Liu Zhenya (; born 1952) is Chairman of Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization ( GEIDCO) which proposes to build a global

super grid A super grid or supergrid is a wide-area transmission grid (electricity), network, generally trans-continental or multinational, that is intended to make possible the trade of high volumes of electricity across great distances. It is sometimes a ...

of low-loss

HVDC A high-voltage direct current (HVDC) electric power transmission system uses direct current (DC) for electric power transmission, in contrast with the more common alternating current (AC) transmission systems. Most HVDC links use voltages betwe ...

power lines for long distance energy exchange and trade.

Biography

Liu Zhenya was born in 1952 in Shandong province. Liu began working in the electrical field at age 19 and worked in a local power plant during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

. He graduated from Shandong Institute of Technology with a degree in power systems and automation. He spent the next 20 years of his career working in power plants and in the Shandong branch of State Power Corporation of China. Liu led a subsidiary of Shandong Electric Power Company on a fundraising campaign to close the gap in electric service in Shandong, raising RMB 2 billion in 1996 and earning a reputation for his ambition and drive to succeed. Liu was transferred to Beijing where he worked as a vice-general manager at State Power Corporation shortly before its dissolution. After its dissolution, he began working at

State Grid Corporation of China The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), commonly known as the State Grid, is a Chinese state-owned electric utility corporation. It is the largest utility company in the world. , State Grid is the world's third largest company overall by re ...

and was appointed its Party Secretary and general manager in 2004. ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' reported that in this role he had "been forced into fire-fighting outrage at home after the worst snowstorms in half a century crippled power lines, blacked out cities and brought the electrified railways to a standstill." In 2008, Liu created State Grid International Development Company to oversee State Grid's foreign investments. During Liu's tenure at State Grid, the enterprise made foreign acquisitions in Australia, Brazil, Italy, the Philippines, and Portugal. In 2013, State Grid established a Board of Directors at its holding company level and Liu became its Chairman. He continued to serve as Party Secretary. Liu adopted the strategy of "one special, four large": the development of UHV power grids (the "one special") and

hydropower Hydropower (from Ancient Greek -, "water"), also known as water power or water energy, is the use of falling or fast-running water to Electricity generation, produce electricity or to power machines. This is achieved by energy transformation, ...

, coal power,

nuclear power Nuclear power is the use of nuclear reactions to produce electricity. Nuclear power can be obtained from nuclear fission, nuclear decay and nuclear fusion reactions. Presently, the vast majority of electricity from nuclear power is produced by ...

, and

renewable energy Renewable energy (also called green energy) is energy made from renewable resource, renewable natural resources that are replenished on a human lifetime, human timescale. The most widely used renewable energy types are solar energy, wind pow ...

(the "four large"). Liu increased State Grid's investment in UHV research and development, creating a UHV Power Grid Engineering Group and a UHV Grid Engineering Working Group. In 2016, Liu retired from State Grid. Liu joined the CPC in 1984. He is currently Chairman of Global Energy Interconnection Development and Cooperation Organization (GEIDCO) and an alternate of the

17th CPC Central Committee The 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party was elected by the 17th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, 17th Congress on 21 October 2007, and sat until the 18th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, 18th Nat ...

. In 2018 he was elected an International Fellow of the

Royal Academy of Engineering The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) is the United Kingdom's national academy of engineering. The Academy was founded in June 1976 as the Fellowship of Engineering with support from Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who became the first senio ...

in the UK.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liu, Zhenya 1952 births Living people Shandong University alumni Fellows of the Royal Academy of Engineering State Grid Corporation of China people Chinese electrical engineers Engineers from Shandong Alternates of the 17th Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party