On July 1, the national mandatory standard "Limited value and energy efficiency rating for power transformers" began implementation. The standard is for three-phase oil-immersed power transformers and 35kV three-phase dry-type power transformers with rated capacity of 3150 kVA and above, rated frequency of 50 Hz, voltage level of 35 kV to 220 kV. The standard is divided into three levels, with the lowest energy consumption for primary products and the highest energy consumption for tertiary products. After the implementation of this standard, products that can reach level 3 or above can be produced and sold, and products above grade 2 can be considered highly efficient.
Accelerate market integration
Power transformers are the key electrical devices for power transmission. Transformer losses account for 30% to 40% of power grid losses. At present, the loss of all transformers in China accounts for more than 3% of the country's electricity generation. This means that in the future, the transformer industry has huge potential for energy saving. With the improvement of this standard, stronger companies will gain more opportunities.
Kong Xiangyue, deputy director of China Quality Certification Center, told reporters that at present, TBEA Xinjiang Transformer Factory, TBEA Hengyang Transformer Co., Ltd., Hefei ABB Transformer Co., Ltd., China Electric (Jiangsu) Co., Ltd., Shandong Da The five companies of Chi Electric Co., Ltd. obtained the certification of the power transformer energy-saving products.
"Of course, there are many companies in the country that also have the strength and conditions of the application." He said.
According to the reporter’s understanding, the selected enterprises will enjoy government-related preferential policies. The energy conservation evaluation value is the basis for implementing energy-saving product certification and government procurement. Kong Xiangyue introduced that when the loss of the transformer is equal to or lower than the specified energy-saving evaluation value, the transformer can be evaluated as an energy-saving product by the energy-saving product certification organization in combination with other indicators. The products that have obtained the energy conservation certification will enjoy the state's encouragement energy policy and enter the government procurement catalog.
Some small and medium-sized power companies face difficulties in facing this threshold. A power expert said that the implementation of energy efficiency standards means that a group of companies will be phased out and the market will be properly integrated. Eventually, power distribution companies will be reduced from the current 100 to 20 or 30.
According to Zhang Lingyu of the International Copper Association, the market for high-end transformers with a voltage of more than 500 kilovolts is generally better, and price competition is mainly caused by differences in sales and marketing strategies. With a large number of low-end transformer manufacturers, the market is becoming more and more chaotic and is still fighting a price war. For this reason, with the improvement of the energy efficiency threshold, a batch of small businesses will be eliminated.
Supporting projects to promote implementation
In order to better promote the implementation of the standard, the “EU-China Energy Saving Transformer Promotion Project†funded by the European Commission has been launched for four months. It is understood that the project will further publicize and promote the revision and implementation of China's distribution transformer energy efficiency standards and life cycle assessment methods in the next three years.
Zhang Lingyu said that the project roughly estimates that the widespread use of energy-saving transformers will reduce the loss of power grid lines and bring about carbon dioxide emission reduction benefits. It can save 88.7 million kWh of electricity annually, save 332,000 tons of coal, reduce 846,400 tons of carbon dioxide, and reduce 47,200 tons of sulfur dioxide.
In addition, the energy conservation and environmental protection indicators of transformers, on the one hand, require the effective reduction of energy consumption and noise in operation; on the other hand, the use of raw materials such as copper, iron, oil, and insulation must be minimized to avoid excessive waste of non-renewable resources.
Zhang Lingyu introduced accurate calculation of various technical parameters of the transformer in the design process, preferably the iron core and the wire, and determined the appropriate proportion of copper and iron so that the wire produces a smaller eddy current.
This can effectively reduce the amount of copper and silicon steel used, while reducing load loss. In addition, the use of high-permeability, low-loss imported high-quality silicon steel sheet to manufacture the core can ensure that the transformer has a low no-load loss and low noise performance from the raw materials.
He also said that advanced technology is also essential for the manufacture of energy-saving and environmental protection transformers. Such as a reasonable coil design will effectively reduce the loss of the coil; the use of advanced sealing structure design, to maximize the control of the transformer during the operation of the oil leakage and so on.
Continue to brewing new regulations
In order to further promote energy conservation and emissions reduction, other relevant energy efficiency standards for transformers are still actively compiled.
According to reports, the National Transformer Standardization Technical Committee is also working on transformer-related energy efficiency standards, and this standard is being drafted and is expected to be released at the end of the year.
In addition, the reporter learned from the Copper Association that the energy efficiency rating standard for distribution transformers is also under development and will be enforced one year later. At the same time, there will be a series of preferential policies released.
According to relevant sources, China will study the introduction of preferential policies to encourage the replacement and transformation of old high-energy-consuming transformers and encourage the use of high-efficiency transformers, such as the new S9 type that is currently recommended for urban network and rural network reconstruction. Electric transformer. At the same time, coil core transformers, amorphous alloy transformers, hermetically sealed transformers, and combination transformers with higher energy efficiency coefficients are also listed as recommended products.