Night crews keep Hanyin powered through winter

As winter electricity demand surges, power crews in Hanyin county, Ankang city in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, are at their busiest.

State Grid's Hanyin power supply branch has adjusted its work schedule, shifting planned maintenance and emergency repairs to nighttime hours to guarantee power for households and businesses.

One night in January, the equipment room at Shui'an Huacheng, a residential compound in the county, remained brightly lit into the early hours. Several helmeted workers fixed an on-site fault. After hours of troubleshooting, power was restored to the community.

"Residents rely on electricity for heating, and shop owners need it to run their businesses," the site manager said. "To minimize disruptions, we schedule both planned maintenance and fault repairs for the wee hours."

These overnight efforts offer a glimpse of how Hanyin's power crews keep the lights on. To stabilize the power grid, the branch has formed night patrol teams. From dusk onward, the teams carry out infrared temperature checks on urban and rural power lines, monitoring equipment health and tackling risks the moment they emerge.

"Temperatures are low at night, so overheating hotspots on equipment stand out far more clearly. Every extra kilometer we patrol adds an extra layer of reliability for local residents," one team member said.

Deploying three inspection methods — foot patrols, drone surveys and live-line testing — the branch inspected all 59 power lines under its purview in 2025. It cleared 766 hidden hazards and completed drone patrols covering 296 kilometers.

This round-the-clock work and rigorous inspections are backed by a newly upgraded grid. In 2025, the branch built or renovated 205 km of high- and low-voltage lines and installed 53 new transformers.

With seven outgoing lines from the 110-kilovolt Puxi substation now operational, the chronic overload and low-voltage issues plaguing the Yuehe River area have been resolved.

The grid upgrade is already delivering tangible benefits for residents and local businesses. At a workshop in Puxi town making kangkangmo — a crispy local sesame flatbread — an oven previously prone to temperature swings caused by fluctuating voltage now maintains a steady temperature.

"With stable voltage, heat control becomes much easier. The flatbread turns out better in both color and flavor," the workshop owner said with a smile.