Inverter market-oriented new energy-saving model

When analyzing the gap in energy saving and emission reduction in China, experts believe that, on the one hand, China's energy-saving and emission reduction work is mainly driven by administrative orders, it cannot adapt to market needs, and it is difficult to form a long-term mechanism; on the other hand, enterprises from their own short-term Considering the economic interests, not paying enough attention to energy conservation, resulting in the lack of sufficient motivation for enterprises as the main responsibility of energy-saving emission reduction.

In an interview with Newsweek magazine, Siemens (China) Co., Ltd. Director of Energy Conservation Center Zhan Jingtao said, “Energy management services companies have to mention energy-saving service companies. The rise of such companies was due to the 1970s. The world’s energy crisis, when energy costs doubled at the time, corporate profit margins were greatly squeezed, forcing companies to seek energy-efficient solutions.”

With the emergence of energy-saving demand, a large number of energy-saving technology developers and energy-saving equipment developers have rapidly emerged and launched aggressive marketing campaigns against energy-using companies. In the face of complex advertising and door-to-door marketing, energy-using enterprises have no idea about the energy-saving potential of this enterprise, and there is no way to grasp the authenticity and applicability of many energy-saving technologies. At this time, specialized energy service companies emerged.

Energy-saving service companies use contract energy management mechanisms to implement energy-saving projects for customers. Provide customers with the entire process of energy saving potential analysis, feasibility analysis of energy saving projects, project design, project financing, equipment purchase, construction, energy saving detection, personnel training and other projects. In this process, the client company does not need to invest in energy-saving transformation.

Zhan Jingtao said that the greatest benefit of the contract energy management model is that the end-user does not need to invest in the project during the entire project. “The lack of funds is a major difficulty encountered by many companies in the energy-saving process. This can be said Very attractive."

The benefits of energy-saving service companies are mainly due to guaranteeing to customers the energy savings and energy-saving benefits promised in the contracts. The benefits of energy-saving service companies during the contract period are directly linked to the energy savings. The project's revenue mainly comes from energy-saving benefits. “One more point is that property rights are transferred free after the contract period ends, and users can obtain the property rights of the equipment without compensation.” Zhan Jingtao added.

Because of this, and also based on the goal of energy saving and emission reduction in China, as early as 1998, the Chinese government cooperated with the World Bank to introduce the EMC model and experimentally established contract energy management companies in Beijing, Liaoning, and Shandong. . According to statistics, the average energy savings of foreign projects after contract energy management can reach 30%, and the actual operation in China has also received significant results.

Zhan Jingtao said, “There was an energy-saving service company that purchased Siemens inverters and leased it to customers in the form of leases to share energy-saving benefits from customers. After the end of the contract period, the equipment was re-assigned to customers, and tested energy saving rates. It's more than 28%. After we used EMC on Wulan cement project in Inner Mongolia, the actual energy saving rate was as high as 35.78%.”

The data from the Energy Conservation Service Industry Committee of the China Energy Conservation Association also showed that as of June 2006, the World Bank supported three demonstration companies to operate a total of 475 projects, resulting in an energy saving capacity of 1.49 million tons of standard coal per year. The capacity is 1.45 million tons/year. The input of funds was more than 1.33 billion yuan, and the gains were 480 million yuan.

According to Morgan Stanley's forecast, China's potential energy-saving market will reach 800 billion yuan. According to the Energy Conservation Service Industry Committee of the China Energy Conservation Association, the goal of contract energy management during the “Eleventh Five-Year Plan” period is to invest 50 billion yuan in energy conservation and achieve an annual output value of 32 billion yuan.

However, although it has been in China for 10 years, for many outsiders, contract energy management is still a new term.

For more than a decade, the energy companies that have sprung up everywhere have not achieved the expected rapid growth. Instead, they have mostly fought and the situation is passive. "The key is awareness." Jing Jingtao frankly stated that although Siemens has many advantages in terms of technology, capital, and market development in terms of energy-saving and emission reduction, in the real market, more customers are more willing to choose the mode of direct sales. " The customer found that Siemens' energy saving solution enables Siemens to purchase equipment and services directly.” For the “win-win-based” contract energy management model, “it takes a long time to implement in China and the public needs to have a process.” Another problem that arises is that it is very difficult for ESCOs to raise capital from the capital market when they start. “Especially the credibility of small-scale energy-saving companies is indeed a more intractable issue. It can be said that financing difficulties has constrained the development of many energy-saving service companies.” Zhan Jingtao told the reporter that in reality, there are many energy-saving service company repayments. It is very stable and the customer's reputation is also very good. However, as a new thing, unlike factories, where there are a large number of assets that can be used as collateral and only cash flow, there is no universally established loan guarantee or guarantee mechanism in China. It is difficult for commercial banks to provide loans to new energy service companies or their customers.

“In this respect, leading companies like Siemens clearly have an advantage.” Zhan Jingtao stated that besides products and solutions and years of operational experience, Siemens also has its own financial leasing company, which makes it possess technical and financial leasing. The dual function can meet the different needs of customers.

In addition, the market environment is also a problem facing contract energy management promotion. For example, the awareness of energy conservation in enterprises is not strong; the energy-saving technology of energy service companies cannot provide all-round energy-saving services; the evaluation system of energy-saving economic benefits is still not perfect; energy-saving projects have limited financing channels and lack of economic incentive policies; in addition, if the market integrity is insufficient, The risk of contract energy management projects is relatively large and there is no corresponding legal protection; there is a shortage of professionals.

All of these, to a large extent, require the support and guidance of national policies.