China and Germany can collaborate on innovation in energy internet construction

China Energy Storage Network: Last May, when I invited Liao Yu, chairman of the German Chinese New Energy Association, to give a speech at Tsinghua University, we discussed compiling a book on the progress of Germany's energy internet. Later, during the research of the National Energy Administration's energy internet pre-research project, the research team discussed Germany's E-Energy many times, but the book compilation has not been implemented. In late August this year, Zhang Xinyue, editor of the Machinery Industry Press, came to me with the Chinese translation of this energy internet. I was excited and ashamed at the time. I felt ashamed because I felt that our academic community should have completed this task first. Moved by Editor Zhang's persistence in publishing this book, I readily agreed to write a recommendation for this book; I invited Director Jin Caier of the Sino-German Cooperation Agency (GIZ) to write a preface and suggested that the E-Energy mid-term report released in 2012 be translated and included in this book; I also assisted in inviting Xu Dingming, former director of the National Energy Administration and counselor of the State Council, Dr. Liu Jianping, deputy director of the Planning Department of the National Energy Administration, and Comrade Jiang Bing, who organized the drafting of the "Internet + Smart Energy" development guidance document last year, to write a recommendation for this book.

Editor Zhang sent the new book to Tsinghua University as soon as it was printed on the 25th. It feels great and I really want to share it with you. The National Energy Administration International Energy Transformation Forum will open in Suzhou tomorrow. You will see this new book at the Energy Internet Forum on the afternoon of the 31st. I will wait for you at the Energy Internet Forum.

I will first share with you the preface I wrote, and I will continue to share with you in the form of summaries and comments later.

Germany leads the world in energy transition

E-Energy is a technology innovation promotion program initiated by the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Technology (BMWi) to explore the future energy system based on ICT. Now the federal government has announced that E-Energy will be a national "lighthouse project" in view of its important role in Germany's energy transformation.

Germany's energy transformation is a beacon for the world's energy transformation.

Germany officially launched its energy transition in 2000. At that time, the cost of photovoltaic power was still very high, with the cost of photovoltaic power generation in Germany exceeding RMB 5 per kilowatt-hour. However, Germany firmly implemented its photovoltaic subsidy policy. Over the past decade, Germany's photovoltaic policy has become an important beacon of the world's energy transition.

In 2010, Germany formulated an energy plan for 2050, setting the ambitious goals of 80% renewable energy in electricity by 2050 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% compared to 1990 levels. In 2011, Germany shocked the world again with its decision to abandon nuclear power.

Is Germany really going to use wind power and photovoltaic power as its main energy source? It is going to eliminate both nuclear power and coal power? This is simply unbelievable.

However, Germany's energy transition is actually so fast.

In 2015, renewable energy accounted for more than 30% of Germany's electricity, with wind power accounting for 13.3% and photovoltaic power reaching 6%. In May 2016, renewable energy accounted for 42.8%. At noon on May 8, 2016, renewable energy accounted for 88% of Germany's total electricity load.

The German case has proved that on the technical level, the modern power grid is fully capable of coping with the challenges of large-scale development of renewable energy such as solar energy and wind energy and grid-connected power generation. A new type of energy with energy Internet as its core feature has taken shape.

E-ENERGY is a beacon for Germany's energy transition

As a lighthouse innovation project in Germany, the E-ENERGY project studies power systems that accept a high proportion of renewable energy. Its ultimate goal is 100% renewable energy, and its technical core is the deep integration of communication systems and energy systems. The six E-ENERGY projects explored the core goals from different angles.

1. The goal of the Baden Demonstration Zone is to become the area with the lowest carbon dioxide emissions. The result is to develop a certification system for low-carbon emission demonstration zones with energy information as the core and an intelligent platform.

2. The Harz Demonstration Area is a region rich in renewable energy such as wind energy. The project goal is to achieve smart power generation, smart grid, smart electricity consumption and smart storage, so that the power system can accept more renewable energy and even achieve 100% renewable energy.

