Stretching to cross the sea
The project to supply power from the national grid to Lai Son island commune was commence at the beginning of September 2015. To speed up the construction, EVNSPC and the contractor had to construct tower foundations at two directions over the sea. Upon completion of these foundations, the contractors are going to carry out the tower erection and overhead line stretching, ensuring power supply from the national grid to residents on the island on the occasion of 30th April 2016.
Joint venture of contractors of Kien Giang Mechanical JSC., and Cienco1 driving piles for tower foundations of 110 kV transmission line crossing the sea - Photo: Dinh Hoang.
Civil works package for tower foundations from the mainland towards Lai Son island (consisting of 17 towers) shall be performed by the joint venture of Kien Giang Mechanical JSC., and Cienco 1.
Mr. Nguyen Trong Duc – site manager said they were currently conducting trial piling at each foundation position; after the functional authorities finished their verification, the contractor would drive piles in large scale; each foundation will have an area of 100 m2 with from 20 to 35 piles, depending on the actual geological conditions of each tower location.
Mr. Duc also said that, unexpected weather and rough sea have caused troubles for construction works, the progress was slowed down behind the schedule. “Therefore, we have to increase the number of personnel, assign additional working shifts to speed up the progress whenever weather conditions are favorable. In addition, all necessary machines and equipment are available, there are always around 60 to 80 engineers and workers at the construction site to simultaneously perform many different items of works"- said Mr. Duc.
At the other side from the Lai Son island, Lung Lo Construction Corporation – the contractor who shall build 31 tower foundations from Lai Son towards mainland is now in expeditious progress. The activities of fabricating formwork of foundation, wall, tower; fabricating steel working platform for trial piling, positioning frame; establishing monitoring system; producing trial piles; dredging channels, positioning the foundation centerline etc. are being deployed.
Representatives of the contractor said the number of piles for trial test, including 62 piles for all 31 towers was fully gathered and steel working platforms for the trial piling at each tower position were being erected.
"Longing for power from national grid day by day"
Lai Son station has 3 generators with a total capacity of 1.3 MW, however, only two machines are in use, the other is for spare purpose. Capacity of these 2 machines only ensure lighting at minimum level for people’s living, so at peak hours, if a few households turns on air conditioners, voltage drop will happen. Electricity demand for production on the island is huge and the current generators could not meet that demand.
Many people on the island began to open and develop their own businesses - Photo: Dai Duong.
For years, people on the island have used electricity from diesel generators. Previously electricity price ranged from 3,000-4,000 VND/kWh. Since July 2014, the Government has applied a policy to reduce power tariff on island to be equivalent to the price applied in the mainland, the burden of electricity bills of people has been eased. However, for the time being, the generators work only 15 hours a day, there are obstacles for the use of electric appliances in the households and the lifespan of electric appliances also fall sharply.
With the desire for the national power grid connected to the island, several households expected to boost their production and business activities. Ms. Truong Thi Mau, Hamlet of House B said about half a month ago, her family bought a freezer for ice cream business. She said: "The kids here love ice cream and I have wanted to sell a long time ago but still afraid of the unstable electricity supply. Now learning that the national power grid will come soon, I bought this freezer... ". On the island, the services that required electricity such as building and repairing fishing boats, computer services, electronic games, travel logistics services, etc., also flourish along with the existence of the national power grid.
And the landlord of Thanh Tu hostel (House A hamlet) calculated: "Once the national grid reaches the island, more tourists will come to the island, so my family has invested over VND 2 billion to build a hostel".
On the docks, while waiting for ships back to the mainland, we saw on every ship from the mainland to the island, there were at least two or three people bringing electric appliances, including air conditioner, a product that previously, people on the island rarely knew about. Then in the near future, when the national grid comes to the island, certainly the daily life, production and business of the people here will have many changes.
Mr. Pham Ngoc Le - EVNSPC deputy general director shared with us that the construction of 110 kV line to bring electricity to the Lai Son island with a total investment of over VND 484.5 billion, upon completion, would supply power to 2,000 households on this island.
In 2018, EVNSPC shall continue the second phase of the project, which includes construction of a transmission line to bring electricity from the Lai Son island to An Son island and Nam Du archipelago.
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Lai Son island, Kien Hai district, Kien Giang province:
* Situated in Ha Tien Bay of Southern West area of the country.
* Situated 60km away from Rach Gia city to the Southwest
* Natural area of 1,095 hectares with about 2,000 households (population of 8,120 people).
* People on the island live mainly on mining, fishing, farming, breeding livestock and providing services.
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