Smart grid is still in its infancy

The 863 plan will invest 1.05 billion yuan in major projects of the smart grid during the "12th Five-Year Plan" period. This is the first time that the national level has conducted research on the smart grid. On September 30, the reporter learned from the Asia-Pacific Smart Power Summit held in Shanghai that the 863 Program of the Ministry of Science and Technology will invest 1.05 billion yuan during the “12th Five-Year Plan” period for research on major special projects of the smart grid.

This is the first time that the national level has conducted research on the smart grid. Informed sources disclosed to reporters that the research included 20 topics such as large-scale wind power access to the power grid, electric vehicles, high-density distributed power generation, solar power generation, and power transmission and transformation equipment. Each subject will be placed on a pilot project.

Smart grid is still in its infancy

Compared with developed countries in Europe and America, China's smart grid construction started relatively late, but the capital investment is not cheap. According to a report released by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in September 2010, since last year, China has invested US$7.03 billion in the smart grid field, and the US has guided US$4.05 billion in investment in fiscal stimulus plans.

In general, smart grids are still in their infancy in various countries in the world. China has achieved good results in certain areas, especially on the transmission side, such as UHV DC, exchange and long-distance transmission technologies, and digital substations. In the field, China is far behind.

Hu Zhaoguang, deputy director of the State Grid Energy Research Institute, optimistically predicted to reporters: “In the next 5 to 10 years, China’s smart grid is estimated to be at the forefront of the world. As long as the state pays attention, investment will immediately follow suit. This is determined by our institutional mechanism. ”

How does the technical focus turn

Since 1998, the American Academy of Electric Power has promoted “complex interactive networks/systems.” In 2003, President Bush requested the US Department of Energy to commit to the modernization of the power grid, and in the same year released the GRID2030 plan. In 2009, the Obama administration upgraded the smart grid to the US national strategy.

China did not introduce the concept of smart grid until 2006-2007. State Grid Corporation of China first proposed the "Strong Power Grid" plan in 2009 and released the "White Paper on Green Development" in April this year. It is expected that a strong smart grid will basically be built by 2020, and the green platform function of its energy allocation will be used to achieve large-scale power transmission. Consuming clean energy, boosting power systems to improve energy efficiency, and accelerating the development of electric vehicles.

Because China's energy distribution is far from the load center, in order to ease the outstanding contradictions of coal, electricity and oil transportation in China, the development of China's smart grid has taken a completely different route from that of Europe and the United States. The smart grid-related technologies on the transmission grid side have taken the lead in breakthrough and extensive application in China.

Up to now, the National Grid 1000 kV Jin South East - Nanyang - Jingmen UHV AC pilot demonstration project, ± 800 kV Sichuan Xiangjiaba - Shanghai DC UHV demonstration projects have been completed, China Southern Power Grid Yunnan - Guangzhou ± 800 kV UHVDC Transmission projects are also under construction.

"On the transmission side, UHV's ability to deliver long-distance transmission and digital control technology, we are in the world's leading position," said Hu Xuehao, chief expert of the China Electric Power Research Institute. "It has fallen far behind in the field of power distribution, AMI (Advanced Measurement System), the United States coverage rate of 6%, AMR (automatic meter reading system) the United States covers 30%, China is almost zero."

"China currently only partially implements the ICS system, which means that the user's meter is transmitted to a concentrator through a narrowband (slow but inexpensive), to a public wireless network, and the power system completes the acquisition. This is just a single between the user and the power company. As of today, ICS has achieved 53.2% in large industrial users and only 3% for residential users."

Judging from the “annual power outage time”, an important indicator to measure the reliability of a country's electricity, in 2009 China averaged 9 hours per household, while Tokyo was 5 minutes, Singapore was 2 minutes, and Shanghai still needed about 1 hour, not to mention the vast majority Countryside. The essence behind this is that “the electric power company is still the attitude of the managers, and users have no awareness of power outages for compensation. There is still too much work to do in the future power distribution sector.” Li Li, Secretary-General of the Expert Committee of the China Southern Power Grid Corporation and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Li Li To "Oriental Outlook Weekly" said.

As one of the energy saving measures, the time-of-use price was introduced for many years, but it has only been promoted in major cities such as Shanghai. The vast majority of areas in the country have not yet been implemented. "The electricity price is regulated, and there is still an unequal position between the electric power company and users, let alone equal exchanges," Li Li said.

The ultimate goal of the smart grid is to guide users to change the way they use energy to achieve a complete change in the energy structure of the entire society. What is behind this is an energy revolution that relies on fossil fuels, to emphasize the use of clean energy, and to reduce carbon emissions.

However, the development of China's smart grid only on the transmission side is far from enough. "In the next five years, the focus of technology must gradually shift to the areas of power distribution and electricity use," said Hu Xuehao.