The 500kV line 3, Quang Trach - Pho Noi, with a total length of nearly 520km, including two double circuits, connected by 1,177 pole foundation locations, passing through 211 communes/wards, of 43 districts/towns in 9 provinces from the North Central region and beyond, has been completed, meeting the conditions for energizing the entire line.

The 500kV line circuit 3 has been completed and is eligible to be energized across the entire line, creating a new "miracle" for Vietnam's electricity industry - Photo: VGP/Toan Thang

The electricity industry has set a new "miracle" on the 500kV circuit 3 transmission line project by completing a difficult project at lightning speed, in a record short period of time, just over 7 months since the groundbreaking (January 18, 2024), creating a beautiful and practical project to celebrate the 79th anniversary of the National Day of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The project is deployed earliest in Power Plan VIII

The first thing to mention about the 500 kV line 3 Quang Trach - Pho Noi project is that it is the earliest project to be implemented in the Power Plan VIII. Right after the Prime Minister signed and issued Decision 500/QD-TTg (dated May 15, 2023) approving the National Power Development Plan for the period 2021-2030, with a vision to 2050 (Power Plan VIII).

In this Plan, the 500 kV line project, circuit 3, Quang Trach - Pho Noi (including a cluster of 500 kV line projects in the Quang Trach - Quynh Luu - Thanh Hoa - Nam Dinh 1 - Pho Noi section) is expected to be put into operation in the period 2025 - 2026.

In a very short time, from June to October 2023 (about 4 months), Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN), National Power Transmission Corporation (EVNNPT) have focused on drastic implementation, together with the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and 9 localities with the transmission line passing through, to complete investment preparation procedures for all 4 component projects of the 500 kV transmission line project, circuit 3, Quang Trach - Pho Noi.

At the end of October 2023, the Nam Dinh 1 - Pho Noi 500kV transmission line project was started. This is the project that was started the earliest and also completed the earliest among the 4 component projects of the transmission line (successfully energized on June 30, 2024).

The remaining component projects of the transmission line, along with the Thanh Hoa 500kV transformer station (newly invested) and the expansion of the two existing substations (the Pho Noi 500kV substation and the Quang Trach 500kV substation) were simultaneously started on January 18, 2024.

One of the highest pole positions of 145 m of the 500kV line 3, Quang Trach - Pho Noi - Photo: VGP/ Toan Thang

The most decisive direction and action: "Only discuss action, no retreat"

The participation of the entire political system, with the strong direction of the head of the Government: "Only discuss action, no retreat" is a particularly significant highlight for the 500kV line project, circuit 3, Quang Trach - Pho Noi.

Identifying this as a key, urgent project, playing a particularly important role in national energy security, especially for the Northern region, helping to increase the power transmission capacity for the North - Central region from about 2,200MW to about 5,000MW, contributing significantly to ensuring power supply for the North. Therefore, all for the 500kV line 3 with the motto "only discuss, not discuss back", the top directs strongly, the bottom actively follows.

From the start of construction to the completion of the project in just 7 months, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chaired 10 meetings and visited the construction site to inspect, urge, and encourage workers, and shared with local people who gave up land for the project.

The Prime Minister emphasized: "This is a national key project, requiring the participation of relevant ministries, branches, state management agencies, especially provinces and localities where the power line passes through. This is a common responsibility of the entire political system and we must do it to contribute to providing adequate electricity for production, consumption and business."

Along with the programs and meetings of the Government and the Government Standing Committee on the socio-economic situation, the direct working sessions of the Deputy Prime Ministers on checking the construction progress and supply of materials and equipment of the project, from March to June 2024, the State Steering Committee for key national energy projects and works (Steering Committee) chaired by the Deputy Head of the Steering Committee, the Minister of Industry and Trade, held regular online meetings every 2 weeks with leaders of relevant ministries, branches and 9 localities through which the hotline passes to update progress and remove obstacles and difficulties.

