Power cuts show smart meters are necessary
By Pan Han-shen 潘翰聲
Power outages on May 13 were blamed on human error, while cuts on Monday last week were attributed to an issue with scheduled maintenance work carried out by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower).
The regional power cuts on both days affected generators C and D at the Singda Power Plant (興達電廠) in Kaohsiung’s Yongan District (永安), leading to complaints of unfairness from the public, who were unhappy that the company gave priority to uninterrupted power supply for industries.
Even though Taipower discounted electricity bills of consumers affected by the outages, many found the events unacceptable.
The Liberty Times Editorial: Preparing for the worst scenario
Several incidents that occurred within the space of a week have shown just how rapidly things can change in Taiwan.
First there was a major power outage on May 13, causing rolling blackouts that affected 4 million users throughout the nation. Due to the sudden nature of the outage, people were caught in elevators, at the supermarket checkout or withdrawing money from the bank, while malfunctioning traffic lights caused congestion, motorists were caught filling their tanks at gas stations and offices were plunged into darkness, disrupting the lives of many people going about their everyday tasks.
‘Yellow’ alert issued after generator breaks
TIGHT SUPPLY: Taipower said the maximum power supply was 39,838 megawatts (MW), but the reserve margin during peak consumption fell to 2,838MW
Staff writer, with CNA
The power supply system yesterday flashed a “yellow” alert after a coal-fired generator in Taichung broke down earlier in the day, state-run utility Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) said.
At noon, power consumption nationwide reached 36,604 megawatts (MW), or 91 percent of capacity, triggering the “yellow” alert, signaling an operating reserve margin of 6 to 10 percent of total supply, Taipower said.
The maximum power supply yesterday was 39,838MW and, during periods of peak consumption, the operating reserve margin was expected to fall to 7.67 percent of total supply, or 2,838MW, it said.
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