In the vibrant summer season, a wave of construction activity is sweeping across Hebei Province's key project sites. From new-type infrastructure projects brimming with innovation, to pumped storage power stations generating green energy, and transportation infrastructure connecting all directions, the momentum is palpable. Key projects serve as the "ballast stone" for stabilizing economic operations. In the first half of this year, projects worth over 100 million yuan drove the province's investment growth by 3.0 percentage points, underscoring the sustained role of effective investment. Hebei has strengthened factor guarantees, optimized service support, and implemented multiple measures to advance project construction. One by one, key projects are transforming from blueprints into reality, fueling the strong pulse of high-quality development across the province.
Data Centers Powering the Digital New Life
Recently, stepping into the DC6 data center building of the China Unicom (Huailai) Big Data Innovation Park, the cool, constant-temperature environment immediately refreshes the senses. Servers with blinking indicator lights are executing massive computations. This building, designed for a major Beijing-based internet company, has part of its space already operational, with the remainder undergoing equipment installation. Every second, vast amounts of data flow and are processed here, ultimately supporting digital scenarios like online office work, live streaming shopping, and QR code payments. "Previously serving general computing, it's now dedicated to intelligent computing. The DC6 building is the latest smart computing infrastructure delivered by the park," explained Liu Xiaoyi, operations director of the China Unicom (Huailai) Big Data Innovation Park. The single-cabinet power in DC6 has significantly increased, demanding stricter cooling technology and power stability. Remarkably, the delivery time from contract signing to equipment operation was only four months. As part of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei big data hub cluster under the national "East Data, West Computing" project, the China Unicom (Huailai) Big Data Innovation Park officially commenced operations on July 12, 2023. Its 309-acre site plans for 36,700 cabinets and 18 EFLOPS (exaflops, or quintillion floating-point operations per second) of intelligent computing power. This makes it the largest operator-level data center in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region in terms of construction area, highest rating, and largest cabinet scale. A data center is the physical carrier of computing power. This park is dubbed a "super-powered computer room." Why was it built in Huailai County? The answer lies in three key factors: location next to Beijing, a climate with an average annual temperature of 9.1 degrees Celsius ideal for server cooling, and, crucially, network connectivity. Leveraging the Winter Olympics network, data from Beijing reaches Huailai via fiber optics, is processed, and returns, with end-to-end latency reduced to under 2 milliseconds—faster than a blink. Currently, 5 of the park's 8 data center buildings have completed civil construction, with 3 in operation, housing over 5,000 cabinets of various power levels. Clients include financial institutions, government departments, and internet giants. The park also uses advanced indirect evaporative cooling air conditioning, controlling temperature to within 0.5 degrees Celsius, saving about 35% electricity compared to traditional systems. This "super-powered computer room" is more than just hardware. Recently, Liu Xiaoyi and his team have been working on launching the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (Hebei) Public Computing Platform. Announced on June 10, this platform, operated by Unicom (Huailai) Big Data Innovation Industry Co., Ltd., will manage and intelligently dispatch China Unicom's own 1000+ PFLOPS (petaflops, or quadrillion floating-point operations per second) of computing power along with fragmented social computing resources. It will also enable startups, medical institutions, and others to purchase low-cost computing power on demand, making computing as accessible as water and electricity. This park is poised for a critical leap from "computing power infrastructure" to "computing power dispatching." Demand for computing power is growing, and the park is expanding. "This year, besides continuing work on the DC6 building, we've initiated the DC2, DC7, and DC8 projects, with all civil construction expected to be completed by 2027. Once fully operational, the entire project will drive upgrades in over 50 digital application scenarios, powerfully promoting the Beijing-Zhangjiakou computing economy corridor and adding new momentum to the digital economy of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei," Liu Xiaoyi stated.
