December 26, 2022

Huawei Unveils Top 10 Trends of Smart PV for a Greener Future

SHENZHEN, China, Dec. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — Huawei held the Top 10 Trends of Smart PV (photovoltaic) conference, with the theme of ”Accelerating Solar as a Major Energy Source”. At the conference, Chen Guoguang, President of Huawei Smart PV+ESS Business, shared Huawei’s insights on the 10 trends of Smart PV from the perspectives of multi-scenario collaboration, digital transformation, and enhanced safety.

As the proportion of renewable energy keeps increasing, the PV industry acquired a booming growth, yet, the industry still faces many challenges, including how to continue reducing the levelized cost of energy (LCOE), how to improve the O&M efficiency, how to maintain power grid stability as more renewable energy are feeding in, and how to ensure end-to-end system safety.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

“Amid the rapid growth of the PV industry, these challenges also bring opportunities.” said Chen Guoguang. As a forward-looking enterprise, Huawei is keen to sharing our insights and thinking with our partners, as well as organizations and individuals who are interested in green and sustainable development.

Trend 1: PV+ESS Generator

As more renewable energy is feeding into power grids, various complex technical problems arise in terms of system stability, power balance, and power quality.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

Therefore, a new control mode is needed to increase active/reactive power control and response capability, and actively mitigate frequency and voltage fluctuations. With the integration of PV and ESS as well as the Grid Forming technology, we can build ‘Smart PV+ESS Generators’ that use voltage source control instead of current source control, provides strong inertia support, transient voltage stabilization, and fault ride-through capabilities. This will transform PV from grid following to grid forming, helping increase PV feed-in.

A milestone in practice of these technologies was the Red Sea project in Saudi Arabia, which Huawei provided a complete set of solution including smart PV controller, lithium battery energy storage system (BESS) as one of the major partners. This project uses 400 MW PV and 1.3 GWh ESS to support the power grid which replaces traditional diesel generators and provides clean and stable power for 1 million people, building the world’s first city powered by 100% renewable energy.

Trend 2: High Density and Reliability

High power and reliability of equipment in PV plants will be the trend. Take PV inverters as an example, nowadays, the DC voltage of inverters is increased from 1100 V to 1500 V. With the application of new materials such as silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN), as well as the full integration of digital, power electronics, and thermal management technologies, it is estimated that the power density of inverters will increase by about 50% in the next five years, and the high reliability can be maintained.

The 2.2 GW PV plant in Qinghai, China is 3100 m above sea level and has 9216 Huawei Smart PV Controllers (inverters) running stably in this harsh environment. The total availability hours of Huawei inverters exceed 20 million hours, and the availability reaches 99.999%.

Trend 3: Module-Level Power Electronics (MLPE)

Driven by industry policies and technology advancement, distributed PV has witnessed vigorous development in recent years. We are facing challenges such as how to improve the utilization of rooftop resources, ensure high energy yield, and how to ensure the PV+ESS system safety. Therefore, more refined management is a must.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

In a PV system, module-level power electronics (MLPE) refer to power electronic equipment that can perform refined control on one or more PV modules, including micro inverters, power optimizers, and disconnectors. MLPE brings unique values such as module-level power generation, monitoring, and safe shutdown. As PV systems are becoming safer and more intelligent, the penetration rate of MLPE in the distributed PV market is expected to reach 20% to 30% by 2027.

Trend 4: String Energy Storage

Compared with traditional centralized ESS solutions, the Smart String ESS solution adopts a distributed architecture and modular design. It uses innovative technologies and digital intelligent management to optimize energy at the battery pack level and control energy at the rack level. This results in more discharge energy, optimal investment, simple O&M, as well as safety and reliability throughout the lifecycle of the ESS.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

In 2022, in the 200 MW/200 MWh ESS project in Singapore for the purpose of frequency regulation and spinning reserve, the largest BESS project in Southeast Asia, the Smart String ESS implements refined charge and discharge management to achieve constant power output for a longer time and ensure frequency regulation benefits. In addition, the automatic SOC calibration function at the battery pack level reduces labor costs and greatly improves O&M efficiency.

Trend 5: Cell-Level Refined Management

Similar to PV systems shifting towards MLPE, lithium BESSs are set to develop towards smaller management level. Only refined management at battery cell level can better cope with the efficiency and safety problems. Currently, the traditional battery management system (BMS) can only summarize and analyze limited data, and it is almost impossible to detect faults and generate warnings in the early stage. Therefore, BMS needs to be more sensitive, intelligent, and even predictive. This depends on the collection, computing, and processing of a large amount of data, and AI technologies to find the optimal operating mode and make forecasts.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

Trend 6: PV+ESS+Grid Integration

On the power generation side, we see more and more practices of building clean energy bases of PV+ESS that supply electricity to load centers through UHV power transmission lines. On the power consumption side, virtual power plants (VPPs) become increasingly popular in many countries. VPPs combine massive distributed PV systems, ESSs, and controllable loads, and implement flexible scheduling to power generation units and storage units to achieve peak shaving etc.

