By Sun Xingwei and Li Shaohua
BEIJING, Oct 12 -- Recently, a border defense company of the PLA Xinjiang Military Command on the Pamirs Plateau was connected to China’s national grid, which solved the company's difficulty in electricity supply and served to improve the troops’ duty and living conditions.
On December 21, 2016, the National Energy Administration and the Logistic Support Department of China's Central Military Commission (CMC) jointly issued the Implementation Plan for Power Grid Construction for Border Defense Forces. The first batch of construction projects was completed by the end of 2018, with more than 220 posts or units at company level stationed on plateau or islands being connected to the national grid. And by the end of 2020, the second batch was completed, with more than 500 border posts being connected.
Today, most border posts in China, as well as naval and air force observation and communication radar stations, have access to national grid, ranging from Changbai Mountain in the north, Yongxing Island in the south, Dongfushan Island in the east, to Kashgar Prefecture in Xinjiang in the west. Both military and civilian units are currently accelerating the third-batch power grid construction projects to ensure that all tasks will be completed on schedule.
The power grid construction for border defense forces has been integrated into China’s new-round rural power grid transformation and upgrading program, which effectively solved many problems facing the military including long construction cycle, and difficulty in coordination with multiple departments.
In addition, the training courses on construction and management of power grid and new energy, organized by the military in cooperation with the State Grid, China Southern Power Grid and Shanghai University of Electric Power, have also served to train more professionals in power maintenance for troops at all levels.