Taipower works on `power trips'

Taiwan Power Co (Taipower, 台電) hopes power disruptions at the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park will be cut dramatically with the completion of the first stage of an upgrade to the park's power distribution system.

State-run Taipower said Wednesday that it had completed work as scheduled on the first loop in a new 161-kilovolt, dual-looped distribution system in the park's newest section, Area 3.

The second loop of the system is slated for completion in August -- a deadline Taipower executives concede it will have to work hard to meet -- and will greatly improve the quality of power supplied to clients such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電). The system is expected to be operational by September at the earliest.

Taipower hopes the new system will prevent a repeat of last year, when electricity was tripped at the park more than 40 times -- mostly in Area 3 -- the main reason for which executives said was the poor quality of the current radial distribution system.

In a radial system, there is just one line connecting substations to the end users. When power is tripped at any one of the users on the line, power is also cut to the remaining users.

The dual-looped system feeds power to end users from two lines, so if power is tripped anywhere along one of the lines, electricity can still be fed via the other.

Power disruptions at the park have been compounded by the fact that the distribution system is hooked up to the national grid, upon which power load levels can vary greatly.

Any slight change in power usage anywhere in the country -- for example a concrete factory shutting down for maintenance -- will lead to slight power surges across the country, causing isolation switches at wafer fabs to open and power along a radial distribution system to be cut.

Indeed, Taipower has been at pains to clarify that most of the "outages" at the park have in fact been "power trips," where isolation switches have been opened and power cut as opposed to full-blown blackouts due to faulty Taipower equipment.

However, Taipower concedes that another factor that has added to Hsinchu's woes is the poor quality of locally-made switching equipment at the Longsung Substation that feeds the distribution system in Area 3.

Taipower has admitted that the inferior quality of the switches has led to fires and outages, and is currently seeking their replacement under the terms of warranty. Chip companies in the park have urged Taipower to buy foreign-made equipment, which they claim is of better quality.

But Taipower has said that quality problems with switching gear was global, due to increased competition that had forced down prices and, subsequently, quality as well.