Application Status and Development Trends of DC Ice‐Melting Devices in China's Power Grid

ABSTRACT

Freezing rain and snow weather is likely to cause ice accretion on overhead transmission lines and threaten power grid security and social stability. Currently, ice‐melting technology using DC current is the most effective active de‐icing method which has been widely applied in China. This paper summarises the development history and engineering application status of DC ice‐melting devices (DCIMD) in China, analyses the principles, advantages, disadvantages and adaptability of mainstream topologies and discusses the key problems and corresponding improvement directions. This research indicates that, a sophisticated DC ice‐melting technology system has been established in China, which significantly enhancing the safety resilience of power systems. New type of DCIMD adopting fully‐controlled power electronics, which has been exhibited technical advantages, represents important development direction adaptable to the construction of new power systems. At present, the key technical bottleneck urgently to be solved is the implementation of the one‐key sequential control function, which may significantly improve response speed and operational efficiency of ice‐melting.