Integrated Source-Grid-Load-Storage: Best Practices for Addressing Energy Challenges in Industrial Parks

As time-of-use electricity pricing adjusts and the electricity market becomes more competitive, the revenue capabilities of distributed photovoltaics and commercial energy storage markets face significant upgrades. These policy adjustments highlight the true essence and urgent needs of the “Source-Grid-Load-Storage” model in the commercial and industrial sectors. Huawei once again leads the industry, providing a model solution in Jiangsu, allowing for the effective implementation of this integrated model in real-world scenarios.

Facing Challenges: The “Source-Grid-Load-Storage” Model as a Key Industry Choice

In recent years, electricity consumption in China’s commercial and industrial sectors has been on the rise. According to the latest data from the China Electricity Council, the average daily electricity consumption across the nation increased by 3.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2025, with the high-tech and equipment manufacturing industries experiencing the most rapid growth. For instance, the electricity consumption for manufacturing new energy vehicles surged by 40.6% year-on-year, while the production of wind energy equipment in the general equipment manufacturing sector saw a 46.4% increase.

Under the dual carbon goals, high energy-consuming enterprises are entering a period of accelerated transformation. To hasten their green and low-carbon transition, many opt to invest in distributed photovoltaics to enhance their green electricity levels. However, several challenges remain in energy consumption within these parks, particularly in three key areas:

1. Increased Revenue Uncertainty from Macro Policy Changes: New policies, such as the revised “Management Measures for the Development and Construction of Distributed Photovoltaic Power Generation,” have introduced requirements for large commercial photovoltaics and general commercial grid connections. New time-of-use pricing may lead to a more than 20% decrease in photovoltaic revenue during midday low-price periods, while fluctuations in peak and valley pricing increase the uncertainty of commercial energy storage revenues. Consequently, promoting distributed photovoltaics through the integration of Source-Grid-Load-Storage to enhance self-consumption rates has become a primary development approach in the commercial sector.
2. Safety Risks of Photovoltaic and Storage Equipment: The safety of photovoltaic storage systems poses threats to park assets and energy security. With numerous companies offering diverse products, incidents such as thermal runaway in storage systems, photovoltaic fires, or electric vehicle charging station malfunctions frequently make headlines. The rapid expansion of photovoltaics has intensified grid fluctuations, increasing system regulation pressures and potentially leading to overload in areas affected by grid capacity bottlenecks. Additionally, new energy stations urgently require enhanced network security measures to prevent user data breaches or cyberattacks that could result in widespread outages.
3. Low Digitalization in Energy Management: Many parks still manage their energy systems in a rudimentary manner, with scattered photovoltaic and storage devices leading to high costs and inefficiencies in maintenance. The low level of digitalization in energy management means that photovoltaic, storage, and charging devices operate in isolation without synergy, resulting in low utilization rates and poor overall benefits. As the electricity market becomes more competitive, parks need a unified platform for precise energy management to integrate distributed energy resources and load-side resources into the electricity market, helping enterprises optimize their electricity structure and reduce costs while enhancing the operational efficiency of photovoltaic, storage, and charging systems.

In addition to industrial electricity users, the transportation sector is also at a pivotal point in its low-carbon transition. Uncontrolled large-scale charging of electric vehicles can significantly widen the load disparities in distribution networks, exacerbate power fluctuations, and even lead to transformer overloads. This reality opens up market opportunities for the “Integrated Source-Storage-Charging” model and calls for enhanced collaborative capabilities within the Source-Grid-Load-Storage framework to achieve a steady increase in local consumption ratios.

Thanks to policy enhancements and deepening linkages across the electricity industry chain, the integration of “Source-Grid-Load-Storage” is rapidly advancing toward a scalable and market-oriented phase by 2025. So far, Henan Province has announced nine batches of integrated projects totaling 415, with plans to establish over 1,000 demonstration projects by 2027. This year, Shandong Province has also released pilot implementation guidelines and project lists for Source-Grid-Load-Storage integration, emphasizing local consumption, green electricity trading, virtual power plants, and distributed self-consumption.

As a leader in renewable energy, Jiangsu is at the forefront of industry development, having released guidelines for zero-carbon park construction. These guidelines emphasize the acceleration of digitalization and intelligence in microgrid development, promoting the reasonable integration of new energy, load, and storage into microgrids for coordinated operation and hierarchical control. This requirement is driving the practical application of Source-Grid-Load-Storage in commercial sectors.

