ID :
207626
Sat, 09/17/2011 - 04:36
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/207626
The shortlink copeid
Power outage
The Korea Times
(Yonhap) - Thursday's partial power outage across the country demonstrated that the government and its electricity supplier have done a poor job of tackling a sudden rise in power use. The authorities should get the blame for the unprecedented power cuts. Such an incident could have been prevented if they had properly maintained a balance between supply and demand.
First, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) failed to calculate exactly what the daily peak-hour demand was. The nation has been undergoing an unusual heat wave for the last few days with electricity demand rising. KEPCO should have taken these weather conditions into full consideration.
However, the corporation turned off 25 power plants for maintenance checks, lacking the production of 8.3 million kilowatts. This caused the power reserve to fall below 4 million kilowatts, forcing KEPCO to cut the power supply temporarily. In many respects, the checks should have been delayed until the weather got back to normal this autumn.
What's regrettable is that no one is ready to take responsibility for the poor job. Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung only said that the temporary power cuts were "inevitable" to avoid the danger of a total blackout. But we have to question if they were actually inevitable. It sounded as if the minister was trying to justify his mishandling of the situation.
More serious is that the authorities abruptly cut power without any prior notice, causing inconvenience and confusion for businesses and individuals. About 1.6 million households were without electricity. Traffic lights went off. A delay in banking services took place at 417 bank branches. Many people were trapped inside dark elevators.
Prior notice is critical to avoid possible inconvenience and mishaps. Every member of our society needs some time to prepare for power outage. Providing advance information about emergency situations for the people is one of the major obligations on the part of the government.
The episode displayed a lack of the authorities' capacity of controlling emergencies. The people cannot trust the government any longer if it continues to neglect its duties. A corrupt and incompetent government has no reason to exist. A large number of policymakers, regulators and heads of government-owned enterprises have loose discipline with no sense of responsibility and integrity.
KEPCO officials have come under criticism for not following regulations that require them to make a report to the government before conducting power cuts. They should realize that they have no right to randomly cut power without receiving prior approval from the government.
The Lee Myung-bak administration must make a thorough investigation to discover who is to blame and what's the real problem. It should do its best to prevent such an incident from happening again. All economic players are required to join efforts to save energy to preclude a potential power blackout.
(END)
(Yonhap) - Thursday's partial power outage across the country demonstrated that the government and its electricity supplier have done a poor job of tackling a sudden rise in power use. The authorities should get the blame for the unprecedented power cuts. Such an incident could have been prevented if they had properly maintained a balance between supply and demand.
First, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and the state-run Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) failed to calculate exactly what the daily peak-hour demand was. The nation has been undergoing an unusual heat wave for the last few days with electricity demand rising. KEPCO should have taken these weather conditions into full consideration.
However, the corporation turned off 25 power plants for maintenance checks, lacking the production of 8.3 million kilowatts. This caused the power reserve to fall below 4 million kilowatts, forcing KEPCO to cut the power supply temporarily. In many respects, the checks should have been delayed until the weather got back to normal this autumn.
What's regrettable is that no one is ready to take responsibility for the poor job. Knowledge Economy Minister Choi Joong-kyung only said that the temporary power cuts were "inevitable" to avoid the danger of a total blackout. But we have to question if they were actually inevitable. It sounded as if the minister was trying to justify his mishandling of the situation.
More serious is that the authorities abruptly cut power without any prior notice, causing inconvenience and confusion for businesses and individuals. About 1.6 million households were without electricity. Traffic lights went off. A delay in banking services took place at 417 bank branches. Many people were trapped inside dark elevators.
Prior notice is critical to avoid possible inconvenience and mishaps. Every member of our society needs some time to prepare for power outage. Providing advance information about emergency situations for the people is one of the major obligations on the part of the government.
The episode displayed a lack of the authorities' capacity of controlling emergencies. The people cannot trust the government any longer if it continues to neglect its duties. A corrupt and incompetent government has no reason to exist. A large number of policymakers, regulators and heads of government-owned enterprises have loose discipline with no sense of responsibility and integrity.
KEPCO officials have come under criticism for not following regulations that require them to make a report to the government before conducting power cuts. They should realize that they have no right to randomly cut power without receiving prior approval from the government.
The Lee Myung-bak administration must make a thorough investigation to discover who is to blame and what's the real problem. It should do its best to prevent such an incident from happening again. All economic players are required to join efforts to save energy to preclude a potential power blackout.
(END)
