Chinese Machinery and Equipment Industry Updates

[fragel]

http://t.sina.com.cn/xiangwenbo



日本人很有意思，给三一泵车起了很多有趣的名字，还是长颈鹿最好！
4月6日 23:57 来自新浪微博
转发 | 收藏 | 评论

(1/2)日本救援汇报摘要：6日8时 50分，前方最新反馈，我司泵车在福岛核电站的优异
表现，得到了日方人员的高度评价，并给予我司泵车取名“大象”（日语称为ZOSAN）
，昨天我司泵车成功的完成了4号机组的拍摄工作，并给中央控制室提供了4号机最新的
辐射数据。原本在4号机组工作的德国＊＊58米泵车由于
4月6日 09:18 来自短信
转发(35) | 收藏 | 评论(37)
#

(2/2)臂架长度不够，且未安装上摄像头和传感器，在打水速度上也远不及我司（德国
泵车3个小时的注水工作，我司泵车仅需1小时即可完成）。因此德国58米泵车只好退出
4号机组现场，在大本营休整。后续4号机组将由我司的泵车负责注水。目前4号机组水
已注满，我司泵车今天将休整1天。
4月6日 09:18 来自短信

[7freedom7]

How China is "taking over Europe"

BERLIN, Germany — China’s third richest man, Liang Wengen, launched a new $140 million factory amid considerable fanfare last week.

The construction machinery plant stands in a town on a river outside a well-known industrial hub. But it’s not Shanghai on the Huangpu River.

Rather, the new factory built by Liang’s firm, Sany, is in the town of Bedburg near the Rhine River just west of Cologne, in Germany’s industrial heartland.

Chinese products, Liang told reporters, were seen around the world as cheap and second-class.

“It is my determination to change that,” he said.

So China has come to the country famed for its first-class manufacturing because it fully intends to become first-class itself. Public officials celebrated the move, but the cooperation with Germany also holds warning signs for the industrial giant, and by extension the United States, as China gains economic influence and global know-how.

But this week, the fanfare was on again, as Premier Wen Jiabao landed in Berlin and was greeted by Chancellor Angela Merkel. Wen brought with him 13 ministers who held a joint cabinet meeting with Merkel’s government — a gesture of closeness Germany has never made to a country outside Europe, except Israel.

Together, the leaders signed 14 new agreements and China inked $15 billion in new business deals, including the purchase of 62 new Airbus A320 passenger jets.

Both leaders used the term “a new chapter” to describe their deepening relationship, which comes at a time when some observers fear the emerging Asian giant is poised for a European invasion.

Germany’s celebrated economic boom is in large part thanks to China, which is now its third largest trading partner after France and the United States.

Nearly one in four Volkswagen cars are today sold in China. And as an emerging economy, China can’t get enough of Germany’s precision machine tools to outfit its production plants.

“China may be the world’s factory, but German companies are building it,” management consultant and author Bernd Venohr told a recent conference in Vienna.

During Wen’s visit, Merkel and German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle both spoke out on human rights and political reform in China, mentioning for instance the artist Ai Weiwei who, after sitting in jail since April, was released last week ahead of Wen’s European tour.

Wen responded with what seemed a rehearsed response, politely telling the West to focus on what it had in common with China, rather than the differences.

Germany, in short, is extremely grateful for China. But as the new Sany plant in the Rhineland shows, China is also ambitiously getting involved in Germany and Europe — and not just as a trading partner.

“China is taking over Europe,” the European Council on Foreign Relations wrote this week in a preview of a major paper on Chinese-European relations that will be released this month.

The co-author of the paper, senior policy fellow Jonas Parello-Plesner, said the biggest concern was the imbalance in the growing relationship. If Spain or Poland wants to built a highway, Chinese firms can bid for the contract — which they do, often successfully. But European firms, with limited exceptions, can’t do the same in China because its government procurement rules favor Chinese firms.

If Europe were more united right now, it could present a common front against such one-sidedness, but instead individual countries are striking deals with China when it suits them.

