this man is not calm

Chapter 411 Advance step by step
After returning from vacation and resuming work, Jin Shang discussed with the power grid and higher-level authorities many times. Until the end of summer vacation, only a few innocuous surrounding supporting facilities were discussed. The overall planning at a higher level still needs to be slowly promoted.

The progress was neither fast nor slow, which made Jin Shang, who was used to smooth sailing, feel a little tired.

Unlike opening Internet cafes, holding concerts, setting up IT offline service centers, computer malls, home appliance after-sales services and local offline life, the Internet is still a new thing in its infancy. Many people don't understand how useful it is. As for data centers, which seem to be a "big deal" at the moment, this super project cannot be solved with just a few words.

About twenty years later in my previous life, Alibaba's cloud service center in Hangzhou had a network of 300,000 cabinets and consumed 1.8 million kilowatt-hours of electricity per day, accounting for more than one-eighth of the city's total residential electricity consumption, which was simply appalling.

In 1997, when the country was still the capital, no one could easily make a decision to promote a data center whose power consumption after the completion of the first phase would be close to one twentieth of the current power consumption of the entire city, and whose total energy consumption would be no less than 20% after the completion of the third phase.

There is no doubt that the power consumption in China's big cities is increasing day by day. The deepening of urbanization and the influx of a large number of people from small towns are constantly increasing the burden on urban power grids. Even if the power supply continues to increase at a very high rate, it is still somewhat unsustainable.

A few years ago, the west of Beijing, which was a bit backward compared to the city center, occasionally experienced power outages. In the summer, air conditioning and refrigeration consumed a lot of energy, and industrial electricity consumption was at its peak. In the winter, there was also a great demand for electric auxiliary heating for insulation and heating. In addition, the heavy industry in the cities surrounding the capital developed very rapidly, and the energy consumption of steelmaking, metallurgy, chemical industry, and infrastructure was also very terrifying. It was estimated that it would take many years for the insufficient power supply to be improved.

At present, power supply shortages, unstable voltage and frequent malfunctions in the western Beijing area are rare, but the difficulty of deploying super-large data centers is still great.

If we look at it from a development perspective, a data center with a server phase that consumes less than 5 megawatts of power in a few years will not be a big deal. However, when the G era arrives, the total power consumption of data centers across the country will require two Three Gorges Hydropower Stations to supply.

Unfortunately, no one can see the future, and we can only evaluate the feasibility of data centers and their impact on energy security based on the current scale of electricity supply.

While busying himself inside and outside, Jin Shang also did not forget to deal with the company's backlog of documents, so as to smooth out the slightly cluttered operation of Jinxi Culture.

During these two months, PHS and MP3 players became the company's main sources of profit, with hundreds of millions of dollars in payments being deposited into the account every month, making the already tight cash flow even more abundant.

If it weren't for the consideration that next year is the peak period for debt repayment and it is not suitable to increase leverage again, Jin Shangdu would be ready to continue using financial tools to speed up the pace of asset purchases.

Online business has almost reached its current limit. There are extremely limited computers connected to the Internet and only so many Internet users. Those who should use Jinxi Culture's software have basically used it, and those who haven't used it have at least heard of it and know what type of product it is.

Cultivating usage habits is not a matter of overnight. The current software business is making steady progress. With the passive improvement of the construction of domestic basic operators, no matter how much effort is put in, the effect of advertising is extremely limited.

In core sectors such as instant messaging, even the growth in the number of registered users of Fetion began to slow down, which shows how low the ceiling of the Internet market was in 1997.

Without strong hard power support, the only way to get support is to rely on financing and transfer of management and ownership rights, and burn money until the day of listing or turning losses into profits.

It’s no wonder that the e-commerce market is the hottest right now. The logic behind this thing is sound. In theory, as long as the upstream and downstream links are connected, profits can be achieved.

It is definitely inappropriate for Jinxi Mall to sell off a large amount of equity now. In this case, if it wants to develop rapidly and not be controlled by others, it can only strengthen the profitability of the group company.

Making hardware, opening factories, selling home appliances, publishing newspapers and magazines, selling audio-visual products, distributing books, music, movies, DVDs, etc., it seems that the profit level is still considerable at present.

