Hubei Province adds another major inter-provincial energy channel, with 10 UHV transmission lines under construction

China Energy Storage Network News: On March 24, State Grid Corporation of China held a mobilization meeting for the construction of the Fuzhou-Xiamen and Zhumadian-Wuhan 1000 kV UHV AC projects in Beijing. Reporters learned that the Zhumadian-Wuhan 1000 kV UHV AC project is scheduled to be completed and put into operation in November 2023, which will significantly improve the power exchange capacity between Hubei and Henan provinces and meet the requirements of regional power development. At present, the number of UHV transmission lines built and under construction in Hubei Province has increased to 10.

The Zhumadian-Wuhan 1000 kV UHV AC project starts from the Zhumadian 1000 kV AC substation and ends at the Wuhan 1000 kV AC substation under construction. The line is about 287 kilometers long and the total investment is about 3.8 billion yuan. The transmission line passes through Hong'an County and Xinzhou District in Hubei Province. It is an important part of the Central China Ring Network and a supporting project for the Qinghai-Henan UHV DC project. The project will optimize and strengthen the grid structure of the Central China region and ensure efficient and stable power transmission of UHV DC projects such as Qinghai-Henan.

According to national planning, the four provinces in central China will form a power receiving structure with 2 lines in Henan, 1 line each in Hubei, Hunan and Jiangxi, totaling 5 lines of ±800 kV and 8 million kW of ultra-high voltage direct current. The power sources to be transmitted include thermal power, hydropower, wind power, solar power and other types. The output characteristics are cyclical and seasonal, with strong complementarity, requiring optimized allocation of resources and mutual assistance operations across provinces in the region.

In addition, the number of 500 kV power grid substations in Zhengzhou, Jingmen, Changsha-Zhuzhou-Xiangtan and other regions is increasing, the capacity of power transmission and transformation equipment is getting larger and larger, and the load density is increasing, which brings tremendous pressure to the operation and control of the power grid. The construction of the Zhumadian-Wuhan 1,000 kV ultra-high voltage AC project can effectively improve the above problems and meet the growing electricity demand in Central China during the 14th Five-Year Plan period.

According to reports, the UHV projects that have been completed and put into operation in Hubei are "one AC and four DC", namely the Southeast Shanxi-Nanyang-Jingmen 1,000 kV UHV AC demonstration project, with a line length of 180 kilometers in Hubei; the ±800 kV Xiang (Jiaba) Shanghai (Hai), Jinping (Ping) Su (Nan), Qi Shao (Jiuquan-Hunan) UHV DC transmission projects passing through Hubei, and the ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project put into operation in December 2021.

In the past two years, Hubei's UHV construction has accelerated significantly. Last year, Hubei Province started construction of four new UHV projects, namely the Jingmen-Wuhan, Nanyang-Jingmen-Changsha AC, Baihetan-Jiangsu, and Baihetan-Zhejiang DC projects.

It is reported that Hubei Province will continue to promote the construction of the above four projects this year. It is understood that during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, Hubei Province will build 3,948 kilometers of UHV lines and 3 UHV substations, open up two DC "external power into Hubei" arteries, and further highlight the location advantage of Hubei Power Grid as the "National Networking Center".