HiQLCD Energy Data Pack

The same electricity, heat or fuel can represent different technologies and process structures. The detailed records in the Energy Data Pack help translate an energy-consumption record into a specific model choice—for example, by voltage level, heat-supply route, coal-mining conditions or oil-and-gas extraction technology—rather than stopping at the name of the energy carrier.

Dataset scale

The three system models contain 4,272 datasets in total: 1,436 Cut-off, 1,419 EN 15804 and 1,417 Consequential datasets. The Cut-off inventory contains 62 products after deduplicating the original reference-product names. All three models cover 31 provincial-level administrative regions in mainland China. The datasets include energy products, technology activities and selected facilities and do not represent an equal number of distinct energy types.

Main energy carriers and supporting processes

Electricity and generation technologies

Electricity datasets distinguish selected voltage levels of 10 kV, 35 kV, 110 kV and at least 220 kV, together with options where voltage is unspecified. Generation content covers offshore and onshore wind, crystalline-silicon photovoltaics, and run-of-river, reservoir and pumped-storage hydropower, supporting the matching of different electricity-supply and technology contexts.

Heat and district heating

Coverage includes heat from coal-fired and natural-gas boilers, coal- or gas-fired combined heat and power, industrial waste heat and district boilers. Supporting records include steam or hot-water networks, selected DN200 and DN500 pipe diameters, and hot-water substations, providing options to distinguish the heat source and associated infrastructure.

Coal mining and preparation

Coverage includes raw coal, thermal coal and coking coal. Underground mining records distinguish selected low-gas, high-gas and coal-and-gas outburst mines, while open-pit records distinguish selected mine scales. Coal preparation includes dense-medium separation, jigging, dry separation, flotation and combinations of these technologies, with products such as clean coal and middlings.

Oil, gas and derived products

Coverage includes heavy crude, non-heavy crude, natural gas and naphtha. Selected records distinguish heavy-oil or low-permeability fields, onshore or offshore locations, and steam flooding, hot-water flooding, water injection, gas injection and mixed technologies, supporting more specific matching where resource and extraction conditions are known.

Alternative fuels and energy equipment

Alternative-fuel records include selected biodiesel and renewable diesel routes based on animal fats, vegetable oils or used cooking oil, together with methanol synthesised from natural gas. Equipment content includes wind turbines, component replacement, selected wind infrastructure, and coal-fired and hydropower facilities.

HiQLCD Energy Data Pack: dataset composition

Under the Cut-off model, the pack contains 1,436 records.

Electricity and associated equipment and infrastructure account for 438 records, or 30.50%, including electricity products, generation facilities, wind turbines and component replacement. Oil, gas and derived products account for 407 records, or 28.34%, covering heavy crude, non-heavy crude, natural gas and naphtha. Together, these categories represent 58.84% of the pack and form its largest share by record count.

Coal and coal products account for 156 records corresponding to 69 distinct activity names, covering raw coal, clean coal, middlings, and mining and preparation activities. The records retain selected differences in mining method, coal preparation and product type for matching to a specific supply context.

Heat and heat-supply infrastructure account for 138 records, including district heating, steam and hot-water networks, and substations. Other energy products and related chemicals account for 297 records, including biodiesel, renewable diesel and methanol. Because the pack includes both energy products and selected supporting processes, the function and boundary of each record should be checked before use.

Basis of calculation: this composition applies only to the Cut-off model. Record counts include different geographies and activity types.

HiQLCD Energy Data Pack: technology and applications

Value of technology-level detail

Match electricity products and generation technologies separately

When a project needs a dataset for production electricity, users should check the applicable geography, voltage level and activity type. When the question concerns a generation technology, the relevant technology or facility record should be selected instead. Electricity consumption, generation and infrastructure answer different questions, so the order of selection depends on the object being assessed.

Photovoltaic-generation records include selected crystalline-silicon single-glass, double-glass, ground-mounted and flat-roof configurations. Hydropower records retain selected unit scales and generation types. Wind data cover offshore and onshore generation as well as turbines of different capacities, infrastructure and component replacement, helping represent the relevant technology background.

Refine fuel supply chains by resource and process conditions

Mining method, gas classification and preparation route in coal records, and field type, location and extraction technology in oil-and-gas records, help distinguish supply contexts. If a project knows only the fuel type and lacks process information, it should select a suitable dataset supported by the available evidence instead of automatically choosing the most detailed technology record.

Heat systems and alternative-fuel scenarios

District heating, boilers, combined heat and power, and industrial waste-heat records can represent different heat-supply routes. Alternative-fuel scenarios can be built around feedstock type and processing method. The database provides technology choices; any environmental improvement must be determined by calculation under an equivalent quantity of heat, energy service or product function.

Geography and system models

The data include national, provincial and regional records, with different geographic combinations across models. Geographic detail is also not identical for energy products and facilities. Each record should be checked. For cross-regional supply or multi-site projects, locations can be modelled separately and then aggregated by activity level.

Separate inventories are provided for Cut-off, EN 15804 and Consequential. The system model should remain consistent with the study objective and the rest of the project; energy data from different models should not be directly combined in one result.

Typical applications

Energy inputs in corporate products

Match plant records for electricity, heat and fuel consumption to the corresponding energy products and include them in the product model using actual quantities. Where the heat source or voltage is known, detailed records can be checked first so that dataset selection aligns with production records.

Comparison of energy-supply and technology options

Analyse boiler heat, combined heat and power, waste-heat recovery or other options under a consistent energy-service requirement and system boundary. When fuels are compared, the useful-energy basis should also be aligned and project parameters such as actual equipment efficiency included.

Assessment of energy equipment and infrastructure

For wind, hydropower or heat-supply systems, suitable facility and component activities can be combined with construction scale, operating life, maintenance and output data. The boundaries of construction datasets and generation-product datasets that already include construction burdens should be checked to prevent double counting.