The third power transmission line from south China's Guangdong Province to the Macao Special Administrative Region was put into operation on Friday, which will increase the transmission capacity by 30 percent.

It is a 10.3-kilometer-long underground cable, connecting Guangdong's Zhuhai City and Macao.

"Following the operation of this line, the network of power transmission by three lines in the south, middle and north is now established between Guangdong and Macao, enhancing the reliability of power supply from the mainland to Macao," said Chen Shengran, general manager of the China Southern Power Grid International Corporation. "Even in case of an extreme situation, such as typhoon or earthquake, when one of the lines is cut off and cannot work, the other two can still keep the power grid in safe and stable operation."

In 2021, Macao's total electricity consumption was 5.649 billion kilowatt-hours, of which 90 percent come from the China Southern Power Grid.

The operation of the third line will enhance power transmission capacity by 30 percent to 1.7 million kWh.

"In recent years, Macao has been appropriately diversifying its economy, having made rapid progress in areas of high and new technologies," said Liu Xiaoju, director of the power system transmission dispatching department under Companhia de Electricidade de Macau (CEM). "The construction of the third line for the Guangdong-Macao power supply network will meet the power need for Macao's development during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025)."

The Chinese mainland started to supply electricity to Macao in 1984. So far, the annual power transmission has increased 26 times compared to that of 1999.

(Cover: The Guangdong-Macao in-depth cooperation zone, south China, August 16, 2022. /CFP)