Feidong, Anhui: Coordinated efforts ensure reliable power supply

Azure photovoltaic panels spanning 2,500-mu over Xianbei Lake in Liangyuan town, Feidong county, Anhui province, continuously converts sunlight into green electricity, transmitting it to the power grid for sufficient electricity supply.

On clear sunny days, the photovoltaic power station can generate more than 440,000 kilowatt-hour of electricity every day, meeting the daily electricity needs of more than 20,000 urban households," said Ding Jun, station master of Jinyang Photovoltaic Power Station of Feidong Jinyang New Energy Power Generation Co Ltd, while introducing the photovoltaic power generation data in the central control room.

Jinyang Photovoltaic Power Station was completed and put into operation in December 2015, with a total installed capacity of 94 megawatts. The entire photovoltaic power station is equipped with approximately 360,000 photovoltaic panels, covering the entire surface of Xianbei Lake. Since it was connected to the power grid, it has delivered 118 million kWh of green electricity to the grid every year, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by about 97,000 tons.

In the sweltering summer, repeated high temperatures have led to a rapid rise in air-conditioning load for cooling. "The maximum load in summer mainly occurs at noon, which coincides with the peak period of photovoltaic power generation," said He Jun, deputy director of the Power Dispatching Sub-center of State Grid Feidong County Power Supply Company. The power load curve and photovoltaic power generation curve shows that the growth of new energy power generation such as photovoltaics has effectively guaranteed residents’ demand for cooling electricity.

Currently, the installed capacity of photovoltaic power in Feidong county has reached 1.2642 million kilowatts, with an average daily power generation of 6.4 million kilowatt-hours in summer. Regarding the role of photovoltaic new energy in ensuring power supply, State Grid Feidong County Power Supply Company has continued promoting the optimization of the power grid structure, enhance the transmission capacity of the power grid, increase joint inspections of power generation equipment, improve the efficiency of photovoltaic power generation, and ensure that photovoltaic electricity can be generated and connected to the grid smoothly.

Photovoltaic power generation is mainly concentrated during the daytime. However, during the period when the power grid is coping with the summer peak load, the electricity load at night is also relatively high. The limitations of photovoltaic power generation have restricted energy efficiency. In recent years, State Grid Feidong County Power Supply Company has actively promoted the construction of energy storage power stations, collaborated with power generation enterprises to build new grid-side energy storage power stations, and encouraged enterprises to apply for and install customer-side energy storage power stations, to improve the utilization rate of new energy.

At the 35 kilovolt Anhe Energy Storage Power Station located in the Economic and Technological Development Zone of Feidong county, 16 container-type battery modules are neatly arranged. At 9:30 am, upon receiving the grid dispatching instructions, the energy storage power station started the charging process, storing the surplus electricity generated by photovoltaic power stations during the daytime to be released intensively during the peak nighttime electricity consumption period.

"Since June, we have carried out a total of 62 charge-discharge cycles, supplying 524,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity to the grid with a maximum peak-shaving capacity of 20,000 kilowatts. This has effectively regulated the output of new energy sources and guaranteed residential electricity usage in summer," said Xu Le, director of Anhe Energy Storage Power Station. An energy storage power station is equivalent to a large-scale "power bank". It can store the electricity generated by photovoltaic power stations during the high-yield daytime hours that cannot be fully utilized, and transfer it for use at night, thereby realizing the peak-shaving, valley-filling and efficient utilization of green electricity.

In addition to leveraging new energy power generation and energy storage power stations, State Grid Feidong County Power Supply Company has continuously improved the intelligent dispatching capability of the power grid. It has applied technologies such as distribution network automation and visual emergency repair to enhance the efficiency of fault isolation, load transfer, emergency repair and power restoration.

At 4:45 pm on July 25, a fault on the 10kV Dongfangyuefu Substation - 18 Line led to the immediate activation of the "self-healing" function, quickly disconnecting the 03 switch of the switching station, closing the contact switch of the distribution room, and restoring power supply to the fault area. Since July, Feidong Power Grid has activated the distribution network self-healing function 6 times, significantly reducing the power outage and restoration time for residents.

As high-temperature weather continues, State Grid Feidong County Power Supply Company will continuously enhance the power supply and transmission capacity of the power grid, scientifically dispatch the operation mode of the power grid, promote the efficient consumption of new energy, strive to give play to the regulating role of energy storage power stations, and take multiple measures to ensure uninterrupted summer power supply.