Saudi Press

Saudi Arabia and the world
Sunday, Jun 01, 2025

China builds giant air conditioner cooling almost 3 square kilometres

China builds giant air conditioner cooling almost 3 square kilometres

A giant centralised air conditioning station providing cooling to public spaces including malls, offices and transport stations has just been completed in Shenzhen, as part of an ambitious plan to reduce energy consumption.

Shenzhen has just finished building an instalment of a central District Cooling System (DCS), which supplies cold air to malls, offices and transport stations.

The company which built the system, the Shenzhen Qianhai Energy Technology Development Company, is also working with Hong Kong on a DCS located in Kai Tak.

The No. 5 cooling station, which started supplying cold air in June in Shenzhen’s Qianhai area, covers more than 2.75 square kilometres of public buildings, but not residential households.

This image shows how the various stages of the project will bring cooling to the city.


“The characteristics of residential households determine that they are not suitable for DCS, the system calls for more routine usage, such as from eight to five, that includes offices, commercial centres, subways or data centres,” said Fu Jianping, director of Qianhai energy and vice-president of the District Energy Committee of the China Association of Building Energy Efficiency.

The station is the newest addition to an elaborate DCS in Qianhai, a free trade and economic development area. Currently, three stations have been finished, including No. 5, and seven more will be built over the next few years.

When finished, the 10 stations, with the investment of about 4 billion yuan (US$617 million), can supply a total of 400,000 Refrigeration Ton (RT) of cold air, covering 19 million square metres.

Shenzhen first started planning the DCS alongside Qianhai’s development in 2014. The government analysed Qianhai’s energy needs and decided that in southern China, air conditioning is a major consumer of energy, Fu said.

A DCS distributes cooling capacity in the form of chilled water or other medium from a central source to multiple buildings through a network of underground pipes. At the DCS station, which is four floors underground, the South China Morning Post saw a tangle of pipes, water collectors, separators and coolers in an area vast enough for a football field.

“It’s like a factory that has industrialised production of chilled water for an air-conditioner,” Fu said.

The plans for Shenzhen in China to build a giant air conditioner cooling almost 3 square kilometres of public buildings to reduce energy consumption.


He said the system in Qianhai can save 130 million kilowatts of electricity every year, which is equal to burning 16,000 tonnes of coal, reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 130,000 tonnes.

“A DCS is a centralised system so it cuts down machinery by 20 per cent, as opposed to installing individual machines, and the fewer machines, the less refrigerant we use. That’s one way to reduce emissions,” he said.

Furthermore, the company will pay more attention to energy-saving technology and choose more efficient equipment, even if it means more investment.

“This is an energy company, the money we invested will need to see returns in future operations, so the more maximised use I get out of energy the better,” Fu said.

DCS is found in many parts of the world, including Japan, Canada, Middle East, US and parts of Europe, even though techniques and development vary from one country to the next.

In the US, where demand for air-conditioning is one of the highest in the world, large systems were built in the 1930s in Rockefeller Center and the first commercial DCS has been in operation since 1962 in Hartford in Connecticut.

However, the system is not without its shortcomings. Some controversy around DCS includes energy lost when delivered through the pipes and the large investment involved in the system.

Yang Fuqiang, a senior adviser in Beijing for US environmental group the Natural Resources Defence Council, said DCS requires certain conditions to install.

“These stations cannot be too big or too small, but an appropriate economic size. The buildings need to be concentrated, and the pipes need to have good heat preservation,” he said.

