Development Trends of the Energy Internet

Development Trends of the Energy Internet

As the national Energy Internet strategy continues to advance, power sector reform deepens, and the participants in the electricity market become more diverse, grid enterprises must actively explore innovative service models to meet changing market demands and better serve all types of market participants and customers.

First, the development of the Energy Internet is driving the large-scale integration of distributed energy resources. New electricity-related derivative products, such as demand-side response, energy efficiency services, and energy insurance, will continue to emerge. Grid enterprises should make full use of their existing operational experience and accumulated business data to study and deploy expanded service offerings in advance, so as to seize market opportunities.

Second, internet coverage in China has now reached nearly 650 million users, providing vast room for the development of electricity consumption in an internet-enabled environment. Internet technologies and concepts such as big data, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things offer solutions for grid enterprises to improve service planning, enrich customer profiling, and deliver precise services.

Finally, as the economy and society develop and industries continue innovating in service experience, electricity users are placing new demands on power services. Grid enterprises need to establish a new consumer service system suited to a competitive market environment and internet-based models, providing electricity customers with fast, smooth, enjoyable, and personalized services, thereby earning customer trust and achieving win-win outcomes for both enterprises and users.

Intelligent and networked electricity consumption models are an important part of smart grid development and a key focus of grid modernization. In traditional electricity consumption models, users participate in the energy ecosystem only as consumers. As a result, electricity big data is difficult to obtain in a timely manner and cannot effectively serve as the foundation for balanced grid dispatching, improved energy efficiency, and optimized electricity usage patterns. As distributed green energy gradually becomes an integral part of power generation, users are no longer only consumers of electricity but can also become suppliers. Smart energy use on the user side, energy sharing, and online energy trading require the formation of a new energy consumption ecosystem and an internet-based platform operating model.

At the same time, as power grids and the internet become more deeply integrated, power services will also be redefined in terms of both content and form within the new energy ecosystem. This will create new capabilities for efficient public electricity services and foster new business models that drive the development of the power economy. New energy consumption models and technological innovation based on the internet and big data will have a major and far-reaching impact on grid development. Electricity consumption in an internet-enabled environment means combining the internet with traditional grid-based power systems. By using heterogeneous network communications, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and big data technologies, it becomes possible to form intelligent electricity-use technologies based on internet platforms. These technologies support data acquisition, transmission, and intelligent big data analysis for electricity consumption data collection, home environments, grid environments, power supply service information, energy consumption forecasting, and electricity usage pattern analysis and optimization. In this way, power supply and electricity demand can be optimally allocated on internet platforms, enhancing user experience, promoting value sharing, breaking down industry boundaries, improving energy utilization efficiency, achieving true sharing of energy resources, and building a harmonious energy network environment.

In the internet and big data environment, flexible interaction between users and the grid will create a dynamic optimization mechanism for electricity consumption patterns, strongly promoting higher energy efficiency, reduced electricity use, and peak shaving and valley filling. In addition, the growing grid connection capacity of distributed energy resources will increase the need for interaction between electricity users and the grid. The widespread application of smart electricity use and mobile terminals will further promote interaction between the grid and electricity consumers, making it easier for the grid side to make sound dispatching decisions and enabling more scientific and rational demand response. Finally, electricity consumption in an internet-enabled environment will give rise to new power service models. Mobile internet-based services will become widespread, and as hundreds of millions of customers become connected and engaged, internet value-added services such as e-commerce, electricity usage optimization, and customized energy solutions will emerge on the customer service side.

The deep integration of the internet and power services connects power companies, electricity-generating users, government agencies, and industry institutions. Through the study of an information service system based on "Internet + Smart Power Retail," stakeholders can actively respond to the national energy strategy's management requirements for distributed new energy while efficiently and conveniently providing information display and extended services to society, government, and users. This will help promote national energy security and reinforce a socially responsible image of green development.