Published: 2026-03-13
As the largest single‑capacity desert photovoltaic project in China, the 2,000 MW phase of the CGE Urumqi Midong 3,500 MW PV project has been successfully connected to the grid, delivering 6.09 billion kWh of clean electricity annually – equivalent to the yearly consumption of 3 million households. Behind the smooth operation of this mega PV station, MRD industrial switches provide a robust and reliable communication backbone for the "arteries" of power transmission.
I. Project Overview
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The CGE Urumqi Midong 3,500 MW PV project is a key energy project of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, with a total investment of approximately RMB 15.3 billion. The project is located east of Beishawo Donghaidaozi in Midong District, Urumqi City, deep within the Gurbantünggüt Desert. The terrain is mainly desert sand dunes, with geographic coordinates of 87°42'38.785"E, 44°43'40.992"N.
The PV array is being constructed in two phases, with the first 2,000 MW phase successfully connected to the grid by the end of 2024. This phase includes the 2,000 MW PV farm area, three supporting 220 kV step‑up substations, a comprehensive operations building, roadworks, and other auxiliary facilities. These three 220 kV substations are critical for collecting and stepping up the clean power generated deep in the desert and delivering it into the grid – they are the "chokepoint" for the project's stable power export. The extreme desert environment – with large diurnal temperature variations, frequent sandstorms, and complex electromagnetic conditions – imposes exceptionally stringent demands on the substations' communication systems.
II. MRD Involvement
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In the three 220 kV step‑up substations supporting the 2,000 MW PV phase, MRD industrial switches were deployed at the core nodes of the secondary electrical systems, undertaking the aggregation and transmission of data between protection devices, measurement and control equipment, and monitoring systems.
Reliable Response to Extreme Environments
In desert areas, summer ground temperatures can exceed 70°C, while winter temperatures can drop to –30°C, with frequent sandstorms. MRD industrial switches feature a fully enclosed metal housing with a fanless design, supporting a wide operating temperature range from –40°C to +85°C and an IP40 protection rating. They effectively resist sand and dust ingress, ensuring continuous stable operation under harsh conditions.
Multi‑Station Interconnection Networking Support
This project involves coordinated operation of three 220 kV substations, demanding high reliability and real‑time performance for inter‑station communication. MRD switches support a rich set of ring redundancy protocols, enabling the construction of self‑healing optical rings across stations. In the event of any fiber link interruption due to construction or natural factors, the system completes path switching within 50 milliseconds, ensuring that protection signals and monitoring data are never lost.
Superior EMC Performance
Within the substations, dense high‑voltage equipment generates strong electromagnetic interference. MRD switches have passed the stringent tests of the IEC 61000‑4 series EMC standards, ensuring accurate and error‑free data communication under strong electromagnetic fields, and providing reliable communication links for critical devices such as relay protection and safety automation equipment.
III. MRD Related Products
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TNM4000-ISC36HH4X8G4C20
·Supports 36 Gigabit Ethernet ports, including 4 10G Ethernet ports
·Supports multiple management methods: Web browser, CLI, MIB
·Provides packet loss protection mechanisms for rapid recovery from network failures
·Supports multiple multicast protocols and offers highly secure anti‑attack features
·Supports IGMP snooping and GMRP
·Supports QoS (IEEE 802.1p/1Q and TOS/DiffServ)
·Supports SNMPv1/v2c/v3
·Supports bandwidth management
·Supports port mirroring
·Adopts redundant dual‑power input design
·Fanless, –40°C to +85°C operating temperature
Every kilowatt‑hour of green power reliably delivered relies on a solid underlying communication network. The successful grid connection of the CGE Urumqi Midong 2,000 MW PV project marks yet another in‑depth practice of MRD industrial switches in large‑scale new‑energy bases. As a leading enterprise in the industrial communication industry, we have validated the core competitiveness of domestic substitution solutions in the extreme "desert, Gobi, and barren land" environments with benchmark‑class product performance and reliability, laying a digital foundation for the secure implementation of the national energy strategy.
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