Centralized systems are in the mainstream from the commercial supply of electricity, but distributed generation has been an important part of the power system, however, and is gaining momentum as the energy consumption structure continues to improve.
Recently, the National Energy Administration and the International Energy Agency released the "Prospect of Distributed Energy in China" in succession in North China, East China and South China.
The Outlook states that "Distributed energy systems are expected to play a key role in the transformation of the power system, and service-led integrated energy delivery will help improve system efficiency and change the relationship between end users and service providers." '
Since distributed energy is a combination of multiple energy sources, coordination between different energy sources and energy supply and demand policies is crucial, and coordination among different levels of government and different distributed energy technology sectors is also important.
In a recent interview with 21st Century Business Herald, Yang Lei, former senior director of IEA and former deputy director of the Department of Oil and Gas of the National Energy Administration, said that in the current policy, what is urgently needed is the infrastructure access policy, So the biggest driving force comes from the local government. 'Institutional changes will make the beneficiaries have changed, it is more cautious, but I am more optimistic. After the distribution network release, distributed energy companies have the permission to place electricity , Living space will be greatly expanded.
Although the external benefits of distributed PV are not yet reflected in the economic competitiveness, distributed energy has ushered in a series of positive developments in the steady progress of energy production and consumption revolution under the guidance of 'four revolutions and one cooperation' by China Improved natural gas supplies, energy price reforms and lower equipment prices have also seen distributed PV installations experience record-setting growth over the past two years.
Dividends are released
In November 2015, the Chinese government officially joined the IEA as a coalition nation, and in February 2017, the National Energy Administration and the IEA signed a three-year cooperation framework at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse, which is the latest achievement of the framework and also The first report released by both parties.
According to Outlook, DES refers to an energy system that intelligently integrates distributed energy resources near the consumer side, increases the reliability and economy of energy services, and reduces the environmental impact. It should be pointed out that, Traditional distributed energy sources, such as district heating systems, which have normal efficiency and are heavily polluting, such as standby diesel generators, are not taken into account.
Data show that distributed energy in accordance with the size of the system can be divided into two types of regional and building; in accordance with user needs, can be divided into single power supply, cogeneration, cogeneration and other means.
The true distributed energy in China started after 2000. Before and after 2003, China began to build natural gas distributed energy stations one after another, with major projects including Shanghai Pudong International Airport Project, Beijing Gas Group Control Center Building Project, Beijing South Railway Station Station project and so on.
However, no special industrial policy was introduced before 2010. Until 2011, the four national ministries and commissions jointly issued the Guiding Opinions on the Development of Distributed Natural Gas Resources. In 2013, the NDRC promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Distributed Generation, For the first time, the definition of distributed generation is followed by the issuance of relevant distributed policy measures on different energy sources.
During the 13th FYP period, the state further increased its support for the development of distributed energy resources.In May 2017, the National Energy Administration released the Circular on Accelerating the Demands of Decentralized Access to Wind Power Projects, specifying that optimizing the layout of wind power To explore the basic principle of efficient development of decentralized wind power and promote the rational utilization of decentralized wind energy resources.In June 2017, the National Development and Reform Commission promulgated the Opinions on Accelerating the Utilization of Natural Gas and put forward the main policies and measures to promote the utilization of distributed natural gas.
According to the "Guiding Opinions on the Development of Natural Gas Distributed Energy" issued by the four ministries and commissions such as the National Development and Reform Commission in 2011, "By 2020, distributed energy systems will be popularized and used in cities above designated size in China, with a installed capacity of 50 million kilowatts."
Although China has long recognized many advantages of distributed energy, the expected rapid development of distributed energy did not occur during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.Distributed energy, especially natural gas, distributed energy, development in China As of 2015, China has about 121 distributed natural gas projects with a total installed capacity of only 1.4 million kilowatts, far behind the goal of "building around 1,000 natural gas distributed energy projects."
However, the future of distributed energy development or acceleration.Yang Lei predicts that by 2020, natural gas distributed energy installed capacity will most likely exceed 15 million kilowatts.
'The development of renewable distributed energy represented by distributed PV in China is even more exciting.' 'According to Yang Lei, the installed capacity of distributed PV in 2016 has increased by 200% over 2015.
