Leapfrog development of power grids to illuminate the whole country

China Energy Storage Network News: At the beginning of this year, Xinhua News Agency released a video titled "A Night View of Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou: The Changing Lights and Shadows Tell of Reunion", showing the changes in satellite light maps of the three places during the Spring Festival from 1992 to 2019. As the light gradually becomes stronger and larger, the trajectory of urban civilization development is outlined by the light.

70 years ago, kerosene lamps were a common memory of the people of that era. Over the past 70 years, China's power industry has gone from weak to strong, from closed to open, and has achieved remarkable achievements that have attracted worldwide attention. By the end of 2018, the country's power generation had increased by 1,625 times, installed power generation capacity by 1,026 times, power grid lines by 280 times, and per capita electricity consumption by 548 times, effectively supporting the rapid development of the economy and society.

As a key link in the sustainable development of energy and electricity and an energy allocation platform, the power grid plays an important hub role in the development of the power industry. Over the past 70 years, from independent and decentralized to nationwide interconnection, and then to the construction of a strong smart grid and ubiquitous power Internet of Things, the power grid has transmitted the powerful pulse of the times and injected strong power into economic and social development.

Inter-provincial and inter-regional networking to ensure power supply

In 1882, China's first electric light was suddenly lit in Shanghai, marking the dawn of the electrical age in the ancient agricultural society. After more than half a century of difficult development, my country's power industry is still very backward.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, the power industry, as an important basic industry of the national economy, was reborn and made great progress. In January 1954, the Songdongli Line, my country's first 220 kV transmission line, was completed, and the 220 kV backbone grid in Northeast China was gradually formed. China's power grid began to enter a stage of orderly and unified rapid development.

In the 1970s, Northwest China was still short of electricity. The Liujiaxia-Tianshui-Shaanxi Guanzhong 330 kV power transmission and transformation project, designed, manufactured, constructed and installed by my country, quenched the thirst of Shaanxi, which was extremely short of electricity, and the backbone grid of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Qinghai 330 kV power grid was initially formed.

When the spring breeze of reform and opening up blew across the country, the power industry also ushered in the spring of construction. In 1979, the China Electric Power Industry Conference determined that the development of the power industry should take the path of interconnection, and the planning and construction process of the interconnection of power grids was launched. The Henan Pingdingshan-Hubei Wuchang 500 kV ultra-high voltage transmission and transformation project, which was put into operation in December 1981, kicked off the development of my country's 500 kV power grid.

After 20 years of rapid development, by 2002, my country's power grid had formed six major regional power grids in Northeast, North China, Central China, East China, Northwest and South China. The 500 kV main grid has been basically formed, and the 330 kV main grid in Northwest China is becoming increasingly perfect.

As the voltage level of the power grid continues to rise and the network scale continues to grow, the uneven distribution of energy resources and power load levels in various regions has become increasingly apparent. In 2005, my country launched the preliminary research work on the UHV DC project.

In August 2006, the construction of my country's first UHV AC power transmission and transformation project, the 1000 kV Jindongnan-Nanyang-Jingmen UHV AC test and demonstration project, started. In January 2009, the UHV power transmission line from Shanxi, a coal-fired base, through the Central Plains, through Nanyang, Henan to Jingmen, Hubei, was launched. This is a new beginning, and my country's power industry has opened a new chapter. China has become a leader and promoter of the development of UHV power transmission technology.

Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, a series of key UHV projects including the Harbin-Zhengzhou DC, Binjin DC, Ningzhe DC, Xitai DC and Zhaqing DC have been put into operation, significantly improving the cross-provincial and cross-regional power transmission capacity.

On September 26, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of New China, two major innovative projects, marking that my country's power grid technology has reached a new height in the world's power field - the Zhundong-Southern Anhui ±1100 kV UHV DC transmission project and the Sutong 1000 kV AC UHV GIL integrated pipeline project, were completed and put into operation.

