Power supplier lets wind from the sea light millions of homes

On Dec 27, in the coastal prefecture-level of Taizhou in Zhejiang province, a multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicle equipped with a laser point cloud radar autonomously scanned along the transmission lines of an offshore wind farm.

Mimicking a straight-line flight to collect data, the drone has a transmission function to allow real-time, close-range observation of overhead lines, ensuring no omissions in mountainous flight inspections.

On the ground, inspection personnel from State Grid Taizhou Power Supply Co-designed the autonomous detection angles and return flight routes through terminal software, completed modeling, and achieved high-precision automatic driving inspection from station to station and tower to tower for the Zhejiang Energy Taizhou No 1 Offshore Wind Power 220 kV (kilo-volt) transmission line.

On Nov 16, the supporting power output project of Zhejiang Energy Taizhou No 1 Offshore Wind Farm was successfully put into operation, laying a solid foundation for the comprehensive power generation of the wind farm within the year.

According to Zhu Lu, a staffer from State Grid Taizhou Power Supply Co, the 220 kV transmission line is a critical pathway for transmitting offshore wind power to the mainland area in the city.

Currently, the offshore wind farm project is progressing smoothly, she said, noting that the onshore centralized control center project has been completed, while offshore, 40 wind turbines in the wind farm have been successfully installed.

Serving as a vital project for supporting offshore wind power generation, the starting point of the transmission project is the onshore booster station of Taizhou No 1 Offshore Wind Farm, and it ultimately connects to the 220 kV Coral Substation, she said.