Meeting Summer Peak Demand: How Energy Storage Systems Become the Optimal Solution for Flexible Regulation

1. Background and Analysis of Summer Peak Demand

In recent years, China’s electricity load has exhibited a “dual peak” characteristic in winter and summer. In summer, the cooling load accounts for 30% of the total electricity demand, with some provinces exceeding 40%. In July 2024, the national peak electricity load surpassed 1.451 billion kilowatts, an increase of over 100 million kilowatts compared to the previous year. The mismatch between electricity supply and demand has become increasingly pronounced, with key issues stemming from two main aspects:

Structural Issues on the Demand Side
– **Surge in Air Conditioning Load**: Data from the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development indicates that building energy consumption makes up over 55% of total societal energy consumption, with HVAC systems responsible for about 60% of building energy use, growing at an annual rate of 3.2%.
– **Rigid Demand in Industry**: The manufacturing sector’s PMI index shows that peak-to-valley differences in electricity load for key industries reach 40-60%.
– **Emerging Load Overlap**: The rapid growth of new electric facilities, such as electric vehicle charging stations and data centers, is notable. Currently, the number of new energy vehicles exceeds 30 million and continues to rise. Typical fast-charging power in urban areas exceeds 100 kW, causing significant impacts on local grids during concentrated charging periods. Additionally, the rise of AI has increased energy consumption in data centers, with AI-related computing accounting for over 10% of total energy used in these facilities. By 2030, energy consumption from AI and machine learning in data centers could exceed 25% of total global data center energy use.

Supply-Side Bottlenecks
– **Physical Constraints of the Grid**: Existing distribution networks have a design load margin of only 15-20%, making it difficult to meet excessive demand during extreme weather events.
– **Variability of Clean Energy**: While solar power output can peak during midday in summer, it can drop by over 60% during evening peak hours.
– **Insufficient Regulation Resources**: Nationwide, pumped storage capacity is only 46 million kilowatts, accounting for less than 2% of total installed power capacity.

In response to these issues, China has implemented the “Summer Peak Demand” strategy, aimed at ensuring electricity supply security and maintaining grid stability. The National Energy Administration collaborates with State Grid and Southern Grid each summer and winter to optimize electricity dispatch, promote key projects, enhance infrastructure, and implement differentiated load management for scientific grid operation. Policies emphasize refined control and encourage energy units to align with the principles of “centralized control and coordination” for reasonable electricity scheduling. The Summer Peak Demand policy is not merely a response to short-term pressure, but also pertains to energy security, economic development, and social stability.

2. Grid Response Strategies: From “Hard Expansion” to “Soft Regulation”

To ensure stable electricity supply, grid companies typically adopt a multi-faceted approach:
– **Infrastructure Reinforcement**: Expanding substations and upgrading transmission lines to enhance grid capacity.
– **Cross-Regional Resource Allocation**: Utilizing ultra-high voltage channels for inter-provincial resource sharing.
– **Refined Demand Side Management**: Optimizing air conditioning strategies, reinforcing time-of-use pricing, guiding users to shift electricity use, and limiting peak consumption of high-energy enterprises.
– **Scaled Deployment of New Storage Technologies**: According to data from the National Energy Administration, by the end of 2024, newly constructed energy storage projects will have an installed capacity of 73.76 GW/168 GWh, over 130% growth from 2023, and approximately 20 times the capacity at the end of the 13th Five-Year Plan (2020). This will significantly support peak supply.

3. Real Challenges for Enterprises: Conflicts Between Production Plans and Electricity Constraints

The implementation of the Summer Peak Demand policy presents numerous challenges for enterprises:
– **Electricity Limitation Pressures**: Key industries must ensure power supply, while non-key industries may face strict regulation, affecting production schedules and increasing operating costs.
– **Risks to Production Continuity**: Manufacturing firms may need to adjust schedules (e.g., shifting factory holidays to peak production times), disrupting order deliveries and forcing “off-peak production,” which can lengthen delivery times and impact profitability and competitiveness.
– **Increased Energy Costs**: High-energy-consuming industries like steel and chemicals must adhere to strict load control, and power cuts could disrupt continuous production processes, leading to equipment downtime and economic losses during peak pricing periods.
– **Complex Energy Planning**: Fluctuating policies require real-time monitoring and electricity adjustments, complicating coordination among different departments and energy needs. Consequently, businesses often need to devise specific action plans to mitigate these challenges during the Summer Peak Demand period.

4. Energy Storage Systems: Transition from “Passive Response” to “Active Regulation”

Energy storage technology, with its characteristics of “flexible charging and discharging, and bidirectional regulation,” is emerging as a flexible tool for enterprises to respond to electricity regulation. By dynamically increasing capacity and optimizing loads, energy storage systems can discharge during peak grid periods, reducing transformer capacity requirements and avoiding penalties for overcapacity. The maturation of intelligent algorithms enables Energy Management System (EMS) controllers equipped with AI to accurately adjust charging and discharging strategies based on electricity price signals and production plans. As the “dual carbon” goals progress and extreme weather becomes more frequent, the Summer Peak Demand will evolve from a temporary task to a long-term challenge. For companies, implementing energy storage systems is not just a temporary measure against power cuts but also a core strategy for building resilient supply chains and reducing energy costs and risks. Through intelligent management via EMS controllers, businesses can transform from a passive stance to an active one, finding the optimal balance between power supply security and operational efficiency.

5. EMS Controller: The “Smart Brain” for Energy Management in Enterprises

As the core control unit of energy storage systems, the EMS controller can build an intelligent electricity usage logic for enterprises during peak periods through three capabilities:
– **Dynamic Capacity Increase**: By monitoring load status in real-time, it intelligently switches between energy storage charging and discharging modes, enhancing power supply capability, akin to flexible transformer capacity expansion.
– **AI Load Forecasting Engine**: Utilizing neural network algorithms, it accurately predicts the load curve for the remainder of the day and automatically controls the optimal state of charge (SOC) for the energy storage system to generate an optimal charging and discharging strategy for the entire day. This enables enterprises to comply with peak-shaving and valley-filling requirements while prioritizing dynamic capacity expansion and easily responding to grid directives.
– **Multi-Objective Optimization Model**: While ensuring compliance with Summer Peak Demand directives, it also meets requirements for “maximum demand control,” “peak-valley arbitrage,” and “emergency backup power,” balancing economic benefits with safety margins.

The intelligent EMS controller from the company adapts to the A-F six-level orderly electricity usage plan, providing customers with configurable intelligent regulation modes. This ensures orderly electricity consumption in line with the Summer Peak Demand while also addressing economic safety objectives such as peak shaving and demand control, allowing for greater efficiency in energy storage while reducing the burden on users.