Construction of a new ultra-high voltage (UHV) power transmission project, which will send power from northwest China to the central province of Hunan, began in Tengger Desert in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on Sunday.

"The Ningxia-Hunan UHV power transmission project will deliver power generated at the bases in the Gobi Desert in Ningxia, including 9 gigawatts (GW) of photovoltaic power, 4 GW of wind power and 4.64 GW of supplementary coal power," said Xiang Li, deputy director of the Development Department at the State Grid Ningxia Electric Power Co.

Passing through provincial-level regions including Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing and Hubei, the 800-kilovolt UHV direct current power transmission project stretches 1,634 kilometers. 

The project will be operational by 2025, with a total investment of 28.1 billion yuan (about $3.9 billion). 

"The power generated by renewable energy will take up more than half of the total transmission capacity," Xiang added.

China has large deserts with abundant resources in solar and wind power. The construction of this project is another step forward for China's west-to-east power transmission program that balances the country's electricity supply and demand in different regions.

"Once put into operation, the Ningxia-Hunan UHV power transmission project will deliver over 36 billion kWh of electricity from Ningxia to Hunan annually, and reduce more than 16 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions," said Tan Junwu, vice president of State Grid Hunan Electric Power Co.

"The project will effectively improve Hunan's power supply capacity and realize a long-term supply-demand equilibrium of electricity in the province," Tan said.

China plans to build 455 gigawatts of solar and wind power generation capacity in the Gobi and other desert regions by 2030 as part of efforts to boost renewable power use to meet climate change goals, according to a document issued by National Development and Reform Commission and National Energy Administration in March 2022.

The country has pledged a carbon emission peak by 2030, and realize carbon neutrality by 2060.

Yu Bing, deputy head of the National Energy Administration, said that the construction of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic bases in the Gobi and other desert regions is a major measure to promote green and low-carbon energy transformation, overall development and security, and build a new energy system.

Yu added that the Ningxia-Hunan UHV power transmission project provides an important reference for subsequent projects of large-scale wind power and photovoltaic bases that transmit electricity through direct current.