High-voltage power network launched
Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) yesterday inaugurated the country's second 500 kilovolt (KV) high-voltage wire three months ahead of schedule, saying the new section would help stabilise the national grid and meet increasing demand for electricity across the nation.
The 1,606km wire runs through 21 cities and provinces, starting at the Phu Lam transformer outside HCM City. It continues through Pleiku City in the Tay Nguyen (Central Highlands) province of Kon Tum to Da Nang and the northern province of Ninh Binh, terminating at the Thuong Tin transformer in Ha Tay Province.
Speaking at the opening ceremony yesterday for the Thuong Tin transformer, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung said the wire was a key national infrastructure project.
He said it would ease the burden on the existing 500kV wire, which had become overloaded in recent years.
Mr Dung said this would prevent electrical shortages in up to 15 northern provinces by the end of this year's dry season.
The Deputy PM praised Vietnamese engineers, builders, and managers for manufacturing the high-tension electric wire for the project, which satisfied the highest standards of quality, he said.
Mr Dung said he hoped Vietnamese technicians and workers would build and install many more electric works, and increase power capacity by 10,000 megawatts (MW) by 2010.
EVN General Director Dao Van Hung said the 500kV wires are the longest electrical systems in the Southeast Asian region, and would be used to link with grids in neighbouring countries.
He said the new wire would ensure a safe and stable supply of electricity for Vietnam, and help the energy sector reduce prices and lower production costs.
The supplementary wire is as big as the first one, but most components of the new system were made in Vietnam, he said.
The first 500kV wire was built more than ten years ago by foreign contractors, who designed, provided consultation services, supervised and performed inspections for the project.
Contractors from South Korea and Ukraine produced the high-tension lines, lightning-conducting wire and most of the poles.
This time, only components not manufactured in Vietnam were imported, including fibre optics, insulators and parts of transformers.
The new wire cost VND8tril (US$500mil) to install, about $50mil less than the first one. Investment capital was mobilised from the State budget, EVN, and loans from domestic banks and the World Bank.
Vietnam News Agency - October 24, 2005.
|