With record-breaking temperatures baking cities across the nation and driving peak power consumption to new highs exceeding 40 gigawatts, ensuring a reliable electricity supply has become a major concern for Taiwanese counting on air-conditioning to keep cool. A series of power outages have already hit the nation, showing that Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) is not prepared for the effects of extreme weather, stoking fears of electricity shortages and rationing.
About 3,982 households in New Taipei City’s Sinjhuang District (新莊) lost power yesterday, which Taipower said was due to damage in the power grid. That outage followed a blackout in Yilan County’s Suao Township (蘇澳) on Sunday night, after a component broke down, leaving 2,095 households in the dark and cutting power to traffic lights in neighboring areas. On Saturday night, a blackout affected 953 food stands in Taichung’s Fengjia Night Market (逢甲夜市). Some stand owners said the financial effects were greater than that of the COVID-19 pandemic. Taipower attributed that outage to overloaded transformers as power usage surged. Squirrels and birds were blamed for smaller outages in Kaohsiung on Friday and Thursday last week.
The power outages are especially irritating to those affected, as the state-owned utility company earlier this month raised electricity rates by an average of 8.4 percent, with a maximum increase of 15 percent for industrial users. With the greater-than-anticipated price increases, Taiwanese expect a more resilient power grid.
The state-run utility said it is adding extra sources for electricity generation and shortening maintenance intervals for some generators to stabilize the power supply during the peak season, even as a coal-fired power generator in Taichung malfunctioned over the weekend reducing capacity. To cope with rising electricity consumption, Taipower also called on the public to conserve energy by turning up their air-conditioners to 28°C. Such countermeasures are insufficient to ensure a stable power supply.
Amid successive power outages, it is unconvincing when Taipower says the electricity supply would be stable through the summer. Besides, with consumption continuing to surge it is inevitable that Taipower will have to revise its forecast for national electricity consumption.
The nation’s power usage is expected to rise 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 on Friday, citing data from Taipower. Peak power consumption is to climb 2.5 percent year-on-year, which is a significant increase compared with annual growth of 1.6 percent from 2012 to last year, it said.
Amid increased usage, Taipower yesterday lowered its operating reserves for the next seven days, with reserves on four of those days expected to fall below 10 percent, meaning supply is constrained. It is forecast to be even worse next month, with the operating reserve set to fall to 8.87 percent, Taipower said.
Although the utility has a plan and is racing to shift its energy supply toward renewable sources, such as wind and solar, it is clear that the buildup of renewable energy sources cannot keep up with demand. On top of that, aging power grids and power generation equipment are reducing capacity and hurting Taipower’s credibility. Taipower is clearly facing a challenge in stepping up green energy deployment and solar energy storage buildup while revamping outdated equipment to ensure a resilient power grid.
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