Outlook | China UHV enters intensive approval period

Four UHV projects - Nanyang - Jingmen - Changsha, Yazhong to Jiangxi, Baihetan to Jiangsu, and Baihetan to Zhejiang - are pending approval in 2019.

Entering 2019, the pace of China's approval of UHV projects is expected to accelerate.

According to the document released by the industry media "Can see" on January 15, the National Development and Reform Commission on the approval of the Northern Shaanxi-Hubei ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project, the National Development and Reform Commission has approved the northern Shaanxi-Hubei ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project (hereinafter referred to as the Northern Shaanxi-Hubei project) on January 4.

The National Development and Reform Commission said that this is to promote the development and distribution of the comprehensive energy base in northern Shaanxi to meet the demand for electricity load growth in Hubei province.

According to the documents, the static investment of the project is 17.841 billion yuan, and the dynamic investment is 18.461 billion yuan, and the State Grid Co., LTD. (hereinafter referred to as the State Grid) and the State Grid Hubei Power Co., LTD., as the project legal person, are respectively responsible for the construction, operation and loan principal and interest repayment of the project.

The construction site of the project is Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Hubei four provinces, will be new Shaanxi North, Hubei Wuhan two converter stations, new converter capacity of 16 million kilowatts, new Shaanxi North converter station to Wuhan converter station ±800 kV DC line, line length 1136.1 kilometers.

The NDRC said that the approval document is valid for two years, and from the date of publication, the construction of the Northern Shaanxi and Hubei project should start before January 4, 2021.

Uhv refers to the voltage class of 1000 kV and above AC or ±800 kV DC. Up to now, there are a total of 21 UHV projects in operation across the country, with a cross-regional and cross-provincial transmission capacity of more than 140 million kilowatts.

The construction of power grids dominated by UHV once slowed down, but since the second half of 2018, it has been accelerated again. According to public information, the construction of the last round of 12 UHV channels began from May 2014 to December 2017, and has been basically completed.

The "Notice on Accelerating the planning and construction of a number of key power transmission and transformation projects" issued by the National Energy Administration in September last year pointed out that nine key power transmission and distribution projects will be accelerated, involving a total of 12 UHV lines of "seven and five direct", and it is expected that the construction time will be approved in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 2019, with a total transmission capacity of 57 million kilowatts.

According to GF Securities estimates, the 12 UHV lines planned by the above "Notice" involve nearly 200 billion yuan.

Among the nine major projects, except for the Yunnan-Guizhou Interconnection Channel project and the Minyue networking project, the remaining seven are UHV projects, respectively Zhangbei - Xiongan, Nanyang - Jingmen-Changsha two UHV exchange projects; Qinghai to Henan, northern Shaanxi to Hubei, Yazhong to Jiangxi, Baihetan to Jiangsu, Baihetan to Zhejiang five UHV DC projects.

The Qinghai to Henan UHV DC project will also support the construction of Zhumadian-Nanyang and Zhumadian-Wuhan UHV AC projects. The UHV DC project from northern Shaanxi to Hubei will support the construction of Jingmen-Wuhan UHV AC project. Ya-zhong-jiangxi UHV DC project will support the construction of Changchang-Wuhan and Changchang-Changsha UHV AC projects.

In March 2018, the Mengxi-Jinzhong UHV exchange project was approved by the state; In November, the Qinghai-Henan ±800 kV UHV DC project was officially started, with a static investment of about 22.559 billion yuan; In December, Zhangbei - Xiongan 1000 kV UHV AC power transmission and transformation project was approved by the provincial Development and Reform Commission.

Up to now, four UHV projects - Nanyang - Jingmen - Changsha, Yazhong to Jiangxi, Baihetan to Jiangsu, Baihetan to Zhejiang - have yet to be approved by the state, and will be intensively landed in 2019 according to the schedule.

In December last year, the State Grid announced that it would open UHV construction investment to social capital for the first time.