On August 6, hydropower generated in Laos was transmitted to China’s Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area through the China-Laos 500-kilovolt power interconnection project.
This power transmission is scheduled to last until the end of October, with a projected total volume of approximately 600 million kilowatt-hours. The electricity will be incorporated into market-based power trading in southern regions of China.
The project marks steadily enhanced mutual power support between China and Laos and represents further improvement in the cross-regional allocation of clean energy.
An aerial photograph of the power transmission line of the China-Laos 500-kilovolt interconnection project. [Photo/sasac.gov.cn]
The China-Laos 500-kV interconnection project was officially put into operation in April. On the day of its commissioning, photovoltaic power from bases in northern Laos was transmitted to Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, realizing the transmission of overseas new energy to China’s power market for the first time.
The successful delivery of Laotian hydropower to the Greater Bay Area further expands the distribution market of cross-border clean energy and facilitates the formation of a complementary cross-border clean energy transmission model for photovoltaic and hydro power.
China’s total market-based electricity trading from photovoltaic and hydro power through the interconnection project is expected to reach 1.5 billion kWh this year.
China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., (CSG) will continuously deepen and expand cross-border power trading to enhance the efficiency of the interconnection project and China’s West-to-East Power Transmission project. Through this, the corporation can leverage the respective energy advantages of the two countries, optimize the efficiency of energy resource allocation across the Lancang-Mekong region, and advance solid and in-depth energy cooperation under the Belt and Road Initiative.
China-Laos power interconnection cooperation has spanned more than a decade. Back in 2009, CSG first supplied electricity to northern Laos via a 115-kV power transmission line. In 2022, using the same line, the two-way China-Laos electricity trading officially began.
Since the launch of the 500-kV interconnection project in April, the bilateral power cooperation between China and Laos has entered a new stage with higher voltage, larger transmission capacity and market-oriented operation.
(Executive editor: Zuo Shihan)
