By exploring integrated development of AI and power industry, south China's technology hub Shenzhen in Guangzhou Province is addressing AI's growing power demand with greener electricity supply and building smarter power grids with AI empowerment.
This two-way integration of artificial intelligence and electricity supply is one of 51 high-value future scenarios mapped out by China's National Energy Administration. Across China, computing centers and power grids are exploring to tackle each other's headaches, with Shenzhen taking the lead.
At one intelligent computing hub in Shenzhen, electricity makes up over half of total running costs. To keep pace with soaring demand, operators are purchasing large volumes of green power from regions rich in solar and wind resources.
"Currently, we have purchased about 50 million kilowatt-hours of green electricity from Guangxi and Yunnan to power the Intelligent Computing Center in Shenzhen. We are also expanding the green electricity purchase. We aim to have all new projects fully powered by imported green electricity by the end of this year," said Wang Ziyi, operations manager of Nanshan Intelligent Computing Center, Shenzhen Telecom.
The deal represents China's first-ever point-to-point, cross-provincial green electricity transaction. Real-time monitoring screens track power generated hundreds of kilometers away as it courses through the country's west-to-east transmission corridors, eventually reaching data center clusters across the Greater Bay Area.
The relationship works in both directions. By weaving AI into grid management, China's power networks are getting better at allocating electricity intelligently to cope with peak demand seasons.
In southern China, this year's summer peak arrived roughly a month early, straining the grid. But China's first virtual power plant has been keeping ahead of the pressure by deploying AI tools to orchestrate its network of charging stations and energy storage facilities.
By forecast peak loads, direct electric vehicles to charge during off-peak windows, and pre-cool air conditioning systems in advance, the AI-powered system enables the virtual plant to absorb stress more smoothly.
"During peak hours, AI can instantly identify heavily loaded or overloaded transmission lines and upload related information to the control center, and the control center can automatically generates response instructions tailored to heavily loaded or overloaded transmission lines, all thanks to AI tools," said Chen Renli, general manager of Shenzhen Virtual Power Plant Management Center.
Shenzhen explores AI, power industry integration to build greener, smarter electricity system
Colombians are heading to the polls on Sunday to elect their next president. The country's constitution prevents the current President, Gustavo Petro, from running for a second term.
Yet, many see this election as a referendum on the policies of Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first leftist president.
There are 14 candidates on Sunday's ballot, but the polls show it will likely be a tight three-way race.
The frontrunner is Ivan Cepeda, a 63-year-old three-term senator, representing President Gustavo Petro's party, the Historic Pact coalition. Cepeda has vowed to defend and deepen Petro's progressive reforms and social justice policies to reduce inequality. He also promises to continue the government's controversial "Total Peace" strategy to negotiate the disarmament of remaining guerrilla groups and criminal gangs.
"True prosperity comes from equality, from access to rights, and from transforming the peripheral and excluded territories of the rural world," Cepeda said at a campaign rally.
Running as a political outsider and independent is Abelardo de la Espriella, a 47-year-old lawyer, nicknamed "The Tiger." He has presented himself as the "authority and order" candidate who will reduce state spending by up to 40 percent in the next four years.
"(First,) we must fight insecurity. Colombia is suffering today from a pandemic of insecurity. Crime is out of control: extortion, cattle theft, smuggling, drug trafficking," he said to his supporters at an election event.
According to polls, the third candidate with strong support is Paloma Valencia. The 48-year-old senator represents the Democratic Center party led by popular former President Alvaro Uribe Velez. Her candidacy is backed by politicians and economists who are concerned with growing levels of public debt. They want to see a return to more conservative fiscal policies.
"I don't want to be a president who governs alone, locked away in glass offices. I want to be a president who stands with citizens, who embraces them, who reaches out to them, who has a team, and who governs to transform Colombia," the candidate said at the campaign event
According to polls earlier in the year, many voters are expressing concerns about unemployment, rising living costs, corruption, and, above all, public security.
The election comes after a turbulent year that the International Committee of the Red Cross has called "the worst humanitarian consequences of armed conflict over the past decade."
"(We arrive at this election in a tense atmosphere - tense) because of the economic situation, because of the security situation, and because of the narratives that have been built around the country's main problems. On top of that, emotions, ideas and social media have all helped raise (the tone,)" said Eduardo Velosa, associate professor from International Studies Javeriana University.
If no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, a runoff election will be held between the top two finishers on June 21st.
Colombians prepare to choose their next president
