Did you know that, as of 2024, the State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is the world's largest energy utility company operating almost all of China's energy transmission network, and employs 1,520,000 people?

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC), commonly known as the State Grid, is a Chinese state-owned electric utility corporation and the largest utility company in the world. As of March 2024, State Grid is the world's fourth largest company overall by revenue, behind Walmart, Saudi Aramco, and Amazon, but the leading power producer in the world (by revenue).

The company reported revenues of $385,504 million for the fiscal year ending June 2021 (FY2021). In 2022, it was reported as having more than 1,520,000 employees, 1.1 billion customers and revenue equivalent to US$460 billion. It is overseen by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council.

The history of SGCC began when China started an initiative to reform the country's power sector in a three-stage process in 1986. In the third and final stage in March 2002 the State Council of the People's Republic of China put into effect a plan to restructure the country's electric power system in order to create competition and separate generation and transmission functions.

The State Grid Corporation of China was founded on December 29, 2002, when the restructuring divided the former State Power Corporation of China into two grid companies, five generation groups and four accessorial business companies. The two grid companies created were the State Grid Corporation of China and a smaller China Southern Power Grid Company. SGCC accounts for 80% of the Chinese grid, with China Southern Power Grid accounting for the other 20%. At its creation, SGCC company had a generation capacity of 6.47 gigawatts.

In 2003 and progressively so through the early 2000s, electrical shortages caused the government to institute rolling blackouts. The State Grid Corporation estimated there were 1 trillion yuan in losses from 2002 to 2005. The SGCC ran the first 1,000-kilovolt alternating current power line between Northern Shanxi and center Hubei in January 2009. In 2012 it began operation of an 800-kilovolt direct current line that sends hydropower from western Sichuan to Shanghai. It also has an alternating current loop line in the Yangtze River delta, and three longitudinal alternating current lines that bring power to Southern China from the Northern region.

The SGCC was involved in a multi-phase smart-grid project for China's electrical grid planned for 2011–2015. China's smart grid efforts are different from those in the United States in that its plans heavily use ultra high voltage (UHV) lines. Several UHV construction projects began in 2012 to bring UHV power lines across Huainan, Wannan, and Shanghai and another from Xilingol League to Nanjing. In 2012 the company invested in CDP Reti.

On October 29, 2014, The Central Commission for Discipline Inspection declared that the general manager of State Grid Shanghai Municipal Electric Power, Feng Jun, was detained in an anti-graft operation overseen by the commission. In 2017, his assets (worth 53 million yuan) were seized, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

In 2015, SGCC proposed the Global Energy Interconnection, a long-term proposal to develop globally integrated smart grids and ultra high voltage transmission networks to connect over 80 countries. The idea is supported by President Xi Jinping and China in attempting to develop support in various internal forums, including UN bodies.

Im summary, the company’s core business includes the construction and operation of power grids. It focuses on research and development of ultra-high voltage (UHV) transmission and smart grid technologist, and also operates large-scale commercial UHV projects. SGCC also owns proprietary intellectual property rights and promotes the export of technology and related equipment.

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