Energy and electricity is the basic industry of the country, and its development and operation are related to national energy security and economic development. As an important carrier of power transmission, power cables are known as the "blood vessels" and "nerves" of power transmission. Therefore, as an important part of the cable, the upgrade of cable insulation and sheath materials has a significant influence on the technological development of the power cable industry.

With the rapid development of the economy, the process of urbanization has accelerated, and the population has gradually gathered in the central city, resulting in a sharp increase in the load center of electricity, and the rapid development of high-voltage transmission technology. Especially under the energy strategy of "carbon neutrality and emission peak" in Chinese 14th Five-Year Plan period, high voltage level, long length, large cross-section and high reliability of power cables have become the main solutions for power grid construction and urbanization development.

For a long time , China's cross-linked polyethylene insulation compound for 220kV and above has been dependent on imports and there are problems such as high prices, long supply cycle and supply instability, and pose a threat to the security of China's high-voltage cable industry chain and supply chain.

The "RoadBlock" of Project

China's production of cross-linked cables began in the 1980s, when 35KV insulation materials were completely dependent on imports.From the eighth five-year plan, China began to develop XLPE cable insulation materials up to 35kV, and broke through a series of key technologies such as basic resin production, material basic formula composition, manufacture processes, and impurity detection.China has fully mastered the manufacturing methods of this grade of materials.

After decades of research and development, China's 110kV XLPE insulation material manufacturing technology became relatively mature in the middle of the 13th Five-Year Plan, and the product quality was relatively stable, and some enterprises who could produce 110kV cable materials represented by Wanma Macromolecule had emerged; but cable materials up to 220kV and above have not yet made effective progress, which has also once become a bottleneck restricting the technological development of the power cable industry

The improvement of the voltage level from 110kV to 220kV is not only a simple formula R&D, but more importantly, a technological breakthrough in basic theoretical research, basic materials, process equipment and process control.

There are three core challenges that need to be solved urgently:

 (1) An uninterrupted fully enclosed production system used from making ultra-clean polyethylene to synthesis of ultra-clean insulation materials;

 (2) Systematic research on ultra-clean LDPE up to 220KV high voltage;

 (3) Ultra-purification technology and process for the manufacture of 220kV high voltage cable insulation material

 New opportunity to break the situation

In view of the above problems, it is urgent to organize a technical research team with the abilities of cable insulation material production and cable manufacturing, testing and end users to achieve the key technology of domestic 220kV XLPE compound modification and mass production, and to realize the mass production of 220kV high-voltage cable cross-linkable polyethylene insulation material products to ensure that China's high-voltage cable material manufacturing is independent and controllable.