2020 marks the 40th anniversary of China's first special economic zones. Zhuhai is one of them.
In the past 40 years, the GDP of the city soared from 209 million yuan ($30.51 million) to nearly 343.59 billion yuan. Power played a significant role in that vigorous development.
The annual power supply to the zone rose to 23.4 billion kWh in 2019. ZHUHAI POWER SUPPLY BUREAU OF GUANGDONG POWER GRID CO., LTD. of China Southern Power Grid (CSG) in South China's Guangdong province contributed significantly to the achievement.
As 2020 is a crucial year for building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and the last year of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020), the company will stick to its reliable power supply management system to provide stable and high-quality power service and increase Zhuhai's involvement in construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.
Shortage of power supply was primarily solved by the end of the 1980s and using high-quality power became a new pursuit as the hotel and processing industries rapidly developed.
What's more, in the early stage of the opening-up, more foreign investors visited Zhuhai in pursuit of business opportunities, which led to an increase in processing enterprises and trade orders.
Stable power supply guaranteed smooth production and on-schedule delivery of the goods, which meant a lot to an enterprise. Therefore, the company had to strive to be reliable in power supply.
It made improvements in all aspects including facilities, technologies and management procedures, investing greatly in hot-line operation vehicles and small-scale power trucks and introducing advanced devices to lower the impact of power-off times on users and improve stability of the power supply.
Learning from countries with mature power grid construction and operation experience was also a main part of improving power supply reliability.
The company sent out technical teams to learn cable ring networking. Later, a renovation project involving it was launched and China's first 220 kV power supply applying the technology was built in the 1990s.
In 1996, another technical team was sent to Spain to learn distribution network automation technology. All the technological skills acquired are now effective methods to ensure stable power supply.
In 2017, the power grid was ruined by Typhoon Hato. The company initiated a project to construct a power grid that guaranteed safe power supply and could re-generate power quickly in extremely bad weather.
According to the company, the project is divided into 28 parts and will be completed in 2018, 2019 and 2020. So far, more than 80 percent has been finished.
Upon completion, power networks in Zhuhai and Macao will be improved and power supply will be guaranteed even in extreme weather.
Stable power supply was highlighted when the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao "intensive cooperation zone" in Hengqin, Zhuhai was proposed in February 2019.
In response to the new requirement, the company built a special step-down power grid structure in Hengqin. The structure was built with a double-link grid which can eliminate faults and recover power supply within milliseconds.
To meet different enterprises' power demands the company also surveyed their power consumption and helped them measure power quality to eliminate risks of tripping caused by power overloads.
Power supply to Macao from Guangdong started in July 1984 and only 47 million kWh of power was transmitted to the region through the 110 kV Zhuhai-Macao power line annually.
Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area in recent years now requires much greater power supply from Zhuhai.
Hengqin in Zhuhai stands at the frontline of supply electricity to Macao and a 22-kilometer power tunnel equipped with smart robots for routine inspection is presently in operation. It was China's first cable tunnel to be inspected by both machines and humans.
The Qinyun transformer substation on the Hengqin Island is China's first 220 kV 3C green substation. The substation plays a big role in providing power to the Hengqin New Area and in the power supply network to Macao.
About 10 kilometers from the Hengqin power supply bureau lies the Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Industrial Park of Co-operation between Guangdong and Macao. It was the first project under the framework agreement on cooperation between Guangdong and Macao.
To meet the park's power demands the Hengqin bureau built a switch station which lowered investment by 3.27 million yuan and shortened the power connection period by 45 days.
At present, the ZHUHAI POWER SUPPLY BUREAU OF GUANGDONG POWER GRID CO., LTD. has transmitted more than 50 billion kWh of power to Macao. It will continue to provide smarter and more reliable power service to support development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area with higher standards and to supply the area with a favorable living, working and tourism environment.
A night view of the banks of Zhuhai and Macao [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
Operation and maintenance staff of CSG's ZHUHAI POWER SUPPLY BUREAU OF GUANGDONG POWER GRID CO., LTD. examine power supply devices for a light show at the Zhuhai Grand Theater. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
A smart robot for routine inspection is used for the first time at the 500 kV Jialin transformer substation – the second 500kV substation in Zhuhai. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
