AI should be one of the greatest inventions of the 21st century. Now AI has been integrated into every field of our lives.

As the global "double carbon" goal enters a critical stage, technological innovation in the energy field has become the key to solving the problem. Recently, Tuojia New Energy, a rising star in the domestic new energy industry, and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) have officially reached a strategic partnership. The two parties will jointly establish an "Energy AI Innovation Laboratory", focusing on core areas such as carbon capture and intelligent energy management, and using artificial intelligence technology to solve the pain points of emission reduction in the energy industry. This cross-border cooperation marks that my country's energy AI industrialization has entered a new stage of deep integration of "industry, academia, research and application".

1. Strong alliance under the proposition of the times: A two-way journey between scientific research highlands and industrial pioneers

Under the guidance of the national strategy of “carbon peaking and carbon neutrality”, my country’s energy industry is facing dual pressures of emission reduction and efficiency improvement. Although traditional carbon capture technology has taken off, there are bottlenecks such as high cost, low efficiency, and poor adaptability. There are more than 100 types of organic amine absorbents in industrial scenarios. How to accurately proportion based on the temperature, pressure, and impurity characteristics of different emission sources has become a core problem for enterprises to implement carbon reduction technologies. At the same time, the breakthrough application of AI technology in material research and development and process optimization provides a new way to solve this pain point. The recognition of metal-organic framework materials by the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry highlights the huge potential of "material innovation + intelligent algorithms" in the low-carbon field.

The two parties in this cooperation form a perfect complementarity between scientific research and industry. The School of Sustainable Energy and Environment at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) has been deeply involved in the field of energy AI for many years. The AI carbon capture technology developed by Professor Zhou Teng's team has achieved industrial demonstration verification, which can increase the carbon capture efficiency by 14% and reduce the cost to more than 200 yuan per ton. The core technology includes a carbon capture material database built by integrating literature and experimental data, and a "digital twin" model based on the principle of gas separation, which can recommend optimal absorbent formulas personalized according to corporate needs. As an innovative enterprise focusing on the industrialization of new energy technologies, Tuojia New Energy has rich industrial scene resources and engineering implementation experience. Its business covers multiple high-emission fields such as thermal power, chemical industry, and shipbuilding. It can provide real working condition data and industrial verification platform for technology research and development.

“We need to turn the advanced algorithms in the laboratory into solutions that can be used by enterprises and are easy to use. ” The Director of Sustainable Energy and Environment at Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (Guangzhou) said that Tuojia New Energy’s accumulation of industrial scenarios and market acumen will effectively shorten the technology transformation cycle. CEO of Tuojia New Energy emphasized that: “HKUST’s AI research and development capabilities can help us break through traditional technology bottlenecks and establish core competitiveness in the low-carbon track. ”

2. Technical difficulties: Three major directions to solve the pain points of emission reduction in the energy industry

According to the cooperation agreement, the "Energy AI Innovation Laboratory" jointly built by the two parties will focus on technological research in three major directions to create energy AI solutions that are both innovative and practical.

First, the carbon capture material intelligent optimization system upgrade. Relying on the existing material database and digital twin model of HKUST, combined with the multi-industry emission data provided by Tuojia New Energy, the adaptation scenarios of the AI algorithm are further expanded. The laboratory will develop customized carbon capture solutions based on the exhaust characteristics of different emission sources such as thermal power, chemical industry, and ships. By inputting carbon dioxide concentration, temperature, pressure, and impurity parameters, the AI system can output the optimal mixed amine solution formula within minutes, while achieving an accurate match between the capture rate (80%-99% adjustable) and the application scenario (chemical raw materials, food industry, agriculture, etc.). At present, this technology has been initially verified in the ship carbon capture project of Guangzhou Shipyard International, and has received special funding support of 4 million yuan from Nansha District.

Second, research and development of intelligent dispatching platform for energy systems. In view of industry pain points such as high volatility of new energy power generation and unreasonable energy storage configuration, AI prediction algorithms and energy network digital twin technology are integrated to build an intelligent dispatching system covering the entire chain of "power generation - energy storage - transmission - energy consumption". The platform will integrate photovoltaic, wind power and other renewable energy data with industrial energy load data, and use AI algorithms to optimize energy storage charging and discharging strategies and power grid dispatching plans to improve energy utilization efficiency and reduce wind and solar abandonment rates.

