Increased focus on distributed energy in China

​In early 2013, the Chinese government declared that it would aim to carry out 1,000 distributed energy projects within its 12th five-year plan.

Over the past couple of years, a lot of money has been invested in the Chinese energy sector. Back in 2012, COWI started a million-dollar cooperation with Danfoss in the city of Anshan on a trendsetting district heating project. This project is directly in line with the Chinese government’s latest five-year plan – the 12th of its kind in the country.

The 12th five-year plan clearly states that the country is to focus on energy efficiency, and since district heating and cooling are carbon-neutral solutions, these energy solutions have entered the spotlight.

“2014 looks to be a promising year for COWI’s Energy unit in China, with a number of interesting customers and project opportunities. We have interesting projects lined up both within district heating, district cooling and thermal power, or a combination of the three,” says Project and Market Director of COWI China, Mikael Jakobsson, and continues: “In China, distributed energy and district cooling are market-driven industries compared to district heating, which has been considered a social service in the Northern provinces. However, the district heating market is in a transition period and commercial projects and new business models are introduced there as well.”

COWI’s current distributed energy projects in China
COWI is currently working on three combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP) projects in China. Two of the projects are located in Shanghai and one in Nanjing, where COWI provides technical assistance through pre-design services and commissioning. The projects will provide heating and cooling for commercial and residential consumers, a data centre and a hospital, respectively.

Late 2013, COWI also finalised a distributed energy project that supplies process steam and cooling for a manufacturing industry.​

Source: COWI