The new energy base power transmission has formed a huge demand, and the construction of UHV in China is expected to accelerate

Date:Jun.15th, 2024

The current demand of constructing UHV in our country

In recent years, with the rapid growth of photovoltaic and wind power installed capacity in China, the demand for new energy power generation has increased significantly, and it is urgent to speed up the construction of a new power system in China, and to promote the construction of UHV can enhance the power transmission capacity of the scenery base in the three North areas and strengthen the efficient use of new energy power generation.

China's wind energy resources are concentrated in the three eastern provinces, Inner Mongolia, Xinjiang, Gansu, Qinghai, Tibet and other places; Solar energy resources are concentrated in Tibet, Xinjiang, Qinghai, Gansu and other places; Economically developed areas are mainly concentrated in the eastern coastal and southern regions. Overall, the new energy base is mainly distributed in the west and north, while the power load center is mainly concentrated in the east and south. The development of UHV power grids can not only effectively promote the large-scale development and transmission of clean energy in the west and north, thus promoting the construction of large energy bases, and promoting the transformation of local resource advantages into economic advantages, but also effectively promote the central and eastern regions to increase the proportion of foreign power transmission, increase the supply of clean energy, and alleviate the shortage of energy supply. The new energy base power transmission has formed a huge demand for UHV transmission lines.
Uhv refers to the AC voltage above 1000kV and the direct current above 800kV, which is mainly used for the efficient transmission of ultra-long distance and ultra-large capacity power. With the characteristics of large capacity, long distance transmission and small loss, the development of UHV can greatly improve the transmission capacity of the power grid in our country. According to the State Grid, the primary UHV DC grid can send 6 million kilowatts of electricity, which is equivalent to 5 to 6 times the existing 500 kV DC grid, and the transmission distance is 2-3 times the latter, and the transmission distance is as high as 2000-3000 kilometers. In addition, conveying the same power, if the UHV line transmission can save 60% of the land resources than the use of 500 kV high voltage line. Uhv power transmission can be divided into AC power transmission and DC power transmission, and flexible DC technology has been developed on the traditional DC technology. As of the end of May this year, China has completed a total of 39 UHV projects (20 direct 19), with a total line length of about 52,000 kilometers.
From the industry's policy and investment point of view, on June 4 this year, the National Energy Administration issued the "Notice on doing a good job in the absorption of new energy to ensure the high-quality development of new energy", which proposed that the domestic will start five new UHV lines (3 direct 2) this year.
Compared with the "13th Five-Year Plan" UHV investment of 280 billion yuan, a significant increase of 35.7%.
It is worth noting that in terms of recent industry trends, on June 14, the State Grid issued a bidding announcement for the 58th batch of procurement in 2024 (the third service (early stage) tender procurement for UHV projects). The procurement mainly includes the high-voltage AC project of Yanwei and the feasibility bidding of Sichuan Project of Gansu Badain Jilin Power Transmission. Before that, on June 12, the northern Shaanxi to Anhui ±800 kV UHVDC transmission project (Henan section) officially started construction, Henan section of the line length of about 490 kilometers, a total investment of 3.26 billion yuan.
It is reported that the total investment of the national grid during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period is expected to exceed 3 trillion yuan, significantly higher than the total investment of the national grid during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period. From 2021 to 2023, the cumulative investment of domestic power grid projects will be 1.5 trillion yuan, only half of the total investment target. In order to achieve the total investment target, it is expected that the domestic power grid project investment will be increased in 2024 and 2025. This year, five new UHV lines (3 direct and 2 alternating) will be started in China, which is expected to boost the demand for UHV power transmission and transformation equipment.
According to the prediction of relevant institutions, the number of UHV DC lines in operation in 2024-2026 is 3, 5 and 6, and the number of UHV AC lines in operation is 3, 2 and 2, respectively. During the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, in order to continue to solve the "big base" delivery problem, UHV DC is still the focus of construction, and the number of operational lines is expected to reach more than 20; The demand for UHV AC as a means to strengthen the AC network of load centers is expected to remain high.