A 22.1 billion yuan (US$2.7 billion) project to upgrade the
power grid in the booming southern city will begin this year.
The investment, as part of the
11th Five-Year Guidelines of Shenzhen, will enable the
city to nearly double its current electricity generating capacity,
according to the investor Shenzhen Electricity Supply Bureau, a
subsidiary of Guangdong Power Grid Corporation. The corporation
supplies electricity to all six districts of the city, excluding
Shekou Industrial Zone.
But in recent years, there have been problems with power
shortages in the city.
At the end of 2010, the city will have at least 200 110-kilovolt
or above transformer substations, with a total capacity of 58
million kilowatts, of which 103 are newly built, said Jin Jimin,
director of Shenzhen Electricity Supply Bureau during a working
conference on Monday.
He forecast that the city would consume 47.5 billion
kilowatt-hours of electricity this year, with the demand peak for
the Shenzhen power grid reaching at least 8.3 million
kilowatt-hours an 11 percentincrease on last year.
"The power shortage will remain acute in the first half of the
year, but will be gradually eased starting from the third quarter.
We expect the electricity demand and supply could meet balance in
2007," he said.
The improvement should be attributed to the company's continuing
investment in upgrading the power grid, he added.
For this year alone, the company will invest 4.2 billion yuan
(US$518 million) to further increase capacity by nearly 6.1 million
kilowatts, he said.
Vice-Mayor Chen Yingchun urged the power distributor to ensure
normal supplies to the residents, important entities and
enterprises.
The government would reasonably adjust the electricity price for
corporations to encourage them to use power in non-peak periods, he
said.
Power shortages, now a nationwide problem, first occurred in the
relatively developed Guangdong Province, where most cities,
including Shenzhen, are export-oriented.
Many companies are buying electricity generators to cope with
power shortages, which have lasted for up to three days a week in
the past.
The statistics from Shenzhen Customs showed that 257 local
companies imported 2,607 units of electricity generators last year,
which was a drop of 5.4 percent from 2004.
Customs have asked the companies to re-evaluate the necessity of
buying electricity generators this year given the expected
improvement in the situation.
(China Daily February 22, 2006)