Tianjin to import electricity from Inner Mongolia

By Liu Yiyi (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2015-04-03

As a key node located in the passage of electricity transfer from the Inner Mongolia autonomous region to Tianjin city, the high voltage transformer substation of 1,000 kilowatts in south Tianjin has been officially launched, according to the power supply department of Tianjin Binhai New Area on March 23.

It is the first 1,000-kilowatt level transformer substation in Tianjin, through which Tianjin is going to realize electricity import and reduce the city's dependency on firing coal to generate electricity.

Tianjin is a typical energy-imported type of city. According to statistics, it is estimated that the maximum load of the power grid in Tianjin is going to reach 17.1 million kilowatts by 2017. The electric insufficiency is going to take up 35 percent of the total usage.

Compared with the newly-established local coal fired power plants, importing electricity through extra high voltage passages will guarantee urban power supply in the long run and is also able to reduce air pollution from firing coal.

Located in Xiaowangzhuang town in Binhai New Area, the newly-launched 1,000-kilowatt level high voltage transformer substation is included in two electricity transfer passages - one from the west Inner Mongolia autonomous region to south Tianjin and the other one from the Xilin Gol League to Nanjing.

In addition, serving as an important node of the national extra high voltage power grid network, the transformer substation is responsible for bringing in electricity from the western Inner Mongolia autonomous region to Tianjin and effectively solving the conflicts in the Tianjin power supply industry.

The transformer substation is going to expand?five million kilowatts of electric capacity of the power grid in Tianjin by involving Tianjin into the extra high-voltage power grid. This is going to effectively alleviate the intense power supply, increase stable electricity storage, and promote the reliability and quality of power supply.

Another important influence is going to be a significant usage deduction of electricity generated from firing coal, which is a useful measurement to alleviate the smog in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province. It is estimated that a total of?nine million tons of coal is going to be saved with the support of the transformer substation. This will provide Tianjin residents a cleaner environment.

It is also a good start for Tianjin to explore an effective solution of problems in the environment.