An aerial view of Allen Bay Marine Ranch in Rongcheng, Shandong province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Allen Bay Marine Ranch in Rongcheng, Shandong province, boasts an efficient management platform that can help regulate the growth environment of seedlings, control greenhouse temperatures during summer and winter, and realize the continuous breeding of marine organisms throughout the four seasons.

Walking into the microalgae cultivation workshop at the ranch, pipelines of all sizes are spread across it. There are only three technicians working on microalgae breeding.

"The 6,000-square-meter workshop only needs three workers because we use the 'smart brain'," said Bian Dapeng, an operation manager of the Allen Bay Marine Ranch.

The "smart brain" is the Marine Ranch Smart Energy Efficiency Management Platform, which is the technological core of the zero-carbon smart energy demonstration project.

According to Bian, data such as illuminance, temperature and humidity, and water quality can be monitored and regulated in real time through sensors.

Equipment such as sunshade curtains and circulating water pumps in the workshop can also be automatically operated. By using these intelligent electrified farming methods, only a few technicians are needed for daily management, which greatly reduces the cost of labor.

The Allen Bay Marine Ranch is the first zero-carbon smart energy demonstration zone for marine ranch in Shandong province. It was developed by the State Grid Weihai Power Supply Company and built into a comprehensive project adopting distributed photovoltaic, smart energy storage, temperature control, and light control sensing systems.

It is used as an electricity substitution in the breeding of marine organisms and deep processing of marine products, creating the most suitable breeding environment for marine organisms.

"Through this, we can save labor costs of more than 300,000 yuan ($41,000) per year, reduce production energy costs by more than 25 percent, increase microalgae cultivation capacity by more than 30 percent, and cut annual carbon dioxide emissions by more than 100 metric tons," Bian said.

The increase in production capacity also promotes the photosynthesis and carbon fixation of marine organisms, further supporting the zero-carbon emissions of the park itself, Bian said.

Previously, all the electricity used for entertainment and catering of the Allen Bay Marine Ranch was supplied by diesel generators, which had high costs and caused significant environmental pollution.

In response, State Grid Weihai Power Supply Company customized a ship-mounted mobile energy storage solution for them, replacing the diesel generators and making the electricity supply in accordance with its usage. This solution saved the company more than 500,000 yuan in investment and reduced annual carbon dioxide emissions by 8.9 tons, a significant contribution to the low carbon targets of the local energy system and the effective implementation of China's dual-carbon goal.

Staff members work with the Marine Ranch Smart Energy Efficiency Management Platform. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Technicians from the State Grid Weihai Power Supply Company [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]