Rio converter station of the second phase of the Belo Monte ultra-high-voltage transmission project (Photo provided by Xinhua News Agency)
A Brazilian transmission line inspector uses the intelligent transmission operations and maintenance control platform. (Photo provided by State Grid)
From the Amazon rainforest to the Cerrado grasslands, the Bright Power Large Model developed by State Grid Corporation of China (hereinafter "State Grid") is becoming the smart guardian of Brazil's power lifeline.
Smart Guardian Meeting Inspection Challenges
Across the vast South American continent, State Grid Brazil Holding (hereinafter SGBH) operates a transmission network stretching over 16,000 kilometers with more than 29,000 towers. This network acts like an intricate "power artery," delivering stable electricity to key cities like São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, and supporting Brazil's economic and social development and its clean energy transition. Among its assets, the second phase of the Belo Monte ultra-high-voltage transmission project, which spans 2,539 kilometers through the Amazon rainforest, Cerrado grasslands and Atlantic coastal mountains, is the world's longest transmission line at its voltage level. The diverse ecological environments and complex terrain it traverses make it a "super testing ground" for high-voltage grid safety operations and maintenance.
"Manual inspections with the help of helicopters are inefficient, and severe or critical defects are often missed. Moreover, helicopter costs are high, and the lack of internet access in rural areas makes it difficult for inspectors to conveniently obtain inspection routes. Manual data input after inspections is also inefficient. This series of difficulties has become an 'invisible bomb' threatening grid safety," admitted an SGBH employee who has worked in Brazil for many years.
Improving the quality and efficiency of inspections to ensure grid safety urgently demands a profound intelligent and digital transformation. Faced with this daunting challenge, SGBH conducted rigorous screening and comparative testing of various AI technological routes, fully considering their applicability in complex environments. Ultimately, they placed their hope on the Bright Power Large Model, independently developed by State Grid."Super expert brain" revolutionizing maintenance inspections
"Super Expert Brain" Revolutionizing Maintenance Inspections
As China's first trillion-parameter multimodal large model in the power industry, the Bright Power model integrates vast amounts of power-related text, image, video, audio, time-series and topological data. It internalizes extensive professional knowledge, including standards, procedures, regulations and specifications. Industry experts hail it as the "super expert brain" in the energy and power sector, possessing the "most comprehensive knowledge, largest parameter scale and strongest professional capabilities."
Since its official release on December 19, 2024, the Bright Power Large Model has covered State Grid's headquarters and 27 provincial-level power companies. It has also been piloted in areas such as grid planning, grid operations, equipment management, operations control, customer service and business management.
After extensive testing, the large model officially went live in May 2025, making SGBH the first transmission company in Brazil to deploy such an intelligent transmission operations and maintenance platform. The platform deeply integrates cutting-edge technologies like AI and big data analytics, marking a new intelligent and digital phase for SGBH's transmission inspection business. This provides a strong guarantee for the safe and stable operations of Brazil's power grid in its complex geographical environment.
If general-purpose large models like DeepSeek, which are accessible to the public, are considered generalists, then the Bright Power model is not only a generalist but also a specialist proficient in all aspects of electric power. It possesses core capabilities such as knowledge memory and understanding, multimodal fusion analysis (text, images, videos, etc.), complex business logic reasoning, basic numerical computation, and content-assisted generation. It offers intelligent solutions for the entire chain of grid planning, construction, operations, maintenance and customer service, making it a key engine for building new power systems and driving energy transformation.
Applying such a heavyweight technology to Brazil's power grid, thousands of miles away, is in itself an extremely challenging systemic engineering feat.
Bright Power Setting a Fine Example of Transnational Cooperation
During its research and development, the international team overcame difficulties and challenges such as language barriers, time zone differences, and disparities in domestic and international business standards, achieving three major breakthroughs:
1. Seamless integration into the local system. The platform seamlessly integrates with SGBH's existing SGBOM production management system. This allows for the addition of the intelligent transmission maintenance platform without disrupting existing operations, linking the entire chain from equipment ledger and inspection plan to defect closed-loop. It also unifies inspection standards and the defect database, significantly enhancing the standardization of SGBH's transmission management.
2. Solving offline operation challenges. Addressing the issue of weak internet access in rural Brazil, an innovative mobile offline operation function was developed. Field personnel can now complete data collection, defect recording and work order processing in areas without a signal. Once internet access is available, data synchronization can be realized with a single click, thus completely resolving the problem of disconnection in remote regions.
3. Revolutionizing the stereoscopic inspection mode. Facing the challenge of interlaced lines and complex environments, the international team built a new model combining UAV high-altitude inspection, AI intelligent image recognition and precise manual re-verification. They also introduced leading domestic image recognition technology to efficiently process massive amounts of images and accurately identify defects, significantly improving inspection efficiency and quality.
Today, the Bright Power model has become a beacon of technology safeguarding Brazil's "power artery," vividly demonstrating State Grid's firm commitment to ensuring global energy security and promoting green development through advanced technology. As the mode combining the platform with a large model becomes more popular, the Bright Power model will surely illuminate more corners of the world, providing more innovative Chinese solutions for building a clean and efficient global energy system. (By Zhao Na)
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