Since the beginning of this year, Jiangsu has continuously strengthened the integration of scientific and technological innovation and industrial innovation, improved the level of transformation and industrialization of scientific and technological achievements, cultivated new industries with new technologies, and led industrial upgrading.
“What do you think of when it comes to power plants? Large power generation machines or precision power generation instruments? Please follow the camera and look inside. There is also a power plant inside, but it cannot be seen or touched. It is a virtual power plant”, Shen Yang, JSBC staff reporter, said.
In recent years, Jiangsu has rapidly increased the number of charging infrastructure such as distributed photovoltaic and electric vehicle charging stations. Most users will have a surplus of electricity, which is often kept idle.
The virtual power plant developed by Nanrui Group is a set of intelligent power dispatch system. After users' equipment is connected to the system, the virtual power plant can coordinate and dispatch the massive and scattered user electricity resources through information technology.
Once there is a power shortage in industrial production, virtual power plants can allocate and connect the remaining electricity from users to solve the urgent problem. For users such as electric vehicles, they can charge and store energy when the electricity price is low, and then allocate the stored energy to units in need through virtual factories when the electricity price is high so as to earn additional income.
“According to the operation needs of the power grid, the fastest we can achieve is the speed of second-level regulation. The relevant achievements have been applied in Shanxi, Ningxia, Jiangsu and some other places, and the response has been very good”, Jin Yulong, Senior Engineer of Nanrui Research Institute of Nanrui Group Co., Ltd., said.
As an important component of the new power system, virtual power plants have significant economic benefits and flexibility. Correspondingly, their requirements for supporting control technology and communication technology are higher than those of physical power plants.
Nanrui Group successfully constructed a virtual power plant system after achieving breakthroughs in core technologies such as grid source coordination and energy storage, as well as security, stability, and control of the large power grid.
Nanjing has also accelerated the construction of smart grid supporting infrastructure such as photovoltaic, energy storage, and charging and swapping power stations.
Spearheaded by enterprises such as Guodian Nanrui, Nanjing has built a smart grid industry echelon consisting of over 630 enterprises above designated size, over 300 high-tech enterprises and little giant enterprises so as to have been successfully selected as a national advanced manufacturing cluster, with an industry scale accounting for 80% of the national market.
“The application of virtual power plants can not only improve energy utilization efficiency, but also promote diversified and distributed development of energy, assist the government and power grid enterprises in resource investment planning, and provide a continuous source of power for the upstream and downstream development of the industrial chain”, Zhang Yufeng, Integrated technology research engineer, intelligent power engineering department, Nanrui Group Power Company, said.
At present, the smart grid industry in Jiangsu has a strong foundation, complete supporting facilities, and leading technology, with the largest scale in the country. Aiming to move the smart grid industry from a "domestic leader" to a "global leader", Jiangsu has introduced a promotion plan at the provincial level by focusing on building a new type of smart grid industry cluster.
Jiangsu's construction machinery, biopharmaceuticals, and high-end textile clusters all rank among the top in the country, making these advantageous industrial clusters a strong "locomotive" driving economic development.
In the next step, Jiangsu will integrate key technologies such as advanced materials, high-tech ships, and marine equipment to drive and enhance the overall competitiveness of the industry through major strategic product breakthroughs. At the same time, the province will promote the formation of an innovation system with enterprises as the main body and efficient collaboration and deep integration of industry, academia, and research. By 2025, Jiangsu will build five clusters, including new power equipment, new energy, high-end equipment, biopharmaceuticals, and new materials, into advantageous industrial clusters with global influence.
