October 31, Wuhan – Today, the 4th IEEE Energy Conference on Energy Internet and Energy System Integration and a special workshop on the National Key R&D program "Smart Grid Technology and Equipment" kicked off at the Wuhan East Lake International Conference Center. The conference gathered experts and scholars from the power and energy sector both at home and abroad, as well as representatives of various public agencies.
This IEEE International Conference on Energy Internet and Energy System Integration is co-organized by Wuhan University, Tsinghua University, IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) and Chinese Society for Electrical Engineering, with the support of Chinese Electrotechnical Society, Chinese Association of Automation, China Power Supply Society (CPSS), IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS), the Energy Internet Research Institute of Tsinghua University, IEEE Power & Energy Society (China) and Tsinghua-Berkeley Shenzhen Institute. Moreover, the conference is also an integral part of the 9th Wuhan Annual Scientific Meeting.
The conference was graced by the presence and speeches of Yinbiao Shu, President of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, President of the CSEE, Secretary of the Party Leadership Group and Chairman of China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd., Xianwang Zhou, Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee and Mayor of Wuhan, Ping Wu, member of the Standing Committee and Vice President of Wuhan University, Frank Lambert, President of IEEE PES, Mingsheng Liu, member of the Party Group and Deputy General Manager of State Power Investment Group Co., Ltd., Xiuyan Chen, Deputy Chief Economist and Director of Central China Branch of State Grid Co., Ltd., and Jianguo Yu, Chief Information Officer of China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. The conference also welcomed Deren Li, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Professor of Wuhan University, Chairman of Wuhan Association for Science and Technology, Minggao Ouyang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Professor of Tsinghua University, and Director of the State Key Laboratory of Automotive Safety and Energy, Yuan Pan, Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Xiaoxin Zhou, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Honorary President and Chief Engineer of China Electric Power Research Institute, Honghui Chen, Vice Mayor of Wuhan and other leaders to attend the opening ceremony. The opening ceremony was presided over by Shujun Lu, Executive Chairman of the Conference and Vice President of CSEE.
In his speech, academician Yinbiao Shu remarked that it was a great honor to hold this conference in Wuhan in 2020, a year of unprecedented challenges. He emphasized that in order to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels, countries around the world are actively pursuing energy transition and exploring the path of clean development. China's energy transition has achieved remarkable results in the past decade. The future development of China's energy Internet will focus on promoting clean energy production, advocating the electrification of energy consumption, encouraging the digitalization of energy technology, and standardizing energy and electricity. To fulfil the commitment made by Secretary General Xi Jinping at the UN General Assembly that “China will strive to peak carbon dioxide emissions before 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality before 2060”, we need to scale up the development and use of clean energy on the production side, replace more fossil fuels with electricity on the consumption side, and accelerate the evolution of the power system towards an energy Internet that supports a highly electrified society with clean energy as the main source. He wished that the CSEE and IEEE would continue to serve as a bridge and a link, facilitating various academic discussions and technological innovations for energy and power enthusiasts, and advancing the energy and power technologies for a better future of humanity.
In his speech, Xianwang Zhou, mayor of Wuhan, highlighted that in recent years, Wuhan has been committed to creating an innovative development “highland” for energy Internet by building world-class urban power grids, to providing strong energy Internet support for advancing high-quality development. Secretary General Xi Jinping proposed at the Central Financial and Economic Leading Group meeting that “Promoting the revolution in energy production and consumption is a long-term strategy”. Wuhan must seize the opportunity of energy Internet development, fully exploit and benefit from the strong energy demand and current energy development trends, align with the trend of energy Internet, have high ambitions, stride forward, and support the transformation and upgrading of the energy sector. Moreover, it should also take the lead in the energy Internet trend in a world that offers abundant business potentials, as well as opportunities and challenges. It is more imperative for Wuhan to expedite the development of energy Internet. Wuhan will uphold innovation and reform, actively interact and partner with experts and scholars in the energy Internet area, capture the opportunities for new technological revolution and industrial transformation, make technological breakthroughs, and create a better future together.