The data center is a key link in the entire online and offline business. In the future, everything related to IT will basically be inseparable from the support of the data center.

Therefore, no matter how difficult it is, Jin Shang will tenaciously push forward the data center project and implement it.

Starting next year, the promotion of online games will enter the substantive marketing stage. There are over one million PC users and millions of networked game consoles. If their resources can be utilized, it will add a super source of income for Jinxi Culture.

Since we are talking about online games, we naturally cannot do without high-speed networks and game server units. The former has been available for two or three years as Internet cafes have sprung up everywhere, while the latter has just begun to be built. If we don't speed up, it will be too late.

The overall working atmosphere is maintained at a level of relaxation on the outside and tension on the inside.

One week after school started in September, on the second Monday, CSSC sent a group of smart and capable technicians, led by Hong Renquan, to the company headquarters to participate in the Jinxi Cloud Service technology research and briefing meeting.

Jin Shang does not interfere in the specific details, but he firmly holds the initiative in choosing the direction.

During this period, the results of negotiations with the power grid have been mixed. Overall, the support for new energy power stations is still good. Wind power technology is relatively mature and the cost of power generation is relatively low. If the operating risks can be borne, it is still very good. Relatively speaking, it is more popular. If it were not for the stubborn problem of unstable wind power, I am afraid the promotion efforts would be even greater.

Photovoltaics is more complicated. The technology is mature, but the power generation efficiency is average. More importantly, the production capacity of photovoltaic panels is insufficient, which makes the installation price very high. A relatively fair estimate is that measured by purchasing power and taking inflation into account, the price in twenty years may be only one-tenth of what it is now.

It seems that under current conditions, wind power is obviously more cost-effective than photovoltaic power. As long as we find an area with concentrated and stable wind resources to build a wind farm, it will definitely be much more cost-effective than a photovoltaic power station.

But that’s not how it works.

The space required for wind power installation is extremely large and the unit installation cost is extremely high. An ultra-large wind turbine with blades of nearly 100 meters can generate dozens or even 100 degrees of electricity in one rotation. Of course, this is an ideal situation and it will not maintain full load for a long time in actual operation.

Photovoltaic installation requirements are lower, site requirements are not so strict, and maintenance is more convenient, but the payback period is too long. The complementary characteristics of wind and solar also make it impossible for Jinshang to give up. It is almost instinctive for Jinshang to maximize power generation and make full use of the site to do business in Beijing, where every inch of land is valuable.

The current land price is already very high. If we don’t make full use of it, we will be truly losing the watermelon and picking up sesame seeds.

During the meeting, Jin Shang spent most of the time listening and occasionally asked a few questions.

Jinxi Culture's IT technicians, software and hardware engineers, Planet Manufacturing's electrical product manager, the shipyard's electromechanical equipment engineers, power plant operations and maintenance personnel, etc., are discussing how to cooperate with the current project engineering plan to get the data center up and running as soon as possible.

"If we follow the current selection of uninterruptible power supplies, we must go the route of customized data centers. All IT equipment, as well as matching electrical appliances and electronic components, need to retain DC and AC power supply modes. Placing orders with manufacturers in advance and providing equipment in a timely manner is a top priority."

This is the technical center's starting point from the perspective of IT operation and maintenance and services. After understanding the needs of the data center, the electromechanical equipment engineers and marine electrical engineers jointly proposed the use of HVDC (communication high-voltage direct current uninterruptible power supply system) to replace the traditional UPS power supply with problems such as high energy consumption, large investment, inconvenient maintenance, and difficult topology.

Especially after learning that the parent company has customized wind and solar complementarity, combined with gas-fired power generation, and adapted large-capacity energy storage systems, this new power supply mode is strongly recommended.

While listening, Jin Shang occasionally flipped through a technical report in his hand. With his knowledge of high school physics and university electrical engineering, he could barely understand what was said.

I won't go into the specific theories, but the comparison of the advantages and disadvantages of HVDC and UPS is clear at a glance. In terms of modularity, topology, and unit reliability, the former has huge advantages, especially on the basis of self-provided new energy power supply, HVDC is far better than UPS.

Although the short-term one-time investment in HVDC seems to be slightly higher, for a small power system with long-term operation, the longer the time, the greater the advantage of HVDC. This is especially true when Jinshang is preparing to apply for peak and valley power mode from the power grid and requires flexible module hibernation.

