China to spend a record $88 Billion upgrading national grid infrastructure

By Matthew Griffin Earth and Energy 2nd April 2025

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

China is brining new renewables capacity online faster than any other country, and the grid can’t keep up.

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As societies around the world suck up and require more of almost everything – including electricity – especially as we see the massive expansion of Artificial Intelligence (AI) data centers and related infrastructure, which, along with plans to increase overall compute capacity in the country, China plans to triple in the coming years, China’s State Grid has announced that it will invest a record over 650 billion yuan ($88.7 billion) in the country’s power grid this year, state-run CCTV said on Wednesday, up from 600 billion yuan in 2024.

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The country’s main national grid operator said it would focus on optimising the power grid, strengthening distribution infrastructure and providing for the high-quality development of renewable power.

China’s massive build out of renewable power plants requires increased investments in the grid infrastructure, which experts have warned could otherwise be overwhelmed.

State Grid is also building massive long-distance Ultra-High Voltage (UHV) transmission lines to bring power from mega-bases in western China as well as from other countries via new planned inter-continental grid infrastructure to the country’s population centres, three of which it put into operation in 2024 for a total of 38 now completed, according to the report.

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This year, it will start construction on another UHV line running from northwestern Shaanxi province to central Henan province.

It will also kick off construction on Shandong’s Zaozhuang and Zhejiang’s Tonglu pumped storage plants, among other key projects, the report said.

Source: Reuters

Matthew Griffin / About Author

Described by NASA as a "Walking Encyclopaedia of the Future" and one of the world’s most in demand keynote speakers Matthew Griffin, Founder and Futurist in Chief of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm, is a multi-award winning Futurist and strategic foresight expert, author, lecturer, mentor, podcast and YouTube host.

With a distinguished career running global business units at Atos, EMC, and IBM today Matthew helps leaders and titans of industry from all over the world explore the impact of the inter sections of technology, culture, and leadership, then helps them create high performance organisations that can continuously disrupt, outpace, and outthink their competition.

15 times author of the hit series the Codex of the Future series Matthew's ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends on global business, culture, and society has earned him a powerful reputation and a roster of clients that include royal households, world leaders across the G7, G20, and G77, and many of the world's most recognised and exceptional organisations including ABB, Accenture, ABN Amro, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi Group, Coca Cola, Deloitte, Dentons, Disney, Dow, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Microsoft, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Nokia, Paramount, PepsiCo, PWC, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, T-Mobile, UBS, Visa, WIRED, WPP and hundreds of others.

Matthew is regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, and his mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.