Abstract: Based on the 13th Five-Year Power Development Plan(2016-2020) issued by the State Energy Administration, the paper analyzes the status quo and problems of existing power grid in China, studies the prospect and requirement of future power grid development, and discusses the idea and focus of backbone power grid development in the period of“13th Five-Year Planning”. It is necessary to optimize in due time the layout of synchronous power grid for meeting the requirement of large-scale development of renewable energy, to speed up the upgrading of backbone power grid for meeting the security needs of large-scale multi-infeed HVDC system, and to optimize the structure of the main power grid for coordinated development of power grids of all voltage levels. It is proposed to accelerate construction of strong key power grids in the period of“13th Five-Year Planning” in order to promote the intensive development of the large-scale hydropower and renewable energy bases and to achieve the optimal allocation of energy resources in the national scope.

Key words: power grid, development, planning, UHV, 13th Five-Year Planning