China promises to achieve carbon peaking by 2030 and carbon neutrality by 2060. Where are the business opportunities in the smart energy market?

In September 2020, Chinese President Xi Jinping delivered a video speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, announcing that China’s carbon dioxide emissions will peak by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2060. This speech is regarded as an important step in China and the world’s fight against climate change.

On April 22 this year, President Xi attended the leaders’ climate summit in Beijing by video and delivered an important speech, talking about the time he had promised to achieve from carbon peaking to carbon neutrality: “This is China’s commitment to building a community with a shared future for mankind. It is a major strategic decision made by taking responsibility and realizing the inherent requirements of sustainable development. China’s commitment to realize the time from carbon peak to carbon neutrality is much shorter than the time taken by developed countries, and China needs to make hard work.”

On April 30, President Xi re-emphasized during the twenty-ninth collective study of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee: “During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, my country’s ecological civilization construction has entered a strategic direction with carbon reduction as the key point and promoted the coordination of pollution reduction and carbon reduction. It is a critical period for increasing efficiency, promoting a comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development, and realizing the improvement of ecological environment quality from quantitative change to qualitative change.”

Achieving the carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals as scheduled is a solemn promise made by my country to the world, and it is also a broad and profound economic and social transformation. It is not something that can be achieved easily. Energy system construction path and development model, vigorously promote the revolution of energy production and consumption. Among them, smart energy technology will play a decisive role, and there are infinite business opportunities waiting for us to explore.

On July 27, at the smart energy sub-forum of the 2021 International AIOT Ecological Development Conference co-hosted by the world’s leading professional Electronic agency media Aspencore and Shenzhen’s new generation of information and communication industry clusters, guests from all aspects of the industry chain spoke with “Smart Grid”. A wonderful round table discussion was held on the topic.

From left to right: Liu Yuwei, deputy principal analyst of the host’s electronic engineering album, Gao Yanfeng, an expert from the Technology R&D Department of China Southern Power Grid, Zhang Yihui, a senior ICT expert from Huawei, Du Guangdong, chairman of Shenglu IOT, and Song Jie, CEO of Shifudaojia Technology

What kind of changes will smart energy bring?

All guests have their own thoughts on the revolutionary changes brought by the new smart energy outlet to the current power generation, transmission, distribution, and electricity consumption, as well as new business opportunities.

“There used to be a view that operators have built so many base stations and should make full use of rooftop photovoltaic power generation and base house energy storage.” Zhang Yihui, a senior ICT expert at Huawei, believes that for carbon neutrality, more nearby resources should be used to generate power However, it must be combined with the power supply of buildings and ICT to give priority to local consumption, followed by the grid connection of surplus electricity. The combination of energy storage in the middle can not only stagger the peak power consumption, but also reduce the distribution capacity. In addition, all kinds of parks are the entrance to the current very important Internet services. New parks should be built according to low-carbon or even zero-carbon standards, which requires energy to be fully mobilized from space and time to make its energy consumption lower, higher efficiency.

Gao Yanfeng, an expert from the Technology R&D Department of China Southern Power Grid, agrees with Zhang Yihui. He believes that the future power grid will be dominated by distributed resources, including multiple microgrids such as power generation, power storage, and power consumption to form a power system. Here, it can temporarily play the role of energy storage in distributed resources, which is equivalent to a mobile energy storage terminal. Looking forward to the future power grid, aggregating the resources of distributed energy storage for electric vehicles is a cheap energy storage that can in turn serve the power grid. “I personally believe that with the gradual popularization of electric vehicles, it will greatly change the energy of the grid. structure.”

