Accenture: Smart Grid Construction Will Drive Industry Upgrades

Smart grid construction has been listed as one of the ten major areas supported by the emerging energy industry in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”. In an exclusive interview with the China Securities Journal, Ding Minyan, managing director of the Accenture Greater China Resources Division, said that the construction of a smart grid will drive the development of related industries and promote industrial upgrading of the entire society, which is likely to become a new round of industrial revolution. The catalyst.

May give birth to a new round of industrial revolution

China Securities Journal: At present, many countries all claim to build smart grids. Please tell us about the development of smart grids in various countries.

Ding Minwei: The United States, some developed countries in the European Union, and China, Japan, and South Korea in the Asia Pacific region are actively promoting the development of smart grids. As early as 2003, the U.S. Department of Energy clearly stated the goal of building a smart grid in the "Grid2030-National Second Vision of the Electric Power Industry" report, and detailed the U.S. smart grid construction plan. The main focus is on Intelligent meter deployment, demand-side management, renewable energy generation management, and upgrade of power grid infrastructure.

The EU emphasized that smart grid technology is an important guarantee for EU energy policy. In general, the construction of smart grids in Europe focuses on the use of distributed and renewable energy sources, and focuses on the improvement and improvement of energy efficiency.

Since the end of 2007, the construction of smart grids has been dominated by power companies in the past. Only attention has been paid to the improvement of the performance of power companies. The local government has taken the lead, and power utilities, natural gas, water supply, waste treatment, and urban transport have all been involved in the overall planning of public utilities. Planning and Construction. In short, the development of smart grids in the past has led to the development of smart grid cities. This also indicates that the smart grid is very likely to become a catalyst to promote a new round of industrial revolution.

China Securities Journal: What is the goal of developing a smart grid? What are the benefits for the upstream and downstream industries?

Ding Minxi: The emergence of the concept of smart grid provides practical solutions to the problems of climate change and energy supply security. This is also the common goal of developing smart grids around the world. Of course, due to the different national conditions in each country, smart grid construction in each country has its own characteristics and unique goals. The connotation of smart grids is different.

The construction of smart grid will drive the development of related industries and promote the upgrading of the whole society. Smart grid construction will directly promote the development of high-tech industries such as information, communications, chip manufacturing, automation control equipment, and electronic instrumentation. At the same time, it will boost the development of electric vehicles, rechargeable batteries for automobiles, rail transportation equipment and other industries. In addition, it will also promote the development of related services and financial industries such as intelligent technology transaction services, engineering design consulting services, engineering financing and carbon trading and other modern service industries.

China Securities Journal: What is the difference between China's smart grid and the smart grid promoted by the United States?

Ding Minxuan: The different national conditions in China and the United States determine the direction of their respective smart grids must also be different.

Since the U.S. power companies have not invested enough in the past 30 years, the infrastructure of the entire U.S. power industry is already quite old. Therefore, smart grid construction in the U.S. focuses on increasing the investment in existing network infrastructure and actively developing clean energy. Electric hybrid vehicles realize grid-connected operation of distributed power supply and energy storage.

China's smart grid construction is under the background of China's rapid economic growth, industrialization and rapid urbanization. Our smart grid construction must not only meet the needs of traditional grids to supply electricity to society in a safe, reliable, economical and efficient manner, but also actively accept new and renewable energy sources in a new era so as to provide clean electricity to the society.

Smart grid coordination with energy development

China Securities Journal: China's smart grid construction has been listed as one of the ten areas supported by emerging energy industries in the “Twelfth Five-Year Plan”. How do you view the current smart grid construction in China?

Ding Minzhang: From a worldwide perspective, smart grid construction faces challenges in technology, management, and business models. At the same time, it is closely related to the development and utilization of new energy resources and socio-economic development, and the development of energy consumption concepts and behaviors. Therefore, although China's smart grid construction and the world are standing on the same starting line, our actual national conditions have determined that our country's smart grid construction task is heavier and the problems we face are more complicated.

For example, how to adapt to the balance between a coal-based energy structure and increased use of new energy in the construction of smart grids; and how to gradually realize the information of the grid while satisfying the rapid and rapid increase in demand for electricity supply from socio-economic development? Automation, automation, and intelligence; how to complete smart grid construction and innovate business models to achieve maximum input-output and social value under a reasonable input-output requirement. Therefore, the current exploration and pilot work in the smart grid field in China will certainly promote more comprehensive and systematic construction in the future.

China Securities Journal: What are the key technologies for the development of smart grids? What are the obstacles now?

Ding Minxi: In power generation, there are mainly renewable energy generation technologies and distributed generation and energy storage technologies. In terms of power transmission and distribution, there are mainly new types of power transmission and distribution equipment technologies, monitoring technologies, analysis technologies, control technologies, advanced data analysis and decision support technologies. In terms of electricity, there are mainly advanced measurement technologies and home automation technologies. In addition, there are key technologies related to the development of upstream and downstream industries.

As the form of a new generation of power grids, these key technologies needed for the construction of smart grids are constantly being improved and developed. At present, the pilot and research work for smart grids in various countries is through the active practice to promote the maturity and commercialization of these technologies, thereby promoting the large-scale promotion of smart grids.

China Securities Journal: How to ensure the development of smart grid from the policy?

Ding Minyu: First, the need for the construction of smart grids must be coordinated with the development and construction of other energy sources so as to promote the realization of the entire energy strategy in China. Such as smart grid and China's future gas resource network collaboration.

Second, the large amount of investment required for smart grid construction and the possible benefits are urgently needed for a social mechanism to evaluate and approve. For example, the benefits of CO2 emission reduction brought about by the smart grid construction will inevitably require an assessment method, which can make the huge investment in smart grid construction become economical and efficient.

Finally, a large part of the effectiveness of the smart grid will be achieved through the guidance of changes in user behavior and cooperation. Without the cooperation and support of relevant policies, this guiding role will be difficult to achieve. For example, without a reasonable dynamic electricity price mechanism, it is difficult for power companies to guide their customers' electricity use, thereby failing to bring the clean energy benefits of new energy access, and also keeping the cost of smart grid construction high.