The growth rate of energy Internet will remain at 18.5% in the next five years

China Energy Storage Network reported : "2016 is the first year of the 13th Five-Year Plan. During the 13th Five-Year Plan, we should actively build a smart energy system, promote the deep integration of new technologies in the fields of energy and information, coordinate the construction of energy and infrastructure networks such as communications and transportation, and build an energy Internet with coordinated development, integration and complementarity of source-grid-load-storage. In the next five years, the development of the national energy Internet industry is expected to maintain a growth rate of 18.5%. Under the background of China's new economic normal, the energy Internet industry will undoubtedly become one of the strong engines of reform, innovation and development." Shi Yubo, executive vice president of the China Energy Research Society and former deputy director of the National Energy Administration, said at the 2016 China Energy Internet Summit held on August 31.

Accenture also gave an optimistic estimate of the size of China's energy internet market. "It is expected that by 2030, China's new energy enterprises will have a higher growth capacity and market share than traditional energy enterprises, while energy service enterprises and cross-border enterprises will also rise rapidly with the revenue brought by the energy internet field, and even surpass the oil and gas industry," said Ding Mincheng, Accenture's global vice president and vice chairman of Greater China.

Energy Internet is the general trend

The energy internet industry is the product of the deep integration of the traditional energy industry and the emerging internet industry, and represents an important direction for the future development of the energy sector. As a brand-new subject, the energy internet is also a general trend on a global scale. According to Shi Yubo, the current global energy development is driven by both consumption structure and technological development. Many developed countries have begun to explore and practice the energy internet, and have achieved outstanding results.

With the support of power, electronics, high-speed digital communications and distributed control technologies, the United States promotes the establishment of a smart grid architecture, achieving efficient energy utilization and compatibility with renewable energy through comprehensive control of all aspects of energy production, transmission and consumption. Germany has set the goal of fully digitalizing, computerizing and monitoring ICT technology in the entire energy supply system, making full use of ICT technology to develop new solutions to meet the needs of power systems dominated by distributed energy supply, while achieving mutual coordination between electronic networks and electronic equipment.

my country's government departments also attach great importance to the development of energy internet and have issued many documents to promote it, creating a good environment for the development of energy internet from the policy level and implementation level. Some IT companies, Internet companies and manufacturing companies have begun forward-looking exploration and pilot projects in business to seize the commanding heights of the industry in advance.

In Shi Yubo's view, China's energy industry's exploration and innovation in energy Internet is not accidental or blind, but stems from long-term research on the bottlenecks in the development of renewable energy and the limitations of distributed energy, and from a series of insights into the characteristics of energy user demand in the Internet era.

In his speech, You Zheng, Vice President of Tsinghua University, pointed out that my country is facing an urgent need for a new energy revolution and an energy market revolution. In recent years, with the continuous in-depth development and integration of emerging energy sources such as renewable energy, smart grids, large-capacity storage, electric vehicles, and emerging technologies such as the Internet of Things, big data, and mobile Internet, the development of an energy Internet that collects energy on-site, conducts two-way transactions, and shares energy in real time between the power generation and consumption sides has become increasingly clear. The energy Internet is increasingly widely regarded as an important technical fulcrum for realizing the future energy revolution.

"China's current economic structure is facing the important task of transformation and adjustment, and the energy industry is also facing the tasks of energy supply revolution, technological revolution and institutional revolution. This will bring new impetus to economic transformation and energy development, and will also become an important basis for promoting economic development and energy revolution." Shi Yubo said.

Release industry survey reports

One of the highlights of this summit was the joint release of the 2016 China Energy Internet Enterprise Executive Survey Report by the China Energy Research Society and Accenture. The report focuses on various enterprises involved in the energy internet ecosystem, interviews nearly 100 current executives of Chinese energy ecosystem enterprises, and presents the perception, strategic adjustments and practical concerns of corporate decision makers on this emerging market with first-hand data, while revealing the real positioning, expectations and challenges of enterprises in the first year of China's energy internet.

In the report survey, more than 90% of the respondents believed that the energy internet will have a certain impact on or even subvert China's existing energy industry chain in the next three years. The Chinese government's judgment that "the energy internet is an important strategic support for promoting my country's energy revolution" has been recognized at the corporate level. Under the macro-planning, the digital technology applications, digital enterprise management and digital business models contained in the energy internet are taking root at the micro level.

The report also shows that most of the executives interviewed are cautious about transformation and innovation, and are not fully prepared at the strategic level on how to capture the synergies and market opportunities brought by energy Internet technologies.

"Although the scale of investment is very considerable, companies are still taking a wait-and-see attitude due to the uncertainty of policy strategies and cross-border cooperation models. Most of the interviewed corporate managers expect that the electricity market reform measures can be implemented at the grassroots level as soon as possible to eliminate the uncertainty of energy Internet business." Ding Mincheng said.

Solving development problems

"The impact of energy internet on energy production and consumption is subversive. It is a forward-looking technology and industry. Our country's energy industry is facing unprecedented opportunities." Han Yingduo, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said at the meeting, "The evaluation standard of energy internet should be based on benefits, not scale. Large scale does not mean leading. The key is to bring real benefits."

Experts at the meeting believed that although the energy internet is currently very popular, the problems in its development cannot be ignored. In Shi Yubo's view, the specific concept and connotation of the energy internet need to be further explored and practiced to reach a broad consensus; related reform measures and support policies also need to be further implemented and clarified; technical means need to be continuously improved; and the exploration and establishment of a business model needs to be further tested by the market.

Fan Bi, inspector of the General Affairs Department of the State Council Research Office, said, "The Internet has reformed the world, but it has not changed China's energy. Foreign energy has changed a little, but it has not changed completely."

In the development of Internet + various industries, the Internetization of energy is the weakest. "The existing energy system is not yet suitable for the connection with the Internet." Fan Bi pointed out, "The suppliers of electricity, oil, gas and heat in the energy industry are concentrated, the business model is franchise, and the state-owned enterprises are the main ones. There is no fully competitive ecology in the Internet world. At the same time, the reserves of energy commodities are incomplete, which restricts the free flow of energy. Therefore, energy should return to the attributes of general commodities. In terms of industrial concentration, the supply quantity should be increased, and in terms of the circulation system, the price should be liberalized."

In order to better promote the development of the energy internet industry, Tsinghua University organized relevant units in the fields of energy internet technology innovation, industrial development, application promotion, and standard testing to launch the National Energy Internet Industry and Technology Innovation Alliance. At the summit, Xiu Binglin, deputy director of the Energy Conservation and Technology Equipment Department of the National Energy Administration, read out the official approval document of the National Energy Administration on the establishment of the alliance.

According to Zeng Rong, director of the Energy Internet Innovation Institute of Tsinghua University, the alliance aims to effectively integrate resources from all parties, cultivate related industries, promote the construction of a safe and efficient modern energy system, promote the development of new Internet technologies, new models and new business forms, promote supply-side structural reforms, and support and advance energy reform work.