OREANDA-NEWS. May 30, 2014. The 1000kV Huainan - Nanjing - Shanghai UHV AC project was approved by NDRC. It is one of the twelve transmission channels that China aims to construct to implement the Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control, including four AC and four DC UHV projects conducted by SGCC.

At present, China is leading UHV development in the world. Two AC and three DC transmission lines constructed and operated by SGCC are playing a more and more important role in delivering electricity from the West to East and from the North to South, complementing thermal power with hydropower, optimizing energy allocation in a wide range, transforming the energy advantage in the West and North into economic advantage, and relieving the power pressure and environmental capacity shortage in East and Central China.

Premier Li Keqiang made it clear in the first conference of the new session of National Energy Commission to accelerate the adjustment of energy structure, implement cross-regional transmission projects and develop long-distance and high-capacity transmission technology. He required that a number of transmission channels from the East to West using UHV and other conventional technologies should be planned and constructed to optimize the allocation of resource, reduce loss and improve efficiency. This is a new demand on cross-regional optimal resource allocation and UHV transmission since the former one of implementing cross-regional transmission projects brought up in State Council executive meeting on February 12. The inspiring presentation fully demonstrated the affirmation and support from the CPC Central Committee and State Council to develop UHV, which drove it into a fast lane.

The North, East and Central China now are suffering the increasingly serious haze weather, which in essence is a long-term accumulation and concentrated exposure of the contradiction between the innate deficiencies and imbalanced development of resource. The reverse distribution of resource and productivity determines that China has to implement the large-scale optimal allocation of resource. SGCC Chairman Liu Zhenya repeatedly pointed out that the fundamental way to solve the haze problem was to change energy development pattern and adjust the structure. The focus was to reduce the proportion of coal consumption, vigorously develop clean energy and optimize the power structure and layout. The key was to accelerate the development of UHV power grid, promote 1U4L strategy and electricity substitution strategy and transform China's energy pattern from a fossil-based one with clean energy as supplement to a clean-energy-based one with fossil energy as supplement.

It has become a consensus to tap on the haze problem by UHV transmission. The industry generally believes that it does have a great significance for solving air pollution to develop UHV, realize long-distance power transmission and control the number of coal-fired units in the East and Central China to improve energy efficiency and adjust energy structure. At the NPC and CPPCC this year, "UHV" and "electricity replacement" became hot topics. Energy output and input provinces were eager to speed up the construction of UHV power grids. Statistics showed that from 2011 to 2014, NPC deputies and CPPCC members have submitted 183 proposals in the two conferences. And another study showed that the 12 transmission channels to be constructed would reduce 200 million tons of coal per year in East and Central China and lower the PM2.5 concentration by 4% to 5 %.

The government has released strict policies to control air pollution in recent years. Last September, the State Council promulgated the Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control, which required speeding up the adjustment of energy structure, increasing the supply of clean energy, controlling the total coal consumption and comprehensively replacing the traditional way of energy consumption with low efficiency and heavy pollution. Subsequently, the National Energy Administration proposed the construction of 12 key transmission channels and made detail deployments on the National Energy Work Conference at the beginning of this year.

Recently, it is reported that a grid investment program developed by the Electric Power Planning & Engineering Institute has passed the assessment of China International Engineering Consulting Corporation. The program is about the 12 transmission channels that run through China's eastern and western regions, which will deliver the electricity from Inner Mongolia, Shanxi, Shaanxi and Yunnan to Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze Delta and Pearl River Delta, to solve these areas'power shortage and effectively alleviate the worsening haze problem.

Since the end of 2004 when the company made a clear strategic vision to construct UHV power grid, SGCC has carried out in-depth and meticulous work around the UHV research, testing, demonstration, planning, design, construction and operation under the support and guidance of our government. Through unremitting efforts, China has fully mastered the core technology of UHV. In 2013, "UHV AC transmission key technology, equipment and engineering application" won the National Award for S&T Progress (Special Prize). In 2014, SGCC won the bid of Brazil's Belo Monte Hydropower UHV transmission project, marking that China's UHV stepped onto the international stage.

At present, China's first UHV AC Pilot Project and DC Transmission Demonstration Project have safely run over five and three years separately. The built two AC and three DC UHV projects have delivered more than 160TWh of electricity to East and Central China, which strongly supported their economic and social development. With constant favorable policies to support China's UHV development, experts generally believe that it will play a more active and important role in constructing a beautiful China and boosting the economic growth.