In May 2009, State Grid Corporation of China proposed the strategic goal of building a strong smart grid with ultra-high voltage power grid as the backbone network and coordinated development of power grids at all levels, featuring informationization, automation, and interactivity. As an important component of the power transformation process in the smart grid, smart substations are bound to soar along with national strategic policies and the level of national attention.

In addition, with the increasing dependence of human production and life on electricity resources, the construction of substations in smart grids will continue to increase the demand for electrical energy measurement in the whole society. As the largest production base for electrical instruments and meters in the world, China's position as a manufacturing base will be further strengthened in the future, and the electrical instrument and meter industry is poised to take off. So, what is electrical instrument and meter?

Electrical instruments and meters generally refer to general instruments and devices for measuring or inspecting voltage, current, resistance, or power. They can be divided into two categories: indicating instruments and measuring instruments. Among them, indicating instruments are instruments that can indicate the measured value at any time during electrical measurement without the need for measuring instruments to directly participate in the work. Such as voltmeter, ammeter, energy meter, etc. A measuring instrument is an instrument that requires the direct participation of a measuring device in the process of electrical measurement to determine the measured value. It is called a measuring instrument, such as an electric bridge, a potentiometer, etc.

In addition, the service scope of electrical instruments and meters involves various fields of national economy and defense construction. The application scope covers industries such as power, metallurgy, transportation, mining, petrochemicals, light industry machinery, as well as education, scientific experiments, military engineering, medical and health care, environmental protection, standard measurement, etc. It is an extremely important branch of the instrumentation industry.

In recent years, the market size of the electrical instrument and meter industry has shown an expanding trend. In the first half of 2020, under the influence of the epidemic, the operating income and total profit of enterprises above designated size in the electrical instrument and meter industry still showed a certain degree of positive growth, and various indicators basically improved. The level of cost control and profitability of enterprises have both shown an increasing trend. Overall, the electrical instrument and meter industry is continuously developing well.

It is not difficult to see that benefiting from the development of China's power industry, the transformation of urban and rural power grids, and favorable policies such as smart substations, electrical instrumentation has become one of the rapidly growing sub industries in China's instrumentation industry.

Under the construction of intelligent substations, the demand for electrical instruments and meters in the market continues to grow

It is reported that according to the "General Report on the Intelligent Planning of State Grid" released by State Grid Corporation of China, in the first phase (2009-2010), State Grid Corporation of China will build 46 new intelligent substations and renovate 28 operational substations with intelligent technology; In the second phase (2011-2015), State Grid Corporation of China built 8000 new intelligent substations and upgraded 50 operational substations to intelligent systems; In the third phase (2016-2020), State Grid Corporation of China built 7700 new smart substations and upgraded 44 operational substations to intelligent systems.

Therefore, according to national policies and the determination to intelligentize substations, relevant institutions predict that during the 14th Five Year Plan period, 7411 new intelligent substations will be built, and 39 will be in operation and renovated. The development prospects are promising, and the related equipment, electrical instruments and meters, will also see growth.

According to data, the annual installed capacity of photovoltaic substations in China will reach 5000MW in 2020, with a cumulative installed capacity of 28500MW. There will be an annual demand for 840000 specialized electrical instruments and meters, and the cumulative market capacity will reach 34.26 million units. At that time, the demand for electrical instruments and meters will experience explosive growth. Driven by market development, the demand for electrical instruments and meters continues to increase, and the production of electrical instruments and meters continues to grow.

In addition, smart substations can be divided into primary and secondary equipment based on their requirements for safe, high-quality, reliable, and economical operation in the production, transformation, transmission, distribution, and use of electrical energy. Among them, electrical primary equipment refers to high-voltage electrical equipment directly used in the production process of producing, transporting, and distributing electrical energy; It can be divided into electrical instruments and equipment such as energy conversion devices, switchgear, current carrying conductors, transformers, reactors, and lightning arresters. Under the construction of intelligent substations, the demand for electrical instruments and meters in the market continues to grow.

Conclusion: After decades of development, China's electrical instrumentation industry has formed a complete range of industrial clusters with strong scientific research capabilities and scale. Electrical instruments and meters, as instruments for measuring and processing various static and dynamic electromagnetic parameters, are applied in various industries. With the development of the economy and society, the demand for electrical instruments and meters continues to increase, and the production of electrical instruments and meters continues to grow. With the construction of intelligent substations, the electrical instrument and meter industry is poised to take off, and related enterprises can seize this opportunity.