The People’s Liberation Army has extended the power supply to border outposts in remote areas with harsh conditions, including those at high elevations, according to an official Chinese military newspaper.
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PLA Daily reported earlier this month that border outposts in Xaidulla in Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region and Ngari prefecture in Tibet autonomous region – strategic areas along the contested China-India border – were completely covered by the national power grid.
“The electricity and renewable energy used by the vast majority of border posts provide strong support for troops to stay warm and safe through the winter. This marks a structural change in the energy security of all high-elevation border defence outposts in the military,” it said.
“This initiative has alleviated long-standing problems for high-elevation border troops, including access to drinking water, heating, bathing and oxygen.”
Improving the power supply to border troops has been a key part of China’s military-civilian fusion strategy. As part of that push, the military and the National Energy Administration launched a project in late 2016 to build power grids for the military and connect them to the national energy service network.
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As of January of last year, more than 700 border posts had been covered by the national grid, PLA Daily said at the time.