“Engine of Electricity” Enables Shaanxi’s Integration into the Belt and Road
Since the beginning of this year, Shaanxi has ushered in the peak of power grid construction during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period. The 330-kV Xi’an Center and the Power Transmission and Transformation Project in the south of the city have entered the substantive construction stage, and in the first half of the year, the number of those put into operation among 37 projects of 110 kV and above, including the 330-kV Lantian Project, reached a record high.
In economic development, electricity goes first. The employees of State Grid Shaanxi Electric Power Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “SGSEP”) are enterprising and energetic with one mind. The striving scenes of promoting high-quality development and accelerating power grid construction are presented in villages, enterprises, and vast fields; a series of measures for benefiting the people are advanced continuously, polishing the bottom color of happiness of Shaanxi people’s new life… Waves of “new” vigor are coming out of the hot striving pictures.
New Breakthroughs in Power Grid Construction.Shaanxi is an important comprehensive energy base and an important hub of “West-to-East Power Transmission Project” in China. Based on the advantages of geographical resources, SGSEP strives to solve the problems restricting the development of power grids and has made new breakthroughs in the construction of power grids at all levels. Since the beginning of this year, Shaanxi has ushered in the peak of power grid construction during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period. The 330-kV Xi’an Center and the Power Transmission and Transformation Project in the south of the city have entered the substantive construction stage, and in the first half of the year, the number of those put into operation among 37 projects of 110 kV and above, including the 330-kV Lantian Project, reached a record high. In terms of key projects such as the main transformer capacity increase and expansion of heavily and fully-loaded substations in coping with power consumption peak in summer, SGSEP implemented them in advance, opened green channel for them, intensively put into operation 97 key projects in coping with power consumption peak in summer, and increased the supply capacities of the provincial and Xi’an power grids by 7.18 million kVA and 4.575 million kVA respectively.
To efficiently boost the construction of power grids, SGSEP gave play to the driving effect of power investment, comprehensively strengthened the construction of main UHV and EHV grids and modern smart distribution network, implemented high-quality development requirements in all links and the whole process of project construction, and made every effort to promote the early start and early production of 643 provincial key projects. It helped to bring about the issuance of the Opinions on Further Optimizing the Approval Process for Power Grid Construction by the Shaanxi Provincial Government and issued the List of Key Power Construction Tasks of Shaanxi 2023. It set up “project-specific working teams” to powerfully push forward the preliminary work, and county and district companies fully implemented the regional coordination responsibility. SGSEP started the feasibility study of the Shaanxi-Anhui and Shaanxi-Henan UHV DC Projects, provided cooperation in the approval of transit East Gansu-Shandong, Ningxia-Hunan, and Hami-Chongqing UHV Projects, and obtained the approval of 61 projects of 110 kV and above including the 750-kV Hanzhong Power Transmission and Transformation Project.
Frost appears along with swan gooses, and autumn scenery begins to be colorful. On Sept. 25, the 750-kV Northern Shaanxi-Central Shaanxi Third-channel Power Transmission and Transformation Project passed the review of the Shaanxi Provincial Development and Reform Commission and obtained the approval reply. This is a core project to implement the “dual carbon” strategic goals, cope with the new energy leapfrog development of Shaanxi during the “14th Five-Year Plan” period, and strengthen the province’s backbone grid. At the same time, SGSEP expedited the construction of Pumped Storage Power Station and has played an active role in improving the delivery capacity, expanding the radius of new energy consumption, and realizing the orderly adjustment and optimal allocation of Shaanxi’s clean power resources in a larger range of the country.
New Development in Energy Transition. Departing from Xi’an, Shaanxi, you can drive north along Baotou-Maoming Expressway to the Hengshan Switching Station, the starting station of the Yuheng-Weifang 1,000-kV UHV AC Transmission Project and also the only UHV AC switching station in Shaanxi at present.
