State Grid Corp. of China, the country’s dominant power distributor, has partnered with a top insurer to build a RMB 23.1 billion ($3.3 billion) ultra-high voltage (UHV) power line to connect the energy-rich west with the power-hungry east, the company has announced, reported Caixin.
The deal marks a major step forward in the state-owned power company’s move to carry out “mixed ownership reform,” a government strategy aimed at bringing in outside investors to try to reinvigorate the country’s state sector.
For the project, the State Grid has partnered with state-owned People’s Insurance Company of China (PICC) to build the 1,587-kilometer (986 miles) line, which will transmit solar- and wind- generated electricity from Northwest China’s Qinghai province to Central China’s Henan province, the company said Tuesday. The UHV will also traverse the northwestern provinces of Gansu and Shaanxi.