[InKunming--China]  China's State Grid Corporation announced on Thursday that a new high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission project has started operating in south China.

The 800-kilovolt project, the world's largest of its kind, will transmit 40 billion kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity each year from Xiluodu Hydropower Station built on the border of southwest China's Sichuan and Yunnan provinces to the power-thirsty eastern region.

Some 12.28 million tonnes of coal will be saved each year, equivalent to an emission cut of 34 million tonnes of carbon dioxide.

China has six high-voltage transmission projects connecting the east region with areas rich in coal power, hydropower and new energy. From 2009 to June this year around 193 billion kWh of electricity had been transferred via the system.