August 26, 2013
China is already building, or has approved, more than half of a USD 100 billion network of high voltage power lines to connect remote energy producing regions.
The state grid will spend CNY 620 billion (USD 100 billion) by 2017 on 20 ultra high voltage (UHV) lines spanning nearly 20,000 km (12,000 miles). Some analysts have previously put the cost of the upgrade as high as $250 billion. 4,633 km of the lines, which are designed to minimise energy loss during transmission, had been completed and another 6,400 km was now being built.