China already has the largest power grid in the world and by 2020, Chinaกฏs installed power capacity will be 1.6 billion KW, twice the current capacity. To support such rapid expansion, State Grid is developing plans to implement major expansions and upgrades to the grid. The planned กฎSmart Gridกฏ upgrades include, amongst others, two-way communication and smart meters, distributed storage and transformation and transmission upgrades and automation.
In China there are only two power grid companies: State Grid and South Power Grid. South Power Grid serves five provinces in south China, including Guangdong, Hainan, Guangxi, Guizhou and Yunnan. State Grid serves the other 24 provinces in China.
Both State Grid and South Power Grid are working to further develop their grid and both are drafting smart grid development plans and technology standards, which will have to be met by foreign companies that are looking to enter the Chinese smart grid market.
As a first phase, State Grid has just concluded the implementation of various pilots. During this phase, State Grid has implemented 228 smart grid pilot projects in 26 provinces. The next few years, until 2015, State Grid will enter phase two in which the pilots will be expanded and the most promising technologies will be implemented across the grid.
State Gridกฏs smart grid investment plan in phase 2 (2011-2015) is ambitious; a total of 2861 billion RMB will be invested in generation and storage (excluding large scale generation which is done by the power producers), transmission, transformation, distribution, consumption, dispatching and communication.
Year |
2011 |
2012 |
2013 |
2014 |
2015 |
2011-2015 |
% |
Generation |
16.7 |
16.7 |
1.7 |
3.7 |
1.6 |
40.5 |
1.4% |
Transmission |
16.4 |
18.6 |
18.5 |
18.8 |
18.2 |
90.6 |
3.2% |
Transformation |
107.4 |
142.3 |
141.0 |
139.9 |
143.7 |
674.3 |
23.6% |
Distribution |
58.2 |
58.8 |
92.9 |
40.8 |
46.1 |
296.9 |
10.4% |
Consumption |
111.3 |
160.2 |
177.8 |
189.2 |
143.6 |
782.1 |
27.3% |
Dispatching |
35.9 |
34.4 |
34.7 |
29.9 |
31.3 |
166.3 |
5.8% |
Communication |
172.4 |
187.0 |
166.5 |
149.1 |
135.4 |
810.5 |
28.3% |
total |
518.3 |
618.2 |
633.3 |
571.4 |
520.0 |
2861.1 |
100.0% |
| |
This planned grid investments provide many opportunities for technology and equipment providers.For example, according to State Grid's smart grid long-term plan and 3-year rural area grid upgrade plus, it will buy about 130 million more smart meters in the next 2 year.
Currently, smart grid development in China focuses on the following key technologies.
Generation |
Improve cooperation between
power plant and grid
Renewable energy support
energy storage |
Transmission |
Power line statue monitoring equipment
Power line statue monitoring system
Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (alternating current)
Flexible Alternating Current Transmission Systems (direct current)
High Voltage Transmission Systems (direct current) |
Transformation |
Key device in Bay level and Process level of IEC61850
Key device in Station level of IEC61850
Key device in transformer substation operation management |
Distribution |
Smart distribution device
Distribution automation and distribution system planning
Distributed generation and microgrid control |
Consumption |
Smart metering and communication system
intelligent residential district
Smart VIP service
Electric vehicle charging station |
Dispatching |
Smart dispatching system in province level or above
Smart dispatching system in city level or below |
Information and communication |
Communication backbone development
Distribution and retail grid communication system
Communication system optimization
IT infrastructure
Information security and operation management
Advanced applications in information system |
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