When it comes to electric vehicles, Song Jie, CEO of Shifudaojia Technology, first stated his identity – as an owner of a new energy vehicle, he deeply feels the essential difference between trams and gasoline vehicles. He believes that the construction density of the current electric vehicle charging infrastructure is almost the same as that of gas stations; the charging time is short, and it takes 30-40 minutes to fully charge 80%, which is similar to the waiting time for refueling before the oil price drop; the use cost is low, and it takes about 500 kilometers. The electricity bill of 40 yuan is something that cannot be achieved by an oil car. The lower cost of use will make consumers more willing to use electric vehicles. “Similarly, if distributed energy storage facilities are used in remote areas and countries and cities with backward infrastructure, they can achieve clean electricity consumption and bring benefits to consumers in power-deficient areas. It will make a big difference.”

Du Guangdong, chairman of Shenglu IOT, said that energy is an ancient and eternal topic, which has been talked about for thousands of years, because the most basic components of the world are energy and materials, and almost all technological innovations revolve around exerting energy value and saving energy. . The concept of using electric vehicles to store energy locally and using lithium-ion batteries for household energy storage was first proposed by the Japanese. Du Guangdong worked as a senior consultant for Panasonic in Japan for 2 years. He mentioned that Japan proposed “zero charge for household electricity” at that time, and increased income for each family through peak and valley electricity prices. “Now China Southern Power Grid has begun to pilot similar projects, although large-scale It will take time to advance, but taking the first step is not easy.”

Zhang Yihui: Huawei’s role in the energy industry

Huawei has entered the enterprise market for more than 10 years, and the energy business department is a very important department of Huawei. From the electric power industry to the oil and gas, coal-based mining industry, Huawei plays the role of digital enabler.

Zhang Yihui, senior ICT expert at Huawei

Zhang Yihui said that Huawei, as an ICT infrastructure provider, provides link + computing services. Today, computing, storage, and networking are all included in the cloud, and everyone builds various capabilities based on the cloud. Huawei’s enabling digital transformation has both terminal partners and massive application partners. In the energy field, Huawei also proposes an “energy tower ring” methodology, including a vision for change, two basic guarantees (digital capabilities, ICT talents), three The critical path (planning, construction to operations) is all digital. In addition, there are two important drivers of business driving and technology driving.

Huawei’s ultimate goal is to build a digital base/platform to realize the digitization of the industry. The final result is to improve efficiency and change the model. “In the future, if we master the data through transformation, then the model innovation will bring huge changes to the energy industry. I hope everyone will actively participate in this field in the future,” Zhang Yihui gave an example. The solar panels cover the roof of the house. On the one hand, it reduces carbon emissions and contributes to the country, and on the other hand, it can make money. Everyone can consider being a low-carbon person or even a negative carbon emitter. “

Gao Yanfeng: Layout as an energy operation manager

As the operator and management unit of smart energy, China Southern Power Grid currently has three major directions:

Gao Yanfeng, an expert from the Technology R&D Department of China Southern Power Grid

1. Select several areas in Shenzhen for pilot projects (V2G, orderly charging pilot), Gao Yanfeng said that South Grid Electric is working with the Shenzhen Power Supply Bureau on the placement of relevant charging stations;

2. The main direction of future development is optimistic about the power exchange of heavy-duty electric trucks, because the battery density of heavy-duty trucks is relatively high, which is convenient to realize unified parking for power exchange, and the future profit model is stable.

3. Establish “light, storage +” charging piles, including battery testing and other supporting services. In the future, we will also provide guidance on system requirements and responses.

Song Jie: Two major challenges facing the charging pile market

The popularization of electric vehicles requires the popularization of charging piles. When it comes to the current challenges in this market, Song Jie, CEO of Shifudaojia Technology, believes that there are two main ones:

Song Jie, CEO of Shifudaojia (Shenzhen) Technology

1. The cost of infrastructure construction is relatively high. Although the cost of the pile is fixed, the simultaneous charging of hundreds of vehicles was not considered in the early residential and commercial applications. Expanding capacity and adding transformers was a huge investment in the early days. “We call on the power operators of the State Grid and China Southern Power Grid to meet our demand for electricity for new energy vehicles or other capacity with their investment and construction measures.”

