German citizens share 5% interest in smart grid

Nowadays, the biggest and most heated debate in the field of energy in Germany is: The German government has continuously introduced various laws, guidelines, and policies that stimulate new energy development and energy transformation, and these measures with strong plans and measures are in line with the market. The combination of this "invisible hand" has led to a result that nobody wants to see, but it is bound to happen: The rise in electricity tariff - less than three years, residents' ordinary electricity prices rose by nearly 40%.

Why is this? In the beginning of the construction of new energy, it was said that it was an inexhaustible gift of heavenly energy. Until today, when it is already sitting on nearly 25% of the new energy generation, does the German still have to pay more for electricity?

Wrestle of two hands
The reasons for the increase in electricity prices should be said to be still very complicated, but it can be explained clearly in one sentence: The German government, in order to vigorously develop new energy construction ten years ago, has resorted to the high price of new energy subsidies and has been locked for 20 years.

Over the past 10 years, as more and more wind power and power generation have contributed to the dramatic drop in the listed prices in the electricity trading market – the difference between the price of electricity trading and the price per kWh that the government has promised to the new energy developer is Government's new energy subsidies. The lower the trading electricity price, the more urgent the new energy subsidy pool is.

This sounds very condescending: On the one hand, it is obviously the continuous decrease in the bidding price for electricity trading on the Internet; on the other hand, it is the continuous rise in consumer bills. In this regard, the plan is still the market, and whoever is the culprit has actually been insignificant. However, one thing has indeed caused the incomparable attention of the German court and government: that is, to formulate a policy, it is necessary to make realistic and realistic estimates of the market's response and future long-term development, and must not be forced to vigorously promote energy transformation. Policy, unexpected situation after the blast, and then pick up the chaos.

However, even though Germans have made many mistakes in the energy transformation project, they have never lacked the most basic elements of the problem: enough sincerity to solve it.

In order to win the support of the German people and accelerate the construction of the German backbone transmission grid, the German Ministry of Environment and the German Ministry of Economic Affairs and the German four major transmission grid companies have reached a consensus on the German public’s investment in the construction of new transmission grids and signed an agreement in Berlin. According to the agreement, the German public will be able to invest in the construction of a new backbone transmission network based on four HVDC transmissions and receive a dividend of up to 5%.

According to the agreement, private capital can account for up to 15% of the total network expansion costs of 20 billion euros, while the minimum amount of personal investment is 1,000 euros. In addition, people living in the vicinity of the grid expansion route will receive preferential access to equity.

The four major transmission grid companies in Germany will study and announce specific share options and related grid expansion projects in the coming months. Although the detailed implementation rules have not yet been announced, the impact of this policy on the financial and investment markets is almost atomic bomb-level: you know, the European Central Bank has dropped the benchmark interest rate once again, has reached the historical low of 0.5%, and the German market The usual 10-year home loan interest rate is only 2%.

Allowing ordinary people to share the dividends of energy transformation is the original intention of this policy. However, many analysts said that 5% interest may not only be more than an economic attraction, but more importantly, it will increase residents’ recognition of grid construction – this is a big project for energy transformation. It is almost essential.

The resulting public opinion and media attention is even more plausible for politicians. Many of the old professors and managers of the German energy sector proposed at a recent high-level consultation meeting that the traditional energy industry, which has caused concern for the entire people and even the whole world, is an unprecedented event for decades. In the face of public opinion, it is hoped that politicians will treat it with prudence and do not rush to achieve success or play smart.

It should be said that such advice is indeed targeted: this year is Germany’s general election year. For the general election, the German Minister of the Environment has repeatedly stated that it will not increase the new energy surcharge again this year — despite the fact that the subsidy pool has already had a deficit. For the election, more politicians have come forward to criticize the new energy grid investment plan: 5% of the interest rate is still too low and should be given to 9%.

Almost exactly the same scenario as when the new energy law was introduced 10 years ago: It does not mean that a policy was erroneous in its conception and implementation details at the beginning of its formulation, but that since people are always unable to fully predict the “invisible” The power of the hand, then, when it comes to applauding, is it not prudent and careful?

Smart Grid 2.0 Starts
In July, the four major transmission grid companies in Germany jointly launched a flexible load switching platform, which is an important sign of the advanced smart grid to version 2.0: this means that the important sign load of the smart grid can be realized following the power generation output.

The launch of this platform is based on the latest provisions of the relevant provisions of the Energy Economic Law at the end of 2012. According to the regulations, the four major transmission grid companies will submit monthly tender announcements for a total of 1,500 MW of peak-shaving capacity. The load of flexible switching will be divided into two types: immediate switching and rapid switching. The immediate switching load needs to be completed within one second through automatic frequency modulation control. The rapid switching load needs to be controlled by the transmission grid company within 15 minutes. carry out. The switching load is charged at a fixed rate of 2,500 Euro per MW per month, and then the price is floated between 40 and 400 Euros per MWh based on the load actually being switched off. The allowable bidding capacity is from a minimum of 50MW to a maximum of 200MW. The methods of providing capacity will be divided into three types: daily call-in or weekly or even every 14 days.

