Zhejiang Iron Tower&Huawei Intelligent Peak Shifting Practice Selected as a Global Excellent Case of GSMA

With the deployment of 5G, the power consumption and number of base stations have significantly increased, and the operator OPEX has grown significantly. To help operators reduce base station OPEX, Zhejiang Iron Tower and Huawei have jointly innovated by introducing AI technology to achieve intelligent peak shifting of base stations

 

 

With the deployment of 5G, the power consumption and number of base stations have significantly increased, and the operator OPEX has grown significantly. To help operators reduce base station OPEX, Zhejiang Iron Tower and Huawei have jointly innovated by introducing AI technology to achieve intelligent peak shifting of base stations. While ensuring reliable backup power, each station has saved 17.1% of electricity costs annually. Due to significant savings in electricity costs, this innovative practice was successfully selected as a global boutique case by GSMA (Global Association for Mobile Communications Systems) on July 26, 2021.

 

In order to improve the efficiency of electricity resource utilization, the current power sector has formulated peak and valley time of use electricity prices (i.e. implementing different electricity prices during different periods) based on changes in grid load, in order to encourage users to arrange their electricity consumption time reasonably and cut off peaks and fill in valleys. Traditional base station batteries are only used for emergency backup during power outages and have not become a production tool for base station operations, resulting in the waste of silent energy storage assets. In response to peak and valley electricity price scenarios, Zhejiang Iron Tower and Huawei have launched base station intelligent peak shifting technology to improve battery utilization and save electricity costs. The specific principle is to charge the battery during valley price periods, and discharge the battery during peak price periods to replace mains power supply. Intelligent peak shifting can reduce electricity costs while balancing grid loads, and has significant economic and social benefits.

 

Peak valley electricity price data in Zhejiang Province

 

The challenges of applying staggered electricity technology

 

The primary role of base station batteries is to provide backup power, so even after battery peak shifting, they still need to meet the backup power requirements. The staggered power consumption strategy needs to be accurately calculated to ensure reliable backup power and maximize profits. The duration of battery backup is influenced by multiple factors such as load power, battery SOC, and battery age. There are significant differences in load power, battery capacity, and health status among different sites, and they are constantly changing. Manual analysis and calculation cannot develop accurate peak shifting strategies (battery charging and discharging time and depth). If a fixed staggered model is used, some sites may experience insufficient backup power due to excessive battery discharge, and some sites may have limited profits due to insufficient battery discharge depth.

 

Intelligent peak shifting principle

 

To address the aforementioned issues, Huawei has applied AI technology to staggered electricity usage to develop optimal staggered strategies. Huawei's energy management system utilizes AI to build utility models, load power models, and battery capacity models. AI predicts load power, calculates the required backup capacity based on the required backup time for each station, and reserves the required backup capacity. By utilizing redundant battery capacity for peak shifting, it achieves dynamic peak shifting of one station, one policy, and one policy at a time. Huawei's intelligent peak shifting reserves sufficient backup capacity, ensuring reliability and maximizing the depth of peak shifting at each station to achieve maximum revenue.

 

Value analysis, intelligent peak shifting saves 17.1% of base station electricity costs per station annually

 

Zhejiang Iron Tower has been using intelligent peak shifting for a year, with an average annual revenue of 1784 yuan/station, and a savings rate of 17.1% in electricity costs per station, demonstrating significant economic benefits. Intelligent peak shifting helps Zhejiang Iron Tower activate the asset value of silent batteries, utilizing backup batteries to discharge during peak electricity prices to save electricity costs. During the use of intelligent peak shifting, there is no risk of station downtime, and the reliability of backup power is effectively guaranteed.

 

Intelligent peak shifting interface of management system

 

According to the analysis of load power data, the accuracy of AI load power prediction is very high, thereby ensuring the reliability of backup power. At sites with small load fluctuations such as welfare homes, the average error of AI load power prediction is 1.1%. At the same time, optimizing the charging and discharging strategy to achieve a balance between energy-saving benefits and reliability, automatically selecting intermittent discharge, controlling battery temperature rise, and extending service life. At stations with large fluctuations in load power at highway intersections, high dynamic prediction accuracy can be achieved, with an average error of 5.7% in load prediction accuracy.

 

Intelligent peak shifting integrates digital technology and power electronics technology to achieve optimal scheduling of comprehensive energy for base stations, optimize energy utilization, and save electricity costs. Against the backdrop of the dual carbon target, this innovative practice has provided important technological and commercial demonstration for the communication industry to reduce costs and increase efficiency, as well as for energy transformation, with extraordinary significance.

 

Note: GSMA, also known as the Global Mobile Communications Systems Association, is an industry organization in the global mobile communication field, bringing together over 750 operators and nearly 400 companies worldwide. It is also the organizer of the World Mobile Communications Conference and the Asian Mobile Communications Expo.