The entirety of Co To island district in the northern province of Quang Ninh had their electricity reconnected early in the morning of June 29^th, after more than ten days of disruption due to damage caused by a lightning strike to a 22KV submarine power transmission line.

Electricians use devices to detect the damage. (Photo: NDO/Quang Tho)

According to the Quang Ninh Power Company, at about 4 am Friday morning, the unit completed repairing the damage to the 22kV submarine cable, restoring normal power supply to the island, a popular tourist attraction.

The power transmission line that provides electricity for Co To consists of three underground cable sections. The damage was done to the 16km cable connecting Ba Mun Island and Co To, about 600m off Ba Mun toward Co To Island. The area always suffers from rough seas with a depth of over 20m, causing difficulties for repairs.

Nguyen Song Thao, Deputy Director of Quang Ninh Power Company, said that the repair job faced problems due to heavy rains and rough seas. By 3am in the morning, the section of broken cable was pulled from the sea to a barge and had been successfully reconnected at dawn, bringing the power back to Co To.

Earlier, at 1pm on June 18^th, lightning hit the 22 kV transmission line on Ba Mun Island that supplies power to Co To district and five island communes of Van Don district, causing what is thankfully a rare incident. Due to unfavourable weather and the geographic location, only 2,400 households of the five island communes in Van Don, including Ban Sen, Quan Lan, Minh Chau, Ngoc Vung and Thang Loi, had their power back by June 19.

The power outages affected the lives of more than 4,400 households in Co To, as well as causing damage to tourist activities on the island. According to Vu Thanh Minh, Vice Chairman of Co To Tourism Association, losses due to the blackout were estimated at about VND15 billion each day.

The VND 1.1 trillion power line from the 110kV Van Don Transformer Station to Co To Island was inaugurated and put into use in 2013, with a length of 60 km, including 23 km of 22kV submarine cable. This is the first time that the line has encountered problems in its nearly five years of operation./.

VNF/NDO