State-run Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower) poor management is sabotaging the government’s efforts to shift away from fossil fuels as large-scale power outages on Sunday again raised concerns about the stability of the nation’s power supply and whether renewable energy from solar and wind farms could fill the void.
Uncertainty about the power grid’s reliability has created an opportunity for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and nuclear power proponents to push for people to vote in favor of restarting construction of the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant in a referendum on Saturday. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said the incident reinforced the idea that Taiwan was short of power this year, saying the situation would only deteriorate next year, potentially scaring away foreign investment and damaging the economy.
However, Chu entirely ignored the state-run company’s initial findings. Taipower said that the 15-minute blackouts were not caused by insufficient power supply, but by an equipment malfunction. Wanlong substation’s No. 5 distribution transformer malfunctioned, causing its insulating oil to catch fire and smoke, which led to insulation failure and caused power supply systems to shut down, Taipower spokesman Chang Ting-shu (張廷抒) said.
The substation’s 161 kilovolt (kV) and 69kV power supply systems were shut off, leading to a power outage in some parts of Taipei’s Muzha (木柵) area and New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店), Taipower said. About 300,000 households and businesses in Taipei and New Taipei City were affected.
Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) yesterday said that the nation has sufficient power supply. The operating reserve margin stood at 37.17 percent when the fire broke out. The outage was caused by a transformer breakdown, rather than Taipower’s practice of reducing voltage to boost electricity supply, he said.
However, the ministry’s explanation did not clear up doubts about the power grid’s reliability, nor did it appease those who were affected. Some key questions remain unanswered about why a substation fire could lead to a large-scale blackout, or if human error was involved.
Taipower’s stingy compensation proposal angered those affected yesterday. Based on Taipower’s rules, about 90 percent of affected users would not receive any compensation as the power had only gone out for 15 minutes, while 10 percent would receive a NT$1 refund as the supply resumed within three hours. The ministry has promised to reconsider the compensation.
Taipower yesterday said that it plans to comprehensively examine more than 600 substations nationwide. It said it expects to complete the inspection by tomorrow and fix faulty equipment by the Lunar New Year holiday, which begins on Jan. 29.
People’s patience is wearing thin, not to speak of their trust regarding Taipower’s ability to maintain a stable supply of power. In May, human error caused a major blackout that affected 4.15 million households, followed by large-scale power rationing. A Taipower employee caused a voltage drop that forced the Hsinta Power Plant (興達電廠) to shut down as a protective measure. That does not include the several smaller power outages recorded.
Taipower managers and employees seem to lack the discipline and capability to deal with the nation’s complicated power supply situation, especially as the nation is transitioning toward solar, wind and other renewable energy sources. That adds to the challenges facing President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) administration as it tries to fulfill its energy policy.
To ensure a smooth transition and bolster grid stability, the Ministry of Economic Affairs should step up its oversight of Taipower’s operations to avoid similar issues. Enhancing employee training, boosting equipment inspections and building effective foolproof mechanisms should be among the top tasks on Taipower’s to-do list.
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