January 8, 2026
Watt a time to be alive
China starts UHV power line: The new 700 km UHV line will transmit 8M kW
China’s 700 km mega power line: cheers, coal shade, and a gigawatt nerd fight
TLDR: China is building a 700 km ultra-high voltage line to send 8 gigawatts of renewables east by 2027. Commenters are split between applauding the scale, calling out coal reliance, and nitpicking the “kilowatts vs gigawatts” wording while debating whether DC or AC is best over long distances.
China just broke ground on a 700 km ultra-high voltage power line to ship a massive 8 million kilowatts (that’s 8 gigawatts) of wind and solar from Inner Mongolia to Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei by 2027—and the comments lit up like a substation. One camp is clapping hard: “China’s pushing the envelope” vibes are strong, with folks saying the U.S. ceded the spotlight and China’s grabbing it. Another crowd throws coal shade, reminding everyone China still burns a ton of coal, so big wires aren’t a clean pass unless they actually displace fossil power. Then the nerds arrived with calculators: calling it “8 million kilowatts” triggered a mini gigawatt grammar war, complete with “Back to the Future” memes and “8G-wow vs 8G-what” jokes. Beyond the snark, a practical debate emerged: High-voltage interconnects can move clean power across long distances and cut the need for big battery farms—if grid operators use them right. And a tech squabble brewed over DC vs AC: one commenter thought DC wins over long runs; others note the article was defining the term “UHV,” not the specific line’s setup. TL;DR? Big wire, big numbers, bigger opinions—this project is both a flex and a flashpoint.
Key Points
- •China has begun constructing a 700 km UHV direct current transmission line from western Inner Mongolia to Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei.
- •The line will carry up to 8 million kilowatts of renewable electricity and is expected to begin operations by 2027.
- •State Grid Corp of China is the project operator; the investment totals $2.5 billion (17.2 billion yuan).
- •This is the first UHV line in Inner Mongolia designed to support China’s strategy for large-scale wind and solar in sandy, Gobi, and desert areas.
- •UHV is defined as above 800 kV for DC and 1,000 kV for AC, enabling efficient long-distance transmission with reduced losses.