The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is building the world’s first 1.100 kV transmission line, a project that has grown into a more ambitious goal to stitch together the electricity systems of neighboring nations into transcontinental “supergrids” capable of exchanging energy across borders and oceans.
Once the government-owned utility completes the project this year, the new 1,100 kV line will stretch from the Xinjiang region in the northwest to Anhui in the east, connecting power plants deep in the interior of the country to cities near the coast.
The transmission line will be capable of delivering the output of 12 large power plants over nearly 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers), sending 50% more electricity 600 miles further than anything that’s ever been built.
The world’s largest utility has collaborated closely with foreign transmission technology companies, including ABB and Siemens, but it has also assimilated the expertise of its partners and began developing its own technology, including high-voltage transformers as well as lines that can function at very high altitudes.
At the end of last year, China had poured at least $57 billion into the projects, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance.
Last September China’s National Energy Administration said that it will sign off on 12 new ultra-high-voltage projects by the end of 2019.
Source: MIT Technology Review