Smart grid empowering high-quality homestay development in Zhejiang

Recently, in the Jiangnan "First Homestay Cluster" of Jinhua, Zhejiang, State Grid Jinhua Power Supply Company leveraged the visualization terminal of its Virtual Load Aggregator Interactive Decision Platform to monitor, in real time, the dynamically fluctuating energy-demand curves of individual homestays, thereby achieving district-level precision management of cooling and heating loads.

"Our homestay opened in 2017, when the sector was still in its infancy — we were among the pioneers," said Gao Hejia, manager of Qingzhi Wulu Homestay. Today, approximately 1,572 homestays operate throughout Jinhua, most located in clustered developments.

To enhance grid flexibility, State Grid Jinhua has pioneered the application of refined air-conditioning load management in the homestay industry. Utilizing a flexible-load-control paradigm, the Smart Homestay Cloud Service Management Platform autonomously generates and executes control strategies. Concurrently, a unified retrofit of key electrical assets — central air-conditioning units and electric water heaters — has established an interactive optimization data platform that continuously ingests seasonal temperature, occupancy rates, electrical loads and time-of-use tariffs. The platform derives optimal consumption strategies and, through closed-loop automation, delivers multi-time-scale aggregated response, evaluates regulation potential, enables remote optimization, and facilitates participation in demand-response programs.

"We no longer worry whether guests have turned off the air-conditioning after checkout, and rooms are pre-conditioned before their return — enhancing guest experience while eliminating waste. It's a clear win-win," Gao added.

Moving forward, State Grid Jinhua will systematically unlock the flexibility embedded in non-productive loads, extend refined air-conditioning load management to additional scenarios, aggregate every incremental resource, and enhance the grid's elastic regulation capability to safeguard power supply during peak-summer demand, thereby catalyzing high-quality development across the cultural-tourism sector.