Taiwan's economic minister resigns over widespread power outage

taiwan power outage

TAIPEI -

Taiwan's economic minister resigned after power was knocked out in many parts of Taiwan, including capital Taipei's business and high-end shopping district, due to an apparent "human error" at a key power plant.

Economic Affairs minister Lee Chih-kung tendered his resignation verbally to Premier Lin Chuan, United Daily News reported, citing a Cabinet spokesman. Lin accepted the resignation, the spokesman said according to the daily.

As many as 6.68 million households and commercial units saw their power supply cut or disrupted on Tuesday after "human error" disrupted natural gas supply at a power plant in northern Taiwan's Taoyuan, the semi-official Central News Agency reported, citing the government-controlled oil company CPC Corporation as saying.

The company added that power at the plant, Taiwan's biggest natural gas power plant, resumed two minutes later.

In New Taipei City, there were at least 27,000 reported cases of people being stuck in lifts. Photos in social media also showed huge crowds stranded in lift lobby in Taipei's iconic 101-storey Taipei 101 building.

Power rationing was implemented beginning 6pm, Central News Agency said. Power supply was gradually being restored beginning at about 9:40pm. news reports said.

President Tsai Ing-wen apologised for the blackout, saying that she has ordered all relevant departments to produce clear report in the shortest time possible.

"Electricity is not just a problem about people's livelihoods but also a national security issue. A comprehensive review must be carried out to find out how the electric power system can be so easily paralysed by human error," said Ms Tsai in a Facebook post.

Taiwan has been at risk of a power shortage after a recent typhoon knocked down a power transmission tower in Hualien county along the eastern coast of Taiwan. This reduced the electricity supply by 1.3million kilowatts, or about 4 per cent of the operating reserve.

That was followed by the breakdown of a power generator at Taiwan's largest power plant, which further reduced the operating reserve by 1.5 per cent.

The situation is worsened by the ongoing heatwave that has hit Taiwan, with temperatures soaring to 38 degrees Celsius over the past week.

As a result, the government had imposed the rationing of electricity, like switching off all air-conditioning in many of its Taipei offices, a move that drew some public backlash.

Related News

PEI wind power

P.E.I. government exploring ways for communities to generate their own electricity

CHARLOTTETOWN - The P.E.I. government is taking steps to review energy legislation and explore new options when it comes to generating power across Island communities.

Energy Minister Steven Myers said one of those options will be identifying ways for Island communities to generate their own energy. 

He said the move would provide energy independence, create jobs and economic development, and save the communities on their energy bills.

But the move will require sweeping legislative changes, that may include the merging of the Electric Power Act and the Renewable Energy Act.  

Myers said creating energy independence should ensure a steady supply of electricity while…

READ MORE
ALBERTA EV

How Alberta’s lithium-laced oil fields can fuel the electric vehicle revolution

READ MORE

power lines

Energy prices trigger EU inflation, poor worst hit

READ MORE

Drax Power Station

How the dirtiest power station in western Europe switched to renewable energy

READ MORE

The European Commission

Explainer: Europe gets ready to revamp its electricity market

READ MORE