District cooling system

Land reclamation has been a long term government policy of expanding the Hong
Kong urban areas along the waterfront. These flat pieces of land are ideal sites for the
application of district cooling technology. At a central refrigeration plant, chilled
water is generated and supplied to a district to support the air-conditioning systems in
buildings. Because of the large-scale production, together with the convenience of
bringing in seawater for condenser cooling, the chiller plant is higher in efficiency
than those in individual buildings. The customers can also use the building space of
their own more effectively. Energy modeling methodology and decision approach
were derived for determining the most desirable scheme for a given project. The
process involves a series of building design load computation, dynamic simulation,
and plant energy consumption analyses for different phases of development. Various
optimization techniques were used.

DCS Plant Building Site

Heat
Exchanger
Condenser
Cooling Central
Device Refrigeration
Plant

Chilled
Water
Condenser Chilled Customer
Distribution
Heat Water Substation
Network
Rejection Production

Basic DCS provisions for subtropical climate.

DCS plant component network under TRNSYS simulation platform

 One proposed district cooling site in Hong Kong – the
South East Kowloon Development

Related publications:

Chow TT, Chan LS, Fong KF, Yau R, Au WH, Cheng V. District cooling system energy
modeling methodology for new urban developments. Proceedings of IAQVEC 2001, the 4th
International Conference on IAQ, Ventilation & Energy Conservation in Buildings, Changsha,
China, Oct 2001, Vol.3, pp.1847-1855
Chow TT, Chan A, Fong KF, Yau R, Au WH, Cheng V. Energy study of a proposed district
cooling system in Hong Kong. Proceedings of 1st International Conference on Sustainable
Energy and Green Architecture, Bangkok, Thailand, Oct 2003, pp.GA091-097
Chow TT, Chan ALS, Song CL. Building mix optimization in district cooling system
implementation. Applied Energy, 77(1), 2004, 1-13
Chow TT, Au WH, Yau R, Cheng V, Chan A, Fong KF. Applying district cooling technology
in Hong Kong. Applied Energy, 79(3), 2004, 275-289
Chow TT, Fong KF, Chan ALS, Yau R, Au WH, Cheng V. Energy modelling of district
cooling system for new urban development. Energy and Buildings, 36(11), 2004, 1153-1162
Chan ALS, Chow TT, Fong SKF, Lin JZ. Performance evaluation of district cooling plant
with ice storage. Energy - The International Journal, 31(14), 2006, 2414-2426.
Chan ALS, Hanby VI, Chow TT. Optimization of distribution piping network in district
cooling system using genetic algorithm with local search. Energy Conversion and
Management, 48(10), 2007, 2622-2629.
Chan ALS, Hanby VI, Chow TT. Application of genetic algorithm with local search in
optimal piping network design of a district cooling system. Proceedings of IAQVEC 2007, the
6th International Conference on Indoor Air Quality, Ventilation & Energy Conservation in
Buildings, Sendai, Japan, Oct 2007. (CD-ROM)