Chuzhou, Anhui province: Electricity assists farmers in harvesting fragrant rice, village and State Grid jointly safeguard autumn harvest

With the gentle advent of the Cold Dew solar term, heavy rice ears have drooped throughout vast lands with 1.22 million mu (81,333.33 hectares) of rice in Tianchang city, Chuzhou, Anhui province, officially entering the full harvesting period. The State Grid Chuzhou Power Supply Company, in close collaboration with the Agricultural and Rural Affairs Bureau and other relevant departments, has implemented categorized measures to ensure reliable power supply. Vivid pictures of the autumn harvest are slowly unfolding.

"When harvesting rice, please keep a distance from the power poles. If you touch them by mistake, it will be dangerous...", said a staff member of the State Grid Chuzhou Power Supply Company. In Luying village, Shiliang town, Tianchang city, several large harvesters were seen shuttling through the rice fields. They are like hard-working dancers performing the "Symphony" of harvest on the golden stage. From harvesting to threshing, and then to crushing and grain unloading, the entire mechanized operation is completed in one synchrony. During the autumn harvest, the State Grid Chuzhou Power Supply Company worked closely with the local government to dynamically update the "high standard farmland distribution map". The "Autumn Harvest" power maintenance service team, mainly composed of the Wanmei Communist Party members' service team, was established to organize employees to go deep into the fields and carry out circular grid inspections on the power supply lines across the fields. Also to actively connect with family farms and farmers' cooperatives, grasp the trend of large-scale agricultural machinery in real time and send professionals to the concentrated farmland area to send out reminders and carry out monitoring. "Anti-collision strips" are installed on electric poles in the field and along the road, so as to ensure that agricultural machinery will not be damaged by external forces such as pole collision and stay wire, and provide solid power security for autumn harvest.

"Director Lu, the system at Liu's Family Farm in Zhangzhuang 03177 distribution transformer identified an imbalance in the neutral and live currents. Please conduct an on-site inspection and provide feedback today", a warning showed. The company utilizes a marketing inspection and early warning system to implement round-the-clock monitoring and early warnings for household current and voltage. It has compiled a "list of agricultural production (irrigation and drainage) users", and the power supply station and village committee have collaborated to conduct field surveys of low-voltage agricultural drainage users. A three-tiered list, which was established based on agricultural production needs and the severity of potential hazards, has been incorporated into the reserve project library. To date, through inspections of abnormal current and voltage, a total of 17 metering device failures, 5 loose metering wiring connections, 46 instances of poor contact at the meter's front and 2,871 hidden dangers in the lower lines have been discovered. Over 7 million yuan has been invested in the renovation to enhance the voltage quality of 144 substations, ensuring safe and reliable electricity for agricultural production during the autumn harvest season. The pilot project in Tianchang city, titled "Government-Enterprise Collaboration to Ensure Reliable Power Supply for High-Standard Farmland," has been successfully selected for inspection by the State Grid headquarters.

"Grassroots services cannot solely rely on grid members. Only through joint governance between government and enterprises, collaborative construction of village networks and information sharing, can we effectively address the needs of the people, be responsive, accessible and efficient," said Zhang Jianchang, a deputy to the 14th Anhui Provincial People's Congress.

Focusing on the list of the first and second batch of Hemei rural boutique demonstration villages in Anhui province in 2024, the company has established 11 "village-grid co-construction" power convenience service points in Tianchang city, which includes Jingting village in Jinji town, Changshan village in Chajian town and Fusheng village in Yeshan town. These efforts have successfully achieved 100 percent coverage of power supply stations in the "village-grid co-construction" power convenience service demonstration sites. Leveraging the construction experience from these demonstration sites, the company has extended the new "neighborhood-to-neighborhood, together" service model for people's livelihood, implementing a dedicated approach of "responding to every call and assisting with every request". With the assistance of power grid staff members, the company has promoted the "all-in-one card" QR code, enabling users to dial various service numbers in their area with a single scan, and providing a 24-hour complaint channel for service failures. Additionally, the company has set up an online state grid "cloud office" terminal to address the final mile issue for customers' electricity needs, ensuring timely service delivery and avoiding any missed farming opportunities.

Currently, the autumn grain harvest is being stored. Faced with the high dependence on power supply for grain drying and agricultural mechanization, the company organized 41 customer managers and grid leaders to visit grain collection and storage enterprises before the autumn harvest, inspecting the operation of equipment such as stone removers and grain rough separators. Additionally, the company optimized the emergency repair force and material allocation of the power supply station, arranged staff members and vehicles to be on duty 24 hours a day and handled power failures of power supply facilities following the principle of "restoring power first, then conducting emergency repairs", ensuring timely response to farmers' electricity needs.

As spring turns to autumn and seasons change, the original intention of the people's electric power industry to serve the people remains unchanged. The company will continue to help increase grain production and harvest, ensure that farmers do not worry about electricity supply and protect their "grain bags".