China tries Soviet-era transmission technology

China is attempting to deploy an unpopular technology for its national power grid, the Wall Street Journal reported. The ultrahigh-voltage alternating current technology is more efficient and could improve the performance of China's aging power grid. But it hasn't been widely used since the Soviet era. State Grid Corporation, the state-owned company that controls most of China's power grid, is supervising a pilot project launched last August to link parts of Shanxi province with Jingmen city in Hubei province with a 1,000 kilovolt AC transmission line. If deployed successfully, the technology could connect coal and hydropower-producing areas inland to electricity-hungry coastal areas. But the Chinese government has said the technology is not ready for mainstream deployment yet.