New round of UHV construction

“In 2014, the power gap in Shandong is expected to reach 6 million kilowatts, which will reach 10 million kilowatts in 2015 and will increase to 25 million kilowatts in 2017.” In the summer when the peak of electricity consumption is approaching, the State Grid Shandong Electric Power Company ( Hereinafter referred to as "State Grid Shandong Company," Party Secretary and Deputy General Manager Jiang Bin said that within the next two years, Shandong will successively construct 4 UHV transmission lines to resolve the coming power shortage.

In 2014, the UHV project started after years of debate, and 9 UHV lines have been reported to the National Energy Administration. Shandong has become the province with the most planned routes in this round of national UHV investment and construction.

Ten years ago, as the only province in the eastern seaboard that did not lack electricity, Shandong resolving electricity shortages relied on private grids that accounted for one quarter of Shandong's electricity generation. Ten years later, the private forces in Shandong Electric Industry are shrinking, and spending huge sums of money to build UHV has become a new hope to resolve the power shortage.

Behind the impetus: "In the next two years, four UHV lines are expected to start construction one after another and all will be completed in 2017." Jiang Bin introduced that UHV is like an electric highway and will add 25 million kilowatts of power capacity to Shandong. At that time, one-fourth of Shandong's electricity consumption will come from outside the province.

According to the plan, the four UHV lines that are expected to start within two years will include two AC UHV transmission lines, namely the Zimeng-Shandong, Jingbian (Jianheng)-Jinan-Weifang lines; the two DC UHV transmission lines are respectively Shanghai Temple - Lunan, Humeng - Shandong line.

Director of the Planning Department of the Development Department of State Grid Shandong Corporation, Qi Hong, introduced that among the four UHV projects, Ximeng-Shandong Engineering has obtained roads (which can carry out preparatory work) and has the conditions for approval to start construction; Jingbian (Yiheng)-Jinan - Weifang route, Humeng-Shandong line has completed a feasibility study report.

Previously, a power grid investment plan formulated by the Power Planning and Design Institute has passed the assessment of China International Engineering Consulting Corporation and will soon be approved by the National Energy Administration. This plan involves an investment of more than 200 billion yuan. It contains four UHV AC projects, five UHV DC projects, and three ±500 kilovolt transmission channels. As a result, Shandong has become the province with the largest number of planned routes in this round of national UHV investment and construction climaxes.

Qi Hong pointed out that the reason why Shandong can obtain so many UHV projects is that as early as 2008, Shandong began to implement the strategy of “transmitting foreign power into Lu”, and it is one of the earliest provinces in the national UHV planning.

On November 8, 2008, the State Grid Corporation of China and the Shandong Provincial Government signed the "Minutes of the Strategic Talks on Promoting the Construction of Shandong Power Grid and Implementing the "Transmission of Foreign Electric Power"", and formally determined the implementation of the strategy of "transmitting foreign power into Lu". Afterwards, the "Summary of Long-term Development Plan for Energy in Shandong Province" issued in Shandong Province clearly stated that "In order to meet the energy demand and environmental protection requirements for the economic and social development of our province in the future, we shall accelerate the entry of the UHV power grid into our province and accept calls from outside the province. ".

State Power Shandong Power's original subsidiary Luneng Group, at the beginning of the national power grid UHV project, had previously carried out the distribution of coal resources along the Shanxi Hequ, Jinbei, Jindongnan, Xinjiang Hami, Ningxia Ningdong and other places along the line. At that time, Luneng Taishan Cable Company also participated in the task of producing line products for the national grid “Changzhi-Jingmen” UHV demonstration project. (Luneng Group was later included in the National Grid)

Liu Zhenya, now the general manager of the State Grid, had previously served as chairman of the Shandong Electric Power Corporation and Chairman of the Luneng Group's board of directors.

In recent years, due to the rapid economic development and relative lag in power supply construction, it is an indisputable fact that the power gap in Shandong is increasing. In 2008, Shandong experienced the worst electricity shortage in a decade, and the province suffered large-scale blackouts. The electric power shortage in Shandong is expected to reach 6 million and 10 million kilowatts this year and next year, and is expected to increase to 25 million kilowatts by 2017.

He Hong introduced that the deteriorating environment has made Shandong Province a heavy pressure on energy conservation and emission reduction. In recent years, no large-scale power plants have been approved in Shandong. Haiyang Nuclear Power Station, which was deployed on the eastern coast of Shandong Province, also encountered a temporary technical bottleneck. The original schedule for grid-connected power generation was forced to be postponed. UHV projects are crucial to the economic development in Shandong.

In order to accelerate the pace of UHV into Lu, in 2013, the State Grid Corporation of China has negotiated three meetings with the Shandong Provincial Party Committee and Provincial Government. The latter called for accelerating UHV approval progress at the national level seven times. At the Eco-Shandong Construction Leading Group meeting at the end of 2013, the Shandong provincial government took the “accelerating the integration of foreign power into Lu” as the first of the six major measures for air pollution prevention and control, giving priority to deployment and accelerating progress.

During the National “Two Conferences” in 2014, representatives of the Shandong Provincial CPPCC Vice Chairman Wang Xinlu and the School of Physics and Microelectronics of the Shantou University Jie Shijie and other representatives of the “two sessions” submitted proposals to the National People’s Congress and the CPPCC. They called for “considering the contradiction between supply and demand for energy in Shandong Province. Actually, as soon as possible, the Ximeng-Shandong UHV AC project will be approved, and the Jingbian (Yiheng)-Jinan-Weifang UHV AC project and the Shanghai-Lunan and Humeng-Shandong UHV DC projects will be approved to carry out preliminary work and increase.” "The scale of foreign power transmission into Lu, as soon as possible to form a power transmission capacity to Shandong, in order to ease the contradiction between supply and demand in Shandong power and the prevention and control of atmospheric pollution pressure."

After many years of preparations by the State Grid Shandong Corporation and several appeals between the government and the local government, Shandong has won the top spot in this round of UHV line construction.