Rebirth: Starting from Lighting Up the Tech Tree

Chapter 169 Industry Standards

The invitation letter from the National Standardization Administration arrived at 10:00 AM.

The envelope was made of paper and had an official red seal. It was issued in the name of the Standardization Department of the State Administration for Market Regulation, inviting 402 Technology to participate in the standard-setting work of the "Space Photovoltaic Energy Transmission Technology Standards Working Group".

When Han Lu placed the envelope on Zuo Cheng's table, she said, "The working group consists of nine units, and 402 is the only private enterprise among them."

Zuo Cheng flipped through the invitation and saw the list of members: National Energy Administration, Institute of Energy Research of Chinese Academy of Sciences, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Tsinghua University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, State Grid Research Institute, China Southern Power Grid Research Institute, and two state-owned power research institutes.

"Contact them and confirm their participation," Zuo Cheng said. "Have Li Guodong and Yu Ying both go; the technical discussions require their presence."

The working group’s first meeting is scheduled for two weeks from now in Conference Room 8 of the National Energy Administration building.

There were more than thirty people in the conference room. When Zuo Cheng entered, most of them were already seated, and several white-haired experts sat at the main table, looking like they were quite influential.

The meeting was chaired by a division chief from the National Energy Administration. After his opening remarks, he said, "Today's main discussion will focus on the standards framework. Everyone should first share their respective technical approaches and core parameters, and then we will discuss the scope of the standards and the boundaries of the technical indicators."

The sharing session proceeded in order of the members' list. The first few representatives were from research institutes and universities, discussing theoretical frameworks and basic parameters, but lacking experimental data and relying primarily on international literature and simulation results. Next, the representative from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation spoke about launch capabilities and satellite platform specifications; the content was solid, but they lacked their own data on the core technical indicators of space photovoltaics.

It's 402 Technology's turn.

Li Guodong stood up, without opening the PowerPoint presentation, and said directly, "We have actual measurement data."

The meeting room fell silent for a second.

"In March 2021, the first batch of 10 verification satellites successfully entered orbit, and in May of the same year, the first microwave transmission test was completed, with a measured efficiency of 87.3%. The Institute of Energy Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, conducted independent verification, and the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation's technical observation team witnessed the entire process." Li Guodong placed a report on the host's table. "The original telemetry data, the entire recording from the ground receiving array, and the third-party verification certificate are all here."

The director, who had maintained a calm expression throughout, took the report, flipped through two pages, and then looked up at Li Guodong.

"This is currently the only measured data globally for microwave transmission from space to the ground," said Li Guodong. "This 87.3% efficiency was achieved over a transmission distance of 36,000 kilometers, not just 55 meters in a ground-based laboratory."

During the discussion phase, the controversy surrounding the standard framework centered on a core issue: what should be the minimum technical threshold for microwave transmission efficiency?

Professors from both universities suggested a 70% threshold, arguing that this would lower the barrier to entry and allow for more proposals to be submitted. A representative from the State Grid Research Institute countered that it should be at least 80%, otherwise it would be meaningless.

After everyone had finished speaking, Zuo Cheng said, "I think the efficiency threshold should be divided into two levels. The first level, the market entry threshold, is 70%, which is acceptable; the second level, the quality certification standard, should be set at 85% or higher. The first level allows various technical approaches to compete, while the second level identifies truly efficient technologies."

When this tiered plan was announced, the meeting room was silent for about five seconds, and then the director, who was in charge, nodded.

"This line of thinking makes sense," he said. "We can discuss it."

The discussion lasted for more than an hour. The final framework basically adopted the hierarchical structure proposed by 402, and the core technical parameters—microwave frequency band selection (5.8GHz as the main frequency band), beamforming accuracy, and ground receiving antenna density standard—were all based on the measured data of the 402 verification satellite.

During a break in the meeting, Yu Ying chatted with two researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences for half an hour about calibration methods for atmospheric correction models. Zuo Cheng listened for a few minutes without interrupting. This was Yu Ying's domain; the two researchers were taking notes attentively while she spoke.

The biggest controversy lies in safety standards. Several experts from state-owned research institutes insist on setting the safety distance for ground receiving stations at one kilometer, arguing that microwave radiation may have an impact on nearby residents.

Li Guodong was a little anxious and said, "Where did you get that 'one kilometer' figure? At our power density, the actual measured safe distance for the 5.8GHz band is 400 meters; there's data on that."

The other party said the data came from ground testing, and the space transmission environment is different, so it should be more conservative.

Zuo Cheng said, "We can proceed in stages. The first version of the standard will be based on 500 meters, with revision clauses retained. We can adjust it after accumulating more actual measurement data. This way, we can ensure accuracy without setting the threshold too unrealistically."

This compromise was ultimately adopted.

After the meeting, while we were having tea, an elderly professor from the Institute of Energy Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences came over and shook hands with Li Guodong.

"Your data has raised the bar for this field significantly," the professor said. "This standard might very well become the international standard in ten years."

Li Guodong said, "Thank you for your kind words."

The elderly professor turned to leave, then turned back and said, "I know a team at JAXA. They emailed me last month, wanting to understand the technical roadmap for 402. Would you consider international collaboration?"

"We can talk," Zuo Cheng chimed in from the side.

Following the conclusion of the second meeting of the Standards Committee, the official appointment notice was issued, and a representative from 402 Technology was appointed as the Vice Chairman of the "Space Photovoltaic Energy Transmission Technology Standards Working Group".

This is not a nominal position. The vice chairman is in charge of the technical specifications subcommittee, and all clauses involving transmission efficiency, frequency band specifications, and security standards must be reviewed and confirmed by this subcommittee.

The weekend after the appointment, Han Lu sent a message saying that the China representative of Siemens Energy called to ask if they could purchase the 402 technical white paper, "because they want to do a standard compliance analysis to see if their solution can pass the national standard certification threshold."

Zuo Cheng thought for a moment and replied to Han Lu, "The technical white paper can be made public; let them meet the requirements themselves."

That's the meaning of standards. It's not about stopping everyone, but about setting the starting line at a height that you're good at.

After seeing the appointment notice, Han Lu sent a message to the senior management group: "This is worth more than a 50 billion contract."

No one spoke, but Zuo Cheng knew that everyone understood the meaning of those words.

The contract represents this year's business, but the standard determines the bargaining power for the next ten years.