How Do Research and Application of New Power Systems Help Achieve the Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals

The 2023 Tianfu Carbon Neutrality Forum will be held on December 24. On this occasion, Chengdu Daily takes this opportunity to launch a series of interview reports titled “Foster Innovation by Implementing the Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals”. With interviews with experts, academicians, and leading scientists, these reports illustrate a green pathway opened up through pooling wisdom, and showcase potency of this innovative platform, Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory, in its facilitating innovations, its yielded cut-edging technology achievements, as well as the contributions from “Chengdu strength” in advancing towards the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. In this episode, Chengdu Daily Jinguan News interviews Li Zhi, a leading scientist and Deputy Director of the Research Center for New Power Systems of Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory. Li Zhi shares with us how the research and application of new power systems help achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. Here is the complete transcript of the interview:

Achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals represents an extensive and profound revolution in socioeconomic system.

The 2023 Tianfu Carbon Neutrality Forum is scheduled to be hosted in Chengdu on December 24. The theme of this forum centers on ‘Promoting Technology and Industrial Transformation Simultaneously, Assisting High-quality Development of Green Industries’, spotlighting the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality initiatives at a national and even global level and from multi-dimensional and varied perspectives. Therefore, this Forum will provide feasible plans in facilitating the green transformation of traditional industries and speeding up carbon peaking and carbon neutrality with technological innovation.

On this occasion, Chengdu Daily takes this opportunity to launch a series of interview reports titled “Foster Innovation by Implementing the Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals”. With interviews with experts, academicians, and leading scientists, these reports illustrate a green pathway opened up through pooling wisdom, and showcase potency of this innovative platform, Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory, in its facilitating innovations, its yielded cutting-edge technology achievements, as well as the contributions from “Chengdu strength” in advancing towards the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

To achieve the goals, the crux is to build new power systems centered around new energies. Scientists are pooling wisdom to focus on exploring ways to transform power systems of source, grid, load, and storage, so as to address the inherent intermittency and instability of renewable energies such as wind, hydro, and photovoltaic power.

Recently, Chengdu Daily Jinguan News had an interview with Li Zhi, a leading scientist and Deputy Director of Research Center for New Power Systems of Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory. We discussed how new power system research and application help achieve the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

Instructing the “Capricious Children”: New Power Systems Serve as a Pivotal Carrier in Achieving the Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals

Chengdu Daily Jinguan News: What sets the new power systems apart from traditional ones? Why is it necessary to build such systems against the backdrop of vigorously promoting the implementation of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals?

Li Zhi: New power systems represent our conception of next-generation power systems, and they serve as a significant part in new energy systems and a pivotal carrier in realizing the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

With technology and mode evolving and iterating, power systems have undergone gradual advancements, with minimal changes to their basic structure and logic; while, at present, power systems are developing by leaps and bounds. Driven by implementation of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals, green and low-carbon aspects are being taken into serious consideration in building new power systems. Meanwhile, technology storage and upgrade in the energy and power field have created favorable conditions for power systems to advance dramatically.

In traditional power systems, fossil fuel energy is generally utilized to produce power for one-time-use purpose, relying predominantly on inertial and stable mechanism of power generators. As a result, traditional power systems are predictable and relatively stable. For instance, with current technology, we are able to calculate corresponding amount of electricity generated from a certain amount of coal, which is clear and controllable for us.

However, new power systems, with wind, photovoltaic, renewable, biomass energies, and other new energies as mainstays, operate quite differently. Compared with traditional energies, new energies, such as wind and photovoltaic power, are intermittent, random, and volatile. Thus, power systems need to be able to take in and absorb such intermittency and volatility of wind, and solar power, among others. Nevertheless, current power systems have incomplete ability in terms of operation, control, and management mechanism. Therefore, there is a need to build clean, safe, stable, and efficient new power systems.

