To further its efforts on technological innovation, State Grid launched its “New Leap” action plan to integrate its talent chain, innovation chain, technology chain, value chain, and capital chain, and plays a pillar role in building an innovative country.

China recently strengthened commitment to establishing a "dual circulation" development pattern, in which domestic and foreign markets can boost each other, with the domestic market as the mainstay. Deeply participating domestic market requires companies to adapt and quickly respond to global development under new climate. Therefore, State Grid has engaged in digital economy, promoted new digital infrastructure, and actively upgraded the power grid by creating the energy internet.

In June this year, State Grid released 10 key construction tasks for the new digital infrastructure, including power grid digital platform, energy big data center, power big data application, 5G application, industrial IoT, and Beidou application in power industry, etc. Focusing on information facilities, integrated infrastructure and innovative infrastructure, such tasks will boost the development of both upstream and downstream enterprises. State Grid will invest 24.7 billion yuan for the purpose in 2020, which is expected to drive 100 billion yuan of social investment. Initial achievements in promoting new digital infrastructure include Beidou-based autonomous drone inspection for transmission lines in Xiong’an New Area, and the first Beidou ground station for island power on Kaishan Island in Jiangsu Province.

Accurate! Beidou system provides precise positioning and timing services to power businesses

The Beidou is a global satellite navigation and positioning system developed by China independently. It is important for power industry, and can provide navigation and positioning, precise timing, short message communication and other services required in the construction of smart grid, power IoT, energy internet, etc., supporting the implementation of national energy strategy.

As early as 2010, State Grid has begun the application of Beidou system in power industry, and steadily advanced the integrated development of “Beidou + Electricity”. State Grid has promoted the use of more than 200,000 Beidou terminals in grid infrastructure, equipment operation and maintenance, marketing data collection, power dispatching and control, vehicle and logistics, etc. Up to now, 1,200 enhanced Beidou ground stations covering the entire operating area of State Grid throughout 27 provinces have completed the design, among which 586 have been built and used in power business.

In terms of Beidou’s time synchronization and frequency calibration services, 11,000 sets of terminals have been installed. 90% of the automation system for master dispatching stations and 20% of the substation time synchronization devices have received Beidou timing signals, while all the newly built and modified substations having such access. Data centers in Beijing, Shanghai, and Xi'an have each built a first-level time source node, which is based primarily on Beidou signal and secondarily on GPS signal, to provide timing services to the company's information and communication network. As to distribution grid management, the integration of Beidou high-precision timing and distribution automation terminals has improved the accuracy of fault diagnosis and shortened the repair time.

In terms of positioning and navigation, State Grid has mounted Beidou on-board terminals on more than 170,000 vehicles, applied Beidou geological disaster monitoring and early warning system in 13 subsidiaries in Hunan, Hubei, and other provinces, and installed 4,000 Beidou terminals for safety control of personnel and equipment at construction sites in 6 subsidiaries in Shandong and Zhejiang among others. In terms of Beidou short message services, more than 7,000 sets of power consumption data collection terminal with Beidou’s short message functions have been used in areas without public network signal in Shaanxi, Qinghai, Gansu, etc., solving the problem of business data feedback in remote regions.

A look inside the Power System 5G Communication Technology Application and Verification Laboratory at the State Grid Liaoning Electric Power Research Institute.

With the development of China’s 5G technology and further application of “Beidou + 5G”, a unified time-frequency network based on Beidou technology will realize localized nanosecond time synchronization on the entire network system. Coupled with the high reliability and low latency of 5G, such system can realize real-time control of power dispatching, essential for real-time power trades. It can improve the time and space attributes of IoT terminals in the power grid, promote the interconnection and intelligence of equipment, and further the integration of power IoT terminals, serving as the basis and an important part of power IoT.

Smart! Digital technologies enhance power services

“Hello, what can I do for you?” As customers enter State Grid business hall on Baishan Road   in Dalian of Liaoning Province, they are not welcomed by a person, but by a cute robot. The android can provide guidance, introduction and services, which greatly facilitates business processing. State Grid Liaoning Electric Power Company is now promoting the application in the province.

Based on its artificial intelligence platform, State Grid Information & Telecommunication Technology Group Co., Ltd. has launched smart services, smart inspection, and smart decision-making. These have been applied in scenarios such as customer service, operation, and management. The business hall service robot mentioned above is developed as part of the smart services for business halls, customer service and other similar occasions.

The application of AI in power sector is a key part of digital State Grid, and also one of the core tasks for new digital infrastructure. Nowadays, AI is adopted in various scenarios in power industry with the “shape of future”.

Back in 2017, the State Council issued the New Generation Artificial Intelligence Development Plan, which proposed a three-step goal. The first is “to keep pace with the world’s advanced level in AI technology and application by 2020.” In the past decade, China has ranked first in the world for the amount of top AI papers published. In particular, State Grid has ranked among China’s top 10 on number of AI patents for years, the only central state-owned enterprise to achieve this.

In order to promote AI technology in power grid, ensure safe operation, improve customer service and reduce work load on employees, State Grid Information & Telecommunication Technology Group has established the Joint Innovation Center for Artificial Intelligence in Power Sector and released the White Paper on Artificial Intelligence.

“We have independently developed 25 AI solutions, and applied them in more than 20 scenarios, including business halls, transmission line inspections, substations, and construction sites in 13 provincial and municipal power companies. Those solutions enhance efficiency of transmission line inspections by more than three times, cut the time for users to get electricity by 30%, and reduce manpower by 30% in some scenarios. Solutions such as ‘smart visitors’ played an important role in epidemic containment and work resumption,” said by one of the company’s executives.

State Grid Fujian inspection and maintenance company commissioned an intelligent inspection robot in the valve hall of the VSC-HVDC converter station.

Facing the development of new digital infrastructure, State Grid is advancing on multiple fronts and making full efforts.

To speed up the construction of big data centers, State Grid is promoting “3+N” program, where large-scale cloud data centers in Beiqijia, Hailar, and Lanzhou have been built and partially put into operation. Leveraging substations, multi-site integrated edge computing nodes were deployed in 18 provinces and municipalities, and more than 120 edge data center stations were built, providing cloud-edge collaborative large-scale computing services to customers across the country, and building the brand of “State Grid Computing Power”. At present, the value of external contracts has reached 1.14 billion yuan.

Meanwhile, State Grid is building comprehensive digital management platform for the whole process of capital construction, and carrying out trials in 10 subsidiaries in Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, Jiangsu, Fujian, Henan, Chongqing, Liaoning, and Xinjiang. At present, “e-Security” and digital management system for power grid projects have been put into use, covering more than 5,000 projects with more than 90,000 registered users, which are expected to save 50 million yuan for on-site control, and 120 million yuan for transportation, accommodation, labor and others each year. This practice offers another approach to building industrial internet.

State Grid has established a Joint Laboratory for Blockchain Technology, and developed four types of blockchain products for energy finance, energy trading, data protection and social governance, which have been widely used in innovative enterprises, start-ups, governments and institutions in Zhejiang, Qinghai, Shandong, Henan and Shaanxi.

Facing the integration of energy revolution and digital revolution, State Grid rises up to challenges, gives full play to its advantages, pools strength from all walks of life, and leads the whole industry to overcome temporary difficulties and achieve sustainable development.