CHINA’S 5 LARGEST POWER GROUPS KEEN ON DANISH ENERGY EFFICIENCY EXPERIENCES

Representatives from China Power Investment, China Datang Power, China Guodian Power, China Huadian Power and China Huaneng Power were all in Copenhagen during the UN Climate summit in the Danish capital in December 2009 where they took part in an energy tour after receiving an invitation from the Danish Embassy in Beijing. Together these five companies account for more than half of China’s electricity production.


The Avedøre Power Plant south of Copenhagen


Chen Zhaohui, Commercial Officer with expertise in Power and Heating at the Danish Embassy in Beijing, is very satisfied with the outcome of the visit:

“Denmark has been focusing on energy efficiency for many years and has become a world leader in clean-tech solutions. We have received positive feed back from the Chinese power groups that they were very impressed and satisfied with what they experienced in Denmark,” says Chen Zhaohui.

During their stay the Chinese power groups visited Danish power plant Avedøre and an off shore windmill farm, “Middelgrund”, near Copenhagen.


Henrik Martens from the Danish Embassy in Beijing gives a presentation at a meeting at the Confederation of Danish Industry in Copenhagen


Surplus energy used for heating homes

Counsellor for Energy and Environment, Henrik Martens, at the Danish Embassy in Beijing was in Denmark with the Chinese power groups to display some of the advantages of Danish energy efficiency. He outlines a few of the qualities of the Danish district heating system.

“In Danish power plants we use the surplus heat that is produced during burning of coal to warm up houses and industry. In many countries the heat that is produced while burning coal is going to waste, but you can save enormous amounts of energy by using this surplus heat,” says Henrik Martens. He adds that this technique is overlooked in most of the world.


Danish approach could reduce energy use by 40% worldwide

Denmark currently gets around three-quarters of its energy from fossil fuels. But the fact is that Denmark has already reached a level of national energy efficiency that – if replicated across the globe today – would reduce energy use by 40% worldwide and CO2 emissions by an equal amount. Read more here.

Danish technology has also made it possible to reduce the amount of CO2 released into the air by burning fossil fuels. For example the Avedøre multi-fuelled power plant south of Copenhagen uses biogases along with fuel oil and coal in order to lower the CO2 emissions. The power plant also uses natural resources such as hay and wood pellets instead of just burning coal and fuel oil. In fact the average CO2 emissions at the Avedøre plant accounts for only 306 g/kWh which is 70% lower compared to the world average of 1110 g/kWh.


Renewable energy – on the agenda in China and Denmark

During recent years China has been doing a lot to develop it’s renewable energy resources. Today China is putting up new windmills every day. China has set an ambitious goal that 15% of the energy consumption should be covered by renewable energy by the year 2020. For the moment Denmark already covers 28% of it’s electricity production by renewable sources, mainly stemming from windmills. The world’s largest offshore wind farm, Horns Rev 2, is placed in Danish waters. It is capable of supplying CO2-free electricity to 200.000 households. The 91 wind mills are towering 115 metres above the waves and the entire wind farm covers an area of almost 35 km2.


During COP15 Li Bingbing also visited the off shore windmill farm Middelgrund near Copenhagen along with other Chinese delegates

During their stay in Denmark the five Chinese power groups had a matchmaking meeting where they met with Danish companies in order to exchanges experiences. The Danish companies are: Haldor Topsøe, Burmeister & Wein Energy, Howden Hua Engineering, Andritz, Hasle Refractories, SCF Technologies, Eltronic, FORCE Technologies, Gottlieb Paludan Architechts, Vestas, COWI and Mita Teknik.