Qinghai Electric Power Company of China State Grid disclosed on October 10 that it had launched the eighth annual equipment inspection of "Electric Skyway" on that day. Since its operation in 2011, the project has accumulated 6.28 billion kilowatt-hours of electric energy to Western Tibet.
The Qinghai-Tibet AC-DC power interconnection project, known as "Electric Sky Road", starts in Xining, Qinghai Province, and goes West to Lhasa, Tibet, with a total length of 2530 kilometers and an average elevation of 4500 meters. It is the largest power transmission and transformation project ever built in the world's highest elevation and alpine region, the longest crossing frozen soil area and the most difficult construction.
Zhang Liang, head of operation and maintenance department of Qinghai Electric Power Maintenance and Repair Company of China State Grid, introduced that since its operation, the project has opened the door of resource allocation, interconnected the Tibetan power grid which has been running in isolated network with the whole northwest power grid through Qinghai power grid, optimized the power supply structure and solved the contradiction of long-term power shortage in the central power grid of Tibet.
Tibet is rich in hydropower resources, with a theoretical reserves of 210 million kilowatt. It is an important energy base for "power transmission from west to east". Due to the seasonal load characteristics of the Tibetan power grid in summer and winter, the local capacity to absorb water is limited. The contradiction between power shortage in winter and the difficulty to absorb electricity in flood season is prominent in Tibet.
"Up to now, Qinghai Power Grid has accepted nearly 2.4 billion kilowatt-hours of outgoing power from Tibetan Central Power Grid." Zhang Liang introduced that "Tianlu dredged the energy bottleneck of Tibet, combined with the seasonal load characteristics of the Tibetan power grid in summer and winter, realized the normalization of hydropower outbound in Tibet, transferred surplus hydropower in Tibet during the summer flood season, and transformed the advantages of hydropower resources in Tibet into economic advantages."
It is understood that the annual inspection will cover not only the routine overhaul, technical renovation and periodic inspection of Chaidamu converter transformer power station and (+400 kv) Chaila DC transmission line towers, but also the inspection of ecological bird protection equipment, the installation of artificial bird nests and the detection of the foundation of iron towers in permafrost areas. It is expected that the annual inspection will be completed by 29 th of this month.