Zhuangshang Village, China’s first rural demonstration project incorporating photovoltaic (PV) electricity generation, energy storage, direct current distribution, and flexible loads in buildings, was awarded as an “Energy Transition Changemaker” on December 5, 2023, at COP28 in Dubai. The Changemakers initiative, led by the COP28 UAE Presidency, “aims to foster private sector collaboration in delivering innovative and scalable decarbonization projects globally and demonstrate solutions to help enable and accelerate the energy transition.” The project, located in Shanxi Province, was supported by Energy Foundation China (EF China) and led by Mr. Chen Wenbo, president and founder of Nanjing Golden Company, who was born in the village.

Beginning in 2020, EF China provided the first philanthropic funding to support leading architecture professor Jiang Yi and his team at Tsinghua University to explore the innovative building solution known as “PEDF.” The system enables buildings to act as a “prosumer,” which can maximize on-site consumption of distributed solar PV-generated electricity. Zhuangshang Village was selected as one of the first pilots to test the solution in rural areas, in a province that has been China’s top coal producer.

The 27-household first-phase pilot showed that the PEDF system can achieve safe, efficient, and flexible access to rooftop PV, household energy storage, direct current appliances, electric vehicles, and electric agricultural machinery. The second phase expanded to 71 households, which built direct current micro-grids and changed coal-fired heating and cooking to electricity-powered systems—practices that enabled a balance between on-site electricity generation and consumption, and improved the profitability of roof-top solar PV and the villagers’ livelihoods. The project has saved 1,496 tonnes of coal equivalent and reduced 3,700 tonnes of CO2 emissions as of August 2023. In April 2023, the United Nations Development Program and China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recognized it as one of “China’s Zero Carbon Villages.”

Zhangshang Village has shown that PEDF can significantly improve villagers’ living conditions—and health—by replacing coal-fired energy systems with solar power solutions, increase solar PV penetration, alleviate rural grid capacity shortage issues, strengthen rural load regulation, and potentially help with peak shaving and valley filling for the grid to support the establishment of China’s new power system. Partnering with funders, Tsinghua University, Nanjing Golden, and other key players in the field, EF China is working to scale up this model to more villages, through analysis on relevant standards, guidelines, and policies, as well as programs for capacity building, communications, and technical support for more pilots.

Before: Cooking and heating in Zhuangshang Village
Photo by: Nanjing Golden Cooperate DC Power Distribution Technology Co., Ltd.

After: Heating by electricity powered by solar PV in Zhuangshang Village
Photo by: Nanjing Golden Cooperate DC Power Distribution Technology Co., Ltd.