Case Study – Smart Watts AI x JinkoSolar

Project Background

JinkoSolar

JinkoSolar’s Yuanhua plant relies on a water system to maintain a stable temperature and humidity environment essential for its production workshops. The system includes centrifugal chillers, refrigeration water pumps, heat pump circulation pumps, cooling water pumps, cooling towers, and water treatment devices.

As a leading global photovoltaic manufacturer, JinkoSolar’s production process demands strict environmental control. HVAC systems are critical to ensuring process stability and product quality. A preliminary site survey revealed several inefficiencies: high load rates on operating chillers, mismatched pump selections, unstable heat recovery, and a broadly applied control strategy—all contributing to low energy utilization.

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Energy Saving Effect

The central air conditioning system’s main equipment—including chillers, pumps, and cooling towers—consumes approximately 35.94 million kWh annually, costing around $4,036,780.80 USD. After implementing digital and intelligent energy-saving upgrades, the system is expected to achieve a 15% energy savings rate, reducing consumption by 5.391 million kWh per year. This translates to cost savings of $605,545.20 USD and a carbon dioxide emissions reduction of approximately 3,001,708 kgCO₂.

Energy savings rate（%）

0 million

Annual electricity savings（KW/h）

0 million

Save on electricity bills

Carbon emissions reduction（kgCO2）

Challenges

The high-load operation of the chiller is improperly matched

At present, the load rate of 4#, 5#, 6#, and 8# hosts of the operating units is about 95%, and the load rate of 2# hosts is about 40%, all of which are inefficient under low COP conditions and have high energy consumption. The source side of the refrigeration water cooling is a primary pump variable flow system, and the refrigeration unit and circulating water pump adopt "one machine and one pump", and the individual pump selection is not properly matched.

The hydraulic system is extensively regulated

Chillers and cooling towers are installed in parallel, and electric valves are not installed at the inlet and outlet pipe interfaces, which can easily cause water conservancy imbalance, abnormal water level and other problems, and there is a risk of water hammer and evacuation.

The heat recovery system is unstable and "backlash" the host COP

When the load factor is less than 70%, the cooling capacity decreases and the heat recovery decreases simultaneously. Conversely, if the hot water is "poorly digested and absorbed", it will also affect the COP of the chiller. If the load factor < 30%, the heat recovery water temperature cannot maintain the original set value, and even trigger the surge protection of the unit.

Control policy lags

(1) The existing group control system of the refrigeration station system relies on manual scheduling and lacks dynamic optimization based on load prediction.
(2) The cooling tower approaches the temperature of > 5°C in summer, and the outlet water temperature can be reduced according to the outdoor air parameters to improve the efficiency of the main engine.
(3) Although temperature, pressure, and flow sensors have been deployed, the data is isolated and not integrated;
(4) There is no real-time energy efficiency calculation platform, relying on monthly manual meter reading analysis.

Solution

AI Intelligent Chiller Control：

Digital meters, control devices, IoT switches, and PLC communication modules are added to the existing Carrier and York chillers. These collect data such as current, voltage, outlet and return water temperatures, and upload it to the cloud. The cloud platform can send commands to adjust temperature settings and other parameters.

Intelligent Frequency Conversion for Pumps:

Eight chilled water pumps, eight cooling water pumps, two heat recovery pumps, and their backups are equipped with frequency converters. Additional digital power meters, control units, and flow meters are installed. PLC or gateway controllers enable analog-based frequency conversion control, with RS485 communication used to collect real-time power and current data.

Cooling Tower Frequency Conversion Control:

Four cooling towers are equipped with frequency converters. Digital power meters, control units, and PLC or gateway controllers are added to enable analog frequency conversion control. RS485 communication collects real-time power and current data.

Real-Time Monitoring on Large Screens:

A large-screen monitoring system provides real-time visibility into equipment status, temperature zone conditions, early warnings, and energy consumption analytics.

Smart Watts AI provides professional energy-saving solutions

With the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and automation technology as the core, the company provides intelligent products and technical services for industrial, construction, environmental protection and other industries in scenarios such as energy conservation and carbon reduction, energy management and environmental monitoring, and its business covers hardware equipment research and development, algorithm model optimization and engineering implementation support throughout the chain.

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