Millennium ancient village embraces computing power

Nestled deep in the Qianligang Mountains, Dongping Village in Quzhou, Zhejiang Province, boasts a millennium-long history. Adorned with an ancient Tang Dynasty pathway, century-old persimmon trees and picturesque golden autumn harvest scenes, the time-honored hamlet has long embodied traditional rural charm.

The village has recently undergone a striking transformation following the launch of the Rural Silicon Valley OPC Community. It has attracted a growing community of digital entrepreneurs and remote professionals, evolving from a quiet ancient village into a vibrant model integrating cultural tourism and digital innovation. Behind this rural upgrade lies solid, reliable power support delivered by State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power.

Stretching 1,500 meters, Dongping Village's ancient Tang road winds through lush mountains, lined with interwoven red maples and aged persimmon trees. The arrival of the Rural Silicon Valley project has brought round-the-clock computing servers, tech innovation facilities, and booming homestay and farmhouse businesses, driving a sharp surge in local electricity consumption.

The aging rural power grid could no longer accommodate the fast-growing load demand. Complicating the upgrade, grid renovation work must fully preserve the village's historic landscape, especially the precious century-old persimmon trees and their root systems, posing rigorous technical challenges for power reconstruction.

State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power intervened proactively at the project's initial planning stage. Technical teams conducted multiple on-site field surveys to accurately evaluate power loads for the tech innovation base and opened a dedicated green channel to advance construction progress.

The initial renovation blueprint was discarded to avoid damaging ancient trees. After repeated simulation and optimization, technicians finalized a comprehensive solution that balances power capacity expansion, cultural relic protection and ecological preservation.

The upgraded plan features underground cabling along village streets, large-section low-voltage cable replacement, and new power distribution facilities deployed at mountain foothills. This design bypasses persimmon tree root systems, eliminates safety hazards from outdated circuits, and significantly strengthens grid carrying capacity. It also reserves ample power supply for computing equipment, homestay clusters and cultural tourism public infrastructure.

Considering the volatile mountain weather and local tourism rhythm, the team flexibly adjusted construction schedules to avoid peak tourist seasons and villagers' business hours, minimizing disruption to daily village operations.

Following hardware upgrades, State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power rolled out a grid-based exclusive service mechanism to build a full-cycle power guarantee system. Staff conduct regular field inspections at maker studios and farm homestays to monitor real-time electricity usage.

During peak power consumption periods for persimmon harvest festivals and tourist seasons, the team leverages drone patrols, infrared temperature measurement and other digital tools to track power equipment operation. Round-the-clock electricity response services ensure stable operation of AI computing devices and support seamless maker work, folk activities and rural governance.

Stable and consistent power supply fuels the ancient village's digital transformation story. To date, the Rural Silicon Valley OPC Community has put 89 workstations into official use, hosting four registered tech enterprises and 39 individual tech businesses.

AI entrepreneurs and designers from home and abroad settle in the mountainous village, conducting AI product research and development amid ancient persimmon trees. Local villagers have also embraced digital operations, upgrading farmhouse services via online platforms and translating unique landscape and folk cultural resources into tangible income.

The timeless rustic charm of the millennium village now harmoniously integrates with the cutting-edge computing power of the digital era.

"Reliable power supply serves as the fundamental foundation for traditional villages to embrace the digital economy," said an official from State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power.

Moving forward, the company will further advance integrated grid-village development, optimize mountainous distribution networks and expand convenient rural power services. By empowering the coordinated growth of cultural tourism and technological innovation industries, it will leverage green, stable power to fuel the modern transformation of traditional rural areas.

Huang Qiuzi, Zhu Xiaoqiang contributed to the story.