Contract energy management "hands in" distributed PV into the mainstream

Since the second half of 2013, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Energy Bureau, the Ministry of Finance, the State Grid and the State Administration of Taxation have successively issued a number of policies to support the development of the distributed photovoltaic power plant market.

According to some data, the distributed photovoltaic field will see a 400% growth in 2014. Although the above policy effectiveness still needs to be verified in the subsequent implementation process, with the closed loop of domestic distributed PV policy, the two core issues that constrain the development of the distributed PV power plant market are “subsidy” and “connection”. Gradually solved. However, the author believes that posing in front of developers of distributed photovoltaic power plants will be an increasingly prominent financing problem.

Contract energy management is the mainstream mode

At present, the most widely used distributed photovoltaic power station is mainly a photovoltaic power generation project based on the roof of urban buildings. According to the owner classification of the roof, it can be divided into two major categories: industrial and commercial enterprise roof power station and residential roof power station. According to the photovoltaic power price and subsidy standards determined by the National Development and Reform Commission in 2013, the subsidies for distributed photovoltaic power plants in China at this stage adopt the subsidy method of “priority and self-use, the balance of the Internet, and the uniform subsidy of 0.42 yuan per degree”. Therefore, the yield of distributed photovoltaic power plants depends largely on the price of electricity used by the corresponding users.

For residential rooftop power stations, because the downstream users use electricity for residents, the electricity price is lower, which makes the investment recovery period of the power station too long (usually more than 10 years), and the economy is low. Therefore, at present, residential roof power stations, whether they are self-built or developers, have limited development space.

In contrast, the roof and power station of industrial and commercial enterprises is economically viable (the investment recovery period is generally 6-8 years). There are two main construction modes of this type of power station, namely, the independent construction of industrial and commercial enterprises, or the commissioning of photovoltaic power station developers (that is, the contract energy management mode).

Despite the low technical threshold of photovoltaic power plants, there are still many difficulties in industrial and commercial enterprises' self-construction projects. For example, involving dealing with various government departments, energy bureaus, local power bureaus, banks, and power station design and construction units, it is necessary to set up professional The photovoltaic power station operation and maintenance team... This is a cost-intensive and investment return that is not absolutely attractive for industrial and commercial enterprises that are not engaged in the photovoltaic industry.

Under such a background, the mode of building a distributed photovoltaic power plant by the photovoltaic power station developer commissioned by the industrial and commercial enterprises can make full use of the professional capabilities of the photovoltaic power station developer, reduce the transaction cost of the project investment link, and help to maximize the photovoltaic efficiency. The income level of power station projects is gradually becoming the mainstream mode in the field of distributed photovoltaic power plants.

Financing dilemma of distributed photovoltaic power plant developers

Although industrial and commercial enterprises have entrusted photovoltaic power station developers to build distributed photovoltaic power plants with contract energy management mode, there are many advantages, but at this stage, PV power plant developers still encounter unavoidable financing obstacles. Among them, in addition to the dilemma of “light assets and difficult guarantees” in traditional contract energy management project financing, there are also additional challenges such as lack of long-term financing channels, high risk of default of energy-using units, details of subsidies to be clarified, and project rolling development capabilities:

First, compared with mainstream contract energy management projects, distributed PV power plants have a longer investment cycle. At present, common project types in the field of contract energy management, such as waste heat and power generation power generation renovation projects, LED green lighting renovation projects, etc., can achieve 50% energy saving benefits, and the investment recovery period is generally 3-5 years. Based on the current subsidy level of electricity prices, the investment recovery period of industrial and commercial enterprise roof distributed power plants needs to reach 6-8 years or even longer, and the yield is significantly lower than other contract energy management projects, and the cycle is long. In this respect, developers are eager for long-term funds and difficult to obtain long-term financing. Most of them use short-term debt financing to make long-term return arrangements, which are prone to liquidity risks. On the other hand, developers need to face greater risk of continuous operation of energy-using units. .

Second, common contract energy management projects are mostly attached to the main production line of energy-using units, and their operation status has a great impact on the normal production of energy-using units, such as waste heat and power generation projects, and condensate recovery and utilization projects of thermal power plants. Distributed photovoltaic power plants are different. The core components are only installed on the roof of the plant. Whether the normal operation does not directly affect the normal production and operation of the energy-using units, resulting in lower default costs of energy-using units and higher risk of project default.

Third, from the point of view of the related support policies for distributed photovoltaic power plants, a current “priority of self-use, restroom online” policy has led to project settlement involving a number of different stakeholders (such as the grid, Several industrial enterprises under the same roof) have invisibly increased the complexity of the project and the settlement risk. Second, although a number of national support policies have been introduced, the project development process and its management have not been completely straightened out, and the implementation of subsidies has been implemented. For further observation, most banking financial institutions are waiting to wait and see in the face of developers' financing applications.

Fourth, the scale of the roof and power plant project of industrial and commercial enterprises is in a state of “not too big or small”. From the perspective of attracting investors, compared with the large-scale ground photovoltaic power plant with hundreds of megawatts installed, the roof of the industrial and commercial enterprise roof station is too small. Considering the average transaction cost, it is difficult to attract other social capital such as capital market or fund after the completion of the power station. The entry of the project severely constrained the developer's project rolling development capability; from the perspective of decentralized project risk, compared with the small-capacity 2 kW-3 kW residential roof power station, the scale of the industrial and commercial enterprise plant roof power station is too large. Once the project is at risk, it is difficult for a large number of power plant component equipment to quickly find a suitable alternative application site. The advantages of detachable and easy transfer of photovoltaic equipment are difficult to play.

Three parties work together to solve the financing problem

Although there are many obstacles to the construction of distributed photovoltaic power plants using the contract energy management model, it is still a blue ocean for future investment in the field of domestic PV terminals.

Here, from the perspectives of the government, developers, and financial institutions, the following suggestions are made on how to form a joint force and jointly solve the financing problems of distributed photovoltaic power plants.

First of all, for the relevant government departments, it is recommended to refine the subsidy-related policies, rationalize the implementation details as soon as possible, so that the industrial support policies can be effective as soon as possible; learn from German distributed photovoltaics, “forced unified Internet access, unified fixed electricity prices and grid settlement, policy The successful experience of financial institutions has made it a guarantee for project financing, encouraging domestic policy banks and other financial institutions to give full play to the advantages of long-term financing channels and provide medium- and long-term financing support for distributed photovoltaic power plants.

Secondly, for the developers of photovoltaic power plants, on the one hand, developers should try to choose the industrial and commercial enterprises with higher electricity prices and stable operation as the roof of the owners, which is beneficial to guarantee the demand for electricity consumption, shorten the investment recovery period and reduce the continuous operation of energy-using units. On the other hand, in the initial stage of project operation, developers are advised to invest more in their own capital, first to stimulate smaller projects with more capital, in order to form a stable cash flow as soon as possible, in the subsequent project rolling development. Gradually increase the project scale and financing amount, and gradually enlarge the proportion of capital leverage.

Thirdly, for banking financial institutions, it is recommended to strengthen market research at this stage in combination with market reality, and actively select PV power plant developers with market resources and channel, main body, and shareholder advantages, and grasp the quality subjects to help them become bigger and stronger; The distributed photovoltaic power station that has been built and operated stably uses its stable cash flow advantage to innovate and develop reverse financing products, and revitalizes the power plant developers to build project assets. Using bank channels and information advantages, learn from the successful experience of the US distributed photovoltaic financing market. Multi-channel introduction of insurance fund investment, photovoltaic power plant asset securitization financing and other means to expand the long-term funding sources of photovoltaic power plants.

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