COUNTRY | China
REGION | Asia
SECTOR | energy
QII Principles | Principle 1 Sustainable Growth & Development, Principle 2 Economic Efficiency, Principle 3 Environmental Considerations
QII Sub-Principles | 1: SDGs, 1: Paris Agreement, 1: Wider economic benefits, 2: Value for money analysis, 2: Operation and maintenance, 2: Technological innovation, 3: Environmental Impact Assessment, 3: Environmental Impact Mitigation, 3: Emissions
Overview
Cost: Total project investment of RMB Yuan 6.7 billion
Parties involved (public and private):
- Taiyuan Heat Group Co., Tsinghua University, China Municipal
- Engineering North China Design and Research Institute Co.
Relevant contractual details (type, length etc.):
The project recovers the waste heat from the Gujiao power plant and supplies of heat to users spanning 76 million square meters in Taiyuan city. It took two and a half years to complete, and the Project has been safely operated for four years. It sets up a model for China in term of urban centralized heat supply.
Context:
Taiyuan, like most northern cities in China, faces a serious shortage of clean heating and heat sources. Under the double pressure of environmental protection and people's livelihood, the Taiyuan government has adopted a low-cost, low energy consumption, environmental protection, which takes into account environment, peoples’ livelihood and safety such as the Gujiao power plant, a long-distance transmission heat supply project using waste disposal heat.
Aim(s) of the project:
The Project provides heat to 76 million m2 of buildings in Taiyuan to meet the increase in heating load; it replaces coal, reduces CO2 and pollutant emissions, and realizes low-carbon clean heating.
Timeline
The project started in April 2013 and was put into operation in October 2016 and has been operating for four heating seasons.
Relevance to QII
Waste heat is a clean and low-carbon heat source. The project recovers waste heat from power plants to replace coal-fired heat supply, reducing carbon and pollutant emissions; low heating costs; and promotes technological change in the centralized heat supply industry.
Benefits
Highlights: The project is the first large-scale demonstration project in the world to utilize waste disposal heat for long-distance heat supply, which is the first of its kind in the history of heat supply in the world. Compared with conventional cogeneration, the energy consumption for heat supply is reduced by 50%, and the temperature drop over 37.8km is less than 1?, while the cost is comparable to that of coal-fired boilers.
Expected and realised benefits: The project fully replaces the Taiyi Power Plant and 16.4 million square meters of coal-fired boilers for heating, reducing 2.76 million tons of standard coal and 6.87 million tons of carbon emissions per year, significantly reducing air pollutant emissions; the project has saved 2.5 billion yuan in total heating costs since it was put into operation.
Metrics
- The evaluation committee, composed of three academicians and other members, considers the project as the first successfully implemented large-scale waste heat long-distance heating project in the world, which should be adopted as the mainstream way of clean heat supply for cities and towns.
- The IEA-DHC Executive Committee commented that the project provides a viable model for clean heat supply worldwide.
- Alfa Laval reported that "the Swire central heating project is one of the largest in the world and it is also world's No.1 long-distance heat transfer project in terms of project difficulty.
- China Central Television (CCTV), China Construction News and other media reported that the project had both a mature theoretical basis and a wealth of practical achievements, reaching a world-leading level.
CCTV URL