Power supply systems relying primarily on new energies can be likened to a capricious child, with unpredictable mood swings and behavior. While, in the future, load side enhanced greatly in its adjustment acts as another capricious child who is temperamental and behaves randomly. However, both of them are not congenial to each other. When it comes to the new power systems, they serve as teachers whose mission is to explore a way to synergize the children, thus achieving an integrated operation among power source, grind, load, and storage, and synergizing power supply and demand.

The carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals aim at constituting a core driver for new power systems, where clean energies like nuclear, hydro, wind, photovoltaic, and energy storage work in synergy. Apart from that, non-fossil fuel will serve as the backbone. Total carbon emission of power systems will gradually meet the requirements laid out by the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals as technology innovation springs up and fossil fuel proportion in power generation keeps dropping.

Give Full Play to Resources to Transform Sichuan Province into a Pioneer in Exploring Ways to Achieve the Carbon Peaking and Carbon Neutrality Goals

Chengdu Daily Jinguan News: With new power systems being put into practice and developed, what advantages can Sichuan province take of to lead the nation?

Li Zhi: First of all, abundant clean energy resources represent Sichuan’s most prominent assets, with renowned hydropower resources, as well as its wind and photovoltaic power in western Sichuan. Therefore, endowed with such natural conditions and a strategic location, this province stands out in energy research.

Second, Sichuan province is also outstanding in producing key energy equipment. For example, nearly one-fifth energy equipment across China comes from Sichuan, according to data. Developing the manufacturing of energy equipment can not only foster cutting-edge innovation in research and development, but also speed up regional energy transition.

Besides, Sichuan Province’s soft power is evident in its current talent policy and environment for science and technology innovation. Western China (Chengdu) Science City provides platforms and opportunities for development with a raft of high-end technology talents in energy field, thus putting Chengdu City and even Sichuan Province at the forefront of achieving the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals through technological innovation.

Chengdu Daily Jinguan News: Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory acts as the representative of science and technology in Sichuan’s efforts in implementing carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. For this institution, how to make efforts in this regard?

Li Zhi: Providing a clean power source, intellectual grid, and electrified load is a core technology method to reach carbon peaking. Despite all that, to attain that is equivalent to building another power system. In addition, due to challenges facing supply-demand balance in a large proportion of new energy systems, it is urgent to turn “source driven by load” into “synergy of source, grid, load, and storage”. During exploring and practicing, there is a need of cutting-edge innovation breakthroughs, application achievements, and technology schemes.

Aimed at carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory is focusing on technological innovation and achievement transformation, with each aspect mutually influencing the other. In this process, innovation achievements need to be turned into practical and applicable technology, and have market potential, so as to yield socioeconomic benefits. Meanwhile, such processes of transformation and application also enlighten research and development teams and offer feedback to them, forming a sound loop between innovation and transformation.

This loop consisting of innovation and transformation is true for the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, for exploring ways to achieve these goals entails innovation breakthroughs and achievement applications as well. It is high-level innovative platforms, such as Tianfu Yongxing Laboratory, that set up a “two-way channel” between innovation and transformation.

Chengdu Daily Jinguan News: The 2023 Tianfu Carbon Neutrality Forum will be held in Chengdu on December 24. How do you assess the importance of the Forum in facilitating the achievement of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals?

Li Zhi: Hosting the Tianfu Carbon Neutrality Forum in a row is significant in promoting to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. The Forum will bring together academicians and experts from relevant fields, such as manufacturing, energy, and power. They are invited to discuss the development pathway of in-depth integration between technology and industries against the backdrop of vigorously promoting the implementation of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

Sichuan Province is endowed with rich clean energies, which is sync with the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals. That is to say, Sichuan Province is supposed to be a pioneer in reaching carbon peaking and carbon neutrality. Consequently, the Tianfu Carbon Neutrality Forum will serve as an impressive and potent platform in this province promoting the implementation of the carbon peaking and carbon neutrality goals.

Personally, at this Forum, I would like to delve into advanced technology and achievements in carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, meet more experts and scholars in relevant fields, and witness the emergence of thoughts in innovative research and development and cooperation during exchanging and mutual learning.

[ By Huang Xuesong from Chengdu Daily Jinguan News  ]