5G empowers the digital transformation of power grids

On August 17, Shenzhen, Guangdong, announced that it had achieved full coverage of 5G independent networking. The “5G+full stack localization+smart grid” achievements of the Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau of the Southern Power Grid were also unveiled at the “Light Up Shenzhen, 5G Smart City” press conference held on the same day. Shenzhen is the first to enter the 5G era!

In the 40 years since the establishment of Shenzhen Special Economic Zone, it has successfully transformed from "Shenzhen Processing" to "Shenzhen Manufacturing" and then to "Shenzhen Creation". During this period, Shenzhen Special Economic Zone has gradually developed from one of the most serious power shortage areas in the country to a city with the largest power supply load density and leading power supply reliability in the country. Entering the new era, China Southern Power Grid Company has fully integrated into the construction of Shenzhen's socialist demonstration zone with Chinese characteristics, focusing on taking the initiative in accelerating the promotion of "new infrastructure", and doing its best to provide power supply guarantee services for Shenzhen's 5G network and other "new infrastructure", helping to create a new growth point for Shenzhen's high-quality development.

■5G enables digital transformation of power grid

On December 2, 2019, the first 5G base station of the Southern Power Grid was put into operation in the 500 kV Shenzhen Pengcheng Station. As a result, Pengcheng Station not only used the large bandwidth characteristics of 5G to solve the "bottleneck" problem of mobile communication for services such as intelligent inspection robots and site high-definition cameras, but also provided a model for the Southern Power Grid's 5G research. It is understood that the daily load of Pengcheng Station accounts for about 20% of the Shenzhen power grid. It is an important hub substation that delivers electricity to Shenzhen after the implementation of the Northwest Yunnan DC project. In the past, a large number of equipment inspections and operations had to be completed manually on site, which was a heavy workload.

Now, with the empowerment of 5G, the staff only need to click on the computer, and the inspection robot in the substation will start working freely in an instant. It moves slowly along the set trajectory, and the head camera rotates from time to time to identify and read the switches, pressure plates, indicator lights, instruments, etc. on the equipment. The high-definition video image information is transmitted back to the command center in as little as 1 millisecond, which is so fast that it is "unnoticeable", and the inspection efficiency of power grid equipment has increased by 270%.

"At the macro level, 5G has become a leading field in the digitalization strategies of countries around the world and is the infrastructure for the development of national digitalization and informatization. Focusing on the field of smart grids, especially in the smart power distribution and utilization link, 5G provides a better solution for the 'last mile' coverage of the distribution communication network." Zhou Jianyong, director of the Communications Department of the Power Dispatching and Control Center of Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau, introduced that as the first unit of the Southern Power Grid to conduct a 5G application pilot, Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau relied on the China Mobile National Development and Reform Commission project as early as the end of 2017, and joined forces with China Mobile, Huawei and other units to carry out 5G smart grid strategic cooperation and firmly grasp the development opportunities of the 5G industry. Last year, the Southern Power Grid cooperated with Huawei to apply the Huawei Kunpeng processor ecosystem for the first time in the global power industry. This is also the first time that my country has deployed a domestic CPU ecosystem in the power industry.

"Filling the international gap and taking the lead internationally." This is how the expert committee headed by Song Yonghua, president of the University of Macau, evaluated the 5G-related achievements of the Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau. 5G power private network, 5G inspection robots, 5G cameras, 5G-based differential protection off-site verification... Shenzhen's power technology is surging.

■ One kilowatt-hour of electricity creates 29.09 yuan of GDP

In 2019, Shenzhen's maximum daily power supply reached 381 million kWh, which is more than the total power consumption in the four years from 1979 to 1982. "For a period of time after the establishment of the Special Economic Zone, the annual power supply and power consumption increased by more than 60%, and the substation was overloaded as soon as it was built. What should we do? We can only dare to think and work hard," recalled Liu Chenguang, former director of the Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau.

