Making the power grid smarter

From November 6 to 8, the first Boao Smart Grid International Forum (BSGIF) with the theme of "Smart Grid, Commanding the Future" was held in Boao. Representatives from the government, universities, industry organizations, energy companies, etc. expressed their views and discussed issues in the field of smart grids. During the forum, participants visited and learned about the achievements of the smart grid construction of the Southern Power Grid, and 21 upstream and downstream energy companies displayed and shared their products.

Following the development trend of smart grids and taking advantage of the name of Boao "Diplomatic Town", China Southern Power Grid Company initiated an international forum with the theme of "joint consultation, joint construction, sharing and win-win" and the exchange of smart grid technologies as the basis. It provides a platform for governments, enterprises, experts and scholars to discuss energy transformation and development and draw up a blueprint for smart grids, promote the integration of the energy industry value chain, assist in the construction of the energy ecosystem, advance the construction of Digital China, and promote the global digitalization process.

Our province is building the only provincial smart grid demonstration zone in the country

With the rise of a new round of global scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the development of smart grids has become an important consensus to ensure energy security, respond to climate change, protect the natural environment, and achieve sustainable development.

The "China Southern Power Grid Smart Grid Development Planning Research Report" released by China Southern Power Grid shows that smart grid runs through all aspects of the power system, and the architecture system covers nine key areas, including power generation, transmission and transformation, distribution, power consumption, dispatching, communication network, information platform, smart energy, and technical support. In other words, in the planning blueprint of China Southern Power Grid, smart grid encompasses all aspects of power grid development.

From manually climbing over mountains and ridges to drones taking off to patrol lines, from manual meter reading and billing to the popularization of smart meters, from manual prediction of load changes to efficient calculation of AI big data... The application of a series of scientific and technological and information means has enabled power grid people to have a deeper understanding of the power grid, and also allowed every user to feel the convenience of using electricity.

Safety, reliability, greenness and efficiency are the core keywords for China Southern Power Grid to build a smart grid. China Southern Power Grid has been committed to the exploration and practice of smart grids for a long time. The 20 smart grid demonstration areas under construction in the five southern provinces are the industry models that China Southern Power Grid is striving to build.

In March this year, the "Key Measures of China Southern Power Grid Company to Serve the Development of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area" was released. Meng Zhenping, Chairman and Party Secretary of China Southern Power Grid Company, introduced that the company will build and operate a world-class smart grid to provide first-class energy guarantee for the development of the Greater Bay Area.

Hainan is building the country's only provincial smart grid demonstration zone. Fu Yongfeng, deputy general manager of Hainan Power Grid Company, said that by implementing smart grids and enterprise digitalization, typical engineering projects will be accelerated to comprehensively improve the automation and smart level of Hainan power grid, and strengthen the power grid's support for the construction of Hainan Free Trade Zone and Free Trade Port.

Discuss and build an industrial value chain ecosystem to promote energy transformation and development

"Smart grid is a systematic project that requires the joint efforts of multiple parties to build and promote it." Chen Yunpeng, member of the Party Leadership Group and deputy general manager of China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., believes that China Southern Power Grid has built and is building a number of high-tech and smart grid projects, which are the result of joint consultation and construction by multiple parties.

In early September, the joint innovation laboratory established by Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau and Huawei demonstrated a number of technological achievements that were first applied by both parties in the power industry and even in the world. Among them, the new generation of intelligent power transmission inspection system, relying on artificial intelligence and Internet of Things technology, can analyze line defects and anomalies in real time, and provide feedback and alarms to power transmission personnel. "The workload that would take 20 days to complete manually is only 2 hours using this system," said Wei Qianhu, deputy director of the power transmission management office of the bureau.

The smart grid of "joint consultation and joint construction" can achieve the effect of "sharing and win-win". China Southern Power Grid and China Tower Corporation Limited vigorously promote the new "shared tower" model in five provinces and regions. In particular, the deployment of 5G networks can help implement the strategy of building a strong network country, and at the same time conform to the concept of green development and coordinated development, with great economic and social benefits.

Many projects are the result of corporate cooperation under the government's push. With the support of the Guangzhou Municipal Government, the Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau worked together with communications operators and cable TV operators to carry out the "four-network integration" project construction in many old communities such as Yuexiu Meihua Village, the old Nanhai County community, and the Liwan Yongqingfang area.

New industries, new formats and new models are constantly emerging, which is a typical sign of the transformation and development of the energy industry and enterprises. Power grid enterprises have significant system professional advantages in integrating and leading the upstream and downstream industrial chains. By building an energy industry value chain ecosystem from electricity, they can innovate and develop more energy products and services. China Southern Power Grid is working with many energy companies to jointly build an industry ecosystem and promote energy transformation and development.

Big data helps smart energy services achieve energy conservation and emission reduction

On November 6, Hainan Boao Lecheng 110 kV substation was put into operation, laying the foundation for the construction of Lecheng smart grid and low-carbon smart energy comprehensive demonstration zone project. It is reported that this demonstration zone project mainly relies on the Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone to carry out digital smart grid construction, using real-time data as a link, using 5G and other advanced technologies and digital grid platforms to improve the grid state perception ability, ubiquitous connection ability and operation and maintenance level, support the construction of an energy ecosystem connecting all aspects of energy production and consumption, and connect various energy needs.

In the planning and construction of smart grids, the application of big data is a great benefit to improving the service level of comprehensive energy projects. At present, China Southern Power Grid is undergoing a comprehensive digital transformation, hoping to build and improve the company's unified data center through the construction of three basic platforms: the Southern Power Grid Cloud Platform, the Digital Grid, and the Internet of Things, and ultimately achieve the overall goal of the Digital Southern Power Grid of "full perception of grid status, full online enterprise management, full control of operational data, new customer service experience, and win-win cooperation in energy development".

The "Special Plan for Smart Grid in Water Town" recently approved by the Dongguan Power Supply Bureau of Guangdong Power Grid Company may become a successful attempt to build smart grids based on data planning and improve energy efficiency. The planners collected 7 million historical electricity consumption data in recent years and learned that the water town has the characteristics of large peak-to-valley difference in saturated load and high proportion of air-conditioning load. Combined with the power load curve of the new city, energy storage technology is used to shift peaks and fill valleys to achieve energy conservation and emission reduction. Therefore, the planners figuratively called the planned power grid an "energy sponge", that is, through the energy storage station, the power grid absorbs energy during low-peak periods and releases energy during peak periods, like a sponge with absorption and release characteristics, forming a set of smart energy solutions.

With the construction of smart grids, the industry can see the trend that energy access will become more flexible and diverse, and the service level of smart energy will be further improved. Perhaps in the near future, many of the current "impossibilities" will become "possible".

Relying on the digital power grid platform development system, multi-level emergency repairs can be carried out quickly to restore power

On October 21, the first phase of Hainan's digital power grid platform was put into trial operation, achieving "full connectivity", "full perception", "full sharing" and "partial controllability" of various types of power grid data, greatly improving the observability, measurability and controllability of the smart grid.