Just over a year after an incident that nearly triggered a cascading failure across China’s national power grid, engineers have developed the most powerful smart direct current (DC) transformer on the planet – an innovation poised to neutralise renewable energy shocks to the system.
The technology addresses an urgent need following a near total blackout in August last year, when low-frequency swings triggered by poorly integrated wind energy in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region threatened to destabilise the national grid.
Changzhou Xidian Transformer, based in the eastern province of Jiangsu, said the 750 million volt-ampere transformer had “set the world record for the highest capacity of a single converter transformer in the field of flexible direct current transmission”, according to a report from Chinese news outlet Jinbaonet earlier this month.
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“[The technology] can effectively address the instability of high-proportion renewable energy generation at the sending end,” the news outlet said, adding that it greatly improved the safety, stability and operational flexibility of a large power grid.
The equipment was developed to support electricity transmission from the northwestern province of Gansu to eastern Zhejiang province as part of the national west-to-east electricity transmission project, according to Jinbaonet. It is the world’s first ultra-high voltage flexible direct current transmission project.
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Measuring 2,370km (1,473 miles), the system will be able to send more than 36 billion kilowatt-hours (kWh) of clean electricity to Zhejiang per year after commissioning.
China channels electricity from its less-developed western regions – where the clean energy sector is booming – to the power-hungry eastern provinces.