It was learned from the Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company that recently, the first set of nationally produced core control system in the field of pumped storage in mainland China has been running safely for more than 25,000 hours on the transformed unit, the first version of the artificial intelligence data analysis platform has been updated and launched, and the remote centralized control mode of the unit has been deepened and applied, so as to promote the high-end, intelligent and green development of the pumped storage industry.
Scientific research to industrial application, improve the safety and reliability of core equipment
In Guangzhou, Gong Yu, deputy general manager of the Energy Storage Repair and Test Branch of China Southern Power Grid, and his team members are discussing the new pumped storage digital intelligent governor update technical scheme in the conference room. This is the fourth set of equipment for the industrial application of the team's scientific and technological research achievements, which will be installed and updated in Unit 6 of Guangzhou Pumped Storage Power Station in September this year. The key equipment update will improve the operating capacity of this 25-year-old unit, and improve the response speed of the power grid to absorb new energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaics.
The promotion of equipment renewal is due to the success of scientific research. The pumped storage core control system is composed of four subsystems, including computer monitoring, speed regulation, excitation, and relay protection, and is known as the "brain" of the pumped storage power station, covering 206 kinds of equipment and nearly 120,000 components. In the past, the key components of this system relied on imports, and there were "blind spots" in the optimization of core functions, and the problem of "stuck neck" was prominent. In February 2021, China Southern Power Grid selected two pumped storage power stations in Guangzhou and Huizhou as platforms, and launched technical research on the development of four subsystems. In July 2023, the newly developed localized pumped storage control subsystem has completed the update and replacement of the original system of the unit. "The key technologies of the whole system have reached the international leading level, 40 major technological innovations have been realized, and 21 technologies have filled the domestic gap. Not only the governor system, but also the equipment update work of the other three subsystems is also advancing simultaneously, and the new equipment has passed 2,500 starts and 25,000 hours of field operation test, marking that the innovation has entered a new stage of industrial application." Gong Yu introduced.
▲The R&D personnel of the team carried out the state inspection of the domestic pumped storage digital intelligent governor before it was updated and put into operation. It is understood that according to the estimation of "1 unit and 1 system", the market capacity of the whole set of pumped storage "domestic brains" will reach 2,500 sets, and the market size will exceed 37 billion, with broad space for promotion and application.
The software system version 1.0 to version 2.0 deepens the artificial intelligence to empower production and operation and maintenance
In addition to the promotion and application of the self-developed core control system, the Gongyu Innovation Studio team has recently made other "new gains". Not long ago, the new version 2.0 of the mainland's first pumped storage artificial intelligence data analysis platform was "launched", and the operation and maintenance of pumped storage units empowered by artificial intelligence is increasing. The new version of the algorithm system is richer, the computing power is more efficient, and the real-time "performance check" of the unit can be carried out.
According to statistics, one of the most widely used 300,000 kilowatt pumped storage units has about 4 categories and 20 sets of key equipment components, and there are more than 400 annual daily maintenance projects, with a workload of 850 people/day.
In order to forge new quality productivity, since 2018, the team has launched the research and application of artificial intelligence data analysis technology in the field of pumped storage, and connected the data of 310,000 measurement points from nearly 60 equipment systems of 7 power stations to the integrated processing unit for data collection through a unified standard data system, and then "migrated to the cloud" by the server. With such a cloud platform, once the data is found to be abnormal, the fault can be accurately troubled, and the cause of the abnormal state of the equipment can be "peeled off".
▲In April 2023, the first large-scale pumped storage artificial intelligence data analysis platform in mainland China, the China Southern Power Grid Pumped Storage Artificial Intelligence Data Analysis Platform XS-1000D, was put into operation. Photo courtesy of China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company
"With the help of the pumped storage artificial intelligence big data analysis platform, we can grasp the health status of the equipment without leaving home, 90% of the inspection work realizes 'machine generation', and can also scientifically reduce the power outage maintenance time of the unit, which can create economic benefits of about 17.6 million yuan per year. As a main member of the team, Yang Mingxuan, general manager of the automated maintenance department of the energy storage repair and test branch of the Southern Power Grid, said happily.
Territorial decentralization to remote centralization, relying on the industrial Internet to release advanced production capacity
The practical application of the "Industrial Internet" in the field of pumped storage is promoting the continuous improvement of unit production capacity. In 2023, 31 units of 6 pumped storage power stations in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will be activated more than 30,000 times, and the power generation capacity will exceed 10 billion kWh for the first time, an increase of 13.8% and 27.3% respectively compared with 2022, effectively ensuring that the proportion of new energy consumption in the Greater Bay Area will exceed 60%.
Different from the previous power station operators to monitor the operation of the unit in the power station operation duty room in real time, located in Panyu, Guangzhou, in the hall of the centralized control center of the Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company, a huge electronic screen is eye-catching, the display screen is dotted, the data table is neatly arranged, and the operation personnel in front of the operation console control the operation status of the pumped storage unit in real time with nearly one-fifth of the installed capacity in the country. Based on mature Internet of Things technology, the centralized control center has a number of intelligent functions such as agile identification of equipment information, convenient operation of equipment and error-proofing, and machine substitution of duty duties.
▲In July 2023, the centralized control center of the first pumped storage multi-plant station in mainland China - the centralized control center of China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company was officially put into operation, courtesy of China Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Company
"The mainland's first pumped storage multi-plant station centralized control center will be officially put into operation in July 2023, realizing remote centralized control of all pumped storage units in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, with control efficiency 2 to 3 times that of the traditional model, and can quickly respond to the load regulation needs of the power grid. Zhang Guoyang, deputy general manager of the centralized control center of the Southern Power Grid Energy Storage Operation Company, introduced. At present, the technical personnel of the center are undergoing intensive training, and it is expected to achieve "one person with multiple plant stations" within the year, and the production efficiency of the center will further jump.
In 2027, the scale of pumped storage power stations in mainland China will reach more than 80 million kilowatts, which will promote the continuous improvement of the power system's regulation capacity and maintain the utilization rate of new energy at a reasonable level. In the future, the role of pumped storage equipment renewal and transformation in industrial transformation and upgrading will become more and more prominent.
Text丨Huang Fang