In his speech, Ping Wu, Vice President of Wuhan University, stated that this conference was held in Wuhan, a city that has risen from the ashes of the COVID-19 pandemic, which not only greatly inspired scientists, engineers, industrial professionals, and leaders of industrial enterprises in the industry to actively brainstorm for the development of energy Internet, but also provided a source of vitality and accumulated wisdom for the development of electrical discipline of Wuhan University. Wuhan University has always adhered to the philosophy of "standing tall and upright". While constantly improving the quality of talent cultivation and scientific research, Wuhan University has always paid great attention to collaborative education and social service efforts, supporting social and economic development through various means such as the transformation of technological achievements. "China's economic and social development and the improvement of people's welfare are more in need of technological solutions than ever before, and it is essential to enhance innovation as the primary driving force." She hoped that the conference would become an important platform for experts and scholars to ignite their passion for "pioneer" and enhance their ability to "innovate", and that all participants could seize the development opportunities, strive to achieve more breakthroughs in new technologies, bring about more changes in new industries, and foster the emergence of more new business models.
Frank Lambert, President of IEEE PES, attended the conference virtually and delivered a speech. In his speech, Mr. Lambert stated that IEEE is the world's largest non-profit professional and technical society that spans a wide range of fields such as electricity, electronics, and information, and is an influential international academic organization. As the second largest IEEE Society, the IEEE PES is committed to providing leading scientific and engineering information on power and energy, as well as hosting the world's largest technical forum for the power industry. He expressed his great honor to be part of this conference, and hoped that world-renowned experts and industry professionals and scholars in the electric power sector from both national and international backgrounds could collaborate to build an international platform for industry-university-research synergy, achievement transformation and international communication, with the purpose of boosting, guiding, innovating and fostering technological development in the power and energy sector.
In his speech, Mingsheng Liu, Deputy General Manager of the State Power Investment Group Co., Ltd., pointed out that in current context of "fostering a new development paradigm with domestic circulation as the mainstay and domestic and international circulations reinforcing each other", integrated smart energy, as an emerging consumption-led business model, will make great contributions to the future economic and social development beyond our imagination. The State Power Investment Group Co., Ltd. will treat integrated smart energy as a new growth driver, and is keen to cooperate with the experts, scholars and peers from this field to advance its development, preparing for the energy revolution.
In his speech, Xiuyan Chen, Deputy Chief Economist of State Grid Co., Ltd., highlighted that China, the world's largest energy producer and consumer, has always strived to build a society dependent on clean and efficient renewable energy and promote energy transition with leapfrog development from catching up, keeping pace to leading. In the future, the State Grid will focus on the problems to be solved, persist in technological innovation, build a society reliant on clean and efficient renewable energy, enable a better life, and empower a beautiful China.
Jianguo Yu, Chief Information Officer of China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd., proposed to boost industrial digitalization and digital industry by building the digital power grid, digitizing the traditional power grid, creating the digital industry, and integrating digital technology into the whole process of enterprise management. He also suggested enhancing data services, delivering reliable, convenient, efficient and intelligent modern power supply services powered by digital technology to users, developing the digital industry, and fully exploiting the leading role of power grid enterprises in energy industrialization.
After the opening ceremony, Liangzhong Yao, IEEE Senior Member and Professor of the School of Electrical Engineering and Automation at Wuhan University, Dan Kammen, Director of RAEL, Professor of Energy and Resources Group (ERG), Professor of Public Policy at Goldman School of Public Policy, Deren Li, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, Minggao Ouyang, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hongbin Sun, professor of Tsinghua University and Head of the Energy Management and Regulation Research Center of the Energy Internet Research Institute, and Frede Blaabjerg, President of the IEEE Power Electronics Society (PELS) and Vice President of the Danish Academy of Technical Sciences, delivered special lectures on their respective research fields, bringing a splendid academic banquet to the audience. The academic lecture session was moderated by Professor Liangzhong Yao.
It is reported that the conference has issued a call for papers since February 2020, and that more than 1,000 submissions have been received. The two-day conference invited many experts and scholars in the energy Internet sector from both domestic and foreign backgrounds to provide an active display and exchange platform for experts, scholars and power professionals in this field. At this conference, participants widely discussed the new generation of energy and power technologies featuring high renewable energy penetration and a high degree of power electronics. The cutting-edge technological development in the energy Internet, driven by cloud computing, big data, AI, 5G, and blockchain, as well as integrated energy technology, has greatly enhanced the exchange and integration of the academic community in the energy Internet with organizations such as the State Grid and the China Southern Power Grid Co., Ltd. It is of great significance for promoting energy conservation, emission reduction, and green and low-carbon development.