"Super Power Banks" Enabling Unlimited Green Energy
Traveling by car along the Baixing Highway into the mountains, a reservoir appearing like a jade mirror comes into view—the lower reservoir of the State Grid Xinyuan Hebei Yixian Pumped Storage Power Station. "You can see the water mark on the dam, indicating the station is pumping water. On sunny days, we receive the dispatch command to start pumping around 7 am. By 4-5 pm, when residential electricity demand rises, we start generating power," explained Li Yupeng, deputy squad leader of the electrical team at the Yixian Pumped Storage Power Station. Pumped storage technology effectively solves the intermittency and fluctuation issues of wind and solar power. During low demand periods, it pumps water from the lower to the upper reservoir, storing energy as potential energy. During peak demand, it releases water from the upper reservoir to generate electricity. As a major national energy project under the "13th Five-Year Plan," the Yixian Pumped Storage Power Station has a total installed capacity of 1.2 million kW, with 4 reversible pump-turbine generator-motor units each of 300,000 kW, and a total investment of 8.022 billion yuan. It is designed to use 2.409 billion kWh of pumped water and generate 1.807 billion kWh annually. Building such a large project in the Taihang Mountains presents immense construction challenges. The station is a typical underground cavern complex, facing technical challenges like high burial depth, large cross-sections, and multiple intersections. Construction teams innovated techniques and optimized designs, enhancing both project safety, quality, and progress. The four cylindrical generating units are "hidden" in a plant nearly 100 meters underground. "Units 1 and 2 have green lights, meaning they are running; Unit 3 has a yellow light, indicating standby; Unit 4 has no light, still in final assembly," Li Yupeng noted. His team is currently fine-tuning Unit 3, verifying system parameters and troubleshooting equipment, laying a solid foundation for its official operation. During the commissioning of Unit 3, technical staff drew on experience from Units 1 and 2, optimizing processes and strengthening site control to efficiently complete 58 tests for generation and pumping. On July 7th, at 6 pm, in the above-ground control room, parameters like "Total Active Power: 301 MW" and "Upper Reservoir Level: 628.5 m" displayed steadily on a large screen. Operator Yang Wanli explained that the station primarily handles peak shaving, frequency regulation, emergency backup, and black start tasks for the Southern Hebei Power Grid. As of July 7th this year, the station had generated 394 million kWh. This green electricity flows via a 500 kV line to the Ciyun substation, a hub near the Xiong'an New Area. "The electricity from our station can support Xiong'an's power demand," said Hou Lujiang, head of the electromechanical department. The station is scheduled for full commercial operation by the end of 2026, which will reduce coal consumption by 126,000 tons and CO2 emissions by 213,000 tons annually. "Full operation will effectively promote the consumption of new energy like wind and solar, alleviate peak-valley electricity supply conflicts, and provide safe, reliable, flexible, and efficient power for central and southern Hebei, especially the Xiong'an New Area, promoting green energy transition and high-quality economic and social development," Hou Lujiang stated.
Highway Expansion Improves Regional Traffic Flow
On July 27th, the waterproofing layer construction for the Langouwa特大bridge deck began, marking a full transition to main bridge deck work for the G95 Capital Area Ring Expressway Langfang-Zhuozhou Section Expansion Project. "This transition paves the way for the northern half's completion and acceptance by the end of August," said Zhou Tiehua, deputy general manager of Hebei Expressway Group Langzhuo Project Management Branch. The expansion project starts at the G95 Gu'an East interchange and ends at the west side of the bridge over the Beijing-Guangzhou railway, covering about 46 km. Originally a two-way, four-lane road, rapid economic development in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region has led to traffic saturation and frequent holiday congestion, making it a bottleneck for integrated transportation. The expansion aims to increase capacity and improve traffic flow. Upon completion, the road will widen to eight lanes, becoming the first eight-lane section of the G95 Capital Area Ring Expressway, effectively relieving transit traffic pressure around the capital. At the Bai沟 River in Zhuozhou, the sound of machinery echoes. A bridge spans the main river channel—the Langouwa特大bridge. From the bridge, the scene of half-width construction and half-width traffic is visible: workers tying rebar for the northern half's guardrails, while cars and trucks speed along the southern half. As a vital transport link