Dual-Carbon Goals and the Long Journey Ahead in Low Carbon Park Development

Introduction

The ambitious goals of reaching a carbon peak before 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality before 2060 set by the 9th meeting of the Central Financial and Economic Commission have placed a spotlight on the development of Low Carbon Parks. As these parks become the vanguard of the dual-carbon challenge, the integration of comprehensive energy services and the application of innovative technologies such as virtual power plants are essential for the transformation towards sustainable energy systems. The Low Carbon Park Comprehensive Energy Service Development and Application Forum has provided a platform for experts and practitioners to share their insights and experiences, particularly focusing on the advancements in virtual power plant technology and its role in shaping the future of low carbon park development.

The Long Road to Dual-Carbon Objectives

Current Situation and Challenges

Low Carbon Parks are at the forefront of implementing dual-carbon goals within the new power system framework, leading innovation and setting best practices. However, the journey is fraught with challenges:

High Fossil Energy Consumption: Parks often rely on purchased electricity, with coal-fired power generation serving as a backup. This reliance on a single energy source leads to high carbon emissions and energy costs.

Digital Disparities: The level of digitalization varies, with some parks lacking adequate data collection and communication capabilities. This hinders the formation of a comprehensive energy efficiency management system.

Carbon Asset Management: Parks struggle with outdated carbon emission calculations and lack a systematic carbon footprint assessment capability, leading to insufficient carbon emission sharing service capabilities.

Achieving Carbon Goals

To address these challenges, parks must optimize their industrial structures, enhance resource planning, and build robust carbon asset management systems. The transition towards clean, low-carbon, safe, and efficient energy systems involves accelerating new energy system construction, promoting energy conservation, and reducing carbon in key areas.

The Rise of Virtual Power Plants

Concept and Development

Virtual power plants (VPPs) have emerged as a solution to balancing power grid supply and demand, optimizing the integration of low-cost clean energy sources, and ensuring the power system's safe operation. They combine controllable loads, energy storage, and distributed power supplies, using advanced regulatory capabilities reflected in supply-demand optimization and resource control.

Technical and Business Innovations

The core of a VPP lies in adjustable resources and control technology, with computing power serving as the central pillar. VPPs utilize optimized control algorithms suited to their specific industries or equipment, creating value through energy efficiency management services, demand response, and power trading.

Domestic and International Examples

Internationally, companies like Next Kraftwerke have developed sophisticated VPP systems that profit from grid auxiliary services and demand response. Domestically, China has piloted several VPP projects, such as the smart virtual power plant in Shanghai's Huangpu District, the State Grid Jibei VPP, and the Shenzhen VPP Management Center.

Case Study: 5G Virtual Power Plant in Pinggao Industrial Park

Challenges and Solutions

Pinggao Industrial Park faced several issues, including fragmented industries, a single energy source, high energy consumption, and idle resources. To overcome these, the park implemented high-efficiency energy-saving technology, smart monitoring, and multi-energy regulation. It also developed a 5G virtual power plant cloud platform to achieve autonomous dispatch within energy systems and facilitate electricity market trading.

Outcomes and Impact

The VPP initiative in Pinggao Industrial Park has led to significant improvements:

100% controllable load access to the system.

Enhanced clean and low-carbon energy consumption.

Creation of a "digital" park through data interconnection.

Deployment of a 5G power slicing and IPSec tunnel encryption for secure and efficient energy information network management.

Economic and Environmental Benefits

The 5G virtual power plant has allowed for the optimization of economic benefits, new energy consumption maximization, and system operation optimization. It has also provided a framework for different energy aggregation plans and bidding strategies, utilizing game theory and machine learning methods for power market transactions.