中國儲能網訊：大多數企業(yè)很難拿出前期資金來建立一個微電網，而其融資可能是一個令人頭疼的問題。從理論上講，如果一個擁有無限資本的企業(yè)購買項目并以客戶的名義代替客戶進行操作，以換取服務費，那么這個問題就會迎刃而解。
總部位于華盛頓的私募股權巨頭凱雷集團(Carlyle Group)去年秋天成立了一個業(yè)務部門實施這樣的項目。Dynamic Energy Networks (DEN)將部署凱雷集團投資建設的微電網，然后簽署長期合同，以能源即服務的模式運營。
這種模式已經部署在幾個實例中，它消除了前期的資金需求，并迎合了希望獲得更清潔或更可靠的電力但不想參與能源資產管理業(yè)務的客戶的需求。
目前為止，還沒有哪家公司能夠為這種規(guī)模的項目提供資金。凱雷集團已經撥出了5億美元的首筆資金，但是DEN總裁兼首席執(zhí)行官凱倫?摩根（Karen Morgan）日前表示：“這種投資將不會進行限制。”
這個項目如果獲得成功，那么在微電網發(fā)展歷史上是一件具有意義的大事。大型企業(yè)和市政客戶希望微電網能夠提供的彈性和環(huán)境效益，但是沒有人保證能夠讓其具有成本效益。而這個項目是一個認真的嘗試。凱雷集團的興趣可能會促使其他私募股權公司將微電網視為一種投資工具。
DEN公司更像一個股權投資者，而不是一家能源服務公司。這使得它在達成交易方面具有高度的靈活性。DEN公司計劃專注于新的架構，主要針對用戶側，但如果有好的機會出現，它可以購買現有資產或修復它們。
而對于剛剛起步的微電網行業(yè)來說，一個關鍵障礙是缺乏可重復性，這將增加成本。而資金規(guī)模開拓了企業(yè)級微電網建設和其他形式合作的可能性。事實上，企業(yè)的管理者不會對小型的一次性產品感興趣，這一類別包括了迄今為止幾乎所有的微電網項目。
凱雷集團擁有約270家投資組合公司，管理著包括能源、基礎設施和房地產在內的400億美元的實際資產。DEN公司可以很容易地滿足這個市場的需求。
摩根在談到與凱雷集團的關系時說：“這是一個明顯的差異化優(yōu)勢，而且我們正在充分利用這個優(yōu)勢。”
該組織尚未宣布參與哪個項目，但有幾個項目正在進行中。一旦完成了這個項目，DEN公司不僅是一個開發(fā)者，而且將會進行大量投資。摩根說，DEN公司將與一些同類最佳的EPC(工程總承包)合作建設項目，并與施耐德電氣合作進行微電網控制。該公司是杜克能源公司的微電網即服務模式的早期開拓者。
如果一切按計劃進行，DEN公司就像一個獨立的發(fā)電廠，從其正好位于微電網內的發(fā)電機組產生的電能獲得回報。
摩根說，這個平臺在未來三到五年內將價值30億到50億美元。
他表示：“微電網和能源基礎設施具有一定的復雜性，特別是在用戶側背后的復雜性，但這對我們來說非常有吸引力，因為可以為此提供相關集成解決方案。這就是我們可以獲取更多價值的地方：從資本的角度以及技術和合作的角度來看，我們的執(zhí)行方式非常高效?！?
目前從微電網中獲取利潤已經被證明是非常困難的。也許初期的參與者當初投入不夠大，但當投入幾億美元的時候，再實施這樣的項目獲利就容易多了。（中國儲能網獨家編譯，轉載請注明來源）
原文如下：
Big Money Is Getting Into Microgrids
The Carlyle Group will put hundreds of millions of dollars toward owning and operating microgrids, tackling the industry’s financing challenges.
Julian Spector January 25, 2018
Can big money help standardize microgrid development?
Most companies have a hard time coming up with the upfront cash to build a microgrid, and financing one can be a major headache.
Theoretically, that headache would go away if an entity with functionally unlimited capital bought the project and operated it on behalf of the customer in exchange for service payments.
The Carlyle Group, the Washington, D.C.-based private equity behemoth, set up a business unit last fall to do just that. Dynamic Energy Networks (DEN) will deploy Carlyle capital to create microgrids, then operate them in an energy-as-a-service model for long-term contracts.
This model has been deployed in a few instances already; it eliminates upfront capital requirements and caters to customers that want cleaner or more reliable power but don't want to be in the energy asset management business.
But up until now, nobody has funded the model at this scale. Carlyle has set aside an initial pot of $500 million, but DEN President and CEO Karen Morgan said at DistribuTech Wednesday, "There is no cap on that."
This entrance is a big deal in the hardscrabble world of microgrid development. Large corporate and municipal customers want the resilience and environmental benefits that microgrids can provide, but nobody's cracked the code on how to make it cost-effective at scale.
No one with this much money has given it a serious try. Carlyle's interest may prompt other private equity firms to consider microgrids as an investment vehicle.
DEN approaches its work more like an equity investor than an energy services company. That gives it a high degree of flexibility in shaping its deals compared to, say, a utility. DEN plans to focus on new builds, primarily behind the meter, but it can buy existing assets or renovate them if a good opportunity arises.
A key hurdle to the fledgling microgrid industry has been lack of repeatability, which drives up costs. The scale of funding here opens up the possibility of enterprise-wide microgrid contracts and other forms of big thinking. Indeed, the leadership won't be interested in small one-offs, a category that describes nearly every microgrid built so far.
"A lot of assets have been sold at the facility level; this is really a C-suite solution," said Morgan, who previously led Renewable Energy Trust Capital, which owned utility-scale wind and solar.
C-suites might be easier to access when the firms involved share the same parent company. Carlyle owns some 270 portfolio companies and manages $40 billion of real assets including energy, infrastructure and real estate. DEN could easily keep itself busy catering to that market.
"It is a clear differentiated advantage, and it's something that we're leveraging significantly," Morgan said of the relationship with Carlyle.
The group hasn't announced any projects yet, but several are in the works.
Once they get finalized, DEN won't be the developer, but it will have input, Morgan said. DEN will work with a handful of best-in-class EPCs to build projects, and has a partnership with Schneider Electric for microgrid controls. That firm was an early pioneer of the microgrid-as-service model in its work with Duke Energy.
If all goes according to plan, DEN would resemble an independent power producer, getting paid for electrons flowing from its fleet of generators, which happen to be located inside microgrids.
That platform will be worth $3 billion to $5 billion in the next three to five years, Morgan said.
"The complexity around microgrids and energy infrastructure, particularly behind the meter, is what is very compelling to us, because there's a lot of value that's created in delivering those integrated solutions," she said. "That's where we can capture more value: We're efficient in how we execute, from a capital perspective as well as technology and partnering perspective."
Extracting profit from microgrids has proven notoriously difficult so far. Perhaps the early entrants just weren't thinking big enough. It's a lot easier to play the long game when you have a few hundred million dollars to spend.