“This isn’t China-bashing. You take economic opportunities where you can,” Parello-Plesner said. “It’s about Europe’s strategy on China, which was embryonic before and is now much more difficult because countries don’t want to wait for" the European Union to coordinate a united front. “As Europeans compete with each other for Chinese business, they diminish their leverage and thus reduce their chances of collectively striking a better deal with China.”

Another example of the one-sidedness is China’s method of effectively poaching European know-how. If a German wind turbine company wants to sell its products in China, it has to meet a 70 percent local content rule. Effectively that means building a factory in China and partnering with a local firm.

After a few years, the local firm has earned a lot of German technical knowledge and can make its own wind turbines to the same standard more cheaply, a process known as “involuntary technology transfer.”

Until now, European firms have accepted the trade-off because it gives them access to a huge market, meaning they’re better off overall. But the next phase, Parello-Plesner says, may be Chinese firms undercutting Germans in third markets — selling wind turbines to, say, Latin America — with what are essentially knock-offs of German products.

Right now, China is a bountiful market. But increasingly it will become a tough competitor.

“China is the most serious competitor for German firms,” said author Hermann Simon, of the consultancy Simon-Kucher & Partners. “I have visited factories in China that are already world class.”

Then there’s the bonds issue. Over the past year, China has arrived as a white knight, buying Greek and Spanish bonds, which props up their shaky government debt and reassures markets. But the help comes at a price.

China’s so-called bond diplomacy had “serious implications for Europe’s ability to present a united front to China on issues including trade reciprocity, climate change and human rights,” Parello-Plesner wrote in his preview paper this week.

For example, China bought Greek bonds last year as “a quid pro quo for acquiring major public assets.”

The chief danger in all this for the United States is that, as the world’s number one and two exporters, China and Germany are united against Washington’s attempts to curb their massive trade surpluses.

Washington wants China and Germany to stimulate their own domestic demands through higher wages and tax cuts so that they buy more U.S. goods. The exporting duo joined forces to resist this pressure at last year’s G20 meeting in Seoul.

For all the triumph and mutual respect of Wen’s visit, German commentators were skeptical, with newspaper editorials and opinion pages bristling with warnings that China was using economics to further its strategic aims.

The German mass-circulation tabloid Bild, a reasonable barometer of the nation’s sensitivities, ran a picture of a grinning Wen. The caption read: “What hides behind this smile?”

[7freedom7]

Sany Group's Wengen family tops China's rich-family list



The Liang Wengen family, which owns the Sany Group, a leading heavy-construction equipment manufacturer, is China's richest family, with a net worth of 59.8 billion yuan (US$9.28 billion), according to the 2011 list of China's 3000 richest families, published in July by Financial Weekly, China's most influential media publication in wealth management. The Sany Group succeeds the Haipu Rui Li Li family, which topped the list last year.

The fourth edition of the list includes seven sub-lists of the wealthiest in the new energy, information technology and manufacturing industries, overseas companies, and among the nouveau riche.

The list is drawn from wealth-related statistics of 23,179 Chinese families. The most number of newly wealthy individuals were seen in the biotech, information technology, new energy and manufacturing sectors, the survey found.

According to the list, the manufacturing industry had 2,018 rich families, biotech 1,236, and IT 3,789.

Compared with the biotech and new energy industries, the wealth of the richest individuals in the manufacturing sector was not significant. Of them, only the wealth of the family that owns GoerTek Inc, and the Hikvision Gonghong Jia family, was more than 10 billion yuan (US$1.55 billion).

This was the first time the family of the 55-year-old Liang Wengen was ranked first on the list, while IT giant Baidu's promoters, the Robin Li family won second place with 53.6 billion yuan (US$8.31 billion), and Hengda Real Estate's Xu Jiayin family ranked third.

Of note, the Robin Li family moved up to second place from last year's sixth place and 2009's 27th place despite the company facing legal disputes over Baidu's library allegedly infringing the copyrights of local writers.

Like Haipu Rui Li Li family, which was named the richest last year, the Chiu Guang family of Semir, China's leading casual clothing and children's wear brand, climbed into the top ten shortly after being listed.

