China to make record investment to expand power grids

Mar 5, 2007 - Xinhua

The State Power Grid Corporation will invest a record 220 billion yuan (28.6 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed assets this year, of which 202.5 billion yuan (26.3 billion U.S. dollars) will be poured into construction, company sources announced on Monday.

Part of the money will be used to start work on a 52,000-km-long, 110-kv-and-above, alternating-current electricity transmission project, with a transformation capacity of 230 million kilo voltage amperes (kva).

This year the corporation will also put into operation 48,000 km of 110-kv-and-above alternating-current electricity transmission lines, with a transformation capacity of 190 million kva, the sources said.

Company officials said technical upgrading would be carried out to ensure grid security and that no major blackout could occur.

Last year, the power grid corporation extended an electricity power supply to an additional 545,000 households, covering 1.88 million people.