KINMEN (TVBS News) — A suspected trip at the Tashan Power Plant (塔山發電廠) caused a blackout affecting over 40,000 households in Kinmen (金門) on Tuesday (July 9) near noon. Taiwan Power Company (Taipower, 台電) swiftly dispatched repair crews, restoring power to nearly 80% of affected homes by 1:30 p.m.
Initial assessments by Taipower indicated that issues with the plant's external transmission and distribution feeder lines likely triggered the outage. The incident led Kinmen Airport (金門機場) and ferry terminals to activate emergency generators, ensuring uninterrupted flight operations.
A Kinmen County Government (金門縣政府) official reported that the blackout occurred around 11:50 a.m. Taipower's preliminary analysis suggested that a loose connection in the feeder lines activated the plant's protection mechanism, causing the trip. Crews are currently conducting repairs and providing power in phases.
By 12:15 p.m., not all areas had regained power, and authorities continued investigating the exact cause and the number of affected households.
Despite the outage, Kinmen Airport and ferry terminals maintained minimal power levels through emergency generators, keeping services operational.