However, this year, the Li Li family failed to stay at the top, being demoted instead to 18th place, with its wealth decreasing by 11.8 billion yuan (US$1.83 billion) from last year's 35.5 billion yuan (US$5.51 billion).

In addition, the report pointed out that the property industry had gradually lost its competitiveness, with its wealth decreasing 80 percent to 445.7 billion yuan (US$69.13 billion), from last year's 2.245 trillion yuan (US$348.22 billion).

[7freedom7]

Sany Heavy Industry Aims to Surpass Komatsu in 2011
Jun 20, 2011 23:14 PM EDT

Komatsu's rival in China, Sany Heavy Industry, saw its revenue quadruple from CNY 13.5 billion in 2007 to CNY 50.2 billion in 2010. It has 57% of the concrete pump car market share in China.

Sany's power shovel sales in China reached 12,000 units in 2010 and surpassed Caterpillar, the second largest maker following Komatsu (17,000 units).

Sany has developed a superior design for power shovels to Komatsu's in terms of fuel consumption per hour. In addition, Sany's products are cheaper than Komatsu's.

http://www.coverago.com/ci/company/4.../clarity/81481

[lianli]

Sany Will Buy Cement-Pump Maker Putzmeister in Biggest China-German Deal

Sany Heavy Industry Co., the construction-equipment maker run by China’s richest man, agreed to buy German concrete pump maker Putzmeister Holding GmbH in what they said is the largest Chinese-German transaction yet.

Sany and Chinese private equity company CITIC PE Advisors Ltd. will buy 100 percent of Putzmeister for an undisclosed price, according to an e-mailed statement today. Aichtal in Germany will become Sany’s new headquarter for concrete machinery and Norbert Scheuch will remain in his position as the head of Putzmeister under the Chinese owner.

Putzmeister, which has 3,000 employees and sales of 570 million euros ($751 million), provided concrete pumps to quell the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan last year and the Chernobyl meltdown in the 1980s. Chinese companies are increasingly hunting for European targets. Chinese solar-panel maker LDK Solar Co. plans to buy Germany’s Sunways AG (SWW) and Italian luxury-yacht builder Ferretti Group was sold to Shandong Heavy Industry Group-Weichai Group.

“With this merger Putzmeister and Sany will create a new and global market leader for concrete pumps,” said Liang Wengen, chairman and founder of Sany, in the statement. “Putzmeister will remain as an independent brand with its own management within the Sany group.”

BLOOMBERG

BTW I'm thinking about opening a thread about Chinese takeovers (which are getting more and more these days) in this forum. Anyone thinks it's a good idea?

[CoCoMilk]

Definitely...these acquisitions are good news! You can ask mod to change the title of this thread.

[everywhere]

From China Daily and China Economic (May 08 edition)

China to expand high-end manufacturing equipment sector

China to expand high-end equipment sector
05/08/2012

China is looking to triple the sales revenue of its high-end equipment manufacturing industry to 6 trillion yuan ($951 billion) by 2015, according to the sector's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15) published on Monday by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.


Sales of high-end equipment will account for 15 percent of the overall revenue of the equipment manufacturing industry in three years, compared with 8 percent in 2010, and will also have a larger share of the global market, according to the plan on the ministry's website.


The proportion of revenue is expected to further expand to 25 percent by 2020, when high-end equipment manufacturing becomes a pillar industry of the world's second-largest economy.


In 2010, the sales income of high-end equipment in China was 1.6 trillion yuan.


The boom in the sector was attributed to China's fast-growing industrial economy, which has had the top position worldwide since 2009, according to the plan.


"China's equipment manufacturing industry is big, but not yet strong," said Ren Hongbin, chairman of Sinomach, the country's largest machinery maker.


According to Ren, China's mechanical industry, the main part of the equipment manufacturing industry, is the world's largest, having a main business income of 16.48 trillion yuan in 2011. But the country still faced a total trade deficit of more than $100 billion with Japan and Germany.


