China will export 2.5 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to
Vietnam this year through a network of five power transmission
lines, the China Southern Power Grid Company said on Sunday.
The company has enhanced the power transmission capacity to
Vietnam by inaugurating a second 220-kilovolt line linking Wenshan
in southwest China's Yunnan Province with Ha Giang in Vietnam, said
Yuan Maozhen, president of the China Southern Power Grid
Company.
"It will supply power to Vietnam for 10 years and will transmit
an average 1 billion kwh of electricity a year," he said.
The Wenshan-Ha Giang power transmission line is 300 kilometers
long, including 170 kilometers in China, and was built at a cost of
413 million yuan (US$53 million).
The first 220-kilovolt power transmission line between China and
Vietnam was inaugurated last September in Kunming, capital of
Yunnan Province.
In addition, three 110-kilovolt lines have been in operation
since September 2004 to supply electricity to Vietnam by way of
Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
By the end of March, the four existing lines had transmitted
1.84 billion kilowatt hours, worth US$80.76 million to Vietnam,
said Yuan.
Construction of the power transmission network is part of a
US$500 million power supply contract signed in October 2005 between
the China Southern Power Grid Company and the state-owned
Electricity of Vietnam (EVN).
Under the contract, the Chinese company will supply electricity
to six provinces in northern Vietnam for at least 10 years.
According to Yuan, his company has signed a memorandum of
understanding with Laos and Cambodia on three hydropower projects
with an installed capacity of 3.52 million kilowatts. It is also
involved in the construction of generation and transmission
facilities in Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar and other countries in the
Mekong River valley.
Cross-border cooperation on the development and distribution of
the rich hydropower resources of the Mekong river valley will
contribute to the development and prosperity of the countries in
the region, he said.
(Xinhua News Agency April 29, 2007)
