Foreign Minister of Iceland visits Xiongan

As a part of his official visit to China, Mr. Gudlaugur Thor Thordarson, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iceland visited the facilities of Sinopec Green Energy (SGE) in Xiongan New Area last Saturday. SGE is a Joint Venture between Arctic Green Energy and China’s Sinopec. Since 2009 the company has been operating district heating systems in Xiong County, which now has become a part of Xiongan New Area.

Xiong County has been recognized as “China’s First Smog-Free City” as almost all polluting heating sources have been replaced by geothermal energy. To date SGE has drilled 127 geothermal wells in Xiongan New Area and built up a heating capacity of over 7 million square meters. In whole China the company has a heating capacity of 40 million square meters.

Following the visit to SGE, the Foreign Minister had a meeting with Mr. Chen Gang, Communist Party Secretary of the Xiongan New Area, Vice Governor of Hebei, and a member of the Hebei provincial party standing committee.

Xiongan New Area is a state-level new area in the Baoding area of Hebei, China. Established in April 2017, the area is located about 100 km southwest of Beijing. Xiongan will be a development hub for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Jingjinji) economic triangle and serve as a deputy capital of China.