Electric power companies around the world are looking to improve quality and efficiency by deploying data centres and reconstructing management platforms. They aim to provide more reliable, efficient, and green energy while ensuring grid security, and offer more value-added services through the energy Internet to drive social development.

 

However, conventional operational models and technologies fail to support this transformation. As such, the global electric power industry needs to consider how to adapt to new trends; how can grids detect security issues in real time and respond quickly; how can we make better use of clean energy and reduce carbon emissions? How can energy networks match the rapidly expanding charging pile network and achieve efficient management?

 

This was discussed at the Seventh Huawei Global Power Summit themed “Bits Drive Watts, Building a Fully Connected Smart Grid”.

 

Held online, the summit invited global customers, partners, industry experts, and thought leaders in the electric power industry to discuss the impact and response to this year's pandemic, and political and economic uncertainties. The electric power market continues to represent huge potential while the industry need to build reliable, cost-effective, efficient, and green power grids with a more efficient and reasonable energy supply.

 

To change agents, challenges mean opportunities. “Huawei helps customers cope with these industry challenges and seize future opportunities through digital transformation,” said David Sun, Vice-President of Huawei Enterprise BG and President of the Global Energy Business Unit.

 

Huawei seamlessly integrates 5G, IoT, optical, IP, cloud, big data, and AI technologies into power systems. Together with partners, Huawei has launched smart service solutions, such as AI-powered grid inspection and distribution IoT, covering power generation, transmission, transformation, distribution, and consumption. These enable comprehensive sensing, interconnection, and service intelligence of various power terminals.

 

Sun also noted that “Huawei looks forward to sharing the digital transformation experience of China's electric power and other industries with more customers, drive watts with bits, and build smart grids to help global electric power companies accelerate development.”

 

An increasing number of electric power companies identify their digital transformation strategies as their priority. At the summit, Huawei and industry leaders illustrated the importance of 5G, AI, big data, and cloud computing for this process. 

 

For example, China Southern Power Grid (CSG) finds that power distribution networks and users require power grid communication that features wide connectivity, high bandwidth, low latency, high reliability, and fast deployment. These features ensure intelligent power distribution and metering, and facilitate the development of smart home and Internet of Vehicles (IoV). In response, Huawei's advanced 5G slicing technology enables end-to-end communication of smart grids, ensuring secure and reliable power distribution networks as well as improved efficiency.

 

CSG has summarised 53 typical service scenarios covering power generation, transmission, distribution, transformation, consumption, and integrated services, according to Yang Junquan, Deputy General Manager of CSG Power Dispatch and Control Center. He also expects more 5G applications to emerge in the near future.

 

Huawei Cloud and data platform provide mass data storage and computing capabilities. Together, they integrate data assets from multiple systems of a power grid company into one platform. Through high-speed data processing and sharing, the platform helps complete various challenging tasks.

 

For example, Qinghai Province in China aims to achieve 100 per cent green energy consumption and supply in the long term. Together with Huawei, the province has leveraged cloud computing to construct a new energy data center powered by AI and big data capabilities. Now, the provincial electric power company can predict the renewable energy yield simply based on the weather forecast.

 

With multi-energy compensation, the total power output to access the grid will be more stable. By implementing these high-tech strategies, in 2019, Qinghai maintained 100 per cent green energy generation for 15 consecutive days. In this case, clean energy consumption has been supported through digital and smart means.

 

New ICT can also improve the O&M efficiency of electric power companies. The State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) worked with Huawei to build a digital platform, IoT platform, and cloud, which reduces the time it takes to collect and store data from four hours to 30 minutes for its Henan branch.

 

Huawei embeds AI modules into cameras and drones, enabling the O&M team to remotely monitor power transmission lines and detect faults. Thanks to this, the Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau reduced its grid inspection time from 20 days to 2 hours and the time to capture images from hours to minutes. It has also achieved over 90 per cent image analysis accuracy.

 

Huawei will centrally deploy and remotely manage millions of EVs and charging piles through the cloud, improve charging efficiency and battery lifespan management through AI-powered data analysis, and increase management efficiency using 5G high-speed networks.

 

Providing digital services by leveraging abundant fiber and site resources and innovative ICT solutions has become one of the major digital transformation trends for global electric power companies.

 

Huawei has worked with over 190 electric power companies worldwide, including 10 of the industry's top 20, to implement digital transformation. Huawei's solutions are widely used by electric power companies such as the Saudi Electricity Company, Turkish Electricity Transmission Corporation, Provincial Electricity Authority of Thailand, SGCC, and CSG. –Tradearabia News Service