The state-owned energy supply company Taipower wants to make the power grid more resilient. Decentralized micro-grids are to be set up in Taiwan.
Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) aims to strengthen the resilience and reliability of national power grids over the next decade. To this end, Taiwan’s state-owned energy supply company is investing a total of 564.5 billion New Taiwan dollars (about 18.1 billion euros) in setting up decentralized microgrids throughout the country. The microgrids (locally delimited power grids) are intended to prevent widespread failures.
Faster power recovery
Instead of relying on large grids, they will rely on microgrids, says Wen-sheng Tseng, chairman of Taipower. In the event of an unexpected outage, the power supply can be restored more quickly, Tseng explained at a press conference. Taiwan’s grids are highly centralized with three main ultra-high voltage substations, according to a report by Digitimes Asia.
Taipower President Wang Yao-ting announced that power distribution will be adjusted and micro-grids and transmission lines will be expanded. Five substations are to be built in two years and another 28 in ten years in order to reduce the load on the existing substations.
Fulfillment of the climate goals
The need to improve Taiwan’s power grid is a result of the massive power outage in March this year, when 5.49 million homes were without power, mainly in the south. According to Digitimes Asia, semiconductor plants and petrochemical plants were also affected. The failure also showed how vulnerable the power grids are.
With the ten-year project, the development of regional, decentralized power grids can strengthen grid stability and maximize the use of renewable energies to accelerate the achievement of climate targets.
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