Chinese power giants are opening up new business opportunities by building cross-border power grids through renewable energy projects.
 

　　
China's largest utility, the State Grid Corporation of China, has built 10 cross-border transmission lines linking China to neighboring countries such as Russia and Mongolia.
　　
China Southern Power Grid, another state-owned power company, has built 12 AC transmission lines between Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. "So far, cross-border electricity trade has exceeded 47.1 billion kWh." Southern Power Grid said.
　　
This is part of an integrated energy interconnection, I .e. the cross-border interconnection of renewable energy projects in neighbouring countries.
　　
The Global Energy Internet Development Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO), headquartered in Beijing, has signed a memorandum of understanding with five international partners.
　　
The non-governmental and non-profit GEIDCO aims to pursue integrated energy interconnection projects as part of the Belt and Road Initiative.
　　
Outline map of GEIDCO's interconnection with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the League of Arab States, the African Union and the Gulf Cooperation Council.
　　
"Of the three most important networks in the world, the integration of energy infrastructure lags far behind the information and transportation networks," Liu Zhenya, chairman of GEIDCO and former general manager of State Grid, said in a Bloomberg View article." The field also faces obstacles of geography and historical legacies.
　　
To address these issues, GEIDCO plans to establish intercontinental power grids on all continents by 2050. Previously, it will establish a supergrid of countries around the world by 2020.
　　
With 305 members, GEIDCO operates in 32 countries and territories on five continents. The long-term goal is to increase clean energy consumption to 80% by 2050, reduce carbon emissions to 11.5 billion tons, and promote the investment of integrated energy interconnection to US $50 trillion billion. One planned project is the China-South Asia Interconnection Project.
　　
In its white paper, GEIDCO proposes to build two EHV or UHV transmission projects to transmit electricity from China and Kazakhstan to Pakistan to alleviate the power shortage in Pakistan.
　　
Chi Yongning, chief engineer of the New Energy Institute of the China Electric Power Research Institute, said that a safe and stable transcontinental power grid requires a lot of electricity. In order to ensure the safety of the system, it is essential to ensure that the power transmission is consistent.