(Yicai Global) Jan. 2 -- The CNY22.1-billion (USD3.4 billion) Jarud-Qingzhou ultra-high voltage transmission line, built to divert electricity generated in northeastern China to advanced cities, entered operation on Dec. 31.

The UHV line is the first of its kind in eastern Inner Mongolia. It has a direct-currency transmission capacity of 800 kilovolts and runs for 1,228 kilometers from Jarud village to Qingzhou in eastern Shandong province.

Eastern Inner Mongolia and other parts of northeast China generate a healthy amount of energy from wind power, but local demand is limited compared with other areas in the country, state-owned news agency Xinhua reported. The line will send surplus electricity directly to a load center in Qingzhou, Shandong, to boost wind power consumption across nearby regions.

The forecast power surplus in the northeast from 2016 through 2020 is 18 million kilowatts, and the transmission line hopes to cut the excess by more than 50 percent, sending 55 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity to Shandong every year.

Chinese manufacturers supplied the equipment and systems for the project. Air-cooled 300 megawatt regulators installed along the line represent the highest standards in equipment design and manufacturing worldwide, said Yang Yiyong, a Jarud-based manager at State Grid East Inner Mongolia Electric Co.

Construction of the line began on Aug. 25, 2016.