Taiwan power outage looms, some fear

TAIPEI: China’s missiles may not be the biggest danger to Taiwan. A possible power shortage could cause blackouts within three years and weaken the nation’s economy.

Power production is failing to keep pace with demand because of a ban on new nuclear plants and delays in completing projects already under way, says Jeffrey Bor, a fellow at the Chung-hua Institution for Economic Research, which advises the government.


“The chance of large-scale blackouts is quite high,” he says. “Defense against missiles should be of lower importance because the chance of an attack is slim.”

President Chen Shui-bian’s government has ignored long-term economic planning because of his drive to secure Taiwan’s formal independence from China, says a political scientist, Yang Tai-shuenn. Power supply disruptions may accelerate the exodus of Taiwanese manufacturers, who already fill more than 40 percent of their export orders through overseas factories.

Taiwan Power is counting on the nation’s fourth nuclear plant to help prevent shortages. Approved in 1981, the station is only 63 percent complete. The project, in the northern city of Kungliao, probably will not open until 2011, Bor says.

IHT