PV will become the main energy source 2024 Smart PV Top 10 Trends Released

Cao Yali, China Industry News

In 2023. carbon neutrality presses the accelerator button. Global photovoltaic installed capacity of more than 400GW, energy storage of more than 100GWh, light storage market continues to grow rapidly. Ground power station in China to expand to the watershed plateau, sand and desert, agricultural light and other scenes, space multiplier; industrial and commercial, household PV in Europe, the United States and other markets based on accelerating the development of the Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Africa and other markets, into the thousands of rows and industries, thousands of households. Energy storage has also become a key support for the development of new energy, and the integration of optical storage has accelerated the development of PV from ‘supplementary power’ to ‘main power’.

On 24 January, Huawei held the 2024 Smart PV Top Ten Trends Conference with the theme of ‘Continuous Innovation, Quality Winning in the Future, and Accelerating PV to Become the Main Energy Source’. At the conference, Hao Yingtao, Vice President and CMO of Huawei's Digital Energy Intelligent PV Business, comprehensively explained the top ten trends of intelligent PV, provided forward-looking support for the high-quality development of the PV industry, and released an important white paper.

Hao Yingtao, Vice President and CMO of Huawei Digital Energy's Smart PV Business, explains the top ten trends of smart PV.

According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the installed capacity of PV will reach 5.200GW in 2030 and 14.000GW in 2050. with the proportion of renewable energy reaching more than 90 per cent, with PV becoming the absolute mainstay, said Hao Yingtao. As the proportion of new energy represented by PV continues to rise, it faces multiple challenges in terms of grid connection, operation, and security. As a result, Huawei has put forward ten major trends in industrial development based on its long-term practice and deep insights, including a major core, five key features, and four root technologies.

Trend 1: Optical Storage Becomes a Stable Power Source

Optical storage parity and grid-configuration technologies have made it possible for optical storage systems to become a stable power source, and will drive PV to become the main source of electricity in the next three years.

Trend two ten million power station network element management

With an exponential increase in the number of power plant network elements, efficient and intelligent scheduling of power generation, transmission, distribution, and use in a single network will become a key requirement. Huawei Intelligent PV will support the access and management of ten million power station network elements based on CloudNative and real-time communication and control technologies, combine with the Pangu large model for massive data analysis and prediction, and support AI technology for intelligent energy decision scheduling, so as to realise the resource integration and collaborative scheduling of massive power station network elements for power generation, storage, and distribution, and to build a comprehensive intelligent energy network of ten million power station network elements.

Trend 3: Intelligent life cycle

Power station management from ‘operation and maintenance’ to the whole life cycle ‘operation’, intelligence will significantly improve the comprehensive benefits of ‘planning, construction, maintenance and operation’, so that the power station operation is more efficient.

Trend 4 Grid Forming

Grid Forming technology has been commercially available on a large scale, expanding rapidly from large-scale ground power stations to industrial, commercial and household use, and not only in the photovoltaic scenario, but also in the combination of renewable energy sources such as wind power and hydropower, which will make it possible to promote new energy sources from supporting the grid to enhancing the grid, and then to the whole scenario of enhancing the grid to accelerate the construction of a new type of electric power system.

Trend five four-dimensional security

Security requirements from single-dimensional ‘equipment security’ to four-dimensional ‘security’ to ensure the long-term stable and reliable operation of the new energy power system. ‘Four-dimensional’ refers to supply, equipment, network and power system security; the security of the new power system not only requires manufacturers themselves, but also the joint efforts of the industry and society.

Trend 6 Cell to Grid Energy Storage Security

The scale application of energy storage and the upgrading of safety standards require energy storage to realise the safety of the grid from the cell itself to the system level. Cell to Grid energy storage safety can be realised through refined monitoring and management from the electric cell, battery pack, battery cluster, energy storage system to the grid to create a safer and more efficient energy storage system with an active grid structure.

Trend 7 MLPE & CLPE

MLPE & CLPE have become the new requirements for distributed power plants, as fine management has driven the commercialisation of module-level power electronics and gradually moved towards energy storage systems. MLPE enables fine control of PV modules, ensuring optimal power generation at the module level, as well as monitoring and safe shutdown at the module level. Fine management towards energy storage system, Li-ion battery energy storage system is evolving towards smaller unit management at Pack level and cell level, so CLPE technology is proposed.

Trend VIII high voltage and high reliability

High voltage continues to reduce the LCOE (cost of kilowatt-hour electricity) of photovoltaic storage systems, and high reliability continues to improve system availability and achieve ultimate safety. PV inverter will continue the trend of high voltage, DC breakthrough 1500V, AC breakthrough 1000V system. Through the application of new materials, new components to enhance the reliability of the equipment; through the design of bipolar high-voltage architecture, system-level safety protection capabilities to ensure the continuous and reliable operation of the photovoltaic system.

Trend nine high frequency and high density

The application of third-generation semiconductors, materials science, heat dissipation technology, engineering technology and other dimensions of technology upgrades, superimposed on digital technology, continue to enhance the power density of power electronic converters. It is expected that in the next three to five years, photovoltaic inverters will enhance the energy density by more than 30%, optimisers by more than 50%, and energy storage by more than 10%, promoting the quality and efficiency of photovoltaic systems.

Trend 10 High-quality power quality

Promote the scale application of photovoltaic storage system in the whole industry through the continuous improvement of high-quality power quality. In the next three to five years, global IEC standards, pan-European standards, Chinese national standards, etc., are constantly improving the requirements for power quality. The improvement of various indicators will ensure high-quality power quality, and will accelerate the emergence of PV as a primary energy source.

‘Huawei Smart PV will continue to increase R&D investment, focus on the innovation and integration of 4T and other technologies, deeply understand the development needs of customers and the industry, and create reliable, high-quality products and solutions, so that we can work with global customers and partners to promote the high-quality development of the industry, and make green power benefit thousands of industries and households.’ Hao Yingtao said.