[LINK] 1 million-volt power line, mostly coal

[stephen at melbpc.org.au]

"China's utilization of geothermal energy is the largest in the world"    
 
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geothermal_power_in_China  (and)


'Chinese utility tries to join electricity pioneers'
AP Associated Press, By JOE McDONALD – 1 day ago 


BEIJING (AP) — As companies abroad slash spending to ride out a global 
slump, China's biggest utility is pouring money into the multibillion-
dollar field of electric power transmission.

State Grid Corp. says it began operation in January of a 1 million-volt 
commercial power line, which is much more powerful than the 765,000-volt 
systems used in the United States and elsewhere. 

It said "ultra-high voltage" transmission systems will be able to link 
cities to distant hydroelectric dams from Brazil to Africa.

"This is a milestone in the history of the power industry," boasted a 
State Grid vice president, Lu Jian.

The effort reflects Beijing's broader ambition to transform China from a 
low-cost manufacturing nation into a creator of profitable technology — a 
step it must take if it is to continue growing, economists say.

"Chinese players are indeed climbing up the technical ladder," said David 
Xu, director of McKinsey & Co.'s Asia-Pacific power consulting 
group. "They understand that just competing on a cost basis is not going 
to be sustainable."

New, powerful transmission systems may also help Beijing clear smog from 
China's cities by locating new coal-fired power plants closer to mines 
instead of in urban areas.


Little known abroad, State Grid is one of the world's biggest companies, 
ranked 24th on Fortune magazine's Global 500 list last year with $133 
billion in 2007 revenues. It is flush with cash even as a global economic 
downturn forces multinational corporations to cut payrolls and spending.

State Grid operates the vast network of power-distribution lines across 
26 of China's 32 provinces and regions and is expanding. The company 
signed a $3.9 billion, 25-year contract with the Philippines in January 
to run that country's power grid.

The appeal of ultra-high-voltage transmission is its efficiency over long 
distances, according to experts. Power, measured in kilowatts, is a 
function of voltage multiplied by current. That means a higher-voltage 
line can carry less current, which reduces energy losses, yet still 
deliver the same kilowatts.

Developing the technology could help China compete in a global market for 
power transmission equipment that Goulden Reports, an industry research 
company, says should grow to more than $140 billion in annual sales by 
2015.

Russia, Japan, Italy and others have experimented with ultra-high voltage 
but none uses such high voltages commercially. The biggest U.S. power 
company, American Electric Power Inc. in Columbus, Ohio, says it 
successfully tested a 2 million-volt line but has no plans for regular 
use.

Utilities in the West face a host of hurdles in building powerful 
transmission lines, from lawsuits to state utility boards, each with 
different demands.

State Grid says it will spend up to 100 billion yuan ($14.6 billion) over 
the next three to four years on ultra-high-voltage lines to link Beijing, 
Shanghai and other eastern cities to dams in the southwest and power 
plants in the coal-mining north.

The company says if it succeeds, the technology could be sold abroad. 
Some equipment was supplied by Siemens AG of Germany and Switzerland's 
ABB Ltd., but State Grid says most was developed in China by more than 
100 domestic producers.

"We will be very pleased to share the technology with the international 
market," said Cheng Mengrong, deputy director-general of State Grid's 
international department. She said possible customers include India, 
Brazil and South Africa.

Beijing hopes eventually to become more than a source of labor to build 
the world's DVD players and other high-tech goods, with most of the 
profits from those operations flowing back to the United States, Japan 
and other countries.

Economists say China must move into higher-technology fields if it wants 
to keep growing as rising wages erode its dominance in low-profit, labor-
intensive industries.

The Chinese effort has yet to produce dramatic successes despite 
increased spending on areas ranging from semiconductors to genetics.

State Grid's first ultra-high-voltage line, which cost 5.8 billion yuan 
($820 million), delivers power from Shanxi province in the north to the 
populous central province of Hubei, 640 kilometers (400 miles) away.

The utility is building two longer cross-country lines, linking dams in 
Sichuan province in the southwest to Shanghai and to Jiangsu province in 
the east, at a total cost of 40 billion yuan ($5.8 billion), said the 
company's executive vice president, Shu Yinbiao. He said more lines were 
awaiting government approval.

Experts say such a system could find a market as the United States and 
others expand use of solar, wind and hydropower.

U.S. states are requiring utilities to use more renewable energy, which 
might require linking California or East Coast cities with distant dams 
or wind turbines, said Richard Lordan, technology director for power 
delivery for the Electric Power Research Institute, a utility-supported 
U.S. group.

"If you have to supply 15 percent renewables in some of these states, you 
are going to have to get it from wind in the Midwest," he said. "I could 
envision some high-voltage from the wind centers to the load centers."

The challenge lies in developing competitively priced high-voltage 
cables, transformers and other equipment, said McKinsey's Xu. China's 
huge market will give its producers an edge by creating economies of 
scale and driving down costs.

"China would have a huge cost competitiveness compared with someone else 
who wants to develop the technology," he said.

If China develops a fully fledged system, that could help the technology 
win acceptance abroad, Xu said.

"I think it would definitely provide a more credible, safer, more 
reliable technology to the world," he said. 

On the Net:
State Grid Corp. of China (in Chinese): http://www.sgcc.com.cn

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jo7eOg2c4VORpCn67zCS1rv_
nE1wD96G3D380

--
Cheers,
Stephen

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