Observation of the 2023 Taiyuan Energy Low-Carbon Development Forum: Digital Intelligence Empowers the Energy Revolution

Taiyuan, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Digital intelligence empowers the energy revolution - Observation of the 2023 Taiyuan Energy Low-Carbon Development Forum

Xinhua News Agency reporters Qin Jiaofeng and Tang Shining

The new generation of information technologies such as cloud computing, big data, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things are integrated and developed with traditional industries such as coal, power plants, and power grids, enabling the energy revolution with digital intelligence. The reporter learned from the 2023 Taiyuan Energy Low-Carbon Development Forum that digital technology is currently being integrated into all aspects of energy production, transportation, storage, sales and use, accelerating the development of energy digitalization and intelligence, and promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of the energy industry.

Coal mining and transportation improve "intelligence" and efficiency

Liu Feng, vice president of the China Coal Industry Association, introduced at the Taiyuan Forum that as of June 2023, there are more than 1,300 intelligent coal mine mining faces across the country, and 694 coal mines with intelligent working faces, with an annual production capacity of 2.1 billion tons. "At present, the digital construction of coal mines focuses on digital infrastructure and operation and management, and the overall intelligence is in the demonstration and cultivation stage."

The Malan Mine of Shanxi Coking Coal Group has been built into an intelligent coal mine. In the ground intelligent control center, the huge electronic screen underground gas concentration, temperature and humidity and other data are displayed in real time, fully mechanized mining, tunneling, power supply, ventilation and other scenes at a glance, the operator in front of the computer to click the button, push the handle, you can realize the remote control operation of the underground working face hundreds of meters deep.

Han Peiyi, head of the intelligent information management team of Malan Mine, said that there are thousands of sensors to collect data in an intelligent fully mechanized mining face, relying on the intelligent system of "one network" management above and below the mine, and the whole process of coal production is visualized.

It is understood that from robot inspection, to underground unmanned driving, automatic diagnosis of equipment failures, in the built intelligent coal mines, coal mining is gradually moving towards unmanned and less manpower, and the level of safety and security is improved. Some intelligent mining faces have reduced more than 100 people in total, and the cumulative reduction has reached more than 10%.

Not only in the coal production process, but also in the coal production process, the new generation of information technology is deeply integrated with coal transportation, warehousing and other links, intelligently empowering the coal supply chain, and realizing the safe, efficient, stable and flexible supply of coal resources.

Xie Jinghui, deputy director of the Science and Technology Information Department of Jinneng Holding Group, said that based on technologies such as big data analysis, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things, enterprises can realize online operation monitoring in coal sales, shipping and trade, which is conducive to the regulation and control of coal production capacity.

The new power system has a chance to win

On July 11 this year, the second meeting of the Central Committee for Comprehensively Deepening Reform deliberated and adopted the "Guiding Opinions on Deepening the Reform of the Electric Power System and Accelerating the Construction of a New Power System", emphasizing the acceleration of the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe and abundant, cost-effective, supply-demand coordination, flexible and intelligent new power system.

At the Taiyuan Forum, Zeng Ming, director of the Energy Internet Special Committee of the China Energy Research Society, said that the construction of a new power system should accelerate the digital transformation of energy and power, and promote the application of digital technology in various links such as "horizontal multi-energy complementarity" and "vertical source-grid-load-storage coordination".

According to data from the National Energy Administration, as of the end of June, China's installed renewable energy capacity exceeded 1.3 billion kilowatts, historically surpassing coal power. However, new energy power generation such as wind and solar energy is a kind of "watching the sky and eating", which has the characteristics of randomness and volatility, which poses a challenge to the smooth operation of the power grid, and the need for accurate weather prediction is becoming more and more prominent.

Yang Chaoying, head of the new energy power forecasting major of the dispatching and control center of State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Company, introduced that based on the retrospective analysis of the historical weather data sample database, the company used algorithms to establish an accurate prediction model of wind power output under the influence of different terrains, landforms, seasons and extreme weather. Since the model was fully implemented in July 2023, the accuracy of wind power output prediction under severe convective weather has reached 95.5%, an increase of 2.3 percentage points compared with conventional predictions. "The smart prediction model provides an effective reference for maintaining power balance in strong convective weather, ensuring the safe and stable operation of the power grid and improving the level of new energy consumption."

The reporter learned from the Taiyuan Forum that at present, with the rapid development of distributed power generation and energy storage systems, many power companies have built virtual power plants, and with the help of digital energy technology, small-capacity distributed energy resources have achieved overall stable output through complementary operation.

Chu Jingchun, chairman of the National Energy Group New Energy Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd., introduced that the National Energy Group is building a virtual power plant with a large-capacity centralized energy storage power station as the main body in Meiyu, Zhejiang, which is expected to increase clean energy consumption by 480 million kilowatt hours and reduce carbon emissions by 380,000 tons per year by accessing adjustable resources such as electric vehicle charging stations and distributed new energy.

Energy and carbon management are large "number" and calculating

In the context of "dual carbon", many enterprises use digital technology and strengthen digital management to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions in the production process. In the 2023 list of energy enterprises' contribution to carbon neutrality released at the Taiyuan Forum, the top 10 companies have all carried out the construction of digital energy and carbon platforms.

The low-carbon cloud account created by Shanxi Xiangrui Energy Co., Ltd. is a green digital governance service platform integrating energy digitalization and low-carbon governance. Wang Zhengtong, chairman of the company, said: "Carbon account management is being applied to more and more scenarios. Using AI analysis of carbon data, the charging demand of more than 7,000 taxis in Taiyuan City was matched with the supply of green electricity, and the taxis were coordinated to charge when the photovoltaic power generation output was the highest, which was both green and cost-effective. ”

Shanxi Tianbao Group Co., Ltd. is a flange manufacturing enterprise, and has set up a low-carbon cloud account to carry out smart energy and carbon management in the whole production process. At present, the digitization rate of equipment in the plant has increased to 92%, and 104 key energy-using equipment and facilities are connected to the cloud, and data such as energy consumption maps, loss analysis, and equipment energy consumption rankings are clearly visible. Fan Jingyun, deputy general manager of Tianbao Group, told reporters that all-round low-carbon supervision is expected to consume 1 million kilowatt-hours of new energy power annually and reduce carbon emissions by about 5,000 tons.

It is understood that in some places, carbon account management has brought tangible benefits to enterprises. Since 2021, Changzhi City, Shanxi Province, has carried out a pilot project for monitoring corporate carbon accounts. As of the end of June this year, Changzhi has collected basic data on carbon emission accounting for 19 industries and 308 enterprises, given carbon emission identification codes to more than 200 enterprises, and guided financial institutions to issue 3.97 billion yuan of low-interest loans to 71 enterprises.