A major blackout was narrowly averted in northern Taiwan on the afternoon of April 15 when diesel-powered generators owned by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co and other companies were activated to help bridge supply gaps as several major Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) generators went offline, pushing the operating reserve ratio down to an alarming 3 percent.
The event has prompted questions about the reliability of the country’s electricity grid and underlined that Taiwan faces great challenges, primarily concerning energy security, to achieve its planned energy transition from fossil fuel systems to renewable energy sources such as wind and solar.
In 2016, the government set an ambitious target to increase green energy use to 20 percent of overall consumption by 2025 and to scrap nuclear power entirely. However, surges in demand forced it to push that goal back to October 2026.
It is fortunate that Taiwan escaped a massive power outage last month, but the nation might be facing a far greater risk of shortages this summer given rising uncertainty in power supply.
Taipower has denied that there is not enough capacity. The state-run utility blamed the major earthquake that hit Hualien County on April 3 for the supply crisis. Power supply was reduced by 320 megawatts on the day as generators at Ho-Ping Power Plant in Hualien County, Taichung Power Plant and at two independent power producers — Kuo Kuang Power Co and Ever Power IPP Co — were affected, Taipower said.
Moreover, Datan Power Plant’s eighth generator unexpectedly shut down on April 15 as circuit breakers tripped, while output from solar panels drops after sunset from their peak output of 700 megawatts, Taipower said. The Datan facility is the biggest liquefied natural gas plant operated by Taipower. The combination of factors greatly curtailed power supply, it said.
To save Taiwan from large-scale outages and local companies from massive losses, Taipower on April 19 told lawmakers that it spent NT$24 million (US$737,508) buying electricity from the private sector on April 15 to meet emergency needs.
A massive blackout was avoided, but there was a series of small outages, mostly in Taoyuan, affecting more than 20,000 households.
On Monday, power disruptions occurred again in Taoyuan, affecting about 5,875 homes — the fifth blackout in the area this month.
Taipower attributed the cuts to broken power distribution feeders yesterday. Aging underground transmission lines, equipment malfunctions and fallen trees due to thunderstorms were blamed for previous blackouts.
Aside from regular households, local businesses fret over the reliability of power supply. The Third Wednesday Club and the Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce have called on the incoming ministers of economy and finance to prioritize stable electricity supply and rates to make Taiwan a business-friendly nation.
Taipower in 2022 laid out a 10-year grid resiliency plan, which included an investment of NT$564.6 billion to retire old power cables, equipment and distribution systems through last year, but that is not enough. It needs to accelerate its efforts to bolster the reliability of the power grid.
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