State power company enables green energy revolution in Suzhou

BEIJING: Due to decades of coal mining, the land across Suzhou in Anhui province has been left with many mining pits.

In order to restore the local ecology, the city has been exploring a new path for the management and development of water surfaces in the coal mining subsidence area in recent years.

Because of its abundant coal resources, Suzhou used to be an important energy city in east China.

In recent years, floating photovoltaic power stations have been introduced, presenting a new way to reasonably utilise abandoned water surfaces to generate green and clean energy.

In June 2017, CECEP Solar Energy Technology invested a total of 500 million yuan to build a floating photovoltaic power project, utilising the 140ha of water surface on the coal mining subsidence area in Zhuxianzhuang town in Suzhou’s Yongqiao district.

The electrical energy generated by the floating photovoltaic power station is connected to the State Grid Suzhou Power Supply’s 220-kilovolt Tuohe River transformer substation and transmitted to the grid for use.

It provides clean energy to thousands of households and businesses.

The power station generates an average of about 80 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, equivalent to saving about 20,000 tonnes of standard coal each year.

The former coal mining subsidence area has been transformed into a new energy base, realising the utilisation of resources and the upgrading of the local industrial structure.

Today, the sparkling water surface is bathed in sunlight on the deep blue solar panels and schools of fish swim below, presenting a beautiful ecological picture in a coal mining subsidence area around the city.

The State Grid Suzhou Power Supply, with the aim to better serve the development of new energy, is preparing service personnel with skills in equipment operation and maintenance and technical and consulting services to enter new energy enterprises.

It has accelerated the construction of a new type of power system, improved new energy regulation capacity, constructed distributed photovoltaic observation and control demonstration areas, and built pilot stations for distributed photovoltaic plus energy storage.

With the goal of constructing photovoltaic power stations on mountain tops, water surfaces, rooftops and in agricultural areas, the company has been working together with the government to promote the new energy grid connection service consultation mechanism.

The efforts have resulted in a study titled Research on the Demand for Energy Storage Capacity in High Proportion New Energy Systems in Suzhou.

Such efforts are promoting the orderly grid connection and the consumption of new energy.

The State Grid Suzhou Power Supply said it will continue to serve low-carbon transformation by regularly releasing available capacities and coordinating with the government to determine development scales and construction schedules.

By guiding energy storage projects, the company will help provide new momentum for green energy and contribute to the realisation of the national dual-carbon goals. — China Daily/ANN