TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Residents in Kaohsiung’s Nanzi District were briefly without power on Sunday morning (June 11) after a voltage suppressor was damaged by lightning.
Taipower issued an alert at 9:22 a.m. that the neighborhoods between Demin Road and Chiachang Road were without power, totaling 5,056 households, reported UDN. A few hundred households had their power restored within minutes, and thanks to Taipower’s quick response, all 5,000 plus units had electricity restored by 10:00 a.m.
Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau (CWB) issued a storm warning for Kaohsiung and Yunlin on Sunday. The CWB cited the risk of lightning storms and strong winds.
Over the past few years, large cities in Taiwan have seen a marked increase in large power outages. Many have expressed uncertainty about Taipower’s ability to supply enough electricity to meet surging consumer demand, especially during the summer months.
The outages in Kaohsiung on Sunday, which were promptly remedied, come two days after Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生), who is acting chairman of Taipower, issued a statement about Taiwan’s electrical grid and the capacity for Taipower to supply electricity to the country on June 9. Tseng spoke in a clip shared on YouTube.
He apologized for the recent power outages but reassured the public that there is no deficit in Taiwan’s capacity for electricity generation. The problem that Taipower faces is related to the country’s aging electrical grid, which requires substantial investment to replace thousands of substations and powerlines.
When a power outage occurs, Taipower will immediately address the problem and restore power as soon as possible, Tseng said. He hoped to clarify that Taiwan does not lack sufficient power.
Recently, at the start of June, Taipower implemented nationwide price hikes to reflect the increased demand for electricity during the summer. This comes just two months after another marginal price hike was implemented on April 1.