China's State Grid breaks ground on major Brazil power project

In what is the largest power transmission concession project by investment scale in Brazil to date, State Grid Corp of China has broken ground on a 1,468-kilometer ultra-high voltage (UHV) superhighway designed to funnel clean energy directly to the nation's capital.

The ±800-kilovolt direct current transmission line, designed to deliver renewable energy from Brazil's resource-rich northeast to its central and eastern load centers, will be funded, built and operated by the Brazilian subsidiary of State Grid.

Following the successful implementation of the Belo Monte UHV Phase I and Phase II projects, also in Brazil, it is the third overseas UHV transmission project undertaken by State Grid.

Scheduled to be ready for full operations by 2029 under a 30-year concession agreement, the massive network leverages China's advanced UHV direct current transmission technology.

In addition to the nearly 1,500-kilometer transmission line, the project will feature two newly built converter stations and related supporting facilities, and boast a rated transmission capacity of 5 million kilowatts.

Once completed, the power transmission superhighway is projected to clear the existing bottlenecks restricting the outward delivery of new energy from the northeast.

By bundling clean energy sources — including wind, solar and hydropower — and channeling them directly to major load centers such as the Brasilia area, the project will significantly enhance regional power supply security and reliability.