TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A large-scale power outage occurred in Kaohsiung around 12:35 on Friday, affecting public transportation systems and several technology park areas. 

The Taipower operations office for Kaohsiung and Pingtung said the power outage was caused by a faulty cable that was being installed at the Kaokang power substation, reported CNA. The power company is working on major upgrades to Taiwan’s power substations to improve the resilience of the country’s electrical grid. 

The Grid Resilience Strengthening Construction Plan was announced in 2022 and is expected to be completed by 2032. The upgrades call for the installation of Static Synchronous Compensator systems with 161,000-volt bus interconnection cables. These were the type of cables that were being installed at the Kaokang power station on Friday. 

On Friday, business operations were briefly stalled at Qianzhen Science and Technology Industrial Park, Kaohsiung Science Park, and Nanzih Technology Industrial Park, reported UDN. Regular power levels were restored within 10 minutes.

The sudden loss of voltage caused escalators at Zuoying High Speed Rail Station to briefly stop operating, but the trains continued operating normally. Several stations on the Kaohsiung MRT also experienced similar escalator problems during the brief outage, but had backup generators to ensure operations were safely maintained. 

Taipower apologized to businesses and residents who were affected by the brief outage.