Comprehensive energy solution: substation + energy storage station + power data center three-in-one

China Energy Storage Network: Since the beginning of this year, "ubiquitous power Internet of Things", "three-in-one" and "multi-station integration" have become hot topics in the power industry, and related technology and application research has gradually deepened. The editorial department of Southern Energy Construction recently interviewed Zhang Jun and Zhou Yu, power grid experts from the journal's sponsor, China Energy Engineering Guangdong Research Institute, and sorted out the "Data Center Integrated Energy Solution and the "Three-in-one Model of Substation, Energy Storage Station and Power Data Center" proposed by Guangdong Research Institute.

Domestic progress

State Grid’s “three-in-one” plan clearly states that the original substation will be transformed into a three-in-one substation, charging and swapping station (energy storage station) and data center station: it can not only support the future massive data blowout of internal businesses such as the company’s power grid operation and customer service, but also support the expansion of external businesses such as big data operations, energy finance, resource commercial operations, and virtual power plants.

On February 11, 2018, the Guangzhou Power Supply Bureau of the State Grid Corporation of China proposed "How to transform and upgrade conventional substations into integrated energy stations."

On January 21, 2019, the State Grid Corporation of China issued the Opinions on the New Era of Reform and the "Relaunch" to Accelerate the Construction of a World-Class Energy Internet Enterprise - the State Grid proposed to explore new models for using substation resources to build charging, swapping, energy storage stations and data center stations.

On March 6, 2019, the Nanjing Jiangbei Energy Storage Power Station officially started construction. The Jiangbei Energy Storage Power Station project is actively exploring the "five-station-in-one" operation mode, upgrading the "energy storage station + substation" to a "energy storage station + substation + charging station + rooftop photovoltaic + data center" five-station-in-one mode, realizing the integration and interaction of energy flow, business flow, and data flow. In addition, State Grid Jiangsu Electric Power plans to build a grid-side "energy storage group" consisting of three energy storage power stations in Suzhou by the end of 2019.

On April 15, 2019, the "multi-station integration" demonstration project of the 35kV Yinjiagang substation in Pudong, Shanghai was officially started. On the basis of the traditional substation, it will integrate the functions of the data center and the energy storage station to form a typical application scenario of ubiquitous power Internet of Things with the "three-in-one" of energy flow, business flow and data flow.

On June 18, 2019, State Grid Gansu Electric Power Company and Gansu Branch of China Telecom Co., Ltd. signed a letter of intent for IDC computer room resource cooperation, marking the transition of the multi-station integration project from the planning stage to the construction and implementation stage.

On August 13, 2019, the multi-station integration demonstration project of the 220kV Yingxi substation in Taiyuan City, Shanxi Province was completed. The Yingxi substation added a data center and a charging station to build a typical application scenario of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things that integrates energy flow, business flow, and data flow.

On September 5, 2019, Jiangsu's first multi-station integrated site, Wuxi 220kV Hongqi Substation, was put into operation. The station integrates the functions of substation, charging station, data center station, 5G base station and Beidou base station.

IDC Current Status and Goals

IDCs in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen account for 50% of the total. IDC site selection has natural advantages and will continue to be a hot spot of demand in the future: major customers such as Internet companies, governments, and financial institutions are concentrated in first-tier cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen; cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen are backbone nodes of the Internet; and data center technical talents are concentrated in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen.

IDC computer rooms in first-tier cities are scarce resources and will continue to be in short supply in the next 3-5 years. First-tier cities guide the standardized development of the IDC industry; Beijing prohibits the construction and expansion of IDCs; Shanghai and Shenzhen have issued relatively strict restrictions on the PUE value (energy consumption of data centers) of data centers.

A survey of 37 typical domestic data centers showed that the PUE was only 2.2~3.0, with only a small number of data centers having a PUE of 1.7. The PUE level is much higher than the world average.

