Power grid disrupted, offshore turbines undamaged by Typhoon Danas

Taipei, July 7 (CNA) More than 400 offshore wind turbines remained undamaged as Typhoon Danas swept across Taiwan Monday, while electricity was restored to over 450,000 households affected by power outages, according to the Energy Administration and Taiwan Power Co. (Taipower).

Data from the Energy Administration showed that as of the end of May this year, more than 400 wind turbines had been installed in the Taiwan Strait, with 375 connected to the grid, bringing the total grid-connected capacity to over 3 GW.

The agency said Monday that it had previously instructed operators to regularly report the status of turbines and power generation conditions as part of safety protocols.

After confirming with the operators, no reports of wind turbine damage have been received so far, it noted after Typhoon Danas swept through western Taiwan earlier in the day.

In 2017, Taiwan and Japan jointly introduced a new typhoon-resistance standard requiring offshore wind turbines to meet Class T specifications, officials with the agency said.

Under this standard, turbines must be able to withstand an average wind speed of 57 meters per second over a 10-minute period -- equivalent to a Beaufort scale 17 wind, or a typhoon -- prosecutors said, noting that this requirement is stricter than Europe's Class 1A standard.

The turbines are designed to automatically shut down and lock their blades when wind speeds exceed 25 meters per second, preventing excessively rapid spinning which could lead to damage, the officials said.

On the other hand, Taipower said more than 650 electricity poles and three transmission towers collapsed as a result of the typhoon, leaving over 710,000 households without power at the peak of the storm.

As of 6 p.m. Monday, more than 450,000 households -- over 60 percent of those affected -- had their electricity restored, the company said.

The hardest-hit areas included Chiayi County and Chiayi City, which together saw more than 250,000 outages, and Tainan, where close to 190,000 households lost power, Taipower said.

Taipower said more than 4,000 personnel were mobilized for emergency repairs.

Typhoon Danas brought severe winds as it made landfall in Chiayi County's Budai Township late Sunday.

Gusts recorded at a manned station in Tainan reached 41.1 meters per second -- the third highest in the station's history -- at 10.52 p.m. on Sunday, according to the Central Weather Administration.