On June 15, State Grid Qinghai Electric Power Company, in collaboration with China Energy Qinghai Huanghe Maduo Hydropower Development Co., Ltd., successfully completed a coordinated black start and joint grid-connection operation test using "grid-forming energy storage + static synchronous compensator" devices at the 110 kV Huamai Solar-Storage Power Station in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Qinghai Province. This test marks China's first coordinated black start test involving multiple grid-forming devices in a weak-end support grid, successfully exploring a new technical pathway for restoring power to remote grids with a high proportion of new energy after a blackout.
As a nationally important clean energy industry base, Qinghai boasts superior wind, solar, and hydropower resources, with its new energy sector entering a phase of large-scale, high-speed development. Constrained by the vast plateau terrain and the scattered layout of new energy stations, the grid support capacity in certain remote end-grids is relatively weak. Coupled with the "dual-high" operational characteristics of new energy, higher demands are placed on the safe and stable operation of the power grid. Under extreme conditions, due to the extremely high proportion of new energy installations and a shortage of conventional regulating support power sources in plateau end-grids, existing pathways for restoring power after a blackout are limited.
The 110 kV Huamai Solar-Storage Power Station, where this test was conducted, is located at an altitude exceeding 4,200 meters. Situated at the end of the grid with weak interconnection to the provincial main grid, the station features a high proportion of local new energy installations and a lack of conventional support power sources, making it a typical example of a high-altitude, high-proportion new energy, weak-support end-grid. During the preparation phase, State Grid Qinghai Electric Power completed full electromagnetic refined modeling of the local grid and conducted closed-loop simulation exercises for the entire process of the coordinated black start involving grid-forming energy storage and static synchronous compensator, verifying the safety and adaptability of the plan in advance. During the test, staff first utilized the black start function of the station's grid-forming energy storage system to energize the station's photovoltaic plant, raising the station's grid voltage to the rated level. Then, using the static synchronous compensator, they assisted the energy storage device in establishing and maintaining a stable grid voltage, thereby enabling the end-grid to which the station belongs to complete the black start and achieve islanded operation, meeting the power demands of critical loads.
This test is China's first coordinated black start test involving multiple grid-forming devices in a weak-end support grid. The process from device startup to completing the grid black start took only 33 seconds; the entire procedure, from a full blackout of the local grid to successfully energizing the loads, took approximately 2 hours. The test ran smoothly throughout, with system voltage and frequency meeting standards and remaining controllable. New energy units operated stably during grid connection, and on-site data closely matched simulation results. This comprehensively validated the feasibility of coordinated networking and grid-building by multiple grid-forming devices, establishing a replicable and scalable technical system for rapid grid restoration tailored to end-grids with a high proportion of new energy.
In the next steps, State Grid Qinghai Electric Power will deepen its research and development of technologies for high-proportion new energy power systems, continuing to tackle core technologies such as grid blackout self-healing and emergency rapid power restoration. It aims to deliver the "Qinghai Solution" for new power system construction, contributing to the high-quality development of the national new power system.