China approves Gansu-Sichuan UHV DC power transmission project

The approval matters less as a single line item than as confirmation that Beijing is still executing the 14th Five-Year grid plan on schedule, with UHV DC as the default tool for moving desert renewable output to load centres. Gansu's fourth outbound corridor reinforces its role as an export hub rather than a self-consuming generation province, which shifts the economics of its Badain Jaran base toward utilisation rates and offtake contracts. The open question is whether Sichuan, itself a hydro-heavy province, absorbs this power without displacing existing generation, and how quickly construction follows approval.