China develops superconducting hybrid power line that could span the country

  • Prototype tested last month transports high-voltage power and liquefied natural gas side by side
  • It could cut the high cost and waste involved in sending energy from the far west to the east coast

Stephen Chenin Beijing
The 10-metre prototype line, combining high-voltage electricity and liquefied natural gas. Photo: Chinese Academy of Sciences

Chinese scientists have developed the world’s first prototype of a superconducting hybrid power line, paving the way for construction of a 2,000km (1,243-mile) line from energy-rich Xinjiang in the country’s far west to its eastern provinces.

The 10-metre, proof-of-concept wire and liquid natural gas hybrid transmission line was up and running at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Electrical Engineering in Beijing last month to show the feasibility of the technology.

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