BEIJING, Oct. 27 (Xinhua) -- Around 200 business leaders and experts at the World Smart Grid China Focus forum have agreed that China had great potential in developing a smart power grid.
The forum runs from Oct. 26 to 29.
Following are some facts about the smart grid and its development in China:
What is a smart grid?
A smart grid refers to an electricity network which allows intelligent control of the power grid and consumers' appliances based on the latest information technology to improve energy efficiency and reliability of the power grid.
Smart grid development in China:
In 2009, the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the country's largest power grid carrier, unveiled a plan to build a "strong smart grid" in three steps: through a planning and pilot phase, a comprehensive construction phase and finally, an improvement and refining phase.
According to the SGCC's plan, from 2009 to 2010, the focus would be on research and planning the smart grid and starting pilot projects; between 2011 and 2015, the SGCC would speed up construction of an ultra-high voltage power grid and an urban and rural distribution network; and from 2016 to 2020, the construction of a unified, strong power grid would be completed.
At the SGCC's fourth-quarter work conference, general manager Liu Zhengya said the company planned to invest 1.7 trillion yuan (253.73 billion U.S. dollars) in constructing the smart power grid between 2011 and 2015.
In March this year, Premier Wen Jiabao said in the government work report that China would strive to popularize high-efficiency and energy-saving technologies, actively develop new and renewable energy resources, and promote the construction of a smart power grid.
