On October 24, the “Intelligent Empowerment, Green Transformation” Conference on New Power Systems and Source-Grid-Load-Storage-Digital Collaborative Development, hosted by the Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, was held in Tianjin. At the conference, the China Machinery Industry Federation announced the results of the new product and new technology appraisal: an appraisal committee composed of 96 authoritative experts including academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering unanimously determined that 29 power transmission and distribution and new energy power equipment items from TBEA (Tebian Electric Apparatus) passed the national-level new product appraisal at one time, of which 18 technical products reached international leading level and 11 reached international advanced level.
The products passing appraisal this time cover four major categories: primary power equipment, prefabricated complete substations, energy storage supporting devices, and distribution network flexible power electronics equipment. They include special and new energy power transformers, high-voltage reactors, wind/solar/energy storage dedicated pre-assembled substations, AC-DC interconnection devices, smart controllable distribution transformers, distribution area energy storage, microgrid power routing equipment, distribution smart terminals, digital carbon management platforms, and data center integrated power supply modules.
Guo Zhenyan, director of the research institute at Beijing China Electrical & Electronics Economy Economic Institute, stated that these products possess core functions including power conversion, short-circuit current limiting, reactive power regulation, energy storage, distribution area power interconnection, and digitalized energy consumption and carbon data management. They can be widely used in new energy scenarios such as onshore wind power, offshore wind power, ground-mounted photovoltaics, floating offshore photovoltaics, energy storage power stations, and pumped storage hydropower; they are suitable for high-voltage main grid and urban-rural distribution network upgrading and transformation, and can simultaneously serve special industrial fields including metallurgy, ship power, data centers, and heavy-duty truck charging stations.
Currently, the energy structure transition and the explosive growth of computing power are reshaping the spatial relationship between electricity and computing. As rack power density in AI computing centers continues to rise, the traditional low-voltage DC supply architecture is gradually approaching its limits in efficiency, footprint, and expansion capacity, making the 800-volt DC supply architecture the widely recognized evolution direction in the industry. The key node in this architecture transition is precisely the transformer, the “power entry point.”
Solid-state transformers (SSTs) achieve power regulation through power electronics conversion, integrating voltage conversion, frequency conversion, electrical isolation, bidirectional power control, and power quality management, and can adapt to AC-DC hybrid grids. At the conference, TBEA simultaneously released the Roy Sync series of solid-state transformers, targeting AI computing centers. The launch model features a rated capacity of 2.5 megawatts, using 10-kilovolt AC medium-voltage direct input and 800-volt DC direct output, eliminating the need for power-frequency transformers and independent multi-stage rectification stages. The overall maximum efficiency reaches above 98.5 percent, input current harmonics (THDi) remain below 3 percent, and output voltage stabilization accuracy is controlled within 1 percent. The modular power design supports scalable expansion from 1 to 5 megawatts on demand, with both indoor and outdoor variants released simultaneously.
According to reports, the series has entered mass production at TBEA’s manufacturing base in Tianjin. The outdoor variant has been deployed on site at a pilot project in Sichuan Zhiyun Green Energy Logistics Ultra-Charging Station, moving solid-state transformers from the technology verification stage to engineering delivery.
Chi Yongning, chief power electronics engineer at TBEA, stated that solid-state transformers are not simply an alternative approach to traditional transformers, but a redefinition of the interface between the grid and loads. As renewable energy, energy storage, charging stations, and data centers connect in large numbers, distribution networks need not only voltage transformation, but power hubs that integrate controllable regulation, bidirectional power interaction, and power quality management.
Source:China Energy News Network