Can energy subsidies subsidize the future of solar water heaters?

At the beginning of June 2012, more than 260 solar water heater companies gathered in Beijing to apply for energy-saving products to benefit the people, and the scene was hot. In 2009, the rapid growth of home appliances to the countryside led to the solar water heater industry is still fresh in memory. Companies that have tasted the sweetness of policies have great expectations for energy-saving products. However, the results of the first batch of finalists appear to be far less than the happiness of home appliances to the countryside. Only 20 companies have entered the promotion list. In 2012, when the market performance is flat, can energy-saving products benefit the people project to light up the future of the solar water heater industry?

All mainstream companies enter the market

50,000 units is the promotion threshold for solar water heaters set by the energy-saving products Huimin project. It is the highest among the category 3 water heaters (condensed gas water heaters for 30,000 units and air source heat pump water heaters for 10,000 units). “At the time of the initial policy discussion, the amount of promotion required was set at 30,000 units. At that time, we felt a bit high. Who knows that the policy has turned into a higher 50,000 units after it was introduced.” Some enterprise representatives involved in policy formulation are somewhat surprised and speculate Says, “From this point of view, the policy orientation of energy-saving products to benefit people’s projects is very rigorous, and we hope that the subsidies can be really used.”

From the point of view of the declaration, 50,000 units did not cool the enthusiasm of solar water heater companies to participate. "A lot of companies just want to make a fight, try to enter the list as soon as possible, and then use the policy to hit the market, the worst case is nothing more than the amount of promotion, simply do not want the state's financial subsidies." Vice President of Beijing Tsinghua Solar Energy Development Co., Ltd. Li Xuguang believes that apart from a few companies, the first 20 companies that stood out from the crowd were basically large-scale companies with strong brand influence in the solar water heater industry.

Calculating the average selling price of solar water heaters, which are mainly sold as 2,000 yuan, reaches at least an annual sales volume of more than 100 million yuan. Li Xuguang analyzed that due to subsidizing only energy efficiency grade 1 and energy efficiency grade 2 products, this requirement may be even higher. Sunrise East, Huang Ming, Sang Le, Norit, Huayang, Tsinghua Sunshine, Sangpu, Temple and other short-listed companies, the vast majority of market performance in recent years has reached the requirements.

"Strictly controlling the number of companies entering the market is a good thing for standardizing the industry." This is almost the voice of every first-listed company. However, small businesses seem unwilling to give up completely. According to a person in charge of the company, some small businesses may be engaged in joint operations within the region. Several companies jointly sell a brand, which may also result in promotion. "The so-called policy and countermeasures may lead to mergers and acquisitions among small businesses and may not necessarily be a bad thing for the development of the industry."

Surprisingly, although Zhejiang is one of the major producers of solar water heaters, no one company has successfully entered the list this time.

Tangled test report

In fact, the direct reason for letting more than 200 companies fail is that the test report does not meet the requirements. According to the “Implementation Rules for the Promotion of High-efficiency Solar Water Heaters”, companies need to submit product performance and energy efficiency inspection reports that are approved by the state and issued by third-party agencies. Among them, product performance testing in accordance with the national standard GB/T 19141-2011 "Home Solar Hot Water System Technical Conditions", energy efficiency testing in accordance with national standards GB 26969-2011 "home solar hot water system energy efficiency limit and energy efficiency rating."

The most distressing issue for solar water heater companies is energy efficiency testing. The official implementation time of GB 26969-2011 is August 1, 2012, and the implementation rules for supporting the energy efficiency standards are still under development. As a result, most companies are watching and failing to test their energy efficiency based on this standard. “The notice of declaration was issued on Friday, and immediately following Monday it was reported that there was no time for energy efficiency testing of the product.” Many companies complained to reporters.

“When the weather conditions meet the requirements of the standard, the energy efficiency of solar water heaters needs to be tested day and night. It may take 1 to 2 weeks to test all the performance of the whole machine.” Deputy Director, National Solar Water Heater Quality Supervision and Test Center (Beijing) He Tao told reporters.

According to Li Xuguang, the 13 models of Tsinghua Sunny won the test report for other reasons. “We have many products that meet the subsidy requirements. Due to the rush of time, the first batch had to declare the type of test report. ”

The most important reason for the devastation of the Zhejiang Army was the failure of energy efficiency test reports. Xu Zhuling, secretary general of the Jiaxing Solar Energy Industry Association, said that GB 26969-2011 has not yet been formally implemented. Zhejiang's testing organization has been cautious. According to this standard, energy efficiency test reports have not been issued. This has caused Zhejiang companies to become passive in reporting.

