State Grid Corp of China Invests $995M in 8,500 Robots for Energy Sector

State Grid Corp. of China allocated 6.8 billion yuan ($994.7 million) in 2026 for 8,500 AI-powered robots for power inspections and high-risk live-line work through its Embodied Intelligence Development Plan. The procurement includes 500 humanoid robots (2.5B yuan), 5,000 quadruped robot dogs for substation inspection (1.5B yuan), and 3,000 dual-arm manipulators for fault processing (1.8B yuan). Each unit saves 500K-800K yuan in labor costs annually. State Grid targets 80% penetration in high-risk scenarios by 2027 and plans full autonomous maintenance by 2030.