Whether it will be a tragedy for China to encounter the Texas cold wave has aroused heated discussions among netizens. What do you think about this?
Affected by the cold wave, Texas and other places in the United States have been hit by severe cold storms in recent days. Millions of Americans have been without water and power, with Texas being the most affected. People light candles at homes without power in Fort Worth, Texas. U.S. President Biden declared a "major disaster" in Texas and ordered the federal government to provide assistance.
This "disaster" in Texas, USA, has aroused the attention of many domestic netizens and asked: If China encounters a cold wave in Texas, will it be a "tragedy"? Before answering this question, let’s first understand how awesome my country’s State Grid is.
According to the article "70 Years of Development Achievements of China's Electric Power Industry" published in the magazine "Price Theory and Practice", New China's electric power industry has experienced a development process from weak to strong, from backward to advanced, and has achieved world-class results. An eye-catching and huge achievement, the power grid has developed from a power grid with a low level of safe operation to one of the highest level of safe operation in the world. The power supply has entered a stage of high reliability level, forming a "national network". In the 70 years since the founding of the People's Republic of China, China's power generation and installed power generation capacity have both ranked first in the world; electricity consumption has increased by 1,900 times; per capita electricity consumption has increased by 630 times; the length of power grid lines has increased by 290 times; and the electrification rate has reached 100%.
According to the "2020-2021 National Electricity Supply and Demand Situation Analysis and Forecast Report" released by the China Electricity Council Electric Power Statistics and Data Center, the electricity consumption of my country's entire society is 7.51 trillion kilowatt hours, a year-on-year increase of 3.1%,? During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the electricity consumption of the whole society increased by an average annual rate of 5.7%. my country's full-scale power generation capacity is 7.62 trillion kilowatt-hours, a year-on-year increase of 4.0%. During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the national full-scale power generation capacity has an average annual growth rate of 5.8%; the national full-scale power generation installed capacity is 2.20 billion kilowatts, a year-on-year increase of 9.5%; During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the country's full-scale power generation installed capacity grew at an average annual rate of 7.6%.
The China Electricity Council (China Electricity Council) stated in the report that my country's electricity supply and demand are generally balanced in 2020, with surplus in some areas, tight power supply during peak power consumption periods in some areas, and power supply during the epidemic prevention and control period. The supply is sufficient and reliable, providing strong power guarantee for social epidemic prevention and control and national economic development.
According to official reports, during the Spring Festival, the State Grid operated smoothly, and the national average daily power generation increased by 1.73% year-on-year. China Southern Power Grid's entire network-wide regulated power generation and reception was 14.559 billion kilowatt hours, and the power transmission from west to east was 1.517 billion kilowatt hours, an increase of 13.01% and 25.13% respectively over the same period. With such profound "internal strength", State Grid's "tricks" to deal with the cold wave are endless and superb.
First of all, it must be made clear that the relatively warm south that needs to withstand ice and maintain electricity during cold waves generally does not need it in the cooler north. This is related to the geographical location, terrain environment and special weather and climate of the South. In continuous low temperature and rainy weather, supercooled water droplets (rain, fog) in the air collide with the surface of objects near the ground temperature below 0°C and freeze quickly, gradually forming a layered ice shell covering the surface of the object. This phenomenon is vividly called "frozen" in Guizhou. For power grids, condensation can lead to ice coating on lines and equipment.
Freezing disasters mainly occur in the mountainous areas of southern my country, especially the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, in winter. The meteorological conditions leading to freezing are: 1. Cold, with temperatures maintained near or below 0°C; 2. Wet, with continuous freezing rain, Drizzle or dense fog, sometimes sleet; 3 wind, moderate wind speed.
Freezing is not only a local phenomenon, it also often occurs in the southwest and mountainous areas of Sichuan, Chongqing, Yunnan, Hunan, Guangxi and other provinces surrounding the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, and even in Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Zhejiang and other provinces. They appear from time to time in mountainous areas in Fujian and other provinces.
Due to the special climate in the southern mountainous areas, transmission lines and equipment will be covered with ice. Ice on transmission lines can lead to problems such as ice flashes, short circuits, disconnections, and even tower collapse, which can lead to power system failures. Therefore, every winter, especially during cold waves, China Southern Power Grid must activate anti-ice protection and remove ice on lines in a timely manner to ensure safe operation of the power grid and stable power supply. During the strongest cold wave, China Southern Power Grid's lines with 10 kilovolts and above were covered with ice thousands of times, and more than 6,000 people were dispatched every day to carry out anti-icing emergency work. So? How to resist ice and protect electricity?
The sky will freeze and the lines will be covered with ice. This is a natural phenomenon that cannot be reversed by human power at this stage. Fortunately, technology has been advancing, and the work of "anti-icing and power conservation" that has been done every year has achieved a leap from manual to high-tech. This job is becoming more and more convenient for grid people. Ice Observation with Sky Eye: An ice observation drone that can accurately measure the ice thickness of lines. Since the ice disaster in 2008, China Southern Power Grid has greatly improved the anti-icing capabilities of the power grid by vigorously implementing line anti-icing reinforcement projects, using DC ice melting technology, and building ice monitoring and early warning systems. DC ice melting: By applying DC voltage to the transmission line and making a short circuit at the end of the transmission line, the conductor is heated to melt the ice of the transmission line. The principle is simple, but considering the actual situation of the power grid, the transmission lines are very long and the operation of the large power grid is very complex. Behind it is a lot of scientific research, development, and application, which can be said to be full of scientific and technological content.
?One-click sequential DC ice melting?, the staff only need to click the mouse, and the ice on the line will be melted! One-click ice melting: Staff from China Southern Power Grid’s Yunnan Zhaotong Power Supply Bureau only need to click the mouse to melt the ice on the lines! The one-touch sequential DC ice melting operation shortens the original 4 hours of ice melting operation to 10 minutes. Laser Cannon: The "Laser Cannon" is both an expert at clearing obstacles and an "artifact for melting ice." A 12 cm thick layer of ice can be successfully removed within 8 minutes. The laser obstacle clearer now has its fifth generation, which is smaller and more powerful. LiDAR: LiDAR conducts line scanning observations and completed the collection of 561 meters of ice-covered conductors, towers and topography in only 10 minutes. By measuring the precise spatial position of the dense laser points emitted by the backpack lidar equipment, a centimeter-level fine model of the entire line can be output, which is a digital transmission line, which has good guiding significance for disaster prediction.
There is a saying in our power system: "Power comes first in social development, safety first". The safety mentioned here is not what we usually know as "small safety" or personal safety, but the stability of the power grid. Sex is a multi-layered "great security". Making the power grid, the aorta strong, and the capillaries smooth are not things that can be accomplished in a day. In the disaster weather of low temperature, rain, snow and freezing year after year, our country's power grid has been making progress and becoming stronger and stronger.