China's snow-hit Zhejiang Province expects to restore its trunk
power grid at the end of March as industrial electricity demand
will soar after the Spring Festival holiday, the provincial power
grid company said.
Consecutive weeks of snow since mid January collapsed 12,753
pylons and damaged 9,946 meters of power transmission lines and 22
transformer substations in the eastern province.
In total, 1.83 million homes in nine cities were affected and
8,753 villages suffered power cuts after snow destroyed power
supply facilities.
During the Spring Festival holiday that started on Feb. 6, more
than 30,000 technicians from the province's power companies have
been working to repair the ice-damaged power grid. Electricity has
been restored to 95 percent of the homes that had suffered
blackouts.
Despite the efforts, electricity was still unavailable in 628
villages of six towns where rugged terrain hindered the transport
of heavy repair equipment and other materials.
"The province is stepping up efforts to restore its 500 kv
(kilovolt) trunk power grid," said a provincial power grid company
spokesman. "However, it is most complicated to repair 500 kv power
lines because workers have to erect iron towers weighing many tons
in the mountains."
He said the company would first ensure power supply to residents
and the trunk power grid was expected to resume operation at the
end of March.
Freaky winter storms have plagued southern China since
mid-January, leading to widespread traffic jams, structural
collapse, blackouts and crop loss in 19 provinces. It had also
killed at least 80 people and affected about 100 million residents,
according to the Ministry of Civil Affairs.
(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2008)