Foreign investors: China's smart grid has great potential for development

According to the State Grid of China, the total investment in smart grids will reach 4 trillion yuan by 2020, and smart grids will also appear in China's government work report this year. Before the 1st (2010) World Emerging Industries Conference was held in Changchun on September 1, the reporter had an exclusive interview with TimLindquist, president of portusptylimited, which is committed to the development of smart grid in Singapore. He believes that China's smart grid has great potential for development.

Reporter: Can you give us a brief introduction to the smart grid?

TimLindquist: The smart grid is a new generation of safe, efficient, and environmentally friendly power grid that combines advanced information technology with traditional grids. It relies on a large amount of real-time information and rapid data processing technology to solve a large number of potential accidents in the bud even if Special accidents can quickly isolate faults and recover them quickly. Therefore, smart grids can effectively improve the safety and reliability of grid operation.

In addition, the completion of the smart grid can also curb the current trend of widening peaks and valleys of the grid through a variety of methods, and effectively improve the utilization efficiency of power grid assets through state monitoring technology and life-cycle management technology of power equipment. At the same time, the completion of the smart grid can guarantee the impact of intermittent access to renewable energy on the grid, so as to achieve large-scale utilization of clean energy.

Reporter: Why did you choose to develop a smart grid? The current situation of the company?

TimLindquist: Our company was incorporated in Singapore in 2003 and was the first to focus on smart home gateways. Since 2007, we have noticed the development potential of smart grid and focused on the research of smart grid. At present, we have applied for several technical patents. At present, the company has received the support of the local government in Singapore and Australia, and got a lot of projects. Related cooperation projects with the United States are also in active negotiations.

In November last year, Australia invested 100 million U.S. dollars (about 87 million euros) as the start-up capital for the bid for smart grid and smart city plans. The plan will deploy the country’s first commercial-scale smart grid in Australia. We have already won several project cooperation.

Reporter: The State Grid of China proposed that the total investment in smart grids will reach 4 trillion yuan by 2020, which means that the smart grid will bring about 4 trillion yuan of huge business opportunities to related industries in China. How do you think about this issue?

TimLindquist: I think the smart grid is very promising in China. China is a country with rapid economic development. How to save energy and reduce emissions is also very important, so this market is very large. If China can save energy and reduce emissions in electricity, this will make the saved electricity more optimally configured. Industrial power has always been used as an important measure of economic development.

Reporter: How do you plan to seek smart grid cooperation in China?

TimLindquist: This is the first time we have come to China to seek cooperation. If you want to cooperate, you mainly choose to cooperate with the government or large-scale power companies. We prefer the BOT's cooperation approach, which is similar to the construction-operation-transfer of the water industry. There are many products in our company, such as installing a system at home, switching lights on and off, and configuring the power consumption according to the number of people in the home. There is also a smart grid configuration dedicated to industrial production. This will save a lot of energy.

Reporter: What kind of bottleneck do you think will come from investing in China's smart grid?

TimLindquist: The pattern of development in each country is different. For example, in the United States, the ownership structure of the power industry is composed of private power companies, electric power bureaus run by the federal government, municipal public power companies, and agricultural power cooperatives. It has been formed since the early 1930s and continues to this day. . In 2001, the Americans took the lead in putting forward the concept of smart grid. After U.S. President Barack Obama took office, upgrading the grid system was an important issue. The US Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) passed a total of 100 smart grid grants for utility areas. 3.4 billion U.S. dollars to promote the development of clean energy.

In Europe, South Korea, Singapore, and Australia, the smart grid has also received the attention of the government. In Europe, the smart grid is one of the prerequisites for the EU to achieve its energy development goals (to achieve 20% reduction in EU carbon emissions by 2020, 20% increase in energy efficiency and 20% increase in renewable energy use ratio). In Australia, companies are happy to resell the electricity they have saved to save company costs.

The Chinese government also supports the development of smart grids. However, in China, electricity is a monopoly industry, and it is very difficult for foreign capital to enter. The cooperation method is also worth discussing. There have been cases where foreign companies provided technology but were quickly copied by Chinese companies. If we cooperate with monopolistic companies, we also have concerns about fund recovery. However, we still hope to cooperate with the Chinese government and enterprises and hope that China will introduce more favorable policies and more support.