Thanks to that, the site clearance work only took more than 3 months, the fastest compared to any 220-500kV power transmission project implemented so far, which is a condition for the units to quickly construct the project.

On-site option 4 (including: on-site construction equipment, on-site labor, on-site construction materials and on-site compensation) has also been effectively implemented in this project.

For example, in Nam Dinh province, Ms. Ha Lan Anh, Vice Chairman of Nam Dinh Provincial People's Committee, said that construction units in Nam Dinh province also rent machinery, equipment, materials, and supplies locally and use about 85% of local labor. The province has also directed districts to closely coordinate with the National Power Transmission Corporation, directed commune authorities to support coordination with construction units and create maximum favorable conditions for project implementation in the area to ensure on-schedule progress.

And we cannot fail to mention the support and participation of the majority of local people where the project passes through.

Largest construction volume, application of latest technology in 500kV circuit 3 transmission line projects

The 500kV line 3 circuit Quang Trach - Pho Noi project is the project with the largest construction volume and applies many of the latest technologies in 500kV line 3 circuit projects.

Although the total length of the line is 519km, it is designed with two double circuits, so the total length of the line is up to 1,038km. The project has 1,177 pole foundation locations, of which 240 locations are designed with pile foundations, 123 locations are DO poles (pipe poles) constructed for the first time at this project. The average height of the pole is over 70m, of which many pole locations are up to 145 meters high.

The project requires a large amount of equipment, the steel columns alone amount to nearly 139,000 tons, of which about 83% are domestically produced and the remaining 17% are imported.

At this project, the construction of the foundation positions was difficult (large volume of leveling, many positions encountered very hard bluestone...) however, in order to be able to construct high columns, with a large amount of equipment, the contractor had to mobilize large cranes, up to more than 400 tons.

Mr. Nguyen Sy Thang, Director of Ha Tinh Power Transmission, a unit that participates in consulting, supervising and directing the construction of many locations in the Quang Trach - Quynh Luu section, said that using cranes is one of the conveniences, there are cranes up to 450 tons so it works very quickly. The second thing is to make the foundation mainly using commercial concrete, the grounding part can be drilled and use GEM powder, after drilling, use GEM powder to reduce the resistivity of the grounding, to remove lightning well.

Spread the bait line by UAV, pull the line by a winch system and a winch linked together instead of pulling manually like in the past.

This is a project in which EVN mobilized all units in the electricity industry to participate in supporting the erection of poles and pulling wires in the project's sections - Photo: VGP/Toan Thang

Mobilize the largest force

With a large-scale project, applying many new technologies, and urgent progress, the construction process encountered extremely unfavorable and unpredictable weather. The entire route experienced intense sunshine, interspersed with many prolonged periods of rain and floods. Many construction areas were difficult due to the high mountainous terrain and strong southwest winds. To achieve the set goals, the electricity industry mobilized a large team of workers to participate in the construction to support the contractor at the construction site.

At the peak of the construction site of the entire transmission line, there were up to 15 thousand workers from both contractors and skilled workers from units in the Vietnam Electricity Group, the Military Industry and Telecommunications Group (Viettel), the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PVN), the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT)... participating in the construction/support of pole erection and wire pulling for the projects.

The 500kV line 3 Quang Trach - Pho Noi with nearly 520km of double-circuit line has been completed. Together with nearly 1,180km of two 500kV lines 3 from the Central region to the South that were previously invested in and constructed, including the 500kV line 3 Pleyku - My Phuoc - Cau Bong (energized and loaded from May 6, 2014) and the 500kV line 2 Quang Trach - Vung Ang - Pleiku 2 (energized and loaded from August 17, 2022) creating another complete 500kV line 3, connecting from the North to the South.

This is an important project related to national energy security, not only contributing to ensuring electricity supply for the North at the present time, but the construction and execution of the project in a short period of time has left many valuable lessons for workers in the Vietnamese electricity industry.

According to VGP News