State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power: Green Tea Fried with Eco-Friendly Power Costs 1,600 Yuan per Jin and Tastes Even More Delightful

On March 21, as the morning mist clung to the earth at six o'clock, Xia Jianming, a tea farmer from Yuzhong Village, wandered through the lush tea rows, carefully picking the first crop of early spring tea for the year. As the delicate buds piled up in his bamboo basket, a tale of harvest intertwining "green" with "gold" unfolded quietly—the market price of this year's freshly harvested early spring tea soared to 1,600 yuan per jin, 400 yuan higher than the previous year, marking a new peak in the past five years.
Nestled in Ninghai County, Zhejiang Province, a short 20-minute drive along winding mountain roads from Sangzhou Town leads to Yuzhong Village. Here, over 150 acres of undulating tea gardens stretch out, shrouded in mist and clouds, with the refreshing aroma of tea permeating the air. In recent years, the local area has vigorously promoted the ecological agriculture and tourism initiative of "enriching farmers through tea," transforming the tea mountains into a "golden mountain and silver sea" that brings prosperity to the villagers.
"In the past, we had excellent tea mountains, but we couldn't fetch good prices!" Xia Guoming, the secretary of the Party branch in Yuzhong Village, Sangzhou Town, and a fellow tea farmer, recounted that in the past, every household used firewood and earth stoves to fry tea, resulting in inconsistent processing standards and varying quality. Tea leaves could only be sold to buyers at low prices and sometimes even rotted on the branches due to poor sales. Even more troublesome for tea farmers was the reliance on manual labor for traditional tea frying. "If the heat is slightly off, an entire pot of tea is ruined," Xia lamented.

The turnaround began with the introduction of automated equipment, including tea wilting and shaping machines, intelligent roasters, and fully automated tea frying production lines. With the construction of a common prosperity tea frying workshop spanning over 1,000 square meters, villagers now have a centralized location for tea processing. Processing tea together also brings an advantage—tea farmers can discuss and refine their tea frying techniques with each other, significantly enhancing the stability of tea quality and processing efficiency.
However, the operation of these equipment cannot be separated from stable power support. "During the tea frying season, electricity consumption is concentrated, and voltage fluctuations can cause the machines to malfunction," admitted Xia Guoming.
The service team organized by State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power has been a "timely rain" for tea farmers. In response to the challenges posed by aging power grids and surge in loads in Yuzhong Village, the power supply department implemented rural power grid renovations and upgrades, installed two additional transformers, achieved full coverage of centralized meter boxes, and increased power supply reliability to 99.99438%. During peak tea frying periods, staff regularly inspected photovoltaic equipment and checked for potential hazards in circuits to ensure a continuous supply of "green power."
"Now, we don't have to worry about power outages even if the tea frying machines run 24 hours a day, and tea revenue has quadrupled!" Xia Guoming chuckled, saying that what he picks with his fingertips is not just tea but "golden leaves"!
Entering the tea processing area of Yuzhong Village, rows of photovoltaic panels gleam brightly atop the roofs. The "tea-photovoltaic complementary" model launched by State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power has brought clean electricity into the common prosperity tea frying workshop.
According to estimates, the annual photovoltaic power generation in Yuzhong Village amounts to 45,500 kWh, reducing carbon emissions by 40 tons, equivalent to adding 910 green trees to the tea mountains.
"With the support of grid-side energy storage, Yuzhong Village has completed partial electrification retrofits, increasing tea production efficiency by over three times and saving annual labor costs by 30,000 yuan," Xia Guoming calculated. Meanwhile, State Grid Zhejiang Electric Power has also established a "microgrid + energy storage" demonstration project in the tea area. By regulating peak and off-peak loads through the energy storage system, it ensures a stable supply of electricity during peak tea frying periods while cutting carbon emissions.
Automated tea frying equipment has replaced family workshops, photovoltaic green power has illuminated production lines, and power grid upgrades have escorted industrial development. A road to common prosperity powered by electricity and led by green development has quietly been paved, and a "green revolution" has breathed new life into this traditional tea-growing region.