Such is the extent of damage caused by the snow disaster that
repairs on power lines of the South China State Grid (SCSG) will
not be finished until the end of March.
Power supply in the provinces served by the SCSG south China
region, which covers five provinces and regions, will not be back
to normal until then, said the operator on Sunday.
"A complete recovery of the power supply network can be expected
at the end of March," said Yuan Maozhen, board chairman of South
China State Grid, in this capital of southwest China's Guizhou
Province Sunday.
Until then customers can expect an intermittent power
supply.
"A total of 22.59 million people in some 90 counties in southern
China have been affected by blackouts or power disruptions, because
of malfunctions of the State Grid in the extreme weather disaster,"
said Yuan.
He said that as of Saturday, the South China State Grid had
reported power disruptions on 6,788 power lines during the
month-long snow and ice disaster. Repairs have been made to fix
4,719 of the lines.
"Guizhou was the worst hit, where ice damaged 5,059 power
transmission lines, accounting for 77 percent of the provincial
total power supply network," said Yuan.
He said that the company had received back-up from 60 power
network design and construction companies and agencies across the
country to assist the emergency repairs.
(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2008)