"It reflected the huge gap between China and the worlds' leading high-end equipment manufacturers," Ren was quoted by ce.cn, an economic news website, as saying.


The high-end equipment manufacturing industry was named as one of seven "strategic emerging industries" by the country's 12th Five-Year Plan.
The industry mainly includes aviation equipment, satellite and applications, railway transportation equipment, marine engineering equipment, and smart manufacturing equipment.


Aircraft manufacturing will be one of the key growth areas, as the plan vowed to introduce a new regional-aircraft research project, while seeking annual sales of 100 planes in the next three years by accelerating the innovation and promotion of existing models such as the ARJ-21 and MA 60.


Meanwhile, China will continue to invest in high-speed railway innovation and the exploration of global markets to establish its railway transport industry as the world leader.


China's equipment manufacturing industry has been growing at more than 25 percent annually over the past decade. A report by China International Capital Corp said this growth rate will be sustained despite an economic slowdown.


"The key drivers of the development, which are industrialization and urbanization, have not changed," the report said.


CICC's estimate was proved by KHL Group's latest ranking of world's largest construction equipment manufacturers, in which China's Sany Group and Zoomlion Co Ltd are the sixth- and seventh-largest by revenue.


However, it will not be easy for Chinese equipment manufacturers to cash in on the huge demand in the domestic market, Cai Weici, vice-president of the China Machinery Industry Federation, said earlier.


"Foreign high-end equipment providers usually charge high prices for their products, which we cannot make, and cut the price immediately after our products make progress to stifle Chinese brands in the cradle," Cai said.

[everywhere]

from China Daily and China Economic (May 09, 2012)

Innovation to boost shipbuilder's fleet

"Welding a vessel for liquefied natural gas is technically demanding because special steel is used, and different skills, equipment and materials are required," said Rao, who has 29 years of welding experience.

Offshore engineering facilities, such as oil rigs, require different underwater strength, Rao said.

The company is banking on such technical innovation to strengthen its competitiveness and help it through market doldrums. As early as 2005, the company started its research and development on very large crude carriers and ore carriers.

"Because of a lack of proprietary brand names, a significant portion of the manufacturing of our country is reduced to low-end processing. From the very beginning, we were determined to take the path of innovation," Yu Baoshan, chairman of the company, said.

The 308,000-deadweight-ton crude carriers, the 230,000 DWT ore carriers and the 82,000 DWT bulk carrier are in the leading ranks judged by international standards and have found a niche in the market for their efficiency.

The company has delivered 20 vessels with a combined 4.17 million DWTs and is building 17 more vessels. It aims to have annual capacity of 3.5 million DWTs and up to five world-renowned classic models by the end of 2015.

The market for the carriers has been highly competitive, and as CSSC Guangzhou Longxue Shipbuilding expands its market, it should go further into developing offshore engineering products, said Huang Lijun, secretary-general of the Guangdong Association of Shipbuilding Industry.

As a joint venture among China State Shipbuilding Corp, Baosteel Group Corp and China Shipping (Group) Co, it benefits from the close cooperation in shipbuilding, steel supply and ocean shipping to beat the volatile market.

The company has its shipbuilding base on Longxue Island in Nansha district, Guangzhou.

With other shipbuilders in the Pearl River Delta, it forms one of the three major shipbuilding bases in China, with the other two around Bohai Bay and the Yangtze estuary.

The Longxue base helps fulfill the national plan of becoming a world shipbuilding power with annual production of 22 million DWTs by 2015, up from 17 million DWTs in 2010.

The finished vessels, new orders and orders at hand for Chinese shipbuilders accounted for 45.1 percent, 52.2 percent and 43.3 percent of world totals last year.

Due to the weak global economic recovery, new orders received by Chinese shipbuilders fell 51.9 percent to 36.2 million DWTs last year, according to the China Association of the National Shipbuilding Industry. About one-third of the shipbuilders surveyed failed to receive any new orders.

The global shipbuilding industry is facing a gloomier situation this year, with a continued fall in the prices of new vessels.

