Although northeast China's Heilongjiang Province experienced its strongest snowstorm in 56 years last winter, citizens in Harbin, the nation's northernmost provincial capital city, enjoyed a comfortable winter, sitting in warm homes and viewing the snow through their windows.

"Thanks to a district heating project by the Harbin government, the Danish government and ABB, our people enjoyed a warm and comfortable winter," says Wang Shihua, vice-mayor of Harbin. "As a key project in Harbin in the 11th Five-Year Plan, the district heating project not only improves the heating system in a cold city, but also makes a huge contribution to an environmentally friendly society."

According to ABB (Automation and Power Technologies), a global leading power and automation technology group, the project is also the biggest district heating infrastructure construction project undertaken in China.

"ABB automation control technology enables one million local residents to enjoy a comfortable room temperature above 18 degrees Celsius, even when the average temperature outside is minus-21," says Bernd Muehe, senior vice-president of ABB China.

"However, what's more significant is that it helps reduce greenhouse gases by cutting energy losses and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and improving operational efficiency of heating systems."

Chen Yuwei, project manager from Harbin Huaneng District Heating Co Ltd tells China Business Weekly that "when all consumers are connected, we can save 300,000 tons of standard coal annually, reduce discharge of 75 million tons of soot, eliminate emission of 2,200 tons of sulfur dioxide, more than 500,000 tons of CO2 and 11,000 tons of dust.

"Because we removed more than 1,000 small-scale and low-efficiency boiler units, inhabitants in Daoli District, the most prosperous of the seven districts of Harbin, enjoyed a cleaner and greener living environment in addition to a more comfortable heating service," Chen adds.

Reduction in CO2 emissions is also part of a CDM (Clean Development Mechanism) contract between the Danish government and China, using principles of the Kyoto Protocol adopted in December 1997 in Japan.

Using the CDM, the Danish government is buying CO2 reductions from the Huaneng District Heating Co for a period of 10 years. The market price is at the moment is around US$10 per ton of certified CO2 emission reduction.

The Danish government is also providing a 30.3 million euro interest-free loan, some 1.78 billion yuan, with a repayment period of 10 years for the district's heating project in Harbin.

Efficient and energy-saving

In Daoli, ABB uses hot water produced from Harbin Huaneng District Heating Co Ltd as its primary heating resource.

Water is carried by insulated underground pipes and transferred to 156 self-operating heating exchanger units instead of traditional boiler rooms and then directly fed into residential radiators to heat a combined area of 17.58 million square meters. 

With ABB's automation technology, the temperature and flow velocity of the water is regulated automatically based on actual consumer heat consumption and outdoor temperature.

ABB has more than 25 years of experience in delivering district-heating projects worldwide. Its products and systems have been widely used in more than 200 projects and cities throughout the world, including Tianjin Municipality, Xi'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, Houma in north China's Shanxi Province, Zunhua in north China's Hebei Province and Shihezi in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region all supported by Danish government loans as well as many other cities in China and Central Asia.

Danish government loans will support two more such projects in China in cooperation with ABB, says Muehe.

"ABB's world-leading district heating technology is characterized by energy efficiency, low noise, flexible control and customization. It could help our customers in the 'Ice City' of Harbin to raise the utilization of combined cycle energy production and improve the operational efficiency of heating systems, as well as reduce the consumption of coal and emission of greenhouse gases considerably," says Muehe.

ABB won the 30.3 million euro main contract for the Daoli project at the end of October 2004.

ABB provided 96.1 kilometers of insulated pipes, 378 frequency converters, 252 secondary network circulation pumps, 126 secondary network pressure holding pumps, 252 heat exchangers, 2,000 instruments that are used to supervise and control the network and substations, as well as one Saturn SCADA control system with more than 10,000 signals.

ABB also helped to rebuild 42 substations and link them to the SCADA system.

All substations autonomously control the temperature and flow of hot water, freeing stokers from intensive labor work.

The operations center, equipped with the ABB Saturn SCADA system, is used to monitor and if need to control the operation of 168 heat exchangers units.

ABB also provided technical training to stokers and engineers from Huaneng District Heating, enabling them to engage in the daily operation and maintenance of systems.

Throughout construction of the project, intensive contacts were maintained with the city, its local government, the district heating utility, design offices and other involved parties, the company said.

ABB and the Danish District Heating Export Organization also jointly held two symposiums discussing how to save energy and evaluate life-cycle costs by adopting new design principles and ideas.

(China Daily March 26, 2007)