State Grid ready for ultra-high-voltage tech exports

A State Grid employee works on an ultra-high-voltage transmission construction in Huainan, Anhui province. [Photo for China Daily by Song Weixing]

Officials have high hopes of landing ultra high voltage electricity transmission projects in India

China's top electricity supplier, State Grid Corp, is set to export its ultra-high-voltage technology to India soon, as it pushes to expand its large-scale network both at home and abroad, a senior official at the utility company said.

"We have been having talks in India about testing some ultra-high-voltage projects. Those talks are at an early stage, but there is a great chance that some Chinese technology will be used," said Li Peng, head of the high-voltage division at China Electric Power Research Institute, a unit of the State-owned utility company.

The talks concern ultra-high-voltage or UHV technology, which provides large-scale power delivery over long distances and can reduce energy loss during transmission, he said.

"China is a country with rich experience in building large-scale power transmission infrastructure, so it has become the first choice for other countries in need," he told China Daily.

Li made his remarks at a forum in Tianjin, where a 1,000-kilovolt transmission project is expected to be completed by October, marking the latest effort by State Grid to ease power shortages in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.

After its completion, Tianjin will be able to receive as much as 50 billion kilowatt-hours of renewable energy, including solar and wind power, from Inner Mongolia autonomous region, said Wang Bin, manager of the Tianjin transmission project. He said that would slash coal consumption by 9 million metric tons.

Beijing-based State Grid is building an ultra-high-voltage cross-country transmission network in the world's biggest energy-consuming market, that will link major hydropower plants and coal-fired plants in the far southwest and northwest with big energy-consuming regions in the east.

The company plans to use its domestic experience to win more exports of its technology and equipment. Last year it inked framework deals with Russia and Kazakhstan for cross-country electricity transmission lines.

State Grid also scored with its bid to build and operate two transmission lines connecting the Belo Monte Amazon dam in northern Brazil to the southeast of the country, the first ultra-high-voltage transmission project it won overseas.