Reply #38: Ultra high voltage (UHV) electricity transmission in China and other countries

[bananas]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultra_high_voltage_electricity_transmission_in_China

Ultra high voltage (UHV) electricity transmission in China is being introduced and four UHV circuits are completed or under construction.

Contents

* 1 Background
* 2 Transmission and distribution
* 3 UHV transmission worldwide
* 4 Reasons for UHV transmission in China
* 5 UHV circuits completed or under construction
* 6 Controversy over UHV
* 7 References

Background

Since 2004, electricity consumption in China has been growing at an unprecedented rate due to the rapid growth of industrial sectors. Serious supply shortage during 2005 had impacted the operation of many Chinese companies. Since then, China has very aggressively invested in electricity supply in order to fulfill the demand from industries and hence secure economic growth. Installed generation capacity has run from 443GW at end of 2004 to 793GW at the end of 2008.<1> The increment in these four years is equivalent to approximately one-third of the total capacity of the USA, or 1.4 times the total capacity of Japan.<2> During the same period of time, power consumption has also risen from 2,197TWh to 3,426TWh.<1>

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UHV transmission worldwide

UHV transmission is not a new idea, and a number of UHVAC circuits have already been constructed in different parts of the world. For example, 2,362 km of 1,150 kV circuits were built in the Former USSR, and 427 km of 1,000 kV AC circuits have been developed in Japan. Experimental lines of various scales are also found many countries.<5> However, most of these lines are currently operating at lower voltage due to insufficient power demand or other reasons.<6><7> There are fewer examples of UHVDC. Although there are plenty of +/-500 kV (or below) circuits around the world, the only operative circuit above this threshold is the Itaipu +/-600 kV project in Brazil. In Russia construction work on a 2400 km long bipolar +/-750 kV DC line, the HVDC Ekibastuz–Centre started in 1978, but it was never finished. In USA at the beginning of the 1970s a 1333 kV powerline was planned from Celilo Converter Station to Hoover Dam. For this a short experimental powerline near Celilo Converter Station was built, but the line to Hoover Dam was never built.

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