2009-12-07 - An award-winning ABB anti-desertification project in Inner Mongolia is helping to curb the annual sandstorms that choke Beijing and northern China each spring and disrupt supplies of vital electric power to millions of people.
By
ABB Communications
The three-year project is entering its third and final phase of creating an ecological sand barrier or green corridor on both sides of vital high-voltage power lines that run through the Maowusu Desert in Inner Mongolia.
Desertification and soil erosion are serious issues in China. Each spring huge tracts of northern China – including the capital, Beijing – are subjected to periodic sandstorms that fill the air with clouds of sand and at times cause power lines in Inner Mongolia to fail.
Most of these sandstorms originate in the deserts of Inner Mongolia. Crucially, the same region also generates about one-third of Beijing’s electric power. Desertification is, therefore, a huge threat, not only to the environment and the livelihoods of the people affected, but to the infrastructure that feeds the region with electric power.
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Part of the newly planted corridor of trees and grass in Inner Mongolia. The fast-growing plants thrive in desert environments and will quickly bind the sand and prevent it from forming dunes that damage the pylons and overhead power lines.
Each spring sandstorms wreak havoc across northern China, enveloping cities like Beijing in sand, disrupting power supplies and causing airports and highways to close. The sandstorms are largely the result of desertification and soil erosion
Working in partnership with the Inner Mongolia Power Company, ABB devised a scheme to halt the advance of the Maowusu Desert and protect some of the region’s most exposed and vulnerable high-voltage power lines from the destructive effects of desertification.
When completed in 2010, green corridors of newly planted trees and grass - several kilometers in length and 200 meters wide - will anchor the sand and prevent it from forming dunes that can dislodge transmission pylons and damage overhead power lines.
Prior to the creation of the corridors, maintenance teams from the Inner Mongolia Power Company had to constantly clear the ever-drifting sand to prevent power interruptions and maintain the compulsory 11-meter safety distance between the lines and earth. This was a costly and resource-consuming exercise.
According to the World Bank, up to one-quarter of the total land area of China is in the process of active desertification
Even though the project is still ongoing, it has already won its first major award. China’s leading business newspaper, China Enterprise News, and a number of research institutes selected it for their 2008 award for excellence in corporate social responsibility.
The award reflects not only the commitment of ABB and Inner Mongolia Power Company on a corporate level, but the response and enthusiasm of the companies’ employees. When the scheme was launched in 2007, thousands of ABB China employees donated their time and money to ensure the success of the project.
ABB’s corporate social responsibility commitments in China cover a broad range of activities, including education support, environmental protection, disaster relief and other charitable and public welfare undertakings.