"If you do not increase costs, companies can save energy consumption every year and generate considerable economic benefits..."-This hypothesis of entrepreneurs will become a reality due to the introduction of contract energy management models in the energy-saving service industry.

According to the statistics of the Energy Conservation Service Industry Committee of the China Energy Conservation Association, in 2009, my country's contract energy management project investment increased from 11.67 billion yuan in 2008 to 19.532 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth rate of 67.37%. Industry analysts believe that contract energy management will become a lever to leverage the entire energy-saving market, and the development of the energy-saving service industry, a transitional industry from energy-saving product manufacturing to enterprise energy-saving projects, has become the key to eliminating the bottleneck of the entire energy-saving industry.

Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council presided over an executive meeting of the State Council on the 17th to study policies and measures to accelerate the implementation of contract energy management to promote the development of energy-saving service industries. During the interview, a reporter from China Securities News learned that the industry's expected industrial development policy has some amendments at the Prime Minister's office meeting, and it is expected that the adjustment will be issued in the near future.

Energy-saving market "leverage"

Chen Peng, an analyst at Donghai Securities, said that according to the binding indicators that China’s carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP will be reduced by 40% to 45% compared with 2005, during the period 2010-2020, China’s comprehensive energy conservation investment scale will reach 300 billion yuan. , The compound annual growth rate reached 31.1%, and there is huge room for growth. Chen Peng believes that the focus of the development of the energy-saving and environmental protection industry is not on the fundamentals of the economy, but the driving force for enterprises to carry out energy-saving transformations and the resulting demand for environmental protection equipment.

According to industry insiders, in China, due to the lack of corporate energy conservation awareness, the lack of legal and policy constraints, and the externalization of energy consumption, pollution and other costs, the implementation of energy-saving projects raises operating costs. The industry is facing an awkward situation. The introduction of the contract energy management model promotes the rapid development of the energy-saving industry through the off-balance sheet cycle mechanism. On the one hand, it expands the development space of the energy-saving service industry, and on the other hand, it provides energy-consuming enterprises with low-risk and high-efficiency energy. Management and hosting solutions.

In Chen Peng's view, energy contract management, an energy-saving mechanism based on market operation, is not only a business model of comprehensive energy-saving services that promotes the growth of energy-saving industries, but also a financial management method to reduce energy costs for enterprises.

The so-called contract energy management means that a dedicated energy-saving service company signs energy-saving service contracts with customers to provide customers with one-stop integrated services such as energy efficiency audits, energy-saving renovation plans, equipment procurement, construction, and operation and maintenance, while providing funds for services. After the customer sees the energy-saving benefits, the company implementing contract energy management recovers the investment from the cost saved by the equipment operation and obtains profits.

At present, the rapid development of energy-saving industries in developed countries such as Europe and the United States is inseparable from the comprehensive promotion of contract energy management models. Under this operating mechanism, the development of specialized "energy-saving service companies" with the direct purpose of making profits is also very rapid. As the birthplace of ESCo, the market output value of the US contract energy management industry has accounted for 2/3 of the global energy-saving service industry output value. According to statistics from the National Association of Energy Service Companies, the output value of the US energy-saving service industry in 2008 was close to US$5.5 billion.

Due to the extensive development in the past, my country has huge room for energy conservation and emission reduction transformation. According to Chen Peng, historical experience shows that the penetration and development of energy-saving contract energy management mechanisms in the field of "industry and construction" are the most successful.

At present, my country's industrial energy consumption is significantly higher than that of developed countries. Data show that my country's current energy efficiency is 10% lower than the international advanced level. From the perspective of unit product energy consumption, the unit energy consumption of the main products of the 8 high energy consumption industries is on average 40% higher than the international advanced level. In terms of energy consumption per unit building area, the current heating energy consumption per unit building area in my country is 2-3 times that of developed countries with similar climatic conditions. Chen Peng said that it is realistic and feasible to fully implement the 50% energy saving standard in public buildings and residential buildings. Compared with developed countries, there is still about 50% energy saving potential even after reaching the 50% energy saving target.

According to the estimation of the Energy Conservation Service Industry Committee of China Energy Conservation Association, the output value of my country's energy-saving service industry is expected to reach 80 billion yuan this year, with a growth rate of 30%-40%. The future industry market capacity will reach 400 billion yuan, and there is huge room for development. To

Three difficulties to be solved

The energy-saving model of contract energy management, which "looks beautiful", is now often faced with the dilemma of "applauding and not being popular". After interviews, a reporter from China Securities News found that the current promotion of my country's contract energy management model is facing difficulties in project financing, lack of third-party verification, and market regulations.

