In East China's Jiangsu province, the provincial capital of Nanjing, a semi-provincial megacity with some 9.57 million residents living in 11 districts, is working to better meet the increasing power needs of this large populace.

Zeng Yonglin, 68, lives in the Fuchunli community on Fengfu Road in Qinhuai district.

"I have to take this road every day when going to the market for groceries," he said, adding that "in the past, I tried to stay away from old power equipment as much as possible during rainy days — due to safety concerns."

To relieve residents of such worries, the local power supplier has launched a drive to renovate and upgrade old power supply equipment, as part of Nanjing's bid to become one of China's leading cities, complete with a modern, reliable and safe power supply.

As the project progresses, Zeng is much happier, saying: "Now the new equipment is indeed more beautiful and I feel much safer when passing by it."

The previous equipment used to supply electricity along the road was built in the 1990s, and its power-load capacity had struggled to meet the increasing needs of local communities.

From December 2024, employees from State Grid Nanjing Power Supply Co started to renovate the old equipment on Fengfu Road, upgrading 12 distribution transformers scattered over a distance of more than 600 meters, putting overhead power lines underground and building some 70 meters of cable channels.

"The whole project is divided into six stages and is expected to be completed by end-June," said a staff member Wang Zouhong.

Farmyard Restaurant specializes in the province's Huaiyang cuisine and has operated for more than 20 years by the roadside.

Owner Huang Zhiguang said: "I was worried that electricity supply for our restaurant would be affected during the renovation. However, before we realized anything, the new power equipment had already been installed."

To ensure the normal electricity supply to surrounding residents and shops, State Grid Nanjing adopted a new mode of power generation incorporating medium and low voltages, and innovatively applying multiple long-distance cable laying and miniaturized generators in parallel for uninterrupted operation.

"This solved the problem of power generation during the renovation of old urban areas," said Wang.

"After the renovation, the average age of the main equipment on the entire line will be reduced from 18.4 years to 3.1 years, and the intelligence level of all equipment has been greatly improved," said Shi Zhiqiang, a group leader at the power supplier's service center.

"While raising the reliability of the power supply, we also left room for future electricity needs of charging piles in new shopping areas and electrification of food streets," he said.

As Nanjing's strategy of boosting industrial power and new quality productive forces is gaining momentum, the city is accelerating its economic progress, exerting higher requirements on power services.

Adhering to a philosophy of better serving the residents, State Grid Nanjing has steadily improved its power supply reliability, ranking No 1 in Jiangsu.

"However, with such a large population and such a wide area, every improvement is not an easy task and requires tremendous effort," Shi said.

He affirmed that the power supplier has continuously followed a "five dimensional system" in improving its grid structure, power equipment, emergency response, after-services and offering low voltage in each service area.

At present, State Grid Nanjing is speeding up its "implementation plan for the high-quality development of Nanjing's main urban power distribution network (2025-27)", seizing the opportunity of large-scale equipment renewal and renovation.