Qingdao builds 5G smart grid experimental network

Recently, Shandong Qingdao Power Supply Company, China Telecom Qingdao Branch, and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. have initially built a 5G smart grid experimental network in Qingdao Laoshan Jinjialing, West Coast Guzhenkou, Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, and Qingdao Power Supply Company Control Building. In the experimental area, the smart grid will be deeply integrated with 5G technology to provide the region with better quality, more efficient, and greener power supply services.

According to reports, 5G has the characteristics of high bandwidth, low latency, and large connections, which can meet the network requirements of various business scenarios of smart grids, such as power grid video inspection, distribution network automation, and automatic meter reading. The combination of 5G with mobile edge computing (MEC) and network slicing can provide a secure and isolated virtual private network for power grids that have high requirements for data security.

From July to September, after the three parties reached an agreement, they completed 5G network coverage in multiple locations in Jinjialing, Laoshan, Guzhenkou, West Coast, and Qingdao Olympic Sailing Center, deployed more than 30 5G sites, deployed a set of MEC solutions in the control building of Qingdao Power Supply Company, and recently completed the deployment of the slice management system.

After the concerted efforts of the three parties, the experimental zone has successfully verified the application of 5G-based intelligent distributed distribution automation and distribution differential protection. The intelligent transmission terminal (STU) exchanges fault information and control information through the 5G communication network, shortening the power outage time in the non-fault section to seconds; according to the requirements of the overall plan for the safety protection of the power monitoring system, combined with the 5G-bearing power grid business model, the application of 5G end-to-end slicing to meet the requirements of power grid data security isolation has been verified. In the next step, the parties will also combine artificial intelligence and use the "5G+MEC+AI" technology to realize services such as intelligent inspection of transmission lines by drones and intelligent video monitoring of distribution rooms.

At the same time, Qingdao Power Supply Company and Qingdao Telecom jointly tried a peak-shaving and valley-filling solution for the power supply of 5G base stations. By storing energy during low-power consumption periods and using energy to power 5G base stations during peak periods, the operator's energy costs were reduced, economic benefits were improved, and the grid load during peak periods was reduced.

In the next step, the three parties will continue to carry out joint innovation in multiple areas of power grid business such as transmission, distribution, and substation to better combine communication technology with power transmission and power security.