In March this year, McDonald's, the world's largest fast food chain, announced that its Yunshan Tiandi restaurant in Guangzhou, China, was officially opened. Unlike McDonald's' other 6,000 restaurants across China, this is the first "zero-carbon restaurant" in China that integrates photovoltaic power generation and energy storage: the entire restaurant adopts the green energy utilization model of "photovoltaic power generation + electric energy storage", which has brought new inspiration to the green and low-carbon development of the domestic catering industry.

Photovoltaic + energy storage helps McDonald's China's first "zero-carbon restaurant" with photovoltaic power storage

It is understood that this "zero-carbon restaurant" with photovoltaic power storage is located in Yunshan Tiandi, a food and commercial complex at the south exit of Baiyun Mountain Park, the "urban green lung" of Guangzhou. The restaurant has two floors, and the overall design adopts the iconic CUBE design style of McDonald's restaurants. What is particularly eye-catching is that a large area of ​​blue solar panels is installed on the roof of the restaurant, adding a unique landscape to this creative restaurant building.

These photovoltaic devices can generate about 55,000 kWh of green electricity per year, which can fully meet all the lighting electricity needs of the restaurant.

At the same time, the restaurant also uses energy storage equipment to achieve all-weather efficient energy supply for green electricity generated by photovoltaics, effectively improving the efficiency of green electricity energy.

At the entrance on the first floor of the restaurant, there is a "carbon reduction smart screen" that displays information such as power generation, storage, and power saving, increasing the visibility and transparency of the zero-carbon process and enhancing consumers' sense of participation in carbon reduction; two environmentally friendly charging bicycles made of recycled plastic are placed in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Customers can convert kinetic energy into electrical energy by riding, and wirelessly charge their mobile phones, which is both environmentally friendly and convenient...

In fact, this is already the second "zero-carbon restaurant" that McDonald's China has landed in China. The first one is the McDonald's Beijing Shougang Park Drive-Thru Restaurant, which opened on September 20, 2022. It is also the world's first "zero-carbon restaurant" to obtain LEED "zero carbon emissions" and "zero energy consumption" certifications.

The drive-thru restaurant has a solar photovoltaic power generation system covering more than 2,000 square meters. The photovoltaic power generation in the first year reached 365,000 kWh, which met the restaurant's electricity consumption of 357,000 kWh in the first year. After that, the annual average power generation can reach about 330,000 kWh. In addition to meeting the electricity demand of the restaurant's daily operations, it can also reduce carbon emissions by more than 200 tons each year.

It is worth noting that in addition to photovoltaic power generation, McDonald's Beijing Shougang Park Drive-thru Restaurant also uses advanced energy storage technologies such as lithium-ion batteries, supercapacitors and hydrogen energy to cope with the energy needs of different time periods and different equipment in the restaurant, significantly improving energy utilization efficiency and reducing energy waste.

It is understood that by applying energy-saving equipment such as photovoltaic energy storage, superimposing intelligent energy management systems, LED lighting and solar water heaters, the annual average electricity consumption of drive-thru restaurants can be reduced by about 35% to 40%.

So far, McDonald's China has built more than 2,700 green restaurants, of which more than 50% are located in second- and third-tier cities, and 100% have obtained authoritative green building certification, reducing carbon emissions by more than 80,000 tons per year on average, equivalent to planting about 8 million trees per year.

Energy storage is in full swing, and the construction of "green catering" is accelerating

In recent years, carbon emissions from the tertiary industry, including my country's catering industry, have continued to rise, among which the wholesale and retail catering industry's carbon emissions in 2021 reached 193.7 million tons. For the catering industry, the consumption of electricity for air conditioning and kitchen electricity will not only increase carbon emissions, but also accumulate over the years, which is a considerable expense for the company's operating costs. Energy conservation and carbon reduction in the catering industry are imperative.

Affected by the promotion of the "dual carbon" goal, low-carbon development has become the focus of attention of all walks of life in recent years, and the catering industry has gradually started a "green revolution".

As a key link in opening up the energy revolution, new energy storage can not only reduce the electricity cost of the catering industry by charging and storing energy during valley hours and discharging energy during peak hours, but also combine with photovoltaic power generation to store excess green electricity and then supply it to restaurants during the main electricity consumption time. In an emergency, energy storage equipment can also provide backup power to ensure the normal operation of catering companies and reduce economic losses caused by power outages.

Therefore, in recent years, in addition to McDonald's, many catering companies have installed energy storage.

Among them, the photovoltaic power installed on the roof of Hangzhou's "Little Green Store" can generate about 10,000 degrees of clean electricity for the restaurant through solar energy per year, reducing carbon emissions while combining energy storage technology to further improve the restaurant's energy efficiency.

Before entering the door, you can see red and white parasols unfolded, which not only block the sun for customers, but also absorb solar energy and store it as electricity, which is used for night lighting when dusk falls.

In Shanghai, the "coffee capital", there is a zero-carbon coffee shop.

This coffee shop named "One Foot Between" covers an area of ​​about 250 square meters. It was formerly the Yangshupu Power Plant, which was built in 1910 and was once known as the "No. 1 Power Plant in the Far East". In 2010, in response to the requirements of the Shanghai Municipal Government for energy conservation and emission reduction, the Yangshupu Power Plant officially stopped production. Since then, the power plant has been carefully designed and built into a "relic park", which has been reborn on the Yangpu Riverside.

In 2023, the remains of the power plant's water purification pool have been carefully designed and transformed into today's coffee shop.

The coffee shop adheres to the theme of "green environmental protection". The electricity used in the entire building comes from the solar energy storage photovoltaic system. The coffee machine and other storage and lighting equipment that require high power consumption can achieve zero carbon emissions. The coffee shop has thus achieved a true "rebirth" with the Yangshupu Power Plant.

Coincidentally, in Auckland, a city with a mild climate and pleasant scenery, there is also a coffee roasting shop that has achieved a surge in profits by installing energy storage.

Due to its remote location, this coffee shop named Bethells Beanz sometimes encounters power outages, which has a fatal impact on coffee bean roasting: temperature is an important guarantee for the consistent quality of coffee beans, and power outages are not allowed; on the other hand, the high local electricity bills also increase the cost of coffee beans.

The local sunshine resources are very rich, so the owner of the coffee shop found a local photovoltaic storage development company and wanted to solve this series of problems by installing a solar energy storage system.

After field visits and research, combined with the coffee shop's own conditions and needs, 20 670W solar panels were finally installed, and a SMILE5 household energy storage system with a capacity of 5.7kWh was equipped. By using this photovoltaic storage system for "self-generation and self-use", the coffee shop has greatly reduced its dependence on the local power grid, and no longer has to worry about interrupting the roasting process during power outages. At the same time, the energy storage system stores solar energy during the day for use at night, and any excess electricity can be put online to increase income.