District heating is the main infrastructure to supply heat to buildings in both China and Denmark. There is a long tradition of collaboration, and two activities in December 2023 added to this history. A joint Sino-Danish project organised a knowledge-sharing conference, and Danish companies engaged in dialogue about new DH solutions during a Danish export promotion.
China is pursuing ambitious climate goals, and knowledge-sharing across universities, utilities, solution providers, energy agencies, the Danish Trade Council, and DH organisations is seen as a necessary foundation for meeting the targets. Though separate, the two activities were coordinated to support each other and increase the total impact of the activities, with several people participating in both events.
The conference
The conference focused on heat planning and integrating district heating and the power system. These are topics where both countries have experience but also ambitions to improve.
Jinan, the capital city of 100-million-people Shandong Province, was chosen as the venue for the conference. A lot of interesting DH development takes place in this province, and it is also the location of the collaboration in the Clean Heating in China project that organised the conference.
Speakers from China included prominent participants from the China District Heating Association (CDHA), Jinan Energy Group, Tsinghua University, Shandong Provincial Energy Bureau, Shandong Urban and Rural Planning and Design Institute, and Shandong Global Energy Internet Research Institute.
The speakers, Professor Xia Jianjun and CDHA vice-president Liu Rong, are members of the Sino-Danish expert panel under the Sino-Danish Clean and Renewable Heating Cooperation organised by CREEI and the Danish Energy Agency. Read more
Speakers from the Danish side included The Danish Embassy in Beijing, the head of DH in Aarhus Elsebeth Arendt from the utility Kredsløb, project participants NXITY and APUEA, and technical experts.
The number of participants exceeded expectations as the China District Heating Association, Shandong District Heating Association, the Danish Trade Council in Beijing, Danish companies, and DBDH had spread the word about the conference. In total, more than 170 people attended.
As an exceptional follow-up to the conference, participants from the project met with the chairman of the Beijing District Heating Group. BDHG is the most extensive district heating system in the world, and the meeting underlined the long-standing collaboration, identification of topics to discuss in more detail, learnings from the project, and the chairman’s upcoming visit to Denmark.
Read more about the project funded by The Energy Export Initiatives Grants Program under the Danish Energy Agency.
The Danish Export promotion
The day before the conference, we had the chance to visit two DH sites in Jinan and have a detailed roundtable discussion. The program was designed to give ample opportunity for knowledge-sharing and networking between the people who help design and achieve the practical solutions to a clean transition in China and people with detailed knowledge of Danish DH solutions. The group visited the Ruiguan Energy Station and the CBD Energy Center to learn about DH’s ongoing and future development in Jinan. There was also great curiosity about DH in Denmark; seven Danish companies participated in the export promotion.
