UHV Decade: What has it brought to China and the world?

UHV Decade: What has it brought to China  and the world?

OnJanuary 6, 2019, the 1000 kV Jindongnan-Nanyang-Jingmen UHV AC pilotdemonstration project was operated for ten years. This is the world's first UHVAC project for commercial operation. The commissioning of the project marksthat the voltage level of China's power grid has jumped to UHV 1000 kV.

Fromexperimental demonstration to vertical and horizontal 

InAugust 2006, the UHV AC pilot demonstration project was started. Going back,the China Economic Times reported on February 9, 2004: “In 2003, 22provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the CentralGovernment) saw power cuts, and local economic development encountered a'bottleneck'; in 2004, the national supply and demand situation remained tense,and the overall shortfall was roughly the same as in 2003.” This year, theState Grid Corporation launched a comprehensive UHV development strategy.

Thecentral and eastern regions are China's economically developed regions, andthus are the power load centers. In order to meet the power supply, the centraland eastern regions have built a large number of thermal power plants, and theannual railway transports more than 2 billion tons of coal. 

On July8, 2010, the ±800 kV Xiangjiaba-Shanghai UHV DC transmission demonstrationproject was officially put into operation. That year, the World Expo was heldin Shanghai. On that hot summer day, tourists from all over the world usedclean electricity from 2000 kilometers away.

In 2012and 2014, ±800 kV Jinping-Sunan and Xiluodu-Zhejiang UHV DC projects were putinto operation. The water source in Sichuan is continuously sent to the EastChina region to meet the needs of local power load growth.

Thereis a new way to answer the question of the enrichment of energy resources inthe western and northern parts of China and the lack of energy in the centraland eastern parts of the load center.

Today,we look down on the map, the national grid that has been put into operation,the “eight crosses and ten straight” UHV, the starting point is mostly locatedin the area with abundant energy resources, and the drop point is in theeastern and central regions--these regions have concentrated more than 70% ofChina's electricity consumption. UHV is thousands miles across, making it possible to optimizethe allocation of resources across the country.

NationalGrid has become the largest grid in the world, with the highest voltage leveland the strongest resource allocation capability. It is also the onlylarge-scale power grid in the world that has not experienced large-scaleblackouts in the past 20 years.

Newprojects are under construction and more results are being shared. At the endof 2018, the State Grid Corporation announced the ten major measures forcomprehensively deepening reforms. The first was to introduce social capital inthe field of UHV DC engineering. UHV construction will incorporate more newelements and be more closely related to society.

Fromvoltage level to driving energy transformation 

In2012, China's grid-connected wind power installed capacity exceeded 50 millionkilowatts, surpassing the United States to become the world's first wind powerinstalled country. In the winter of 2012, about 600 million people in China's1/4 of the country's land area were affected by smog. These two things seem tobe independent, but in fact they are related to each other. 

In theautumn of 2012, the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China washeld in Beijing. The report of the 18th National Congress of the CommunistParty of China pointed out that vigorously promote the construction of ecologicalcivilization and promote the revolution of energy production and consumption.

InSeptember 2013, the State Council issued the “Action Plan for Air PollutionPrevention and Control” and proposed to accelerate the adjustment of the energystructure. Eight months later, the state decided to speed up the constructionof 12 key transmission channels for the air pollution prevention action planincluding the “four crosses and four straight” UHV projects. The 2014 CentralEconomic Work Conference requested that the transfer mode structure be placedin a more important position.

TheFifth Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee reviewed and approvedthe "Proposal of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China onFormulating the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and SocialDevelopment." The development concept of “innovation, coordination, green,openness and sharing” was put forward, which further demonstrates thedetermination of China's clean development. A few months later, at the NationalConference in 2016, “UHV Transmission” was included in the government workreport as a major project of the “13th Five-Year Plan”.

Alongthis direction, the UHV project including the “four crosses and four straight”projects for the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution has beenaccelerated. At the end of 2017, the “Four Interchanges and Four Straight” UHVswere all put into operation. The North China Power Grid initially formed an UHVAC grid. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Lu has a new power-receiving capacity of 32million kilowatts, and the Yangtze River Delta has a new power-receivingcapacity of 35 million kilowatts. Each year, it can reduce 960,000 tons ofsulfur dioxide, 530,000 tons of nitrogen oxides and 110,000 tons of soot.

UHV hasbeen linked to the development and utilization of clean energy in the west andnorth, and has been linked to the transformation of energy consumption in theeastern and central regions, which has become an important way for greendevelopment.

At theend of 2017, China's hydropower, wind power and solar power generationinstalled capacity reached 340 million, 160 million and 130 million kilowattsrespectively, both of which are the largest in the world. The consumption ofclean energy involves power, power grid, users, policies, technology and manyother aspects. As a “high-speed road network” for power transmission, UHV playsan important role in the consumption of clean energy.

Innorthern China, the energy transformation and upgrading of Inner Mongolia wasas early as when it was identified as a tens of millions of wind power bases in2009. In the "four crosses and four straights" UHV project, 1000 kVMengxi-Tianjin South, Ximeng-Shandong exchange project, ±800 kV Ximeng-Shengli,Shanghai Temple-Shandong DC project, will enrich the energy resources of MengxiThe converted electricity is continuously sent to the North China Load Center.

The UHVdelivers electricity, leaving the benefits to the delivery end, and bringingmore comprehensive benefits and cleaner energy consumption to the receivingend.

Fromclimbing the peak technology to all-round going out 

In2012, “Key Technology, Complete Equipment and Engineering Applications for UHVAC Transmission” won the National Science and Technology Progress Award. In 2011,the 1000 kV Jindongnan-Nanyang-Jingmen UHV AC pilot demonstration project wonthe second China Industrial Award.

OnJanuary 8, 2018, the "UHV ± 800 kV DC transmission project" won thespecial prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award. OnDecember 9, the Xiangjiaba-Shanghai ±800 kV UHV DC transmission demonstrationproject won the fifth China Industrial Award.

InOctober 2014, an image film showing “Created in China” appeared in Times Squarein New York, USA, and the UHV grid appeared in the short film. At this time,Brazil, the first phase of the Beautiful Mountain ± 800 kV UHV DC transmissionhas started construction. This is the first project of UHV “going out” inChina, which will transport the clean energy of the Beautiful Mountain HydropowerStation to the economically developed areas of southeastern Brazil to balancethe supply and demand of local electricity. In the “Great Revolution – ALarge-Scale Exhibition to Celebrate the 40th Anniversary of Reform andOpening-up”, the ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project Brazi's Beautiful Mountainattracted the attention of visitors.

Relyingon the UHV project, domestic electrical equipment manufacturing enterpriseshave the basis and production capacity of localization. Brazil's BeautifulMountain Hydropower UHV DC transmission project uses DC transmission equipmentproduced by TBEA, Xidian Group and other upstream and downstream enterprises. Thecompetitiveness of China's electrician and electrical enterprises in theinternational market continues to increase.

Chinahas taken the lead in establishing the UHV transmission technology standardsystem consisting of 168 national standards and industry standards. Successfullypromoted the establishment of the UHV DC and AC Transmission TechnicalCommittee by the International Electrotechnical Commission, the Secretariats arelocated in China. China’s voice in the field of international electricalstandards has increased significantly.

Tenyears of hard work, sailed again. Standing on a new starting point, UHV willdevelop towards higher quality, more efficient and more sustainable goals, andcontinue to play a role in energy transformation.

By:JUCRO Electric (Focus on Vacuum Interrupter, Vacuum circuit breaker, Vacuumcontactor and Switchgear)   2019-01-12