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South China Builds New Electricity Line
China has sped up its efforts to transmit some of its rich hydropower resources from hinterland areas to economically developed coastal areas, with the start of operation at its third power circuit linking the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region and Guizhou Province to South China's Guangdong Province late last month.
The circuit, which begins in Tianshengqiao in the boundary areas between Guangxi and Guizhou and stretches to Guangdong Province, is able to transmit electricity of 1.8 million kilowatts. This enables the Tianshengqiao-Guangdong circuits to transmit total electricity of 3 million kilowatts, including that from the existing two circuits which each has a capacity of 1.2 million kilowatts.
Wei Kairong, deputy director of the general management office of the State Power South Company, said the circuit is expected to greatly ease power demands in the province, which suffered extensive and continuous rolling blackouts last summer.
With new electricity from the circuit, Guangdong Province, which possesses an installed capacity of 17.3 million kilowatts, will be able to handle predicted electricity consumption of up to 18.5 million kilowatts this summer.
"The operation of this circuit has also laid a solid foundation for the central government's plan to channel 10 million kilowatts from hinterland areas to Guangdong Province by 2005,'' said Wei.
The circuit, made with an investment of 4 billion yuan (US$483.6 million), is the nation's second direct current circuit, after the one connecting Gezhouba in Central China's Hubei Province and Shanghai on the East China Sea.
Wei said the direct current circuit, rarely seen even in developed countries, is conducive to reinforcing the safety of the electricity supply in the existing two alternating current circuits.
"If the alternating current circuit breaks down, the direct current circuit would continue to supply, and it works the other way around as well,'' said Wei.
He went on to say that the price of electricity from the new circuit is much cheaper than that from local power plants.
The price of the Tianshengqiao-Guandong project is less than 0.3 yuan (3.6 US cents) a kilowatt-hour, against 0.4 yuan (4.8 US cents) a kilowatt-hour from local plants.
The electricity from the project is cheaper because the production costs at hydropower plants are less than those at coal-fired power plants which have to transport expensive coal over long-distances, said Wei.
In preparation for the nation's hinterland-coastal area power transmission project, which is expected to boost economic development in hinterland areas and ease environment pollution in coastal areas, Guangdong Province has vowed to get more electricity from the interior areas to meet its inceasing electricity demands.
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