hainan's new energy vehicles push up the power grid load: midnight is the peak time for electricity consumption
2024-08-31
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chinanews.com, haikou, august 31, title: hainan's new energy vehicles push up the power grid load: midnight is the peak time for electricity consumption
reporter wang xiaobin
at midnight on august 30, at a public parking lot equipped with charging piles in haikou city, electric car owner lin hao connected the charging gun to his vehicle. at this moment, his car, along with tens of thousands of new energy vehicles across hainan province, was drawing energy from the power grid.
at midnight on august 30, new energy vehicles were being charged in a parking lot in haikou city. photo by china news service reporter wang xiaobin
midnight is usually the trough period for electricity demand. power companies use the peak-valley time-of-use electricity price policy to encourage users to use electricity when electricity demand is low (i.e., valley period), thereby reducing the pressure on the power grid during peak periods (i.e., peak period). however, in recent years, with the continuous increase in the number of new energy vehicles in hainan province, the local power grid load has changed significantly, and an unprecedented "midnight peak" has appeared.
china is vigorously promoting new energy vehicles, and hainan province is at the forefront of the country in promoting them. as of july 31, 2024, the number of new energy vehicles in hainan province has reached 354,000, accounting for 17% of the province's total vehicle ownership. the vast majority of new energy vehicles rely on charging and swapping facilities distributed in various parking lots to replenish energy.
"affected by the peak and valley time-of-use electricity price policy and daily routines, most electric car owners prefer to charge after midnight." su bin, operations director of hainan province charging and swapping network service co., ltd., said that hainan province charging and swapping network has connected about 47,000 charging guns, and half of the platform's daily charging business is generated between 0 and 8 a.m. among them, the order volume and charging volume from 0 to 2 a.m. account for about 30% of the whole day.
in the early morning of august 30, a new energy vehicle owner was charging his vehicle in a parking lot in haikou city. photo by china news service reporter wang xiaobin
"before midnight is the peak period, and after midnight is the valley period. many people like to charge during the cool midnight valley period. at this time, the price of electricity is 0.5 yuan (rmb, the same below) per kilowatt-hour." lin hao said that the charging price difference between different time periods and different charging piles can be as much as three times. during the valley period, it costs less than 20 yuan to fully charge his car.
new energy vehicles are charging in large numbers, breaking the load record of hainan power grid. according to statistics from hainan power grid co., ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "hainan power grid"), during the peak summer period in 2023 and 2024, the total load of hainan power grid hit a new high 13 times in the "00:00-00:20" period.
"in less than 20 minutes after midnight, the grid load will rapidly increase by more than 500,000 kilowatts, equivalent to an additional 680,000 air conditioners running simultaneously." dai yangyu, manager of the hainan power grid's electric power dispatching and control center, said that the grid load shows a "steep rise and slow fall" change after midnight every day, which is consistent with the charging characteristics of electric vehicles, that is, the vehicle is charged rapidly at high power at the beginning of charging, and as the battery approaches full charge, the charging power gradually decreases.
the hainan provincial development and reform commission predicts that by 2025, the number of new energy vehicles in the province will exceed 500,000, and the "midnight peak" phenomenon will become more obvious. to meet the challenge, the commission issued the "notice on adjusting the peak and valley time-of-use electricity price policy for electric vehicles" on august 28, announcing that from october 1, 2024, the charging valley period of electric vehicles during the summer peak period (april to september) "00:00-02:00" will be adjusted to the normal period, and "08:00-10:00" will be adjusted to the valley period.
lin hao welcomed the adjustment of the peak and valley time periods, believing that it would save some office workers from having to stay up late to charge their cars. at 1 a.m., after the car was fully charged, lin hao drove away. then, another new energy vehicle waiting nearby drove into the charging area and connected to the charging gun that lin hao had just used. (end)
