Gao Feng: Energy Internet is the support point for realizing the energy revolution strategy

Second, take energy regulators as an example. Through the technology of energy Internet, we can understand the local energy structure and energy cost in real time, quickly predict the impact of energy price changes on the economy and society, and scientifically predict the effects of energy policies, etc. In addition, the energy system should develop from the current emphasis on control to an emphasis on service and equality. The future will be an interactive smart energy system, and the concept of demand side will be weakened.

Reporter: What is the key to the energy Internet's role in boosting overall system energy efficiency?

Gao Feng: To explain this question, we must first know the concept of energy internet. Energy internet is a new form of energy industry development that deeply integrates internet concepts, technologies, energy production, transmission, storage, consumption and energy market. Through the coordination of multiple energy sources, coordination of supply and consumption, centralized and distributed coordination, and extensive participation of the public, it can achieve the optimal allocation of material flow, energy flow, information flow, business flow and capital flow, and realize green, coordinated and efficient development. This is a definition of the primary stage of energy internet. Among them, the concept of "coordination" is crucial, especially the coordination of multiple energy sources is the key to the construction of energy internet in my country at this stage - comprehensively considering the fragmented electricity, cold, heat and gas, and significantly improving the efficiency of the energy system.

Reporter: Please give an example.

Peak: For example, if a user uses both electricity and heat, the power grid and heat network need to be built separately to meet the user's peak demand, which will cause unnecessary waste. If electricity and heat are considered in a coordinated manner, the required construction is not a simple superposition of the power grid and heat network, but the storage and conversion of electricity and heat energy through technical means such as energy storage, and the guidance of price signals to control terminal consumption and guide the composition of the country's overall energy system. At the same time, through the coordination of multiple energy sources, it is also possible to improve the utilization rate of funds and assets, reduce redundant construction, and comprehensively improve the efficiency of the overall energy system.

Reporter: At present, wind and solar power have gradually gotten rid of the shackles of high costs. The next step is to solve the problem of consumption and compensation. What role does the energy Internet play in solving this problem?

Gao Feng: In the energy internet, the coordination of supply and consumption is the key to promoting and improving the level of renewable energy access and consumption. It can effectively promote the green transformation and upgrading of my country's energy and electricity, achieve the goal of a high proportion of renewable energy access to the power grid, and even achieve 100% renewable energy supply in some places.

Reporter: How can the energy Internet play its promoting role when traditional power grids still dominate?

Gao Feng: In traditional power grids, the stability of the power grid is ensured by combining the output plan of generator sets with the control of peak-shaving and frequency-regulating units. However, with the access of a large number of new energy sources with volatility and unpredictability, coupled with fluctuations on the consumer side, higher requirements are placed on traditional power grids. Internet technology can shorten the distance between production and consumption and make the two directly match. The cloud platform and big data technology of the energy Internet can bring supply and use closer, and make power generation and consumption closely match each other. Through market and technical means, the quality of electricity can be improved, and the utilization rate of renewable energy will be greatly improved. It is worth emphasizing that this requires the allocation of resources on a larger scale to better match energy production and consumption. The disruptive changes in traditional power grids in the future are also one of the important factors that need to be considered in completing the energy revolution.

The core of the energy Internet is the deep integration of technology and concepts

Reporter: The purpose of the energy internet is to improve the overall system energy efficiency. What kind of architecture and method does the energy internet use to achieve this goal?

Gao Feng: The energy internet must rely on the deep integration of technology and concepts to improve the overall system energy efficiency. The energy internet achieves the goal of improving the overall system energy efficiency by realizing the deep integration of technology and concepts through a three-layer structure. The first is the physical foundation layer of the multi-energy collaborative energy network; the second is the realization means layer of the information-physical energy system; and the third is the value discovery and realization layer of the innovative model energy operation.

Reporter: Please start by talking about the integration of the physical foundation layer and the implementation means layer.

