A side note on the construction of the power grid in Nagqu, Tibet, assisted by Zhejiang Hangzhou Power Supply Company

On December 16, He Baochang, leader of the Tibet Aid (Nagqu) Support Team of Zhejiang Hangzhou Power Supply Company, once again visited the resettlement housing community of Gulu Town, Senyi District, Nagqu Prefecture, Tibet to visit residents' electricity usage. "Now we don't need to rely on photovoltaic panels for electricity, and there has been no power outage for more than a month," said Gesang, a Tibetan girl.

On November 9, the 29th day after the support team from Hangzhou Power Supply Company arrived in Nagqu, the 400 kVA distribution transformer Gulu substation in the relocation housing community of Gulu Town was successfully energized, bringing "reliable electricity" to 92 households.

In October this year, in order to implement the decision-making and deployment of State Grid Corporation of China to assist in the construction of power grids in the deeply impoverished areas of "three regions and two prefectures", and in accordance with the work requirements of "one city helping one county" of State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Co., Ltd., Hangzhou Power Supply Company sent elite troops to Nagqu to carry out work. Over the past two months, the members of the Hangzhou Power Supply Company's assistance team have overcome unfavorable factors such as lack of oxygen, severe cold and complex traffic conditions, trained 130 construction personnel, surveyed 70 work sites, and erected 8,173 poles, exceeding the phased power grid construction tasks.

"Even if it costs me half my life, I have to complete the mission."

On September 23, Hangzhou Power Supply Company established a counterpart assistance office for Tibet and formulated a detailed work plan. Taking into account factors such as the amount of work, time nodes and climate change, the company decided to send two teams to Nagqu in October this year and next spring to carry out power grid construction work.

On October 10, the assistance team held a short departure ceremony at the State Grid Tibet Electric Power Co., Ltd. training base and headed for Nagqu. After 7 hours of bumpy ride, the assistance team arrived in Nagqu. He Baochang said: "The average altitude of Nagqu is above 4,500 meters, the weather is unpredictable, the air is particularly dry, and I often have nosebleeds in the morning. Although we have made full mental preparations, when we first arrived in Nagqu, the difficulties were much greater than we imagined."

Bao Changxiang, a member of the support team, had a severe altitude sickness when he first arrived in Lhasa. "I couldn't breathe at night, my blood pressure and heart rate were abnormal, and I had a low fever. I quickly called the team leader to report the situation." Bao Changxiang said. In order not to affect the progress of the project, the support team decided to keep him in Lhasa for a while. But after only staying at the acclimatization base for one more day, Bao Changxiang rushed to Nagqu to meet up with the main force.

Early in the morning of October 11, the assistance team started work and connected with the State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power Nagqu Level 1 Project Department to understand the geological conditions and weather conditions of the local power grid construction. They sorted out work materials with the construction unit, formed a unified catalog list, and reversed the weekly plan according to the end-of-year task window period.

In Naqu, a vast area with a sparse population, many daily problems have become difficult problems. Contacting transport vehicles, coordinating the allocation of materials from suppliers, and checking auxiliary materials all require repeated follow-up. When the weather is bad, it is common for transport vehicles to break down, and the workload is doubled compared to general projects.

The area of ​​Senyi District is comparable to that of Hangzhou, and the farthest construction site is more than 260 kilometers away from the project site. During the more than 60 days in Nagqu, the assistance team drove a total of 34,000 kilometers.

After careful preliminary preparations, on October 19, the assistance team drove 185 kilometers to the construction site in Qianxiang and completed the task of erecting the first pole.

"Even if it costs us half our life, we must complete the mission," said Zhou Xiaolong, a member of the assistance team.

"With your presence, we have hope of getting electricity."

According to the plan, the first group of five people led by He Baochang was tasked with completing preliminary work such as situation survey, plan preparation, design review, on-site briefing, and material preparation, so as to prepare for the full completion of the construction task in the spring of next year. After learning about the difficulty of electricity supply in the resettlement housing community for poverty alleviation in Senni District, the assistance group took the initiative to propose to provide electricity to the residents of the resettlement housing community in advance.

On October 17, members of the assistance team drove 90 kilometers to Gulu Town, Nagqu, visited the local government, learned about the electricity needs of local residents, and worked with government staff to conduct on-site surveys of resettlement housing for poverty alleviation in Senni District.

"Local residents have moved into resettlement housing for more than a year. Due to various reasons, the new resettlement site has not yet been officially connected to the power grid. Some residents have received temporary electricity from nearby power sources, while others rely on photovoltaic solar panels for power supply, and the quality of electricity is not guaranteed. With your arrival, we have hope of getting electricity," said Laba Tsering, deputy district head of Senni District, at the survey site.

After understanding the situation, the assistance team reversed the work plan, organized the design, supervision, and construction parties to speed up the construction progress, made every effort to ensure the supply of materials, and carried out daily construction progress reports specifically for key livelihood projects such as Gulu Town and Roma Town to ensure the orderly progress of the project.

Every day, the members of the assistance team traveled to five poverty alleviation sites, including Daqian Township, Luoma Town, and Namache Township, to survey power access points, line channel directions, low-voltage connections, on-site risk points, and study construction plans on the spot. Zhou Xiaolong's engineering record book was filled with everyone's daily schedule.

On November 9, the resettlement housing community in Gulu Town was successfully powered on. Gesang invited the power supply workers to his home as guests, with a smile on his face.

“Try to solve practical problems for us.”

Before the aid team set off, the Hangzhou Power Supply Company required the assistance team not only to complete the task of power grid construction, but also to strengthen communication and cooperation with local power supply companies and construction units, impart engineering management experience and safety management standards, and truly play the role of east-west assistance.

The assistance team has integrated the concept of "assisting instead of training, and promoting learning through assistance" into their daily work since the first day they arrived in Nagqu. Before starting work, the team members checked the fire safety of key areas such as the project department's office space, living quarters, and safety tool rooms; reasonably set up tool warehouses, and compiled management methods for tool collection; and added safety responsibility list reminders to the wall materials of the project department.

On October 16, the owner project department of the Tibet Aid (Nagqu) Project of Hangzhou Power Supply Company organized safety training for the main persons in charge of the construction unit and the supervision unit, and organized them to take safety regulations examinations. The silent and thoughtful assistance was well received by all parties.

On November 5, members of the assistance team braved the snow and came to Naqu Town Complete Primary School. They were busy outdoors for more than two hours, helping the school repair the damaged cable lines, eliminate electrical hazards, and debug and start the display screen in the school auditorium, solving the electricity difficulties for the school's teachers and students.

"The employees of Hangzhou Power Supply Company are motivated and responsible. They try every possible means to solve practical problems for us. We are very grateful," said Wang Zhuo, general manager of Nagqu Power Supply Company.