CCCC Tianhe actively integrates into the national energy transition and the major practice of building a new energy system, adheres to technology leadership and innovation-driven development, and strives to create high-end, intelligent, and green major equipment, providing strong technical equipment support for accelerating energy transition and building a new energy system.

Entering the nuclear power sector, "Shen Dun" assists in implementing the green energy development strategy

Recently, the 8.87-meter-diameter "Shen Dun No.1" and "Shen Dun No.2" shield machines developed by CCCC Tianhe for the underwater drainage tunnels of Units 3 and 4 of the Zhangzhou Nuclear Power Plant's million-kilowatt nuclear power units are driving in parallel, with a cumulative advance of nearly 1,600 meters, achieving a best daily advance of 30 meters in upper-soft and lower-hard, strongly weathered strata, laying the foundation for the breakthrough of China's longest 5.2-kilometer underwater drainage tunnel in the nuclear power field. After completion, the tunnel will provide effective guarantee for the safe operation of two million-kilowatt nuclear power units.

"Shen Dun No.1" and "Shen Dun No.2" are equipped with devices such as circulating layered reverse washing, visualized slurry chamber, dual-circuit automatic pressure maintaining system, full-circle articulated seal and emergency airbag, and automatic shield tail clearance measurement, ensuring ultra-long-distance tunneling in ultra-complex and ultra-high water pressure strata. Since 2010, when CCCC Tianhe provided the first domestic 8-meter-class shield machine for the cooling water tunnel of Qinshan Nuclear Power Plant, it has continued to develop various major equipment to serve nuclear power energy, making positive contributions to the safe and efficient development of nuclear power energy.

Filling industry gaps, large-diameter vertical rock-socketed drilling rig leads offshore wind power development

Recently, CCCC Tianhe's "Research and Application Project of Offshore Large-Diameter Vertical Rock-Socketed Tunneling Equipment Technology" won the Special Prize of the "First Engineering Construction Enterprise Youth Science and Technology Innovation Award". The offshore large-diameter vertical rock-socketed drilling rig has a maximum lifting force of 900 tons, a maximum rotation speed of 9 rpm, a maximum torque of 4,000 kN·m, and a maximum drilling diameter of 10.4 meters, far exceeding the drilling diameter of 4.7-6 meters of similar equipment in the world. The rig adopts an intelligent tunneling control system, automatically lifts the drill pipe when torque and drilling pressure exceed limits, can monitor and store data in real time, and realizes "one-key" start of tunneling operations, solving the problems of slow rock-socketed tunneling speed, low slag discharge efficiency, and long drill pipe assembly and disassembly time for offshore wind power pile foundations. In the construction of offshore wind farms in Pinghai Bay of Putian City and Pingtan County of Fuzhou City, the rig completed the tunneling task in only 26 days, setting a new record for super-large-diameter Type III rock-socketed monopile drilling with a single drilling diameter of 7.32 meters.

According to World Bank statistics, China is rich in offshore wind resources, with a wind power development potential of 2.25 billion kilowatts within 200 kilometers of the coastline. The successful development of this rig fills the gap in large-diameter monopile rock-socketed tunneling equipment for offshore wind power, is a milestone for the construction of large-diameter monopile rock-socketed foundation projects for offshore wind power worldwide, and was successfully selected into the "Recommended Catalog of Scientific and Technological Innovation Achievements of Central Enterprises (2020 Edition)" and won the "Second Prize of China Machinery Industry Science and Technology Award" in 2022.

Layout of emerging industries, onshore wind power technology and equipment become a new force promoting industry development

China is also rich in onshore wind resources, and related technologies and equipment are relatively mature. According to the "China Onshore Wind Power Market Outlook 2023" released by Wood Mackenzie's wind power research team cited by HuaXia Energy Network, in the next decade, China's new onshore wind power capacity will account for more than 77%, with an average annual new installed capacity expected to exceed 59 GW.

In recent years, CCCC Tianhe has actively practiced the national "14th Five-Year Plan for Renewable Energy Development", actively laid out emerging industries, and achieved remarkable results, becoming a new force in the field of new energy technology and equipment. It has provided more than 1,000 sets of onshore wind power towers, including up to 160 meters, for many large and extra-large energy enterprises, supporting a total installed capacity of 5,600 MW of wind power, providing 14.46 billion kWh of clean electricity annually, equivalent to saving about 4.51 million tons of standard coal and reducing total carbon dioxide emissions by 6.312 million tons each year.

