If hikers get lost in the mountains without a navigation device or can't read the stars to orient themselves, there's no need to panic. Simply locate a Taipower high-voltage transmission tower to roughly determine direction, or even use the serial numbers on utility poles or roadside transformers to identify your approximate location.

Cases of hikers losing their way in the mountains are not uncommon. When people go hiking and forget to bring a compass or their phone runs out of battery, making GPS unavailable — and if they also can't navigate by the stars — they can actually find a way out by quickly locating the nearest high-voltage tower, utility pole, or roadside power box.

Wang Tianfu, head of the Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Technology Division at Taipower’s Transmission and Distribution Engineering Department, said that most avid mountain climbers know that there are only “just two” power transmission lines that cross the Central Mountain Range in Taiwan.

He pointed out that one is the old 69kV East-West Transmission Line (Wanda-Tongmen Line), completed between 1951 and 1953, which is one of the most remarkable transmission lines in Taiwan’s power history; the other is the new 345kV East-West Transmission Line (Daguan-Mingtan-Fenglin Line), completed in 1998.

“As long as you see the towers of these two lines, you can basically determine the east-west orientation,” Wang Tianfu said. Other general high-voltage towers can also be used for similar orientation, but figuring out where the starting and ending points of the orientation are (for example, which side is east and which is west) requires a bit of a trick.

He pointed out that high-voltage towers are supported by four legs, and if you find the “A leg” — the one equipped with climbing spikes for ladder access — it indicates the starting direction. For example, on the Xizhi-to-Banqiao line, which runs north-south, the “A leg” of the tower represents the north direction.

Of course, there's an even simpler way to determine direction, Wang Tianfu noted, which is to look for a blue sign with white lettering installed on the “A leg.” These signs all indicate the “line name.” By calling Taipower’s 1911 hotline or contacting emergency services and reporting the “line number,” you can learn your current orientation and get help.

In addition, Taipower utility poles and roadside transformers also have “power coordinates,” which are 9- to 11-digit codes made up of a combination of letters and numbers.

Wang Tianfu said that each letter or number represents a different zone or location. For example, the letter code A stands for “northwest of Hsinchu,” while B refers to areas such as Keelung, New Taipei, Taoyuan, and Hsinchu County and City. By entering the “power coordinate” into the “Taipower Electric Pole Coordinate Positioning System” website, or by asking Taipower or emergency responders to do so, you can find the corresponding address of your location. 1051126

(CNA)