In Brazil's latest power grid map, a new transmission line stretching from the northern state of Para's Belo Monte Dam in the deep Amazon basin to the southern economic centers will become the first "electricity super highway" in both the country and Latin America.
This new 800kV ultra-high-voltage (UHV) direct current (DC) transmission project, with a designed length of over 2,000 kilometers, was launched in May by the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) as a model of bilateral production capacity cooperation. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang and Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff witnessed the launch.
Preliminary construction work is still underway. This line is the first UHV transmission project that the SGCC, China's largest power distributor, has won overseas, which marks a milestone in the "going-out" strategy for China's UHV technologies, the company said.
RIGHT CHOICE FOR BRAZIL
Brazil, like China, is a country with a vast territory whose energy consumption centers are far from where the resources are located.
In order to transmit electricity from hydropower stations in the Amazon region in the north to the consumption centers like southern states Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, the Brazilian government in 2013 decided to use the UHV technology, which can transmit a large capacity of electricity over long distances with low loss.
With the first UHV alternating current (AC) project being put into operation in January 2009 and the first UHV DC project in July 2010, China became the first country to have successfully operated a UHV business in another country, said Liu Zhenya, president and CEO of the SGCC.
Chinese technology, which has been tested in operations for years, therefore became the best choice for Brazil.
In February 2014, a consortium formed by State Grid Brazil Holding and two Brazilian companies won the first bid to build and operate a 2084-km transmission line connecting the Belo Monte hydropower plant to the southern state of Minas Gerais near Sao Paulo and converter stations. Last month, State Grid Brazil Holding won the second bid to build a 2,250-km transmission linking the Belo Monte power plant to the town of Nova Iguacu near Rio de Janeiro.
The constructions are expected to be finished in four years and State Grid Brazil will maintain the concession for 30 years.
