ABOUT 4 million kw of electric energy from the east of the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region entered Shandong Province through a direct current supply line more than 1,300 km long Feb. 28.

    The project can transport 22 billion kw of electricity a year, which will help develop Shandong Province and Qingdao. The project start-up ceremony was held in Qingdao by the State Grid Corp. and the Shandong and Qingdao governments Feb. 28.

    The project is from Yinchuan, capital of Ningxia, to Qingdao via Shaanxi, Shanxi and Hebei provinces. Total investment for the project was about 10.385 billion yuan. Total length of the supply line in Shandong is 415 km.

    Shandong has a large demand for electricity. In 2010, the province faced a shortage of installed capacity of more than 5.5 million kw and without help from other provinces, the shortage will be bigger in the next five years.

    The Qingdao power company sold more than 25.5-billion-kwh electricity in 2010. The electricity power supplied by the project is more than the total amount of the electricity supplied by Qingdao Power Plant and Huangdao Plant, which can largely increase the city’s power supply in the future.

    (Stephy Wong, Lin Gang)