Blackouts hit thousands in Taoyuan: Faulty cables to blame

TAOYUAN (TVBS News) — Taiwan Power Company's (Taipower) Taoyuan branch preliminarily determined that sudden blackouts on Tuesday (April 16) evening were likely due to faulty cables and fallen high-voltage lines.

A sudden power outage affected thousands of households in Taoyuan and Qingpu on that day,

At 1:16 p.m., an unexpected issue with the OJ60 feeder at the Wuquan substation led to a blackout affecting 3,762 households in the vicinity of the Qingpu High-Speed Rail Special Zone. The power was not restored for a lengthy 2 hours and 39 minutes.

Later that evening, at 9:45 p.m., a similar incident occurred at the Qingxi substation's OA72 feeder (CO, LCO), causing a blackout for 7,045 households along Zhongzheng Road in Taoyuan District. Power was not restored for 402 of these households until 11:44 p.m.

The Qingpu area and the Art and Culture Special Zone were the main areas affected by the power outage.

Meanwhile, Taoyuan City Councilor Ling Tao questioned the effectiveness of the relevant departments' energy policies and expressed concern about the potential for severe power rationing across Taiwan.

Taipower apologized for the inconvenience caused by the power outage and promised to strengthen inspections of lines and equipment to prevent similar incidents in the future.