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from september 7 to 10, the theme of the conference was “transformation and development for a green future”.2024 global energy transformation conferenceconvened.

national energy administrationprint and issueseveral opinions on accelerating the development of digital and intelligent energyit is proposed to promote the deep integration of digital technology and energy industry development, strengthen the construction of new infrastructure that integrates traditional energy with digital and intelligent technologies, release the value potential of energy data elements, strengthen network and information security protection, and effectively improve the level of digital and intelligent development of energy.

the reporter of daily economic news learned from the conference site that“dual carbon”as goals are gradually implemented and new power systems are being built, many current innovations and successful cases in the power construction industry are based on the in-depth application of digital technologies.

what difficulties does the power industry face in digital transformation? are there any technical difficulties in virtual power plants? how will digitalization affect energy production and consumption patterns? in response to these topics, reporters from the national business daily (hereinafter referred to as nbd)xia wenbo, vice president of huawei's power digitalization corpsconducted an exclusive interview.

virtual power plants are basically mature in terms of technology

NBD：virtual power plants are closely integrated with digital technology, but at present virtual power plants in my country have not yet made significant progress. where do you think the problem lies?

xia wenbo photo source: organizer

xia wenbo:it is understood that virtual power plants have basically met the requirements at the digital technology level, but they still face non-technical challenges in the process of promotion and application, such as how to motivate all parties to actively participate and how to establish a sustainable business model and mechanism.

for example, if a household or enterprise has 20% to 30% adjustable flexible load, then how to design an attractive mechanism to enable it to participate in the regulation during peak load hours while ensuring that such participation is economically feasible becomes the key to solving the problem. taking the air conditioning system load of huawei's campus as an example, they have realized contract participation with the virtual power plant of shenzhen power supply bureau, actively responding during peak hours and contributing to the balanced and stable operation of the power system.

however, for the majority of residential users, since their electricity consumption is relatively small, how to design a business model that can both motivate them to actively participate and not affect their lives while ensuring that they receive a reasonable return is an issue that needs further exploration.

for electric vehicle owners, they may consider the electricity price mechanism and the availability of charging facilities. for example, for commercial vehicles such as online ride-hailing drivers, they may pay more attention to whether the electricity subsidy is sufficient to compensate for their operating income from participating in v2g (vehicle to grid).

on the other hand, with the advancement of battery technology, the number of charge and discharge times will no longer be an obstacle to the battery life cycle in the future. instead, private electric car owners will become the main body of v2g. private car owners may be more willing to actively participate in vehicle-grid interaction during non-peak hours. for example, they can participate in peak shaving during the morning rush hour, and charge in an orderly manner late at night to fill the valley, thus achieving "free charging" through balancing.

with the development of artificial intelligence technology applications, especially the application of large meteorological models, combining meteorological, holiday and social activities to accurately predict charging load characteristics according to gridding of substations will further promote the development of vehicle-grid interaction.

in general, the realization of virtual power plants and vehicle-grid interaction requires not only the support of digital intelligence technology, but also a clear business model and comprehensive consideration of other related factors such as battery technology. at present, some cities have begun to try to implement these technologies. although the technical challenges are not great, business models are still areas that need further exploration and improvement.

grassroots power supply units need to have corresponding digital capabilities support

NBD：digitalization and intelligence have become inevitable for the development of the industry. what difficulties does the current power industry face in digital transformation? why do these difficulties arise?

xia wenbo:our survey found that the challenges and problems faced by different countries and regions in the digitalization and intelligence of power grids vary greatly.

for example, the power supply reliability, efficiency and line loss indicators of the guangdong-hong kong-macao greater bay area are leading in the world. this is due to the region's good economic conditions and high-quality infrastructure and equipment. however, even in such an advanced region, there are challenges from unpredictable factors such as extreme weather.

in addition, different regions have different needs for power grid construction and electric vehicle charging facilities. for example, in countries such as nepal, which are rich in hydropower resources and have low electricity prices, the development of electric vehicles is very fast, which requires that power grid construction must keep up with this change.

each country and region has different problems in terms of power grids, especially distribution networks, but the common challenges they face basically include reducing line losses, improving power supply reliability, increasing the proportion of clean energy consumption, and supporting the rapid development of electric vehicles. these demands have promoted the integration of digital intelligence technology and business. although its architecture and solutions are consistent, specific problems and application scenarios vary from place to place.

NBD：how will the digitalization of the power industry affect energy production and consumption patterns in the future?

xia wenbo:the digital transformation of the power industry has brought about tremendous changes and improvements in productivity and production relations. ordinary users can also feel the tremendous changes brought about by the digital transformation. these changes are indeed affecting residents' lives and energy use patterns.

digitalization is not just the application of technology, it is also a profound business enablement that can reduce line losses, improve reliability, safety and efficiency, and increase the use of green energy. however, true digital transformation goes far beyond this, it also involves the reconstruction of technical architecture and production relations.

taking the installation and replacement of electric meters for low-voltage business expansion as an example, we used the digital operation application of ai+isdp (digital field operation platform) in guangxi, so that the work that originally required several people to complete can now save 3/5 of the relevant labor costs, and greatly shorten the time through process optimization. the economic benefits are very significant, and it truly reduces the burden on the grassroots.

but this does not mean that employees will be eliminated. instead, through job transfer and empowerment, they can shift from traditional work to growing equipment management and asset management. their personal value will be greatly enhanced due to digital empowerment. therefore, how to empower our front-line employees with digital capabilities in the future and truly master digital capabilities in the hands of owners is also a very important task in digital transformation.

in the future, as the grid-based distribution network is promoted, the responsibilities and work pressure of power supply stations will increase, and more requirements will be put forward for grassroots units to have corresponding digital capabilities. the development of digital technology enables each power supply station to carry out "one area, one strategy" operation and control according to personalized needs, just like the personalized applications of smart phones, realizing software-defined areas and software-defined power supply stations, thereby meeting the differentiated needs of specific services in the area while unified management and control.

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