2. From the perspective of consumers, it is the most troublesome to find charging piles now. Baidu Maps and AutoNavi Maps can search for gas stations. Although some charging piles can be found, they are incomplete, or the charging piles in the community are not open to the public. “We call on operators to make the interoperability of the cloud solid and share information better. No matter whether the charging pile operators can make corresponding settlements or not, at least let the platform provide consumers with more charging pile data and let everyone know. Where is there a pile to charge.”

Du Guangdong: The power grid communication system must be autonomous and controllable

Du Guangdong, chairman of Shenglu IOT, is the inventor of the narrowband local area communication technology DDA, and this technology will play a unique role in the future smart grid construction.

Du Guangdong, Chairman of Shenglu IoT

DDA is a network protocol for the needs of the Internet of Things, not the Internet, and it is a completely domestic network protocol. The characteristics of the power grid is a one-way network. There is no “return” from power generation to variables, transmission, distribution and consumption. After electricity is generated, it is often sent to the consumption side. The amount of transmission is based on previous years’ experience. Delivery is blind.

Du Guangdong believes that there are two problems with traditional power transmission:

1. Unable to return. What should I do if the electricity is not enough? The only way is to cut off power in certain communities and factories; what if there is too much electricity? It is consumed by heat, and the cost of waste is very high if it cannot be recovered. Du Guangdong gave a data that 50-60% of the electricity in the power grid is consumed in this way.

2. Unable to store electricity. The cost of strong electricity storage is too high. Nowadays, from grid operators to private enterprises, they are actively solving the problem of local electricity storage. The current requirement of the state is to be able to store 15% of electricity, which is already a very large society. made progress.

The optimal solution is to deliver power precisely according to the demand on the consumer side. More than ten years ago, countries around the world began to develop smart grids. The purpose is to accurately collect the power consumption side when the power grid supplies power in one direction, and then manage the precise distribution of electricity to save energy. This requires additional information transmission on the power grid. “The State Grid has buried optical fibers under all transformers as early as 20 years ago, in order to realize the return of collected information.” Du Guangdong said, in addition, our country’s smart grid is closely related to Germany and the United States are different and take longer-term considerations. By adding a communication module to the industrial control software through the smart grid, the working status is sent back to the database to form a big data analysis. All in all, the smart grid needs the cooperation of the communication system to accurately distribute the front-end electricity demand.

“And this kind of communication system must not use foreign technology, it must be localized technology.” Du Guangdong emphasized. A few years ago, everyone was not particularly urgent about this issue. Now, the confrontation between China and the United States and various technical bottlenecks have made one thing clear to everyone – the power grid is the core industry of the country, and all supporting facilities must be localized.

How to achieve carbon neutrality?

Returning to President Xi’s strategic goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, several guests also expressed their views from the perspectives of power generation, electricity consumption and intelligence.

Zhang Yihui believes that we must first grasp the data, and then formulate strategies and early warnings based on it. From the perspective of ICT, Huawei hopes to link isolated devices as soon as possible, and then realize digital and intelligent transformation. In this way, we can help the country realize energy transformation.

Du Guangdong believes that there are two ways to save electricity and carbon neutrality: 1. Physical electricity saving; 2. Information electricity saving. Physical power saving is represented by frequency conversion technology. Although it has been used for many years, the current controversy is that there is data that the use of physical power saving will affect the life of the equipment, and related technologies are still under discussion. The so-called information power saving is to use the Internet of Things and Internet technology to achieve precise power consumption through collection technology. On the other hand, ordinary people need to get used to using electricity. “This is actually what the Japanese say. For example, the outdoor temperature is 26 degrees, and the air conditioner at home is 27 degrees and it is still on overnight, which is a waste.” Du Guangdong said.

Song Jie focuses on the travel side. Others believe that using trams can reduce carbon emissions compared to gasoline vehicles. However, he also said that there are some new ideas recently that the process of building trams actually has higher carbon emissions than oil cars, including battery manufacturing, future recycling, and secondary use. “So everyone can walk if they can walk, or ride a bicycle if they can’t walk. More exercise is better than driving a petrol car and a tram. Everyone’s low-carbon lifestyle may help the country’s carbon neutrality.”

