Chinese Academy of Engineering Academician: 5G will consume 2.1% of national electricity consumption in 2026

On the afternoon of September 1st, at the "5G and Carbon Neutrality and Carbon Peak Forum" of the World 5G Conference, Wu Feng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, predicted that after the three major operators have all upgraded to 5G in 2026, electricity consumption will reach 2.1% of the country's total electricity consumption, requiring higher-density, low-cost and highly reliable energy storage technology to ensure stable operation.

[[421542]]

Recently, the three major operators have announced their "dual carbon" goals. Wei Jinwu, deputy director of China Unicom Research Institute, said that the current energy consumption of 5G base stations is 3-4 times that of 4G base stations, and the density of mid- and high-frequency band base stations is greater than that of 4G. In addition, China is currently promoting 5G networks based on full SA independent networking, so 5G is still in a state of high energy consumption at this stage. Huang Yuhong, deputy director of China Mobile Research Institute, pointed out at the forum that compared with the commercial use in 2019, the current power consumption of 5G base stations has been reduced by 1/4. In the future, "four new + two transformations" measures can be taken to further reduce the energy consumption of 5G base stations.

At the above-mentioned forum, Wu Feng, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, pointed out that my country's annual power generation in 2020 was 7.42 trillion kWh and electricity consumption was 7.51 trillion kWh. He predicts that after the three major operators have all upgraded to 5G in 2026, electricity consumption will reach 2.1% of the country's total electricity consumption, which will be higher than the power consumption level of data centers.

He believes that the construction of 5G base stations requires higher-density, low-cost and highly reliable energy storage technology, which can ensure the stable operation of base stations on the one hand and power balance and power operation safety on the other.

It is worth noting that recently, the three major domestic operators have successively released their respective "dual carbon" goals and action plans.

• China Telecom's "1236 Action Plan" proposes to achieve a reduction of more than 23% in the comprehensive energy consumption/carbon emissions per unit of total telecommunications business during the "14th Five-Year Plan" period; the power saving of 4/5G co-construction and sharing will exceed 45 billion kWh, and the power saving rate of newly built 5G base stations will be no less than 20%; large and ultra-large green data centers will account for more than 80%, and the PUE of newly built data centers will be lower than 1.3.
• China Unicom’s “3+5+1+1 Dual Carbon Action Plan” proposes to strive to peak the growth rate of total energy consumption by 2023. As the power generation industry reaches its peak and green electricity trading progresses, it strives to peak total carbon emissions ahead of schedule in 2028.
• The "C² Three Energy - China Mobile Carbon Peak and Carbon Neutrality Action Plan White Paper" released by China Mobile proposes the goal of controlling total carbon emissions within 56 million tons in 2025 while the company's total telecommunications business volume increases 1.6 times.

Huang Yuhong, deputy director of China Mobile Research Institute, pointed out at the forum that compared with before commercial use in 2019, the power consumption of 5G base stations has been reduced by 1/4, and the power consumption efficiency per bit has been significantly improved, but further measures are still needed to reduce energy consumption.

In his opinion, the low-carbonization process of 5G base stations can adopt the measures of "four new + two transformations".

The first "new" is the new architecture, which further optimizes the architecture of high-energy-consuming base stations, reduces the active part, increases the passive part, applies to different scenarios, and explores various forms of base stations. For example, as macro stations, most of them are 64-channel and 32-channel large-scale antennas, but for some other scenarios, 2-channel and 4-channel methods can be used to reduce power consumption.

In addition, in terms of network architecture, a centralized deployment approach can be adopted to reduce the requirements for the computer room, thereby reducing the power consumption of the computer room's supporting power supply and air conditioning.

The second is new functions. We will promote more intelligent modules such as deep sleep. In the design of transmitted signals, it is not necessary to always transmit signals. The power consumption should be adjusted according to the business load. When the business load is not high, there is no need to work at full load.

The third is new materials. Gallium nitride is already in use, and graphene materials are expected to be used to dissipate heat in the future.

The fourth is new energy. Currently, the energy for 5G base stations is mostly coal-fired power. In the future, more base stations will use clean energy such as wind and solar power.

In terms of the two aspects, the first is intelligence. 5G base stations should introduce artificial intelligence technology to make network operations more intelligent and better match business needs. Flexible switches and modules should be designed to improve network effects and reduce power consumption. The second aspect is coordination, which coordinates terminals, base stations, networks and other equipment to further reduce energy consumption.

Wei Jinwu, deputy director of China Unicom Research Institute, said at the forum that the first phase of 5G large-scale construction has been completed, and the second phase of construction of the same scale will be carried out in the future, which will continue to lead to an increase in energy consumption.

"In the next stage, the proportion of digital economy will increase year by year. Operators need to consolidate the digital foundation of the entire digital economy. To undertake this mission, the energy consumption of operators cannot be too low."

He pointed out that the current energy consumption of 5G base stations is 3-4 times that of 4G base stations, the density of medium and high frequency band base stations is greater than 4G, and China is currently promoting a 5G network based on full SA independent networking. Therefore, 5G is still in a state of high energy consumption at this stage.

Wei Jinwu pointed out that the low-carbonization of the communications industry depends on the clean energy delivery of the energy industry and the further optimization of network deployment. In terms of reducing emissions, model innovation may bring greater benefits than technological progress. In the future, 5G needs to simplify the overall network architecture, enhance the information bit transmission capacity per unit energy consumption, achieve the coordination of 5G, 4G and wired, and deeply promote the co-construction and sharing of operators and the energy industry.