China willing to share UHV experience with other countries: official

China is willing to share its experience in developing a long-distance power transmission technology known as ultra-high voltage (UHV) grid with other countries, a Chinese official said Tuesday.

China has "comprehensively mastered the core technologies of UHV transmission with independent intellectual property rights," said Liang Xu Ming, director of executive director office of the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC),

"We would like to share the UHV innovations with all countries ...(to) make contributions to the sustainable development of human society," liang said at the launching ceremony of the English version of a book titled "Ultra-High Voltage AC/DC Grid".

Liang said his company has overcome technical difficulties such as voltage control, external insulation configuration and electromagnetic environment since it decided to build UHV grip in 2004.

UHV, defined as voltage of 1,000 kilovolts or above in alternating current (AC) and 800 kilovolts or above in direct current (DC), is designed to deliver large quantities of power over long distances with less power loss than the most commonly used 500-kilovolt line.

By the end of 2014, the SGCC has built three AC and four DC projects, Liang said, adding that the transmission lines in operation and under construction have reached 15,000 kilometers in length with the transmission or conversion capacity of 150 gigavolt-amperes and have delivered over 280 terawatthours of electricity.

He also revealed that a consortium embracing the SGCC and the Brazilian Electric Power Company won a bid last year to build a 2,000 km-long UHV line transmitting hydropower from the Belo Monte Dam, the world's third largest hydroelectric dam scheduled for completion in 2015, to Brazil's developed regions in the south and southeast.

This is the SGCC's first overseas UHV transmission project and "a further step forward towards a greater impact and application of our UHV technology in the world," the SGCC official said.

Liang also believed the English version of UHV AC/DCower Grid could further promote bilateral cooperation between China and the United States in the energy and electric power sector.

"If the United States wants to build a smarter and stronger power grid that can realize electric transmission between its east and west coasts, only UHV technology can do it," he said.

Patrick Ryan, executive director of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Power and Energy Society, hailed China as a leader in the world in the creation and deployment of UHV power transmission.

"UHV AC and DC demonstration projects (in China) have been in safe and stable operation for more than six years and four and a half years respectively," Ryan said in a written statement read at the ceremony.

The new "book gives us all an excellent opportunity to observe, learn and share the vast experiences," said Ryan.

Robert Gee, former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy, representatives from the book's publisher Elsevier, and industrial representatives were present at the launching ceremony of the book compiled by SGCC President Liu Zhenya.

Between the 1960s and 1990s, Russia, Japan, the U.S. and Italy had carried out tests and studies of UHV transmission technology, but due to political factors like the disintegration of the Soviet Union and reduced demand, their UHV plans and projects all came to a premature end.