China Southern Power Grid accelerates digital transformation of power grid to improve energy allocation efficiency, power grid security performance and renewable energy absorption capacity

China Energy Storage Network News: On November 13, China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. held the 17th China Southern Power Grid International Technology Forum in Shenzhen and released the world's first "Digital Grid White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper").

"China Southern Grid will deeply integrate advanced digital technologies with its business, implement digital transformation, build a digital power grid, and promote the company's transformation into a smart grid operator, energy industry value chain integrator, and energy ecosystem service provider, and build a world-class enterprise with global competitiveness." Meng Zhenping, Chairman and Secretary of the Party Committee of China Southern Grid, said in his speech at the meeting that he looks forward to working with all parties to jointly promote the digital transformation and innovative development of the energy and power industry, promote the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system, and make greater contributions to the optimization and upgrading of the economic system and meeting the people's electricity needs for a better life.

Li Lixuan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chairman of the Southern Power Grid Expert Committee, said in an interview: "The release of the White Paper means that Southern Power Grid has achieved very important research results in digital power grids. Through years of engineering practice, the company has summarized a series of valuable experiences on the development and use of digital technologies in power grids. The construction of digital power grids will have a significant and far-reaching impact on future power systems and energy systems."

Resolutely implement the innovation-driven development strategy and adhere to reform and innovation. Digital power grid is the practical result of China Southern Power Grid Company in implementing the national strategy. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the company has achieved a shift from focusing on quantity to focusing on quality and application in terms of scientific and technological innovation; in terms of service innovation, it has promoted the transformation of basic power supply services to modern service industries; in terms of business model innovation, it has achieved a shift from business thinking to product thinking; in terms of management innovation, it has achieved a shift from single professional management to overall management.

One new thing brings a hundred new things, one change brings a hundred changes. China Southern Power Grid "dances" with digital technology. With the basic positioning of a national team, a platform-based enterprise, and a value chain integrator, it integrates new generation digital technologies such as "cloud, big data, Internet of Things, mobile, and intelligence" to fully promote the construction of a "digital power grid", build a new form of power grid, a new form of power grid enterprises, and a new ecology of the energy industry, and form a modern power grid and new energy system. It will effectively promote the digital transformation of the entire energy industry and give birth to a new digital economy.

Accelerate the construction of world-class digital enterprises and promote the implementation of the national energy revolution

Recently, the first digital twin substation of China Southern Power Grid, the 220 kV Dayingshan digital twin substation in Hainan, was put into operation. This is a vivid practice of the company's active integration into and service of "new infrastructure" and accelerating the integration of digital technologies represented by "big cloud, things, mobile, intelligence and chain" with power grid technologies.

The State Grid Corporation of China follows network security standards and a unified power grid data model to build a corresponding digital twin power grid. It uses an advanced digital technology platform to form a powerful "computing power" with "computing power + data + model + algorithm", and relies on the Internet of Things and the Internet to connect the perception, analysis, decision-making, and business of all parties related to the power grid, enabling the power grid company to have super perception capabilities, wise decision-making capabilities, and rapid execution capabilities.

Not only that, since the power grid's generation, transmission, transformation and distribution processes generate huge amounts of energy flow, capital flow, logistics flow, business flow, etc., a massive "data gold mine" is formed, which connects and communicates with the upstream and downstream of the energy industry chain, the industrial Internet, and the digital government, creating new space for improving energy industry governance and social governance.

To realize this blueprint, China Southern Power Grid has formulated an action plan for digital transformation and digital grid construction. In 2020, China Southern Power Grid will basically complete the construction of a digital grid, fully build a digital infrastructure platform and business platform based on cloud and data integration, and basically form an interconnection pattern with digital government, national industrial Internet, and upstream and downstream of the energy industry chain. It has the ability to support the realization of governance modernization and strategic transformation, and has the ability to expand the functions of traditional power grids to all aspects of society. Digitalization has the basic characteristics of a world-class enterprise.

By 2022, a digital power grid will be built. The digital transformation of China Southern Power Grid will be basically completed, the digital energy industry ecosystem will be initially formed, and the digital power grid will basically affect the upstream and downstream of the energy industry and all aspects of society. By 2025, the digital power grid will become an important force in promoting the implementation of the national energy revolution and an important part of the modern economic system, reaching world-class level.

Improve energy allocation efficiency, grid security and renewable energy absorption capacity

China Southern Power Grid operates the world's most complex AC and DC interconnected power grid, covering five provinces and autonomous regions, namely Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan, and interconnected with power grids in Hong Kong, Macao and Southeast Asian countries. On this tangible physical power grid, China Southern Power Grid has brought power technology to its full potential, providing safe and stable power supply to thousands of households.

"AI load forecasting" is a specific application based on digital power grid. "We conduct comprehensive analysis on meteorological multi-dimensional indicators (temperature, humidity, wind speed) and historical electricity consumption data, work start and stop conditions, population migration and other large amounts of data in various regions, and can automatically calculate the load and power of the next day, which gives important work tips to power dispatchers." Experts from the General Dispatching Department of China Southern Power Grid Company introduced that by using digital technology, the dispatching department can not only predict the power load, but also predict the trend of snowmelt changes in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau thousands of miles away, as well as the sudden increase in water after snowmelt, and timely adjust the hydropower optimization dispatching strategy and power transmission and reception strategy to ensure the full absorption of hydropower in the west and the stable supply of electricity in the east. It is understood that the "West-to-East Power Transmission" of the Southern Power Grid is connected to the fluctuating hydropower in the west on one end and the huge electricity demand in the east on the other. The balance of supply and demand is crucial.

Digital power grids can optimize energy allocation over large geographical spans and can also perform fine management on a small scale in cities. In Zhuhai, Guangdong, a "city-park dual-level Internet + smart energy demonstration project supporting energy consumption revolution" has been successfully accepted.

In this project, 439 rooftop photovoltaics, 2 electrochemical energy storage stations, 2 wind power stations, and 1,316 charging piles in Zhuhai are flexibly connected to the smart energy operation and management platform. The project's "digital brain" constantly collects the operating status of these devices, and implements regional forecasting, scheduling, and coordination of various distributed energy sources. "This is managing energy resources as carefully as embroidery," said the project leader.

Digital grids use powerful "power + computing power" to drive large-scale coordinated dispatch of renewable energy. As of the end of October, the utilization rate of hydropower dispatched by the Southern Power Grid reached 99.3%, far higher than the 95% target set by the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration, and hydropower clean energy was basically fully consumed.

Drive management and business transformation to help build a business environment for electricity consumption

At present, tens of thousands of construction workers are busy with wiring, installation, and commissioning along the nearly 1,500-kilometer project line. How can we do a good job in epidemic prevention and control while efficiently organizing and managing such a huge project?

The headquarters of the State Grid Corporation of China established a "battle command center" for the project. The commander used digital "cloud monitoring" and "cloud command" to conduct real-time video monitoring of the construction site thousands of miles away, coordinate the overall resources of the project construction, and issue headquarters decision-making instructions directly to the site, with no delay from decision-making to execution.