CSG to Boost Clean Energy Initiative in Pearl River Delta Region

China Southern Power Grid will increase investment in smart grid construction in the Pearl River Delta region. [Photo/eng.csg.cn]

China Southern Power Grid (CSG) plans to step up investment in smart grid construction in the Pearl River Delta region in the upcoming years, aiming to improve clean energy installation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Xu Daming, a spokesperson for CSG, said the company will invest more than 170 billion yuan ($25.3 billion) from 2018 to 2022 to improve the disaster prevention capacity of power grids in the region, which is frequently hit by natural disasters including typhoons.

More than 20 billion yuan will be invested in scientific research and development to guarantee safe and stable operation of the grid, which remains a focus of the company.

According to CSG, the total electricity consumption in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area reached 520 billion kilowatts in 2018 and is expected to reach 700 billion kilowatts by 2035, a 40 percent increase year-on-year.

Energy consumption in the region will see an increase in the proportion of clean energy to ensure a more optimized energy mix. The installed capacity for clean energy in the region is expected to reach 80 percent by 2035, it said.

Joseph Jacobelli, an independent Asia energy analyst based in Hong Kong, said China should have one of the world's most sophisticated smart grids within the coming five years.

"The smart economy is a key area of government focus and thus support and there have been massive investments in the sector, including research, by China's grid companies in the past decade or longer," he said.

"Technology companies in the nation are also getting on the bandwagon of developing digital solutions for the energy industry, which means great advances in such areas as demand management, as well as energy efficiency and conservation, driven by AI, IoT and blockchain solutions."

The company said it will promote construction of the Kunliulong direct current transmission line project, aiming to transmit some five million kilowatts of hydropower from Yunnan province to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area after it is completed in 2021.

The project is expected to reduce coal consumption in the region by 6 million metric tons and carbon dioxide emissions by 16 million tons.

(Executive editor: Hao Wen)