＂Zero Carbon＂ Energy Network Helps ICT Industry to Reduce Carbon
"Source: China Energy News"
Information and communication technology (ICT) industry is the main force of global economic development. New technologies such as 5G and AI transform the traditional network energy infrastructure into digitalization and intelligence, and realize the interconnection, management and scheduling of the whole energy chain from power generation to electricity consumption. The site, computer room and data center are not only a high-speed data communication network, but also an efficient energy supply network. However, 5G base stations and data centers are big energy consumers. In the wave of global carbon reduction, how can the traditional network energy technology and construction mode be transformed and upgraded to meet the needs of low-carbon and zero-carbon economic development? Liu Mingming, vice president of ZTE, gave ZTE’s answer.
Q: What impact does the global carbon neutrality trend and the national goal of "double carbon" have on the ICT industry, and what plans or measures does ZTE have, especially in the energy field?
Liu Mingming: ICT industry should not only complete its own carbon neutrality, but also undertake the role of empowering all industries and promoting the process of carbon neutrality. According to the statistics of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), in 2020, ICT industry technology will empower all industries to reduce the emission of equivalent carbon dioxide by about 7.8G tons, accounting for 15% of the annual emission, and the contribution of carbon emission reduction is obvious. In this regard, ZTE has made simultaneous progress in four aspects: green operation, green ICT base, green supply chain and green industry empowerment.
5G base stations and data centers are big energy consumers. In the future, more 5G base stations, edge data centers and large data centers will be deployed. The traditional network energy technology and construction mode cannot meet the development needs of low-carbon and zero-carbon networks, and the network energy infrastructure is facing enormous challenges. With the concept of "green, efficient, intelligent and reliable", ZTE integrates new technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things, cloud computing and AI, and puts forward the concept of "zero carbon" energy network. The "zero-carbon" energy network mainly includes three-layer architecture: in the product technology layer, it mainly includes low-carbon and zero-carbon key technologies such as intelligent photovoltaic-green power generation, intelligent conversion-high-efficiency power conversion, intelligent lithium battery-high-efficiency power storage, intelligent power distribution-accurate power supply and intelligent temperature control-extremely low power consumption; In the comprehensive scheme layer, it includes a zero-carbon solution for all scenarios, including minimalist sites, green computer rooms and prefabricated full-module data centers; Energy cloud management will further improve the energy efficiency and operation and maintenance efficiency of the whole network through a unified network energy management platform based on big data and AI technology. The "zero-carbon" energy network aims to lead the digital transformation of the traditional network energy infrastructure, and vigorously promote the diversification of smart photovoltaic, the whole network of smart lithium batteries, the simplification of 5G power supply and the intensive development of prefabricated full-module data centers in the ICT industry.
Q: How can the ICT industry effectively apply green power resources to solve the carbon emission problem? What solutions and products does ZTE have?
Liu Mingming: Under the trend of global carbon neutrality, ZTE has shifted from paying attention to network energy consumption to paying more attention to green power applications, network energy efficiency and intelligent operation and maintenance. Introducing green electricity is the primary measure to realize low carbon and zero carbon in communication network. At present, ZTE combines photovoltaic with energy storage, energy cloud management and AI to provide green power introduction for sites, computer rooms, data centers and the whole park, so as to realize smooth light overlapping in the whole scene, optimize power supply costs while stabilizing power supply, improve operation and maintenance efficiency, and accelerate the maximum application of green energy in the whole network. For example, the intelligent photovoltaic system can not only realize DC superposition transformation for outdoor sites and site computer rooms, but also realize AC superposition for core computer rooms or data centers, giving priority to green power supply and redundant Internet access.
Q: Combined with the development trend of 5G network power supply system, what innovative technologies and products does ZTE have?
Liu Mingming: Communication power supply is the main energy equipment for network power supply. It not only undertakes the main function of power conversion, but also acts as the brain of site energy to be responsible for the scheduling, management and networking of the whole site energy system, which is the key link to improve network energy efficiency. Facing the challenge of 5G power supply, ZTE focuses on key technologies such as intelligent transformation and intelligent distribution of "zero carbon" energy network, and launches a new generation of intelligent power supply UniPower. UniPower is based on a 1×2U module architecture, including 3kW/4kW rectifier module, solar power module, 57V bidirectional conversion module, 280V high-voltage DC boost module, 48V-12V/24V conversion module and intelligent power distribution module. It has realized flexible hybrid insertion of all series of modules, multi-type energy input and multi-mode output, intelligent parallel connection of existing and old power sources, intelligent peak clipping without mains power transformation, and remote supply of 280V high-voltage DC.
Q: In recent years, lithium battery technology has developed rapidly. What innovations and achievements has ZTE made?
Liu Mingming: The architecture of 5G network has changed a lot, and the power consumption and the number of network sites have increased greatly, which puts forward higher requirements for energy density, charging and discharging performance and intelligent level of energy storage. "Electrification of lead-acid lithium and intelligent lithium battery" is the general trend of energy storage development in the communication industry. Based on the research and development of core technologies such as power conversion, BMS, structure and heat dissipation, and cloud management, ZTE integrated the world’s top batteries and launched SmartLi smart lithium battery. SmartLi has innovative functions such as intelligent mixing, boosting, parallel operation, peak shifting, anti-theft and cloud management, which can meet the comprehensive scheme application of network full-scene power supply, fully tap the value of energy storage in the whole life cycle, and maximize the use of green electricity or commercial power. At present, it has been applied in many communication markets around the world with good feedback.
Q: What are the new directions and trends of ZTE in data center energy saving?
Liu Mingming: In recent years, with the rapid development of data center industry, the energy consumption problem has become more prominent. ZTE is committed to building a green, fast, intelligent and reliable data center solution. In the future, it will mainly help customers realize energy saving and emission reduction in data centers from four aspects: indirect evaporative cooling air conditioning, liquid cooling technology, improving the energy efficiency of power systems, and integrating AI artificial intelligence algorithms into data center energy efficiency management. It is worth mentioning that ZTE’s AI-based data center energy-saving technology can improve energy efficiency by 8% through continuous optimization iteration, and won the "Best Energy-saving Solution Award" in the 2020 IDC Industry Awards. In addition, the data center energy consumption monitoring and intelligent operation and maintenance management system has also been selected into the National Green Data Center Advanced and Applicable Technology Catalogue (2020).
Q: What other long-term planning considerations does ZTE have for the goal of "double carbon"?
Liu Mingming: Due to the continuous explosive growth of data traffic in communication networks, the absolute energy consumption will continue to increase in the future. ZTE will continue to research and apply new carbon reduction technologies. In terms of green energy, we will continuously improve the efficiency and unit cost of the current solar energy solutions for sites and data centers, and study the application of other clean energy technologies such as hydrogen energy in the network; In terms of energy saving, we will continue to study more simple and efficient power supply architecture and solutions to improve site energy efficiency and data center energy efficiency; In terms of energy storage, in addition to intelligent lithium battery energy storage, new batteries such as sodium ions and other new energy storage technologies such as flywheel energy storage will be introduced; In terms of intelligence, it will further enhance the intelligent level of energy management and help the network to be more energy-efficient and efficient.
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