for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, road access must be maintained during construction. "We strictly follow the 'northern half first, then southern half' sequence and have measures like reserving emergency lanes, planning detours, and setting up diversion points to minimize impact on traffic," Zhou Tiehua explained. The most challenging part of the entire project is the Langouwa特大bridge. Spanning the Bai沟 River, it is the longest bridge on the line, with high construction difficulty and technical requirements. The sixth steel box girder section needed to cross the main river channel, but the site was too constrained for full scaffolding, making conventional methods unfeasible. After repeated analysis, the project team adopted a walking-type multi-point synchronous jacking and pushing process. "Simply put, this process pushes the hundreds-of-ton steel box girder across the river bit by bit along a preset track, like pushing a box. It solves the problem of not being able to erect scaffolding across the river and avoids disrupting river flood discharge or damaging the riverbed ecology," explained Ju Xichao, chief engineer of the China Construction Eighth Engineering Division's first sub-project. During each push, technical staff monitored data from dozens of points, adjusting the girder's position in real-time to ensure millimeter-level accuracy. After four pushes, all steel box girders were precisely positioned, two days ahead of schedule. As bridge deck work progresses, the beam casting yards operate day and night. The entire expansion project requires over 4,700 prefabricated beams, with the Langouwa特大bridge alone needing over 2,000. "Meeting such a massive demand with traditional methods wouldn't be possible," Ju Xichao noted. The solution came from "smart beam yards." The team set up three such yards along the route, with four intelligent production lines running 24/7. Each beam is "steam-cured" in a chamber where a smart system maintains a temperature of 45°C and humidity above 95%, completing the process in 4 days—nearly half the time of traditional methods. Currently, the production of over 4,700 beams is essentially complete. From millimeter-level jacking over the Bai沟 River to around-the-clock intelligent curing, builders are turning challenges into highlights through technological innovation. Once the project opens, this key expressway around the capital will flow much more smoothly.
Journalist's Notes: Sensing New Project Momentum Through Three Key Words
This year marks the beginning of the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and regions across the province are setting goals and working diligently to accelerate project construction. Three key words capture the strong momentum of Hebei's project construction. The first is Speed. At the China Unicom (Huailai) Big Data Innovation Park, operations director Liu Xiaoyi noted that delivery times are getting faster, with the fastest now being 4 months from signing to turning an empty data center building into a usable computing unit. At the smart beam yard of the Langzhuo expressway expansion, four intelligent production lines run non-stop, curing each beam in 4 days, nearly halving the traditional time. This impressive speed stems from process reengineering, process optimization, efficiency gains, and Hebei's proactive stance in seizing development opportunities. The second is Green. The water mark on the dam of the Yixian Pumped Storage Power Station witnesses the rhythm of this "super power bank." Hou Lujiang calculated that full operation of all four units can reduce coal consumption by 126,000 tons and CO2 emissions by 213,000 tons annually. At the China Unicom (Huailai) Big Data Innovation Park, the indirect evaporative cooling system saves about 35% electricity. These figures show that green is becoming a defining characteristic of key projects. The third is Innovation. The most impressive aspect of this tour is the builders' proactive, innovative, and responsible approach to overcoming difficulties. To cross the Bai沟 River's main channel with the Langouwa特大bridge, the team creatively adopted the walking-type multi-point synchronous jacking process, "pushing" the heavy steel box girder across the river. The Yixian Pumped Storage Power Station, built deep in the Taihang Mountains, faced technical challenges of a complex underground cavern. Technical personnel innovated construction techniques and optimized designs to enhance both quality, safety, and progress. Facing difficulties requires vigorous innovation. The breakthroughs behind these "firsts" and "impossibles" are precisely the most powerful engines driving Hebei's high-quality development. High-quality development is not an abstract concept; it roars to life in the construction of key projects, shines in the actions of overcoming difficulties and innovating, and is written in the hard work and practical achievements of Hebei's builders.
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