After the summer solstice passed, a large portion of China finds
itself in the grip of a blistering summer season, accompanied by a
surge in electricity demand. This period poses a critical challenge
for many cities as they strive to guarantee a steady and dependable
power supply.
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For Hangzhou, the capital city of Zhejiang
Province, a major economic powerhouse in eastern China, ensuring
stable electricity supply is an especially formidable task.
Recently, Hangzhou has taken the lead in
implementing 0.4 kilovolt low-voltage power supply reliability
extension management across the province. This initiative aims to
further optimize the construction of a new type of rapidly growing
distribution network made up by photovoltaics, energy storage,
charging stations, and other facilities that can flexibly serve the
users.
This city, renowned for its West Lake, covers an
area of over 16,000 square kilometers. It has a population of over
12 million permanent residents, with more than 1.8 million market
entities operating within its boundaries. In 2023, the city's total
electricity consumption reached 98.7 billion kWh, and its GDP
surpassed 2 trillion yuan.
However, it faces natural disadvantages against
ensuring a stable power supply, such as high urban load density,
frequent rainstorms and flooding, and a significant proportion of
mountainous areas.
However, local residents and businesses do not
have to worry about sudden power outages affecting the use of air
conditioning or the operation of their production and business
activities: The mega-city has already constructed a world-class
urban power distribution network, boasting internationally advanced
levels of power reliability.
In Hangzhou, the average annual power outage time
per household in the core urban area is less than 30 seconds, and
that for the whole city is less than 10 minutes. With the city's
power supply reliability rate reaching 99.9982%, Hangzhou's power
supply reliability can rival that of international metropolis such
as New York, Vancouver, Tokyo, and Paris.
In 2023, Hangzhou successfully hosted the 19th
Asian Games, showcasing to the world a city that is smart,
futuristic, vibrant, and full of vitality. Hangzhou has also
emerged as a popular host city for world-class major sporting
events.
The high reliability of its electricity supply has
become one of the decisive factors in hosting a smooth event. Take
badminton competitions as an example, the reliable operation of
electrical equipment and systems such as "Hawk-Eye," timing
and scoring, and court lighting are of utmost importance.
Meanwhile, as a hub for Chinese tech giants such
as Alibaba, Hangzhou is seeing a growing concentration of high-tech
enterprises. In the science and technology innovation corridor in
west Hangzhou, a large number of scientific facilities,
laboratories, and innovation platforms have settled in, placing
extremely high demands on power supply reliability.
Reprogenix, a high-tech enterprise primarily
engaged in cellular medical research, is located in the area. In
the company's workshops, the cells need to grow in incubators that
simulate the human body environment.
"A cultivation cycle takes three months, and there
can be no power interruptions during the process," said the
company's representative Zhuang Dewei.
Today, as a demonstration area for a world-class
power distribution network, Hangzhou has lifted the power supply
reliability in the core areas of the Asian Games and the science
and technology innovation corridor in its west to an impressive
99.9999%. For residents living in these areas, power outages are
becoming a distant memory.
The significant improvement in Hangzhou's power
supply reliability can be attributed to a series of comprehensive,
precise, and data-driven management initiatives implemented by the
State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company with the goal of
"providing uninterrupted electricity as the ultimate service".
For example, the company has been increasing its
investment of power grid in high-demand urban areas and weak links
in mountainous areas. It has also enhanced its manpower, equipment,
and technical support capabilities for uninterrupted power
operations.
In addition, innovative technologies such as drone
automatic inspection, equipment online monitoring, grid-based
intelligent inspection, and live-line robot autonomous maintenance
are also being applied to detect and address faults in a timely
manner.
"In the past, it would take at least over an hour
to address weather-related disruptions in remote mountainous areas.
With the introduction of intelligent remote switches, any faults in
the power lines can now be instantaneously located within seconds,
and the isolation, self-healing, and restoration of power can be
completed in as little as 5 minutes," said Yang Xuan, deputy
director of the digitalization distribution network management
department of the State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply Company.
Just like in many other areas of economic and
social development in this city, Hangzhou has also been a pioneer
in China in its reform and innovation to boost power supply
reliability.
In 2001, Hangzhou, along with Beijing and
Shanghai, became one of the first pilot cities in China for the
development of distribution network automation systems. By 2018,
the system achieved notable progress, with the millisecond-level
seamless fault handling becoming a reality.
In 2020, Hangzhou took the lead in China by
canceling the planned power outages of 10 (20) kilovolts in its
core urban areas. The following year, this policy was expanded to
cover county-level urban areas, and to include the entire city in
2022, transforming Hangzhou into a city without planned power
outage.
Looking ahead, Hangzhou is building a
comprehensive demonstration zone for a modern intelligent power
distribution network.
With the support of various digital platforms and
smart AI technologies, the city will continuously transmit diverse
types of electric energy, including wind, solar, and hydro power,
from all over the country to enterprises, venues, and
households.
This effort will empower Hangzhou to fulfill its
goal of becoming a world-class socialist, modern, and international
metropolis by 2035.
Source: State Grid Hangzhou Power Supply
Company
Contact person:
Ms. Li
Tel: 86-10-63074558