"Ubiquitous" Imagination in Urban Energy Reform

——Interview with Zhang Luoping, researcher at the Institute of Energy Internet Innovation, Tsinghua University

"State Grid":

What role do you think the ubiquitous power Internet of Things can play in promoting urban development?

Zhang Luoping:

Cities are the gathering areas of human life and the terminals of energy supply and consumption. To achieve high-quality and rapid urban development, we must rely on safe, sufficient, smart, and green energy for support.

The reduction of urban life quality caused by resource depletion and environmental damage has become a "stumbling block" hindering economic and social development. Some cities that were originally rich in energy have finally fallen into the dilemma of resource depletion due to long-term disorderly exploitation and excessive consumption. The environment has been destroyed, the economy has declined, and the city has become an empty city. Some time ago, some media reported that the house price of a city in Northeast China was sold at the price of cabbage and no one cared about it. This is an example. The central government proposes an energy revolution to build a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient modern energy system. Cities should become the main front in promoting clean energy consumption and providing smart energy services.

The State Grid Corporation of China proposed to build a ubiquitous power Internet of Things at the right time. The power grid and the Internet are integrated, and 5G technology is used to interconnect all links of energy production, transmission and consumption, thereby creating a new generation of energy intelligence system. At the same time, the construction of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things will give birth to many new formats, such as providing customized energy efficiency solutions, local consumption of clean energy, electricity market-oriented transactions, power big data applications, etc., which will surely lead and drive the upstream and downstream realization of the industrial chain Coordinated development.

Tsinghua University has also participated in the construction of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things. At present, smart power consumption products have been developed, such as smart shared charging sockets, which have built-in electricity meter functions, which can directly measure voltage, current, power, and electricity, breaking through the defect that traditional power sockets cannot estimate the use of electricity.

"State Grid":

Specifically, what solutions can the ubiquitous power Internet of Things provide for urban energy transformation?

Zhang Luoping:

The ubiquitous power Internet of Things can provide a variety of solutions in promoting urban energy transformation. For example, due to the weather, population, living habits and other reasons, the peak-to-valley balance of the power grid has always been a difficult problem. At home and abroad, energy storage reservoirs, energy storage power stations, etc. are used to solve the peak-to-valley balance problem of power grids, but the effect is mediocre and the investment is huge. Power grid enterprises can aggregate urban commercial buildings, industrial air conditioners, distributed energy resources, etc. into a controllable aggregate through regulation and information technology, and actively adjust them according to the operating needs of the large power grid and their own conditions to build a miniature "Virtual power plant" to optimize the utilization efficiency of the city's overall energy resources.

In addition, in terms of green travel, the application scenarios of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things are also very rich. At present, the charging process of electric vehicle energy is in a disordered state and cannot participate in the peak-to-valley adjustment of the power grid. With the construction of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things, a management and feedback platform for power consumption data is set up on the user demand side, which can build a large-scale distributed energy storage system with a demand response architecture from vehicle-mounted energy storage batteries already owned by the country. Peak charging and peak shaving and valley filling to realize the function of auxiliary power grid peak and valley adjustment. This not only reduces the impact on the power grid caused by the grid-connected charging of electric vehicles, but also drives more users to participate in the use of electric vehicles, improving the electrification level of the entire city.

"State Grid":

Will the future urban energy transformation show some new formats with the application of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things?

Zhang Luoping:

"Ubiquitous" means anywhere, anytime. The ubiquitous power Internet of Things is based on the information and physical architecture of the energy Internet. On the user side, a physical collection terminal of the retail electricity trading platform can be produced, and massive power data can be collected through the IoT sensors of the shared smart terminal, and interactively shared with the digital city public service information platform. , extending information to everyone in the city will also give birth to new formats.

For example, in the retail electricity trading platform, with the continuous upgrading of the sharing concept, the idea of electricity retail has also been technically realized. The idea of shared charging makes every owner who owns terminal physical collection products a retail electricity "store owner", which solves the problem of users using electricity resources with small payments and realizes self-service electricity consumption services in public places, which is a way to increase the load , a new business model to increase electricity sales.

"State Grid":

The government, enterprises, and the public are the witnesses and promoters of urban energy transformation. How can they play a good role in overall synergy?

Zhang Luoping:

The government should carry out top-level design according to the energy needs of urban development, and guide the social system to move forward in the direction of more ecological and diversified participation, especially paying attention to the laws of the market economy. In December 2018, the National Development and Reform Commission and other four departments issued the "Action Plan to Improve the Charging Support Capability of New Energy Vehicles", which pointed out that it should guide local financial subsidies from subsidized purchase to subsidized operation, and gradually shift local financial purchase subsidies to support the construction and operation of charging infrastructure, The use and operation of new energy vehicles. This change in policy direction is in line with the current law of the market economy.

In the past, the government subsidized the purchase of electric vehicles. For example, before 2016, subsidies were given to pure electric passenger vehicles with a cruising range of 80 kilometers, driving the development of many low-quality and low-standard new energy vehicles. The government should consider the market's response in policy formulation and formulate scientific and reasonable plans.

As the main body of the market economy, enterprises should use new technologies to improve productivity, upgrade core component technology and system integration capabilities to a new level, and improve their hard power. Enterprises can combine the construction of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things to change from a product-centric service model to a customer-centric service model, and consider the customer's cost, safety, speed, convenience, etc. according to the real needs behind the use of energy by customers. Aspects of requirements, to provide differentiated services.

The role of the public in the process of energy transformation cannot be underestimated. No organization or group can pay more attention to and understand the environment than the stakeholders themselves. However, the public’s acceptance and recognition of ubiquitous power IoT-related applications and products It also needs to be continuously strengthened, which in turn requires the government and enterprises to increase the promotion and application of such products.

"State Grid":

What aspects should power grid companies pay attention to in promoting the construction of ubiquitous power Internet of Things?

Zhang Luoping:

It is recommended to expand more business models and establish a brand image of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things. Promoting the construction of the ubiquitous power Internet of things cannot be limited to the power grid enterprises, but also advocates the participation of the whole society. Especially on the user side, the scene should be fully open. Power grid companies can combine external information and communication companies, Internet companies, software vendors, etc., to introduce more advanced information technology and service concepts, build Internet-based energy application scenarios, and innovate business models from the user side, so that users can perceive The convenience of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things.

In traditional cognition, power grid companies are buying and selling electricity. With the acceleration of the construction of the ubiquitous power Internet of Things, power grid companies may wish to consider building a brand image based on energy solution providers or building a ubiquitous power Internet of Things business brand. Such as electricity diagnosis, scientific electricity, electricity price information and other value-added services.

Original Title: [Special Planning] "Ubiquitous" Imagination in Urban Energy Reform