Upgrading the Integrated Model: Challenges in Source-Grid-Load-Storage

The Source-Grid-Load-Storage model connects various aspects of the electricity system. To shift the electricity system from “source-following-load” to “Source-Grid-Load-Storage,” it is essential to enhance the integrated operational capabilities of photovoltaic and storage systems while ensuring safe and stable system operation. This transformation represents a comprehensive shift in technology and market dynamics.

Recently, at the Huawei Digital Energy Innovation Summit in Jiangsu, Huawei unveiled its integrated Source-Grid-Load-Storage solution for commercial use. According to Cai Xu, Head of Huawei’s Digital Energy Smart Photovoltaics Commercial Expansion Department, this solution aims to achieve maximum safety and long-term profitability, empowering parks in their low-carbon transition. Given the inherent challenges of volatility and integration in distributed photovoltaics, energy storage is key to addressing these issues. Huawei’s integrated solution maximizes self-consumption rates, particularly as reforms in distributed photovoltaic electricity trading and electricity spot markets progress, enhancing operational profitability across the entire lifecycle.

However, to genuinely improve operational profitability, both photovoltaic and storage equipment must be of high quality. Energy storage systems, as crucial supports for bidirectional energy transmission, require high reliability and operational efficiency. Huawei has previously introduced the world’s first liquid-cooled commercial energy storage product, allowing storage devices to adaptively adjust based on environmental temperatures. This approach reduces auxiliary energy losses by 30% and significantly enhances the operational efficiency of energy storage systems while ensuring reliable power supply and superior energy quality.

Furthermore, the ongoing reforms in the electricity market provide new avenues for revenue generation for new entities like virtual power plants. This necessitates the energy management platform to possess intelligent scheduling and responsive capabilities, enabling the aggregation of distributed photovoltaic and storage resources into virtual power plants that can respond in real-time to grid peak shaving and frequency modulation, thus maximizing revenue. In this regard, Huawei, leveraging big data and AI algorithms alongside integrated scheduling capabilities, has partnered with others to launch a smart energy management platform that coordinates and optimizes energy use, maximizing resource value and helping owners and parks achieve their green and low-carbon goals.

Zero-Carbon Models: Real-World Implementation

As a pioneering province in renewable energy, Jiangsu has become a testing ground for various energy initiatives. Huawei, in collaboration with Huadian Jiangsu Company, has developed a model case for integrating Source-Grid-Load-Storage in Wucheng, Changzhou. This location serves as a representation of the new generation of industrial parks, housing numerous technology-driven enterprises across sectors like smart manufacturing, new materials, and medical devices. Faced with high electricity costs and the dual challenge of low-carbon transition, Huawei’s solution successfully transformed the park into a “zero-carbon park.”

Within the park, 1.28MW of photovoltaic capacity, 1.08MW/2.15MWh of energy storage, and a fully liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging station have been installed. By utilizing Huawei’s integrated Source-Grid-Load-Storage and comprehensive energy management platform, these resources can flexibly meet the park’s energy demands. Enhanced by AI technology, the project’s overall profitability increased by an additional 10%, setting a benchmark for digital and intelligent transformation in the park. The project is expected to generate 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity annually, with nearly 100% self-consumption achieved through the synergy of photovoltaic and storage systems.

Notably, Huawei applied its liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging technology in this case, promoting green electricity consumption through the integration of charging piles. The inclusion of storage also reduced the need for increased electricity capacity, illustrating Huawei’s proficiency in the integrated Source-Grid-Storage-Charging construction model. Furthermore, Huawei is strategically aligning with the green electricity development trends in Jiangsu, expanding its presence in smart photovoltaic, smart charging networks, and AI data centers. Earlier in 2023, Huawei participated in constructing Jiangsu’s first urban “Source-Storage-Charging” demonstration charging station, featuring five sets of liquid-cooled ultra-fast charging equipment and supporting the simultaneous charging of 56 vehicles.

As AI ignites the digital economy, computational power has become a core driver of social and economic growth, while energy consumption and carbon emissions from data centers are increasingly concerning. Thus, creating green data centers has emerged as a vital direction. An example is the Changzhou campus of Hohai University, where Huawei provided a comprehensive solution involving architecture optimization, smart devices, and platform construction, ensuring high efficiency and low-carbon targets.

Conclusion

As 2025 approaches, marking a critical point for achieving national carbon peak targets, it will serve as a vital period for assessing the effectiveness of energy structure optimization and the innovative capacity of green and low-carbon technologies in China. At this significant milestone, Huawei is leveraging a mature technology system and innovative models to accelerate the application of zero-carbon parks and promote the green transition across various industries.