The city of Yangquan in North China's Shanxi province has been exploring a new way to transform from a resource-based city into a resource-saving and environmentally-friendly one. 

The Yangquan Smart Energy Data Center, the province's first municipal-level smart energy data center, has provided important support for the city's low-carbon development.

Early in June 2020, State Grid Shanxi Electric Power Co and the Yangquan municipal government jointly started construction on the center.

According to Jie Lianbin, director of the digital department of Yangquan Power Supply Co, the center develops 11 big data application analysis scenarios in energy transformation, environmental protection and emissions reduction, improving people's livelihoods and social governance.

It focuses on collecting, monitoring, and analyzing energy data from public institutions and companies in five local districts and counties and two provincial technology development zones, offering data references for government decision-making. 

The center now has access to and processes more than 100,000 pieces of real-time energy data every day, and reports various anomalies and analysis results to relevant government departments so as to further supply-side energy structural reform and enhance government regulation. 

From January to July, the Yangquan Smart Energy Data Center observed 71 companies' key energy consumption scenarios and found 104 cases of abnormal energy consumption by companies, 231 less than last year.