When it comes to technology companies, the first thing that comes to everyone's mind is Huawei, but I didn't expect this company to surpass Huawei and become the strongest technology company in the global power industry.
Let's take a look at a set of data first, the registered capital of the State Grid is 829.5 billion, the total assets are 3,808.83 billion, the power supply service population exceeds 1.1 billion, and the business covers 27 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions across the country, covering 88% of the country's land area.
In the 2023 Fortune Global 500 list, State Grid ranks third, with revenue of up to 530 billion US dollars, equivalent to 3,830.2 billion yuan, second only to Walmart and Saudi Aramco, surpassing Amazon, PetroChina, and Sinopec, 6.3 times that of Tencent, and 4.4 times that of Alibaba.
It is said that patents are the standard for measuring the scientific and technological content of an enterprise, so do you know which Chinese company has the most patents?
It's not Huawei, which ranks second with 19,756 invention patents, and the first place is State Grid, with 23,308 invention patents.
In the past five years, State Grid has also applied for more than 100,000 patents, with Huawei ranking second.
But we didn't see the State Grid shouting far ahead, has been leading, because this company is too low-key, low-key we have to forget this company, only at home when the power outage will remember that we also have a very good power grid company, called the State Grid.
So how good is this company? Mainly in these three points:
1. UHV technology is the world's first
UHV refers to ± direct current of more than 800KV, and 1000KV alternating current, the use of UHV transmission can greatly improve the transmission efficiency, compared with 500KV high-voltage transmission, UHV transmission of electric energy can be increased by 4-5 times, the transmission distance is increased by 2-3 times, the power loss is reduced by 80%, and the land area is saved by 60%.
However, 99% of the world's countries do not have such technology, including Europe, the United States, Europe and Japan, but our national grid has it and has achieved large-scale commercial use.
The country's first UHV transmission line Xiangjiaba-Shanghai DC line, from Yibin, Sichuan in the west to Shanghai, with a total length of 1,907 kilometers, greatly alleviates the situation of electricity shortage in the eastern region.
Up to now, the mainland has put into operation 21 UHV lines, known as "eight crossings and thirteen straights", that is, 8 AC lines and 13 DC lines. These lines constitute the skeleton of the power grid connecting the east and west and running through the north and south, realizing the energy pattern of west-to-east power transmission and north-south power transmission.
2. A large number of international standards have been formulated
State Grid has established 53 international standards in the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) and 25 international standards in the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), of which 42 have been officially released. State Grid has also developed the world's first power IoT standard.
At the same time, the State Grid is also actively involved in the formulation of standards in the fields of virtual power plants, flexible power transmission, and digital twins.
Most of the industry standards we see are mostly in English, and if we can't understand English, we can only use translated versions, so there is a certain amount of misunderstanding.
But in terms of UHV technical standards are different, the State Grid has formulated relevant standards, which is directly the Chinese version, you Americans and British people want to see this standard need to be translated into English, Japanese want to see this standard to be translated into Japanese, Russia wants to see it to be translated into Russian.
As for the misunderstanding error, it can only mean that your Chinese is not up to par, and the solution is to hire a Chinese consultant with a high salary, or popularize Chinese.
3. The international influence is very large
A state-owned enterprise is very good in China, it is not a big deal, two barrels of oil, three major operators, four major banks, railways, tobacco, which one is not a cow to the sky, but when you go abroad, there are really few that can fight.
However, the State Grid is different, its overseas investments are all profitable, and all power transmission with the State Grid is required to be settled in RMB.
If Brazil wants to bid for the 2027 World Cup, it needs to solve two major problems, one is drug dealers, the other is electricity, we all know that Brazil's drug dealers are notoriously arrogant, and heavily armed police are not opponents, so Brazil dispatched troops, tanks, and helicopter gunships.
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, has a very tight power supply, but there is a beautiful mountain power station 2,000 kilometers away, which is very rich in hydropower resources, but how to transmit this electricity to Rio de Janeiro has become a problem.
After the State Grid won the bid for this project, it successfully solved this problem by using ± 800 kV UHVDC transmission.
The transmission line passes through 5 states and 81 cities in Brazil from north to south, transporting abundant hydropower resources to developed cities such as Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, and the continuous supply of clean electricity has greatly alleviated the problem of power supply in the southeast.
In addition to Brazil, State Grid has also invested in backbone power grids in the Philippines, Singapore, Portugal, Australia, Italy, Greece and other countries and regions, and all investment projects are profitable.
It is said that the State Grid needs to use RMB settlement in overseas power supply areas, and plans to create a power RMB in the future, which is amazing!
State Grid its own technology is too strong, in order to recruit more talents, can only be their own training talents, the State Grid and a university called Shandong Electric Power College cooperation, the establishment of the State Grid Technology College, the State Grid directly involved in the management, and a large number of recruitment.
The employment rate of this school has also skyrocketed, approaching 100% for a long time, and the average undergraduate school really can't compare to this junior college.
Of course, the State Grid can develop to this day, in addition to its own efforts, but also inseparable from the strong support of the state.
The domestic UHV started later than abroad, the United States, Japan, Italy began to engage in UHV as early as the 60s of the last century, and the Soviet Union built a 1150KV UHV line in 1985, which is 900 kilometers long, but it was downgraded to 500KV after disintegration.
The reason for the failure of UHV in the United States is, on the one hand, because of the different policies of each state, and when the power grid crosses from one state to another, it often encounters obstacles, and on the other hand, the privatization of electricity in the United States is serious, and many bosses just want to make some quick money, and they don't think about doing UHV at all.
The failure of UHV in Japan is due to frequent earthquakes, which lead to frequent nuclear power accidents, and nuclear power plants cannot be saved.
Only China, policy, technology, talent, capital are all available, as long as you grit your teeth to do it, you will be able to do it, our power workers in the 100-meter altitude overhead line operation, 37 degrees under the scorching sun, minus ten degrees of cold, they overcome fear, against the wind and snow, the high-voltage line to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, set up to the cliffs, across the mountains, the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, just to protect the lights of thousands of homes.
In addition to leading technology, standards and patents, the State Grid UHV also has a group of Chinese power talents who are not afraid of hardships and dangers.
In the future, the State Grid will be long-term, continuous, and has been riding the wind and waves, far ahead.
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