On September 18, 2026, State Grid Gansu Electric Power Company successfully completed the mechanized live replacement of tension glass insulators on the ± 1100 kV Jiquan Line (Gansu section) in Shandan County, Zhangye City, Gansu Province. This is the first time that Gansu Province has carried out insulator replacement operations on the highest voltage level transmission lines in China when they are live.

According to the introduction of State Grid Gansu Electric Power, the ± 1100 kV Jiquan Line is an important energy channel for Xinjiang power transmission in China. It starts from Changji, Xinjiang in the west and ends at Guquan, Anhui in the east, with a total length of 3304.7 kilometers. It is the highest voltage level, largest transmission capacity, and longest transmission distance ultra-high voltage direct current project in China. Among them, the Gansu section has a total length of 1279.6 kilometers, accounting for nearly 40% of the entire line.

The route passes through Gobi deserts, mountainous gullies, and has complex operating conditions, facing multiple challenges such as ultra-high voltage and strong electric fields, hundreds of meters of altitude, and multi post coordination. The weight of the large tonnage suspension glass insulator replaced this time exceeds 20 kilograms per piece. If traditional power outage maintenance is used, the construction period will be about 12 hours, which will also cause a power shortage in East China.

To overcome the shortcomings of traditional operations, State Grid Gansu Electric Power has innovatively adopted the "mechanized operation+intelligent control" mode, simulating the entire operation process and refining the entry conditions for operations such as wind speed, temperature and humidity, and safety distance. The operators ride the "Little Flying Man" electric lifting device directly to the work position, and then use a heavy-duty drone to lift the new glass insulators and tools to high altitude, achieving unmanned material transportation. Under the collaborative supervision of the ground team, the operators completed the dismantling of old insulators, installation of new parts, and re inspection and reinforcement, and the entire process took only 1.5 hours.

Li Wei, the person in charge of the State Grid Gansu Electric Power Live Working Group, introduced that mechanized transportation significantly reduces the risk of high-altitude operations, improves operational efficiency by 87.5%, further improves the technical system of ultra-high voltage direct current live maintenance, and provides solid support for the optimization of national power resource allocation and energy security.Editor/Gong Ziwei