Linkou power plant unit back online next week: Vice Economic Minister

Taipei, Sept. 18 (CNA) Linkou Power Plant's Unit 1 generator will be back online "next week" after repairs are completed, Vice Economic Minister Lai Chien-hsin (賴建信) said Thursday.

Speaking at a press conference after an Executive Yuan meeting, Lai said the unit at the New Taipei power plant was shut down Tuesday due to a pipe leak and is currently undergoing repairs.

Additionally, he said a post-incident review of a Sept. 11 gas leak fire at Hsinta Power Plant in Kaohsiung has been completed, and will be presented to the city government at a later date.

However, he did not say when the plant's gas-powered generator, which has been closed for inspections since the incident, will resume operations.

With Linkou's Unit 2 also down since Monday due to a system malfunction, a total of three state-run generators are offline in Taiwan as of Thursday.

Speaking about Taiwan's energy situation, Lai said a margin of 2.2 gigawatts can be maintained through Thursday night's peak hours despite the offline units.

Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower) Vice President Wu Chin-chung (吳進忠) also said a nighttime power reserve of at least 6 percent can be "confidently maintained," as the company will draw on several strategies, such as using stored energy and backup generator units.

A reserve capacity rate of over 10 percent is considered "safe," while a rate of between 6 and 10 percent triggers a "yellow light" warning and below 6 percent prompts an "orange light" warning, which would likely result in power rationing, according to the state-owned energy supplier's website.