A hiking activity has been held at the Assac Wind Farm in Southern France, providing an opportunity for local people to look into the wind power industry.
Under the theme of "From Wind Farm to Windmill", the activity was jointly held by CGN Europe Energy, a subsidiary of China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), and the local government.
Participants set out from a government office building and hiked along the six-kilometer path dotted with wind turbines and ancient windmills. Information boards adorned with words and photos were also set along the hiking path, introducing the local environment and the wind power project and supplying Q&As on local history and ecological resources.
With 10 85-meter-tall wind turbines with 45-meter-long blades, the wind farm had a power output of 30,000 megawatt-hours in 2021.
Myriam Vigroux, mayor of Assac Municipality, said that it was his first time to hike through the city on the path. He said it makes people feel as if they are leaping through time with the ancient windmills on one side and the modern wind farm on the other.
According to Vigroux, the hiking route was included in a list of local tourism-related promotions of industrial projects in 2021. It has attracted many tourists and given local farmers chances to promote their products and improve their incomes.
The local government and the company also launched other wind farm-themed public visiting activities, intending to help local people, particularly students, learn more about clean energy and related technologies.
Vigroux said that over the past decade, the wind power project has benefited the city and contributed to development of the local green economy.
In addition to operation of the wind farm, CGN Europe Energy highly values protection of the environment and biodiversity and involvement in local communities, which earns support from local people.
Another wind power project, the Charmon Wind Farm about 200 kilometers East of Paris, is also operated by CGN Europe Energy, and includes six wind turbines with installed capacity of 12,000 kilowatts, enough for clean energy for about 5,500 European households.
From nuclear power to new energy, cooperation between China and France in the field of energy has been expanded in continuously innovated modes. Chinese enterprises have become a key participant in France's clean energy development.
So far, CGN Europe Energy has a total installed capacity of 2.4 gigawatts. In 2021, it generated more than 5 billion kilowatt-hours of new energy power, providing clean power to about 2 million European households.
(Executive editor: Wang Ruoting)
