BEIJING: ‘Let Zhangbei’s wind light up Beijing.” This used to be the slogan of a renewable energy project, a major scheme to provide clean energy during the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games. Zhangbei, a county in Hebei Province in north China, is one of the four places where power stations were built to convert wind, solar and other green energies into flexible direct current.
On June 29, after three years of construction, the project, the first of its kind in the world, went into operation. Electricity generated by clean sustainable sources in Zhangbei was transmitted to Beijing, lighting up select venues in the capital. The new grid has been built using home-grown core technologies. It can deliver 14 billion kWh of clean electricity every year, which will meet the needs of 26 Winter Olympics venues in Beijing and co-host city Zhangjiakou in Hebei. Beijing 2022 will be the first Winter Olympics to be solely powered by green energy. Since Beijing won the bid five years ago to host the Winter Games, the focus has been on eco-friendly solutions not only for the planned 17 days of competitions but also to harness the green drive for national development.
In recent years, reducing carbon dioxide emissions has become an urgent requirement for all major sports competitions.
– The Daily Mail-Beijing Review News exchange item