Contract energy management has not developed in my country for a long time, and the scale of enterprises in the industry is small, and financing problems are particularly prominent. The essence of contract energy management is to leverage the energy-saving market through third-party financing of energy-saving service companies. At the beginning of the project operation, the energy-saving company needs to provide a package of services such as start-up capital, equipment, installation and commissioning, and repair and maintenance in advance, and then the income can be recovered in the later stage.

However, according to Tellhow Technology, it is currently difficult for my country's contract energy management service companies to finance contract energy management projects through banks and other financial institutions. “Most of the energy-saving service companies are small and medium-sized enterprises and have not yet established credibility in the financial system; energy-saving projects are not like ordinary construction projects that can form collateral. The credit evaluation departments of banks and other financial institutions are not yet familiar with contract energy management business, so it is difficult to obtain Bank loans." Tellhow Technology took the lead in entering the field of contract energy management and has a relatively mature contract energy management model.

When energy-saving benefits are recovered, the evaluation of energy-saving effects is also a difficult problem. Due to the lack of an independent third-party assessment agency in China, most of the energy-saving projects implemented are "visible and tangible". For example, replacing ordinary lamps with energy-saving lamps, and both parties calculate energy-saving benefits based on the energy-saving efficiency of the energy-saving lamps.

According to an expert who has been in charge of energy-saving projects in a foreign company for a long time, there are independent third-party institutions abroad that specialize in corporate energy efficiency evaluation. Their evaluation results can be used as a basis for energy-saving management companies and owners to share energy-saving results. According to reports, most foreign energy-saving service companies provide systematic energy-saving services for energy-consuming enterprises, such as process transformation and the application of energy-saving technologies. Most of them are technical, but few actually provide energy-saving products. In the energy-saving market, the application of these systematic energy-saving technologies is the biggest “gold mine”. Statistics from the National Association of Energy Service Companies show that the service output value of energy-saving technology and energy efficiency improvement is the highest, accounting for almost 73% of the entire industry output value.

It is understood that the irregularities in the market have also caused obstacles to the promotion of contract energy management. Although energy-saving service companies are full of confidence in future development, and under the contract energy management model, companies can achieve energy saving without additional investment, but not all energy-consuming companies that are the main body of energy-saving project implementation are not all keen on this. A staff member of a large state-owned energy consumer told the China Securities Journal that some energy service companies have talked to them about cooperation, and they have also studied the contract energy management model, but the main concern of the company’s leaders is that they “do not know these. Qualifications of energy service companies."

Regardless of whether it is the service provider or the energy conservation owner, dishonesty occurs. It is understood that after some small-scale energy-saving service companies have implemented energy-saving projects, because some energy-saving projects have been slow to achieve results, the owners refuse to pay the share return on time, which brings great financial pressure to these service companies and leads to follow-up The project is unsustainable, or the company’s energy-saving equipment cannot be maintained continuously. The irregularity of the market makes both the service party and the owner may face risks.

Looking forward to policy escort

Chen Peng believes that compared with new energy industries such as wind power and solar power, the energy-saving and environmental protection industries have a more solid foundation in terms of technology and scale. What is lacking now is policy support.

According to sources, there are some amendments to the industrial development policy expected by the industry at the Prime Minister's office meeting, and it is expected that the adjustment will be issued in the near future. Earlier, Dai Yande, deputy director of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission, revealed that the "Opinions on Accelerating the Implementation of Contract Energy Management and Promoting the Development of Energy-saving Service Industry" is being researched and formulated.

According to an analyst at Shenyin Wanguo, the policy is expected to be reformed in taxation, financing channels, and subsidies, including explicitly incorporating contract energy management projects into the service tax category, formulating tax incentive policies and rules, and encouraging financial institutions to provide credit and product loans at preferential interest rates. Cooperation and other multi-channel support for contract energy management and subsidies for energy-saving services.

Industry insiders predict that as the industry support policy becomes clear, companies such as Tellhow that have already waded in advance for contract energy management will directly benefit. According to reports, since 2009, the first echelon companies in the inverter market, such as Hekang Inverter, Jiuzhou Electric, and Mingyang Electric, have or will enter the capital market, greatly expanding their industry influence and investment and financing channels. Among them, The business models of some companies have moved towards contract energy management. Although the current proportion is relatively low, the trend is clear.

Chen Peng believes that inverter equipment companies have the greatest potential to become the vanguard of the industrial energy-saving service industry, and the promotion of contract energy management energy-saving mechanisms will promote the rapid growth of the inverter market.

Of course, as the entire energy-saving market is leveraged, the beneficiaries will be far more than contract energy management companies, but will evolve into a "feast" for the entire energy-saving and environmental protection industry. Analysts from Shenyin Wanguo said that in addition to energy-saving service companies, they are also optimistic about energy-saving equipment providers, such as waste heat utilization and building energy-saving leader Shuangliang Co., Ltd., Yantai Binglun, which produces waste heat boilers, and Dehao Runda, which produces LED street lights.