Construction on the project was started in September 2017 and completed in March 2019. The 2,539km-long transmission project is owned and operated by Xingu Rio Transmissora de Energia (XRTE), a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC).

The Belo Monte-Rio de Janeiro line is the second UHVDC transmission line to be built for drawing power from the 11.2GW Belo Monte hydroelectric power plant in northern Brazil to the sub-stations in south-east Brazil.

A total of 4,448 towers, each with a minimum height 105m, were erected for the 800kV UHDVC overhead transmission line.

Other components of the transmission project include two grounding electrodes, nine repeater stations, two synchronous compensators, 14 transformers of 800kV capacity and 14 transformers of 400kV capacity.

Designed to transmit up to 4GW of electricity, the transmission line is capable of delivering electricity to approximately 22 million people in south-east Brazil.The transmission line passes through five Brazilian states namely Para, Tocantins, Goias, Minas and Rio de Janeiro and crosses a total of 81 cities along its route.

According to nsenergybusiness