Speech by Gu Junyuan

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good afternoon!

The May 12 earthquake that rocked Wenchuan County in Sichuan Province was so powerful and widely felt that the last few decades had rarely seen quakes of similar enormity. The tremor has put local communities at grave risk in terms of both human lives and property. The local people have sustained tremendous losses. Meanwhile, the catastrophe has battered the electric power facilities to varying degrees in areas including Sichuan , Gansu and Sha'anxi Provinces.

In the aftermath of the disaster, the Sichuan power grid, which was the worst affected, saw its maximum load drop to 62% of its normal load (representing a loss of 4.44 GW). The quake left one substation of 500-kilovolt and 15 substations of 220-kilovolt out of service. Four transmission lines of 500-kilovolt and 59 lines of 220-kilovolt stopped working. Twenty-six power plants suspended their operations due to the tremor. Due to the earthquake, power supply for a total of 54 counties and districts took a severe battering. The counties and regions are located in five regions that include Mianyang, Deyang, Guangyuan, Aba Prefecture and Chengdu . Out of the counties and regions, 8 counties are hit hardest. Among the 8 counties, the three counties of Jiangyou, Mianzhu and Jiange receive power supply from the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC). The three counties of Wenchuan, Maoxian and Lixian are supplied by local power grids. The two counties of Qingchuan and Beichuan receive power supply from a combination of SGCC and local power grids.

The earthquake cut off power supply for five traction substations along the Sichuan section of the Baoji-Chengdu electric railway.

The Sha'anxi power grid saw its maximum load fall to 73% of its normal load (translating into a loss of 1.89 GW). The tremor caused three substations of 110-kilovolt and one substation of 35-kilovolt to suspend operations. One transmission line of 330-kilovolt and two lines of 220-kilovolt were out of service. 106 lines ranging from 10 kilovolt to 110 kilovolt stopped working. Seven power plants suffered damage of varying degrees. Several generating units ceased to be operational.

The Gansu power grid saw its maximum load decline to 95% of its normal load (meaning a loss of 340 MW). The quake put one substation of 330-kilovolt and one substation of 220-kilovolt out of service. Two transmission lines of 220-kilovolt suspended operations. 194 lines ranging from 10 kilovolt to 110 kilovolt stopped working. Three hydro-power stations ceased to be operational. Nine counties in Gansu 's Longnan Region suffered a blackout.

The catastrophe has weighed heavily on the minds of the leaders of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. After the disaster struck, CPC General Secretary Hu Jintao promptly issued key instructions. Premier Wen Jiabao immediately started for the quake-hit areas to direct the rescue and relief efforts on the spot. Power-sector organizations swiftly started to act on a string of urgent instructions on disaster relief from the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. SERC promptly issued An Emergency Circular on Properly Responding to the Earthquake and Ensuring Power Supply, which called for its relevant local branches and electricity companies concerned to move immediately into the Level I Emergency Response mode. The local branches and companies were instructed to initiate their contingency plans with staff on duty around the clock. In a bid to provide better leadership and ensure power supply for rescue efforts, SERC immediately sent two teams headed by two SERC vice chairmen. The two teams respectively hurried to the affected parts of Sichuan , Gansu and Sha'anxi Provinces. They set up command and control centers as well as working teams at the forefront of relief efforts. They learned firsthand the damage to power facilities caused by the tremor and the safety profile of the dams of hydropower stations. They have communicated and coordinated with the local governments. The working teams have urged the electric power enterprises to properly respond to the quake and ensure electricity supply and safe production. And they have also given the guidance on what steps to take. Meanwhile, SGCC and various power generating companies have responded swiftly by initiating immediately their contingency plans. They have sent their own working teams to the disaster-affected areas so as to learn more about the extent of the damage and gave guidance to those who have been at the forefront of electricity production on how best to combat the quake and ensure electricity supply.

