The city of Rongcheng became the third settlement in the Chinese province of Shandong to be connected to the district heating network from the Haiyang NPP, the State Power Investment Corporation (SPIC) announced.
The first commercial heat supply using steam extraction from the second circuit began in 2019. In the winter of 2020/2021, Haiyang city was, for the first time supplied with heat from the Warm Core No 1 district heating project. The city of Rushan’s heating system was connected to the station in 2021, bringing the population benefitting from the technology to 1m.
The Haiyang NPP hosts two AP1000 reactors (units 1&2), which entered commercial operation in 2018 and 2019, with two CAP1000 reactors (units 3&4) – the Chinese version of the Westinghouse AP1000 – under construction. Unit 1 of the Haiyang plant entered commercial operation in October 2018, with unit 2 following in January 2019. Construction of units 5&6 received official approval in April. As new units are commissioned, the district heating project will expand. In future, SPIC intends to extend it to the city of Qingdao, more than 100 km away.
According to SPIC, the project uses domestically mature steam extraction heating technology through dual-unit series large temperature difference heating technology. This allows two units to be connected in series to sequentially heat the circulating water in the heating network, significantly increasing heating capacity. Alternatively, a single unit can provide heating independently, adjusting heating capacity according to demand and improving the reliability of the heating system.
The project is expected to reduce coal consumption by about 120,000 tonnes a year. It will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 360,000 tonnes, nitrogen oxide emissions by 2,066 tonnes, sulphur dioxide by 2,173 tonnes, and soot by 1,258 tonnes. Haiyang has experienced a 13.7% drop in nitrogen dioxide, with Rushan’s falling by 12.8%. Previously, both Haiyang and Rushan relied on fossil fuels.
