By Xinhua
Haikou (China) : China’s first submarine power cable would be laid through the Qiongzhou Straits this year, a spokesman of the China Southern Power Grid (CSG) said.
“Initial construction started early last year, but the substantial part of the project will be constructed this year at a cost of 2.1 billion yuan ($280 million),” he said.
A 34.7-km benthal cable and a 144 km trolley wire would be constructed to link the Gangcheng transformer substation in Guangdong’s Zhanjiang City and the Fushan transformer substation in Hainan Island with a 500-kilovolt grid.
With a transmission capacity of 600,000 kilowatts, the new grid would ensure a safer and more stable power supply for Hainan, thus boosting the island’s economic development, the spokesman said.
After its completion in the first half of 2009, the submarine power cable is expected to be the longest of its kind in the world.
The state-owned China Southern Power Grid covers the southern provinces of Guangdong, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan and Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, servicing about 230 million people.