China-Russia HVDC station opens

China will increase its electricity imports from Russia with the opening of a China-Russia high voltage direct current (HVDC) converter station in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, a local power company said Wednesday. Heilongjiang Electric Power Co., Ltd. said the converter station, located in the city of Heihe, will allow a power grid in east Russia to supply 4.3 billion kilowatt-hours (kwh) of electricity to China annually. The station went into operation on a trial basis on Dec. 31, 2011 and is China's first cross-border HVDC power station. China started to import electricity from Russia in 2004 to meet increased industrial demand in Heilongjiang.