Major blackouts across Taiwan due to power plant failure

Beijing, Mar 3 (EFE).- Many areas in Taiwan – including its capital, Taipei – were affected Thursday by power outages attributed to a breakdown in a power plant, state media reported.

The blackouts were reported in Taipei, New Taipei, Hsinchu, Taichung, Tainan, Kaohsiung, Changhua, Hualien and Miaoli, according to Taiwanese agency CNA.

The Taiwan Electric Company, Taipower, blamed the outages on problems at the Hsinta plant in the southern city of Kaohsiung, which along with Tainan was completely without power.

There were also temporary cuts in the north and center of the island, while in the capital there were six districts with interruptions, the company said.

Hsinchu Science Park – where most of the island’s technology firms are based – has not been affected at the moment and the transport system is already operating normally, although it suffered problems on the high-speed rail lines that connect Taiwan’s north and south. Hospitals had not reported energy supply problems.

In May, a breakdown in the same power plant left some 4 million homes without electricity for several hours and caused hundreds of people to be trapped in lifts. EFE

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