China Energy Dadu River Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. is the only provincial regional company of China Energy Investment Corporation in Sichuan Province, and also the largest basin hydropower development company within the group. It was formed in September 2025 through the integration of the former China Energy Dadu River Hydropower Development Co., Ltd., China Energy Sichuan Power Generation Co., Ltd. (China Energy Sichuan Energy Co., Ltd.), and Jinsha River Branch of China Energy Investment Corporation.
Its in-service hydropower installed capacity accounts for 1/4 of the total installed capacity of Sichuan provincial dispatching hydropower, and its hydropower installed capacity under construction accounts for 1/2 of the province's total and 1/4 of the nation's total. It is the largest coal-fired thermal power enterprise in Sichuan Province, with thermal power installed capacity accounting for 1/2 of the total installed capacity of Sichuan provincial dispatching coal-fired thermal power. As the core force for energy security supply in Sichuan, its total power generation accounts for 1/3 of the total power generation of Sichuan provincial dispatching units and 1/5 of the total electricity consumption of the whole society.
Through the project construction, the first domestic real-time operation risk identification and decision-making system for cascade hydropower stations has been successfully built, which accurately solves the challenges of real-time operation risk management of cascade hydropower stations and significantly improves the effectiveness of real-time operation risk management and control of China Energy Dadu River. Appraised by the Chinese Society for Hydropower Engineering, the overall achievements of the project have reached the internationally leading level.
Through multi-dimensional analysis and research on the massive multi-source heterogeneous data of Dadu River, based on the dual-drive mode of "mechanism + mathematical statistics", a real-time operation risk identification and operation optimization support system has been built. It realizes intelligent identification of data anomaly risks and dispatching operation risks, as well as operation optimization guidance, to ensure the long-term safe and stable operation of the power stations.
Figure: Overall Project Framework
Data Anomaly Identification Center: Conduct in-depth analysis of massive dispatching operation data, realize automatic identification of data anomalies such as data dead points, jumps, out-of-limit values and unreasonable data correlation logic, and provide a high-quality data foundation for operation risk identification and optimization guidance.
Operation Risk Identification Center: Focusing on the requirements of operation risk management and control, build models related to operation control, operation mode, equipment action and equipment health, to achieve comprehensive perception and intelligent early warning of dispatching operation risks, effectively reduce the monitoring pressure of dispatching operators, and improve the real-time performance and accuracy of risk identification.
Operation Optimization Analysis Center: Aiming at the demand of dispatching operation optimization for cascade hydropower stations, focusing on scenarios such as discharge flow, water level control optimization and unit combination, build operation optimization guidance models to provide support for dispatchers to adjust operation optimization strategies, and realize the transformation from experience-based decision-making to data-driven decision-making.
Operation Business Guidance Center: Build a "low-code, one-stop" real-time operation risk decision-making system, realize intelligent inspection, real-time early warning and one-stop processing of basin operation risks, and provide intelligent pre-simulation of operation dispatching control strategies. It delivers solid technical support for risk identification and optimization guidance of cascade hydropower stations, and guards the safe and economic operation of the power stations.
Figure: Real-time Early Warning
Through the project construction, the first domestic real-time operation risk identification and decision-making system for cascade hydropower stations has been successfully built, which accurately solves the challenges of real-time operation risk management of cascade hydropower stations and significantly improves the effectiveness of real-time operation risk management and control of China Energy Dadu River. Appraised by the Chinese Society for Hydropower Engineering, the overall achievements of the project have reached the internationally leading level.
Achieve comprehensive risk perception and guarantee operation safety. A dual-objective risk assessment system of "safety-economy" and related algorithm models have been built to realize comprehensive perception of real-time operation safety risks of cascade hydropower stations, help operators identify operation risks earlier, more comprehensively and more accurately, and safeguard the safe operation of the power stations.
Provide operation optimization support and boost power generation efficiency. Integrating artificial intelligence and big data technologies, dozens of operation optimization guidance models for water level control, load control and other scenarios have been built to assist dispatchers in making scientific decisions and improve the economic operation level of the power stations.
Reduce staff workload and unlock personnel efficiency. Focusing on daily shift duty, shift handover and other work scenarios, functions such as intelligent early warning and intelligent screen inspection have been developed, shortening the daily dispatching operation screen inspection time from 3 hours to less than 0.5 hours, and significantly improving the work efficiency of operators.
Figure: Technical Appraisal Result – Overall Reaching the Internationally Leading Level
