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Power deficit addressed by commission

The electricity deficit in northern Taiwan will be erased by 2006 with completion of a third north-south power transmission line and the start of commercial operations of private power generators in the north, the Energy Commission said yesterday.

Northern Taiwan -- which includes Ilan, Keelung, Taipei and Taoyuan cities and counties -- consumed 11,840 megawatts of power in 2000, or 45.8 percent of the nation's total, according to a Commission statement.

But power produced in the north only amounted to 7,310MW, or 25.1 percent of the nation's total, said the statement.

The difference is transported in from plants in central and southern areas via three main power transmission lines that -- once fully completed -- will be able to carry a maximum of 7,000MW to the power starved north in times of emergency, said the statement.

Although work on the third power line in the project was only completed between Chunghuo (中火) and Shenmei (深美) last April, the Commission expects the transmission system to be capable of supplying 4,780MW of power to the north this year, just nudging over the expected shortfall there of 4,550MW.

"There will be enough power supplied to the north to cover the peak-usage summer months," said an official at the Commission.

The other two central and southern stages of the third line -- between Chunghuo and Chiaming and Chiaming and Lungchi -- will be finished in June this year and June of 2002 respectively, said the official.

And insofar as permanently solving the north's power woes, the Commission expects that cooperation between the government and private power companies will expedite the start of commercial operations of new independent power producers (IPPs).

One of the biggest problems facing IPPs -- and power generation in general -- in the heavily populated north is acquisition of land.

There just isn't enough suitable land upon which to build. Also, many people don't want power plants and transmission lines near their homes.

Before 1987, during the martial law era, the state-run Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) had a free hand to set up plants and transmission lines wherever it wanted, as opposition to government initiatives was strictly forbidden.

Since 1994, when 20 percent of the nation's power generation market was thrown open to the private sector, independent power producers have faced tough battles with local residents to get their projects up and running.

The other pillar of the government's plan to balance the power deficit in the north is to expedite the commercial operations of the new power plants there.

The Commission expects Ever-power's (長生) 450MW plant to start commercial operations this year, Hsintao's (新桃) 600MW plant and Hoping's (和平) 1,298MW plant in 2002, and Kuokuang's (國光) 480MW plant in 2003.

The opening of these plants, along with completion of Taipower's 4,000MW Tatan (大潭) plant sometime between 2003 and 2006 and the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant (核四), will fully meet the demand for power in northern Taiwan by 2006, the commission said.
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