More than 5,500 residents in Lingqiu county, Datong city, have recently had access to heat created by winter power as a 400,000-kilowatt wind power heating demonstration project has started operating in the county.

Built by Shanxi Industrial Equipment Installation Group, the project is the largest wind power heating demonstration project in China and Shanxi's first civil project adopting clean energy for heating.

Taking advantage of electric heat-storage boilers in heat supply stations, the project will transform excess wind power into thermal energy and store it to ensure 24-hour heat supplies.

The project, with investment of 3.5 billion yuan ($503 million), had its heat supply stations put into operation in October, with the service area covering 200,000 square meters in the first stage. As the project advances, the service area will increase to 800,000 square meters.

The wind power heating project is a part of Datong's efforts in energy revolution and environmental protection.