Paris Olympic venues won't use polluting diesel fuel for lighting

French sports venues preparing for this year's Paris Olympics are set to ditch their diesel generators in favour of power grid connections as part of efforts to cut the carbon emissions linked to the Games.

Though little known to most sports fans, many stadiums around the world rely on diesel generators for the power that runs their lighting, broadcast facilities and computer systems.

Seen as more reliable than regular connections to the electricity grid, the generators are also highly polluting, emitting dirty particulate matter and carbon dioxide that leads to global heating.

"An evening of (French Ligue 1) football is around 4,000 litres of diesel burned and the equivalent of 12 tonnes of carbon dioxide emitted into the atmosphere," said Nicolas Perrin, Paris director of the French public power grid provider, Enedis.

Powering the London Olympics in 2012 led to an estimated four million litres of diesel being burned for electricity purposes, according to the Paris 2024 organising committee.

French organisers view the new electricity connections at venues around France, including at the 80,000-capacity national stadium in northern Paris, as part of the legacy of the Games which run from 26 July- 8 August.

42 Olympic sites

To remove the need for generators at the 42 Olympic sites and 19 Paralymic sites, Enedis has invested around 100 million euros, resulting in around 8,000 different interventions at sites around its network.

"To guarantee maximum quality, we have offered a doubling of the feed with two delivery points per site," Perrin said.

(with AFP)

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