On March 14th, the Suzhou Wangting-Huqiu 220kV transmission line project was officially completed and put into operation. This is Jiangsu Province's first power grid project for peak summer power demand this year.

The Wangting-Huqiu 220kV transmission line not only directly serves Jiangsu Province's major energy infrastructure—the Wangting Power Plant Phase II gas turbine demonstration project—ensuring a reliable output of 2.44 billion kilowatt-hours of clean electricity annually after its commissioning, but also creates the prerequisites for the power grid relocation project for the construction of the Tongsu-Jiaxing-Ningbo High-Speed Railway.

"The high-speed rail construction requires the relocation and power outage of the 220kV Shulou and Shuli lines along its route. Only after the Wangting-Huqiu line becomes  operational can the original lines be de-energized," said Li Yang, a specialist from the Construction Department of State Grid Suzhou Power Supply Company. "To coordinate with the construction schedule of other supporting relocation projects, this project must be operational by March, he added. The entire project, which began construction in September 2025, spans the Xiangcheng, Huqiu, and Gusu districts of Suzhou City. A total of 82 new transmission towers will be erected along the line, with approximately 20 kilometers of new lines. It will also require 10 crossings of the Beijing-Shanghai Railway, the Shanghai-Nanjing Intercity Railway, highways, and multiple high-voltage transmission lines, posing high safety risks.

Faced with these multiple challenges, State Grid Suzhou Power Supply Company strengthened communication with the municipal government and other units, assembled an expert team of technical backbone personnel, and applied advanced technologies and processes such as drone-based line laying to promote the transformation of line construction from traditional manual labor to mechanized and intelligent construction.

Simultaneously crossing the Beijing-Shanghai Expressway and the Shanghai-Nanjing Intercity Railway is one of the most critical nodes of the project. The company innovatively adopted a "day and night" staggered operation mode, seizing the window of opportunity when high-speed rail services were suspended from midnight to 4 a.m. to carry out construction work. "During the day, we prepared for the entire construction process, and at night, we organized more than 50 construction workers into two groups, one on the ground and one at high altitude, to work together for five consecutive days, successfully completing the high-precision crossing operation across the entire section," said Zhao Yan, owner project manager of the Project Management Center of State Grid Suzhou Power Supply Company.