Therefore, building a stable energy system that integrates the PV+ESS+Grid to support PV power supply and feed-in to grid will become a key measure to ensure energy security. We can integrate digital, power electronics, and energy storage technologies to achieve multi-energy complementation. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) can intelligently manage, operate, and trade power of massive distributed PV+ESS systems thru multiple technologies including 5G, AI, and cloud technologies, which will come into practice in more countries.

Trend 7: Upgraded Safety

Safety is the cornerstone of the PV & ESS industry development. This requires us to systematically consider all scenarios and links and fully integrate power electronics, electrochemical, thermal management, and digital technologies to upgrade system safety. In a PV plant, faults caused by the DC side account for more than 70% of all faults. Therefore, the inverter needs to support smart string disconnection and automatic connector detection. In distributed PV scenario, the AFCI (Arc Fault Circuit Breaker) function will become a standard configuration, and the module-level rapid shutdown function will ensure the safety of maintenance personnel and firefighters. In ESS scenario, multiple technologies, such as power electronics, cloud, and AI, need to be used to implement refined management of ESS from battery cells to whole system. The traditional protection mode based on passive response and physical isolation is changed to active automatic protection, implementing multi-dimensional safety design from hardware to software and from structure to algorithm.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

Trend 8: Security and Trustworthiness

In addition to bringing benefits, PV systems also have various risks, including equipment safety and information security. Equipment safety risks mainly refer to the shutdown caused by faults. Information security risks refer to external network attacks. To cope with these challenges and threats, enterprises and organizations need to establish a complete set of “security and trustworthiness” management mechanisms, including the reliability, availability, security, and resilience of systems and devices. We also need to implement protection for personal and environmental safety as well as data privacy.

Trend 9: Digitalization

Conventional PV plants have a large amount of equipment and lack information collection and reporting channels. Most of the equipment cannot ‘communicate’ with each other which is very difficult to implement refined management.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

With the introduction of advanced digital technologies such as 5G, the Internet of Things (IoT), cloud computing, sensing technologies, and big data, PV plants can send and receive information, using “bits” (information flows) to manage “watts” (energy flows). The entire link of generation-transmission-storage-distribution-consumption is visible, manageable, and controllable.

Trend 10: AI Application

As the energy industry moves towards an era of data, how to better collect, utilize, and maximize the value of data has become one of the top concerns of the entire industry.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

AI technologies can be widely applied to renewable energy fields, and play an indispensable role in the entire lifecycle of PV+ESS, including manufacturing, construction, O&M, optimization, and operation. The convergence of AI and technologies such as cloud computing and big data is deepening, and the tool chain focusing on data processing, model training, deployment and operation, and safety monitoring will be enriched. In the renewable energy field, AI, like power electronics and digital technologies, will drive profound industry transformation.

At the end, Chen Guoguang remarked that the converged applications of 5G, cloud, and AI are shaping a world where all things can sense, all things are connected, and all things are intelligent. It is coming faster than we think. Huawei identifies the top 10 trends of the PV industry and describes a green and intelligent world in the near future. We hope that people from all walks of life can join hands to achieve the goals of carbon neutrality and build a greener, better future.

(PRNewsfoto/Huawei)

December 26, 2022

China maximumly reduces COVID-19’s impacts on economic, social development

BEIJING, Dec. 26, 2022 /PRNewswire/ — A report from People’s Daily: As China optimizes its pandemic response measures, regions across the country have resumed work, industrial production and commercial activities.

A tunnel of the Shenyang-Baishan high-speed railway in Baishan city, northeast China’s Jilin province has resumed construction; in the Haikou International Duty Free City in south China’s Hainan province, consumers are lining up in front of cashiers; an enterprise in Changde, central China’s Hunan province recently received a 20-million-yuan ($2.87 million) export order…

In 2020, China became the first major economy to attain positive economic growth; in 2021, the country’s GDP topped 114 trillion yuan, with its two-year average growth standing at 5.1 percent; this year, the Chinese economy withstood pressure and kept consolidating the trend of recovery.

Practices proved that China has explored a path that well coordinates pandemic control and economic and social development. The country has to the maximum extent protected people’s lives and health, and reduced the impacts from COVID-19 on economic and social development to the fullest.

Coping with COVID-19 is a major test of the century, in which the most important thing is to ensure the safety of the people while advancing economy and livelihood. In the recent three years, China has constantly adjusted and optimized its prevention and control measures in accordance with the new features of the variants and the development of the pandemic.

