China will share: Thousands of kilometers of ultra-high voltage lines are planned in Russia

To reduce the cost of electricity in Russia plans to build 4,370 km of direct current transmission lines with a capacity of up to 1.5 GW. Power lines for the transmission of electricity over ultra-long distances are actively used in China.

Until 2042 in Russia is going to build power plants with a total capacity of 88 GW.

"The most important issue that needs to be solved here is the cost of a kilowatt—hour for the end user. Despite all the challenges, embargoes and sanctions, we must make it, firstly, economically justified, and secondly, accessible, including for future generations who will use the electric power complex after us," Energy Minister Sergei Tsivilev said at a meeting of the Federation Council, reports the Parliamentary Newspaper.

One of the ways to reduce the cost is technologies that allow the transmission of electricity over long distances with minimal losses.

According to the minister, today the power line in Russia is capable of transmitting current with a capacity of no more than one gigawatt. At the same time, during 2030-2036, within the framework of five projects, it is planned to build 4,370 km of direct current transmission lines with a capacity of up to 1.5 GW. They are designed to transmit electricity over ultra-long distances.

The Minister's presentation also talks about plans for the introduction of domestic industrial software, the creation of an industrial testing ground for artificial intelligence and the development of an AI certification system.

Deputy Minister Dmitry Islamov previously said that in 2024, almost 60% of fuel and energy companies already used AI — this is almost twice as much as in 2021.

It is obvious that China will provide assistance in ultrahigh voltage transmission lines. The system operator of the Unified Energy System of Russia had previously announced a partnership with the State Electric Grid Corporation of China, the world's largest utility provider.

In June, a delegation of the Russian operator visited China.

"China's power engineers have accumulated extensive experience in the use of long-distance power transmission technologies. In the conditions of increasing power consumption in It is important for us to study this experience in Russia and the need to develop energy infrastructure. Therefore, at a meeting with colleagues from the dispatching center of the State Energy Committee of China in Shanghai, we touched upon a wide range of issues related to managing power system modes in the context of implementing DC transmission technology, including discussing approaches to setting up relay protection devices, principles of emergency automation, forecasting the RES load and planning the development of the power system," said the first deputy chairman of the System Operator Sergey Pavlushko.

The Russian delegation visited a number of key energy facilities. For example, the 800 kV Gusu substation in Jiangsu is part of one of the most powerful UHVDC DC transits in the world. Or the 500 kV Jin'an underground substation in Shanghai is an example of a rational solution to the problem of shortage of territories in urban conditions.