Details Of The Centralized Heating Project In Ngamring County Shigatse City

Ngamring County, located in the southwest of the Tibet Autonomous Region under the jurisdiction of Shigatse City, has an average altitude of over 4,500 meters and features a plateau temperate semi - arid climate. It has a long and cold winter, with the minimum temperature dropping below -20℃, and the heating period lasts for 6 months (from October to April of the following year). For a long time, residents in the county seat and public buildings have mainly relied on traditional heating methods such as scattered coal combustion and electric heating. These methods not only have problems like high energy consumption, heavy pollution, and unstable temperature, but also easily cause air pollution in the plateau winter and potential safety hazards for residents' heating. Therefore, improving heating conditions has become an urgent demand of the local people.

To effectively solve the problem of people's heating and respond to the national "dual carbon" goal and the "green and low - carbon heating" policy of the Tibet Autonomous Region, Ngamring County launched the construction of the county seat's centralized heating project in 2022. The aim is to enhance the county's heating support capacity, reduce energy consumption and environmental emissions, and improve residents' quality of life through a large - scale and intensive heating mode. The project completed all construction and commissioning work before the heating season in October 2023 and was officially put into operation. It covers various buildings in the core area of the county seat, including residential buildings, schools, hospitals, and government office buildings, and has become an important model for the coordinated development of people's well - being protection and ecological conservation in Ngamring County.

In terms of project scale, the centralized heating project in Ngamring County is designed to cover a heating area of 100,000 square meters. Based on the plateau area's building heating load standard (approximately 60 - 80W/㎡), the total heat load of the project is about 6 - 8MW. It can meet the winter heating needs of approximately 1,200 residential households, 8 primary and secondary schools as well as kindergartens, 3 medical institutions, and 15 office buildings of government departments and public institutions. The project covers over 5,000 people in the county seat, accounting for more than 40% of the county's permanent population. The total length of the project's pipeline network reaches 8.5 kilometers, adopting a closed - loop system of "centralized heat source + pipeline transportation + terminal heat dissipation". The heat source plant is located in the suburban area of the county seat, far from residential areas. This not only avoids the impact of heat source pollution on residents' lives but also facilitates heat source transportation and pipeline network layout.

In terms of technical scheme selection, the project fully takes into account Ngamring County's energy endowment and climate characteristics, and adopts a technical route of "clean energy complementarity + efficient heat exchange", balancing environmental protection and economy. Considering that Ngamring County is rich in solar energy resources (with an average annual sunshine duration of over 3,000 hours) and that small - scale photovoltaic power stations have been built within the county, the project prioritizes the adoption of a composite heat source mode of "photovoltaic - assisted electric heating + gas - fired boiler backup". The core heat source consists of 12 high - efficiency electric heating units with a capacity of 1.2MW each, which are matched with part of the power output from a 20MW photovoltaic power station to realize the direct conversion of clean energy into heat energy. At the same time, 2 gas - fired boilers with a capacity of 4.2MW each are equipped as backup heat sources. They are activated in extremely cold winter weather (when the temperature is below -15℃) or when photovoltaic power supply is insufficient to ensure heating stability.

In terms of system design details, the project has made a number of optimizations for the plateau low - temperature environment: The pipelines use high - density polyethylene (HDPE) insulated pipes, with an outer layer wrapped in a polyurethane insulation layer and a glass fiber reinforced plastic protective layer, effectively reducing the pipeline heat loss rate (controlling heat loss within 5%); The terminal heat dissipation equipment adopts copper - aluminum composite radiators, which have the characteristics of low - temperature resistance, high heat dissipation efficiency, and long service life, and are suitable for the dry and cold climate of the plateau; In addition, the project has introduced an intelligent control system. By installing temperature sensors and flow control valves at the heat source plant, pipeline nodes, and user terminals, it realizes "on - demand heating and precise temperature control". Residents can independently adjust the indoor temperature (with a set range of 18 - 22℃) through indoor thermostats, which not only improves living comfort but also avoids energy waste.

During the project implementation process, the construction team overcame the difficulties of plateau construction and formulated a scientific construction plan: To address the issue that construction is impossible in severe winter cold, the main construction period of the project was scheduled for the warm season from April to September each year, and the construction of the heat source plant, pipeline laying, and terminal transformation were advanced in phases; Considering the impact of plateau oxygen deficiency on construction workers, a professional medical support team was equipped, and small - scale mechanized equipment was used to replace part of the manual operations to improve construction efficiency; At the same time, strict quality control was implemented for the project, and full - process supervision and testing were conducted on key links such as pipeline welding, insulation layer wrapping, and equipment installation to ensure the safe and reliable operation of the system.

Since the project was put into operation, it has achieved remarkable results. In terms of heating effect, the indoor temperature in the heating area of the county seat is stably maintained at around 20℃, which is 5 - 8℃ higher than that of traditional scattered coal heating. This has completely solved the problems of cold indoor environments and uneven heating in winter, and particularly ensured the constant temperature needs of special places such as school classrooms and hospital wards, winning wide praise from residents and institutions. In terms of environmental protection and energy - saving benefits, the project can reduce scattered coal combustion by approximately 3,000 tons per year, reduce sulfur dioxide emissions by about 90 tons, nitrogen oxide emissions by about 45 tons, and particulate matter emissions by about 60 tons, significantly improving the winter air quality of the county seat; At the same time, the use of photovoltaic power enables the project to reduce the annual purchase of external electricity by approximately 1.2 million kWh and lower the heating cost by about 15%, achieving both ecological and economic benefits.

In terms of social value, the centralized heating project in Ngamring County is not only a project for people's well - being but also an important measure for the local area to promote rural revitalization and ecological protection. The implementation of the project, on the one hand, has improved the level of infrastructure construction in the county seat, optimized the living environment, and enhanced residents' sense of happiness and belonging; On the other hand, through the practice of the clean energy heating mode, it has provided valuable experience for centralized heating in county - level areas on the Tibet Plateau and promoted the popularization of the concept of "green heating" in plateau areas. In the future, Ngamring County plans to gradually expand the coverage of centralized heating, incorporating surrounding towns and townships into the heating network, so that more people can enjoy high - quality, clean, and stable heating services, contributing to the ecological civilization construction and high - quality development of the Tibet Plateau.