FILE: Zhejiang Province, east China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Aerial shots of landscape, transmission towers

FILE: Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
2. Aerial shots of transmission towers, mountains

FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown (Courtesy of State Grid Corporation of China - No access Chinese mainland)
3. Aerial shots of power plant
4. Various of power plant facilities

FILE: Hami City, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, northwest China - 2024 (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
5. Aerial shots of power plant

FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
6. Various of production lines

Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, east China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of robotic arms in operation
8. Various of technicians working on transmission tower

FILE: China - Exact Location and Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Aerial shots of solar panels, transmission towers, wind turbines

FILE: Shanghai, China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
10. Aerial shots of cityscape

China plans to invest over five trillion yuan (about 746 billion U.S. dollars) in building a new type of power grid during the country's 15th Five-Year Plan period (2026-2030), launching a comprehensive upgrade of its power network to cope with surging electricity demand and energy transition challenges.

With the rapid growth in total power consumption, China's electricity demand is expected to maintain an average annual growth rate of around five percent during the 15th Five-Year Plan period -- a key blueprint which maps out the country's socio-economic development priorities through to the end of the decade and beyond.

Alongside the massive volume increase, the structure of power usage is also undergoing profound changes. As the installed capacity of new energy surges year by year, the grid must urgently enhance its ability to integrate, allocate and regulate green power to prevent resource waste.

Furthermore, the booming high-tech industries, such as chip manufacturing and precision machining, demand significantly higher power supply quality under the new circumstances.

To address these challenges, the core of building the new power grid lies in an across-the-board upgrade of its architecture, technology and services.

Structurally, it will form a new layout based on the main and distribution grids, supplemented by smart microgrids. Technologically, the application of cutting-edge solutions like artificial intelligence, flexible grid-forming and long-duration energy storage will make the network more agile and intelligent. On the service side, the grid will fully adapt to emerging business models such as computing-power synergy and direct green power connections.