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U.S. Companies Look to China for High-Voltage Transmission Duke Energy Corp. is reportedly in early stages of talks with China’s State Grid Corp. to build transmission in the U.S., a possible partnership that highlights the appeal of access to China’s low-cost equipment for use in capital projects.
The transmission in question would likely be high-voltage lines, which are more efficient in transferring power over long distances. China is ahead of the U.S. in implementing such lines and U.S. companies are interested in them to replace aging infrastructure and to bring power to markets from remotely located renewables projects.
China is updating its own grid, attempting to locate coal-fired generation farther away from population centers and planning large wind and hydropower projects. However, unlike the U.S. and Europe, it has not spent significantly on the development of smart grid technologies. Chinese utilities, for their part, are keen to partner with companies that can give them access to smart grid technologies to modernize the power sector, enabling utilities to manage supply more efficiently and compensate for any variance. Such technologies would take them years to develop independently. |
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