The Taiwan Power Company has emerged from the stage of restoration to the stage of development. In order to relieve the power system from the pressure of the too rapidly growing load, several big projects are not being carried out. It is expected that after the completion of some of the projects next year, the generating capacity of the system will be increased by some 40,000 Kw. At the moment, there are altogether twenty-three hydro-power stations and six steam-power stations on the system, with a total installed capacity of about 270,000 Kw. This figure may be lower than that of a single power plant in the United States, and therefore may seem insignificant to an American. But to a Chinese, especially one who has been in the Interior during the War, it is really something. For at that time the total amount of electric power of all the large cities in unoccupied China might be well below this figure. The backwardness of China in industry was really astonishing, and perhaps this accounts for the difficulty China experienced in resisting the highly industrialized invader. Of course, the undeveloped source of electric power in China is enormous. It was estimated that the Yangtze River alone could produce waterpower of more than ten million kilowatts. But as to the existing power plants, very few on the continent are of size comparable to those in this small island. When the Chinese engineers came to take over the Taiwan Power Co. from the hands of the Japanese six years ago, for most of them it was the first time in their life to see such big hydro-power plants as the Sun-Moon Lake Stations. Their initial inexperience, however, has been more than atoned for by the wonderful work they have accomplished during the past six years.
In the Japanese occupation days, power system in Taiwan served a peak load of 150,000 Kw. The whole system became more and more crippled due to lack of proper maintenance throughout the war years. Then came the fatal blow: aside from causing other less severe damages to the equipment and apparatus of the system, the bombardment by the Allied Air Force destroyed the two outdoor substations of the Sun-Moon Lake Power Plants - the very heart of the power system. The capacity of the system suddenly dropped, and at the end of the War the whole principal Western System could barely carry a load of 30,000 Kw.
Hard Time
Thus began the hard time of the Power Company, for the generating capacity was definitely far too low to meet the power demand, and the load was still rapidly increasing. Ever since that time hundreds of thousands of people have moved in from the mainland; originally existing heavy industries have been gradually restored; and light industries have been either newly built up or removed to this island from the mainland. All these require more and power, which it is the responsibility of the Power Company to supply. For on electric power depend the social stability and the economic prosperity of this island, as well as the strength of national defense.
But the Taiwan Power Company was short of funds. They had no foreign currency to purchase the necessary materials and equipment that could not be manufactured locally to replace the damaged ones. Therefore they had to restore the power system by their own means. However, the adverse circumstances did not bring them dejection nor disappointment. On the contrary, they were all the more stimulated, for they knew they were facing a severe trial of their ability and skill, and it was only through strenuous efforts that they might overcome the difficulties. Financial deficiency was to be made up for only by technical ingenuity. So damaged equipment was repaired, obsolete apparatus put into service again, and scrap used to make new devices, step by step, all the available damaged power stations were restored to sound operational condition; substations enlarged and distribution lines extended to supply the increased demand; and various dams, intakes, water ways, etc., reconditioned and improved.
It was not until April 1950 that ECA aids were approved. So for five years the Taiwan Power Company struggled hard by themselves without much outside help, except a few short-term loans from government banks and a loan of U.S.$2,000,000 from the Westinghouse Company in 1948, which enabled the procurement of a portion of the most urgently needed equipment and materials for the rehabilitation work.
Their efforts were not wasted after all. For they succeeded in restoring and expanding the power system so as to keep pace with the ever-ascending load, which increased from a maximum peak value of 30,000 Kw in 1945 to 173,000 Kw in 1950, about 20% in excess of the record figure during Japanese management. Was it not a marvel that the Taiwan Power Company could attain such unbelievably satisfactory results?
However, owing to the reservicing of damaged and obsolete equipment and the using up of all available spare apparatus, the power system was not built on a very sound and stable foundation. Most of the work done so far was a makeshift, which should be replaced by proper equipment in due time. The system was unavoidably weak and vulnerable, and needed to be strengthened. It could be used to tide over a short period, but was certainly not expected to last very long like that. So in the later part of 1948 ECA aid was applied for.
ECA Aid.
The first ECA aid was authorized in April 1950, which marks an epoch in the history of the Power Company, for since that time rehabilitation and reconstruction work has been undertaken on a really large scale, and the power system began to work with a new vigor.
The first allocation of ECA funds was for the Extension Project of the Sin-Tsu Primary Substation. After that a series of applications for ECA aids were approved one after another, allocated to various replacement, rehabilitation, and development projects, the construction work of most of which have already been started.
Among the development projects now under construction the following three are the most important and worthy of particular attention, because of not only the difficulty of the work, but also their great contribution to the power system after completion. They are: the Tien-Leng Reconstruction Project, the East-West Transmission Tie-Line Project, and the Wu-Sha Hydro-Power station Project.
Tien-Leng Project
The Tien-Leng Hydro-Power Station Project is a part of the Big Ta-Chia River Development Scheme, as planned by the former Japanese Power Company. Like the T. V. A. in the United States, the Ta-Chia River Development Scheme is a combined plan to utilize the water for power generation, flood-prevention, irrigation, and the construction of a new industrial district. The Ta-Chia River runs through Taichung Hsien and its valley covers an area of 1272 square kilometers. Although only about 124 Km in length, it has a very steep slope - the elevation of the river bed dropping 1,200 meters in a distance of 60Km - which means high potentiality of water power. When fully utilized the power would be more than enough to supply the whole power demand of this island, even taking the future load increase into consideration. The original scheme consists of the construction of a big storage reservoir and eight hydro-electric stations, among which the Tien-Leng Station is the largest and the first one to be constructed. The total capacity of these projects would amount to 467,000 Kw - about three times as much as the capacity of the Sun-Moon Lake Stations!
