On August 9, harvest work was in full swing at the euryale seed planting base in Wuyi village, Qisi township, Huaibin county, Xinyang, Henan Province. Ponds were dotted with euryale seed plants, while processing workshops hummed with machinery operating round the clock in good order. Electric power driven equipment empowered the whole chain operations including harvesting, cleaning, shelling and cold storage. Staff from Qisi Central Power Supply Station of State Grid Huaibin County Power Supply Company inspected power lines at the base and explained safe electricity use knowledge to growers.

Euryale seed is hailed as the “ginseng in water.” As a featured high quality agricultural product of Huaibin county, it boasts both edible and medicinal values. After shelling, cold storage and intensive processing, it can be made into high added value products such as euryale seed cakes and euryale seed powder, serving as a “golden lump” that boosts local residents’ income. Statistics show that the county has over 40,000 mu of euryale seed planting areas, benefiting nearly 20,000 farming households. Leveraging favorable water and soil resources, Wuyi village of Qisi town has built a 500 mu standardized euryale seed planting base, which has become a leading local rural featured industry.

In the past, euryale seed planting and processing largely relied on manual labor, which was characterized by low efficiency and heavy material loss. As the industry grew larger and more standardized, electric power run equipment for water storage and irrigation, mechanical threshing, electric polishing, constant temperature cold storage and intensive packaging in turn gained wide popularity. The whole production chain from field planting to workshop processing is highly dependent on stable power supply, which sets strict requirements for power supply reliability and voltage stability. Power fluctuations may easily cause fruit deterioration and raw material loss, damaging harvest yields and product quality.

Targeting the development demands of the featured industry, State Grid Huaibin County Power Supply Company took proactive and targeted services. It listed euryale seed planting and processing industries as key power guarantee targets, conducted regular field visits and surveys to fully grasp power consumption demands, and formulated tailor made power supply guarantee plans. Over the past three years, the company has invested 13.326 million yuan to upgrade local power grids, built and renovated 54 transformer districts, and added 68,000 kVA of transformer capacity. These efforts have effectively solved high power consumption challenges for irrigation, cold storage and intensive processing equipment, and consolidated the power use foundation for the featured industry.