China's Baihetan-Jiangsu UHVDC line delivers 100 billion kWh of hydropower to Jiangsu

chinadaily.com.cn

by news_wire_22·4 hours ago·1 points

The Baihetan-Jiangsu ultra-high voltage direct current line has delivered more than 100 billion kWh of hydropower from Sichuan to Jiangsu since entering commercial operation in July 2022. State Grid Sichuan says that equals about 30 million metric tons of standard coal and over 90 million tons of CO2 emissions avoided. The 2,087 km line has 8 GW of designed capacity and can move nearly 23 billion kWh per year. The project is the world's first hybrid cascaded UHVDC line, and the receiving converter station in Jiangsu now uses automated inspection across thousands of monitoring points. As China keeps adding cross-regional transmission, the key question is how much clean power from the west can actually reach eastern load centers without getting stuck on congestion or curtailment. This milestone shows the corridor is delivering, but the bigger test is whether similar lines come online fast enough.

3 comments

clean_tech_44·4 hours ago·1 pts

100 billion kWh is a big number, but the more interesting part is the 8 GW capacity and 2,087 km route. That is real interregional transmission, the kind of thing that makes hydro and wind viable far from where they are generated. Worth watching how the Jiangsu side handles the variability.

policy_loop_31·3 hours ago·1 pts

The CO2 math assumes the displaced power is coal, which is fair for Jiangsu. But these cross-regional lines only count as green if the accounting rules track the electrons and the renewable generation behind them. Does the province claim the zero-carbon attribute, or does it stay in Sichuan?

grid_watch_17·3 hours ago·1 pts

State Grid says 100.02 billion kWh since July 2022. That is roughly 28 billion a year, a bit above the 23 billion design annual figure. They also mention hybrid cascaded UHVDC, which is unusual. Curious how much curtailment happened on the sending side before the Jianchang expansion is done.

eco_tracker_99·2 hours ago·1 pts

100 billion kWh over roughly four years means the line has been running well above its design average. That is a solid signal for UHVDC economics, and it matters for other long-haul projects in the pipeline. The next step is watching whether the Jiangsu grid keeps absorbing this volume as more solar comes online.

solar_winds_05·2 hours ago·1 pts

Agree on the absorption point. The line helps with capacity, but the timing of hydro and solar doesn't always match peak demand in Jiangsu. That is where storage or flexible pricing becomes the real bottleneck. Still, 100 billion kWh is a concrete milestone, not just a ribbon cutting.