At the forefront of this revolution is digital twin technology, which creates virtual replicas of physical power stations. At the Yellow River upstream station in Qinghai Province, engineers have built a comprehensive digital duplicate of the entire facility. This virtual model mirrors every aspect of the physical plant in real-time, allowing operators to monitor performance, predict maintenance needs, and run simulations without interrupting actual operations.
“Digital twin technology is like giving the power station an intelligent brain,” says Zhu Haichen, an engineer involved in the system’s development. “It helps maintenance personnel grasp the operational status of the hydropower station in real-time and detect potential problems and risks in advance”.
The benefits extend beyond daily operations. During the construction phase of the Yellow River project, designers used the digital twin to simulate and analyze engineering designs, adjusting dam structural parameters and optimizing plant pipeline layouts. This approach not only shortened construction cycles but significantly reduced costs, demonstrating how smart technology enhances both efficiency and sustainability from the very beginning of a project’s lifecycle.
Intelligent Control Systems: The Brain of Modern Hydropower While digital twins create virtual representations, advanced control systems provide the actual decision-making capability. China大唐Group’s Scientific Research Academy has developed a Hydropower Intelligent Control System (HICS) that exemplifies this trend. Deployed at multiple stations including Mengyejiang in Yunnan province, HICS has achieved remarkable results in automated generation control (AGC) and automatic voltage control (AVC).
The system’s performance numbers speak for themselves: it has reduced unit response time to just six seconds while improving regulation speed by 77.16%. For station operators, this means not only improved efficiency but significantly enhanced capability to respond to grid demands.
Perhaps most impressively, HICS enables three-party coordination between dispatch, centralized control, and power plants for daily generation scheduling. This comprehensive approach meets multiple needs of generation enterprises, including remote control capabilities, intelligent operation, and optimized cascade hydropower dispatch. For medium and small hydropower stations, this technology provides a pathway toward achieving “unmanned plant” operations with remote centralized control.
Post time: Nov-25-2025
