Inner Mongolia's first UHV line starts construction

By Liu Yufen (chinadaily.com.cn)

Updated: 2014-11-06

The project of the Inner Mongolia autonomous region's first ultra-high voltage (UHV) power transmission line, which will link Xilingol League in Inner Mongolia with the city of Jinan in Shandong province, was officially launched in the county of Duolun in the autonomous region on Nov 4.

The UHV project will extend 730 kilometers with an investment of 17.8 billion yuan ($2.91 billion). It is expected to be a significant role in China’s energy supply and safety after its completion in 2017.

The construction of Inner Mongolia’s first ultra-high voltage line officially starts on Nov 4. [Photo by Ren Junchuan/Xinhua]

This project will transmit electricity from Xilingol League to Jinan through alternating current circuits. Its installed capacity will be 9 million kilowatts, including 8 million kilowatts of thermal power and 1 million kilowatts of wind powder. A total of 1.6 billion yuan will be used for 20 kilometers of new line and an UHV substation.

The construction of Inner Mongolia’s first ultra-high voltage line officially starts on Nov 4. [Photo by Ren Junchuan/Xinhua]

Inner Mongolia boasts rich resources of coal and wind. In the past year, it has transmitted a total of 140 billion kilowatt-hours out of the autonomous region, which accounted for one-third of the region’s total power generation.

The Xilingol-Jinan UHV line is recognized as a landmark project in one of China’s major projects for transporting electricity from west to east. It is also an important UHV project in promoting China’s plan on air pollution control and treatment.

According to the overall plan of the State Grid, a total of 12 UHV lines will be built for UHV power transmission by 2020, when 830 billion kilowatt-hours of power could be transported out of Inner Mongolia per year.

Located in the middle of Inner Mongolia, the Xilingol League is north of Beijing by 180 kilometers. In terms of transmission distance, it is 730 km from Xilingol to Jinan, 1,620 km to the city of Taizhou in Jiangsu province, and 400 km to the load center in Liaoning province. In a word, the league’s geographical location will help to cut investments for transmission projects as well as transmission costs.

Edited by Michael Thai