3. The Mannheim project encourages energy suppliers to connect every application and every customer to the energy market in real time through power broadband design, laying the foundation for the realization of the energy Internet.

4. The Cuxhaven demonstration project explores the use of modern information and communication technologies to enable intelligent system integration between producers and consumers of power systems.

5. The Rhine-Ruhr Industrial Area Demonstration Project develops a networked distributed energy system for the future energy market. Thousands of customers are equipped with smart grids, smart white appliances, small cogeneration equipment and electric heating facilities to demonstrate how information and communication technology gateways can fully automate the system and improve energy efficiency.

6. The key concept of the Aachen demonstration area project is "smart kilowatt-hour", which enables the effective transmission of information during the physical energy transmission process and supports the realization of green electricity trading.

China raises the banner of energy internet

Germany's E-energy has done a lot of exploration and innovation in the integration of energy systems and communication systems. But the Germans were not the first to use the term "energy internet". The use of energy internet in official national documents was an innovation of the Chinese. In China's official documents, "Internet +" smart energy was first proposed, and then it was simply shortened to "energy internet".

The primary trigger for the entry of energy internet into China's energy policy system is the internet. In 2015, Premier Li Keqiang first proposed the "Internet +" action plan in his government work report. Subsequently, in July 2015, the State Council issued Document No. 40 [2015] "Guiding Opinions of the State Council on Actively Promoting the "Internet +" Action", which clearly defined the internet as an innovative element, and the integration of the internet and energy systems was called "Internet + Smart Energy".

In May 2015, the National Energy Administration began to organize research projects and document drafting for the Energy Internet Action Plan. Jiang Bing, then Director of the Department of Energy Conservation and Technology Equipment, took the lead in organizing Tsinghua University and other units to carry out research on twelve topics of the Energy Internet Action Plan pre-research project. As a member of the research team of Tsinghua University, I participated in the research project and later participated in the drafting of two documents on the Energy Internet led by the Science and Technology Department. At that time, Director Jiang Bing also commissioned Dr. Feng Bo of the Science and Technology Department to organize a youth salon for the Energy Internet. The salon participants were mainly young members of the research team. A salon was held every weekend to cooperate with the research projects and document drafting of the Energy Internet at that time. One of the salons was dedicated to discussing six projects of German E-Energy.

In February 2016, the National Development and Reform Commission, the National Energy Administration and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the document No. 392 of the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) on the Guiding Opinions on Promoting the Development of “Internet +” Smart Energy. In this document, “Internet +” smart energy is referred to as “Energy Internet” and defined as “a new form of energy industry development that deeply integrates the Internet with energy production, transmission, storage, consumption and energy market”. This document draws on some of the research results of the research team on the E-Energy project.

China's Energy Internet Lighthouse Project has also been launched

In early July this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the Implementation Opinions on Promoting the Construction of Multi-energy Complementary Integrated Optimization Demonstration Project (NDRC [2016] No. 1430), which emphasized that the construction of multi-energy complementary integrated optimization demonstration project is one of the important tasks of building the "Internet +" smart energy system. In late July, the National Energy Administration issued the National Energy Science and Technology [2016] No. 200 "Notice of the National Energy Administration on Organizing and Implementing the "Internet +" Smart Energy (Energy Internet) Demonstration Project". This document emphasized that the core of the energy Internet is the deep integration of the energy system and the communication system, and specifically proposed several types of typical innovative model pilot demonstrations. In the concept of the energy Internet pilot demonstration based on electric vehicles, flexible resources, smart energy use, and green energy flexible trading, we can clearly see the shadow of some successful experiences of Germany's E-Energy. For example, some designs of electric vehicles in the Rhine-Ruhr Industrial Zone Demonstration Project are based on the energy Internet demonstration of electric vehicles, and the "smart kilowatt-hour" of the Aachen Demonstration Zone Project and the "green currency" advocated in the energy Internet demonstration document obviously have something in common.