After 70 years of trials and tribulations, China's large power grid has been built across the country. Driven by economic and social development and scientific and technological progress, my country's power grid has gradually become the world's largest power grid with the strongest transmission capacity, the largest scale of new energy grid connection, and the longest record of safe operation.

Strong and smart grid integrated into smart life

With the rapid development of clean energy, scientific and technological progress, and the continuous improvement of information technology, the power grid is moving towards intelligence. In 2010 and 2011, "strengthening the construction of smart grids" was written into the "Government Work Report" twice and included in the "Outline of the 12th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development". my country's smart grid has entered a stage of rapid development.

In recent years, my country has carried out a lot of work in smart grid planning research, technical breakthroughs, equipment development, standard construction and engineering pilot projects, and has achieved a series of results. The international influence of smart grids has been significantly enhanced.

In 2009, the company proposed a smart grid development strategy, and the pace of smart grid construction has been significantly accelerated. The company has completed the medium- and long-term planning and the "12th Five-Year Plan" for the intelligentization of the State Grid and its affiliated provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities), and issued the "Smart Grid Technology Standard System Planning", taking the lead in proposing a smart grid technology standard system in the world, and carried out a series of smart grid project pilots. In 2010, my country's first smart grid comprehensive demonstration project, the Shanghai World Expo Park Smart Grid Comprehensive Demonstration Project, was completed.

At present, smart grids have been widely used in distributed energy utilization, electric vehicle charging, smart residential communities, and other aspects, promoting the intelligence of people's production and life.

At the same time, the development of urban distribution networks marked by the construction of smart grids has also entered a stage of modernization. In recent years, the company has focused on the construction of new industrialization and urbanization, based on stabilizing growth, adjusting structure, promoting reform, and benefiting people's livelihood, with the goal of meeting electricity demand, improving power supply quality, and promoting smart interconnection, and strives to build a first-class modern distribution network.

In 2017, the company comprehensively improved the reliability and power supply quality of urban distribution networks in 10 large cities, including Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Qingdao, Nanjing, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Fuzhou and Xiamen. It plans to build a world-class urban distribution network that is "safe, reliable, high-quality, efficient, green, low-carbon, and intelligently interactive" in four years.

At present, in order to adapt to the needs of energy transformation, power grid construction continues to develop at a high speed, substation capacity and line loop length are growing rapidly, power transmission, resource allocation capabilities, and renewable energy grid connection and absorption capabilities are continuously improving, and power grid construction is moving towards a stronger and smarter direction.

Ubiquitous power Internet of Things construction promotes energy transformation

On June 13, 2014, General Secretary Xi Jinping proposed a new energy security strategy of "four revolutions and one cooperation" at the sixth meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group, leading the development of my country's energy industry into a new era.

With the deepening of the clean and low-carbon transformation of energy, the large-scale development and utilization of renewable energy, the rapid development of interactive energy facilities such as distributed energy, energy storage, and electric vehicles, various new forms of energy use continue to emerge, and customer diversified needs continue to increase.

At the beginning of 2019, the company proposed the strategic goal of "three types and two networks, world-class", sending a clear signal that it would empower traditional power grids with digital technology, continuously improve the power grid's perception capabilities, interaction levels, and operational efficiency, strongly support the access and comprehensive utilization of various energy sources, continuously improve energy efficiency, and transform from "using electricity well" to "using energy well", and promote a revolution in energy production and consumption.

The construction and operation of the "two networks" is an important material foundation for building a world-class energy Internet enterprise. On the one hand, the persistent construction and operation of a strong and smart grid can improve the energy resource allocation capability and intelligence level, better adapt to the needs of intensive development of power bases and large-scale grid access of new energy, distributed energy, energy storage, etc., and meet the people's increasingly diverse energy needs; on the other hand, the construction of a ubiquitous power Internet of Things can provide strong data resource support for the safe and economic operation of the power grid, improve operating performance, improve service quality, and cultivate and develop strategic emerging industries, opening up a new path for management innovation, business innovation and value creation.