Italy will help Beijing build a solar energy system for the city's Olympic Village, supplying hot water and electricity for the Games in 2008 and beyond.

Corrado Clini, a top official from the Italian Ministry for the Environment, said Italy will invest a total of 4 million euros (US$4.7 million) in the project, according to Monday's China Daily.

The solar energy system will be jointly constructed by the Guoao Investment and Development Co. Ltd of China, and Italy's Merloni TermoSanitari International Trading Co. Ltd.

The project will supply hot water and electricity to 16,000 people during the Games. After the event, the system will supply 2,000 apartments, housing around 6,000 people, the China Daily reported.

The project is one of the cooperative projects included in a Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Cooperation signed between the Italian ministry and Beijing's municipal government in 2002.

It will "help Beijing fulfill its commitment to the Green Olympics," said Pei Chenghu, vice director of Beijing's Environmental Protection Bureau.

However, solar energy will not be the only energy source for the Olympic Village, and other energy supply systems are prepared, Clini said.

Since 2002, Italy has invested nearly 40 million euros (US$47 million) in helping Beijing improve its environment in 17 projects, the newspaper said.

(Xinhua News Agency November 21, 2005)