Guest Editorial Smart Grid Technologies and Development in China

Building a strong smart grid has been listed as one of the goals in the Chinese government’s Nation Twelfth Five-Year Plan. In 2010, the State Grid Corporation of China, as the largest utility in the world, announced plans to invest $250 billion in electric power infrastructure upgrades from 2011 to 2015, among which $45 billion is earmarked for smart grid technologies. Another $240 billion will be added to complete the smart grid projects from 2016 to 2020. Another Chinese national utility—China Southern Power Grid, also launched its smart grid roadmap in 2011 to build a smart, efficient, reliable, and green grid in the next ten years. Ultimately, the goal of the Chinese government is to build a strong national smart grid capable of transmitting power from conventional and renewable energy sources to the remote load centers. Besides the advances in substations and distribution systems, ultrahigh voltage (UHV) (1000 kV ac and ±800 kV dc) transmission is a salient feature in the Chinese smart grid definition and development compared to the other countries.