Climbing up a hill near Xuqiao Village, Dunshang Street, Guichi District, Chizhou City, Anhui Province, the dense transmission towers and high-voltage lines "traveling" from the distant mountains are spectacular.

"This is the Chizhou Jiuhua UHV dense channel, and it is one of the main arteries for power transmission from west to east." said Chen Yakui, director of Jiuhua Transportation Inspection Station of Anhui Transmission and Transformation Engineering Co., Ltd. Anhui Province currently has the largest electricity load, delivering nearly 71.4 billion kWh of clean energy to the Yangtze River Delta every year, which is close to half of Shanghai's annual electricity consumption.

It was found at the scene that there was a relatively "pocket" 5G wireless base station not far from the tall UHV tower. "This is a 5G base station specially built for dense channels, and it will be completed by the end of September 2021." said Xu Fan, manager of the project support room of the network management center of China Mobile Anhui Company. 5G technology has the characteristics of low latency and large bandwidth, which can provide dense channels Implement intelligent management and control to provide protection.

After the technical research of State Grid Anhui Electric Power Company and Anhui Mobile, a new 5G network and power communication network 'dual network integration' model has been constructed, and a number of 5G-based applications have been successfully realized. "5G+UHV" has become an information communication network A typical example of the combination of technology and electrical energy.

UHV welcomes construction peak

As we all know, the representatives of new infrastructure such as 5G base stations and big data centers are all power-hungry consumers, while UHV, which meets the advantages of large-capacity, long-distance, and low-loss power transmission, can meet the needs of these "big power consumers" to save energy and reduce costs. It is an important prerequisite for the green development of social economy. Therefore, the power grid industry has also taken it as the mainstream of development in recent years.

Under the promotion of new infrastructure and the blessing of policies, UHV construction is in full swing in various places. The 500 kV line project of Shandong Weifang UHV substation has been completed; the transmission line of the Gan 2 bid section of the Yazhong to Jiangxi ±800 kV UHV DC transmission project crosses the Gan River; Full coverage of electricity, Hubei ±800kV UHV DC project started...

In addition, China is the only country that has achieved large-scale commercial operation in the field of UHV power transmission. Mao Weiming, chairman of State Grid Corporation of China, once said that State Grid will focus on UHV, charging piles, digital new infrastructure and other fields.

In 2020, the domestic plan was approved and the construction of seven key UHV projects of "five exchanges and two direct lines" was started, with an investment and construction scale of 91.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 66.18%. By 2025, more than 30 new UHV line projects in China will be approved one after another, driving social capital to enter the upstream and downstream markets of the industrial chain, with an overall scale of 587 billion yuan.

The combination of 5G and UHV will bring new momentum to the development of the power industry. 5G and UHV, the former is the most advanced communication technology at present, and the latter is the power transmission technology representing the highest level in the world. The two seem to have nothing to do with each other, but they can be integrated and complementary. Some communication experts said that 5G has different degrees of application in all aspects of power generation, transmission, substation, distribution, power consumption, and emergency communication in the power system.

With the realization of 5G network coverage at UHV sites, sparks of wisdom will collide, especially with the promotion of the three major operators, 5G has begun to be deeply applied in the power grid field.

From October 12th to 24th, the only converter station in the world with the highest AC and DC voltage levels in the world - Xuancheng ±1100kV Guquan Converter Station ushered in the first "physical examination" since it was put into operation. This is China's A major practice of the "5G+Industrial Internet" technology of Telecom Xinjiang Company in the field of UHV. Through the 5G network, superimposed technologies such as 5G live broadcast, robot VR inspection, unmanned aerial vehicle, black body temperature measurement and other technologies have realized real-time, centralized and whole-process management and control of the job site.

Previously, the "Xuancheng Guquan 5G + UHV Smart Converter Station" project jointly built by Anhui Mobile and State Grid Anhui Electric Power has effectively promoted the deployment of intelligent sensing terminals through the deployment of 5G networks, MEC and other equipment, creating an intelligent and controllable UHV smart converter station.

Henan Unicom has also implemented 5G technology for the construction site of the southern Henan converter substation in the Qinghai-Henan ±800 kV UHV DC project (referred to as the "Qingyu DC" project).

The application of "5G+UHV" verifies the large-bandwidth service characteristics and network reliability of 5G networks in a high electromagnetic environment. It not only realizes the innovation and upgrading of in-station operation and maintenance modes, but also effectively promotes the transformation and upgrading of the power grid.

