WEAKEST LINK:The vulnerability of the electricity net was illustrated last week, when the Ho-Ping power plant in Hualien suffered damage after bad weather felled a tower
Taipei Times
Date: Aug 04, 2017
By: Lauly Li / Staff reporter
State-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) is to increase the number of electrical
Taiwan Cement Corp chairman Nelson Chang, front, yesterday inspects a transmission tower of Ho-Ping Power Co that collapsed on Saturday due to strong winds brought by Typhoon Nesat in Yilan County’s Dongao area. Ho-Ping Power is a subsidiary of Taiwan Cement. Photo courtesy of Taiwan
circuits on transmission towers to improve the durability of the nation’s power grid, Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said yesterday.
The improvement is part of a slew of measures being taken to protect the nation’s power facilities from natural disasters, he said.
“The power grid’s exposure risk is greater than that of power plants during natural disasters… We have asked Taipower to propose improvement plans,” Lee told reporters before the Ministry of Economic Affair’s weekly meeting.
The majority of the power supply warnings issued by Taipower since the 921 Earthquake in 1999 were caused by disruptions to the power grid rather than problems with power generaton, Lee said.
Almost all of the transmission towers in the nation are equipped with one electrical circuit each, which makes the power grid vulnerable to external forces, Taipower said. [FULL STORY]
