Infrastructure development has been a major driver of growth in China over the past decade. Today, it's moving beyond roads and bridges, to projects that are more technologically advanced and complex. They're known as "new infrastructure" in China. In this series, we explore some of the emerging projects, starting with electricity. Yang Chengxi reports from Hangzhou.

This is Baihetan, the world's second biggest hydroelectric dam. It feeds power to Hangzhou, a population and industry-dense city. But the catch is, these two places are nearly 2,000 kilometers apart: one in China's southwest, where some 80 percent of the country's hydroelectricity supply is generated, and the other in the east, a region responsible for most of the country's power consumption.

Transmitting electricity from one side of the country to the other is no small feat, partly due to what's known as transmission loss – or the energy lost when electricity travels across a network over great distances. Instead, this project – completed late last year – uses ultra-high voltage transmission. The infrastructure means electricity can travel efficiently from one end of these massive power lines – at high voltages – to the other end, which is here, in milliseconds.

CAO LITAN Deputy Director, Ultra-High Voltage DC Operation Center State Grid Zhejiang Ultra-High Voltage "The ultra-high voltage system can enable high volume, low cost and long-distance power transmission. Take the 800,000 volts direct current transmission for example. The electricity loss over a few thousand kilometres is as low as only 4 to 6 percent of the total volume."

The over four-billion U.S. dollars mega project is completed in just under 16 months. This converter station in Hangzhou receives the direct current from the ultra-high voltage lines and convert it into alternating current to power industries and households.

Reporter: Part of this massive station is still under construction.

GU JIEFENG Chief Director, Zhejiang North Converter Station Project State Grid Zhejiang Construction Company "These instruments hanging 14 meters above the ground are called converter valves. They represent our most essential equipment and are the heart of this station."

Taking a closer look, the structures here do resemble the cardiovascular system. Workers are busy assembling parts, so the station can be fully operational by the summer when electricity consumption is expected to peak.

GU JIEFENG Chief Director, Zhejiang North Converter Station Project State Grid Zhejiang Construction Company "This is a challenging project: the requirement for electrical insulation is high, the main wiring is complex and the construction is very difficult. The project spanned five provinces and it went through large amounts of testing before operation."

The Baihetan-Zhejiang project is one of 37 ultra-high voltage projects built by the state-owned company, State Grid. The firm says the clean power carried by the system has reduced China's overall CO2 emissions by 2.4 billion tons.

CAO LITAN Deputy Director, Ultra-High Voltage DC Operation Center State Grid Zhejiang Ultra-High Voltage "In the past, we mainly relied on coal burning. The amount of electricity we could generate depended on how many tons of coal we could ship to the local power stations."

In addition to helping China reach its carbon-reduction goals, this new infrastructure generates new business opportunities. Due to the large investment, these projects usually involve dozens of research institutes, equipment manufacturers and construction companies across the country. State Grid says its Ultra-High Voltage projects attracted more than 200 billion U.S. dollars in investment last year alone.

YANG CHENGXI Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province "This power project is expected to provide electricity to 8.6 million families in eastern China. For many here, the lights they switch on in the evening may just be powered by water from all the way across the country. YCX, CGTN, HZ, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE."