On September 14, 2026, the wind in the gorge of the Baiyin section of the Yellow River was faster than usual. Standing at the construction site on the mountaintop at the junction of Jingtai and Jingyuan in Gansu Province, with ravines crisscrossing at the foot and newly erected iron towers on both sides looking up. With the last wire slowly pulled into place, the Gansu Zhejiang ± 800 kV high-voltage direct current transmission project completed the construction of the Yellow River crossing, and the Gansu section of the Longdian to Zhejiang project was fully connected.

Yellow River natural ditch silver line

The Yellow River Crossing section is the only section of the entire project that crosses the Yellow River, and it is also the controlling node of the entire project. The total length of the large-span section is 2.731 kilometers. The construction team built 4 new iron towers and used an independent tension section to cross the river in one span, with a span of 1643 meters. After completion, the lowest point of the conductor was about 241 meters above the Yellow River surface, completing the construction task with high standards and quality. The four iron towers stand on the mountaintops on both sides, turning a natural barrier into a thoroughfare.

Exquisite craftsmanship overcomes difficult problems

The terrain in the passing area is steep, and strong winds frequently visit the river valley, posing multiple challenges to engineering safety control and construction accuracy. State Grid Gansu Electric Power Company organized pre control and scientific planning for all participating units, coordinated with relevant departments in advance to obtain construction records, strengthened the preparation and approval of the special construction plan for the Yellow River large-span overhead line, and standardized the completion of process transfer and acceptance. Strengthen the verification of materials and supplies in the early stage of construction, allocate personnel and resources reasonably during the construction period, strengthen job responsibilities, closely monitor key aspects of the operation, and ensure the orderly progress of construction.

This integration is not easy to come by. Previously, Gansu section has successively completed the construction of crossing Longhai Railway and Jingtian Expressway. About 24% of the tower foundations of the whole line are located in the flowing sand dune area of Tengger Desert. The builders used innovative technologies such as shallow buried gravity anchor body and cable stayed anchor drill to chew hard bones.

Green power transmission to benefit two provinces

The Longdian to Zhejiang Project is a key project in the national 14th Five Year Plan for power development and a strategic backbone project for the West East Power Transmission. It started construction in July 2024 and runs from Wuwei Converter Station in Gansu to Yuezhou Converter Station in Shaoxing, Zhejiang, passing through six provinces and regions including Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Henan, Anhui, and Zhejiang. The total length is 2370 kilometers, with a total investment of about 35.3 billion yuan and a transmission capacity of 8 million kilowatts. It is also the world's first cross regional ultra-high voltage direct current project that uses flexible DC technology for both the sending and receiving ends, which can flexibly adjust the magnitude and direction of the current and better meet the needs of large-scale new energy grid connection.

At present, both ends of the project are advancing synchronously: the Zhejiang section was fully connected in April this year, the receiving end Yuezhou converter station AC system was officially put into operation in May, and the Wuwei converter station is carrying out centralized installation of core electrical equipment. According to the plan, the project will be completed and put into operation in 2027. By then, Gansu can transmit over 36 billion kilowatt hours of electricity to Zhejiang every year, including over 21 billion kilowatt hours of new energy electricity, which is equivalent to reducing coal consumption by 6.4 million tons and carbon dioxide emissions by 17 million tons.keywords:Engineering infrastructure

From the wind and light of the Hexi Corridor to the factories and lights of the Yangtze River Delta, this silver line spans not only the Yellow River.Editor/Yang Meiling