On September 25th, the Sino-German Energy Efficiency & Climate Network in Taicang celebrated its achievements and success in the dissemination workshop. By concluding the Taicang EEN pilot results and best practices, the event provided a platform for government, industry associations and companies to jointly explore the potential of energy efficiency and climate networks as an innovative tool to promote energy savings, emissions reduction, and green development in industrial parks nationwide, contributing to the challenges and potential of achieving China’s climate goal.
Taicang EEN: Significant energy saving and emission reduction
Since its official launch in June 2021, over the past nearly two and a half years, the Taicang pilot of the Sino-German Energy Efficiency and Climate Network, with technical support from the German energy efficiency network consulting company Arqum, has implemented or planned to implement more than 100 energy-saving measures in ten participating companies in the park. With all these measures, it will save over 25,000 MWh energy consumption and reduce more than 38,000 tons of GHG emissions. The GHG emissions will decrease by 12.3%, far exceeding the initial set target of a 5% reduction when the network was first established.
Potential of EEN as an innovative tool for achieving climate targets in China
The event also brought experts together to address the potential and approaches to promote EEN in China towards an innovative business model for low carbon development. Experts from the National Energy Conservation Center, the German Energy Agency (dena), the Taicang High-Tech Development Zone, Arqum (the technical support of the Taicang EEN), the Energy and Environmental Services Industry Alliance (EESIA), and TUV Rheinland participated and shared insights from various perspectives, including the current policy suppot, German promotion experiences, the significance, challenges, and feasible pathways for park-wide promotion, and the collaborative role of energy services and industry associations, as well as the capacity building and personal trainings needed. The discussion aimed to comprehensively explore how to replicate and promote the Taicang EEN model more effectively, transforming energy efficiency and low carbon networks into a market driven business model with policy support.
In the next steps, GIZ will continue to support the promotion of the Taicang energy efficiency and climate network under the framework of Sino-German Energy Partnership. Collaborating with Chinese partners the project aims to propose relevant policy recommendations, suggesting the establishment of an EEN coordination mechanisms, advance capacity building, and promote the pilot experience to develop China specific energy efficiency and climate networks to support the country’s green transition.
About the Sino-German cooperation on energy efficiency network
“Energy Efficiency Network” (EEN) as a proven instrument of German energy efficiency policy is making an important contribution towards improving energy efficiency in industry, trade and commerce. ENNs connect energy service companies (ESCOs), local municipalities and energy consumers such as producing companies and real estate firms. The network of experts in EEN can identify potentials for energy saving and implement energy efficiency projects effectively.
In Germany, almost 400 energy efficiency networks with over 3000 companies have been founded since the start of “Energy Efficiency Networks Initiative” in 2014. The monitoring of the initiative shows that energy efficiency networks save on average 33,4 GWh final energy per year. 212 already finished networks implemented more than 9.000 energy efficiency measures that in total have led to savings of approx. 6,4 TWh final energy and approx. 2,3 Mio. t CO2-eq. More savings are expected since some Networks have not been evaluated yet and new ones continue to be created.
As agreed by the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) of China and the Ger-man Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) during the 6th Sino-German Working Group meeting on energy efficiency, China and Germany will enhance their cooperation on promoting energy efficiency network in China by introducing German best practices. Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and China International Engineering Consulting Corporation (CIECC) are commissioned to support the implementation of EEN pilot - the Sino-German Energy Efficiency and Climate Network in Taicang - as the German and Chinese implementing agencies respectively. The German EEN consultancy company Arqum will moderate the EEN pilot Taicang and provide technical advice while the German Energy Agency (dena) provides further technical support.
