KEMA presents smart grids book to State Grid Corporation of China in the presence of Minister van der Hoeven

Maria van der Hoeven and counterpart Zhang Guobao sign Memorandum of Understanding regarding closer energy ties between the Netherlands and China

September 29th, 2009 - In the presence of the Dutch minister of Economic Affairs Maria van der Hoeven and her colleague Zhang Guobao, KEMA presented a Chinese version of the book Reflections – Smart Grids for the Future to the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC). State-owned SGCC is the world’s largest electricity transmission and distribution company. The book is a Chinese translation of the treatise of the same name that KEMA prepared for the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs in 2008. Its presentation by Thijs Aarten, a member of KEMA’s Executive Board, was part of the ceremony organized for the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding regarding closer cooperation between the Netherlands and China in the field of renewable energy.

SGCC and KEMA already know each other well. KEMA is responsible for the quality assurance of key equipment for the longest ultra-high-voltage transmission line in the world, which will run from the Xiangjiaba hydroelectric power plant in west China to Shanghai in the east. Measuring two thousand kilometers, the line will be rated at a record 6400 MW and will bring power to 31 million people. To ensure the safety of the equipment, KEMA is also training SGCC personnel.

When the contract was signed in 2008, Mr. Shu, Vice-President of SGCC, summed up the relationship between SGCC and KEMA by saying, ‘By appointing KEMA to assure the quality of the most crucial equipment, we are in fact placing the quality of the entire project in KEMA’s hands. This implies enormous trust and responsibility.’