IBM announced a 10-year initiative to support China in transforming its national energy systems and protecting the health of citizens.
IBM’s “Green Horizon” project seeks to address three areas critical to China’s sustainable growth: air quality management, renewable energy forecasting and energy optimization.
The project will be led by IBM’s China Research laboratory and tap into the company’s network of 12 global research labs and create an innovation ecosystem of partners from government, academia, industry and private enterprise.
On the issue of air pollution, the Green Horizon project will collaborate with the Beijing Municipal Government to leverage some of IBM’s most advanced technologies such as cognitive computing, optical sensors and the Internet of Things, to enable a Big Data and analytics platform that predicts air quality in the city. The aim is to create visual maps showing the source and dispersion of pollutants across Beijing 72 hours in advance with street-scale resolution.
For the renewable energy sector, IBM’s “Hybrid Renewable Energy Forecasting” (HyRef) solution will provide weather modeling capabilities, advanced cloud imaging technology and sky-facing cameras to track cloud movements, while sensors monitor wind speed, temperature and direction. It can predict the performance of individual renewable energy farms and estimate the amount of energy several days ahead. IBM said its system has already been rolled out at China’s largest renewable energy initiative – the Zhangbei Demonstration Project managed by State Grid Jibei Electricity Power Company Limited (SG-JBEPC) in the Northern province of Hebei. Using the system, SG-JBEPC is able to integrate 10% more alternative energy (enough for 14,000 homes) into the national grid. With a prediction accuracy of 90% proven on Zhangbei’s wind turbines, it is one of the most accurate energy forecasting systems in the world.
“China has made great achievements and contributed much to the world’s economic growth over the past 30 years. It now has an opportunity to lead the world in sustainable energy and environmental management,” said D.C. Chien, Chairman and CEO, IBM Greater China Group. “While other nations waited until their economies were fully developed before taking comprehensive action to address environmental issues, China can leverage IBM’s most advanced information technologies to help transform its energy infrastructures in parallel with its growth.”