The power resource of Shaanxi is continuously transported to thousands of households in North China through the Hengshan Station. By Jul. 28, 2023, the 1,000-kV Hengshan Switching Station of SGSEP UHV Company had been in safe operation for 2,177 days and accumulatively delivered 80 billion kWh of electricity to North China, with an annual output of nearly 10 billion kWh, equivalent to reducing coal transportation by 36.13 million tons, carbon dioxide emissions by 70.77 million tons, and sulfur dioxide emissions by 170,000 tons, making positive contribution to the goals of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”.
In recent years, relying on abundant traditional energy resources such as coal and oil, as well as natural resources such as wind and solar energy, SGSEP has provided continuous power for the generation of electric energy, formed a comprehensive energy service business centered on “electricity”, created a new model of low-carbon transformation from traditional energy to new energy, and opened up a new path of green and sustainable development.
Yulin in Northern Shaanxi possesses abundant wind and light resources. In recent years, with the guidance of national policies and the vigorous promotion of relevant local government departments, the new energy industry in Yulin area has developed rapidly, and the scale of grid connection has also increased rapidly. The newly installed capacity of new energy has reached 490,600 kV in Yulin area since the beginning of this year.
Since the beginning of this year, SGSEP has made every effort to do a good job of new energy consumption, made accurate forecast of new energy power, and dynamically tracked weather changes to optimize and adjust the forecast data of new energy power in time. Based on the situation of new energy consumption, it timely adjusted the power grid start-up mode and coordinated cross-provincial mutual aid to ensure the new energy consumption capacity of power grids. By 0:00 on Jul. 24, 2023, the cumulative new energy power generation of Shaanxi had reached 23.7 billion kWh, of which PV power generation was 10.35 billion kWh, a year-on-year increase of 10.2%.
New Improvement in Supply Service. SGSEP actively meets the power demands of key projects and industries of Xi’an and Shaanxi, strictly implements various requirements for improving the power-using business environment, fully fulfills the service standards of State Grid, and realizes unified service for power users in Shaanxi by unifying the power supply service hotline of the province. It carries out the “government-enterprise grid services” in a unified way, implements the eight service campaigns, creates a new model of power supply service driven by customer opinion work order, promotes convenient electricity-related services on the Internet with the same quality and high standards, and popularizes financial products such as “Electricity e-Loan” and “Electricity e-Ticket” to help enterprises cut down energy costs.
On Aug. 11, a sudden mountain torrent and debris flow disaster hit Jiwozi Group, Weiziping Village, Luanzhen Sub-district, Chang’an District, Xi’an, causing the damage of 3 power infrastructures, the failure of one 35-kV power line, and the shutdown of 55 communication base stations, affecting the electricity use of 900 households around. Upon the occurrence of the flood, SGSEP Xi’an Power Supply Company immediately launched the emergency response to deploy emergency power generation vehicles, emergency repair materials, lighting equipment, and other emergency supplies to the scene of the disaster. The emergency power repair personnel quickly formulated construction plans and schemes and organized operation forces to restore power supply in the affected areas in the first time. A total of 44 vehicle-times of emergency vehicles and 245 person-times of emergency repair personnel were dispatched to continuously carry out emergency repair. In the past holiday of “National Day and the Mid-Autumn Festival”, in the face of the double pressure of soaring number of tourists and quality service, SGSEP resolutely shouldered the responsibility of power supply guarantee, realized the “double-zero” goal, namely “zero tripping” of the main power grid of Xi’an and “zero complaint” of service, and delivered a satisfactory answer sheet of safe and stable operation of the power grid.
The spring breeze opens a new chapter, and it’s time to forge ahead. Being a key energy enterprise related to national energy security and the lifeblood of the national economy, SGSEP fully implements the people-centered philosophy of development, keeps in mind its mission tasks and functional orientation, gives full play to the role of “the Pillar of the Great Power”, performs the responsibility of “pioneer” in economic and social development, and persistently does solid work to lay a solid foundation for the high-quality development of Shaanxi, provide guarantee for the good life of Shaanxi people, and inject powerful momentum into the construction of a beautiful China.
The article is written by Cao Yu, Chai Ying, and Ren Nan.
Source: State Grid Shaanxi Electric Power Co., Ltd.