It is noteworthy that this process has moved from the development of a single energy varieties to the integration of development.Yang Lei said the release of the outlook is also the result of the six departments of the National Energy Board to participate.
Earlier this year, the National Energy Administration released the "Notice on the Announcement of the First Multi-functional Complementary Integrated Optimization Demonstration Project" and related policies during the 12th Five-Year Plan period.
Zhang Yuqing, former deputy director of the National Energy Administration, believes that with the pressure of industrialization, urbanization and environmental protection, the complementary projects of renewable distributed energy such as distributed natural gas and scenery will form a new format.
Profit to be solved
Although distributed energy has been following the trend of energy structure reform, its development in China has always been "not very popular". The biggest pain point is the profitability.
The Outlook pointed out that 'the main reason for the poor project economy is that the systematic benefits of distributed energy are not reflected in the prices of products. Since most energy prices are more or less subject to government regulation, no sound energy has yet been formed Market prices, which do not reflect market demand and supply and resource scarcity in a timely and adequate manner, are often challenged by price distortions for emerging distributed energy sources.
In other words, a less important reason for the progress of distributed energy than expected is that the motivation of the business is hampered by various factors.
'We are not optimistic about the profitability of some distributed energy projects by our estimates.' 'China Energy Construction Planning and Design Institute of Guangdong Electric Power Planning and Planning Institute of Intelligent Energy Planning Minister Zheng Yun told 21st Century Business Herald reporter, from the current policy Look, if there is no government subsidy, the internal rate of return may be negative.
Zhang Yuqing also admitted that based on the data provided by an earlier company entering the field of distributed energy, regional distributed energy basically made a profit, but the rate of return was about 3% while the building-type basically lost money.
'3% less than the rate of return is actually not as good as the bank's interest, this stage enterprises mainly want to bo market, while building-style is the largest market, because the most scattered, but at the moment the loss is the most serious now policy Very uncertain, there is no policy to temporarily support buildings, the project will usually give relatively large state-owned enterprises and central enterprises to operate.
Specifically, the distributed natural gas energy is the first distributed energy among various energy sources, but the progress is relatively unsmooth.
Zhang Yuqing pointed out that natural gas prices are high, equipment maintenance costs are high, and the grid system mechanism is not perfect. Currently, there are no subsidy policies that have caused less-than-expected results.
"Outlook" also shows that the lack of a reasonable price signal is the main obstacle to the development of China's natural gas distributed energy. As a result, there are a lot of losses in the transportation projects currently. Only obvious economic benefits are obtained in the areas where the demand for hot and cold energy is high.
On the one hand, because the cost of fuel accounts for a relatively high proportion of the operating costs of distributed natural gas energy projects, the price of natural gas is at a high position compared with competitive energy sources such as coal, and at the same time it lacks the subsidy mechanism similar to new energy sources and is at a disadvantage in the competition.
On the other hand, most of China's natural gas power generation feed-in tariffs are mostly approved by the government, including the use of benchmark electricity prices, or a separate proposal to approve the way once the feed-in tariffs will remain unchanged for a long time changes in upstream fuel prices, Not timely and effective conduction of the price side.
There are also some institutional challenges. At present, the smaller-scale natural gas distributed energy projects, which hope to purchase low-cost spot natural gas through third-party access to network infrastructure, are still extremely difficult to achieve. More distribution networks in urban areas are licensed The right to operate also hindered the use of distributed energy projects in urban distribution networks.
From the grid point of view, it is also in a state of natural monopoly, and the difficulty of grid connection has always existed.
In response to these circumstances, in July this year, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration issued the "Trial Measures for Promoting the Construction of Grid-Connected Microgrids", and proposed that the new energy power generation projects within the microgrid should be included in the subsidy range of the Renewable Energy Development Fund , Implement the national subsidy policy for renewable energy generation and encourage all local governments to support the development of micro-grid supporting policies.
Yang Lei pointed out that the Guangdong Power Grid and other relevant grid-connecting policies have also been introduced recently, but some problems may not be implemented carefully or not implemented in the operation process, and the system cost of distributed energy needs to be taken into account, such as the reserve energy and Peak shaving issues, as well as conflicts of interest, customer scrambles and more.
'At this stage of policy mismatch, companies can open the industry by partnering with the government for PPP projects, and choosing a partner is an important aspect,' Yang said.