Smart Sustainability with Smart Energy

VR headsets can bring amazing views of the universe, oceans, and history; doctors  can remotely direct surgery based on real-time 5G ultra-HD images; and technologies like big data enable drivers to choose routes with smoothest traffic flow. The convergence of 5G, AI, and IoT is shaping a world where all things will be sensing, connected, and intelligent. However, all of these breakthroughs require huge amounts of energy.

5G is eliminating the distance between people, but soaring data consumption doubles the power consumption of telecom networks. Cloud computing makes life smarter, but data centers consume 3% of all global power. And fossil fuel-dominant energy supply wreaks environmental havoc. How we produce and use energy is in urgent need of change.

Huawei is committed to bringing digital to every person, home and organization for a fully-connected, intelligent world. This world should also be a green world. Huawei Network Energy Product Line is leading energy digitalization and developing renewable energy for a smart and sustainable world. By promoting the convergence of power electronics technologies with IoT, big data, and AI, we’re opting for a “zero bit zero watt” strategy that provides customers with green, reliable, and intelligent energy solutions for telecoms, data centers, and smart PV solutions.

More Bits Per Watt

Huawei Global Industry Vision 2025 predicts that there will be 6.5 million 5G base stations and 2.8 billion 5G users by the end of 2025. While the energy efficiency of Huawei 5G base stations is 20 to 30 times higher than that of 4G base stations, power consumption is almost the same. As 4G and 5G networks will coexist for a long time, operators are required to double overall network power consumption. In the 5G deployment scenario, Huawei’s 5G power solution focuses on three concepts: simple, intelligent, and green.

As the digital wave sweeps across the industry, the demand for cloud computing is soaring. Supporting massive data computing with green technologies is a key issue. Since 2019, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology together with the Ministry of Finance, Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China, and Ministry of Education have rolled out new power usage effectiveness (PUE) policies in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. Huawei is developing technologies to reduce the PUE of data centers, which includes the most efficient modular UPS in the industry, delivering a module efficiency of up to 97.5%. Efficient cooling technologies are used to maximize the use of free cooling sources, achieving a PUE of less than 1.25 in Beijing.

Huawei’s cloud+AI platform enables continuous innovation and applies AI to data center thermal management. The iCooling@AI solution reduces the PUE of data centers by 8% to 15%. Thanks to the solution, Huawei Langfang cloud data center saves more than 6.3 million kWh each year.

We aim to improve the performance of sites in relation to the entire network instead of focusing on single components. Key technologies, such as efficient rectification and intelligent voltage boosting, achieve higher end-to-end energy efficiency. In 2019, Huawei 5G Power won the Sustainable Impact award of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU）for its outstanding contribution to energy conservation and emission reductions in mobile networks.

Universal Renewable Energy for a Better World

The Paris Agreement has set goals for global action to address climate change and renewable energy is the way to achieve this. To this end, we’ve introduced solar energy to telecom sites and data centers, and our smart PV solution helps global PV plants increase energy yields and reduce carbon dioxide emissions.

In areas where the mains supply is unstable or unavailable, we use solar energy to power base stations. Compared with traditional diesel generator solutions, the advanced hybrid power supply solution enables 0 fuel using digital, AI, and advanced energy storage technologies. For example, one carrier in Ethiopia saw annual fuel savings of 12 million liters. At the awards ceremony of the 21st AfricaCom, this solution received the Best Sustainable Power Solution award.

Against the global energy revolution, PV power generation stands out. In the PV industry, Huawei has pioneered the integration of digital information, Internet, and PV technologies in the FusionSolar smart PV solution. By introducing ICT technologies including IoT, AI, cloud, and big data to PV, Huawei is helping to accelerate the new energy industry, reduce power costs, and power grid parity.

IHS Markit’s report shows that Huawei’s smart PV shipment has ranked first in the world for four consecutive years from 2015 to 2018.

By the end of 1H 2019, the global shipments of Huawei’s smart PV products had exceeded 102 GW, generating about 142.8 billion kWh of clean electricity while reducing the emissions of carbon dioxide by more than 68 million tons per year.

On September 25, the world’s largest airport Beijing Daxing International Airport started running, with Huawei’s smart PV solution making it a green airport and an example of how the industry will develop.

The average annual carbon emission per connection in the global ICT industry is expected to decrease to 15 kg in 2025, 80% lower than 2015’s figure of 75 kg. ICT technologies will enable digital transformation and the intelligent evolution of various industries, promote energy conservation, reduce emissions worldwide, and help achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals for a smarter, sustainable world.

Disclaimer: Any views and/or opinions expressed in this post by individual authors or contributors are their personal views and/or opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views and/or opinions of Huawei Technologies.