Taiwan’s lights gradually come back on after power plant malfunction

Hydro and other power plants are being brought online to provide electricity to the southern part of Taiwan after a blackout on Thursday caused by a malfunction at the same power generation plant blamed for last year’s cuts.

Operator Taipower said electricity was in the process of being restored after a problem occurred at the Hsinta power plant which caused an ultra-high voltage substation to trip, leading to the power failure.

Parts of northern Taiwan, including Taipei, also lost power. The presidential office said Taiwanese leader Tsai Ing-wen had ordered the government to investigate and restore power as soon as possible.

The office said a live stream of Tsai’s meeting with the visiting former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo had been cancelled.

Tsai vowed to scrutinise electricity management after two major power outages last year, caused by problems at the same plant – a major coal-powered station in the southern city of Kaohsiung which provides around one-seventh of Taiwan’s energy.

Taiwan’s transport ministry said three trains on the high-speed rail line connecting northern and southern Taiwan were affected but normal service had resumed.

The economy minister Wang Mei-hua told reporters backup power supply was at 24 per cent when the incident happened. She said the blackout was not triggered by insufficient electricity supply, the root cause of May’s major power outages which coincided with a serious drought.

Wang said the cause of the latest problem at the Hsinta plant was not immediately clear, but power should start being restored in southern Taiwan from midday.

“I am very sorry for this major loss of electricity, and am extremely apologetic to the inconvenience caused, especially for the south,” she said.