Economic Watch: AI-driven green energy helps secure China's summer peak power supply

BEIJING, July 31 (Xinhua) -- Through real-time analysis of rainfall, wind, solar conditions and other data, an artificial intelligence (AI) "commander" is making renewable energy generation in China more stable and reliably dispatchable.

An AI operation model was rolled out in July at a 10-million-kilowatt-class integrated hydropower, wind and solar energy base along the Yalong River in southwest China's Sichuan Province. The model aims at helping tackle challenges such as intermittency and instability facing green power output.

"It is not simply predicting the weather, but calculating how an entire river basin will generate electricity in the next few dozen days," said Zhou Yu, the model's technical director.

The model, according to Zhou, is able to not only forecast rainfall probability but also estimate rainwater inflow time and the corresponding hydropower potential. By integrating data on wind, solar resources and grid load, it generates multiple operation scenarios for decision-makers.

Green energies, including photovoltaic, hydroelectric and wind power, are helping to secure power supply amid China's summer peak-demand period, when high temperatures and other factors strain the grid.

At a factory in the city of Suqian, east China's Jiangsu Province, over 9,000 square meters of photovoltaic panels are running at peak efficiency under a blazing sun, delivering average daily maximum power generation of 10,000 kWh.

"Photovoltaic power generation not only secures power supply for the enterprise's summer production but also cuts nearly 1,500 tonnes of annual carbon dioxide emissions," said Sun Yuan, an employee of State Grid Suqian Power Supply Company.

"We have also deployed intelligent photovoltaic collection and control devices to enable real-time measurement and adjustment of every kilowatt-hour of green power," Sun said.

According to the employee, installed capacity of new energy sources such as photovoltaic and wind power in Suqian reaches 7.24 million kilowatts, amounting to more than 80 percent of the city's total.

"We are flexibly dispatching photovoltaic resources via technologies including perception monitoring, intelligent algorithms and edge computing, as part of our full-effort drive to secure power supply during the high-temperature spell," Sun said.

Data from the National Energy Administration shows that China's current installed power capacity has exceeded 4 billion kilowatts. It is expected that by 2030 overall installed power capacity will reach 5.4 billion kilowatts, with the proportion of new energy installed capacity exceeding 50 percent.

New energy is now a key driver of power consumption growth and fossil fuel reduction, helping ensure a stable and orderly power supply in summer, said Wang Yongli, deputy director of the energy internet research center of North China Electric Power University.

Meanwhile, AI and other intelligent technologies are being deeply integrated into green power generation to enhance supply stability.

At a converter station in Changshu, Jiangsu, five intelligent drones handle about 90 percent of inspections. Using image recognition and algorithm analysis, they can deliver monitoring reports based on real-time data to maintain operational stability.

Other provinces, including east China's Shandong, Hubei in central China and Shanxi in the north, are also leveraging AI and related technologies to shore up power supply.

In Shandong, an AI model has been deployed to assess supply-demand dynamics amid high-temperature periods. Hubei has introduced an intelligent system to predict weather impacts on grid equipment, while Shanxi is using AI-powered robots to help dispatchers access real-time grid operation status through integrated data analysis.

"The power industry is continuously promoting the deep integration of digital technologies like AI, big data and cloud computing with the power system," said Wang Yanzhao, deputy director of the new energy department of the China Electricity Council.

Intelligent dispatching platforms are also being rolled out nationwide to enable rapid response and collaborative optimization in power supply guarantee, Wang added. ■