By Xinhua writer Wu Qi

    BEIJING, Feb. 7 (Xinhua) - Despite the chilly wind, the erection of electricity pylons and the building of converter stations on one of China's most remarkable technological achievements goes ahead full swing across the mountains and plains from southwest China's Sichuan Province to east China's coastal Shanghai.

    Even the Spring Festival does not hold up work on the electricity power line, the world's only 800kv. direct current UHVline.

    "We cannot suspend our work even in the week-long Spring Festival holidays, which began on January 26. We must complete the project by 2010," said Li Wenyi, general manager of the Direct Current Engineering Construction Co. Ltd. under the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), in Yibin, Sichuan, on Tuesday.

    Construction kicked off on Dec. 12, the pilot project will wind2,000 km eastward over eight provinces and municipalities to join up Yibin, in Sichuan with Shanghai. It will transmit hydropower generated at Xiangjiaba Hydropower Station and Xiluodu Hydropower Station on Jinshajiang River, the country's second and third largest hydropower projects, after the Three Gorges project.

    UHV, defined as voltage of 1,000kv. or above in alternating current, and 800 kv. or above in direct current, is designed to deliver large quantities of power over long distances with power losses less than the most commonly used 500kv. lines.

    Similar UHV power lines were previously developed in Russia andJapan, but the technology was not widely used in these countries because of relatively weak demand.

    "When the transmission line is completed in 2010 as scheduled, we will deliver cheaper hydropower in an endless stream from the southwest hinterland to the energy-thirsty economic powerhouse in the east and essentially solve electric power shortage that puzzled the region for decades," said Li.

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