Aiming at integrating local renewable energy sources into the national grid, a new 220 kV substation has recently been put into operation in Jinpo, a village in Zaozhuang, Shandong province, making a significant contribution to the construction of a new power system.

Covering 1.19 hectares of land and costing 285 million yuan ($39.7 million) to build, Jinpo substation connects 45.05 kilometers of transmission lines and 84 new transmission towers.

"It is the largest substation built in Zaozhuang city in one go and is directly connected to three other 220 kV substations," said Zhu Jianwen, director of the Development Planning Department at State Grid's Zaozhuang power supply company, the project contractor.

Zhu said the company checks the project progress regularly to ensure the substation can be directly put into use once the construction is completed, which has saved them a lot of time. Lasting from February to December, the substation construction was completed four months earlier than expected.

According to Zhu, after a century of coal mining, Zaozhuang now has a large number of subsidence areas, which have been utilized to carry out renewable energy projects such as photovoltaic power generation.

"The projects are mostly invested by State-owned enterprises, large in scale and fast in construction," said Zhu. "Currently, the installed renewable energy capacity in Zaozhuang has reached 3.42 million kilowatts, accounting for 40.57 percent of the total installed capacity."

Jinpo substation is located on a subsidence area called Tengxi and is expected to consume 450,000 kilowatts of renewable energies. There is currently one 1000 kV extra high voltage substation and two 500 kV substations in the city, bringing great convenience and allowing for the grid to consume renewable energies generated nearby, Zhu added.

Over the past few years, the State Grid Corp of China has been continuously strengthening its support for the development of renewable energies, expecting to help achieve the dual goals of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060.

Zhang Yiguo, chief planner of the China Renewable Energy Engineering Institute, stressed the need for China to intensify its efforts in promoting the large-scale development of renewable energies. He further emphasized the importance of achieving high-level consumption and ensuring a stable supply of these energies by establishing a resilient power system in all aspects.

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