Power grid to boost construction in Greater Bay Area

An electric power line patroller from China Southern Power Grid inspects electricity lines high up in the air. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

China Southern Power Grid said it will ramp up power grid construction in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, in answering the country's call to support the region's overall development.

The country's leading electricity transmitter, also South China's major power grid builder, is actively working to tackle some major technical problems in various areas that involve developing smart grids in the region, such as microgrids, said Rao Hong, head of the research academy under China Southern Power Grid.

"The goal is to build a top-level smart grid in the region by 2030," Rao said.

"The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is often stricken by natural disasters such as typhoons, and that projects greater challenges to stable power transmission and raises higher requirements for both technical design and grid construction," said Zhang Yong, the director of the power dispatching department of China Southern Power Grid Dispatching & Control Center.

Zhang said the company is mapping out an action plan with 26 measures in total to guarantee a stable power supply in the area.

According to Zhang, about 90 percent of the power used in Macao is transmitted through its grid. The company's power grid also carries about 25 percent of the power used in Hong Kong, and 30 percent of that in Guangdong.

Power transmitted to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area comes largely from Southwest China's Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, Guizhou province and Yunnan province, where abundant water and wind resources generate green electricity.

The remarks came after the company's pledge earlier in March to invest over 170 billion yuan ($25.42 billion) to support grid construction in the Pearl River Delta, China's major economic hub covering Guangdong's capital city Guangzhou, Shenzhen and many other cities in Southeast China, to better support the power supply of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.