In this regard, He Tao said that after the release of the standard, the specific content has been determined, it can be used as a test basis. "As for whether to refer to this standard in advance, it depends on the agreement of all parties. To GB 26969-2011, from the time of publication to the official implementation of this period, companies can independently decide whether to use, and after August 1, 2012 is mandatory, Enterprises must adopt it.” At the same time, he believes that the “Efficient Solar Water Heater Promotion and Implementation Rules” clearly requires that the product meets the requirements of GB 26969-2011, and the testing party can only perform testing according to the published standards.

Progress to energy efficiency level 1

GB 26969-2011 is the first mandatory national standard for the solar water heater industry. It divides the energy efficiency rating of solar water heaters into three levels and uses energy efficiency level 3 as the entry barrier for the industry. The energy-saving products Huimin project subsidy is included in the energy efficiency class 1 and energy efficiency class 2 products, and is a high-performance product with a high energy efficiency rating.

According to the reporter’s understanding, at this round of investigations prior to the introduction of the energy-saving products Huimin Project, it was proposed that subsidies should be provided for all solar water heaters, but this proposal was directly rejected by the relevant government departments. A person in charge of the company, who asked not to be named, admitted frankly: “Compared with the newly-emerged heat pump water heaters, the market for solar water heaters is more mature. If all subsidies are provided, it will not be able to form product gradients and will not be able to promote the improvement of industry energy efficiency. ."

Since the solar energy water heater energy efficiency labeling system has not yet been formally implemented, the possible impact may be difficult to estimate. Some companies believe that the detection of solar water heaters is conducted outdoors, which is greatly affected by the weather. For energy efficiency class 1 products, the products can meet the standard requirements at the time of inspection, which does not necessarily mean that energy efficiency level 1 can also be achieved during spot checks in the country. . Avoiding the effects of various spot checks, some companies may choose a relatively conservative approach, labeling more products as energy efficiency level 2 first.

Judging from the energy efficiency rating list of the “Energy Conservation Products Huimin Engineering High-Efficiency Solar Water Heater Promotion Catalogue (First Batch)”, the products won by the companies such as Samp, Brilliant, Yuansheng, Rilit, and Best are mostly or all energy-efficient. Level 2 tends to be conservative. The products of Sun Rain, Four Seasons Mu Ge, Sang Le, and Norit are all energy efficiency level 1, while Hua Yang and Tian Pu are mainly based on energy efficiency level 1. Zhang Lifeng, director of technology research and development center of Huangming Solar Energy Group Co., Ltd., told reporters: “We hope that after the system has been implemented steadily for a period of time, we can only take a relatively conservative attitude.”

The demonstration role of solar companies, Sishui Muge, Sangle, and Linuo Reiter has forced the industry to advance toward energy efficiency. A business person admits: "Now, the products of big companies have all achieved energy efficiency level 1, which forces other companies to follow, and they all need to implement energy-efficient products. The future market competition will be even more brutal."

Policy effect remains to be seen

“Waiting for energy-saving products to benefit the people project is absolutely good for the solar water heater industry.” Zhang Lifeng said that this can cause widespread concern for solar water heaters in the society. “But for companies, it doesn’t have to be too substantive. significance."

Careful analysis of the subsidy standards is not difficult to find, the highest subsidy is the 0.25m3 ≤ water tank capacity ≤ 0.60m3 of solar water heaters, but this is not a conventional solar water heater volume section. Judging from the short-listed products of various companies, there are very few products located in this volume segment. Among them, in terms of compact products, with the exception of Sunrise East, which has a large number of successful bidders, most companies only have one model in this volume segment; for split products, there are only one model of solar rain and two models of Four Seasons Muse. model. At the same time, because compact products are still the type of market leader, most products can receive subsidies of 100~300 yuan.

"This time the subsidy is not very strong, the model of the main sales can only get about 200 yuan subsidy. Since most solar water heater dealers did not issue invoices before, if the invoice cost is added according to the policy, it may not be necessary for the dealer. Appropriate.” Li Xuguang believes that at present, except for the number of successful bids from Sunrise East, the number of bids won by other mainstream companies is not large, and it is difficult for the entire market price to play a big role in the market.

Although the first batch of Tongji Sunshine New Energy Co., Ltd. of Jiaxing City was unexpectedly lost, the general manager of the company, Guan Jinguo, was not too worried. "We were mainly affected by the test report and we are currently preparing for the second batch. At the same time, I think that the implementation of policies will not bring too much leverage to the single-market solar water heater market."

Zhang Lifeng also believes that at present, the policy has a limited impact on the solar water heater market. At the same time, companies have to bear testing costs, advance subsidies, and increase publicity costs. This is not a small pressure.