Hitachi Energy builds green factory with smart energy solutions

In Hitachi Energy’s transformer manufacturing base in southeast China’s Guangdong Province, a deep blue sea has formed with photovoltaic (PV) panels that cover 12,000 square meters of the rooftop. Together with a battery energy storage system (BESS), it marks the company’s first factory equipped with green and smart energy solutions in China.

The solar PV and battery energy storage systems are co-built by Hitachi Energy’s transformer factory in Zhongshan and Zhongshan Kaineng Group Co., Ltd, with an installed 1.2 MW of PV capacity and 1 MW of battery energy storage capacity. In the first year, the power generation will reach 1,510 megawatt hours (mWh), which ac-counts for nearly 20% of the factory’s total power consumption and can help reduce the annual carbon emission by more than 1,000 tons.

As PV power is generated intermittently, the power generation may not coincide with the user’s peak or low power demands. The e-mesh^™ portfolio delivered by Hitachi En-ergy is an end-to-end distributed energy solution, combining advanced analytics, soft-ware technology, and hardware systems. The e-mesh PowerStore^™ battery energy storage ensures the highest penetration of renewables share, increases grid stability, and provides reliable power while minimizing CO₂ emissions. This advanced automa-tion solution, built using our proven MicroSCADA and RTU platforms, helps to monitor and control distributed energy resources. It will also balance the energy volatility brought by renewable energy generation, provide a stable power supply and improve power quality.

Currently, the system stores grid electricity during local off-peak hours and releases it for production use at peak hours, helping the factory reduce power cost according to the peak-to-valley electricity price variance. Hitachi Energy expects to promote a win-win business model for the industrial chain through the battery energy storage system, also participate in the power dispatching and power auxiliary services power market in the future.

“Battery energy storage solutions can largely increase the flexibility and reliability of power systems, which is one of the critical technologies that support China’s carbon-neutral target,” said Jinquan Zhang, Region Head of Greater China, Executive Vice President, Hitachi Energy. “Through the PV and BESS in Zhongshan transformer man-ufacturing base, we created our first successful case of applying green and smart en-ergy in China’s local factory. The project demonstrated the innovative technologies that we can apply for the large-scale utilization of distributed photovoltaic and will also con-tribute to the energy transition of industrial companies.” 

Hitachi Energy announced the Sustainability 2030 strategic plan earlier this year and outlined its main commitments to act and sustainably drive business. Currently, Hitachi Energy has moved to 100% fossil-free electricity in its 14 branch companies in China, by adopting a series of effective measures to conserve energy and reduce emissions, including purchasing green electricity and I-REC certificate and deploying distributed energy resources.