Wanhua Chemical's 45,000 tons per year XLPE insulation material project has been completed

to a long time, the domestic localization rate of ultra-high voltage XLPE insulating materials to 220 kV and above has been less than 10%, and the high-end market is mainly occupied by overseas chemical companies. Imported materials not only push up the construction costs of domestic power grid and offshore wind power projects, however also bring possible risks to the supply chain security of energy equipment. The sector urgently needs regional materials to make a breakthrough.

Innovative process route to ensure batch stability of items from the source

Different from the model adopted by most domestic companies that purchase base materials to modified processing, Wanhua Chemical adopts an ethane feeding scheme, and has built a closed-loop R&D and production system from molecular design, base material synthesis to modification optimization, solving the core sector pain point of batch consistency of ultra-high voltage insulating materials from the raw material end.

The entire integrated production route realizes that raw material processing, polymerization and modification are all completed internally, reducing impurities and performance fluctuations caused by external supply chains, and providing support to the stringent standards of ultra-high cleanliness of materials in high-voltage and submarine cable scenarios.

Multi-grade items have been launched, and next-generation DC submarine cable materials are being deployed

In terms of manufacturing consumption, domestic materials have completed verification in multiple key projects.

· Wanhua Chemical jointly with Three Gorges Energy completed the domestic consumption of 66 kV submarine cables, and successfully realized the 12-kilometer continuous extrusion production verification at one time;

· 220 kV XLPE high-voltage AC cable materials have been put into practical projects with stable operation performance;

· 500 kV XLPE items have completed experimental applications, and all indicators meet the design standards.

Technical R&D is advancing simultaneously. The company has deployed next-generation insulating materials, focusing on tackling ultra-high voltage DC cable materials to 500 kV and above, and developing submarine cable insulation and shielding material product systems suitable to deep-sea operating conditions, targeting the prolonged demand of offshore wind power.

Broad downstream market space, and domestic substitution still requires continuous project verification

The construction of China's new power system has opened up a huge market space. The cumulative investment in China's power grid will surpass 5 trillion yuan, and the planned installed capacity target of offshore wind power has reached 100 GW, which immediately drives the rapid development of demand to 220 kV and above offshore transmission submarine cables, and the market increment of ultra-high voltage XLPE insulating materials is considerable.

At present, domestic key technologies to XLPE have made breakthroughs, however there is still a gap before extensive complete substitution of imported items. The sector needs to rely on greater practical projects to continuously build up operating data and follow the circular optimization path of "consumption - feedback - iteration"; at the same time, give play to the policy advantages of the first (set) of relevant equipment, give priority to selecting domestic XLPE items that have passed authoritative certifications, expand extensive demonstration applications, and steadily promote the localization process of high-end cable materials.