This platform is mainly aimed at large-scale electricity-consuming units directly involved in the high-voltage power grid, providing a new type of profit-making method for large-scale users, which is equivalent to providing a mobile small-scale peaking power plant—this is the main push of the German energy industry. The "virtual power plant" is an important part of the plan.

In fact, even if this measure of free investment in the industrial load is not superfluous, at least it will be very easy for grid companies to sell their dog meat as the most powerful and intelligent German backbone network in Europe and even in the world. The adequacy of the power grid and its topological structure will allow the grid dispatcher to be vulnerable to the point where large industrial loads must be removed to ensure grid safety.

However, in a strategic sense, this measure has advanced more than a small step forward in the construction of smart grids. We know that smart grids, in addition to requiring equipment automation in technology, are more important signs of overturning grid dispatching methods: traditional grids generally regulate the load according to the system's power output and determine the daily operation and dispatching mode. However, the smart grid starts from the perspective of maintaining a relatively stable power generation source, requiring the load to follow the power generation to intelligently adjust, in order to expect more savings in power generation costs and carbon dioxide emissions.

Especially when new energy sources are distributed and connected to the grid, higher demands are placed on the grid. The traditional grid configuration is still built according to the pattern of a long time ago. Generally, the power plants are built in areas close to primary energy such as coal mines. Such a power supply configuration is difficult to adapt to the requirements of the new energy integrated power grid.

If the weather is calm or if there is a large dark cloud in the sky, the wind turbines and photovoltaic power stations that were originally planned to provide power will not be able to provide sufficient power output, and it will be necessary to push up the output of other conventional power sources such as thermal power and hydropower. However, if these power sources are located far away from the central area of ​​the load, the remote water is difficult to solve near the fire, not to mention the limit of the capacity of transmission lines, so cutting off the available industrial load in time is the most effective and most economical method. .

From an economic point of view, the emergence of such switchable load also provides a broader range of energy companies' operating methods, and also facilitates various investments into the power grid operation. In short, it used to be to make money online, and now you can get a lot of money by shorting your money.

Of course, to obtain such benefits, industrial enterprises must be required to introduce intelligent control systems at the production end and the logistics end, making instantaneous intelligent switching operations possible. Imagine that if an aluminum plant were informed that the increase in electricity prices at this time was in short supply, it would be sufficient to stop the production gains for electricity, and shift the corresponding production tasks to the later period of cheap electricity prices. The aluminum plant would receive double income and each Monthly fixed service fee - 2500 euros per MW per month, this is not a small number: 100MW is 250,000 euros per month ah.

Although it is still limited to large-scale industrial enterprise users, imagine that if someone establishes a power investment company and signs agreements with consumers, they will concentrate on participating in the project as a fixed load, and use civil fixed load as the target of investment. The economic operation will have a great impact on the current traditional electricity market - it may not be possible now, but with the addition of more electric vehicle charging stations and scenery collection energy storage equipment, this market will certainly be slow. Slow rise.

This is known as the incentive of the so-called planning approach combined with the unknown response of the market groups, will nurture and give rise to the development trend of various emerging industries. In the past 10 years, in order to advance this once-to-be-unreachable energy transformation plan, almost every month in Germany, several seemingly insignificant technological innovations or introductions of policies have been introduced in detail. In Germany, new energy power generation output has accounted for about 25% of all power generation. This is only a step away from the government's high level of modulation, which once suffered countless people's suspicions of reaching 35% in 2020.

It must be said that in spite of such problems, the most successful point in Germany's energy transformation is to thoroughly transform electricity, an invisible object, from a traditional industrial raw material consumable to a financial commodity or a financial instrument. Effectively regulate the entire society's demand for primary energy.

Maybe one day we must admit that no matter how elusive the “invisible hand” is, and no matter how different the market and people’s reactions are, it depends on the government’s “reachable hand”. It may be a nonsense but absolutely clear goal for a country to make so many visible improvements for mankind: In the 2020 plan of the German government, it also includes 1 million electric vehicles on the road and 10GW of offshore wind power access. All nuclear power plants generate electricity. There are various plans such as 2030 and 2050.

History will prove that at least in the field of energy, the two words of the plan are really indispensable. And the respect and respect for market and consumer psychology should not be underestimated. Policy makers are often the most likely to misunderstand: In fact, no one cares whether the “invisible hand” is more free, or the “seeing hand” is more sensible.

The emphasis is to see more progress, and to see more benefits. that is it.