In Urumqi, the capital and largest city of the westernmost Chinese autonomous region of Xinjiang, the first wind-to-heat project is to be finished by August 2016.
In provinces with high wind power capacities, but relatively low demand for electricity, such as Xinjiang, a considerable amount of wind is curtailed. Inthe pilot project initiated by the city government of Urumqi, electricity produced by wind turbines is used to heat water in large boilers. Subsequently, the heat will be used for district heating, and thus replacing heat which is mostly provided by combined heat and power (CHP) plants. The entire investment amounts to 182 mil CNY (24.8 mil Euro) out of which the government funds 27 percent or 50 mil CNY (6.8 ml Euro).
Theoretically, surplus wind power during winter nights matches very well with energy intensive heating during that time. Just recently, the Development and Reform Commission of Xinjiang approved the second batch of wind-to-heat projects. Additional buildings with surface area of 400000 square meters are to be heated with electricity from wind power with a capacity of 200 MW. Accordingly, one MW of wind power capacity is thus able to heat buildings with a combined surface area of 2000 square meters.