The current status of IDC energy applications is proposed from the four stages of the entire process of energy supply, configuration, use and management. In order to be targeted, combined with the above pain points, the goal of a comprehensive energy solution is proposed from the time dimension. From the perspective of energy supply, configuration, use and management, low carbon on the supply side, high efficiency on the configuration side, reliability on the use side and intelligence on the management side are proposed to achieve full-process target control of energy.

Comprehensive energy solutions for data centers

Propose comprehensive energy solutions at different spatial scales based on technical goals in different time dimensions.

Energy Planning

Power Grid Planning

Optimize operation

System Verification

Multi-energy complementation

Intelligent Perception

Analysis of lDC projects and discussion on the “three stations in one” model

Relying on the urban substation as the center, the energy storage station, charging and swapping station, and data center are integrated to form a typical three-in-one complex integrating energy services, energy management and control, and energy consumption. In the case of cooperation with the power grid, we analyzed the construction needs of the three-in-one station: building a battery energy storage station, 5MW×2h, connected to the IDC distribution system through a 10kV system, peak-valley arbitrage, and according to the current peak-valley electricity price in the region, the investment recovery period is 8 years.

Comprehensive energy applications

Samsung Green, Integrated Energy Application, Smart Energy Hub - Data Center Complex

Construction highlights

Energy storage systems replace data center UPS

China Energy Engineering Guangdong Institute is exploring the lithium battery energy storage system to replace the UPS solution for data centers: 1. Increase the reliability of power supply in data centers (backup time is greater than 15 minutes); 2. The backup power configuration can be adjusted according to the cabinet racking situation to maximize the use of resources; 3. The lithium battery life cycle is longer and the operating cost is low; (lithium battery 10 years, lead acid 5 years); 4. When the redundant power is normal, it participates in peak-valley arbitrage, and is used as a backup in emergencies, with flexible power use; 5. The cost is reduced by 70% over the entire life cycle. However, this method requires a PCS with a special structure or in conjunction with a static switch, which requires extensive research and sufficient demonstration in the subsequent implementation process.

Redefining the relationship between power grid and IDC

More business operation models can be expanded: contract energy management; carbon trading market.

Conclusion and Outlook

1. Technology leadership

With energy as the main line, a full-process and all-round energy solution puzzle is realized under a coordinate system composed of construction goals in the time dimension and technical routes in the spatial scale.

2. Unified design, achieving hierarchical integration and closed-loop design

3. General contracting construction model to achieve key integration

4. Healthy and orderly development of grid-side energy storage applications in the “three-station integration”

Guangdong Province has outstanding application needs for energy storage in terms of new energy consumption, peak shaving and valley filling, system frequency regulation, and grid stability control. The Southern Energy Regulatory Bureau's 2018 "Implementation Rules for the Grid-connected Operation Management and Auxiliary Services of Electrochemical Energy Storage Power Stations in the Southern Region (Trial)" states that energy storage power stations that provide peak-shaving services will be compensated at 50,000 yuan/MWh for charging power. The Southern Power Grid's 2019 "Guiding Opinions of the Power Grid Company on Promoting the Development of Electrochemical Energy Storage" states that energy storage is expected to play a role in application areas such as power supply side, grid side, user side, and microgrid. China Energy Engineering Guangdong Institute is actively exploring the project feasibility and investment return rate of the "substation, energy storage station, and data center station" three-station integration solution. At present, the three-station integration case of the Guangdong Institute and the power grid includes an externally operated data center, a self-use IDC, a power and power patrol and maintenance monitoring center, and integrated charging and energy storage equipment. If only peak shaving and valley filling applications are considered, the energy storage payback period is expected to be about eight years. The healthy and orderly development of grid-side energy storage applications in the “three-in-one” requires market demand, policy support, and technical support, including follow-up of all aspects of production, manufacturing, planning, design, and operation and maintenance, and the specification of reasonable cost standards (production, manufacturing, design, operation, and maintenance, etc.).