Gao Feng: From the perspective of the physical foundation layer, the realization form of the energy Internet is the optimized configuration of material flow, energy flow, information flow, business flow, and capital flow within different regional scopes and scales. Similar to the scale classification of the Internet's local area network, wide area network, and World Wide Web, from the perspective of the energy Internet, the energy local area network, that is, the multi-energy microgrid, will be realized first, and the networks of electricity, cold, heat, water, and gas will be interconnected and coordinated to achieve efficient use of energy; with the energy local area network as the basic node, the power grid, pipeline network, and road network as the backbone grid, a wide area interconnection will be formed from point to surface, that is, the energy wide area network. The multi-energy collaborative energy network provides a physical basis for the energy complementarity and optimal configuration of the entire energy chain. However, the maximization of its overall efficiency is inseparable from the integration of information-physical systems. Without the integration of physical information and physical foundation, the physical foundation layer loses the means to realize value. Here, I want to emphasize that the energy Internet should improve energy efficiency by starting with the energy efficiency improvement of the local energy network, that is, the multi-energy microgrid. The efficiency of each local energy network has been improved, and the efficiency of the wide-area energy network will definitely be improved; the improvement of the energy efficiency of the local energy network has reduced the dependence on external energy sources of the local network and ensured the security of the local energy network. The wide-area energy network formed on this basis will be more efficient and more secure. Under the premise of efficiency and security, the construction of the energy Internet will have a solid foundation.

Reporter: How to achieve value discovery?

Gao Feng: In addition to the physical characteristics of the Internet form, the energy Internet also has the service characteristics of the Internet form, that is, the way to realize the value of the energy Internet - innovative model energy operation. On the premise of having a solid physical foundation and means of realization, we should make full use of Internet thinking, focus on users, explore and realize business value - each link of the energy value chain combined with the Internet can generate a variety of business models. Through marketization, we can stimulate the vitality of all participants, form innovative business models such as energy marketing e-commerce, transaction finance, investment marketization, and financing networking, build an energy sharing economy and free energy trading, and promote the construction of an energy consumption ecosystem; abstract the energy system infrastructure into virtual resources through the Internet, break through the geographical distribution restrictions, effectively integrate energy infrastructure of various forms and characteristics, and improve the utilization rate of energy resources, such as revitalizing the scattered massive battery energy storage resources to form a virtual large-scale energy storage power station; through computing power, give energy information attributes, so that energy can be flexibly managed and regulated like computing resources, broadband resources, storage resources and other information and communication resources, and realize the future personalized customized capability operation services and other energy Internet value growth. In a dynamic market environment, all parties involved in the entire energy chain of energy production, transmission, consumption, storage and conversion can participate extensively. This will inevitably lead to a large number of excellent companies standing out and driving the industrial development of the energy Internet.

Reporter: The innovative energy operation model is to explore and realize the value of all parties involved, which of course must be guided by market demand. In the process of exploring and realizing the value of all parties, does the government need to play a role?

Gao Feng: Innovative services must be guided by market demand. At present, innovative energy operations have been widely carried out in China in various forms such as third-party services and big data services. Although they do not require too much policy support and have huge commercial value, the government still needs to build a fair, just and open market environment to achieve them. On the one hand, innovative energy operations require regulators to be committed to building a new energy system structure and market based on the traditional backbone network, fully, widely and effectively utilizing distributed renewable energy, and meeting the diversified energy and power needs of users, providing operators with an energy consumption market that can fully interact with consumers and have competition, so that they can provide differentiated energy product quality and services and win market competition. This not only provides energy consumers with the energy supply functions of traditional power grids and gas grids, but also provides them with a public platform for sharing various energy sources. On the other hand, the government needs to build a new price mechanism. Under the new electricity reform, if the integrated energy service provider model is promoted and implemented, the overall energy system efficiency will be improved, and there will be room for price reductions - price reductions based on government guidance prices will be allowed, and different price ranges will be set through reporting and other means, so as to provide customized electricity packages for different customer needs and provide customers with energy services that are more in line with their actual needs. It should be emphasized that the new electricity reform is not to cut out the cake of the power grid and give it to other stakeholders, but to make a new cake through the energy Internet.