China’s proposed investments in long-distance, ultra-high voltage (UHV) power transmission lines will pave the way for power exports as far as Germany, the head of the country’s national power grid¹ said on Tuesday as he launched an initiative for cross-border power connections.

中国国家电网负责人周二在启动跨境电力连接计划时称，中国在远程、超高压电力输送线方面的投资计划将为中国电力出口到远至德国的地区铺平道路。

Exporting power to central Asia and beyond falls into China’s “one belt, one road” ambitions to export industrial overcapacity and engineering expertise² as it faces slowing growth at home. The plan would allow enormous hydropower dams, coal-fired power plants and wind farms in frontier regions such as Xinjiang to sell into higher-priced markets overseas. The ‘belt’ refers to the land route from Asia to Europe, while the ‘road’, curiously³, refers to the sea route via the Indian Ocean.

向中亚、甚至更远的地区出口电力，与中国“一带一路”的抱负（在面临国内增长放缓的情况下，对外出口工业过剩产能和工程技术）一致。该计划将允许中国在新疆等边疆地区的巨大水电站大坝、燃煤电厂和风力发电场向海外高价市场出售电力。“一带”是指从亚洲通往欧洲的陆上路线，而“一路”怪异地指的是途径印度洋的海上路线。

Talk of exporting power is a reversal for China, which as recently as 2004 suffered rolling blackouts across its manufacturing heartland. But huge investments in power in the decade since, and the construction of a number of dams, nuclear reactors⁴ and coal-fired plants due to begin operating in the next 10 years, means the country faces a growing surplus.

有关出口电力的讨论对中国来说可谓局面大逆转，直到2004年中国的制造业腹地还遭遇轮流停电的境况。但是，10年来中国在电力上的巨大投资、以及预计将在未来10年投入运行的很多大坝、核反应堆以及燃煤电厂的建设，意味着中国面临电力日益过剩的情况。

Liu Zhenya, chairman of State Grid, told reporters that wind and thermal⁵ power produced in Xinjiang could reach Germany at half the current cost of electricity there. “There are so many resources, but no market. We need to find it externally.”

国家电网公司(State Grid)董事长刘振亚向记者表示，新疆能够以德国目前电力成本的一半向该国输送风力和热力所生产的电力。“那里有太多资源，但是没有市场。我们需要向外寻找市场。”

The distance from Kashgar, an oasis⁶ city in Xinjiang near China’s central Asian frontier, to Berlin is only about 400 miles farther as the crow flies than the distance from Kashgar to Shanghai, China’s financial centre.

从中国与中亚的边境附近的新疆绿洲城市喀什到柏林的直线距离，只比从喀什到中国金融中心上海的距离多400英里。

Other potential markets include Pakistan, India and Myanmar, Mr Liu said. Less than five years ago, Myanmar cancelled a dam that was designed to export power to China. Now, with an excess of dams in China’s south-west, it is the Chinese-produced power that is seeking an outlet⁷.

刘振亚称，其他潜在市场包括巴基斯坦、印度和缅甸。不到5年前，缅甸取消了一项原用于向中国输送电力的大坝建设计划。如今，中国西南部大坝过多，中国成了寻求电力出口的一方。

Mr Liu has forged his career on his support for UHV transmission, which has enabled China to build huge energy projects far from its power-demand centres on the eastern and southern coasts. That has made him a controversial figure among environmentalists opposed to large-scale coal mining and mega-dams. Some power industry executives believe State Grid’s emphasis on UHV has sidelined smaller, more efficient projects nearer to population centres.

刘振亚全力支持超高压输电，这种技术使中国可以建设与东部和南部沿海地区的电力需求中心相距遥远的大型能源项目。这使得刘振亚在反对大型煤炭开采及建设大坝的环保人士眼中成为了一个有争议的人物。一些电力行业高管认为，国家电网对超高压的注重，使一些距离人口中心较近的较小但效率更高的项目成为牺牲品。

Also on Tuesday, State Grid signed an MOU with Korea’s power utility and SoftBank of Japan to promote an interconnected grid in north-east Asia.

同样是在周二，国家电网与韩国电力公司和日本软银(SoftBank)签署了推动东北亚互联电网发展的合作备忘录。