The Dream Factory of China

Green energy, which is a reliable, affordable and sustainable energy source, is important to maintaining an ecosystem suitable for living and sustaining future economic development, the 10th District Energy International Summit Forum & CDEA 2019 Annual Conference heard in Qianhai yesterday morning.

Kang Yanbin, director of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission, said at the forum that electrification, decarbonization, diversification, decentralization and digitalization are the targets of China’s energy production reform.

Kang said reliable, affordable and sustainable energy is crucial to China as the country is facing a serious environmental pollution issue. According to Kang, China’s carbon emission accounted for nearly 30 percent of the world total, meaning decarbonized new energy is necessary to achieving sustainable development for the world’s second-largest economy.

Kang said Qianhai, known for its ability to innovate, should take innovative approaches to build itself into a demonstration area of near-zero carbon emissions and, of low-carbon and high-quality development in the construction of Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Qianhai has set a good example for low-carbon development. Over the past few years, Qianhai has been working on its district cooling system (DCS), a high-efficient energy-saving model of energy consumption, said Fu Jianping, general manger of Shenzhen Qianhai Energy Investment Development Co. Ltd. Two centralized cooling plants, which use ice thermal storage technology, have been put into service to provide cool air to nearby office buildings. Other renewable energy sources, such as a sea water condenser system, gray water utilization condenser, steam waste heat and solar energy, have been studied and put to use in the other cooling plants under construction in Qianhai’s DCS, according to Fu.

The cooling plants are attached to main buildings to save on land resources, and the Qianhai authority has guided the enterprises in the free trade area to use the DCS by making it one of the conditions in land transfers, Fu said.

About 300 guests, including State and local government officials, energy specialists and experts from home and abroad, such as Benjamin Hickman, a regional technical adviser for Asia and Europe of the United Nations Environmental Program’s District Energy in Cities Initiative, and representatives from Fortune 500 in China, attended the forum, at which they shared their opinions and insights on green energy and low-carbon development.