Tan Shaozu, former deputy chief engineer of Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau, said: "At the most 'crazy' time, two substations were put into operation in one day, just like going to war." During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, Shenzhen power grid developed at an average annual growth rate of 15%. By the end of 2009, the total substation capacity of Shenzhen power grid reached 48.686 million kVA, which doubled compared with 23.634 million kVA in 2004, equivalent to rebuilding a Shenzhen power grid in five years. The current Shenzhen power grid has more than 260 substations above 110 kV, more than 5,000 kilometers of transmission lines, and distribution lines that can go around half of the world. "The total electricity consumption of the whole society has increased from 33 million kWh to 93.8 billion kWh, and the maximum load has increased from 5,000 kW to 19.13 million kW. The small power grid in the past has become a super-large urban power grid with the highest power supply load density in the country and the world's leading power supply reliability." Tan Shaozu said.

Every kilowatt-hour of electricity creates 29.09 yuan of GDP, supporting the "Shenzhen quality" of structural optimization, innovation-driven, green and low-carbon; the surge of clean electricity promotes the formation of a green and low-carbon lifestyle. In 2019 alone, Shenzhen received 71.7 billion kilowatt-hours of clean energy through the West-to-East Power Transmission Channel, accounting for more than 75% of the annual power supply, which can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by nearly 60 million tons; in 2019, Shenzhen's non-fossil energy power generation accounted for 68.8%, and the electricity consumption per 10,000 yuan of GDP dropped from 635.8 kilowatt-hours in 2010 to about 339 kilowatt-hours.

At the same time, Shenzhen ranks first in the country in terms of "access to electricity". The soft environment is becoming a hard power. Small and micro enterprises can "apply today and use electricity tomorrow", "zero information", "zero review" and "no running" have become the norm, and electricity business can be handled 100% online. According to statistics, the average power outage time for Shenzhen customers in 2019 was only 32.4 minutes, close to the world's leading level, surpassing first-class international cities such as Paris, France. Among them, the Futian Central District was only 0.19 minutes, better than Manhattan, New York, and comparable to Singapore, reaching the world's top level. In addition, Shenzhen ranks first in the country in terms of the number of new energy vehicles and charging piles per unit area.

■ “Breaking the ice” of power reform and exploring “Qianhai experience”

In addition to being the first in scientific and technological exploration, Shenzhen's power grid development also has many "firsts in the country".

In 2014, in order to support the country's reform of transmission and distribution prices, and in combination with the characteristics of Shenzhen's electricity prices and power grid conditions, the Guangdong Provincial Development and Reform Commission, together with the Southern Power Grid and Shenzhen City, proposed to the National Development and Reform Commission to carry out a pilot reform of transmission and distribution prices in Shenzhen. Since January 1, 2015, Shenzhen has taken the lead in trialing a new transmission and distribution price mechanism, achieving the "ice-breaking journey" of the national transmission and distribution price reform. For the first time, the government price regulatory department has determined the total revenue of transmission and distribution services based on effective assets for the power grid's transmission and distribution business, according to the "permitted cost plus reasonable profit", so that power grid companies can get rid of their dependence on the purchase and sale price difference, and initially form an independent, standardized and reasonable transmission and distribution price mechanism, which is a key step for the reform of the power system.

Qianhai is Shenzhen's experimental field. On November 30, 2015, Shenzhen Qianhai Shekou Free Trade Zone Power Supply Co., Ltd. was established, making Qianhai Power Supply another focus of the power industry, because it is not only the first mixed-ownership enterprise in the incremental power distribution field in the country, but also one of the first batch of state-owned enterprises in important fields of the country to carry out mixed-ownership reform pilot projects.

Looking to the future, the State Grid Corporation of China will seize the strategic opportunities driven by the "dual zones" of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and the pilot demonstration zone, accelerate the construction of a world-class enterprise with global competitiveness, and strive to make Shenzhen's electricity business environment world-leading by 2025, with the average annual power outage time for customers in the city less than 10 minutes, strongly supporting the construction of Shenzhen into a modern, international, innovative city; by 2035, Shenzhen's high-quality energy and power development will become a national model, with the average annual power outage time for customers in the city less than 5 minutes, and the "Access to Electricity" index ranking among the top five in the world, helping Shenzhen become an example of a city in my country's construction of a modern socialist country; by the middle of this century, Shenzhen's high-quality energy and power development will be among the world's best, helping Shenzhen become a global benchmark city with outstanding competitiveness, innovation and influence.