparatively high costs, the efficiency of gas-fired power plants has a particularly strong impact on their economic viability,” declared Siemens Energy.

Sun Ba II is designed as a multi-shaft combined-cycle power plant in which two gas turbines and one steam turbine each drive its own electrical generator.

Siemens Energy's scope of supply includes the plant’s power island, consisting of two SGT6-9000HL gas turbines, one SST-5000 steam turbine, three SGen6-2000P generators, two heat-recovery steam generators and the SPPA-T3000 control system.

“The service contract includes long-term service over 25 years for both gas turbines, the generators, the steam turbine and the heat recovery steam generators,” said Siemens Energy.