Multi-station integration: exploring new forms of energy sharing

China Energy Storage Network: Since the beginning of this year, State Grid Corporation of China has vigorously promoted the construction of ubiquitous power Internet of Things, using modern information technology and advanced communication technology to create a ubiquitous power Internet of Things with comprehensive state perception, efficient information processing, and convenient and flexible application. State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group Co., Ltd. took the lead in undertaking the company's "multi-station integration" construction and operation special pilot construction task, started the exploration and utilization of substation resources, and is committed to creating a new form of energy sharing and mutual assistance.

On May 14, Yang Shaoli, a specialist of the Beijing Branch of State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group, signed for four cabinets at Beiqijia Future Science and Technology Park. These are integrated cabinets to be used in the "multi-station integration" application verification and testing center of Beiqijia Park. At this time, 117 days have passed since the State Grid Corporation of China proposed at the 2019 "Two Sessions" to explore the use of substation resources to build and operate new models of charging and swapping (energy storage) stations and data center stations.

"This center relies on the Beiqijia Cloud Data Center, charging piles, energy storage, distributed photovoltaics and the company's experience center. By integrating the construction of a data center and 5G infrastructure at the 10kV substation in the park, it realizes typical application scenarios of ubiquitous power Internet of Things such as substation auxiliary control and external edge computing application scenarios such as high-definition video, VR, and 5G." Zhou Ji, director of the operation business department of the Beijing branch of State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group, said.

The "Multi-station Integration" Application Verification and Testing Center is a practice of State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group to implement the "Three Types and Two Networks" construction of State Grid Corporation of China and share resources with enterprises.

Essential digital infrastructure for the construction of ubiquitous power Internet of Things

In January 2019, the State Grid Corporation of China proposed at the two sessions to explore the use of substation resources to build and operate new models of charging and swapping (energy storage) stations and data center stations. On March 8, the company's ubiquitous power Internet of Things construction work deployment video and telephone conference officially released the "Ubiquitous Power Internet of Things Construction Outline", clarifying the "multi-station integration" construction and operation as a special pilot construction task.

On March 8, State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group established a professional working group for ubiquitous power Internet of Things. As the main supporting unit for the construction of "multi-station integration", it commissioned its Beijing branch to take the lead in establishing a "multi-station integration" joint working group to coordinate internal units to conduct in-depth research in technology, construction, operation, business model, investment and financing, etc., with the goal of completing the top-level plan design, pilot selection and construction, and putting it into operation for "multi-station integration", gathering resources and collaborating.

"Multi-station integration" is based on the "three stations in one", namely substation, charging and swapping (energy storage) station and data center station, adding 5G base stations, Beidou ground enhancement stations, photovoltaic stations, integrated energy stations, etc., to promote the distributed logical integration of multiple stations, structural complementary structures, and data-based horizontal connection. It is a frontier node of the "three types" and a key link in realizing the integration of the "two networks".

Sun Xian, assistant general manager of Beijing Branch of State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group, said that as one of the cores of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things, data center stations have moved from the "edge" to the "frontier" and have become an essential digital infrastructure for the construction of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things. Combined with the company's powerful information and industrial data center cloud system, through strong cloud-edge integration, rooted in the energy Internet, and serving social intelligence, "multi-station integration" can support the company to expand energy service channels and create a new form of energy sharing and mutual assistance.

Conduct field research

Supporting the top-level design of “multi-station integration”

"Substations are distributed, have multiple voltage levels, and have high safety requirements. Using substations to integrate data centers, energy storage stations, 5G base stations and other base stations, whether it is the selection of technical routes or the management and integration of each station, are issues that we urgently need to solve." said Zhao Zilin, director of the Cloud Data Center Business Unit of the Beijing Branch of State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group.

In order to gain an in-depth understanding of the current status and characteristics of substations of different voltage levels and better support the construction of "multi-station integration", under the guidance of relevant departments of the company, the joint working group visited and investigated substations in Beijing, Zhejiang, Gansu, Shanghai, Jiangsu and other places, as well as data centers in Beijing Beiqijia, Lanzhou, Gansu, and Hailar, Inner Mongolia, and accumulated a lot of field experience.

After visiting and investigating, the joint working group made it clear that the in-station architecture of multi-station integration should start from the demand and select the technical route according to the actual situation. The fully functional in-station architecture can realize the mutual support and data information sharing of multiple stations such as substations, charging (replacement) stations, energy storage stations, 5G base stations, photovoltaic stations, Beidou base stations, etc. The research on the comprehensive auxiliary control platform of "multi-station integration" substations can realize the local calculation, storage and processing of comprehensive auxiliary control data, and realize the upload and linkage of core data to the cloud.

The in-station architecture is a strong foundation for building an efficient and high-quality inter-station and cloud-edge collaborative architecture. By utilizing the distributed logic integration of multiple stations between substations, at the data center station level, based on the core of cloud computing technology and the edge computing capabilities, an elastic cloud platform is established at the edge location, forming an end-to-end technical architecture of "cloud-edge-end collaboration" with the central cloud and IoT terminals, placing network, storage, computing, intelligent data analysis and other tasks on the edge for processing, so that edge computing can meet local needs while alleviating bandwidth and cloud data pressure, and provide high-value data to the cloud through real-time processing.

Build a "multi-station integration" operation system to explore new business and new formats

Over the years, State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group has built an experienced technical team and operation team in the research, construction and operation of "State Grid Cloud", "Siji Cloud", State Grid Data Center and Industrial Data Center. The team supported the company in completing the "Special Planning Report on Cloud Data Center of State Grid Corporation of China", determined the company's cloud data center "3+N" industrial layout strategy, and clarified the layout model of cloud data center base + core + edge.

At the same time, relying on key technologies and core products, the group has formed a mature investment and financing model and construction model, established a diversified financing mechanism, signed a development finance cooperation agreement with the China Development Bank, obtained a credit line of 30 billion yuan in cloud data center-related fields, and reached a cooperation intention with Yingda Industrial Investment Fund.

Since 2017, the State Grid Information and Communication Industry Group has carried out the development and construction of base and core cloud data center projects across the country in accordance with the "3+N" industry plan, covering Beijing Beiqijia, Lanzhou, Gansu, Hailar, Inner Mongolia, etc. Since the beginning of this year, the group has launched edge data center business and continued to improve the data center operation system combined with "multi-station integration".

"It is far from enough to just complete the construction of 'multi-site integration'. We need to carry out commercial operations and provide high-quality services to the society." Zhou Ji said, "The most important thing is to build a data center operation system and establish an industrial ecosystem."

He said that to build a data center operation system, the target customer groups must be identified first, and safe, reliable, high-quality and efficient cloud data centers and edge data centers (stations) basic and value-added services must be provided to all types of customers. Among them, cloud infrastructure and edge infrastructure services are provided to traditional industries and the Internet industry, and comprehensive public cloud services including cloud infrastructure, edge infrastructure, edge cloud platform and edge cloud applications, cloud platform and cloud applications are provided to companies and the energy industry.