China’s core control system of hydropower units achieves 100% domestic development

With the Huaneng RuiWo DCS System officially put into operation at the Xiaowan Hydropower Station on Thursday, the core control system of hydroelectric power units in China has realized 100 percent domestic development for the first time, indicating that China's hydropower stations have realized autonomous management.

The core control system of each hydropower unit is regarded as the brain of the hydropower station. It contains four main systems — the computer monitoring system, speed governor, excitation system and relay protection equipment. For a long time, the key components of the core control systems of hydropower plants in China have been highly reliant on imported components.

To solve this problem, China Huaneng embarked on a large amount of adaptation, comparison, and research and development work on the software and hardware of the hydropower core control system. This overcame the stranglehold technical problems of key software and hardware, realized 100 percent domestic development, and completed 34 major technological innovations and 17 key technologies, the Global Times learned from China Huaneng Group on Thursday.

The computer monitoring system, speed governor and excitation system of the Huaneng Ruiwo hydropower station developed by China Huaneng went into operation for the first time in August 2021 and October 2022, and the Huaneng Ruiwo hydropower relay protection system went into operation in November.

It signals that the core control system in the field of high water head and large capacity hydroelectric power generation is fully independent and controllable, which will further improve the operation level and essential safety of China's electric power infrastructure.

Verified by a third-party authority, the performance index of the system has reached the industry standard requirements, and the precision levels of the hardware board, anti-interference ability and operating environment adaptability are more than that of similar foreign products, the company said.

It is of great significance to overcome the foreign technology monopoly, ensure the network security of the electric power infrastructure, and safeguard national energy security, it added.