400 Offshore Wind Turbines Survived Typhoon Danas

The article highlights the successful resilience of 400 offshore wind turbines in the Taiwan Strait during Typhoon Danas, which struck Taiwan with sustained winds of 144 kph (89 mph) and heavy rainfall causing widespread damage onshore. These turbines, built to meet a stringent Class T safety standard established jointly by Taiwan and Japan in 2017, withstood the typhoon without damage. The turbines automatically locked their blades during high winds to prevent damage and were back online quickly, contributing to 9.2% of Taiwan’s electricity consumption shortly after the storm passed. This contrasts sharply with the extensive damage to Taiwan’s onshore power infrastructure, where thousands of power poles and transformers were destroyed, leaving nearly 829,000 households without power. The article also critiques a recent U.S. Department of Energy report warning of a severe increase in blackouts by 2030 unless the U.S. expands conventional power generation like coal, gas, oil, and nuclear plants. The author points out that this report