Taiwan Electric Power Company Headquarters

The Taiwan Electric Power Company (臺灣電力株式會社, Taiwan Denryoku Kabushiki Kaisha) was established on July 31, 1919, by Taiwan Governor-General Akashi Motojiro as a semi-governmental, semi-private enterprise. The founding capital was 30 million yen, with the colonial government contributing 40% and Japanese private enterprises investing the remaining 60%. The company's headquarters was located in the Shoin-cho (書院町) district of Taipei, directly behind the Taiwan Governor-General's Office; from 1925 it occupied the former Civil Engineering Bureau building there, built in 1907.

The company's most ambitious undertaking was the Sun Moon Lake Hydroelectric Project (日月潭水力發電所), which diverted water from the Zhuoshui River through tunnels into Sun Moon Lake to generate electricity. Upon completion in 1934, it dramatically expanded Taiwan's power capacity and enabled industrial development across the island. The company subsequently built a 154kV primary transmission trunk line connecting northern and southern Taiwan, along with major substations in Taipei, Wuqi (梧棲), Chiayi (嘉義), and Kaohsiung (高雄).

During the Japanese colonial period, Taiwan Electric Power Company was recognized as one of Taiwan's "Three Great National Policy Enterprises" (三大國策會社) alongside the Bank of Taiwan and the Taiwan Development Company. By the end of 1944, Taiwan's total installed power generation capacity had reached 320,000 kilowatts, supporting the island's wartime industries including aluminum smelting, sugar refining, and military manufacturing.

The headquarters building was destroyed by American bombing in 1945; it is listed among the buildings hit in the Taipei Air Raid of May 31, 1945. The company's operations were severely disrupted, and the Sun Moon Lake hydroelectric facilities also sustained heavy damage from U.S. air attacks in 1944-1945.

After Japan's surrender, the Republic of China government took over the company and reorganized it as the Taiwan Power Company (台灣電力公司) on May 1, 1946. The original headquarters site is now occupied by the Ministry of National Defense Bo'ai Building (國防部博愛大樓) and nearby facilities. The modern Taipower headquarters, a 27-story building completed in 1982, stands at No. 242, Section 3, Roosevelt Road in Taipei's Zhongzheng District.