Under the robust leadership of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, electricity enterprises employees, against all odds, made an all-out emergency repair effort. By May 17 (within 100 hours after the tremor), among the hardest-hit four provinces and municipality, the maximum load on Sichuan power grid reached 77% of its maximum load prior to the tremor. Among the facilities that were restored were 7 substations of 220 kilovolt, 54 substations of 110 kilovolt, 72 substations of 35 kilovolt, 20 lines of 220 kilovolt, 797 lines ranging from 10 kilovolt to 110 kilovolt. Power supply has been by and large recovered for SGCC jurisdiction if available. Power supply has been completely restored in the City Proper of Mianyang, Deyang and Guangyuan Cities , as well as in 11 counties under Mianyang, Deyang and Aba Prefecture . Power supply has been partially restored in 13 districts and counties under Chengdu , Mianyang, Guangyuan and Aba Prefecture . The damaged electric power facilities in Chongqing , Gansu and Sha'anxi power grids have by and large recovered with their main grid operating in a normal mode. The loads in the three provinces and municipality have come close to or hit their pre-disaster levels. Power supply has been totally restored in the nine counties in Gansu 's Longnan Region. Power supply has been fully restored for the traction substations at the Sichuan section of the Baoji-Chengdu electric railway.

By May 18, the main grid of Sichuan power grid had been operating in a normal mode. Power supply for the four counties of Mianzhu, Beichuan, Pengzhou, and Qingchuan as well as 11 counties under Aba Prefecture has yet to be restored or has been partially restored. Power supply for other areas has been restored.

Since the catastrophe struck, power-sector organizations have firmly acted on the instructions by the CPC Central Committee and the State Council. In line with the direction of the Command and Control Center for Earthquake Disaster Rescue and Relief Operation, they have put their utmost effort into ensuring power supply for the paramount task of saving lives in the quake-hit areas. On May 13, in response to Sichuan Deyang Dongfang Steam Turbine Works' urgent need for emergency power supply, SERC's working team in Sichuan immediately convened an on-site meeting with SGCC and worked out a solution. Generator vehicles and generators were urgently brought into Deyang right after to provide emergency power supply for Dongfang Steam Turbine Works in the shortest possible time.

The CPC Central Committee and the State Council have paid enormous attention to the damage of varying degrees inflicted on the dams of reservoirs by the tremor. SERC's Large Dam Safety Supervision Center (LDSSC) and China Hydropower Engineering Consulting Group Co. (CHECC) promptly moved to employ all tools to learn about the operating status of the hydropower dams. The owners of the dams beefed up patrol and monitoring of the dams, initiated their contingency plans with staff on duty around the clock. They have reported their findings in a timely fashion. Meanwhile, experts have been swiftly brought in for an integrated study and judge of the safety profile of the hydropower dams owned by the power systems along the upstream of the Minjiang River Basin and the Jialing River Basin , which have been hit hard. With respect to the hydropower dams in the quake-affected areas, the operators of the dams and dam safety specialists have been requested to closely monitor the operating status of dams around the clock so that they can identify any danger that may emerge. The information will be essential to an emergency response.

Throughout the response to the disaster, power-sector organizations have enthusiastically answered the call of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council by going all out to aid the affected areas in multiple ways in a spirit of community solidarity. By six o' clock in the morning on May 18, SGCC had dispatched over 2000 people in emergency power grid repair crews in a bid to restore power supply under its jurisdiction. SGCC and China Southern Power Grid Corporation (CSG) have respectively dispatched 917 (involving 33522 kW) and 210 (involving 1449 kW) units of such emergency power supply equipment as emergency generator vehicles and diesel generators, and etc. The facilities have made it or are on the way to the quake-hit areas. All the equipment will be used to ensure power supply for disaster relief. SERC and power-sector organizations have encouraged their staff to make donations in cash and kind so as to aid the rescue efforts in and reconstruction of the affected regions. Ten medical teams consisting 170 members and twenty-five medical vehicles sent by SGCC have arrived in the quake-hit areas, where their medical relief efforts have gone into full swing. Meanwhile, 3800 tents provided by CSG have delivered to the above mentioned areas.

At present, an uphill battle lies ahead for the relief efforts in response to the Sichuan earthquake. For the next step, we will continue to play a coordinating role and guide electric power enterprises to hammer out plans for electricity emergency repair and temporary power supply solutions. We will coordinate the preparations for emergency repairs in terms of staff and materials, which will be promptly brought into the hard-hit areas to assist local electric power enterprises in emergency repair for and restoring power supply. Meanwhile, under the integrated coordination and guidance of the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters, we will continue to beef up the monitoring of the safety profile of the dams of hydropower stations. The electric power enterprises concerned have been instructed to boost patrol efforts so as to detect dangers early on. They shall take effective measure to ensure dam security and prevent quake-induced disasters from occurring.