Speaking at a seminar on the opportunities and challenges of green industries, Yang Chin-shih, head of Taipower's electricity research arm, said smart grids deliver electricity from suppliers to consumers using digital technology to save energy, reduce costs and increase realiability and transparency.

"This modernized electricity network is being promoted by many countries around the wolrd as a way to address energy independence, global warming and emergency resilience issues, " Yang said.

Installing smart meters is the first step toward developing a comprehensive smart grid system.

Once the advanced metering infrastructure is completed, consumers will be able to easily understand how much electricity they are consuming through the smart grid's energy management system and use the knowledge to plan and control their power consumption to save energy and money, Yang said.

The state-owned company will also be able to use the smart grid system to differentiate its power rates and to easily detect damaged power transmission lines to improve service quality, Yang said.

To build up advanced metering infrastructure, Taipower has been installing smart meters for its large customers in recent months.

"Taipower now has 23,000 high-voltage electricity subscribers who consume a combined 50 percent of our country's total power consumption, " said Yang, who expected the company will complete replacement of traditional meters with smart ones for its ultra high-voltage power users by the end of this year.

Ultra high-voltage power users are those using 69kV power systems or higher.

The company will then install smart meters for those using power systems of 11kV or higher, with the completion date set for 2011, Yang said.

Smart meter replacement for household electricity users will be completed by 2013, Yang said.

According to estimates released by the quasi-official Institute for Information Industry (III), the development of a smart grid will generate NT$60 billion in business opportunities that have already caught the eye of many local and foreign companies.

Yang said Taipower is using smart meters jointly developed by Tatung Co. and the III as part of its efforts to help the high-tech sector take root in Taiwan.

(By Sofia Wu)