Huawei SPN Partners with Yunnan Power Grid to Enhance Next-Gen High-Speed Networks

Huawei and Yunnan Power Grid: A Strategic Partnership for Modern Energy

In a significant development for the energy sector in Southwest China, Huawei's SPN (Service Provider Network) is set to revolutionize the Yunnan Power Grid Co., Ltd. by establishing a state-of-the-art high-speed bearer network. This strategic collaboration addresses the pressing need for clean energy transmission and the modernization of smart grids in a region that faces unique challenges, including complex terrain and extensive transmission lines.

Addressing Transmission Challenges

As a pivotal energy hub, Yunnan Power Grid is responsible for large-scale clean energy transmission and the expansion of intelligent power networks. Nonetheless, the transformation into a smarter grid has become increasingly difficult due to the region’s geographical complexity and the great lengths of transmission lines. Furthermore, the rapid increase in production data and the growing complexity of service scenarios have created pressing demands on the underlying communication bearer network.

To tackle these challenges, Yunnan Power Grid has incorporated the SPN initiative into its 14th and 15th five-year plans, progressively rolling out the technology across 16 cities. This implementation has laid a solid foundation for the communication needs of the next two decades. Huawei has emerged as a crucial partner in this strategic modernization of power supply services.

Transitioning to a Standard Architecture

Since the pilot project commenced in 2022, the SPN has transitioned from a mere technical trial to a widely accepted standard architecture throughout Yunnan. The introduction of SPN in cities like Zhaotong and Pu'er has unleashed the full potential of the next-generation bearer network. One of the primary successes attributed to SPN has been the elimination of bandwidth bottlenecks. The capacity of the bearer network has surged from 155 Mbps to an impressive 10 Gbps.

SPN devices boost the bandwidth at critical access points such as substations and customer centers to 1 Gbps, aligning with the standards set by the China Southern Power Grid. Depending on location and service scope, the aggregation and core layers can be scaled to 50 Gbps or 100 Gbps, providing the backbone for high-bandwidth services, including video streaming.

Benefits Realized in Inspection and Maintenance Efficiency

Moreover, the expansion of bandwidth has markedly improved efficiency in inspection and maintenance tasks. Huawei's SPN solution facilitates real-time SLA (Service Level Agreement) monitoring and enables fault localization within minutes. This facilitates a significant reduction in maintenance costs associated with outages from SDH (Synchronous Digital Hierarchy) devices. For example, Qujing Power Supply Bureau recorded a drastic drop in inspection time from 30 minutes to just 3 minutes, and overall maintenance cycles shrank from over 7 hours to 21 minutes. Notably, the Operations Management Center can now identify major defects about 15 days earlier through preset monitoring points, leading to a reduction in on-site visits from 112 to 61 in just six months—a remarkable decrease of 45.54%.

Enhancing Service Transport Intelligence

Furthermore, the intelligence of service transport has seen a significant boost. The SPN solution supports various power supply services, ranging from latency-sensitive remote protection and dispatch technologies to bandwidth-intensive video services, assuring reliable transmission. Features such as FlexE hard and soft slicing ensure strict isolation among services while enhancing bandwidth reuse. Additionally, the IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack allows for flexible local forwarding and easier IoT access, facilitating tasks like monitoring transmission lines and integrating generation, grid, load, and storage systems.

Ensuring Long-Term Investment Protection

Lastly, Huawei's SPN provides long-term investment protection with the capability to scale from 25 Gbps to 400 Gbps through cost-effective upgrades, thus avoiding repetitive construction work.

This collaboration not only marks a pivotal advance in energy transmission and communications infrastructure for the Yunnan Power Grid but also sets a benchmark for intelligent modernization in power supply networks across China. For more detailed solutions and insights, please visit Huawei's official website.