Total investment of 55.7 billion, two major ultra-high voltage projects plan to introduce private enterprises for investment and equity participation.

The Energy Bureau of Qinghai Province recently issued a notice on the public solicitation of private enterprises to invest in the Xinjiang Power Transmission Sichuan-Chongqing Ultra High Voltage Direct Current Project. Private enterprises that meet the requirements are invited to participate in the investment of the project. The Energy Bureau of Chongqing Municipality and the Development and Reform Commission of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have also successively disclosed notices soliciting private capital for the project. Not long ago, the Energy Bureau of Gansu Province also disclosed a similar notice in January of this year, intending to publicly solicit private enterprises to participate in the investment of the Gansu Badain Jaran Desert Base Power Transmission Sichuan Ultra High Voltage Direct Current Project. The notices show that the total investment in the Xinjiang-Chongqing and Gansu-Sichuan projects is 31.1 billion yuan and 24.6 billion yuan respectively. It is planned that State Grid Corporation and qualified private enterprises will jointly establish project companies, responsible for investment, construction, and operation. Private enterprises will collectively hold approximately 10% of the shares, with a project operation period of 35 years. They will recover permitted revenue based on the transmission prices determined by the National Development and Reform Commission's pricing method for interprovincial and interregional special project transmission, with an estimated internal rate of return on equity of 5%. This is the first time that domestic UHV projects have introduced private enterprises for investment and has set clear qualification thresholds for participating companies, requiring interested enterprises to have financial strength and financing capabilities that are appropriate for the scale of project investment, as well as relevant industrial relationships in the energy infrastructure sector.