Spring returns to the northern part of the United States, and everything is booming. Looking from the viewing platform of the photovoltaic base in the 6 million-kilowatt coal mining subsidence area in Ningxia, a magnificent “blue picture” is slowly spreading out on the vast desert Gobi. Rows of photovoltaic panels, gleaming in the sun, stretch to the skyline.
not long ago, with the completion of trial operation and handover of Lingwu phase ii photovoltaic project, the largest single photovoltaic project in China’s coal mining subsidence area, Ningxia Lingwu 4 million kilowatt new energy base in coal mining subsidence area, was officially put into operation. So far, the photovoltaic base in Ningxia coal mining subsidence area, covering an area of 180000 mu and a total installed capacity of 6 million kilowatts, has been fully completed.
“Ningxia 6 million kilowatt coal mining subsidence area photovoltaic base consists of Ningdong 2 million kilowatt coal mining subsidence area photovoltaic base and Ningxia Lingwu 4 million kilowatt coal mining subsidence area new energy base. it will deliver about 10.8 billion kilowatt hours of clean electricity to east China every year, not only transforming the resource advantage of northwest China into economic advantage, but also providing strong support for realizing the” double carbon “goal and promoting the high-quality development of the yellow river basin.” Meng Jiwen, deputy general manager of Ningxia Electric Power New Energy Branch, said.
intelligent operation and maintenance to solve maintenance and management problems
drove into the base. rows of photovoltaic panels extended with the ups and downs of the terrain. the intelligent cleaning robot was slowly moving along the planned route. the roller brush swept the board surface lightly, and the place passed was as clean as new. In this vast area the size of 16000 football fields, how to carry out the daily operation and maintenance efficiently? The answer lies in the ubiquitous “wisdom factor.
in the centralized control center tens of kilometers away from the station, the power generation data, equipment status and even the ash accumulation degree on the surface of each photovoltaic array are beating on the large screen in real time. “Ningxia’s 6 million-kilowatt coal mining subsidence area photovoltaic base pioneered a nationwide gigawatt-level integrated operation and maintenance control system. This system is like a smart brain, integrating the functions of station operation monitoring, operation and maintenance, and operation management.” Guoneng Ningxia Electric Power New Energy Branch Director of Production Technology Shu Maolong introduced.
In 2025, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the “Guiding Opinions on Promoting the consumption and regulation of new energy”, which deploys the application of advanced technologies such as intelligent regulation and control technology, artificial intelligence, big data and cloud computing in the coordination of main distribution micronetworks. “It is in this direction that we have built an intelligent closed-loop management system covering equipment health assessment, fault warning and energy efficiency optimization by deploying local artificial intelligence time series models.” Shu Maolong said.
More striking is the “inspector” hovering in the air “. Ningxia’s 6 million-kilowatt coal mining subsidence area photovoltaic base has applied an unmanned aerial vehicle intelligent inspection system based on 5G technology on a large scale. Its visible light/infrared pan-tilt can accurately identify 12 types of problems such as hot spots, cracks and diode failures of photovoltaic modules like “eagle eyes”, with an identification accuracy rate as high as 90%.
“The comprehensive application of these technologies has transformed the’ unattended, less attended ‘from concept to reality, solving the common problems of scattered control, data isolation and difficult maintenance and management of traditional photovoltaic power stations.” Shu Maolong said that Ningxia’s 6 million-kilowatt coal mining subsidence area photovoltaic base provides a replicable “national energy plan” for the intelligent operation and maintenance of large-scale photovoltaic power stations “.
mode innovation opens up the “expressway” of green power transmission
enters the core area of the base, a brand-new 750 kV booster station stands tall, and silver lines rise into the sky and merge into Lingzhou-Shaoxing +/-800 kV UHV DC transmission project, closely connecting this “blue ocean” with east China 3000 kilometers away.
How to send the highly volatile photovoltaic power safely and stably into the UHV channel is the core problem that project builders must solve. “The base is equipped with 600 MW/1200 MW energy storage, and 400 MW/800 MW energy storage has been built.” Yao Hailing, project manager of Lingwu Project of Guoleng Ningxia Electric Power New Energy Branch, said that the team adopted the “photovoltaic + thermal power” complementary bundling and delivery mode, relying on the flexible adjustment capability of supporting thermal power for Lingzhou-Shaoxing 800 kV UHV DC transmission project, effectively stabilized the fluctuation of photovoltaic power generation output, and greatly improved the stability of new energy delivery.
what is more noteworthy is that the photovoltaic base in Ningxia’s 6 million-kilowatt coal mining subsidence area has also created a precedent for domestic new energy to be sent out through the expansion of 750 kv booster stations in the existing thermal power plants around it. by building two 330 kv outgoing lines and expanding one 2100 mVA main transformer, the “high-speed road” for green power transmission has been completely opened up “.
“This delivery mode of’ via the Internet ‘realizes the efficient sharing of green power and thermal power delivery channels, avoids duplication of construction, and provides a replicable, extendable and referential demonstration sample for the efficient grid connection and intensive delivery of large-scale new energy bases in the country.” Yao Hanghai said that at present, 22 outcome documents have been formed in this delivery mode, covering all aspects of material acceptance, quality control, construction organization, and so on.
Meng Jiwen said that from subsidence wasteland to green “Guanghai”, the commissioning of the 6 million-kilowatt photovoltaic base in Ningxia’s coal mining subsidence area not only provides a replicable “national energy plan” for the development of China’s “Shago Wilderness” large-scale base, but also writes a vivid footnote to the transformation of China’s energy structure and the realization of the goal of carbon neutralization. (Lu Chengkuan)
