China says in its Action Plan for Carbon Dioxide Peaking Before 2030, that the country will construct buildings integrating photovoltaic power generation, energy storage, DC power distribution, and flexible power consumption. What kind of buildings are they? Our reporter Xu Hua takes us to south China's Shenzhen-Shantou Special Cooperation Zone to find out.
XU HUA Shenzhen-Shantou Special Cooperation Zone "This is believed to be the world's first building integrating photovoltaic power generation, energy storage, direct current power distribution, and flexible power consumption. After going into operation in May last year, this building's carbon emission levels have been reduced by 47 percent. That's equal to planting 160,000 square meters of trees. So, how has this been achieved? Let's check it out."
Making buildings of all kinds as "power plants" to produce and store clean energy, is a new way by Chinese scientists and tech companies to promote carbon reduction.
The first step of this project is to generate power with green energy.
QI HE General Manager China Construction SCI & Tech Group Low Carbon & Smart City "Aside from the heaters, solar panels are installed on the roof of this building for about 0.4 megawatts. We are planning to use the rooftops of the entire industrial park to install five megawatts worth of solar panel. This will provide 5 to 6 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, which can fully support the power consumption of our industrial park."
And the next steps are to distribute the power efficiently and flexibly, so as to match electricity supply to demand.
QI HE General Manager China Construction SCI &Tech Group Low Carbon & Smart City "Photovoltaic power can be provided during the day, but how can we meet the building's demands at night? Energy storage within these batteries is a solution: they may release electricity at any given time. Another way is to improve our lighting and air conditioners from AC to DC, which can give them flexible demands."
It is estimated that photovoltaic power of the roof of urban buildings could meet 30 percent to 40 percent of electricity consumption of urban buildings. However, experts say this technology is not ready for mass application.
ZHANG YI Assistant Professor, Institute of Future Human Habitats Shenzhen Intl. Graduate School, Tsinghua University "We need to very quickly develop the standards. So, that means if we want one building to be successfully built, we need to know the standard is good and we need to [build] according to the standard. And secondly, I think we should have more suitable devices to support the building's development and this really requires the whole market to support our technologies to be more widely developed."
China says that by 2025 the country will strive to reach 50 percent photovoltaic coverage on the roofs of newly constructed public buildings and factories. To that end, more specific policies on technology standard and market regulation are urgently needed. Xu Hua, CGTN, Shenzhen.