The prices for large container vessels and liquefied natural gas vessels, however, are expected to be stable.

[7freedom7]

Thanks for sharing the news with us.

Are you Pinoy btw?

[everywhere]

Originally Posted by 7freedom7

Thanks for sharing the news with us.

Are you Pinoy btw?

Yep. Don't worry, views from the government and the local media does NOT exactly represents the viewpoints of ordinary locals.

[everywhere]

from CRI English (May 11):

Sino-US company promotes coal technology

Leading energy companies from the U.S. and China jointly established a new company in Shanghai on Thursday to promoteclean coal and coal gasification power generation technology.

Technology that can generate power via coal gasification will be promoted through the establishment of General Electric (GE) Shenhua Gasification Technology Co., Ltd., according to a press release.

The company was jointly created by China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical Co., Ltd. and GE China with an investment of six million U.S. dollars, with each side holding 50 percent of the company, the companies said.

The company will focus on research and promotion for coal gasification technology, according to Lu Zhengping, board chairman of the new company and president of China Shenhua Coal to Liquid and Chemical.

Compared to traditional coal power generation, the new technology can reduce emissions of nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide by 33 and 75 percent, respectively, Lu said.

The technology is expected to form a market with millions of dollars of annual volume, said Paul F. Browning, president of thermal products for GE Energy.

Another goal of the joint venture is to enhance the development of clean coal in China, Browning said.

He said clean coal technology, which is used to transform low-value coal into high-value gas, has a great price advantage in light of the rapidly spiking cost of gasoline.

China's energy structure, with its abundant coal resources and relatively scarce oil resources, has emphasized the importance of the new technology in maintaining energy security, he said.

[everywhere]

Since 2010, China overtook S. Korea as the world's biggest shipbuilder and that same year, Chinese shipyards received more orders than Japanese or South Korean counterparts. But last year, S. Korean shipbuilders reclaimed the slot, although Chinese shipbuilders produced more ships.



from CRI English/Xinhua English (April 30)

Chinese shipbuilders sail choppy waters

Chinese shipbuilding companies saw sharp declines in output and new orders in the first quarter, as the industry rolled on the choppy seas of global and domestic slowdowns.


New shipbuilding orders fell 48.7 percent year on year to 5.59 million deadweight tonnes (DWT) during the first three months, according to a report released Monday by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), China's top economic planner.


Ship owners around the world tend not to expand their fleets when global demand for goods and services remains sluggish.


For China's ship manufacturers, completed shipbuilding volume also fell 22.5 percent year on year to 11.21 million DWT in the first quarter, with incomplete orders declining 25.3 percent year on year to 141.94 million DWT by the end of March, according to NDRC data.


In the January-March period, the industrial output of China's large shipbuilders totaled 181.3 billion yuan (28.87 billion U.S. dollars), up 7.3 percent from a year ago, marking the fifth consecutive month of deceleration.


Due to slack external demand, ships delivered overseas tumbled 22.3 percent annually to 9.47 million DWT, with the export shipment falling 8.3 percent annually to 64.3 billion yuan.


The NDRC said severe challenges for the country's shipbuilding industry loom ahead, as insufficient external demand, shrinking orders and increasing defaults on contracts will continue to squeeze the sector's profitability.


According to the NDRC, combined profits of shipbuilding companies stood at 4.45 billion yuan in the first two months, up a meager 0.8 percent from a year ago.

[everywhere]

from CRI English/Xinhua English (March 14)

Environment Equipment Output Rises 32%

The output value of China's environmental equipment industry rose 31.64 percent year-on-year to reach 130.46 billion yuan (20.71 billion U.S. dollars) in 2011, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said Wednesday.

Sales of the sector climbed 31.09 percent from one year earlier to 126.89 billion yuan last year, while its profit margin increased 0.3 percent to hit 7.53 percent, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Exports rose 25.66 percent to 5.08 billion yuan, while fixed asset investment jumped 36.68 percent to 23.9 billion yuan.

Despite an improvement in profitability, the industry still struggled with rising raw material and labor costs as well as capital shortages, according to the statement.

