Peak electricity consumption nationwide yesterday surged to a record 40.74 gigawatts (GW) amid high temperatures and robust manufacturing activity, surpassing Taiwan Power Co’s (Taipower, 台電) 40GW threshold for a third day.
The peak power consumption pushed Taipower’s operating reserve to as low as 10.3 percent, nearing its “yellow” range of 6 to 10 percent, which raised concern about tight power supply and potential rationing.
The yellow designation means that the electricity supply is under constraint, the state-run utility company said.
Photo: CNA
Yesterday’s peak consumption surpassed its estimates of a peak of 39.7GW and 40.64GW for this year and next year.
As high temperatures are set to continue over the next few days, Taipower said it expects peak power consumption to remain high next week.
The company raised its forecast of peak power consumption for next week to 41GW, Taipower spokesman Wu Chin-chung (吳進忠) told the Taipei Times.
“The peak power consumption might surpass today’s level next week,” Wu said. “With more sources of solar power to be connected to the grid, we expect operating reserves largely to remain at a healthy level of more than 10 percent next week.”
Taipower’s latest forecast shows that operating reserves could drop to 8.63 percent tomorrow, 9.05 percent on Monday and 9.82 percent on Tuesday.
Aside from rising demand for electricity, a reduction in power generation from local cogeneration companies is also attributing to lower operating reserves, Wu said.
Cogeneration companies idled some power generation facilities due to soaring global fuel prices, he said.
The nation’s power usage is expected to expand 2.3 percent annually from this year to 2028, due to strong economic growth and a flourishing manufacturing sector, the Bureau of Energy said in a report.
Peak power consumption is to climb 2.5 percent year-on-year, the bureau forecast.
That represented a significant rise, compared with annual growth of 1.6 percent from 2012 to last year, the report said.
As more manufacturers bring their Chinese production back to Taiwan to cope with geopolitical tension, electricity consumption is rising, the bureau said.
Last year, power consumption rose 4.5 percent year-on-year, it said.
The report showed that energy from renewable sources would make up about 15.1 percent of total power generated by Taipower and private power generators in 2025, falling short of the 20 percent target set by the government.
CREDIT-GRABBER: China said its coast guard rescued the crew of a fishing vessel that caught fire, who were actually rescued by a nearby Taiwanese boat and the CGA Maritime search and rescue operations do not have borders, and China should not use a shipwreck to infringe upon Taiwanese sovereignty, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) said yesterday. The coast guard made the statement in response to the China Coast Guard (CCG) saying it saved a Taiwanese fishing boat. The Chuan Yu No. 6 (全漁6號), a fishing vessel registered in Keelung, on Thursday caught fire and sank in waters northeast of Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台). The vessel left Keelung’s Badouzih Fishing Harbor (八斗子漁港) at 3:35pm on Sunday last week, with seven people on board — a 62-year-old Taiwanese captain surnamed Chang (張) and six
RISKY BUSINESS: The ‘incentives’ include initiatives that get suspended for no reason, creating uncertainty and resulting in considerable losses for Taiwanese, the MAC said China’s “incentives” failed to sway sentiment in Taiwan, as willingness to work in China hit a record low of 1.6 percent, a Ministry of Labor survey showed. The Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) also reported that the number of Taiwanese workers in China has nearly halved from a peak of 430,000 in 2012 to an estimated 231,000 in 2024. That marked a new low in the proportion of Taiwanese going abroad to work. The ministry’s annual survey on “Labor Life and Employment Status” includes questions respondents’ willingness to seek employment overseas. Willingness to work in China has steadily declined from
The number of pet cats in Taiwan surpassed that of pet dogs for the first time last year, reaching 1,742,033, a 32.8 percent increase from 2023, the Ministry of Agriculture said yesterday, citing a survey. By contrast, the number of pet dogs declined slightly by 1.2 percent over the same period to 1,462,528, the ministry said. Despite the shift, households with dogs still slightly outnumber those with cats by 1.2 percent. However, while the number of households with multiple dogs has remained relatively stable, households keeping more than two cats have increased, contributing to the overall rise in the feline population. The trend
LEVERAGE: China did not ‘need to fire a shot’ to deny Taiwan airspace over Africa when it owns ‘half the continent’s debt,’ a US official said, calling it economic warfare The EU has raised concerns about overflight rights following the delay of President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned state visit to the Kingdom of Eswatini after three African nations denied overflight clearance for his charter at the last minute. Taiwanese allies Paraguay and Saint Kitts and Nevis, as well as several US lawmakers and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) condemned China for allegedly pressuring the countries. Lai was scheduled to fly directly to Taiwan’s only African ally from yesterday to Sunday to celebrate the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession and his 58th birthday, but Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar suddenly revoked
RSS