Standing proudly along the Xuhui riverside in Shanghai, China Eastern Airlines' Shell Building showcases an innovative model that generates electricity, stores energy, and enables intelligent grid management—transforming the concept of "zero carbon" into a tangible reality. As a result, it has earned both zero-carbon building certification and became one of the first nationwide buildings to receive the prestigious three-star rating for its integrated photovoltaic-storage-direct-flexible system, setting a benchmark for green and low-carbon transformation in the construction industry.

 

 

 

Green ecology, cultivating both inside and out

 

 

“The Shell Building” is not just an architectural marvel—it’s also a vivid showcase of green, eco-friendly principles. On the exterior, it features photovoltaic glass curtain walls and PV-powered shading louvers that convert solar energy into electricity, providing the building with a continuous supply of clean, renewable power. Inside, low-voltage DC lighting technology is employed, enabling self-sustained, green illumination that generates and consumes energy right where it’s needed.

 

The second floor of the Shell Building is designed as an exhibition and office space, with a floor area of 1,444.23㎡ and a total floor area (including ancillary spaces) of approximately 1,358㎡. The project achieves energy self-sufficiency overall, operating entirely on electricity without relying on external energy sources. Its photovoltaic system generates over 110,000 kWh of electricity annually, fully meeting the building's year-round energy needs.

 

The rooftop is equipped with 224 monocrystalline silicon solar panel modules, covering an effective area of 577.92㎡—enough to generate approximately 189,000 kWh of clean electricity annually. Even more remarkable, the building’s exterior walls feature a self-developed, patented photovoltaic glass curtain wall system that acts as a "power-generating skin." Composed of 26 photovoltaic glass panels, this innovative system boasts a total output capacity of 2,928W, maximizing the building’s ability to harness renewable energy on-site.

 

 

"Light Storage Direct Flexibility" technology is the "energy heart" of the "Shell Building," seamlessly integrating photovoltaic power generation, energy storage systems, and a DC distribution network to achieve efficient energy conversion, utilization, and self-sufficiency. The building’s exterior features photovoltaic glass curtain walls and PV-enabled shading louvers that convert solar energy into electricity. Combined with energy storage, this system leverages flexible DC distribution technology to ensure a reliable power supply for the building’s daily operations.

 

Energy storage system, 60 kWh

Lithium iron phosphate battery energy storage system, with a total system capacity of 60 kWh

 

DC distribution and control system, a 5-port power router

 

The power router is configured with 5 ports and features an internal 750VDC DC bus, delivering stable DC power to the load through a multi-source complementary system. It connects to photovoltaic systems, energy storage units, the grid, air conditioning equipment, and household appliances, enabling dynamic energy management based on demand, as well as seamless AC-to-DC conversion and voltage-level adaptation. The output voltage range spans from 800V down to 48VDC.

 

The power energy router also enables real-time control of lighting and air conditioning power supplies, while simultaneously monitoring the operational status of various zones and equipment. It supports remote operation control and fault early warning functions. Additionally, the system can display real-time and historical data for the "Photovoltaic-Storage-Direct-Flexible" system—including photovoltaic power generation, electricity fed into the grid, cumulative energy storage charge/discharge cycles, grid-supplied power, and building load consumption. Combined with the collected monitoring data, the system can perform operational analysis, enabling intelligent resource management, cost-effective operations, and ensuring safe, reliable, and smart energy use.

 

Innovation point:

 

Enhancing energy efficiency: By integrating photovoltaic curtain walls and photovoltaic shading louvers, along with clean energy and flexible DC distribution technology for direct generation and direct use, the building's overall energy consumption is reduced.

 

Reduce carbon emissions: Maximize the use of renewable solar energy and decrease reliance on fossil fuels.

 

Enhancing Power Supply Stability: Equipped with off-grid independent operation capability, this significantly boosts power supply reliability, ensuring the stable functioning of critical equipment within the building.

 

The internal low-voltage DC lighting technology enhances lighting efficiency, enabling a green illumination model that integrates solar energy storage, self-generation, and self-consumption.

 

Digital intelligence platform, empowering management

 

Behind the "Shell Building" lie Yunjin Zhijian's independently developed smart construction cloud management system, "Ruiling Cloud," and the upcoming "Ruine Energy" energy management platform. The former integrates features such as digital dashboards, video surveillance, and online blueprint approvals, enabling comprehensive oversight of construction safety, quality, and progress. Meanwhile, the latter collects energy usage data in real time, making energy consumption visible, measurable, and fully manageable. Together, these two platforms empower each other, forming the "central nervous system" that supports every stage of an engineering project's lifecycle.

 

 

BIM Embrace the digital twin—and usher in a new era of photovoltaic energy.

 

Gouli Technology's airline base photovoltaic energy monitoring system, built on BIM and digital twin technologies, takes the operation and management of integrated solar-storage-direct-flexible systems to a new level of intelligence. By centrally predicting, collecting, and analyzing data, the system enables information-based, automated, and intelligent management of the power supply system—reducing the likelihood of failures while significantly improving energy efficiency and operational management effectiveness, thereby helping buildings maximize their utilization of photovoltaic energy.

 

System Architecture Diagram

 

The airline base photovoltaic energy monitoring system, built on BIM and digital twin technologies, is divided into a data layer, a platform layer, and an application layer.

 

Data Layer: Aggregates model data, facility and equipment data, meteorological data, and third-party application data, and handles data collection and transmission.

Platform Layer: Serving as the bridge between upper and lower layers, it processes and applies data from the data layer while providing a stable and secure foundational support for the application layer.

Application Layer: Embodies system functionalities, serving as the interactive interface between the system and users, and fulfilling user business needs in photovoltaic-storage-direct-flexible operation and maintenance scenarios.

 

Microgrid Energy Management System

 

The microgrid energy management system focuses on both the energy supply and energy application sides, leveraging its capabilities in simulating, collecting, monitoring, and correcting data from both ends to provide optimized recommendations and scheduling guidance for energy supply and consumption.

 

By implementing two-way monitoring and control across the supply and application sides, effectively configuring and managing photovoltaic systems, energy storage devices, and load equipment, thereby enhancing the efficiency of energy scheduling, allocation, and utilization.

 

The carbon emission management system provides comprehensive functionality for monitoring energy usage and carbon emissions within the solar-storage-direct-flexibility system. Focused primarily on energy consumption modeling, energy consumption analysis, and carbon emission oversight, this feature helps users achieve precise control over energy use and effectively manage carbon emissions.

 

 

Summary

 

In the future, Yunjin Zhijian will focus on "AI + Great Homes," leveraging Beike Lou as its showcase platform. We’ll concentrate on developing new materials, commercializing technological innovations, and integrating across the ecosystem—while continuously enhancing user experience, driving market-oriented transformation, and fostering the synergistic development of "Great Homes" with zero-carbon buildings. Ultimately, we aim to deliver replicable and scalable solutions that support the industry’s green transition.

 

 

Source materials: Gouli Technology, China.org.cn, Shanghai Dazhou, and others