Work on the reservoir and on three of the power stations was started. The Tien-Leng Project was the most advanced. Construction work of this project was begun in 1941 and was suspended in 1944 primarily due to lack of materials. The principal features of this project consist of a concrete dam 35 meters high, an intake, a desalting basin, a series of eleven tunnels totaling to 10.3 Km in length, a flume, a surge tank, penstocks 380 meters long, and a power house. The power house would provide for installation of four generating units of 26,000 Kw each.
Since this project was partly finished by the Japanese Power Company, it is more economical to continue it than to start any other new plan. So the Taiwan Power Company resumed the construction work in 1948. However, owing to limitation of funds, the progress of work had been rather slow until the authorization of ECA allocation in 1950. After that time big strides have been made so that the huge project is no longer an inaccessible prospect, but rather an immediate reality.
The work now going on is the completion of the civil work and the installation of one generating unit of 26,000 Kw. In conjunction with it a 154 Kv steel tower double-circuit transmission line, 28 Km in length, is to be constructed from Tien-Leng to Wu-Fung Substation to link with the existing system. The whole work is expected to be accomplished by the middle of autumn 1952.
Since the Tien-Leng Power Station was originally designed for four units, and since there will still be plenty of water power available, the work can be further extended by installing a second unit of 26,000 Kw, with no necessity of extra civil work. The incremental cost of generation will be very low and such capital expenditure fully justified. It can be anticipated that such an extension will be the next step the Power Company will take up in the near future.
East-West Transmission
The East-West Transmission Tie-Line Project consists of the construction of a rather short transmission line. However, it is by no means an easy job, because the line will traverse the snow-covered, uninhabited and unexplored, rugged Central Mountain Ranges, where transportation of materials and erection work will encounter extreme difficulties and hazards. The electric power supply in West Taiwan has long been interconnected into one system. But the interconnection has not yet been extended to the narrow strip of Eastern coastal area beyond the Central Mountain Ranges, which so far have appeared as an impassable barrier. Consequently the power stations in East Taiwan form an independent small system, which supplies light and power to the few less industrialized east coastal towns.
At present, the total generating capacity of the Eastern System is only around 10,000 Kw. But the installed capacity of the hydro-power stations on the Eastern System was once as much as 56,000 KW - most of the larger plants, such as Li-Wu, Tung-Men, and Ching-Shui No.2, being damaged by severe typhoons in August 1944. Fortunately all these damaged plants can be rehabilitated. Owing to the comparative backwardness of the east coastal district, the load is quite small, so that after rehabilitation of the damaged plants, the generating capacity of the Eastern System will be far more than that is needed.
Here lies the value of the East-West Cross-Island Transmission Line. For only through it the surplus power in the Eastern System can be transferred to the Western System, where power is so badly needed. Difficult as the job is, the cost per Kw of power thus obtained will still be much lower than by constructing new power plants in the West.
According to the Project, this East-West Tie-Line will be a 66 Kv line supported on single-circuit steel towers, with a capacity of 16,000 Kw, starting from Tung-Men in East and terminating at Wu-Sha in the West, with a total length of 44 Km. The tower at the highest point will be at an elevation of 2810 meters above the sea level - a rare structure if it is not unique. The longest span between towers will be 1,300 meters, also an unusual figure.
From Wu-Sha to Sun-Moon Lake No.2 Power Station, another circuit will be added to the existing transmission line, which has at present only one circuit on double-circuit steel towers.
Owing to short of materials, wood towers are temporarily used for the new line instead of steel towers. The whole line is expected to be completed by the end of this year.*
Since there will be more surplus power in the East than can be carried by the present Tie-Line alone, it is proposed to construct an other parallel line of the same design in the future.
Wu-Sha Project
The Wu-Sha Hydro-Power Station Project is only in the initial stage of construction, still a long way from completion. The power house is situated at Wan-Ta on the Upper Cho-Shui River, and utilizes the water power from the Wan-Ta River, a branch of the former. The Project owes its name to the storage reservoir, which is situated at Wu-Sha.
This project was also devised by the former Japanese Power Company. Construction work was started in 1939, and stopped in 1944, in which period they completed the construction of the power house, the installation of two 10,000 Kw generating units, the erection of the steel towers for a double-circuit transmission line, and part of the construction work of the tunnel. What were left unfinished are the intake and the concrete dam, the most difficult portion of the whole task. The dam requires about 350,000 cubic meters of concrete, of which amount only one-twentieth, i. e., about 17,000 cubic meters have been filled. It was only at the beginning of this year that construction work was taken up again, and perhaps it will take another two years to finish the work, even if there are no financial difficulties. After its completion this reservoir will be beneficial to irrigation and also be able to regulate the water amount of the Sun-Moon Lake, apart from the generation of 20,000 Kw of electric power.
That industrial construction is not an easy job can be fully realized from the examples of the Taiwan Power Company. They did not start from the very beginning, since the Japanese had laid a foundation for them. Yet it has still taken them so much effort and struggle to arrive at the present achievement. And from the difficulty of the task we recognize all the more that the Taiwan Power Company have really done their best in restoring and developing the power system. In enjoying the electric lighting and power facilities we cannot but appreciate and respect them for their contribution to the stability and strength of this island. We are fully convinced that the Taiwan Power Company is in progress, and certainly will still be!
* It has already been completed. — Ed.