The leaders of two Taiwanese business associations have criticized the government’s energy policy. That’s after widespread blackouts across Taiwan Thursday brought on by a malfunction at a Kaohsiung power plant.
Officials have said the blackouts were the result of a power grid breakdown at a particularly bad time. They say that peak electricity usage was higher than expected at the time, and that there was limited capacity to respond to the incident. That’s because certain generators are undergoing regular maintenance, a drought has limited Taiwan’s ability to produce hydropower, and Taiwan’s ability to generate other green forms of power has fallen short of expectations.
During an interview Friday, though, Lin Por-Fong, chairman of the industry and commerce association CNAIC, said that this explanation is just an excuse.
He says that Taiwan’s electricity output has reached new heights in recent years, and that Taiwan’s electric grid isn’t so fragile. He expressed doubts that operating reserve on the grid has been kept up to 10%. Lin said that if reserve had been at 10%, there would have been no need for such large-scale power cuts.
Lin called for a reevaluation of the government’s energy policy, which includes a target for scrapping the use of nuclear power in Taiwan by 2025. He said that even if nuclear power isn’t used regularly, it should be available as a backup option for use when needed.
Meanwhile, the chairman of the General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China, Hsu Shu-po, said that a number of projects that would generate alternative forms of energy have run into opposition. These projects include a planned natural gas terminal as well as solar and offshore wind projects. He called on the government to be pragmatic in its goal to do away with nuclear power.