Although the traditional integrated reverse control mode is convenient, its efficiency is too low.

The electricity price during peak hours is at least 60 percent higher than that during low hours. In extreme cases, the former is three times the latter.

This is the same as the large fluctuations in the mainstream gas-fired power generation model in Europe and the United States. During the winter electricity consumption peak, gas consumption is high and prices are naturally high. However, once the gas storage stations are full, a large number of LNG ships are stranded at sea and queue up to unload at the port. The daily consumption is an astronomical figure. Not only do the gas storage stations and power supply companies have to give you huge discounts, they may even be willing to pay you out of pocket to provide you with electricity and gas.

This is how those occasional, eye-popping negative electricity and gas prices come about.

In fact, the power grid also has similar problems. The electricity load fluctuates greatly. Once the peak and valley electricity settlement model is used, we have to consider how to use it and save costs.

For example, at night, when industrial electricity costs only 20 cents, the power module should be put into hibernation and the mains electricity should be used directly, which is cost-effective. During the daytime peak period, when the electricity price is more than 50 cents, or even 80 cents or one dollar, the HVDC system should be turned on, and the wind-solar complementary power station combined with battery energy storage should be used to supply power. If it is not enough, the mains electricity can be used to supplement the power, or a gas-fired generator can be used to supplement the energy.

It sounds beautiful, and it is indeed so.

It would be great if this high-voltage DC power supply system is really easy to use, and its maintenance, topology, switching, and efficiency are really ideal, and it can quickly enable the data center to operate in batches and steps.

"Mr. Jin, high-voltage direct current transmission technology is really suitable for wind power, photovoltaics, and various distributed power networks. It has the advantages of reliability, high efficiency, flexible control, and controllable input parameters. HVDC technology is the current development direction. At present, the academic community is very fond of flexible direct current transmission technology. UHV technology is developing rapidly. We use communication HVDC to easily catch a ride in the future. By the way, the model of 'self-generation and self-use, and complementary to the city power' is definitely good, but Mr. Jin had better coordinate with the power grid as soon as possible. With the power generation capacity of the electric field we planned, under ideal circumstances, there will be some overflow of power. It may be better to have the ability to access the Internet with 'surplus power'..."

Flexible adaptation, data center and other industrial applications, convenient expansion and transformation, integration of distributed power supply, ensuring the normal operation of the data center, minimizing the impact on the power grid and reverse power supply.

Simply put, people used to treat data centers as pure load units, but HVDC power supply technology and flexible DC power supply mode have independent networking and multi-terminal mounting and distribution functions to improve the overall utilization rate.

In this case, data centers and new energy power plants not only use electricity, but can also replenish electricity to the power grid when they have the ability and need. The use of direct current to transmit energy between high-performance converter stations can support the passive power grid.

While listening to everyone's talk, Jin Shang flipped through the final conclusion. In the void vision provided by the "Golden Finger", golden-gray clouds kept rolling, and occasionally a thunder dragon with a claw appeared in the flash of lightning, as if reminding Xiao Jin that the things in front of him were very important and the decision was related to the overall situation in the future.

In the conclusion at the end, three different levels of application modes are provided.

The first one is based on high-voltage direct current power supply technology. In the data park, the original buildings and load modules are connected in series through direct current energy routers to achieve internal resource mutual assistance, also called direct current interconnection, to improve efficiency.

The second is to build a large-scale new energy power plant around the city or in an isolated base data center, to create an integrated DC power grid system of "source, grid, load and storage" to achieve semi-independent operation of the data center.

After reading this, Jin Shang raised his eyebrows, tapped the document with his hand, and asked in surprise:
"I don't quite understand how it is implemented. There is one thing I hope you can help me understand. HVDC technology is a technology that is very suitable for powering sub-networks, interconnecting, and distributing energy and loads. In this way, can I understand it as..."

After a pause, he raised his voice and asked,

“If we regard the city’s power grid as a large, comprehensive empire, then this self-organized energy network is a semi-independent kingdom?”

"I can't say that for now. I can barely be considered a small warlord with a few guns or a bandit who rules the mountain, a local tyrant in a remote area where the emperor is far away!"

(End of this chapter)