China's Hainan linked to national power grid by underwater cable

HAIKOU, March 17 (Chinese media) -- Workers connected China's Hainan Island to the

national power grid Tuesday.

The workers drew one of three planned seabed cables onshore at Linshi Isle

in Chengmai, a county in Hainan Province, through Qiongzhou Strait at 3:28 p.m.

from Xuwen in Guangdong Province, south China. The cable is 32 kilometers long.

The 500-kilovolt seabed power transmission project is the first of its kind

in China and the second in the world after Canada, according to Shang Chun,

deputy general manager of the China Southern Power Grid.

Two other cables will be installed in late March. All three cables,

produced by Nexans of Norway, will eventually be linked up to the Fushan power

transformer substation based in Chengmai County. They will go into service in

late June.

The project will cost about 2.5 billion yuan (about 368 million U.S.

dollars) in all.

The initial capacity will be 600,000 kilowatts. When the project is

completed, the capacity will double.

Once the project is completed, the province will be able to sell surplus

electricity to the national power grid.