The Chinese idea for a globally interconnected ultra-high voltage grid also receives interest in the USA.
On Feb. 25, 2016, Zhengya Liu, chairman of the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) was invited to the CERAWeek in the USA and delivered a speech titled “Global Energy Interconnection: the driving force towards the worldwide energy revolution”. The topic of the 35th CERAWeek was “Energy Transition: Strategies for a New World” and has attracted industry leaders, experts, government officials and policymakers as well as leaders from the technology, financial, and industrial communities – in total more than 2800 delegates from over 30 countries discussed key issues regarding world energy development.
Global energy interconnection (GEI) is bascially a globally interconnected smart grid with an ultra-high voltage (UHV) grid as the backbone, which will serve as the platform for extensive exploration, distribution and consumption of clean energy around the world. Abundant clean energy resources and commercialized new technologies are prerequisites for a successful GEI. The efforts of SGCC in research and development and the development of pilot projects have driven GEI from the concept to the practice stage.
Currently, China already possesses a range of UHV projects, while others are under construction as shown below. They mainly serve to transport electricity that is generated in the scarcely populated western provinces to the big load centers along the east coast.
