The advent of "Internet +" and smart energy may tap into the unlimited potential of electricity

China Energy Storage Network: Imagine if one day, the energy consumption, operation status, carbon emissions, sulfide emissions, nitrogen oxide emissions and other indicators of each device, each automated assembly line and each factory were transformed into digital coordinates, and managers could optimize production settings by simply clicking on the control system; your various needs every second could be accumulated and directed to the most effective production supply, etc. In recent years, from food, clothing, housing and transportation to financial capital, the Internet has not only transformed the traditional service industry, but also continued to penetrate into industrial subdivisions. As China's energy industry reform enters the deep water zone, the industry's structural adjustment urgently needs transformation and upgrading. Energy companies hope to use "Internet +" to achieve a new development situation of reform, development and innovation. "Internet +" smart energy may be a breakthrough for achieving transformation and upgrading and innovative development.

"Internet +" is influencing and changing traditional industries

Since the "Internet +" action plan was proposed in the government work report during the 2015 Two Sessions, Internet + has become the hottest term in the Internet industry since 2015. For a period of time, it occupied the front page headlines of major media, and everyone was trying to explain the meaning and connotation of this new term and trying to integrate it.

In fact, the concept of "Internet +" was first proposed in the industry in 2012, which is in line with the concept of "Internetization" that appeared in 2007, emphasizing the cross-border deep integration of the Internet and traditional industries. "Internet +" is the result and symbol of the deep integration of industry and information technology in my country, and is also an important means to further promote information consumption.

What is "Internet +"? Research points out that "the essence of 'Internet +' is the online and digitized transformation of traditional industries." Some professional organizations believe that "Internet +" is the process of diffusion and application of a set of information technologies based on the Internet in various sectors of economic and social life.

The advent of "Internet +" and smart energy may tap into the unlimited potential of electricity

Combining the views of experts and institutions from all aspects, to put it simply, "Internet +" means "Internet + various traditional industries", but this is not a simple addition of the two. Instead, it mainly refers to the use of information and communication technology and the Internet platform to enable an all-round, full-system deep integration of the Internet and traditional industries. It is a new form and new business form of Internet development, the evolution of the Internet form driven by innovation in the knowledge society and the new form of economic and social development it has spawned, and it is a further practical result of Internet thinking. It represents an advanced productivity and is driving the continuous evolution of the economic form.

At present, "Internet +" has changed and influenced many industries. "Internet + traditional market" has Taobao, "Internet + traditional department store" has JD.com, "Internet + traditional bank" has Alipay, "Internet + traditional taxi" has Kuaiche Didi, and "Internet + restaurant" has Ele.me.

In addition, emerging fields such as "Internet + Healthcare", "Internet + Transportation", "Internet + Public Services", and "Internet + Education" are also gaining momentum. With the in-depth implementation of the "Internet +" strategy, the Internet will inevitably further integrate with more traditional industries.

Demand interconnection drives energy efficiency improvement

Looking back on the historical process, it is clear that advanced technology has had a huge driving force on the energy revolution and then the industrial revolution. "Steam engine + coal" replaced "labor + firewood", and "internal combustion engine + oil" replaced "steam engine + coal", which respectively started the second industrial revolution.

At present, a new round of energy revolution and its corresponding third industrial revolution are ready to take off. They are led by new information technologies and new energy technologies, and integrated with new technologies such as bioelectronics, 3D printing, intelligent robots, nanomaterials, etc. They are interconnected and intertwined, and are carrying out all-round upgrading and transformation of traditional industries.

After the State Council proposed the concept of "Internet +" and issued the strategic plan of "Made in China 2025" in 2015, the industrial sector has been in full swing and has quickly launched the "Internet +" action. At the beginning of the year, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued a programmatic document for the implementation of the "Internet +" action in the energy field - "Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of "Internet +" Smart Energy". The document pointed out that in order to promote the healthy and orderly development of the energy Internet, it will be promoted in two stages in the near and medium term, with pilot demonstrations carried out in the early stage and promotion and application in the later stage to ensure practical results.

In fact, as early as 2015, many industry insiders said that in the context of power reform, "Internet +" smart energy will lead the revolution in energy production and technology, promote the formation of a new power management system, and will spawn many market segments with broad investment prospects.

Wang Qiang, a member of the National Energy Administration's "Internet +" Smart Energy Action Plan research team, believes that the energy Internet is a new energy supply and utilization system with the power system as the core and link, a high degree of integration of multiple types of energy networks and transportation networks, and "horizontal complementarity of multiple energy bodies, vertical source-grid-load-storage" coordination, and two-way flow characteristics of energy flow and information flow.

What will happen when the Internet and energy collide in the future? The first is extensive connectivity. Various devices will be connected end-to-end, such as distributed energy, building management systems, electric vehicles, smart homes, etc. The second is management. "Internet +" smart energy will access a huge number of devices and generate a huge amount of data, such as device identity registration, big data analysis, grid management, and distributed processing. The third is intelligence. The power generation facilities, energy storage facilities, and every energy-consuming device and electric vehicle in the system can be intelligent, communicate, collaborate, and self-manage.

According to Zhang Guobao, former director of the National Energy Administration, in the future, energy will be like information. Every energy-producing unit will be able to put the energy it produces on the energy Internet, and people and units that need energy will also be able to obtain energy through the energy network. Sharing and interconnectivity have become the main characteristics of "Internet +" smart energy.

The future of the power industry is full of infinite possibilities

"In the future, you can not only borrow salt and soy sauce from your neighbors, but also buy electricity from them." Recently, Li Ye, chief economist of the National Energy Administration, said at a regular policy briefing of the State Council that the National Energy Administration is promoting the Internet and intelligence of energy. It will take about three years, that is, before 2019, to focus on pilot demonstrations, encourage various application explorations, and accumulate new technologies, new models, and new business formats that can be promoted.

Simply put, it can be understood as "Internet + Energy". In the past, residents were only consumers of electricity and could only buy electricity from power companies; after the Internet and intelligence of energy, each family can also be a generator, generating electricity for their own use, and the excess can be connected to the Internet. Li Ye said that in the future, residents will not only pay power companies and heat companies to buy electricity, but may also sell electricity to heat companies and power companies and get returns. In addition, it is also possible to buy electricity from residents' homes.

It can be foreseen that under this background, power grid enterprises will face new missions, or the tasks of the power grid will change greatly. First, the power grid will become a network for large-scale transmission and distribution of new energy power. Secondly, the power grid and distributed power sources, energy storage devices, and energy comprehensive and efficient utilization systems will be organically integrated to become a flexible and efficient smart energy network. At the same time, the smart grid will also have extremely high power supply reliability or functional reliability, basically eliminating the risk of large-scale power outages. In particular, with the extensive integration of power grids and information and communication systems, a new service system integrating energy, power, and information will be further built, allowing the smart grid to assume new missions and play a greater role.

In addition, in the power industry, the business model is also based on the single product of electricity. In the future, the Internet will be able to support new information-based energy Internet applications, such as information sharing between power consumers and power producers, as well as between consumers and consumers, and between producers and producers, facility sharing, instant cooperation, real-time and inter-period cost sharing, dynamic electricity prices and billing services, etc.