China Invests $2.32 Billion to Build Largest “Power Expressway”

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). The $2.32 billion ±800 kV ultra-high voltage DC demonstrating transmission line from Fulong, Sichuan to Nanhui, Shanghai has received official approval of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), which will be the main trunk of the “power expressway” transmitting power from the west to the east. It will also be a DC transmission with the highest voltage level and the largest transmission capacity in the world, announced the Development and Reform Commission of Yibin County, in Southwest China’s Sichuan province.

This ultra-high voltage DC demonstrating transmission line is a part of the transmission project for Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station. Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station and Xiluodu Hydropower Station are the last two downstream cascade hydropower stations in the Jinsha River section of the Changjiang River, the longest river in China. Installation of both hydropower stations totaled 18,600 MW, with annual power output at 88 TWh, which ranked the third and the fourth in the world respectively, just after the Three Gorges Power Station and the Itaipu Power Station. As the first extra large capacity and ultra high voltage DC transmission line connecting two important regions in the west and the east, the project has obvious demonstrating function in China.

Construction of the project mainly includes the 6,400 MW Fulong Converting Station with 9 bays for 500 KV AC lines on Yibin’s side; the 6,400 MW Nanhui Converting Station with 3 bays for 500KV AC lines on Shanghai’s side; and the 2,034 kilometer long ±800 KV DC transmission line from Fulong, Sichuan to Nanhui, Shanghai together with OPGW compound optical fiber communication cable and a ultra high voltage DC test base. Total static investment of the project will be $2.26 billion and dynamic investment $2.32 billion. The entire project is expected to complete in 2012. Related preparation such as land acquisition and relocation has been carried out steadily in Yibin, Sichuan province at present.

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