CIGRE China - May 2024 China Day Event at the CIGRE Steering Committee Meeting

By Dr. Jianbin FAN, Secretary General, CIGRE China National Committee

Shenzhen - China
27-31 May 2024

The National Day Event is a unique event set up by the CIGRE Steering Committee for the conference's host country. This China Day Event featured a themed technical exhibition and a keynote session. Thirteen members of the CIGRE Steering Committee and more than 150 representatives from China's energy industry attended the event.

 The event was first opened by speeches from the Vice Mayor of Shenzhen Government, Mr. Jintao DAI, President of China Southern Power Grid (CSG), Mr. Chaoyang QIAN, and Secretary General of Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering (CSEE), Mr. Lianjun SHI to welcome all the guests and cherish the precious opportunity to have in-depth discussion and exchanges between experts from different parties. The speeches were followed by videos introducing three significant event organizers, including CIGRE, CIGRE Chinese NC (CSEE), and CSG. The event was moderated by Dr. Jianbin FAN, Deputy Secretary General of CSEE and member of the CIGRE Steering Committee.

The second part of the event was a keynote session that showcased ten keynotes delivered by leading experts from different energy industry sectors.

CIGRE President Michel Augonnet started the session with a keynote, "CIGRE and the Energy Transition." He reviewed CIGRE's history, development, and future vision, shared the challenges faced in energy transition and the legacy and revolution of the power systems, and finally introduced CIGRE's contributions through best practices, operational experiences, and technical innovations.

Chief Scientist of CSG and member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Dr. Hong RAO, shared the keynote "CSG Promotes the Construction of New Type of Power Systems through Technology Innovation." He pictured CSG's strategic initiatives to operate the regional grid with more than 80% non-fossil energy and achieve over 75% electricity in terminal consumption by 2060. As a key to realizing these operations, CSG's previous and continuous practices and innovation based on a complicated AC&DC bulk power system were introduced.

Then, CIGRE Vice-President Technical Marcio Szechtman addressed "Challenges for the Technical Council," examining the challenges during the energy transition's pivotal phase. He spotlighted the impact on the electric power industry, emphasizing digitalization, renewable energy cost reductions, the ESG framework, and data management. The presentation also gave a complete review of CIGRE's organizational structure, strategic plan updates, study committee scope, and focus from a technical perspective.

The last speaker at the keynote morning session was Mr. Javier Iglesias, a member of the CIGRE Steering Committee representing the Spanish National Committee, who gave a presentation entitled "Challenges for Electric Grid Development." His speech outlined the rapid growth of renewables and the world's escalating reliance on electricity. He stressed the necessity for substantial grid investments and upgrades to meet future demands and critical challenges, including aging infrastructure, permitting delays, supply chain constraints, and workforce shortages. He also called for coordinated efforts, innovative solutions, and strategic planning to enhance grid efficiency and resilience, ensuring a transition towards net zero.

At the beginning of the keynote afternoon session, Mr. Xipeng CAI from CSG Electric Power Research Institute delivered the keynote "Research on Key Technologies for Large Scale Clean Energy Scale Transmission." His presentation showcased the development of HVDC technology within CSG and the support of VSC-HVDC technology for large-scale clean energy transmission. Mr. CAI also highlighted several innovative schemes for VSC-HVDC design in future engineering applications to transmit clean energy from the far west area and the offshore.

David Sun, the CEO of Huawei Electric Power Digitalization BU, opened the discussion with a keynote, "Thrive with Digital, Driving Intelligent Electric Power." He stressed the significance of digitalization and intelligence in propelling the electric power sector forward. David outlined the "33 Model" for digital transformation, encompassing three innovation dimensions and three objectives to be safe, green, and efficient as a new power system.

The afternoon session also included sharing from the CIGRE NGN group in China. Dr. Yishen WANG from State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) illuminated "Intelligent Computing Enabled the Intelligentization of the Power Grids." His keynote showcased the role of intelligent computing in the smart grid revolution, underscored the development of large power industry models and AI for Science (AI4S) applications in power systems, emphasizing the imperative integration of AI with traditional grid operations to tackle challenges in renewable integration, grid stability, and decision-making.

Dr. Zhujun YU from BYD Energy Storage shared a presentation entitled  "Research and Application of LFP Energy Storage Battery Technology" that spotlighted BYD's Blade Battery. She introduced the safety and technical characteristics of BYD's Blade Battery, such as reduced thermal runaway temperature and a unique winding electrode structure that mitigates lithium plating risk. Her keynote triggered the discussion on battery's structural strength, space utilization, and service life advantages, along with BYD's milestones in energy storage systems and applications.

Mr. Chaolin HE, Vice Director of CSG Digital Grid Technology (Guangdong), presented "Connect the World by Power IoT," concentrating on the development of the Power Harmony Unified IoT Operating System. The presentation explored the background, necessity, and evolution of this power industry-specific IoT OS, introducing its core values and contributions to the power sector's digital transformation and ecosystem development.

At last, the keynote session was wrapped up with Dr. Yan LI from Shenzhen Power Supply diving into "Exploration and Practice of Source-grid-load-storage Interactive Technology in Urban Power Grid." She explained the approach to examine the demand and framework for urban power grid interaction among sources, grids, loads, and storage. The challenges and impact of distributed renewable energy integration and electric vehicle growth in China were deliberated, showcasing Shenzhen Power Supply's innovation and management of sustainable development and the aggregation of flexible resources.

Aside from the keynote session, a technical exhibition with the same theme was displayed at the event site with support from CIGRE NGN groups in China. Young CIGRE members were passionate about demonstrating the latest technical breakthroughs and thinking for grid de-carbonization and digitization in areas such as HVDC transmission, power equipment, power system operation and simulation, and power supply etc.

This China Day event has been a great success in convening diversified participants, including CIGRE Steering Committee members, representatives from leading Chinese utilities, academicians, scholars, and manufacturers. Together, they shared innovative thinking and engineering experiences and engaged in profound exchanges and discussions on the challenges and opportunities within future energy transition, thus achieving fruitful conference outcomes. The meetings and events have also promoted CIGRE in China, attracting potential members from different sectors and ages.

CIGRE President, Michel Augonnet, remarked about the impressive progress by China in the energy transition and also noted the contributions by many young in their careers helping to lead energy transition progress in China.

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