China's Gansu-Zhejiang UHV project reaches key milestone

China's Gansu-Zhejiang ±800-kilovolt ultra-high-voltage direct-current (UHVDC) power transmission project on Monday completed cable installation across the Yellow River, marking the completion of the entire Gansu section of the project.

The "Electricity from Gansu to Zhejiang" project is a key project under China's national power development plan.

The transmission line runs 2,370 kilometers from the Wuwei converter station in northwest China's Gansu Province to the Shaoxing converter station in east China's Zhejiang Province, with a transmission capacity of 8 million kilowatts.

The project is the world's first UHVDC transmission project to use flexible direct-current technology at both the sending and receiving ends.

The technology enables flexible regulation of the magnitude and direction of electric current, allowing the project to better accommodate the integration of large-scale renewable energy into the power grid.

The project is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in 2027.

Once operational, it is expected to transmit more than 36 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from Gansu to Zhejiang annually, with renewable energy accounting for more than half of the electricity transmitted.

The project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 17 million tonnes annually, supporting coordinated energy development between western and eastern China and the country's green and low-carbon transition.