The Gansu-to-Shandong ±800 kV ultra-high voltage direct current transmission line originates from the Qingyang converter station in Gansu province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The power line between Gansu and Shandong has linked resource-rich northwestern China with major power-consuming regions in the east, reshaping the country's power flow patterns and improving cross-regional energy allocation efficiency.

As a key corridor under China's West-to-East Power Transmission strategy, the Gansu-to-Shandong ±800 kV ultra-high-voltage direct current (UHV DC) transmission project is the country's first large-scale transmission line integrating wind, solar and thermal storage resources. It delivers electricity from Qingyang in Gansu province to Dongping in Shandong province, providing a stable large-scale electricity supply to eastern China while advancing the country's "dual carbon" goals.

Since its operation on May 8, 2025, the project has transmitted 28.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity, enough to power about 8 million three-person households for one year, according to State Grid Gansu Electric Power Company.

Using ±800 kV UHV DC transmission technology with a capacity of 8 million kilowatts, the project is the first UHV DC transmission line commissioned during the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-25), according to Zhang Jun, director of the main grid planning division at the company. It is also the country's first UHV DC project to achieve full-capacity operation in a single commissioning.

"After reaching full-capacity operation, this project will be able to transmit more than 36 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity from Gansu to Shandong annually, equivalent to about one-third of the annual power generation of the Three Gorges Dam," said Liu Kequan, director of the dispatching division at the State Grid Gansu Electric Power Dispatching Center.

Along the Bohai Bay coast in Shandong province, ports including Weifang, Binzhou and Dongying are using electricity transmitted from Gansu to support operations.