More than 900 employees now work at the site, which manu­fac­tured over six million indi­vidual prod­ucts from the ebm-papst range in 2023. In addi­tion to this, the 33,000-square-meter subsidiary offers its customers a compre­hen­sive range of services, from logis­tics and trans­port options to a broad range of after­market and warranty services.

Using solar energy

The plant in Xi’an stands not only for high-quality services and prod­ucts, but also for envi­ron­men­tally conscious energy manage­ment. “From the very begin­ning, this plant was designed with the aim of making produc­tion as climate and envi­ron­men­tally friendly as possible. We have consis­tently pursued and opti­mized this focus in recent years,” says Alice Sheng, Quality Project Manager at ebm-papst China, who is also in charge of sustain­ability at the site. The ongoing improve­ments are paying off, partic­u­larly in terms of energy effi­ciency. The photo­voltaic system that was put into oper­a­tion in January 2024 is expected to produce 1.45 million kWh per year, which will cover more than 25 percent of the plant’s own energy require­ments.

“Thanks to solar power systems and geot­hermal tech­nolo­gies, we can already cover up to a quarter of our internal require­ments with renew­able ener­gies,” reports Alice Sheng. With the expan­sion of the photo­voltaics to an output volume of 1.3 MWp (megawatts peak) in the 2024/25 finan­cial year, the extent to which the plant can cover its own energy require­ments will only continue to increase. “Even though we will prob­ably need more energy in the future due to expan­sions in produc­tion, by that point, we will be able to work even more effi­ciently, as we will be using renew­able ener­gies,” says Alice Sheng, offering a posi­tive outlook for the future. 

Effi­ciency in summer and winter, by day and night

As fossil fuels are increas­ingly replaced by renew­able energy sources, geot­hermal heat pump tech­nology also has an impor­tant role to play when it comes to gener­ating energy in Xi’an. It already produces a cooling capacity of 2,792 kW in summer and a heating capacity of 2,876 kW in winter – incred­ible poten­tial that the company hopes to expand further in the years to come. The same applies to the LED lighting that was installed when the plant was built, which not only sustain­ably improves the site’s energy effi­ciency, but also helps to reduce the CO₂e emis­sions it gener­ates. “All in all, we’ve got a whole bundle of measures that will contribute to our goal of energy effi­ciency,” says Liu Ramon, Vice Pres­i­dent, Oper­a­tions and Inte­grated Supply Chain, APAC & MEA. “We want to supply our customers with only the highest quality fans. By this stan­dard, we are making very good progress in Xi’an.”

„Thanks to solar power systems and geot­hermal tech­nolo­gies, we can already cover up to a quarter of our internal require­ments with renew­able ener­gies.“

Alice Sheng, Quality Project Manager ebm-papst China

Recog­ni­tion for outstanding sustain­ability

The govern­ment of Shaanxi Province has declared ebm-papst China one of its most sustain­able manu­fac­turers. The Depart­ment of Industry and Infor­ma­tion Tech­nology has bestowed this award on us in recog­ni­tion of how we consis­tently align our actions with ecolog­ical, econom­ical, and social goals. This includes promoting envi­ron­men­tally friendly indus­trial devel­op­ment, improving the effi­ciency of resource usage, reducing pollu­tion, and promoting sustain­able indus­trial devel­op­ment – all while increasing the company’s compet­i­tive­ness and social respon­si­bility. “For us, this is more than just a recog­ni­tion of our work at the Xi’an site – it’s also an incen­tive to continue promoting envi­ron­men­tally friendly produc­tion methods and to be a role model for the entire industry,” says Liu Ramon, who is delighted with the special award.