The State Grid Corp. of China (SGCC), the country's biggest power supplier, said China is setting records by putting an ultra-high voltage (UHV) power transmission line into commercial operation on Wednesday.

The UHV line, linking Jinping in southwest China's Sichuan province with Sunan in east China's Jiangsu province, is a direct current (DC) transmission project that has the world's largest power transmission capacity, longest transmission distance and highest transmission voltage, the SGCC announced.

The line, with a total length of 2,059 km, can deliver 7.2 million kilowatts (kwh) of electric power, up from the present record of 6.4 million kwh, by means of DC power transmission technology, the SGCC said.

China invested a total of 22 billion yuan (3.5 billion US dollars) to build the line, which is also the third UHV power line put into operation by the SGCC.

China approved the project in November 2008.

UHV power lines are designed to deliver large quantities of power over long distances with less power loss than traditional lines.

Similar power lines were previously developed only in Russia and Japan, but the technology was not widely used in these countries because of high costs and relatively weak demand.

The SGCC started construction on UHV power lines at the end of 2006.