The sun blazes down; Taipower: the water situation has yet to improve, and while saving water, don't forget to save electricity

The weather has been hot recently, with temperatures above 30 degrees across Taiwan, China, driving up electricity demand. Taipower said that on the 11th, the instantaneous peak load reached 35.993 million kW, setting a new high for electricity use this year and the 5th highest for May in history; on the supply side, poor water conditions have in turn reduced hydroelectric generation. Taipower stressed that this summer's electricity peak is expected to hit another new high, that it has a full grasp of the supply situation and is working hard to maintain stable supply, and that it hopes the public will conserve electricity together.

Taipower explained that electricity demand this year has shown a steadily climbing trend, not only because the pandemic shifted people to domestic consumption and exports have been strong, but also because the recent hot weather has kept driving up domestic load; on the supply side, affected by poor water conditions, hydroelectric generation purchased in the first quarter of this year was 560 million kWh, a decrease of nearly 16% from 670 million kWh in the same period last year. As for second-quarter hydroelectric generation, Taipower does not dare to be overly optimistic in its forecast.

Taipower pointed out that at 14:19 on the 11th, the instantaneous peak load reached 35.993 million kW, setting a new high for electricity use this year and the 5th highest for May in history. At the peak, the reserve capacity rate was about 10.03%, with reserve capacity of 3.611 million kW. Although the supply indicator remained a green light, with the weather continuing to be hot recently, the public is still urged to conserve electricity together.

Taipower stressed that in response to the upward trend in electricity use and the expectation that this summer's electricity peak may hit another new high, Taipower has fully grasped the situation, made preparations and is working hard to maintain stable supply. Facing the coming summer peak, in addition to new units at private power plants entering commercial operation this year and newly added renewable energy making up the difference, Taipower is also fully carrying out major overhauls or maintenance work on various units, striving to have them online before the summer peak arrives. At this stage, Taipower will also dispatch units in good condition and with high efficiency to generate electricity, and it estimates that the goal of stable supply can still be achieved.

In addition to ensuring stable supply in the short term, power source development also requires advance deployment. To balance stable supply and the goals of increasing gas and reducing coal over the long term, Taipower is also promoting gas-fired unit construction projects in the north, central and southern regions. Among them, the Xiehe Power Plant is currently actively pursuing environmental impact assessment, the Tongxiao Power Plant recently passed environmental impact assessment review, and the Datan Power Plant and Hsinta Power Plant are currently working at full speed. Only the Taichung Power Plant's gas-fired unit construction project, although it already passed environmental impact assessment review long ago, was required by the Taichung City government to undergo another urban design review; therefore, since filing with the Taichung City government in March of last year (109), it has still not received notice to convene an urban design review meeting, resulting in the current situation where the environmental impact assessment has passed but construction has not yet begun. For this reason, Taipower has repeatedly urged the Taichung City government to support the Taichung Power Plant's plan to increase gas and reduce coal, so as to achieve the goals of stable supply and environmental protection.