Taiwan is slowly recovering from a widespread power outage, with blackouts affecting many parts of Taiwan from 9:07 a.m. on Thursday. Taiwan Power Company Chair Yang Wei-fuu says malfunctions at the Hsinta Power Plant in Kaohsiung are the reason for the power cuts.
Economic Affairs Minister Wang Mei-hua says that the malfunction at the Hsinta plant also affected a transformer substation in Tainan, cutting off power across southern Taiwan. This put too much pressure on Taiwan’s power grid and caused many parts of northern Taiwan to lose power shortly afterwards.
Power outages have been reported in Taipei, New Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Changhua, Hualien, and Miaoli. Wang says that the electricity supply is back to normal in most central and northern counties, and that the situation in the south should stabilize in the afternoon.
Wang says that hydropower plants are still producing electricity, and that coal, natural gas and nuclear power plants should resume normal operation within the early afternoon. She also says that authorities are still investigating the cause for the malfunction at the Hsinta Power Plant, and will share the details as soon as possible.
Cabinet spokesperson Lo Ping-cheng says that the power outage has exposed some of the deficiencies in the national power supply system. He says that the government will work to speed up the construction of Taiwan’s third liquefied natural gas terminal to provide a more stable power supply to northern Taiwan.