The heartfelt words of a frontline Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) employee expose the series of disasters starting from 4:51 PM on August 15 (815). It reveals that large industrial power users were not the first to be restricted as per regulations; instead, residential power was sacrificed! The Taipower employee further slaps the face of the Tsai Ing-wen government’s emphasis on decentralized energy and green energy, calling them “fundamentally useless” when it counts!
A netizen screenshotted a post reportedly from a Taipower frontline employee on Facebook. The employee began writing from the very first moment, their words filled with helplessness.
“16:51, a continuous, piercing long beep. Looking from the dispatch console, the system voltage and frequency monitoring meters were dropping rapidly… watching the values dive, the unease in my heart grew heavier. The shift manager shouted that a large unit must have tripped, but we were powerless. Taipower had no reserve power left for emergency supply. Irresponsible pundits and politicians have misled the public, causing Taiwan’s power to constantly eat into its strategic reserves (operating reserve). Having long avoided facing the situation where the power plants had no ‘source’ (rice) to use, with no rice to cook, they simply ate the strategic reserves as the main meal, surviving one day at a time. What’s hateful is that a large portion of the public would rather believe them than Taipower’s data.”
Caption: Taipower Frontline Employee Leak
“According to dispatch rules, the large users should have been asked to shed load first. If that wasn’t enough, then power should have been restricted. The tragedy is that no one in the Taiwanese government or high officialdom dared to offend the conglomerates. Ultimately, the central government ordered the cut to residential power, round after round, a total of four rounds of rolling blackouts lasting nearly four hours.”
Finally, this employee said with emotion: “For fear of radiation, you don’t want nuclear power. To reduce air pollution, you don’t want coal-fired power. The natural gas power the government raved about—after yesterday’s Datan Power Plant incident, it’s suddenly Taipower’s fault? The government forcibly promotes green energy—why wasn’t solar power used last night? Why didn’t wind turbines generate a bit more power for the emergency? What about the ‘Generating Power with Love’ placards from the street protests? Nothing could be activated for an emergency. How much longer will the public be deceived by green energy, whose output is limited by sunlight and affected by weather?”
Caption: Taipower Frontline Employee Leak
What’s detestable is that industrial power should have been restricted first, but the Taiwanese government and high officials dared not offend the conglomerates, so the central command ultimately sacrificed residential power. After reading this, netizens were equally helpless, commenting: “The most honest post ever,” “Help bump this up,” “Pundits generate power with their mouths,” “A rational good read, bumping it,” and “Thank you for presenting the truth so we can understand the hidden side of things.”
Source: Apple Daily