Ultra-high-voltage electricity transmission in China

Ultra-high-voltage electricity transmission (UHV electricity transmission) has been used in China since 2009 to transmit both alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC) electricity over long distances separating China's energy resources and consumers. Expansion of both AC and DC capacity continues in order to match generation to consumption demands while minimizing transmission losses. Decarbonization improvements will result from the replacement of lower efficiency generation, located near the coast, by more modern high-efficiency generation with less pollution near the energy resources.

Background
Since 2004, electricity consumption in China has been growing at an unprecedented rate due to the rapid growth of industrial sectors. Serious supply shortage during 2005 had impacted the operation of many Chinese companies. Since then, China has very aggressively invested in electricity supply in order to fulfil the demand from industries and hence secure economic growth. Installed generation capacity has run from 443 GW at end of 2004 to 793 GW at the end of 2008. The increment in these four years is equivalent to approximately one-third of the total capacity of the United States, or 1.4 times the total capacity of Japan. During the same period of time, annual energy consumption has also risen from 2,197 TWh to 3,426 TWh. China's electricity consumption is expected to reach 6,800–6,900 TWh by 2018 from 4,690 TWh in 2011, with installed capacity reaching 1,463 GW from 1,056 GW in 2011, of which 342 GW is hydropower, 928 GW coal-fired, 100 GW wind, 43 GW nuclear, and 40 GW natural gas. China is the country with the largest consumption of electricity as of 2011.

China's Twelfth Five-Year Plan (covering the period 2011 to 2015) provided for the development of an ultra-high-voltage (UHV) transmission corridor to increase the integration of renewable energy from the point of generation to its point of consumption.

Transmission and distribution
On the transmission and distribution side, the country has focused on expanding capacity and reducing losses by:
 * 1) deploying long-distance ultra-high-voltage direct current  (UHVDC) and ultra-high-voltage alternating current (UHVAC) transmission
 * 2) installing high-efficiency amorphous metal transformers

UHV transmission worldwide
UHV transmission and a number of UHVAC circuits have already been constructed in different parts of the world. For example, 2,362 km of 1,150 kV circuits were built in the former USSR, and 427 km of 1,000 kV AC circuits have been developed in Japan (Kita-Iwaki powerline). Experimental lines of various scales are also found in many countries. However, most of these lines are currently operating at lower voltage due to insufficient power demand or other reasons. There are fewer examples of UHVDC. Although there are plenty of ±500 kV (or below) circuits around the world, the only operative circuits above this threshold are the Hydro-Québec's electricity transmission system at 735 kV AC (since 1965, 11 422 km long in 2018) and Itaipu ±600 kV project in Brazil. In Russia, construction work on a 2400 km long bipolar ±750 kV DC line, the HVDC Ekibastuz–Centre started in 1978 but it was never finished. In USA at the beginning of the 1970s a 1333 kV powerline was planned from Celilo Converter Station to Hoover Dam. For this purpose a short experimental powerline near Celilo Converter Station was built, but the line to Hoover Dam was never built.

In 2015, State Grid Corporation of China proposed the Global Energy Interconnection, a long-term proposal to develop globally integrated smart grids and ultra high voltage transmission networks to connect over 80 countries. The idea is supported by President Xi Jinping and China in attempting to develop support in various internal forums, including UN bodies.

Reasons for UHV transmission in China
China's focus on UHV transmission is based on the fact that energy resources are far away from the load centers. The majority of the hydropower resources are in the west, and coal is in the northwest, but huge loadings are in the east and south. To reduce transmission losses to a manageable level, UHV transmission is a logical choice. As the State Grid Corporation of China announced at the 2009 International Conference on UHV Power Transmission in Beijing, China will invest RMB 600 billion (approximately US$88 billion) into UHV development between now and 2020.

Implementation of the UHV grid enables the construction of newer, cleaner, more efficient power generation plants far from population centers. Older power plants along the coast will be retired. This will lower the total current amount of pollution, as well as the pollution felt by citizens within urban dwellings. The use of large central power plants providing electric heating are also less polluting than individual boilers used for winter heating in many northern households. The UHV grid will aid China's plan of electrification and decarbonization, and enable integration of renewable energy by removing the transmission bottleneck that is currently limiting expansions in wind and solar generation capacity whilst further developing the market for long-range electric vehicles in China.

UHV circuits completed or under construction
As of 2023, the operational UHV circuits are:

The under-construction/In preparation UHV lines are: