China's State Grid has put into operation a major ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) power transmission line connecting the energy-rich northern province of Shaanxi with the eastern province of Anhui, adding a major artery to the country's west-to-east power transmission network, the company said on June 30.

The Shaanxi-Anhui ±800 kV UHVDC transmission project, the first of its kind commissioned under China's 15th "Five-Year Plan", runs more than 1,000 kilometers through Shaanxi, Henan and Anhui provinces, linking a converter station in Yan'an to another in Hefei, the Anhui capital. It has a rated capacity of 8 GW.

The transmission channel is backed by 11 GW of new energy capacity at the sending end and will deliver more than 36 TWh of electricity annually to Anhui, over half of which will come from renewable sources, State Grid said. The project is expected to replace 5.5 million tonnes of coal consumption and cut carbon dioxide emissions by more than 14 million tonnes annually.

The line comes as Anhui, a fast-growing manufacturing hub, grapples with rising electricity demand driven by strategic emerging industries. Power from the project will flow into eight distribution lines serving cities including Anqing and Tongling, reinforcing the grid in the Dabie Mountains and supporting industrial development and infrastructure needs in the old revolutionary base area.

State Grid said the project achieved breakthroughs in technology localization, with its direct current control and protection system becoming the first to use entirely domestically developed chips and software, giving China full control over core ultra-high voltage technology. Major equipment was supplied by domestic manufacturers.

China has now built 43 UHV projects comprising 22 alternating current and 21 direct current lines, with total cross-regional transmission capacity exceeding 380 GW. State Grid said it will accelerate construction of new grid infrastructure during the five-year plan period through 2030 to strengthen west-to-east and north-to-south power corridors.