Third, the construction of pilot and industrialization verification systems. The two parties will jointly build the leading energy AI pilot platform in South China at the Tuojia New Energy Industrial Base, and introduce the pressure-resistant carbon capture pilot device of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. This device is equipped with dozens of pressure, temperature, and flow sensors, which can simulate the real working conditions of various industrial emission sources, verify the long-term stability and technical reliability of materials, and clear obstacles for large-scale promotion. At the same time, the laboratory will establish a closed-loop mechanism of "algorithm iteration - pilot test verification - industrial application" to accelerate the transformation of technological achievements.

3. Implementation planning: Three-step strategy from technological breakthrough to industrial empowerment

This cooperation does not stay at the laboratory level, but has formulated a clear roadmap for industrialization and plans to empower the entire industry with technology in three years.

First step (2025-2026): Focus on core technology research and pilot applications. The laboratory will complete the industry adaptation and upgrade of the carbon capture intelligent optimization system, and conduct pilot projects in three thermal power companies and two chemical companies that Tuojia New Energy cooperates with, with the goal of reducing carbon capture costs by another 10% and increasing the annual emission reduction of a single plant to more than 50,000 tons. At the same time, we jointly cultivate 20 energy AI talents and apply for no less than 8 core patents.

Step 2 (2026-2027): Expand application scenarios and regional coverage. Incorporate high-emission industries such as shipping, cement, and steel into the scope of technical services, and cooperate with the Nansha District Government to build an "Energy AI Low-Carbon Demonstration Park" to promote the large-scale application of carbon capture technology in the shipping field. The previous cooperation project between Hong Kong University of Science and Technology and Guangzhou Shipyard International has laid the foundation. In the future, it will expand to more shipping companies through the industrial resources of Tuojia New Energy.

Step 3 (after 2027): Build industrial ecology and standard output. Relying on the results of cooperation, we will participate in the formulation of industry standards and carbon management specifications in the field of energy AI, and promote the inclusion of AI carbon capture technology in the national low-carbon technology promotion catalog. At the same time, the core technology platform of the laboratory is opened to provide low-cost carbon reduction solutions for small and medium-sized energy companies, forming a virtuous cycle of "technology research and development - industrial application - ecological co-construction".

4. Industry Impact: Reshape the low-carbon technology landscape and help achieve the “double carbon” goal

The cooperation between Tuojia New Energy and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is not only a simple alliance between enterprises and universities, but also an important exploration of innovative models in the energy industry. At the technical level, its core breakthrough lies in the deep integration of "AI algorithm - material research and development - industrial application", which solves the pain point of traditional carbon capture technology of "good laboratory results and difficulty in industrialization", and provides a replicable model for the large-scale application of low-carbon technology.

At the industrial level, cooperation will accelerate the industrialization process of energy AI. As the cost of carbon capture drops below 200 yuan per ton, carbon reduction technologies that were originally difficult to promote due to high costs will be fully popularized in thermal power, chemical industry, shipbuilding and other industries. It is expected to drive emission reductions in related industries to increase by more than 30% in the next five years. At the same time, the comprehensive talents jointly cultivated by schools and enterprises will fill the talent gap in the field of energy AI and inject power into the industry's continuous innovation.

At the policy level, this cooperation responds to the country's strategic orientation of "deep integration of industry, academia, and research," and its successful experience will provide reference for more cooperation between new energy companies and universities, promoting the formation of a benign ecosystem in which "scientific research empowers industry, and industry feeds back scientific research." As Professor Zhou Teng said: “AI is not an isolated technology. Only when it is deeply integrated with industrial scenarios can it truly play the role of 'turning carbon into gold'. ”

From algorithm iteration in the laboratory to actual emission reduction results in industrial scenarios, the cooperation between Tuojia New Energy and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is writing a new chapter in the energy AI industry. Guided by the "dual carbon" goal, this cross-border collaboration will not only improve the core competitiveness of enterprises, but also provide a strong impetus for the green transformation of my country's energy industry, making AI technology the core engine for promoting the low-carbon revolution.