How China’s giant power lines fuel its electric cars and high-speed trains

The fast-growing popularity of electric vehicles and high-speed railways has made China increasingly hungry for electricity.

China's most powerful ultrahigh-voltage cable line stretches for over 2,000 miles across Xinjiang to Anhui and transmits solar and wind power from the desert to highly populated areas like Beijing, Hangzhou, and Shanghai. It has the capacity to supply as much energy as tens of millions of households. China has 41 such lines currently, each transmitting more current than America's biggest ultrahigh-voltage lines, the New York Times reported.

Why China builds so fast

The fast-growing popularity of electric vehicles and high-speed railways has made China increasingly hungry for electricity. Battery-powered cars account for half of China's new car sales, and its high-speed railways, which span a whopping 30,000 miles, are powered electrically. With most of China's renewable energy plants situated in western and northern China, which are remote from the settlements, Beijing is in a race to install a nationwide ultrahigh-voltage grid to bridge the shortfall.

Technologies and scale

Almost all of the new lines are based on a direct current system, which has a possible loss minimization when transmitted over long distances. By the end of 2024, China had 19 lines of 800 kilovolts and 22 of 1,000 kilovolts, and a single line of 1,100 kilovolts—the highest in the world. For comparison, the United States has a few lines of 765 kilovolts and lower. The gap serves to emphasize China's hitherto unprecedented scale and investment.

Informing policy and planning

China's ultrahigh-voltage expansion gathered steam following the 2011 Fukushima catastrophe and the 2008 global economic meltdown, when Beijing invested increasingly in renewable energy and transmission infrastructure. President Xi Jinping's goal to treble wind and solar capacity by 2030 was attained a half-decade ahead of schedule, much to the astonishment of state planners. To absorb it all, building out the grid became a subject of supreme national interest.

Regional impacts and issues

Although villagers along the lines tell of harrowing incidents—like shocks when grasping umbrellas or fishing rods—they have not opposed building, seeing the projects as essential to the nation. Some, however, remain concerned about health and interference with the functioning of the villages. Signs cautioning against electrocution are prevalent, but fishers continue to fish beneath the lines.

Global climate effects

China already consumes twice as much electricity as the United States and still uses more coal as a percentage of its energy portfolio than the rest of the world. But it has an ultrahigh-voltage system that can bring clean energy produced in remote desert areas to power cities, reducing air pollution. Chinese air quality has been reduced by 41 percent since 2014, as a University of Chicago paper found, increasing average lifespan by nearly two years. To maintain that momentum, it needs the ultrahigh-voltage grid.