Bringing out the power in Taiwan

Established on May 1, 1946, the Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) is a vertically integrated power utility involved in power generation, distribution, transmission and sales, and is the only retail power provider in Taiwan.

Power produced by IPPs and cogeneration must be sold in wholesale to Taipower, who then sells the power to its customers.

As of the end of 2009, Taipower operated a power system with a total installed capacity of 40,247 MW, which included Taipower’s own in¬stalled capacity of 32,061 MW and the 8,186 MW of installed capacity provided by IPPs. The primary types of power generation included hydropower, thermal power, nuclear power and renewable power, among others.

In 2009, Taipower had NT$330 billion in capi¬tal, with the proportion of government ownership near 96.92%. Total company assets approached NT$1.59 trillion, with 92.2% of those assets being fixed assets. The total number of company employ¬ees was 26,921. Throughout 2009, Taipower’s total production and purchase of energy was 193.6 bil¬lion KWh, while the company’s total energy sales reached 179.2 billion KWh. Industrial customers accounted for 51% of total energy sales, business customers comprised 17% and residential and oth¬er customers made up the remaining 32%.

With a transmission and distribution network that extended 340,000 km nation-wide, Taipower served 12.42 million customers and provided elec¬tricity to meet the needs of all of Taiwan’s 23 million inhabitants. Through the end of December 2009, the total length of transmission and distribution lines reached 345,799 ckt-km. The transmission lines totaled 16,342 ckt-km, which included 3,802 ckt-km of 345 KV lines, 6,410 ckt-km of 161 KV lines and 6,130 ckt-km of 69 KV lines. The total length of all distribution lines was 329,457 ckt-km.

As a public utility, Taipower is entrusted with the obligation of providing electric power. In order to prepare for future electricity needs and ensure a suffi¬cient supply of power, the company has wholeheart¬edly promoted several large-scale power projects, in¬cluding the ongoing construction of the 4th nuclear power plant and the Tatan gas-fired plant project as well as the projects to retrofit several coal-fired units. Taipower expects to simultaneously improve its base, mid and peak load power structures and to maintain its targeted reserve margin of 16%.

After the Sixth Power Transmission and Substa¬tion Project was completed in December 2009, the Seventh Power Transmission and Substation Project was scheduled to begin in 2010 in order to further improve Taipower’s transmission grid. This new project will run for six years and complete a new and expanded section of transmission lines running 2,370 ckt-km as well as a group of 130 substations and an expanded main transformer capacity of 23,560 MVA.

Taipower will also continue promoting its Sixth Distribution Project in order to construct a more reli¬able distribution grid. Taipower plans on deploying a smart grid in phases in response to the demands of its high-tech customers for high-quality electric power.
In response to the international power industry’s thrust toward energy conservation and carbon re¬duction, Taipower will follow the “Framework of Taiwan’s Sustainable Energy Policy” (issued by the Government in 2008) and set up “Taipower’s GHG Control Strategies” while also increasing its ratio of renewable energy sources and promoting green energy in order to fulfill the company’s duty as an international corporate citizen.

Taipower has joined The Association of the Elec¬tricity Supply Industry of East Asia and the Western Pacific (AESIEAP) as a Council Member since 1988. In 2005, Taipower entrusted by the AESIEAP Coun-cil to host the activities of 2009 CEO Conference and 2010 Conference of the Electric Power Industry (CEPSI 2010). The AESIEAP 2009 CEO Conference was successfully wrapped up on October 23, 2009 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan.

In this year, CEPSI 2010 and Exhibition will be held on October 24-28, 2010 at the Taipei International Convention Center. It is expected that over 1,200 top managers and delegates from major electric power industries in the East Asia and the Western Pacific region as well as manufacturers of power fa¬cilities and professionals engaged in every sector of the power industry around the world will attend the conference. All delegates, professionals, sponsors and exhibitors at CEPSI 2010 will share their pre¬cious experience and enrich their knowledge from the discussion.

There are 9 topics in the Panel Sessions and over 250 papers to be presented in the Technical Ses¬sions at CEPSI 2010.

The topics will cover the issues of green energy, smart transmission and distribution, energy effi¬ciency, information communication technologies, intelligent generation, AMI and advanced nuclear generation and development.

Currently, CEPSI 2010 has opened for registra¬tion. Those who are interested in expanding busi¬ness, seeking opportunities in this region, or partici¬pating with key business leaders for discussion and sharing experience are encouraged to take this op¬portunity and register now.

With Taipower as host of this year’s CEPSI, Ed¬ward K.M.Chen said they are excited about the large number of participants from all sectors of the power industry that will come together for four days of sharing, discussion and networking.

“We have set up a platform from which the is¬sues of greatest concern to the power industry in the area can be addressed, discussed and even de¬bated. Our goal is that all who attend this year’s CE¬PSI will leave better prepared to face the challenges ahead,” added the Taipower Chairman.