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The concept of "comprehensive energy service" has been put forward in my country for a long time, but due to the differences in the development process of renewable energy, the upstream and downstream are not fully connected, the business model has yet to be developed, and the participation of photovoltaic companies is still limited.
As the connections between different energy systems become closer, the form of energy services is accelerating the evolution from a single to a comprehensive service model. Recently, at the 2020 China Comprehensive Energy Service Summit Forum, Li Zibin, President of the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, said: “Integrated energy services have begun to become an important direction for the development of the modern energy industry. All kinds of energy companies have transformed into comprehensive energy service providers. The in-depth development of comprehensive energy services is conducive to enhancing energy security capabilities, reducing enterprise investment and operating costs, and promoting energy supply-side reform."
The photovoltaic industry is no exception. In the context of the continuous expansion of the market, more and more photovoltaic companies hope to "share the pie" and set "becoming a comprehensive energy management service provider" as their development goal. Regarding this just-starting industry, what role should photovoltaic companies play and how will they use their own advantages to promote its development?
Connecting upstream and downstream: not only generating electricity, but also selling electricity
In recent years, my country’s energy transition has been accelerating, and the reform of the power system has continued to deepen. The relationship between energy, power, and users has become closer and closer. It is an important content to develop comprehensive energy services that meet the needs of diversified energy production and consumption. This will break the traditional mode of independent upstream and downstream operation of different energy products, and achieve synergy between the production side and the consumption side of energy supply.
Li Peng, director of the Strategic Management Division of the Strategic Planning Department of the State Power Investment Group Co., Ltd., believes that this new type of energy service method has prompted power generation companies to not only focus on energy production, but also switch from providing services for electricity sales companies to directly providing services to customers.
Wang Bohua, secretary-general of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, added: “From a consumer perspective, it is a comprehensive service that integrates management, technology, and marketing. It also covers consulting, project contracting, and commissioned operation and maintenance. It is a key direction to promote my country’s energy transition. As a relatively fast-growing energy source in renewable energy, photovoltaics will play a very important role in it."
Wang Bohua believes that integrated energy services can bring many new market opportunities for photovoltaics. "For example, in centralized mode, we can participate in large-scale bases that complement water, wind, and wind, and in terms of distributed, energy supply industrial parks have become the main battlefield for photovoltaic companies to participate in integrated energy services."
The industry generally stated that photovoltaic and integrated energy services are a positive relationship for mutual prosperity and development. On the one hand, as the main force in the development of renewable energy, the development of the photovoltaic industry has continued to accelerate and the cost has dropped rapidly, providing more possibilities for photovoltaics to participate in the development of different fields of integrated energy services; on the other hand, the development of the integrated energy industry will Open up more application scenarios for the photovoltaic industry, while expanding the path for photovoltaic companies to participate in the energy market, and continue to promote the development of the photovoltaic industry.
Higher flexibility: Distributed market has obvious advantages
Xu Lin, chairman of the China-US Green Fund, said that distributed energy technology is an effective way to improve the efficiency of energy resource allocation, and one of the purposes of opening up the integrated energy service market is to improve the efficiency of energy resource allocation. If distributed energy technology can be used In this industry, my country's clean energy supply level will be significantly improved. More and more companies are beginning to focus on this.
Li Peng believes that integrated energy services will reconstruct distributed energy production and supply. Take distributed photovoltaics as an example. Photovoltaic companies build power plants for users to supply power or heat. They can not only use their own power, but also use surplus electricity to go online and participate in the power market. After distributed energy is gathered to form a cluster, it becomes an energy network instead of a simple power generation facility before.
Data show that in 2019, the global installed capacity of distributed energy accounted for 23.7% of the total installed capacity. From the perspective of the industry, with the continuous expansion of market space, the distributed field will become the main force in the photovoltaic industry to promote the development of integrated energy. At the same time, compared with large power companies, photovoltaic companies have more obvious advantages.
Gao Feng, deputy dean of the Energy Internet Innovation Research Institute of Tsinghua University, said: "Compared with centralized energy services, distributed energy services require more diversified requirements instead of requiring uniform standards. Compared with large enterprises, SMEs are more suitable for this market and provide Flexible and customized services."
Qian Jing, vice president of JinkoSolar Co., Ltd., believes that distributed energy is characterized by breaking the energy monopoly, and users can voluntarily choose the products they need, which forces energy companies to reform and innovate and provide flexible and highly elastic services.
Wang Bohua is also very optimistic about the development of photovoltaic distributed energy in the integrated energy service market. "At present, the photovoltaic industry has begun to expand the park energy supply market. As the main form of distributed photovoltaics, the development of this field will continue to expand in the future."
The market still needs to expand: develop new business models
The concept of "comprehensive energy service" has been put forward in my country for a long time, but due to the differences in the development of renewable energy, the upstream and downstream have not been fully connected, the business model has yet to be developed, and the participation of photovoltaic companies is still limited.
The reporter learned that mature integrated energy services can not only open up the upstream and downstream of the renewable energy industry, but also break the traditional model of separate planning, separate design, and separate operation of different energy types, and realize the horizontal "electric heating, cooling, air and water" energy variety. The synergy between multiple supply links of vertical "source-network-load storage and use" energy and the interaction between the production side and the consumption side. As for the current comprehensive energy service projects carried out by energy companies, the application scenarios and business models of the companies are relatively similar, and the methods are relatively simple.
Li Peng suggested that in order to improve the business model, Internet technology can be used to carry out pilot projects, and then replicate and promote.
Gao Feng proposed an idea: "Using digital technology to build a comprehensive energy cooperation platform, this platform can realize offline consultations and automatic operation online, so that we can be both the main body of power supply, heating, gas supply, and supervision. Be able to participate and form a new industrial form.
In order to promote the development of integrated energy services, at the meeting, the China Association of Small and Medium Enterprises announced the formal establishment of an integrated energy service professional committee to build an online and offline dual platform, integrate the upstream and downstream of the industry, and effectively allocate various energy sources. Utilize the temporal and spatial coupling of various energy sources to meet the safety and reliability of the power grid, thereby effectively improving the efficiency of comprehensive energy utilization.