In the past, some DCS projects in China were widely questioned. In 2009, local media reported that a project in central China’s Taiyuan could supply one million square metres but in reality only 50,000 square metres was covered and could not operate profitably. Companies and real estate agents were not willing to buy these services because it’s more costly than standard air-conditioning.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Saudi Press
0:00
0:00
Close
OPEC+ Agrees to Increase Oil Output for Third Consecutive Month
Turkey Detains Istanbul Officials Amid Anti-Corruption Crackdown
Meta and Anduril Collaborate on AI-Driven Military Augmented Reality Systems
EU Central Bank Pushes to Replace US Dollar with Euro as World’s Main Currency
European and Arab Ministers Convene in Madrid to Address Gaza Conflict
U.S. Health Secretary Ends Select COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations
Trump Warns Putin Is 'Playing with Fire' Amid Escalating Ukraine Conflict
India and Pakistan Engage Trump-Linked Lobbyists to Influence U.S. Policy
U.S. Halts New Student Visa Interviews Amid Enhanced Security Measures
Trump Administration Cancels $100 Million in Federal Contracts with Harvard
SpaceX Starship Test Flight Ends in Failure, Mars Mission Timeline Uncertain
King Charles Affirms Canadian Sovereignty Amid U.S. Statehood Pressure
Iranian Revolutionary Guard Founder Warns Against Trusting Regime in Nuclear Talks
UAE Offers Free ChatGPT Plus Subscriptions to Citizens
Lebanon Initiates Plan to Disarm Palestinian Factions
Iran and U.S. Make Limited Progress in Nuclear Talks
The Daily Debate: The Fall of the Dollar — Strategic Reset or Economic Self-Destruction?
Trump Administration's Tariff Policies and Dollar Strategy Spark Global Economic Debate
OpenAI Acquires Jony Ive’s Startup for $6.5 Billion to Build a Revolutionary “Third Core Device”
Turkey Weighs Citizens in Public as Erdoğan Launches National Slimming Campaign
Saudi-Spanish Business Forum Commences in Riyadh
Saudi Arabia and Spain Sign MoU to Boost SME Sectors
UK Suspends Trade Talks with Israel Amid Gaza Offensive
Iran and U.S. Set for Fifth Round of Nuclear Talks Amid Rising Tensions
Russia Expands Military Presence Near Finland Amid Rising Tensions
Indian Scholar Arrested in Crackdown Over Pakistan Conflict Commentary
Israel Eases Gaza Blockade Amid Internal Dispute Over Military Strategy
President Biden’s announcement of advanced prostate cancer sparked public sympathy—but behind closed doors, Democrats are in panic
A Chinese company made solar tiles that look way nicer than regular panels!
Indian jet shootdown: the all-robot legion behind China’s PL-15E missiles
The Chinese Dragon: The True Winner in the India-Pakistan Clash
Australia's Venomous Creatures Contribute to Life-Saving Antivenom Programme
The Spanish Were Right: Long Working Hours Harm Brain Function
Did Former FBI Director Call for Violence Against Trump? Instagram Post Sparks Uproar
US and UAE Partner to Develop Massive AI Data Center Complex
Apple's $95 Million Siri Settlement: Eligible Users Have Until July 2 to File Claims
US and UAE Reach Preliminary Agreement on Nvidia AI Chip Imports
President Trump and Elon Musk Welcomed by Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim with Cybertruck Convoy
Strong Warning Issued: Do Not Use General Chatbots for Medical, Legal, or Educational Guidance
Saudi Arabia Emerges as Global Tech Magnet with U.S. Backing and Trump’s Visit
This was President's departure from Saudi Arabia. The Crown Prince personally escorted him back to the airport.
NVIDIA and Saudi Arabia Launch Strategic Partnership to Establish AI Centers
Trump Meets Syrian President Ahmad al-Shara in Historic Encounter
Trump takes a blow torch to the neocons and interventionists while speaking to the Saudis
US and Saudi Arabia Sign Landmark Agreements Across Multiple Sectors
Why Saudi Arabia Rolled Out a Purple Carpet for Donald Trump Instead of Red
Elon Musk Joins Trump Meeting in Saudi Arabia
Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept gift of Qatari plane
Quantum Computing Threatens Bitcoin Security
Michael Jordan to Serve as Analyst for NBA Games
×