On June 23, 2023, the trial operation of the bipolar high-end system of the Qiantang River converter station was successfully completed, and the Baihetan Zhejiang ± 800 kilovolt High-voltage direct current project, a key project of China's west to east power transmission, was successfully put into operation at full capacity, and the annual power transmission is expected to reach 30 billion kilowatt hours.

In December 2022, all 16 units of Baihetan Dam will be put into operation, making it the second largest hydropower station in the world after the Three Gorges Hydropower Station. Baizhe UHV is mainly responsible for the power transmission of 8 units on the right bank. The transmission line starts from Butuo County, Liangshan Prefecture, Sichuan Province in the west and ends at Linping District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang Province in the east, with a total length of 2121 kilometers. The total investment of Baizhe UHV is about 29.9 billion yuan, directly driving the production scale to nearly 100 billion yuan.

Since the low-end operation at the end of 2022, the maximum transmission capacity of Baizhe UHV has increased to 8 million kilowatts, and the annual power transmission can meet the daily electricity needs of over 30 million people for one year. These clean hydropower can replace 10.57 million tons of coal and reduce 19.19 million tons of carbon dioxide emissions, while maintaining energy supply and achieving green and low-carbon benefits.

In the summer of 2023, the highest electricity load in the whole society of the province can reach 115 million kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of over 10%. The current average price of thermal power in Zhejiang is about 0.498 yuan/kWh. Baihetan Hydropower is more than 5 cents cheaper than the provincial thermal power, which will inject abundant and low-cost hydropower resources into Zhejiang.

At present, Zhejiang has built two cross three straight ultra-high voltage backbone grid, connecting southwest hydropower base, northwest coal power and wind power base, Anhui coal power base and Fujian nuclear power base. Over the past decade since the introduction of ultra-high voltage to Zhejiang, it has transmitted over 720 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to Zhejiang. In the future, the three hydropower stations of Baihetan, Xiluodu, and Three Gorges will generate more than one-third of Zhejiang's external electricity, highlighting the importance of Southwest hydropower.

In 2023, Zhejiang is promoting the Gansu Electric Power to Zhejiang UHV project, and the two provinces are also planning to develop large-scale clean energy bases in the Hexi area. The western region is rich in energy, but the demand is relatively insufficient. The eastern region is short of Primary energy, but the demand is strong. The ultra-high voltage transmission technology realizes the optimal allocation of power in a large range. Zhejiang is deeply involved in building a unified national energy market and supporting the western region to transform its green resource advantages into economic development advantages. Editor/Xie Li