A massive blackout prompts questions about Taiwan’s energy policy

LARGE parts of Taiwan went black: roads were lit only by the headlights of the cars driving along them, and even the capital’s landmark skyscraper, Taipei 101, was in darkness. The emergency services were inundated with calls, many from people trapped in lifts. The giant power cut on August 15th saw nearly half of all households on the island lose electricity. Power was restored everywhere in about five hours. But the questions the blackout raised about the wisdom of the government’s promise to shut down nuclear power stations will linger much longer.

When Tsai Ing-wen became president last year she promised to phase out nuclear power, which provided some 14% of Taiwan’s electricity last year, by 2025. But building new electricity-generating plants to replace the country’s six nuclear reactors will be expensive, especially if, as Ms Tsai plans, most of the new power comes from renewable sources. Higher power prices, in turn, are hard to square with the broader need to revitalise the island’s economy and to boost wages, which have stagnated for more than a decade, prompting a severe brain drain.