Entering the energy storage track, hard rock TBM promotes new upgrades in hydropower energy

Under the acceleration of building a new energy system, pumped storage has entered a "fast track" of development and is currently the most mature, economically optimal, and most large-scale development-conditioned green, low-carbon, clean, and flexible regulated energy. TBM tunneling speed for pumped storage tunnels is 4 times that of traditional drill-and-blast methods, with a tunneling gradient of up to 5%, exceeding the standards of "Code for Design of Urban Rail Transit" and "Code for Design of Shield Tunnel of Urban Rail Transit Engineering" which stipulate that "shield tunnel elevation gradient shall not exceed 1% and plane gradient shall not exceed 1‰". It has the advantages of high quality and efficiency, safety and environmental protection, and high degree of automation and informatization, which can greatly shorten the construction period and reduce safety risks.

Recently, the TBM with a cutterhead diameter of 4.1 meters developed by CCCC Tianhe for the water diversion tunnel project of the North Water Supply Plant of the Dujiangyan Water Supply and Drainage System Improvement Project has achieved a tunneling length of over 1,500 meters. In response to the characteristics of large-gradient downward tunneling and possible large-flow water inrush, anti-slip and drainage facilities were installed to achieve safe, environmentally friendly, and efficient tunneling of the TBM under complex geological conditions such as sudden water inrush, hard rock, and large gradients. At the same time, two 5,380 mm diameter double-shield TBMs "Da Yu Xue Dun" and "Da Yu Chang Feng" developed for the 34,420-meter-long water conveyance tunnel of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project arrived at the site. As the largest bilateral infrastructure project between Lesotho and South Africa, the project will not only solve South Africa's water shortage problem but also drive the development of Lesotho's power and water conservancy undertakings, achieving power self-sufficiency.

Developing new quality productive forces, highly intelligent equipment promotes technological transformation in coal energy development

Aiming at the water-rich rock strata in western China, CCCC Tianhe has integrated new technologies such as intelligent control, electro-hydraulic integration, and high-strength new materials to successfully develop the "Zhi Neng" drilling rig for deep and large vertical shaft excavation. This is China's first highly intelligent vertical shaft drilling rig for water-rich rock strata, with a maximum drilling diameter of 12 meters, a maximum drilling depth of 800 meters, and a maximum torque of 1,200 kN/m for the power head. It is currently China's largest torque drilling equipment, pioneering the intelligent drilling method for mine vertical shafts in water-rich rock strata. This is a major breakthrough in the construction of vertical shafts in water-rich rock strata from manual mechanical excavation to intelligent tunneling, setting new records of 110 meters per month in the Jurassic strata and 200 meters per month in the Cretaceous strata of the Taohutu Coal Mine in Inner Mongolia, ensuring shaft quality with verticality far higher than industry standards.

For a long time, large support volume, high labor intensity, and imbalance between tunneling and support have been the main factors restricting underground roadway tunneling in coal mines. Most coal mine working faces in China have the problem of imbalance between tunneling and support. Roadway tunneling mainly adopts the traditional drill-and-blast method, and rock roadway tunneling is relatively slow, making mining operations difficult to carry out and seriously restricting the continuous production of mines. Recently, CCCC Tianhe successfully developed China's first single-shield hard rock TBM for coal mines for the auxiliary inclined shaft of the Gucheng No.1 Coal Mine in Fugu County, Yulin City, creating a precedent for single-shield hard rock TBM tunneling in coal mine inclined shafts. The single-shield hard rock TBM has an excavation diameter of 8.34 meters, absorbs coal mine tunneling technology, and has the advantages of good safety performance, fast tunneling speed, good roadway quality, and good environmental protection effect. It fully meets the coal mine "three special and two locks" safety production requirements and can be widely used in coal mine excavation, rock breaking, support, slag discharge, and guidance operations. Compared with double-shield hard rock TBMs, it has lower cost, simpler operation, stronger adaptability, and lower safety risks, filling the gap in single-shield hard rock TBM operations for coal mine inclined shafts in China and promoting technological transformation in coal energy development with highly intelligent equipment.