At the construction site of Jingmen Ultra High Voltage Station, the new foundation pit for the main transformer has been excavated. This old station, which has been in operation for over 17 years, will welcome the first ultra-high voltage expansion project to start construction in Hubei Province's 15th Five Year Plan on September 22, 2026. It will officially move from the terminal station of the former experimental demonstration project to a new identity as the energy hub of the Central China Power Grid.

Core capacity upgrade

This expansion will add a set of 3000 megavolt ampere main transformers and supporting low-voltage devices. The project is planned to be completed and put into operation in October 2027. Unlike previous expansions that mainly focused on connecting external lines, this expansion directly targets the leap in core capacity, and the station's ability to regulate power flow will be greatly improved.

As the terminal station of the first commercially operated ultra-high voltage AC project in China, Jingmen Station has completed its identity transformation from a single transmission terminal to a cross regional core hub station after the completion of the Huazhong Japanese shaped ultra-high voltage ring network by the end of 2022. The latest industry data shows that in 2026, the scale of cross provincial and cross regional electricity trading in Central China will increase by 42% year-on-year, and the demand for new energy cross provincial consumption will increase by 57% year-on-year. Station expansion is a key action to adapt to this trend.

Formation of regional grid structure

After the new capacity is put into operation, Jingmen Station will form an integrated energy grid with two external power supply channels, Jinsha River to Hubei and Shaanbei to Hubei, as well as other nodes of the Central China ultra-high voltage AC ring network. The surplus electricity from Henan can be smoothly transmitted to Hubei, and Hubei can quickly transfer electricity from North China during peak hours. The consumption space during the period of new energy generation is further opened up, and the power supply support capacity during peak load periods is synchronously enhanced.

The site will directly break through the bottleneck of power transmission in the vicinity of the Three Gorges, promoting the acceleration of the formation of a resource allocation platform that complements wind, solar, water, fire, and other energy sources. Keywords: ultra-high voltage, power grid energy

The construction machinery next to the foundation pit is already in place. This station, which witnesses China's ultra-high voltage from testing to leading, will be supported by stronger capacity and become the core hub for optimizing the allocation of energy resources in the Central China region.Editor/Cheng Liting