Global Digital Power Forum 2023: Enabling Operator Success amid the Global Transition to Carbon Neutrality

[Barcelona, Spain, February 28, 2023] Huawei hosted the Global Digital Power Forum at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2023. The Forum was themed "Enabling Operator Success amid the Global Transition to Carbon Neutrality." Operators, industry leaders, and experts from around the world gathered to exchange their latest insights into the global energy and ICT industries. They also shared innovative solutions and best practices for green and low-carbon energy infrastructure, discussing how to help operators succeed in the pursuit of a greener future.

Charles Yang, President of Global Marketing and Sales Services of Huawei Digital Power, delivered a speech on "Enabling Operator Success amid the Global Transition to Carbon Neutrality." He highlighted that despite the global consensus on green development, operators continue to face challenges. Operators are still seeing rising electricity costs, difficulties in reducing carbon emissions, and stagnant growth.

Charles Yang, President of Global Marketing and Sales Services of Huawei Digital Power 

Huawei is committed to integrating digital and power electronics technologies to help operators succeed in the pursuit of a greener future. According to Mr. Yang, operators can no longer be just energy consumers, but must also become producers and enablers amid the global transition to carbon neutrality. Huawei hopes to support them on this journey.

• Energy consumers: Operators will maximize energy efficiency to reduce energy consumption by enabling each watt to power more bits. Networks will use intelligent energy-saving and optimal hibernation technologies to reduce power consumption. Telecom sites will be simplified from rooms to cabinets or from cabinets to poles to improve site energy efficiency up to 97%. Data centers will use free cooling and AI energy efficiency optimization to reduce the PUE to 1.15.

• Energy producers: Operators will participate in energy generation and regulation to maximize the value of their infrastructure. They will deploy PV systems or purchase green energy at telecom sites, data centers, and campuses. Staggering electricity usage will also reduce electricity costs. Finally, they will save and make money by using lithium batteries as part of the virtual power plant (VPP).

• Energy enablers: Operators will use digital technologies such as 5G, AI, cloud, and loT to enable digital management, intelligent O&M, and a stable supply of both conventional and renewable energy systems. They will enable network-wide scheduling and AI-based fault predictions, helping build safe, stable, and efficient energy supply systems.

Yao Quan, President of Huawei Site Power Facility, delivered a speech on "Intelligent Site Power: A Key Enabler for Green and Low-Carbon Network." He explained that operators are reducing carbon emissions and energy expenditures to meet carbon neutrality targets, shoulder rising energy prices, and keep up with accelerated 5G network deployment.

However, conventional site power solutions have a high total cost of ownership (TCO) and carbon emissions. This hinders network evolution and prevents operators from achieving carbon neutrality. To address these issues, Huawei proposes intelligent site power solutions that offer 'Intelligent Simplicity', 'Intelligent Green', and 'Intelligent Saving’. By serving as a key enabler for developing green and low-carbon networks, these intelligent site power solutions will help operators accelerate the achievement of their carbon neutrality goals.

Yao Quan, President of Huawei Site Power Facility   

Sun Xiaofeng, President of Huawei Data Center Facility and Critical Power Business Unit, delivered a speech on "Smart DC, Building the Green Future." The world is going carbon neutral, digital, and intelligent. In this context, data centers must deliver high energy efficiency, high O&M efficiency, agility, and availability to support the exponential growth of computing power. He introduced Huawei's solutions for all sizes of data centers and critical power supply solutions. These solutions enable green, simple, smart, and reliable data centers to facilitate low-carbon and intelligent industry development.

Sun Xiaofeng, President of Huawei Data Center Facility and Critical Power Business Unit 

Experts also spoke at the forum, sharing their visions on green ICTs in the energy business. Their presentations are listed in order of appearance.

• Massamba Thioye, Project Executive of the UNFCCC Global Innovation Hub, shared his ideas on "Energy Transformation for a Net-Zero World."

• Jose Donoso, Director General of Union Espanola Fotovoltaica (UNEF) and Chairman of Global Solar Council, shared the "Trends of ICT Industry Use of Renewable Energy."

• Luis Neves, GeSI CEO, summed up the "Trends of Thousands of Industries under Energy Transformation."

• Hervé Suquet, SVP of Orange, presented on "Lead the future - Orange Energy Challenge."

• Anastasios Koumparos, Head of Energy Management, Vantage Towers, gave a speech on "Towers for Good – Enable a Greener Future."

• Fred Mitchell, Technical Director of K2, shared the "Practice of Building Green Data Center."

• Seppo Ihalainen, CEO of VerneGlobal Finland, presented their best practice during the speech on "Towards Zero-Carbon Data Center."

The theme for MWC 2023 is Velocity. Technological progress is accelerating and carbon neutrality is trending. Huawei will continue to invest in innovation, integrate digital and power electronics technologies, and work with global customers and partners to accelerate carbon neutrality. Together, we will help operators succeed in the pursuit of a greener future.