The project for increase of electric power export from the Russian Federation to the People’s Republic of China is set to be carried out within the strategic cooperation of two countries in the sphere of electric power industry. The project goal is the stage-by-stage increase of electric power supply to Chinese consumers within the period of 2009–2020 to reach the estimated maximum total of 60 billion kWh export per year.

The project provides for construction of new power generation facilities (mainly, coal-fired thermal power plants, based on coal fields in the Far East) with a cumulative capacity of up to 10,800 MW, as well as installation of AC and DC transmission lines with a total length of 3,400 km in Russia and China.

The project started upon signing of the Long-Term Cooperation Agreement by JSC RAO UES of Russia and the State Grid Corporation of China on July 01, 2005.  The project operators are JSC “Eastern energy company” (100% owned subsidiary of JSC INTER RAO UES, the largest Russian electric power exporter), on Russia’s part, and the State Grid Corporation of China, on China’s part.

At the present time, electric power is exported from Russia to China under the contract concluded between JSC Eastern energy company and the State Grid Corporation of China in February 2009. By the end of 2009, total supplies of electric power are planned to reach approx. 800 million kWh, and in 2010 supplies may increase up to 1–1.2 billion kWh.

The project for electric power export from Russia to China shows a high-level partnership and mutual understanding between two countries, as well as contributes to social and economic regional development in the Russian Far East and the north-eastern provinces of China.

The project is supported by the Governments of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China, as well as regional administrations of the countries.

Thus, in March 2007, Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, and Hu Jintao, Chairman of the People’s Republic of China, signed a joint declaration for support of large-scale projects in the sphere of electric power industry, which determined the main principles and approaches to Russian-Chinese cooperation in the energy industry.

In June 2009, to promote the project for electric power export from Russia to China a Joint Working Group was formed of the Amur Region Government (Oleg Kozhemyako, Governor) and the Heilongjiang Province Government (Li Zhanshu, Governor). Members of the Working Group are representatives of the authorities and the companies participating in the project.

Main project characteristics:

On the first stage of the project the contracted export volumes will be provided through the existing generation capacities in the Far East as well as through construction of the Khabarovsk combined-cycle thermal power plant with a capacity of 400–500 MW. Power is transmitted via 500 kV AC lines, using DC link, to the networks of Heilongjiang province of China.

The second stage provides for construction of new thermal power plants based on perspective coal fields in the Far East with a total capacity of 3,600 MW and the DC power transmission line to Shenyang in Liaoning Province of China. As a result of commissioning of new electric network and generating facilities, the electric power export to China will increase from 3.6–4.5 billion kWh up to 17–18 billion kWh per year.

On the third stage, electric power will be transmitted via ± 800 kV DC line from the networks in the Eastern Siberia to the area of Beijing, the capital of China, or to the networks of Liaoning Province. Due to commissioning of new power plants with a cumulative capacity of 7,200 MW, the total electric power export to China will exceed 38 billion kWh per year and later, upon reaching the design capacity, will annually amount to more than 60 billion kWh.