Taiwan looks to Tesla Powerpacks in wake of devastating blackouts
The Taiwanese government is reportedly approaching Tesla with a proposal that would see the company setting up lithium-ion battery facilities, after the country suffered its worst power outage since 1999 on 15 August. Tesla's lithium-ion battery technology, which allows for smart energy storage and grid management, is already in use in Australia and the US. Tesla has not yet commented on the situation.
Taiwan recently suffered from a massive blackout that affected millions of households on the island, resulted in millions in damages, and ended up with the economy minister resigning.

Now the Taiwanese government says that it is reaching out to Tesla to consider a similar solution as the massive 100 MW/129 MWh Powerpack system that Australia ordered from Elon Musk’s company after they had their own power outage issues.

Taiwan’s power outages came after government-run petroleum company CPC Corporation’s natural gas supply system failed at a power plant.

They now believe that a large energy storage system could help in those situations.

Taiwan’s Minister of Science and Technology Chen Liang-gee told reporters at his office in Taipei today (via Nikkei):

“Tesla is using its lithium ion battery technology to help Australia and California to implement smart grid and grid storage, and we can learn from them in the future. We will try to check out whether there is a suitable solution…we will get in touch with them.”

He added that they plan on sending a team of government officials to the U.S. to talk with Tesla soon.

They also could use the energy storage capacity to ease their transition to renewable energy. Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s energy plan includes entirely replacing nuclear power with green energy by 2025. A combination of solar and wind power with energy storage will be needed to make it happen.

Tesla entered the Taiwanese market earlier this year when it delivered its first batch of vehicles and opened its first Supercharger in the country.

It was only selling its automotive products, but now it looks like the company has an opportunity to enter the market with its energy products.