Author：AliceDate：2025-6-27
Energy is an indispensable driving force for economic and social development. In China, environmental issues have received widespread attention, and the requirements for enterprises to reduce energy consumption and emissions have become increasingly strict. At the same time, the adjustment of the energy economy is constantly deepening. How can the future energy production and consumption maintain good economicity, reliability and sustainability? Experts believe that developing distributed energy that is close to the user end in a region-specific manner is a feasible way to achieve more scientific, reasonable and friendly power production and use.
What is the current development status of distributed energy in China? What opportunities and challenges have been encountered? And how should they be addressed? Professor Lin Boqiang, the director of the China Energy Policy Research Institute at Xiamen University, Deng Youqun, the vice general manager of Tianjin Huadian Beichen Distributed Energy Co., Ltd., and Zhang Dongsheng, the secretary general of the Thermal Power Industry Alliance of the China Energy Conservation Association, respectively shared their views from their own perspectives.
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Developing distributed energy is a reasonable choice for energy transformation
Currently, China's energy structure is still dominated by fossil energy, and the utilization level of clean energy and renewable energy needs to be improved. However, the overall energy production and consumption structure is constantly optimizing. Data released at the National Energy Work Conference in 2016 shows that in 2016, the proportion of coal in China's primary energy production was the first time below 70%, and the growth rate of non-fossil energy was close to 12%. In the first half of 2017, the increase in renewable energy installed capacity in China was significantly higher than that of thermal power, and renewable energy accounted for 70% of the new installed capacity.
In this regard, Zhang Dongsheng believes that China's energy structure has entered a strategic adjustment period. Oil and gas are replacing coal, and non-fossil energy is replacing fossil energy. The dual replacement is accelerating. To improve environmental governance levels, the supply-side structural reform in the energy sector should be placed at the top priority.
At the same time, new energy sources such as solar and wind energy have begun to thrive. In Lin Boqiang's view, distributed energy is an important way to solve the problems of energy utilization. He pointed out that although China's total installed capacity of wind power and solar energy has reached the world's first place, the "abandonment of wind and solar power" phenomenon is still relatively serious.
"Large-scale new energy bases are mainly concentrated in the west and northwest regions. However, the local electricity market capacity is limited. To make the units fully utilized, it is necessary to rely on the ultra-high voltage transmission system to transport electricity over long distances to the economically developed eastern regions. However, this method of transmission has a very high cost. In addition, the natural volatility of new energy will also have an impact on the power grid system. Overall, the utilization hours of new energy are too low. To break through this bottleneck, adopting distributed energy is a feasible way and is also the development path that the current Chinese government has clearly identified. The greatest advantage of this approach is that the power generation facilities are closer to the load center, which can to some extent avoid large-scale "abandonment of wind" and "abandonment of solar" problems." He explained.
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Zhang Dongsheng believes that the main reasons for developing distributed energy in China are three: First, distributed energy makes energy production closer to the demand side, minimizing power line losses and heat (cold) pipeline losses, following the principle of "temperature matching and stepwise utilization", and using energy to different degrees according to different thermal temperatures, which can significantly improve energy efficiency; Second, whether it is distributed natural gas or distributed photovoltaic, they are clean and efficient energy sources, significantly reducing emissions of waste gas, wastewater and solid waste; Third, the advancement of digital technology, especially the application of new technologies such as smart grids, has opened up ideas for the development of distributed energy systems and provided a technical foundation.
Although it has many advantages, the application and promotion of distributed energy in China is still limited by many factors, and further support from the national policy level is needed. Regarding this, Zhang Dongsheng pointed out that due to the high prices of small gas turbines, photovoltaic components and energy storage systems applied in the distributed energy field, the construction cost of distributed energy is still relatively high, and its economic performance is relatively worse compared to conventional energy sources. Without the support of national fiscal policies, an excessively long investment recovery period would dampen investment enthusiasm. Therefore, measures such as encouragement for technological development, investment encouragement, and tax incentives, as well as macro policies of relevant national departments like power system reform and heat supply system reform, as well as regional development policies of local governments, are all indispensable external environments for promoting the application of distributed energy.
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The potential growth of the market should be given attention.
When it comes to the future of distributed energy, Deng Youqun holds an optimistic attitude. "Currently, there are 7,000 to 8,000 gas-based distributed energy projects in the United States, and our country plans to reach 1,000 by 2020. At present, the development speed has not fully kept up, but the potential is huge," he said.
Deng Youqun believes that the government, enterprises, and suppliers all need to pay attention to users' choices and cultivation, and give more attention to the demand market.
Zhang Dongsheng pointed out that the development of distributed energy is also a feast for equipment manufacturers. The explosive growth of small and medium-sized gas turbines in the future can be expected. Facing the opportunities, multinational enterprises like Siemens Energy should strengthen cooperation with Chinese local enterprises in technology development and equipment production, achieve complementary advantages, cultivate the market, and make good use of their advantages in system integration and control systems, and do a good job in system optimization configuration and energy efficient utilization.
The development of distributed energy will bring prosperity to the entire industrial chain of primary energy production, the power industry, technology supply, equipment production and sales, and the user end. This will be a transformation in the energy field and also an important historical opportunity.
---- Zhang Dongsheng
Secretary-General of the Thermal Power Industry Alliance of the China Energy Conservation Association
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