Vehicles set off to the Duku Highway in Usu City, northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, June 1, 2024. Photo: Xinhua

 
On October 10, 2024, the Duku Highway officially entered winter road closure. State Grid Kuitun Power Supply Company successfully completed the four-month power supply protection work. According to statistics, since the opening to traffic on June 1, there have been 3.72 million passing vehicles and more than 7.05 million tourists on the Duku Highway, in Usu city, Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.

From north to south, one can experience four seasons in a day. With a length of 562.75 kilometers, from desert and Gobi to snow-capped mountains and canyons, from wetland grasslands to forest rivers, the scenery is different every ten miles. In recent years, State Grid Kuitun Power Supply Company has closely focused on the power consumption needs of the tourism industry in Dushanzi District. It has continuously strengthened power grid construction and continuously optimized high-quality services. Using electricity as a brush, it has painted a new picture on the Duku Highway.

In June, the tourism popularity in Dushanzi District continued to rise. The small and large scenic spots, restaurants, and hotels in the jurisdiction were bustling.

"Thank you for your on-site service. You helped us inspect electrical equipment, check potential safety hazards in advance, and ensure our worry-free power consumption." On June 20, Zhang Dongyan, the person in charge of the Duku recreational vehicle camping site, said to Zheng Hui, a staff member of State Grid Kuitun Power Supply Company.

The Duku recreational vehicle camping site is located in the south of Dushanzi District. It is a camping site complex integrating vehicle parking, accommodation, catering and other projects, covering an area of about 59,000 square meters and equipped with more than 150 charging piles. It receives about 800 tourists daily. The camping site adopts an advanced intelligent water control and power control system. At the same time, it is equipped with a transformer with a rated capacity of 800 kVA. The monthly electricity consumption is as high as 33,450 kWh.

To ensure power supply safety during the peak tourism season, the company formulates a patrol plan according to the characteristics of summer and the actual operation of various power distribution equipment. According to changes in load, operation mode and temperature, it strengthens infrared temperature measurement and load monitoring of equipment. The staff actively extends services, inspects the power supply lines and landscape lighting and other electrical equipment involved in the camping site, eliminates potential safety hazards in time, ensures stable power consumption at the recreational vehicle camping site, and provides tourists with a comfortable and safe living environment.

As of now, the company has carried out on-site examinations on safe electricity consumption for more than 30 hotel and catering industry electricity customers in the jurisdiction. It has identified 18 potential electricity consumption hazards in total and actively coordinated and solved 31 electricity consumption problems of merchants.

In July, in Dushanzi Grand Canyon along the Duku Highway, tourists are skiing and playing in the Ice and Snow World wearing thick cotton-padded jackets. The two up and down cableways are operating busily. Tourists from all over the country can reach the canyon by taking the zip line to watch the beautiful scenery and performances.

"Dushanzi Grand Canyon was approved as a national 4A-level scenic spot in 2021. During the peak season, it receives 3,000 tourists every day. From vigorously promoting the construction of power supply supporting projects to daily maintenance of power equipment, the power supply company has made a lot of efforts," Wang Tianxue, the person in charge of the tourist area, expressed his gratitude.

In the Grand Canyon, the staff comprehensively checked the power distribution equipment and lines related to power supply in the scenic area, as well as the electricity safety situation of shops. They eliminated potential electricity consumption hazards in time to ensure that the lines and equipment are "zero-defect." At the same time, they carried out electricity consumption hazard investigation actions for scenic area electricity consumption. They took the initiative to understand needs by visiting door-to-door, opened up a green power handling channel, and established a 24-hour service docking mechanism to fully guarantee the power consumption needs of the scenic area.

In 2024, the company has completed the project establishment of a microgrid demonstration project at Duku headquarters. It makes full use of the natural resource endowments and regional advantages along the Duku Highway. It strives to build a green innovation hub line to promote the development of surrounding tourism and further improve the power supply reliability and grid safety of scenic spots.

As the starting point of the Duku Highway, Dushanzi has seen 3.72 million passing vehicles since its opening to traffic. The proportion of new energy vehicle travel is continuously rising, putting forward higher requirements for Dushanzi's power services.

At Duku headquarters, the first "all-liquid-cooled supercharging" demonstration point construction project was completed and put into operation. This station is also the first supercharging station along the Duku Highway. The all-liquid-cooled supercharging pile adopts advanced liquid cooling technology. It can efficiently cool the charging pile and vehicle battery to achieve high-power charging. The maximum output power can reach 600 kilowatts. The charging efficiency is 10 times that of traditional charging piles. It can provide instant charging and instant departure services for new energy vehicles with super fast charging functions.

"During the traffic opening period, we regularly carry out special patrols and defect elimination work on charging piles to ensure that all charging stations are safe and free of hidden dangers. The availability rate of charging piles is stable at more than 99 percent," said Zhang Fengqi, a staff member of State Grid Kuitun Power Supply Company.

As of now, the electric vehicle charging volume in Dushanzi jurisdiction has reached 595,000 kWh. A total investment of 15.6946 million yuan has been made. Nine 10-kilovolt transformers have been newly built and renovated.