The likelihood of Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) having to issue a red alert today is likely to recede slightly with the repair of a broken furnace pipe at a coal-fired power plant in Taichung, spokesman Lin Te-fu (林德福) said yesterday.
The broken pipe in Taichung Power Plant’s No. 1 generator was repaired yesterday and the generator is back in operation, company officials said last night, adding that the generator is expected to be fully operational by 6am today.
The generator can provide 550,000 kilowatts (kW) in the peak power consumption period of 1pm to 3pm, Lin added.
Photo: CNA
According to the state-run company’s projections, system net peak capacity today will be 36.56 gigawatts.
Power supply capacity nationwide was cut by 1.3 gigawatts following the collapse of a transmission tower in Yilan County operated by independent power producer Ho-Ping Power Co (和平電廠) on July 29, after Typhoon Nesat swept through Taiwan.
Hualien County-based Ho-Ping Power is a subsidiary of Taiwan Cement Corp (台灣水泥).
The generator malfunction at Taichung Power Plant was confirmed on Saturday by Taipower, which initially said repair work was expected to take three days.
The accident happened just one day after the No. 7 generator at the Taichung plant tripped because of low vacuity in the steam condenser system, cutting power supply by 500,000kW on Friday.
The suspension of the No. 1 generator had already reduced the power supply by 530,000kW on Saturday, creating the possibility that a red alert would be issued today, which would indicate that operating reserves were below 900,000kW.
Under Taipower’s five-color warning system, green means operating reserve margins are above 10 percent, yellow represents power reserves of between 6 percent and 10 percent, orange indicates reserves below 6 percent, red means power reserves have dropped below 900,000kW and black indicates reserves have fallen to less than 500,000kW, which would make power rationing necessary.
The Executive Yuan last week ordered public offices to switch off all air conditioners from 1pm to 3pm on workdays for two weeks to save electricity.
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