Universiade host province Sichuan in green drive

CHENGDU, April 24 (Xinhua) -- A third 10-kilovolt green power transmission line has recently been connected to the closing ceremony venue of the 31st FISU Summer World University Games in Chengdu, capital of southwest China's Sichuan Province.

The line is the last of many power projects particularly built for the games which will be held from late June to early July. All the energy used by the games venues will come from green sources, according to the local electricity supplier.

"We have signed green power purchase contracts to achieve 100 percent clean energy for the games," said Luo Xiaoyi, a spokesperson of the State Grid Sichuan Electric Power Company.

The contracts, which involve 198 million kWh of green electricity for a two-month period around the games, can help reduce 169,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

The host city will also send pure electric vehicles and hydrogen vehicles to provide transportation services during the games.

The green Universiade is just part of the host province's green drive as China seeks to reduce reliance on polluting coal and meet its carbon reduction targets.

Sichuan has abundant clean energy resources including hydropower, geothermal power, and wind and solar power. It is the country's largest hydropower producer, with a total installed hydropower generating capacity breaking over 90 GW this year. Over 350 billion kWh of clean electricity are generated yearly in the province, creating a big room for electricity substitution.

The province is encouraging the industrial, agricultural and transportation sectors to switch to electricity from fossil fuels, a move that can help reduce pollution and cut production costs.

Boosted by discounted electricity charges, Sichuan Hongya QingYijiang Sodium Sulphate CO, Ltd. in the city of Meishan has invested nearly 300 million yuan (around 47 million U.S. dollars) since 2018 to upgrade steam engines powered with coal to electric ones. It has thus achieved 536 million kWh of electricity substitution.

"The electricity substitution has driven us onto the fast track of green transition, realizing a win-win outcome of lower pollution and production costs but higher profits," said Zhong Li, vice general manager of the chemical company.

In the tea industry, 35 and 104 enterprises in Sichuan's Ya'an and Leshan, respectively, had accomplished the power conversion from coal to electricity by the end of 2021.

"The goal is to produce tea with 100 percent electricity-powered machines by 2025," said Shi Shuang from the State Grid Sichuan branch's marketing department.

More consumers are buying new-energy vehicles (NEV) in the country's NEV boom in recent years, driving up the consumption of electricity with the installation of an increasing number of charging points.

"This year, I install around a dozen electric vehicle charging points a day at most," said charger installer Yu Lin in Chengdu before hurrying to her next stop. Yu said the installation business has doubled this year.

By April 1, the number of electric vehicle charging facilities in Sichuan had risen to 91,900, marking a 46.8-percent increase from about half a year ago.

With electricity substitution in multiple sectors, the amount of energy replaced by electricity grew 16 percent year on year to 15.1 billion kWh in 2021 and achieved 4.8 percent growth in the first quarter of this year, according to the State Grid Sichuan branch.

Replacing coal and oil with electricity stimulates the consumption of clean energy and contributes to China's carbon peak and carbon neutrality goals, according to a guideline jointly released by 10 central government agencies including the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration in March.

"With rich renewable energy, western China has the endowment to cultivate a green industrial system," said Zhang Lei, CEO of green tech company Envision Group. The green industry is vital to propel local development and narrow China's regional disparities, according to Zhang.