Gao Yanfeng also continued to develop the issue of carbon emissions from oil cars and trams. He believes that there are two views now. One of them is that if there is carbon footprint tracking, it may be found that the carbon emissions of trams in the whole life cycle may not be less than that of oil cars. However, there is no relevant carbon emission trading mechanism and system in China.

The topic changed: Are electric vehicles environmentally friendly?

Du Guangdong further expanded on this issue. He said that the electric vehicle battery itself is very controversial, because the energy is attenuated during the conversion process, and there is waste when all kinds of energy are converted into electrical energy. There is no doubt that trams can reduce pollution in cities, but when using batteries as a clean energy source, it will also transfer pollution to the places where batteries are produced and recycled. “The state is now encouraging electric vehicles. Which one is more reasonable and better for carbon emissions? Practice is the only criterion for testing, and the market is also the only criterion for testing. It is the kingly way to be a business that can make money and provide services to the common people; Trial and error, constant exploration, the nation will progress.”

Zhang Yihui also agreed with the views of several other guests. He said that he also particularly supported the development of electric vehicles, and believed that last year was a psychological turning point for people to buy electric vehicles. In the past, trams were bought because of the license plate. Recently, people have found that the driving experience of electric cars is very good. People who buy electric cars don’t even think about driving gas cars anymore. He also analyzed the pros and cons of electric vehicles from two perspectives with “skill” and “dao”. From the perspective of carbon emissions, carbon emission reduction and carbon neutrality are techniques for China; Dao is a higher-level energy strategy. “We are not only stuck in chips, but also in energy. Our country is short of oil and gas, and the country has thought of many ways. If the energy transition can convert fossil energy into renewable energy, the bottleneck problem can be solved. If At the same time, carbon reduction can be achieved, and it is even more necessary to continue.”

What policies at the national level can support carbon neutrality?

However, in order to achieve the ambitious goal of carbon peaking and carbon neutrality, it is not enough for everyone to drive less and use less. If the national level can formulate relevant policies, it will be more effective.

Zhang Yihui mentioned an example, Huawei has cooperated with relevant national ministries and commissions to “calculate the east and count the west”. Eastern China is the place where data is generated, but data needs to be processed and processed through a large amount of data centers. Such data centers often have 10,000 cabinets, and the power consumption is equivalent to that generated by the Gezhouba Power Station. The calculation is to build the data center in the area with energy advantages in the west, and transmit the data to the past for processing, so as to realize energy saving and emission reduction.

With a little more imagination, so many roofs have no solar panels, and so many car roofs have not seen solar power generation. If the state introduces incentive policies, the windows and roofs of buildings will have self-generated solar power when they are built. A power generation efficiency of 20% or more is feasible. Zhang Yihui took the Taklimakan Desert as an example. Due to the strong winds 220 days a year, a large amount of water in the Tarim River evaporated in the end. , while reducing the amount of evaporation, the power generation can be 7 trillion degrees, and the water in Taklimakan is fully guaranteed, and it is not impossible to build another fortress in the south of the Yangtze River.”

Song Jie believes that the current state’s subsidy policy for all aspects of trams is very reasonable. As long as consumers’ usage habits and frequency of use increase, the price difference between buying trams and petrol cars is not too big, and the functions of trams such as automatic driving are even better than those of others. Fuel trucks are smoother, and consumers will vote with their feet. “The government can have reasonable subsidies, but it can’t be too aggressive, otherwise someone will take advantage of the loopholes. To carbon neutrality and carbon peaks, I think the market is the decision maker.”

Gao Yanfeng took Tesla as an example. Tesla does not make money purely by selling cars, and selling carbon credits is the bulk. If China wants to achieve carbon peaking and carbon neutrality in the future, the relevant carbon trading mechanism needs to be further improved. , charging station operators are also more willing to participate in the trading mechanism of energy saving and emission reduction, bringing more benefits and helping the country to achieve its ambitious goals as soon as possible.