China restores power network after winter snow
BEIJING, March 9 (Reuters) - China's grid corporations have fully restored networks damaged by unusual snow and ice that cut power and snarled transport across the south, according to statements from the companies.
Lightly-built towers and poles buckled from the weight of the snow, while ice snapped transmission wires, in regions where winters are usually mild. The government has estimated economic losses from the storms at 150 billion yuan ($21.09 billion), including animal deaths and crop damage.
The central government had told the grids to complete repairs by the end of March.
"The power grids of the whole country have resumed normal operation," the State Grid Corporation said on its Web site this weekend.
The grids of 10 eastern provinces operated by the company were severely damaged, it said, adding that 172,000 high-voltage pylons collapsed under the weight of ice and snow and 153,000 kilometers of low-voltage transmission lines were damaged.
China Southern Power Grid, which serves the southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan, also said that all its networks destroyed or damaged in the storms have been restored.
Its networks currently have a maximum combined load of 69.88 gigawatts, 12.7 percent higher than the same time last year.
Three people were injured when a State Grid helicopter inspecting repairs crashed in heavy fog on Friday, Xinhua said.
The accident occured near Chenzhou, in Hunan province, a city that endured at least two chilly weeks with no power in January and February.
"We were suddenly shrouded in thick fog and the blades hit a tree," the severely injured pilot, Bi Rongzhi, was quoted by the local Changjiang Times as saying.
"It was fortunate that we hit the ground, not a house."
Villagers used the doors of their homes as stretchers to bring the injured men to a nearby hospital. ($1=7.111 Yuan)
(Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
Lightly-built towers and poles buckled from the weight of the snow, while ice snapped transmission wires, in regions where winters are usually mild. The government has estimated economic losses from the storms at 150 billion yuan ($21.09 billion), including animal deaths and crop damage.
The central government had told the grids to complete repairs by the end of March.
"The power grids of the whole country have resumed normal operation," the State Grid Corporation said on its Web site this weekend.
The grids of 10 eastern provinces operated by the company were severely damaged, it said, adding that 172,000 high-voltage pylons collapsed under the weight of ice and snow and 153,000 kilometers of low-voltage transmission lines were damaged.
China Southern Power Grid, which serves the southern provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi and Yunnan, also said that all its networks destroyed or damaged in the storms have been restored.
Its networks currently have a maximum combined load of 69.88 gigawatts, 12.7 percent higher than the same time last year.
Three people were injured when a State Grid helicopter inspecting repairs crashed in heavy fog on Friday, Xinhua said.
The accident occured near Chenzhou, in Hunan province, a city that endured at least two chilly weeks with no power in January and February.
"We were suddenly shrouded in thick fog and the blades hit a tree," the severely injured pilot, Bi Rongzhi, was quoted by the local Changjiang Times as saying.
"It was fortunate that we hit the ground, not a house."
Villagers used the doors of their homes as stretchers to bring the injured men to a nearby hospital. ($1=7.111 Yuan)
(Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
© Thomson Reuters 2008 All rights reserved
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