Overview
In an October 28 broadcast, CCTV reported that China’s power grid—one of the nation’s six networks—is being built out at pace. Major projects are entering commissioning or final sprints: the Aba–Chengdu East UHV project at 3,600m altitude will deliver over 15 TWh of clean power to the Chengdu–Chongqing area annually upon year-end completion; the Inner Mongolia–Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei ±800kV UHV DC is at the tower-erection stage, transmitting 12 GW of desert-base green power to Hebei; the Hami 1.5 GW photovoltaic-thermal-storage complex in Xinjiang is ~95% complete; and Guangdong’s Sanshandao offshore wind VSC-HVDC link has finished construction and entered commissioning, supplying ~6 TWh/year to the Greater Bay Area.
Digital smart grids are advancing too. Zhejiang’s virtual power plant uses large AI models for real-time dispatch and routinely participates in market balancing; nationwide, over 530 virtual plants exist, with aggregate regulation capacity projected to exceed 50 GW by 2030.
Background & Interpretation
1. Industry and Policy Context
Under the dual-carbon goal, wind and solar combined now account for 47.3% of installed capacity, surpassing thermal power for the first time. High-renewable penetration rewrites grid-operating logic and demands stronger regulation, storage and digital dispatch—the grid is evolving from a transmission corridor into an intelligent balancing platform.
2. Core Drivers and Underlying Mechanisms
UHV tackles the bottleneck of large-scale, long-distance green-power delivery; virtual power plants aggregate distributed PV, storage, EVs and air-conditioning into dispatchable capacity. One hard, one soft, they jointly secure real-time balance in the new power system.
3. Market Structure and Industry Chain Effects
Accelerating grid investment benefits UHV equipment, VSC-HVDC, storage and power-digitalization supply chains. Nanjing’s smart-grid industry is heading toward a trillion-yuan scale; firms like NARI are linking storage and intelligent inspection via grid-forming technology, shifting competition from single devices to technology plus scenario system capability.
Implications & Outlook
Near term, a wave of cross-regional UHV and offshore VSC-HVDC projects will improve renewable absorption and inter-regional power sharing. Medium to long term, virtual plants, vehicle-to-grid and solid-state/flow batteries become the core increments; the 50 GW virtual-plant target by 2030 is within reach.
Takeaways for Industry Participants
Equipment and system integrators should build integrated capabilities around grid-forming, digitalization and long-duration storage; operators must sharpen price forecasting, available-capacity management and charge-discharge strategy to balance spread income against battery degradation.
This column compiles industry information and shares technical perspectives; it does not constitute investment advice.