China invests in ultra-high-voltage transmission

China Ultra-High-Voltage Grid expands AC/DC transmission corridors for long-distance, inter-regional power transfer, integrating coal, wind, hydropower, and nuclear sources to meet 2015-2020 capacity targets and improve energy security and reliability.

State Grid Corporation of China will invest $75.8 billion for ultra-high-voltage transmission projects with a total length of 40,000 kilometers in the next five years, according to Zhenya Liu, the general manager of State Grid Corporation of China.

By 2015, according to 2015 energy plans released by authorities, a strong nationwide grid, comprised of "three latitudinal and three longitudinal" ultra-high-voltage AC transmission projects and 11 ultra-high-voltage DC transmission projects, will be established in China.

Because of a recurring shortage of coal transportation capacity in China, it is necessary to attach equal importance to both coal transmission and power transmission, aligning with power investment priorities nationwide, said Liu Zhenya at the groundbreaking ceremony for the expansion of the first ultra-high-voltage transmission line in both China and the world.

In the next 10 years, China's ultra-high-voltage grid should grow significantly. Power consumption and the installed capacity of power equipment in China, after surpassing 800 GW earlier, is expected to reach 6.1 trillion kilowatt-hours kWh and 1,440 gigawatts GW, respectively, by the end of 2015. By the end of 2020, these values will rise to 7.8 trillion kWh and 1,760 GW.

Following the construction of large-scale coal-fired, nuclear and renewable energy-based power plants, it's expected that in power-thirsty China the inter-regional provincial power transmission will reach more than 400 GW by 2020. Therefore, accelerating the construction of the ultra-high-voltage grid is urgent, said Liu.

By 2015, the wind power and coal power generated in Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi and Hebei, with coal capacity reaching 933 GW nationally, will be transmitted to northern, central and eastern China via the three longitudinal transmission passages. The northern coal-fired power and southwest China's hydropower will be transmitted to northern China, central China and the Changjiang River Delta via the three latitudinal ultra-high-voltage transmission passages.

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