Xiamen University, Nextek Power Systems, People Power Company, Canadian Solar, Intel Corp. and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) announced a ground-breaking alliance to construct and manage direct-current microgrids at the School of Energy Research in Xiamen University (SER-XMU). This microgrid will become operational this year and will make Xiamen University China’s first direct-current powered commercial building, and will serve as a global showcase for distributed direct-current microgrid innovation and commercialization.
The Xiamen University’s direct-current microgrid could change the way Chinese campuses and building complexes manage, control and consume energy by directly integrating renewable energy generation and storage batteries with building electrical loads through one-touch mobile and web-based energy management and control applications. This change is significant because of Chinese building energy consumption. According to the National Resource Defense Council, Chinese building consumption could account for 20 percent of the 2020 global coal consumption if China cannot reduce its building energy consumption.