[everywhere]

from China Daily (Mar. 28)

Machinery industry forecasts continued growth

BEIJING - China's machinery industry expects to maintain steady growth this year, according to Cai Weici, vice-president of the China Machinery Industry Federation.


The industry's revenue is expected to increase by about 18 percent over 2011, Cai said at a recent event to launch the 11th China International Machine Tool & Tools Exhibition, which will run from June 12-16.


Cai predicted that profits will increase by about 12 percent and foreign trade volume by about 15 percent.


The exhibition will be held at Beijing's New China International Exhibition Center and will showcase cutting-edge machine tools and equipment.

[everywhere]

fromChina Economic/China Daily (Apr. 10)

Recovery lifting heavy machinery

Compelling opportunities in the post-recession era


China's heavy machinery industry is finding compelling global opportunities in the post-recession era, company executives told China Daily at an awards ceremony for the sector's top 50 products held at the end of last month.


Shan Zenghai, director of the technical center at State-owned Xuzhou Construction Machinery Group, said he is "optimistic" about the world's machinery market in the near term.


"Very few markets are as developed as Europe, North America and Japan, and the markets in most emerging countries are all increasing sharply," he explained. "Although the world market has shrunk due to the economic crisis, we still find great opportunities in some hot markets including Russia, India and Brazil."


Shan's idea was echoed by Zhu Dan, vice-general manager of Sany Heavy Industry Co Ltd, a leading privately owned Chinese machinery manufacturer.


"About 80 percent of our company's sales revenue has come from the domestic market until now, and the economic recovery in overseas markets makes me optimistic about the future," said Zhu.


He said Sany started its international business in 2008, and plans to integrate its global resources in the coming five years.


Earlier this year, the company announced the acquisition of Germany's Putzmeister Holding GmbH, the world's largest concrete pump producer, which will make Sany "a new global leader in the concrete-pumping machinery industry".


Completed with the assistance of Citic PE Advisors (Hong Kong) Co Ltd, the purchase "is a milestone in China's machinery industry", said Zhu.



"Putzmeister is a symbol of top technology in the field, and after the acquisition, we can improve our own technologies and products."


"And Putzmeister, in turn, can share Sany's sales and service network in China," he added.




Focus on R&D

Beside the mega M&As, construction machinery maker XCMG has plans to cooperate with international counterparts on product reliability and core parts, which are "two of the key barriers for the Chinese machinery industry".


"Take the large-tonnage hoisters sector for example. Around 70 percent of our profit goes to providers of core parts and technologies," said Shan.


Acquisitions of overseas manufacturers of machinery will be one of the company's strategies in the years to come to help the company "develop proprietary intellectual property in core parts", said the XCMG technical chief.


On March 20 the Chinese machinery giant started construction in Shanghai on a new R&D and manufacturing center, which will be the largest in China except for the company's Xuzhou headquarters.


Shan said a future focus for XCMG will be expanding into new business sectors including mining machinery and marine engineering equipment, with another push to come in "upgrading technologies in traditional sectors".


"Machinery manufacturing in the entire country has a large scale, but it is weak in R&D," he said. "To make it stronger, we have to pay more attention to the development of technologies rather than just the products since improved technologies improve products."


He said many small and medium-sized machinery companies in Europe are leaders in some key technologies, but are "conservative when it comes to marketing".


"Chinese companies such as XCMG, on the other hand, are advanced in industrialization and marketing, so if we join with European counterparts, we can soon make a win-win effect."


Shan said there will be still "a decade of good days" in the Chinese domestic market for the industry due to the nation's continuing urbanization.


"The industry is an epitome of infrastructure construction, and the scale of infrastructure construction decides the need for engineering machinery," he said.


XCMG and Sany shared the top prize in the 2011 awards.

[7freedom7]

Originally Posted by everywhere

Yep. Don't worry, views from the government and the local media does NOT exactly represents the viewpoints of ordinary locals.

