The industry agrees that the digital and intelligent upgrading of thermoelectric energy can make thermoelectric production smarter, more efficient and more low-carbon.
The mainland's resource endowment of "rich in coal, poor in oil and low in gas" determines the status of coal-fired power as the main power source. At the same time, the high proportion of clean energy access also makes coal power will continue to play an important role as a "ballast stone" for a long time to come. However, under the "dual carbon" goal, the contradiction between high carbon emissions from coal power and energy supply is becoming increasingly prominent. Among them, the development of cogeneration units, which represent high energy efficiency, has attracted particular attention.
Recently, the future trend of the thermoelectric industry has sparked discussions. The industry agrees that the digital and intelligent upgrading of thermoelectric energy can make thermoelectric production smarter, more efficient and more low-carbon. Effective measures should be taken to greatly improve the automatic operation level of the thermoelectric system, reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and contribute to ensuring energy security and achieving the "dual carbon" goal.
The proportion of heat and power is gradually increasing
The constraints on energy, resources, environment and carbon emissions in the mainland are becoming increasingly tight, and the task of carbon emission reduction in the petrochemical industry is very arduous. Pang Guanglian, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and deputy secretary-general of the China Petroleum and Chemical Industry Federation, said at the 2024 Thermoelectric Energy Intelligent Development Forum held a few days ago that according to the latest public statistics, the carbon emissions of the petrochemical industry in mainland China are nearly 1.4 billion tons, accounting for about 18% of industrial carbon emissions and 12% of the country's total carbon emissions. Among them, fuel combustion and electricity and heat supply during production account for 66.1% of the carbon emissions of the entire petrochemical production, and carbon emissions from the industrial production process only account for 33.9%, and a large part of the carbon emissions are from the combustion link. "How to achieve green, low-carbon and high-quality development is an urgent problem for the whole industry to explore and solve. ”
Combined heat and power is an important development trend of coal-fired power units, and the proportion of heat and power is also increasing. Liu Bo, president of Shandong Provincial Thermal Power Design Institute, said in an interview with China Energy News: "At present, the total installed capacity of coal-fired power in the country is about 1.3 billion kilowatts, of which the proportion of thermal power units is increasing. Taking Shandong Province as an example, thermal power accounts for more than three-quarters of the province's coal-fired power capacity, accounting for nearly 80%. ”
"Thermal power is a traditional industry, but traditional industries are not the same as surplus industries, let alone sunset industries. Liu Bo explained, "On the one hand, cogeneration itself realizes the active use of energy, which is an efficient and energy-saving form of energy utilization, and on the other hand, with the development of economy and society, the demand for energy is becoming more and more diversified." Market demand has prompted coal-fired power units to move from using only electricity to using the same amount of heat, making them more energy-efficient overall. ”
Thermopower is an energy conversion industry. Xia Jiantao, a distinguished researcher at the Institute of Machinery Industry Economics and Management of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council and chairman of Quanying Technology, also told the China Energy News: "The theoretical power generation efficiency of coal-fired power units is only 48%, and once the unit can generate both electricity and heat, the efficiency of the whole unit can be increased to at least 80%. By burning the same amount of coal, the energy transition makes the amount of valuable energy generated by coal-fired power units unparallel. ”
Intelligent solution to development problems
In 2023, the installed capacity of renewable energy power generation in mainland China will historically exceed that of thermal power. However, due to the inherent volatility, intermittent and random power generation characteristics of new energy sources such as wind power and photovoltaic power, how to vigorously improve the utilization rate of new energy and reduce the adverse impact on the stability of the power grid has become an urgent problem to be solved.
"The instability of wind power and photovoltaic power has a great impact on the power grid, increasing the demand for peak regulation and frequency regulation in the traditional thermal power industry and the entire coal power industry. Sometimes the load of green energy fluctuates too much, and manual adjustment cannot keep up with the speed. Only through intelligent means and digital technology can all these characteristics be accurately matched to achieve efficient utilization of comprehensive energy. Xia Jiantao said.
At the same time, the thermal power industry is also facing the transformation from a single thermal power supplier to a multi-category energy supply entity such as "electricity, heat, cooling, water and gas".
For example, Liu Bo said: "Shandong is a major coal-fired power province, but most of the thermal power units below 300,000 kilowatts in the province have almost no coupling with sludge, garbage, biomass or the use of residual pressure and gas, nor have they implemented clean energy utilization, but only use coal as fuel. However, in the context of coal control, the transformation and upgrading of the production capacity and energy consumption mode of thermal power enterprises will become inevitable, which is not only an important part of the conversion of old and new kinetic energy, but also an important means to promote the adjustment of industrial structure through energy transformation. ”
From the perspective of comprehensive energy services, there is more room for intelligent play. Xia Jiantao said: "If the operation of coal power can be regulated by trained experts, then it is more complex to perceive the integrated energy of solar and wind power generation, as well as the end load and energy storage system, and even beyond the scope of human operation, and must rely on artificial intelligence systems." The more complex the situation, the greater the role of intelligent operation, and the better the effect. ”
Energy efficiency levels continue to improve
It has become an industry consensus to use intelligent technology to provide energy-saving solutions for fuel-end systems.
"There's an old saying in the circle, 'the energy saved is the greenest energy'. This reveals the core concept of energy conservation and emission reduction - to achieve the goal of environmental protection and sustainable use of resources without sacrificing economic development by improving energy efficiency and optimizing energy use. With the continuous progress of technology, intelligent management system, efficient energy equipment, advanced energy-saving technology and the cultivation of employees' energy-saving awareness are all important factors to promote the improvement of energy efficiency. Taking multiple measures to reduce dependence on traditional fossil fuels, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce operating costs of enterprises, and enhance market competitiveness. Pang Guanglian said.
Liu Bo took Shandong Province as an example to calculate an account for the reporter. "If calculated according to the comprehensive energy efficiency increase of 3%, that is, coal saving of 3%, the current province's existing 300,000 or less machine assembly capacity of 21 million kilowatts, if the existing installed capacity is all through intelligent improvement of 3% efficiency, the province can save more than 200,000 tons of coal, equivalent to at least 800,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. ”
Wang Xianjun, deputy general manager of Shandong Zhenghe Thermal Power Co., Ltd., told the China Energy News that the company has implemented intelligent transformation, and the initial intelligent transformation was only to save energy, reduce carbon emissions, and improve efficiency. But after the transformation is completed, more effects are visible. "Under the premise of energy saving, the intelligent system controls the control parameters of heating steam pressure, grade pressure, temperature control, boiler steam turbine and other operating parameters more accurately than manual ones, making the operating conditions more stable. At the same time, in the past, there was one supervisor for each furnace, and the working time of 8 hours required to watch the plate operation all the time, but now the labor intensity of the supervisor is greatly reduced. From the company's point of view, some supervisors can also be transferred to do equipment maintenance to improve the safety of production. ”
Xia Jiantao said frankly: "Under the new energy system, the comprehensive utilization of new energy is an unavoidable path to support the long-term development of the mainland. However, while developing new energy, we must also jointly strengthen the role of coal as a backstop, just like the two wheels of a car, and make progress together. Only by integrating and accurately matching new energy with traditional coal power can the utilization rate of new energy power generation increase steadily, so as to achieve green and low-carbon in the true sense. ”
Text丨Reporter Lin Shuijing