Taipower's version of the Olympic Games is open! To continue to improve its core power skills, Taipower held its 53rd Skills Competition at its Kaohsiung Training Center today (January 19). This year, more than 1,100 employees are participating, setting a new high in 10 years. The participants included nearly 300 young employees under 30 years old. They competed against their predecessors in 30 events. Taipower Chairman Yang Wei-fuu also sharpened cable insulators and applied protective strips to personally experience how difficult it is for front-line personnel to maintain transmission lines. At the same time, he also served as a foreman for the day with his colleagues to demonstrate the use of a drone and AI identification system for smart inspection operations.

• Taipower held its 53rd Skills Competition today at its Kaohsiung Training Center. A total of 1,133 people from 72 units across the country participated in the competition, which is a 10-year high.

• Taipower's 53rd Skills Competition has nearly 300 talents under the age of thirty, competes with their seniors throughout 30 kinds of competitive event.

To encourage its employees to learn from each other and pass on core power skills, Taipower held its first annual skills competition in 1969. This year, a total of 1,133 people from 72 units across the country participated in the competition. Among them, the youngest competitor will be turning 20 years old and the oldest will be turning 65 years old. Veterans and rookies competed in the same events. To improve the stability of power supply, Taipower has combined smart technology to promote the use of big data and cultivated data analysis talents. This year, the "Big Data Application" category was added to the competition. The competition had 30 competitive events, including power distribution, transmission, power generation and power dispatch.

First-time participant in the skills competition, Chung Chieh-ju, from the Department of Power Transmission and Transformation of the Transmission System Division, North District Office, is a new employee of just one year. She was one of only two female contestants in the "Underground Transmission Cable" event. The power transmission system is the bridge between the power plant and high-voltage power users. Workers must sharpen cables weighing 16 kilograms per meter into a pencil shape while inside a narrow manhole, which is a major test of physical strength and concentration. Chung Chieh-ju hopes to hone her power skills and accumulate experience through the competition. She practiced hard during her spare moments and often consulted with her team leader and other senior employees. She hoped to score good performance in this competition.

• Chung Chieh-ju, from the Department of Power Transmission and Transformation of the Transmission System Division, North District Office, was one of only two female contestants in the "Underground Transmission Cable" event. The event required sharpening cables weighing 16 kilograms per meter into a pencil shape, which is a major test of physical strength and concentration.

In the "External Distribution Cable" team event, 21-year-old Chiu Ching-wei from the Changhua District Office was the youngest contestant in the competition. Taipower explained that installing a fuse link switch and a lightning arrester on power poles can quickly isolate a power supply line in case of failure, thus effectively reducing the impact of line power outage. In the event, participants must wear 11 kilograms of safety equipment and climb up 9-meter power poles to install fuse link switches and lightning arresters. At the same time, they must also operate a 5-kilogram hand-cranked compressor at high altitude. The entire operation took nearly 2 hours, and was test of waist muscles and arm muscles. Chiu Ching-wei said that participating in the external distribution cable event with more senior colleagues gave him the opportunity to simulate live line operations during power outages, and allowed him to become more proficient in his work and enhance the speed and quality of his work.

• 21-year-old Chiu Ching-wei from the Changhua District Office was the youngest contestant in the competition. Working together, he and his colleagues completed the installation of fuse link switches and arresters on the power poles.

Among the more than 60 contestants of the " Underground Cable Distribution ", only four were women. Among them, Chi Ya-ting from the Miaoli District Office bravely volunteered to sign up for the competition to strengthen her competency and face the challenge. The cable joint is a connection point between the cable, transformer and line equipment; a secure joint is indispensable to the stability and quality of power supply. Chi Ya-ting said that making cable joints requires tedious processes such as stripping the cable sheath and external semiconductors, and organizing the copper wires. If the weather is cold, it takes even more time and effort to strip the cable sheath. Therefore, she practices for 1 to 2 hours each day to increase her proficiency, and hopes to produce perfect work within a given time limit.

• Chi Ya-ting from the Miaoli District Office bravely volunteered to sign up for the "Distribution Underground Cable" event of the competition. She stripped the cable sheath and organized the copper wires to make the cable joint.

To develop digital transformation for the power industry, this year's skills competition also included the highlight demonstration event, "Smart UAV Inspection of Overhead Transmission Lines" and the "Power Transmission Line" experiential activities. Taipower explained that in order to improve blind spots in traditional human power inspections, which result from limitations caused by the terrain and environment, and to enhance the work safety of the tower personnel, today's event specially simulated iron tower damage caused by lightning strikes. With Taipower Chairman Yang Wei-fu issuing orders and specialists executing the operations, the drone patrolled the tower equipment and lines, and integrated with the AI identification system to detect damage and obstacles, which greatly shortened the inspection time. At the same time, Chairman Yang also personally experienced the daily tasks of front-line "flying trapeze" and "underground ninja turtles". He completed safety installations for transmission line by applying protection to transmission cables and sharpening the transmission cable insulators to demonstrate that protecting household electricity is no easy feat for Taipower employees.

• Yang Wei-fuu, Chairman of Taipower, experienced sharpening transmission cable insulators under the guidance of a specialist.

• Yang Wei-fuu, Chairman of Taipower, completed safety installations for transmission line by applying protection onto a transmission cable under the guidance of a specialist.

• This year's skills competition included the highlight demonstration event, "Smart UAV Inspection of Overhead Transmission Lines." Taipower Chairman Yang Wei-fu issued orders, and specialists operated the drone to patrol the tower equipment and lines, and integrated with the AI identification system to detect damage and obstacles.

Spokesperson: Chang Ting-Shu, Chief Administrator

Telephone: (02)2366-6271/0936-625-552

Email: u742433@taipower.com.tw

Contact Person: Li Yi-yung, Executive Secretary, Department of Human Resources

Telephone: (02)2366-7395/0933-013-801

Email: u863908@taipower.com.tw