At 10:16 a.m. on April 16, the final phase conductor was successfully pulled into place in Zhenping County, Ankang City, marking the completion of the Shaanxi section of the Ningxia–Hunan ±800kV ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHV DC) transmission project—a major milestone for one of China’s key "West-to-East power transmission" green energy corridors.
Original By NLS
At 10:16 a.m. on April 16, the final phase conductor was successfully pulled into place in Zhenping County, Ankang City, marking the completion of the Shaanxi section of the Ningxia–Hunan ±800kV ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHV DC) transmission project—a major milestone for one of China’s key "West-to-East power transmission" green energy corridors.
Spanning 1,634 kilometers, the line originates in Zhongwei, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, and passes through six provincial-level regions—Ningxia, Gansu, Shaanxi, Chongqing, Hubei, and Hunan—before reaching its endpoint in Hengyang, Hunan Province. With a transmission capacity of 8 gigawatts, it is the country’s first UHV DC line primarily designed to transport renewable energy generated in desert, Gobi, and arid regions.
“The Shaanxi segment extends approximately 420.35 kilometers, crossing some of the most challenging terrain along the entire route—including the deeply eroded Loess Plateau, the Qinling Mountains, and the Han River basin,” said Xiang Hancheng, Deputy Project Manager of the Shaanxi section at State Grid Shaanxi Construction Company. “More than 6,000 workers spent 17 months overcoming obstacles such as high-altitude, uninhabited construction zones, steep gradients, and ecologically sensitive areas. We deployed digital project management systems and BeiDou satellite-guided stringing technology to ensure smooth execution while minimizing ecological disruption in the Qinling region.”
According to Liu Zhao, Project Manager of the same section, once operational, the line will deliver between 36 and 40 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually to Hunan—enough to displace around 12 million metric tons of standard coal and cut carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 33 million metric tons each year. The project is expected to significantly boost the export capacity of wind and solar power from northwest China, help green the energy mix in central and eastern regions, and inject fresh momentum into the high-quality development of the Yangtze River Economic Belt.