Related to livelihoods of tens of thousands of families, the heat supply industry plays important roles as “reserve army” in this battle against COVID-19.

Since the Chinese Spring Festival, rains, snows and cold snaps have occurred frequently all over China. China Meteorological Administration ever triggered tier 3 emergency response to cold snap and heavy storm. It required reinforcing COVID-19 prevention and control to fully provide meteorological safeguard services. Under this harsh circumstance, how should heat supply enterprises guarantee reliable heat supply for ordinary people? What experience could Luenmei Quantum Co., Ltd (hereinafter referred to as “Luen Mei Quantum”) share in “paying equal attention to COVID-19 prevention and production” as a leading private enterprise in the heat supply industry? Thus, the journalist of China Urban Energy Weekly interviewed Zhang Xuesen, who is Chief Executive Officer of Luen Mei Quantum (600167.SH).

Controllable Impacts of COVID-19 on the Heat Supply Industry

China Urban Energy Weekly: Northern China is in a season with need for heat supply. COVID-19 has spread to different parts of China. What impacts has it imposed upon safe production of the heat supply industry in different areas?

Zhang Xuesen: The unexpected COVID-19 has had relatively tremendous impacts upon production management of different industries. However, the heat supply industry might be subject to smaller direct impacts among many industries.

Unlike other industries, the heat supply industry is as cycle-resistant as public utilities. It is also a rigid need of northern Chinese people in their productions and lives. In the heat supply industry, supply-demand relationships are not prone to unexpected external factors like epidemic.

In the whole heat supply industry, the heat supply enterprises without stable accesses to raw materials or coal sources might bear certain pressure in their operations due to temporarily suspended transportation and logistics. Nevertheless, the heat supply enterprises will be able to safely and steadily go through the epidemic prevention and control period if they investigate existing suppliers’ supply capacity and supply cycle to study and determine the cycle for guaranteeing continuous production in advance on the premise of stabilizing supply of raw materials and reserving enough raw materials.

Improving Services Is Key for Guarantee Heat Supply

China Urban Energy Weekly: To guarantee orderly heat supply in the epidemic period and fully guarantee heat supply, what emergency safeguard measures shall heat supply enterprises take?

Zhang Xuesen: After the outbreak of this epidemic, especially during the Chinese Spring Festival, cities and provinces of China presented higher requirements for heat supply and service quality.

The epidemic coincidentally broke out in the heat supply season of northern China. We attached great importance to heat supply, actively implemented our work plans, fully guaranteed quality of heat supply and offered adequate security guarantee to heat supply, so as to create warm environment for people working on the frontlines of the epidemic and citizens staying at home.

To be specific, we required our heat supply subsidiaries to increase heat parameters and heat supply standards to ensure that residents’ room temperature is in line with corresponding standard all day long for 24 hours. Meanwhile, we dispatched special personnel to take charge of, communicate with and particularly guarantee heat supply for 38 designated medical institutions and fever clinics.

We have been improving our services and increasing our responsiveness to user requests. Personnel of each department are arranged on duty all day long for 24 hours to answer users’ phone calls any time and answer their questions, in order to effectively improve users’ comfort during their stay at home. In addition, to improve its emergency safeguard capability, Luen Mei Quantum drafted its emergency plan in advance, and the emergency response team was awaiting orders all day long for 24 hours to eliminate hidden hazards of heat supply in order and ensure smooth production.

To guarantee coordinated promotion of power generation and heat supply, we synchronously increased high-quality coal reserves, arranged coal transportation and sales companies to coordinate with each other, purchased and reserved lots of coal. The coal storage yards have been maintaining high stocks, which have laid a solid foundation for guaranteeing latest power generation and heat supply.

China Urban Energy Weekly: How did Luen Mei Quantum strictly prevent and control COVID-19 while guaranteeing high-quality heat supply during the epidemic period?

Zhang Xuesen:We immediately built a leading group for epidemic prevention and control to coordinate epidemic prevention, control and resource guarantee.

To ensure that work could be resumed on time on all project sites, we required all sites to strictly implement their plans for epidemic prevention and control. The sites were required to practically and carefully carry out their work for epidemic prevention and control in line with the overall requirements for “closed-off management, real-name system, intensive monitoring, frequent disinfection and little contact”.  Strengthen control over operators, and perform closed-off management of sites; satisfy real-name requirements.  Measure and record temperature before and after work on a daily basis; keep construction sites and living areas tidy. Uphold carrying out work by information-based and network offices as well as video surveillance and so on.

Moreover, piling machines, excavators and vehicles are run in order in project construction sites where there are not so many workers. We perform distributed constructions in different periods and zones. Constructions are performed by machines in place of manual operations as far as possible to avoid construction workers’ close contact and effectively reduce people’s gathering. Besides, the Project Department has set up 2 temporary isolation rooms and 1 warehouse of anti-epidemic materials. Workers live separately, and don’t dine together. Instead, they have meals at different time, and meals are delivered to the workers. 

Guaranteeing Heat Production by “Technologies+Management”

China Urban Energy Weekly: To accommodate the needs of people’s livelihoods, the heat supply industry has assumed heavy responsibilities during the epidemic period. How shall heat supply enterprises make improvements in their production management? What experience can Luen Mei Quantum share?

Zhang Xuesen: First of all, high standards and requirements must be met at daily work. Meanwhile, there must be awareness of responsibility, safety and service. Only in this way can we proceed with work in critical periods of guaranteeing heat supply in case of emergencies.

As to production management, Luen Mei Quantum reserves raw materials in off-peak seasons of heat supply. This not only reduces average costs, but also increases security coefficients of logistics in winter.

These years, Luen Mei Quantum has maintained high growth in operating revenues, which annually increase by over 30% on average. It is all because Luen Mei Quantum has adopted area-specific, multi-functional and complementary development strategies. This is especially critical for Luen Mei Quantum to achieve long-term steady development and respond to emergencies.

At present, Luen Mei Quantum performs relatively steadily in its businesses of different areas, including efficient coal-fired combined heat and power generation, heat supply by water source heat pumps, biomass combined heat and power generation, and intelligent control. We are confident to maintain current business model with “high growth, high profit, and high cash flow” in a long term.

China Urban Energy Weekly: According to our recent interviews, the application of high technologies plays prominent roles in “proceeding with production while preventing and controlling the epidemic”. What practices has Luen Mei Quantum conducted?

Zhang Xuesen: Luen Mei Quantum has been attaching great importance to technological innovations. “With technological innovations as momentums and delicacy management as guarantee”, it carries out technological innovations and delicacy management while providing high-quality services.

Technological innovations are bases and premises for increasing production efficiency and lowering production cost.  To improve the match degree between furnace and coal types, increase combustion efficiency, reduce thermal energy consumption and take subsequent environmental measures, all parts shall be guaranteed with advanced technologies.

Meanwhile, steady production management is guaranteed with technologies and management by strictly controlling pipeline quality, striking a balance among primary, secondary and micro heat supply networks, and minimizing the heat loss rate.

（source：China Energy News • China Urban Energy Weekly）