龍澗

Longjian Power Plant is located in Ren'ai Township, Nantou County, part of a diversion-type hydro system through the Central Mountain Range, and is one of Taiwan's hydroelectric plants with the greatest head (water drop).

Longjian Power Plant in Xiulin Township, Hualien, draws water from the Longxi tributary of the Mukua River and operates under an effective head of 855 meters, with a maximum of 895 meters — currently Asia's highest-head hydroelectric plant. Built between 1955 and 1959 inside an underground cavern with just two turbine-generators, it is the largest of the plants in the Eastern Region hydro system along the Mukua River.

龍澗 (Hydro) currently reports a net generation of 10.7 MW across 2 unit(s), against an installed capacity of 97.2 MW (11% utilization).

Hydro plants can start or stop within seconds to minutes, making them one of the grid's fastest tools for frequency regulation and peak-shaving. The pumped-storage plants around Sun Moon Lake (Mingtan, Daguan) pump water uphill using off-peak electricity and release it to generate during peak demand, effectively acting as large-scale energy storage. Output is highly dependent on rainfall and reservoir levels.

Hydropower was Taiwan's earliest form of electricity generation, with several plants dating back to the Japanese colonial era. Because most viable river sites have already been developed, hydro capacity has grown little in recent decades and its share has been diluted by the rapid expansion of gas and solar. Its low-carbon, fast-dispatch characteristics nonetheless keep it strategically important for grid stability as variable renewables expand.