Power road brings light to Tibet

10:21, September 06, 2012  

A villager installs energy-saving lamps. (Photo/Xinhua)

To ease the long-term power shortage in Tibet, the Qinghai-Tibet Power Grid Interconnection Project, which is addressed as "power road to heaven" started construction on July 29, 2010. The line starts in Qinghai's Xining and ends in Tibet's Lhasa, with a total length of 2,532 kilometers.

As one of the 23 key projects of the Western Development Strategy opened in 2010, the entire project, with a total investment of 16.2 billion yuan ($2.54 billion), consists of three phases: a 750 KV transmission line from Xining, capital of Qinghai, to Golmud in the center of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau; a 400 KV transmission line from Golmud to Lhasa, capital of Tibet autonomous region; 220 KV of grid facilities within Tibet.

The project was completed on November 11, 2011, a year earlier than planned in September of 2012. By then, the isolated operation of Tibet power grid was ended through connecting to the northwest power network.

The "power road to heaven" solves the power shortage problems of Tibet, which has restricted Tibetan economic and social development for a long time, and brings light and warmth to people living there.

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（Editor：陈丽丹、姚春）