The 2nd China SMARTGRIDS International Conference organized by GSL Consulting Ltd. China, successfully ended on November 3, 2010 in Shanghai, China. The 2-day event, started from November 2, was specially designed to focus on the latest development of global Smart Grids industry.

SMARTGRIDSChina 2010 Conference took place on November 2 - 3 2010 in Shanghai. It’s our great pleasure to gather total 15 top officers, experts/managers from both China and international smart grids related industries to share their knowledge and opinions by presenting different topics. Professionals, governments, organizations and companies attended the event and applausive comments/ feedbacks are received from most of the participants.

The key influential aspects such as industrial standards, technology application & innovation, as well as pilot projects status etc. were covered in different sessions of the conference. The topics discussed in the key areas of distribution level and customer-end devices: smart grid standards, smart distribution management systems, demand management, smart home and smart building, electric vehicle on the grid etc.

As well-known, by year 2020 energy consumption in China is expected to be more than double than this decade. Chinese government leaders understand that smart grid technology is necessary in China to maintain its explosive growth and growing energy requirement. For these reasons, Chinese growing economy will continue to make significant smart grid investment for the foreseeable future. Under this great national strategic development planning and market environment, SMARTGRIDSChina 2010 Conference was held successfully with support from State Grid Corp. of China, Shanghai Power Company, Chongqing Power Company, State Grid EPRI, IEE CAS as well as China EPRI. We are also delighted to have local/international speakers and participants to share their advanced technologies and field experience together.

The conference commenced with keynote speeches by 3 VIP speakers including: North American Perspectives on Smart Grid Technology Developments – speech given by Professor Hassan Farhangi, Director of Research in BCIT, Adjunct Professor at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University, Canada; Research and construction of China smart grid – speech addressed by Mr. Bai Xiaomin Deputy Chief Engineer, China EPRI; Construction and Development of China’s Strong Smart Grid – speech addressed by Mr. Gao Zhiyuan from State Grid EPRI;. These keynotes are very vital to understand China and worldwide smart grid latest development and outlook.

In the following sessions, there are 12 experts and utility leaders to present and share their knowledge in the area of smart grid standard, distribution automation, smart microgrid, demand management, smart home and smart building, electric vehicle on the grid as well as pilot projects implementation. From their speeches, participants not only obtained the profound knowledge related to technologies, but also enhanced their understanding of current market/ industry environment, including opportunities and challenges. For example, Mr. Bai, the Deputy Chief Engineer of China EPRI introduced the latest standard development in China, and he discussed with experts from the US and Europe for exchanging knowledge and potential cooperation. Mr. Zhang and Dr. Xu introduced pilot projects implementation in Shanghai and Chongqing respectively. Professor Kazumi Matsushige presented the EV development in Japan and Smart City project.

In summary, the development of smart grid standard is still in progress. To establish a unified standard in China, or even worldwide is our wish. This needs communication and cooperation between different countries, organizations, companies, etc. The pilot projects are running globally. We can see the achievement from projects, but we should realize now is not the time to large-scale promote to the public. The business model is also not mature enough. However, we are moving forward, we are making the history.

Under the support of Shanghai Municipal Electrical Company, 60-odds delegates participated in the field visit.

As the first one of a Smart Building demonstration project in China and one of the smart grids pilot projects in Shanghai by State Power Grid Corp of China, Shanghai Yuefuhaoting Community is applied with PFTTH(power fiber to the home). It realizes smart power consumption control by smart sockets and supports “Three networks in one” by Optical Fiber Composite Cable. Through installing smart meters, AMR, remote reading, Internet paying as well as data communication are applicable to realize smart grids.

• Stay at home, Pay electricity fees

There is a smart self-service terminal machine at the entrance of the community for residents to pay electricity fees without going to banks. Some elderly people prefer paying cash instead of POS service. Based on different consumption behavior, the user-friendly terminal machine was equipped. By simple steps of the system direction, everyone can easily pay electricity fees, check their bills, print bills as well as inquires.
"We hope to promote smart grids construction and make effort for the livelihood of Shanghai residents by demonstrating this smart homes pilot project." Mr.Yang Junru, Chief of Sales and Marketing Dept. of Shanghai Municipal Electric Company said.

• Low carbon, EV charging

Besides smart homes, smart infrastructure also includes two Electric Vehicle charging stations in the community. They are 30 KW and 5 KW and it takes half an hour and 5 hours for charging respectively.

• Smart homes, Easy lifestyle

Upon entering Room 1801, Building No.5, the show room, all delegates could see a diagram and learnt that a terminal can control all appliances at home, including TV, humidifier, air conditioner, electric curtain, etc and remote control is also available. By an interactive terminal and smart power consumption platform, residents can enjoy the convenient service. The show room staff explained in details about the terminal control principle and demonstrated how a call or a button can remotely control the air conditioner or curtain. In front of the diagram, a video call with Shanghai Municipal Electrical Company staff was also put through for remote consulting service demonstration. Delegates are quite interested in the DEMO and raised their questions concerning programming, alarming system operation, etc, which are answered one by one accordingly.



The Show room uses smart water and gas meters, which can automatically read meters, collect data and precisely transmit or acquire data in time. Data can be shared to realize wireless reading. Meanwhile, residents can check their billing and finish payment through internet or video terminal.

• Three networks in one, not a dream anymore

Three networks in one technology is partially applied in the community, which means power line, telephone line as well as Internet & Cable TV line can be combined into one. This enables smart homes one more step towards our dreams.

We may say that Yuefuhaoting Community residents have already been enjoying the convenience and comfort brought by smart grids technology and this pilot project will be the pioneer for future China smart grids and smart homes development.

The conference successfully ended on the 3rd of November. Thank you all for the great support and participation. We are looking forward to seeing you in SMARTGRIDSChina 2011 conference next year.