China on Monday started using its first power transmission and transformer project of 750 kilovolts,which links Guanting in northwest Qinghai Province and Lanzhou in northwest Gansu Province.

The project is a new milestone in China's power industry development, said Vice Premier Zeng Peiyan at the ceremony celebrating the operation of the project.

China's power industry should optimize the power supply structure, speed up national grid construction and deepen power system reform so as to push forward the country's social and economic development in a sustained way, said Zeng.

The 750-kv electricity transmission and transformer project, built by the State Power Grid Company, is the country's grid project of highest voltage so far.

Experts believe the project plays a model role in China's grid development. Zeng, extending his congratulations to the project on behalf of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council, called for the balanced development of thermal, hydro, nuclear and new energy power generation.

China's power industry should keep lifting up its capacities for independent design, independent manufacture, independent installment and independent operation, he said.

The construction of the "west-east electricity transmission" network should be accelerated, and the construction of a provincial grid as well as urban and rural power distribution networks should be enhanced, he said.

Due to rapid economic growth, China witnessed a dramatic rise in electricity generation and consumption over the past few years.Experts say that China's installed capacity will rise to more than 1 billion kilowatts by 2020, with a total power consumption of 4.6 trillion kwh.

Source: Xinhua