We need civilian energy resilience

• By Phoebe Pham and Lin Jun-rong 范菲比、林均蓉

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Taiwan’s energy security debate has been hyperfixated on fuel inventories, generation capacity and diversification of external supplies. While these measures are necessary, national endurance also depends on governance distribution and responsibility sharing. The rollout of the World Alliance for Disaster Management, in addition to this year’s Global Cooperation and Training Framework Energy Resilience Workshop and 921 Large-Scale Mobilization and Disaster Relief Exercise, proves Taiwan’s security narrative has expanded into civilian cooperation. The challenge Taiwan faces is one of sustainment through crisis and preservation through resilience, or how Taiwan can mobilize its communities, civil organizations and businesses to preserve essential services and distribute energy access during a prolonged disruption.

To harden domestic energy continuity, Taiwan must deepen its public-private partnerships and collaboration. The industrial sector has the largest share of electricity demand. Businesses are naturally inclined to blunt market volatility and operational risk by enhancing grid resilience. However, the challenge lies in mobilizing the private sector, where rules for participation remain vague and contested.

One such instance is in the case of solar panels. On Aug. 1, the Ministry of the Interior began implementing measures to deepen business sector involvement by updating its standards for installing solar panels. The amendment mandates that buildings with more than 1,000m2 of floor area install 1kW of solar energy generation capacity for every 20m2. Hurdles for success include disputes over ownership and maintenance responsibility for the installed solar systems, which only have a 10-year service life. Similar efforts have been made with the Energy Administration Act (能源管理法), where a partial amendment was passed on Aug. 21 mandating large energy consumers install self-use renewable energy generators or power storage systems. However, the amendment only applies to new or expanding facilities.

The problem lies in the lack of a clear framework that outlines specific responsibilities industry partners would have to take on for successful implementation of energy continuity. Current policies lack a comprehensive, holistic approach to infrastructure planning, one where construction costs, maintenance responsibility and updates must be clearly defined between government, businesses and property owners. If the top-down solutions are ineffective, Taiwan must restructure its business-to-government relationships. By closing the communication and trust gaps between the central government and the private sector — especially around national security priorities and business confidentiality — business-government partnerships could align more effectively and deliver on policy.

Second, mobilization of civil-based organizations is a developing but underutilized mechanism for establishment in energy-resilience planning. A common denominator presented during last month’s Urban Resilience Exercise during Han Kuang 42 and this month’s National Disaster Prevention Day Drills is the expansion of bottom-up social capital.

Taiwan has not only a strong force of emergency personnel in the police force and firefighters, but also specific interest groups — such as Taiwan’s Disaster Medical Development Association (DMAT) and the Tzu-Chi Foundation — that are becoming more and more active, largely with the rise of awareness in contingency planning.

During the Large Scale Earthquake Resilience exercise on Sept. 17, Phoebe Pham joined Cheng Ming-tai (鄭銘泰) from DMAT in Taitung County to observe evacuation management practices under disrupted conditions and how volunteer forces and local government organized emergency management procedures and joint-alternative command efforts.

The drills demonstrated that while backup technology and stand-alone communication devices are useful during power disruptions, Taiwan’s biggest challenge remains in improving its multilayered redundancy for supply distribution and logistical coordination.

This sentiment was echoed at the Resilient Taiwan for Sustainable Democracy Forum by DMAT honorary chairperson Hsiao Ya-wen (蕭雅文), a member of the Presidential Office’s Whole-of-Society Defense Resilience Committee, who said that sustaining communications vis-a-vis energy distribution and human coordination in disaster management is often an underrated but critical element.

This is similar to Han Kuang 42’s incorporation of alternative planning for critical functions during last month’s Kaohsiung-Pingtung urban resilience exercise, where civilian and military personnel rehearsed support for emergency supply distribution. Bridging civil-military cooperation and building trust across all sectors of society is an emerging — and increasingly vital — factor.

For Taiwan, this year has been one of litmus testing concepts of integration for whole-of-society resilience and energy sustainability. There are several challenges that Taiwan must address in order to achieve “full integration” of civil society into energy resilience planning — and, by extension, disaster management.

First, the government needs to create a more comprehensive policy tool that could mobilize independent generators and grids, and improve the efficiency of energy procurement, especially during crises. While there is an inventory for national electricity generation, there is no mechanism for mobilizing civil sources.

Second, the central government needs to expand information-sharing protocols to foster trust and clarity between itself and civil society. Based on observations during the drills and high-level forums that took place this past month, local resilience actors are the first to respond in a disaster scenario and serve as a channel for cross-sector partnership. Plugging in community capacity by increasing threat literacy would serve as a key juncture in facilitating joint preparedness.

Third, businesses must engage incrementally via feedback on capacity, constraints and investment needs to better synergize joint preparedness. For industry to buy in with government needs, they must possess basic internal preparedness before they are able to be operationalized on demand.

Energy resilience is not just a planning problem but a participatory process. This past month has served as a useful first step in addressing how to deepen cooperation between all levels of society: government, industry and civil organizations.

Taiwan must leverage its social capital by conveying clearer, simpler rules of the game: who does what when the grid goes dark, and how trust turns local capacity into national endurance.

Phoebe Pham is a Ministry of Foreign Affairs 2026 research scholar and visiting researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research in Taipei. Her research focuses on Taiwan’s energy resilience, maritime security and critical infrastructure. Lin Jun-rong is a policy analyst at the institute. Her work focuses on resource management and energy resilience from the perspective of non-traditional threats to industrial and economic security.