Over the recent three years, China has offered over a trillion yuan in tax relief for individual businesses and seen its annual grain output standing at more than 650 billion kilograms. It has launched a series of signature projects to promote high-quality development and released domestic demand through halving vehicle purchase tax and issuing consumption coupons.

China has coped with difficulties with science-based policies. It front-loaded and strengthened macro policies and accelerated the targeted implementation of micro policies, which boosted the confidence and relieved the burden of market entities. The country’s efforts stabilized the general economic and social development and realized economic recovery.

Now China has come to a new stage of pandemic response and optimized its control measures in accordance with the dynamics of COVID-19. It is earnestly implementing the new control measures, ensuring medical supply and services for the people, focusing on the control work for seniors and people with underlying diseases, ensuring people’s health and preventing patients from developing critical symptoms.

At present, the momentum for China’s rapid economic rebound is being accumulated and released. The Chinese economy enjoys strong resilience, huge potential and strong vitality. The fundamentals sustaining China’s long-term economic growth remain unchanged, and so do the factors supporting the country’s high-quality development.

It is believed that as China further implements its new COVID-19 response measures and the country’s policies to stabilize its economy continue taking effect, China’s economic and social vitality will be released to the maximum extent, contributing to the country’s economic recovery.

December 26, 2022

S.Africa fuel tanker blast death toll rises to 15: minister

JOHANNESBURG— The death toll from a fuel tanker explosion in Boksburg, a South African city east of Johannesburg, has risen to 15, the country’s health minister said.

“Saturday, the death toll was at 10 people and now we are sitting at 15 as of Sunday morning,” Joe Phaahla told reporters at Tambo Memorial Hospital, close to where the blast took place.

The tanker, transporting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), was caught beneath a bridge close to the hospital and houses on Saturday morning in Boksburg, east of Johannesburg.

The minister said three hospital employees, two nurses and a driver, died later from severe burn injuries.

Thirty-seven people were injured, including 24 patients and 13 staff members who were in the hospital’s accident and emergency unit at the time of the blast.

They “sustained severe burns and have been diverted to neighboring hospitals”, Phaahla said.

Others were hit by shattered glass, he added, while some were hurt as they were in the parking lot or in front of the hospital.

Videos on social media showed a huge fireball under the bridge, which the tanker appeared to have been too high to go under.

It was carrying 60,000 liters of LPG gas, which is used especially in cooking and gas stoves, and had come from the southeast of the country.

The health minister said the blast severely damaged the hospital’s accident and emergency unit and X-ray departments, adding the roof was also damaged.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

December 26, 2022

2022 Year in Review: 100 million displaced, ‘a record that should never have been set’

A hundred million people were forced to leave their homes in 2022. The UN continued to help those in need in a myriad of ways, and push for more legal, and safe ways for people to migrate.

The 100 million figure, which includes those fleeing conflict, violence, human rights violations and persecution, was announced by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in May and described by Filippo Grandi, the head of the agency, as “a record that should never have been set”.

The figure is up from some 90 million in 2021. Outbreaks of violence, or protracted conflicts, were key migration factors in many parts of the world, including Ukraine, Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Syria, and Myanmar.

Thousands of desperate migrants looked to Europe as a preferred destination, putting their lives in the hands of human traffickers, and setting off on perilous journeys across the Mediterranean.

All too often these journeys ended in tragedy.

Worsening conditions for migrants in Yemen

It has now been more than seven years since the protracted conflict began in Yemen, between a Saudi-led pro-Government coalition and Houthi rebels, together with their allies. It precipitated a humanitarian catastrophe, and has forced more than 4.3 million people to leave their homes.

In May, The UN migration agency IOM and the European Union’s Humanitarian Aid wing (ECHO), announced that they were scaling up efforts to respond to the needs of more than 325,000 displaced by the conflict, including migrants and the communities that host them.

“The situation is also getting worse for migrants in Yemen, especially women, who are living in dire conditions in Yemen with little control over their lives,”?said Christa Rottensteiner, Chief of the IOM Mission in the country.

Despite the dire situation in Yemen, it remains a destination and transit point for migrants leaving countries in the Horn of Africa.

Upon arrival, travellers face perilous journeys, with many heading north, en route to Gulf countries in search of work.

They are often forced to journey across local frontlines, at risk of suffering grave human rights violations, such as detention, inhumane conditions, exploitation, and forced transfers.

Little prospect of safe return to Syria

In Syria, war has now been upending lives for 11 years: nearly five million children born in Syria have never known the country at peace.

More than 80,000 Syrians call the huge Za’atari camp, in Jordan, home: many of them may have to remain outside of their country for the foreseeable future.

“Prospects for return for the time being do not look promising”, said Dominik Bartsch, UNHCR Representative in the Jordanian capital Amman, in July. “We are not seeing an environment in Syria that would be conducive to returns.”

