The government has ruled out reactivating suspended nuclear power plants to alleviate tightening electricity supplies due to storm damage, Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said yesterday.
Typhoon Nesat and Tropical Storm Haitang brought down a Yilan County transmission tower, operated by the independent Ho-Ping Power Co (和平電力), which has reduced supply by 1.3 million kilowatts (kW), or about 4 percent of operating reserve, state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said.
The nation’s power supply could flash a “red” warning — indicating that reserve capacity is less than 900,000kW — by Thursday or Friday because of the damage. Replacement capacity from other power plants is not expected in time, Taipower said.
Photo: CNA
Reactivating two suspended nuclear power plants takes considerable time and is not viable as an immediate solution, Lee said at a news conference in Taipei with Energy Bureau and Taipower officials.
As temperatures are expected to rise across the nation this week, peak energy consumption could surge to 35.8 million kW, leaving only 758,000kW, or 2.12 percent, in reserve, Taipower said.
At the same time, expansions and upgrades at coal-powered plants in Kaohsiung’s Dalin Township (大林), Taoyuan’s Datan District (大潭) and Miaoli’s Tongsiao Township (通霄) would not be complete in time to add to the energy reserve, Taipower said.
New power generators in Dalin require further testing, while heavy rainfall in June delayed construction at Datan, Taipower said.
The company is working with General Electric Co to overcome technical difficulties in Datan, Taipower added.
Although the three plants cannot alleviate energy needs this summer, they will help long-term power shortage concerns, Lee said, while calling on the public to improve energy conservation efforts.
Businesses and public venues are advised to set setting air conditioning at temperatures no less than 26?C and to close windows and doors, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday, adding that energy use that is not critical, such as landscape lighting and water fountains, should be kept to a minimum.
Violations could lead to fines of between NT$20,000 and NT$100,000, the ministry said.
Air conditioning in all government buildings is to be turned off between 1pm and 3pm daily for the next two weeks, Cabinet spokesman Hsu Kuo-yung (徐國勇) said.
Super Typhoon Kong-rey is the largest cyclone to impact Taiwan in 27 years, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said today. Kong-rey’s radius of maximum wind (RMW) — the distance between the center of a cyclone and its band of strongest winds — has expanded to 320km, CWA forecaster Chang Chun-yao (張竣堯) said. The last time a typhoon of comparable strength with an RMW larger than 300km made landfall in Taiwan was Typhoon Herb in 1996, he said. Herb made landfall between Keelung and Suao (蘇澳) in Yilan County with an RMW of 350km, Chang said. The weather station in Alishan (阿里山) recorded 1.09m of
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The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday at 5:30pm issued a sea warning for Typhoon Kong-rey as the storm drew closer to the east coast. As of 8pm yesterday, the storm was 670km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻) and traveling northwest at 12kph to 16kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of 162kph and gusts of up to 198kph, the CWA said. A land warning might be issued this morning for the storm, which is expected to have the strongest impact on Taiwan from tonight to early Friday morning, the agency said. Orchid Island (Lanyu, 蘭嶼) and Green Island (綠島) canceled classes and work
KONG-REY: A woman was killed in a vehicle hit by a tree, while 205 people were injured as the storm moved across the nation and entered the Taiwan Strait Typhoon Kong-rey slammed into Taiwan yesterday as one of the biggest storms to hit the nation in decades, whipping up 10m waves, triggering floods and claiming at least one life. Kong-rey made landfall in Taitung County’s Chenggong Township (成功) at 1:40pm, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The typhoon — the first in Taiwan’s history to make landfall after mid-October — was moving north-northwest at 21kph when it hit land, CWA data showed. The fast-moving storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 184kph, with gusts of up to 227kph, CWA data showed. It was the same strength as Typhoon Gaemi, which was the most
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