The EDF Group activity in the field of urban energy is focused on district heating & cooling, distributed energy, industrial utilities, building energy efficiency and public lighting.

Energy sources can be as diverse as heat recovery, biomass, household waste, solar, gas or geothermal resources. Focus is on the best available energy locally or a combination of local energies with the lowest impact on the environment.

Activity extends from city energy planning to engineering, construction, financing and long-term operation & maintenance.

EDF China R&D Center provides support for sustainable city numerical model, renewable energy, smart grid as well as charging system for electrical vehicle, in order to bring technical support both to the Group and our Chinese partners.

In the city of Wuhan, EDF was contracted to achieve energy efficiency at Dongfeng Peugeot Citroën Automobile facility by upgrading over 70,000 lighting points with smart LED lighting back in 2014. EDF Wuhan is also the partner of the Caidian Sino-French Eco-city development for urban energy.

EDF operates several district energy projects through its subsidiaries in China such as the operation of the public Lighting (80,000 lighting points) for the City of Kunming, capital of Yunnan province.

Based on heat recovered from fossil-fuel power plant, EDF (65%), in partnership with Datang Group (35%), operates a district heating network in the city of Sanmenxia (Henan province). The network, successfully commissioned in 2016, is expected to heat 12 million m² by 2020.

In 2017, EDF signed a concession contract with the municipality of Lingbao (Henan province) to build and operate a 35MW biomass cogeneration plant to supply heating and electricity to local households and industrial areas. The network will cover up to 2 million square meters enabling the city to phase out the existing small coal boilers. A joint venture has been created between EDF (65%) and the city’s investment corporation.

In 2018, EDF (50%) and Changfeng Energy joined forces to construct and operate a district cooling network in the city of Sanya (Hainan Province) which will supply chilled water for air-conditioning and sanitary hot water for high-end hotels in a fast-developing tourist area. Once completed, the effective surface area can achieve 3.4 million square meters. Based on high efficiency technologies, this integrated energy system will enable the city of Sanya to reduce its CO2 emission by 20%.

Find out more about our activities:

Sanmenxia Urban Heating
Lingbao Biomass
Sanya Integrated Energy