Overall, Jordan hosts around 675,000 registered refugees from Syria, and most of them live in its towns and villages among local communities: only 17 per cent live in the two main refugee camps, Za’atari and Azraq.

Rohingya continue to flee Myanmar

More than five years ago, hundreds of thousands of Rohingya fled their homes in Myanmar, after a military campaign of persecution. Almost a million live in the vast Cox’s Bazar camp across the border in neighbouring Bangladesh.

In March, the UN launched its latest response plan, calling for more than $881 million for the refugees, and neighbouring communities (more than half a million Bangladeshis), who are also highly reliant on aid.

This year, Rohingya continued to leave Myanmar, many attempting to cross the Andaman Sea, one of the deadliest water crossings in the world.

When more than a dozen migrants, including children, reportedly died at sea off the coast of Myanmar in May, Indrika Ratwatte, the UN refugee agency’s Asia and Pacific Director, said the tragedy demonstrated the sense of desperation being felt by Rohingya still in the country.

‘Double standard’ in treatment of Ukraine refugees

10 months on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which began on 24 February, and seems likely to continue into 2023, UN refugee agency figures show that, by December, more than 7.8 million Ukrainian refugees had been recorded across Europe.

Soon after the conflict began, UN agencies mobilized to provide support. UNHCR coordinated the refugee response together with sister UN agencies and partners, in support of national authorities.

In neighbouring Poland, for example, staff supported the authorities with registering refugees and providing them with accommodation and assistance.

Filippo Grandi praised European countries for their willingness to take in Ukrainians, the majority of whom sought shelter in neighbouring countries, but expressed his sorrow for the country and its citizens.

‘Ripped apart’

“Families have been senselessly ripped apart. Tragically, unless the war is stopped, the same will be true for many more,” he said.

However, this generosity of spirit was not always in evidence, when it came to some members of minority communities. In March, Mr. Grandi spoke out the discrimination, racism, and violence they faced.

Speaking on the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Mr. Grandi said that the UN refugee agency had born witness “to the ugly reality, that some Black and Brown people fleeing Ukraine — and other wars and conflicts around the world — have not received the same treatment as Ukrainian refugees”.

Mr. Grandi’s concerns were echoed, in July, by González Morales, the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. Mr. Morales alleged that there was a double standard in the way that refugees are treated in Poland and Belarus, particularly when it comes to people of African descent, and other racial and ethnic minorities.

‘Desperate situation’ in Ethiopian camps

In Ethiopia, millions remain displaced due to the armed conflict in the Tigray region, which began on 3 November 2020 between Ethiopian national forces, Eritrean troops, Amhara forces and other militias on one side, and forces loyal to the Tigrayan People’s Liberation front on the other.

By the end of this year, a fragile internationally-brokered truce seemed to be holding with aid returning to embattled northern regions inaccessible for months, along with many returning home to rebuild their shattered lives.

Back in January, the UN refugee agency issued the stark warning that, due to deteriorating conditions, refugees in the region were struggling to get enough food, medicine, and clean water, and risked death unless the situation improved.

“The desperate situation in these camps is a stark example of the impact of the lack of access and supplies affecting millions of displaced persons and other civilians throughout the region,” said UNHCR spokesperson Boris Cheshirkov.

Refugees also found themselves under direct attack: in February, for example, thousands of Eritreans were forced to flee a camp in the Afar region, after armed men stormed in, stealing belongings and killing residents.

By August, UN agencies put out an urgent appeal for funding to help more than 750,000 people seeking refuge in Ethiopia. The World Food Programme warned that, unless it received the funding, many refugees would have nothing to eat.

Thousands die attempting to reach Europe by boat

The number of people who died or went missing trying to reach Europe by boat doubled between 2022 and 2021, to more than 3,000. This grim statistic was released by the UNHCR in April.

“Most of the sea crossings took place in packed, unseaworthy, inflatable boats — many of which capsized or were deflated leading to loss of life,” UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo told journalists at a regular press briefing in Geneva.

This did not deter many from putting themselves at considerable risk, by trying a sea crossing. In just one attempt, in March, at least 70 migrants were reported dead or missing off the coast of Libya, the departure point for many crossings.

In August, when a boat sank off the Greek island of Karpathos in August, there were dozens of reported deaths, and in September, more than 70 bodies were recovered following a shipwreck off the coast of Syria.

Hope for a brighter future?

Amid the tragedy and difficulties faced by so many, there was at least one ray of light, reported in December.

UNHCR declared that governments around the world had pledged some $1.13 billion, a record amount, to provide a lifeline to people displaced by war, violence, and human rights violations.

“As a result of conflict, the climate emergency, and other crises, displaced people around the world face unprecedented needs,” said Mr. Grandi. “Fortunately, UNHCR’s generous donors continue to support them during these dire days, creating hope for a brighter future.”

Source: UN News Service