Injecting "Internet" thinking into energy

China Energy Storage Network: From 1988 to 2018, this year, Tellhow Group Co., Ltd. has entered its 30th year. At the 30th anniversary celebration, Huang Daifang, the founder and chairman of the board of directors of Tellhow, said that Tellhow people are standing at the critical period of "second entrepreneurship". In the new era, Tellhow has established the corporate vision of "Tellhow of China, Tellhow of the World", and is committed to leading the industry in one or two fields in China. As one of Tellhow's main industries, the energy Internet business under the smart energy industry was immediately identified as a key area for future development. How to implant the "Internet" into the energy field? In what direction will the energy Internet develop in the future? With these questions, the reporter of "China Energy News" interviewed Liao Yu, who has rich experience in working in domestic and foreign power grid companies and is currently the chief technology officer of Tellhow Technology Co., Ltd.

China Energy News: As a hot topic in the current energy industry, how do you understand the concept of "Energy Internet"?

Liao Yu: The concept of energy internet is very popular, and people in the industry are wondering what the internet can do in the energy field. From the development trajectory of the internet, the internet has solved the problem of connecting people in the past 20 years. Now we need to solve the problem of connecting people with things, and then there may be more ways of connecting things with things. The degree of digitization of an industry determines whether it can be internetized.

The energy industry itself is already highly digitalized. At least in the field of electricity, the foundation of the Internet of Things has been laid. Previously, unmanned substations were built to achieve safe production and remote monitoring, and their automation level was very high. What we need to think about now is how to find a suitable energy Internet business model. The definition of Energy Internet 1.0 is multi-energy complementarity, combining multiple networks such as power grids, water networks, gas networks, and heat networks. Later, energy storage complementarity and multi-directional interaction can be added.

But for users, connecting several networks together is just like installing broadband, which is just access to the energy Internet. In the vision of Energy Internet 2.0, we hope to work on the service and experience side. The Energy Internet is no longer just connecting different energy networks together, but using the Internet's business model to replace the original energy industry's operating model and achieve the upgrade of the Energy Internet.

China Energy News: You have worked in China Power Grid Corporation and German power and power grid companies for many years. What do you think we can learn from the energy Internet models of European and American countries?

Liao Yu: Due to different national conditions, the experience and technology of energy internet in Europe and the United States cannot be completely copied. Looking at Europe and the United States, the design of energy internet is usually a top-down system design with a complete system and clear division of labor, while China focuses on a more people-friendly model, just like Alipay and WeChat, which is more suitable to start from the user end and adopt a bottom-up approach for development.

At the same time, as far as the energy Internet is concerned, European and American countries no longer have the advantage of particularly advanced cores. Germany's advantage lies in its strong manufacturing industry and the continuous influx of talents, so the energy Internet has developed rapidly. When we organized domestic companies to visit Germany and even Europe for new energy, we came into contact with a company called Nextkraftwerk, which created sales of 280 million euros with only 139 employees.

As for the energy sector, our generation of overseas students needs to see the concepts emerging abroad, think about which ones are suitable for China, and use Chinese capital to promote them and truly land them in China. This era is destined to give young people enough opportunities. The Internet is like liquid, which can "penetrate everywhere". We need to find a way to enter the industry. China has a large homogeneous market, so it can be very large.

China Energy News: Based on Tellhow’s practice, how do you think China’s energy Internet should achieve innovation?

Liao Yu: The most difficult aspect of innovation in the energy industry is not the lack of money or talent, but that in an industry where the main business is to make money, it is difficult for people to truly seek innovation, and it is relatively difficult to cross over to the Internet.

Taihao Technology has a wide range of businesses, including power supply equipment, electric power, and grid dispatching software. This industrial layout has achieved comprehensive supply services around the core energy business. It can be said that it has sufficient breadth and potential for exploration in depth in various industries. In this way, the strategy of "surrounding the city with the countryside" can come in handy. At the same time, the above industrial layout does not form a shortcoming in innovation, but has advantages in the construction of the energy Internet.

From the perspective of energy Internet innovation, I think the key is to achieve innovation in business models by improving user experience. In fact, many Internet companies have provided a lot of experience for energy companies in energy Internet. For example, Didi Taxi, by designing mutual reviews between passengers and drivers, has solved many shortcomings of previous taxi services and ensured the homogeneity of Didi platform services. Taihao Technology provides customized energy services for companies with different needs in the industrial chain, including consulting design, energy efficiency management, power trading, and comprehensive energy services.

China Energy News: As a private enterprise, how will Taihao Technology plan its future energy Internet business?

Liao Yu: "Integrated energy services based on the intelligent Internet of Things" is the main channel of Taihao Technology's energy Internet business. This channel has four tracks, namely intelligent power operation and maintenance, power sales operation, power trading and value-added services.

In 2015, the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of the Electricity System (Zhongfa [2015] No. 9)", which changed the relationship between participants in the power industry and gave private enterprises the opportunity to change from suppliers of power grid companies to partners. Taihao Technology's power sales business is running, but since the power settlement business is still in the power grid company, it is not profitable yet. But I believe that once a mature market environment with strong supervision and orderly competition is achieved, the reform dividend will gradually benefit some powerful private enterprises.

At the same time, value-added services in the energy sector are the key development direction in the future and an important profit growth point. Just as Internet companies attach importance to user experience, the energy Internet also needs to enhance user experience, such as improving energy utilization efficiency through comprehensive energy services, saving energy consumption for enterprises, helping enterprises reduce production costs and improve production efficiency. By analyzing user data, it is possible to achieve targeted and precise delivery and realize more value-added services. In short, this industry is not short of technology, funds, or even business models. The only thing it lacks is actually customer-centric user experience. And having this awareness and ability is precisely the only way for many private enterprises and innovation teams to survive in the fierce competition.