Electricians work on a 1,680-kilometer-long high-voltage DC transmission line in Zhejiang Province. (Photo : www.inspiredreporters.com)
China has started to build the world's first 1,100-kilovolt direct current (DC) electricity transmission line on Monday, Jan. 11. The power line has the highest voltage, biggest transmission capacity, longest distance and the latest technology in the world, CRIENGLISH.com reported.
The report said that the transmission line will start from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in northwest China, connecting Gansu Province, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, Shaanxi Province, Henan Province and Anhui Province.
The line, which is expected to be completed in 2018, has a total length of more than 3,300 kilometers and will have a transmission capacity of 12 million kilowatts, the report said.
Chen Weijiang, a researcher with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said that the system adopted the 1,100kv for the first time.
"Its nominal voltage is 37.5 percent higher than those with a 800-kilovolt nominal voltage. And the transmission capacity is 50 percent more. We also increased the transmission distance from 2,000 to 3,000 kilometers," Chen said.
According to the report, another ultra-high voltage AC transmission lines are now under live-line operations in Tianjin, which will deliver clean energy from Inner Mongolia to Tianjin, Hebei and Shandong Province.
The 1,000-kv ultra-high AC transmission line project is expected to reduce coal consumption by 9 million tons and carbon dioxide by 26.9 million tons. The project is considered to be of great significance to the campaign to control haze and fog and improve the region's air quality.
The report said that the whole project is expected to end in April this year and will start operation by the end of October.
China has raised its target for renewable energy as it stepped up efforts to tackle climate change, the report said.
The country plans to generate 150 to 200 gigawatts of electricity using solar power by 2020, possibly quadrupling the previous target. It also wants to lift its wind power target to 250 gigawatts by the same year.
