Closing the Generation Gap
Independent power producers are helping to stabilize Taiwan's electricity supply, but questions remain about the economics of the distribution process.

For most of us, power blackouts are merely inconvenient. For the companies that manufacture silicon chips in Hsinchu and Tainan, they cost money -- a lot of money. Take the 100-minute power outage that took place one morning in early April. That cost Hsinchu electronics manufacturers as much as US$45 million in losses, according to local media reports.