Hah, welcome to the Chinese subforum everywhere

We aspire to meet up with the productive and contributing person here even if we might share different political views. Sometimes I personally tend to be a critical person that disagrees with some of the my govt's polices, I think we may share something in common

Free feel to post here, anyways. Good day to you!

[everywhere]

Originally Posted by 7freedom7

Hah, welcome to the Chinese subforum everywhere

We aspire to meet up with the productive and contributing person here even if we might share different political views. Sometimes I personally tend to be a critical person that disagrees with some of the my govt's polices, I think we may share something in common

Free feel to post here, anyways. Good day to you!

No country is perfect. Each has its own problems the government and its citizens has to face.

[7freedom7]

I agree with you, and that might be one of the reasons why the standoff happened.

[everywhere]

Originally Posted by 7freedom7

I agree with you, and that might be one of the reasons why the standoff happened.

That's one. Second, it is really with the Philippines and Vietnam - in their interpretation of UNCLOS. Does these two claimants wish America will do the job to stop China? Of course not!

America is NOT a signee of UNCLOS for many of its provisions are against her vested interests!

I think it is much better if this topic should be placed in In The News subforum.

Need to look for more machinery-related news instead.

[everywhere]

Since power-generating equipment is technically part of the machinery and equipment sector, it is even noteworthy to feature them as well.


related post on China Mega Projects thread yesterday (China Daily and China Economic, May 14):

China building power transmission line of world's largest capacity

Construction of an ultra-high voltage power transmission line designed with the world's largest capacity started Sunday in China's far western Xinjiang region.


The 800 kv ultra-high voltage direct current (UHVDC) transmission line connects the energy base of Hami prefecture in eastern Xinjiang with the central city of Zhengzhou, according to the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), the project contractor.


The 2,210-km-long line goes through the vast region of Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Shanxi, and Henan. It costs 23.39 billion yuan (3.7 billion U.S.dollars), and is designed to have a transmission capacity of 8 million kw upon completion in 2014, setting up a new world record.


The line will transmit 37 billion kwh on average annually, according to Liu Zhenya, general manager of the State Grid Corporation of China. "We can reduce 317,000 tonnes of sulfur dioxide and 267,000 tonnes of nitrogen oxide which would otherwise be produced during the transportation," Liu said.


Zhou Yongkang, a member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, attended the construction launch ceremony in Xinjiang.


In the meantime, a second 750-kv HVDC transmission line which links Xinjiang with the main network of the Northwest China Grid Co. Ltd. kicked off on Sunday.


With an investment of 9.56 billion yuan, the 2,180-km-long line will become the major route to transmit wind and solar power generated in Hami prefecture, Jiuquan city of Gansu province, and Qaidam basin in Qinghai province to the rest parts of the country.


The construction boom of the ultra-high voltage power transmission lines came as the country strives to transmit the electricity from the energy-rich west to the booming central and eastern regions.


Xinjiang has 2 trillion tonnes of coal reserve, one third of which is in Hami. Meanwhile, Hami is one of the country's major wind power bases.


China's large energy bases are mostly distributed in the west and north, more than 2,000 km from the power network load centers in the eastern and central regions, said Zhang Guobao, director of Expert Advisory Committee under the National Energy Administration.


"The ultra-high power transmission lines are a way out for the country's imbalanced distribution of energy reserve," Zhang said.


Ultra-high voltage power transmission (UHVPT) projects, however, have met many obstacles, as some doubt whether the technology is mature enough and can bring about economic benefit.


China has been suffering prolonged and ever worsening power shortage in recent years, a driving force for the country to develop long-distance, high-voltage power transmission lines.


Starting from March 2011, an unprecedented power shortage swept most southern and eastern provinces and municipalities, with a supply gap of 30 million kilowatts, according to China Electricity Council.
"In spite of the controversy, the projects will continuously be carried forward," said Zhou Fengqi, deputy president of China Energy Society.


Industry insiders have said the State Grid Corporation of China will push for the construction of four alternating current and three direct current ultra-high voltage power transmission lines across the country, with an investment exceeding 300 billion yuan in 2012 alone.