Termites can bite through feeders and cause power outages.

(Provided by Taipower, file photo)

[Reporter Lin Jinghua/Taipei Report] Termites cause power outages?

In Jinguashi and Jiufen, New Taipei City this morning (28th), it was reported that the feeder tripped, affecting more than 2,700 households without power. Taipower traced the reason behind the failure of the underground cable caused by termites; To prevent Taipower from switching to the more expensive ant-proof cables.

People often hear that animals, birds and beasts cause power outages. Taipower front-line personnel often encounter all kinds of "animal accidental touches", such as birds, monkeys, snakes, squirrels, flying squirrels, mice, geckos, etc. are all commonplace. Taipower said that the accidental contact of birds and beasts or the eating of cables by termites is also related to specific seasons and regions.

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Taipower said that the science parks with large electricity users, including Zhuke and Nanke, are sugarcane fields, and termites eat very seriously. In addition to changing the cost of ant-proof cables that are 12% higher, Taipower also actively uses Ant control.

Recently, there have been frequent power outages caused by squirrels. It is speculated that typhoons have rarely invaded Taiwan in recent years, and the environment such as roads and trees is conducive to the survival of squirrels. Spring is the breeding season for magpies and other birds. Run into the transformer box to warm up.

Taipower needs to take into account power outage prevention and animal protection, and carries out a line equipment covering plan for the power lines on 3.14 million poles across the country, including replacing bare wires with covered wires, adding covering covers to wiring rings and cable splints, and pole-mounted transformers. Install a covering cover, etc.; to block the contact path, it is necessary to prune trees, install bird repellents (wind models, audio models), anti-rodent nets, anti-rodent boards, etc., try to reduce the contact between birds and animals and power distribution equipment.

According to Taipower statistics, in the first seven months of this year, there were a total of 4,847 power outages due to equipment failures in distribution lines, of which 1,897 (about 39%) were due to equipment factors, 115 (about 2%) were due to user factors, and external factors such as birds and beasts, trees, etc. There were 2,177 cases (about 45%) of contact and termite gnawing, and 615 cases (about 14%) of natural disasters. The overall power distribution and power outage accidents decreased by 615 cases or 11.3% compared with the same period last year.