China is beating winter storm power blackouts as Western countries warn to get supplies
- After major grid collapse in 2008, valuable lessons now keep the lights on during major storms
- Real-time hi-tech platform warns power providers when it’s time to burn off ice build up on power lines
In early 2008, a severe ice storm swept across large parts of central and southern China, leaving so much ice build-up on power lines that transmission towers collapsed like dominoes.
In the biting cold, more than a hundred million people soon found themselves without electricity. The chaos made global headlines.
This month, it happened again, but this time there were no reports of widespread blackouts, damage or chaos, even as such storms menace power grids in other parts of the world, even in the most advanced nations.
Last April, an ice storm devastated the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, knocking out electricity for more than a million people. And last month, a massive winter storm in the eastern United States knocked out power to 811,000 homes and businesses across 12 states.
In parts of the US, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has warned that winter storms are treacherous killers. Power companies urge residents to stock up on supplies for survival.
For instance, at the end of 2022, State Grid Hubei Electric Power Company launched an online ice monitoring platform to help protect its transmission lines.
“Using cameras and sensors, the system enables real-time monitoring and prediction of ice accumulation on transmission lines in Hubei from far away, as well as managing ice melting and removal,” Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday.