State Grid Corporation of China

The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) is a Chinese state-owned electric utility and the world’s largest utility company. As of March 2024, it ranks third globally by revenue, behind Walmart and Amazon, and is the largest government-owned company by revenue. In 2023, it reported 1.3 million employees, 1.1 billion customers, and revenue equivalent to US$546 billion. It is overseen by the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC). SGCC was founded on December 29, 2002, following the restructuring of the former State Power Corporation of China, which split the entity into two grid companies—SGCC and the smaller China Southern Power Grid—along with five generation groups and four accessorial firms. SGCC controls about 80% of China’s grid. In the early 2000s, electrical shortages led to rolling blackouts, with SGCC estimating 1 trillion yuan in losses from 2002 to 2005. The company pioneered ultra-high-voltage (UHV) transmission, running its first 1,000-kilovolt AC line in January 2009 and an 800-kilovolt DC line in 2012. It also pursued a multi-phase smart-grid project from 2011 to 2015, heavily reliant on UHV lines. Under Chairman Liu Zhenya, who took office in 2013, SGCC adopted a strategy of “one special, four large,” focusing on UHV grids and hydropower, coal, nuclear, and renewable energy. In 2015, SGCC proposed the Global Energy Interconnection, a plan for globally integrated smart grids and UHV networks connecting over 80 countries, supported by Chinese leadership. After Liu’s retirement in 2016, Shu Yinbiao became chairman and continued the strategy, adding a “re-electrification” push to replace coal and petroleum with renewable electricity. SGCC also expanded overseas, creating State Grid International Development Company in 2008, and by 2021 held stakes in electricity assets in Brazil, Italy, Portugal, Greece, Australia, Georgia, Oman, and the Philippines, while building or upgrading assets in over 30 countries across Asia, Africa, and Latin America.