Tens of billions of funds are invested to build the "Digital Southern Power Grid", and the power grid sends a signal of cooperation in "jointly building a new energy ecology"

Zhang Weixiong, Peng Wenrui, Liu Jie, Zhou Huizhi, Huang Yuyan

On October 29 and 30, the Digital Southern Power Grid Forum to Support the Development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area was held in Guangzhou.

China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. announced that it will invest 10 billion yuan to start the construction of "Digital Southern Power Grid". This project uses digitalization as a driving force to accelerate the application of technologies such as the Internet, big data, artificial intelligence and blockchain, and promote fundamental changes in the production, operation, management and service models of the Southern Power Grid. It will leverage the development of the energy industry ecology involving hundreds of billions of yuan in upstream and downstream, and further improve the electricity and energy life of thousands of households in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

"As an important state-owned backbone enterprise located in the Greater Bay Area, China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. aims to vigorously promote scientific and technological innovation and serve the development of the Greater Bay Area. This is the company's goal and responsibility." In his speech, Meng Zhenping, Chairman and Secretary of the Party Committee of China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., said that the company will earnestly implement the new energy security strategy of "four revolutions and one cooperation" proposed by General Secretary Xi Jinping, give full play to the role of central enterprises as the main force in scientific and technological innovation, vigorously promote the construction of Digital China Southern Power Grid, accelerate the pace of digital transformation of enterprises, and promote the construction of an open, shared, and win-win energy ecosystem, provide strong energy guarantees for the development of the Greater Bay Area, and make due contributions to the construction of an international science and technology innovation center in the Greater Bay Area.

Leaders from the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, the People's Government of Guangdong Province, and the China Electricity Council attended the opening ceremony and delivered speeches. More than 1,100 representatives from government departments, industry associations, upstream and downstream enterprises in the energy industry, information and communication technology (ICT) companies, universities, research institutes, and representatives from the China Southern Power Grid system attended the forum.

Digital transformation of China Southern Power Grid

At the forum, Yu Jianguo, chief information engineer of China Southern Power Grid, introduced the progress of the construction of Digital Southern Power Grid. He introduced that by the end of 2020, the unified grid management, customer service, dispatching and operation, and enterprise-level operation and control business platform of China Southern Power Grid will be fully put into operation. From 2021 to 2025, China Southern Power Grid will focus on the three directions of digital grid, digital operation and digital energy ecology to deepen the construction of Digital Southern Power Grid.

It is understood that China Southern Power Grid operates the world's most complex AC/DC interconnected power grid. This physical power grid generates massive amounts of data at every moment and in every link. From a macro perspective, these data reflect the macroeconomic situation and energy development trends; from a micro perspective, they reflect every energy demand of every person and every enterprise. The starting point of China Southern Power Grid's digital transformation is to fully collect, analyze, and mine the data of the power grid, use every kilowatt-hour of electricity more efficiently through digital technology, and reduce the energy consumption of the whole society.

"If we compare the physical power grid to the human body, in the past, we had to manually direct every movement of the body; now, Digital China Southern Power Grid will build a twin digital network on this body, giving it a sensitive nervous system and a thinking brain. In this way, the power grid can efficiently allocate resources, self-regulate, and interact with a wider range of social and economic entities." Lou Shan, director of the Digitalization Department of China Southern Power Grid, described the construction of Digital China Southern Power Grid.

This year, China Southern Power Grid released the "Action Plan for Digital Transformation and Digital Southern Power Grid Construction (2019 Edition)". According to the plan, China Southern Power Grid carried out the "4321" project construction, namely the construction of four business platforms: power grid management, customer service, dispatching and operation, and enterprise-level operation and control, the construction of three basic platforms: Southern Power Grid Cloud Platform, Digital Power Grid and Internet of Things, to achieve docking with the national industrial Internet, digital government and stakeholders in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, to build and improve the unified data center of Southern Power Grid, and ultimately achieve the overall goal of "full perception of power grid status, full online enterprise management, full control of operation data, new customer service experience, and win-win cooperation in energy development" of Digital Southern Power Grid.

Hundred-billion-level energy industry ecosystem development

At this forum, CSG sent a signal of cooperation to all stakeholders to "jointly discuss and build a new energy ecology". At the same time, it joined forces with various enterprises in the energy ecosystem to provide advice and suggestions for the implementation of the Digital CSG construction, support the company's transformation into a smart grid operator, energy industry value chain integrator, and energy ecosystem service provider, and help the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

"We sincerely invite all participants in the industry chain, including power companies, ICT companies, power equipment companies, new energy companies, and financial companies, to jointly create a mutually beneficial and win-win energy ecosystem and inject energy into the construction of the Digital Southern Grid." Meng Zhenping said that the company will invest tens of billions of yuan in 2019-2020 to carry out the construction of the "Digital Southern Grid", build various interconnection platforms for industry chain participants such as governments, equipment manufacturers, energy producers, distribution and sales e-commerce companies, energy value-added service providers, and energy end users, and work with all parties to leverage the transformation and upgrading of the trillion-level industry.

Taking the operation and maintenance of substations as an example, the Southern Power Grid currently has many large substations, which are important nodes on the energy transmission artery and need to monitor their operating conditions at any time. In the past, monitoring work was completed by manual on-site inspections. In the future, fixed and mobile smart terminals will be used to remotely monitor the status of equipment, and artificial intelligence technology will be used to discover, analyze, and diagnose problems.

"This involves the deployment of massive smart terminal devices, the research and development of artificial intelligence equipment, and the development of intelligent management software, etc., which requires the support and participation of equipment manufacturers and ICT companies." said Chen Xi, deputy director of the Substation Department of the Production Technology Department of the State Grid Corporation of China.

In September this year, China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. and Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Shenzhen. The two parties will work together to expand business in the field of power digitalization, build an open and shared energy ecosystem, promote the construction of China Southern Power Grid's network security protection system and communication facilities, study and formulate application standards for 5G technology in the power industry, and work together to enhance the industry and international influence of both parties, fully serve the development of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, help Shenzhen build a pilot demonstration area of ​​socialism with Chinese characteristics, and serve the economic and social development of the five southern provinces and regions.

High-quality services in the Greater Bay Area

To ordinary citizens, the power grid may be just a power supply company. But in the future, this stereotype will completely change.

"Imagine that your electric car is idle in the garage, and the nearby power grid is at its peak, and the electricity price is relatively high. At this time, you can sell the electricity in the car to the power grid by just pressing your mobile phone. When the electricity consumption is low and the electricity price is cheap, you can recharge the battery." Yi Yongqiang, director of the General Office of the Digital Department of the Southern Power Grid, told reporters that this application scenario is expected to become possible after the completion of the Digital Southern Power Grid. And countless such micro-scenarios in the power grid will bring about subversive changes to the energy structure.

The digital grid construction of China Southern Power Grid will realize the digitization of all aspects of the grid and the entire production process, create a "safe, reliable, green and efficient" smart grid, and promote the construction of a clean, low-carbon modern energy system in the Greater Bay Area. Digital operations will be achieved through internal and external business of the enterprise to improve the quality of service to the Greater Bay Area.