Source: Overseas Network
There was a power outage in the streets of Taipei City. (Source: Taiwan media)
has a power outage again! This was the most popular sentence among Taiwanese people on May 17. Although there are not many words, there is helplessness and bitterness behind it, as well as anger and dissatisfaction. Why is
"and"? Because Taiwan experienced two major power outages in just 5 days. On May 13, an accident occurred at the Xingda Power Plant of Taiwan Electric Power Company (referred to as Taipower) in Kaohsiung, causing the entire plant to shut down. A total of about 4 million households and 13.19 million households in various counties and cities in Taiwan experienced power outages. On May 17, Xingda Power Plant's No. 1 unit was shut down due to a malfunction in the boiler combustion management system module. Millions of households across Taiwan were once again subject to power cuts.
In an instant, traffic lights were suspended at some urban intersections on the island, causing traffic chaos; cases of elevator stranding were reported in many counties and cities, including Keelung , where one person fell into an elevator shaft and suffered a fracture; many people climbed the stairs in the dark. Returning home, we were forced to have a "candlelight dinner"... We could only suffer in the darkness and sweltering heat, waiting for power to be restored.
Faced with the successive power outages, Taiwan's leaders said they were "very sorry" and "cannot accept it themselves" and asked Taipower to conduct a thorough investigation and publish a report to explain the cause of the accident. The people on the island did not buy this show.
Some Taiwanese netizens questioned that during the two major power outages, the real-time data on Taipower's official website showed that the backup capacity rate exceeded 10% and the green light was on, indicating that the remaining power was sufficient. But why do major blackouts occur that affect millions of households? Is the data false? Some people also said that from the 815 blackout in 2017 to the 513 blackout a few days ago, Taipower's final investigation was due to operational errors by grassroots employees. Is it possible that the explanation for the 517 blackout would be so hasty?
Compared with netizens’ concern about the current phenomenon, some media and civil society groups in Taiwan are worried about deeper issues: the leaders of the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have repeatedly claimed that “Taiwan guarantees no shortage of electricity.” Recently, a power failure occurred on the island. Everyone will say, "This is a power grid problem, not a power shortage problem." But Taiwan has made it clear that it is short of electricity. They sharply pointed out that behind the frequent blackouts are serious flaws in the energy policy of the Democratic Progressive Party authorities, that is, there are problems with the "2025 non-nuclear homeland".
According to this policy, all nuclear power plants in Taiwan should cease operations by 2025 to achieve the so-called energy transition. By then, the proportion of power generation generated by renewable energy will increase to 20%, the proportion of coal-fired power will be reduced to 30%, and the proportion of natural gas will be increased to 20%. 50% is the target. Current statistics show that natural gas accounted for 40.8% of Taiwan's power generation in 2020, and renewable energy accounted for only 5.8%. Nuclear power accounted for 12.7%, and coal accounted for 36.4%.
There are only about four years left before 2025. The DPP authorities want to abolish the use of nuclear power plants, but they cannot use too much coal-fired power generation. How to make up for the power gap that has arisen? If we want to increase the proportion of natural gas power generation, how to solve the problems of long construction period of natural gas stations and great damage to coastal ecology? What if the natural gas transportation is blocked at sea? If we want to rely on renewable energy, the issue of solar photovoltaic panels encroaching on agricultural land has been controversial in recent years. Wind power generation is greatly affected by weather, and geothermal power generation is costly and risky. How to solve related problems? The emergence of these problems highlights the sloppiness and irrationality of Taiwan's energy transition policy, and exposes the DPP authorities' incompetent governance and disregard for the people's welfare.
No wonder some people on the island are ridiculing that Taiwan is now short of water, electricity, and vaccines. It is like a "severe disaster area" and the people on the island are living in dire straits. As those in power, shouldn’t the DPP authorities reflect on themselves? (Peach Blossom Island Owner)
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