5G+UHV promotes power grid transformation and upgrading

Dazhu Village, Caigou Township, Shangcai County, Qinghai-Henan ±800kV UHV DC Project Henan Converter Substation Construction Site, a 5G intelligent robot is equipped with a VR holographic camera, an infrared thermal imaging camera and a 4K visible light camera. Automatic inspection on the route, when encountering obstacles ahead, ultrasonic automatic obstacle avoidance can also be realized.

At the same time, in front of the big screen of the intelligent construction site monitoring center of the station, Li Yongjie, the project manager from State Grid Henan Xintong Company, was checking the high-definition picture returned by the intelligent robot to conduct real-time remote monitoring of the construction site.

This is an application scenario of 5G technology in the construction site of the "Qingyu DC" project - Henan converter substation construction site. It is also the first time that 5G technology has been applied to the UHV infrastructure site in the province, fully considering the preliminary construction and later operation. to meet the needs of the intelligent infrastructure construction site and the intelligent converter station in the later stage.

The "Qingyu DC" project is my country's first UHV channel specially constructed for the delivery of clean energy. As the highlight of the "new infrastructure", the application of 5G technology in the conversion substation in southern Henan reflects the combination of new infrastructure and projects, the combination of substation resources and social resources, the combination of energy revolution and digital revolution, and has great strategic significance.

In order to put this UHV artery into operation as soon as possible and bring its benefits into play, in April 2022, State Grid Henan Electric Power Company and Henan Unicom cooperated to deploy and build 3 5G macro base stations and 5G indoor distribution facilities in the Henan converter substation. And on May 20, 2020, the full coverage of the 5G network in the station will be realized. At the same time, combined with the converter station construction scenarios and business applications, the 5G eagle eye, 5G substation safety production management and control, 5G+AR remote assisted maintenance and other scenario tests will be carried out. On May 30, 2020, the above preset supporting scenarios initially meet the application conditions.

In fact, the application of 5G in power scenarios has already been explored. In April 2019, at the 500 kV Guandu substation, State Grid Henan Xintong Co., Ltd. cooperated with Henan Mobile to build the first 5G power dedicated base station in China, which verified the large-bandwidth service characteristics and network reliability of 5G networks in a high electromagnetic environment.

In May 2020, the ±800kV Zhongzhou Converter Station carried out innovative applications such as intelligent individual soldiers, inspection robots, and distributed infrared monitoring based on 5G technology during the annual maintenance. As the first UHV station in China to achieve full station coverage of 5G network, the station transmits high-definition images of the job site in real time through 5G terminals such as drones, and technicians and rear experts carry out investigation and analysis simultaneously, effectively improving the leanness of the annual inspection site. control level.

"5G's large bandwidth and low latency provide strong support for ensuring the safe and efficient completion of construction, maintenance and other tasks, and will greatly improve the intelligence level of UHV substations." The relevant person in charge of the provincial power company said that through 5G technology The large-scale application in the development and construction of UHV will promote the deep integration of information and communication technology and power grid, which will effectively promote the transformation and upgrading of Henan power grid, and promote the integrated development of the country's new infrastructure industry.

Technology integration still faces new challenges

As power grid companies accelerate the deployment and construction of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things, digital technologies represented by big data, cloud computing, Internet of Things, artificial intelligence, 5G, etc. are increasingly applied to the power system, which will make the energy supply pattern, power Significant changes have taken place in transaction modes.

Although UHV has significant medium and long-term economic benefits and obvious comprehensive advantages, the projects under construction and planning still face many difficulties. This also means meeting multiple challenges.

Industry experts said that in terms of systems, large-scale transmission of new energy through the DC transmission system is a cutting-edge technology in the field of international high-voltage power transmission, and it is also a strategic technology that supports the larger-scale development and utilization of new energy. Leaders in the field of high-voltage power transmission need to take the lead in making innovations and breakthroughs.

In terms of external coordination, as a cross-regional and long-distance high-voltage pipeline project, the State Grid’s UHV projects under construction and planning are distributed in 22 provinces and regions across the country, and the Kunliulong DC transmission project under construction by the South Grid passes through 4 provinces and regions. The very complex construction environment mainly includes: the country's increasingly strict spatial planning, construction permits, land acquisition, demolition compensation, environmental protection, water protection, over-limit transportation and other approvals and law enforcement, as well as the coordination of power outages for a large number of power lines.

In terms of security, strengthen theoretical and practical research to solve new phenomena that affect the safe and stable operation of the power system along with the development of the power grid. For example, the application of 5G + smart grid involves the safe and reliable operation of the power grid, so it should be designed to be different from the public grid application. Slicing of smart grids, etc. Of course, the above-mentioned problems in the early stage of technology development will be solved as the technology matures.

In the future, the integrated application of 5G and UHV and its development potential will bring infinite imagination. Editor/He Yuting