On August 12, the grid connection of a 1,038-kilowatt distributed photovoltaic project at Ningbo Science Middle School in the Qianwan New District pushed the city's total distributed solar photovoltaic (PV) installed capacity past 10 gigawatts. This milestone makes Ningbo the first city nationwide to achieve a distributed PV capacity of that magnitude.

As a major industrial hub, Ningbo's distributed solar panels are primarily deployed on industrial parks, public buildings, and residential rooftops. Industrial parks account for 84% of the city's PV capacity. Based on an estimated 1,000 hours of equivalent full-load generation per year, Ningbo's distributed PV systems can produce up to 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by approximately 5 million metric tons each year. Employees of the State Grid Ningbo Qianwan Power Supply Branch are inspecting electrical equipment at the Yinwan East Road Zero-Carbon Station in the Qianwan New District.

The large-scale integration of distributed PV brings challenges such as output fluctuations, reverse overloads on distribution networks, imbalances between peak and valley supply and demand, and complex settlement processes for industrial parks. State Grid Ningbo Power Supply Company is addressing these issues through a dual approach on the technical and service fronts. On the technical side, the company has leveraged its key laboratory for digital-physical hybrid simulation of new power systems to build a full-element planning and simulation platform for county-level power grids. This platform allows for "previews" of various extreme scenarios before distributed PV is connected to the grid, helping to mitigate risks in advance. Through its "main-distribution-marketing" dispatching and decision center, State Grid Ningbo has shifted the grid's operating mode from "single control" of the generation side to "coordinating all types of adjustable energy resources across society," improving the accuracy of renewable energy output forecasts to a stable 96%. Using a distributed PV operation monitoring application within the distribution automation system, dispatchers can track power flow directions in real time and remotely control smart switches to direct electricity flow, ensuring grid safety and enhancing local consumption of PV power.

On the service side, State Grid Ningbo has introduced an "Electricity-Energy-Carbon" integrated service model for industrial parks. This model streamlines the chain from "connection, energy efficiency, to carbon management," integrating services such as grid connection, energy efficiency diagnostics, energy-saving retrofits, carbon accounting, and green certificate processing. This approach ensures that factory buildings and energy facilities are operational simultaneously. Additionally, the company has launched a digital settlement platform called "Sunshine Steward," which has reduced the settlement cycle for park-level PV revenue from 45 days to just 3 days. According to data, the platform now covers over 18,600 enterprises and parks across Zhejiang Province, facilitating a total fund settlement of 140.62 billion yuan.