GE, a worldwide partner of the Olympic Games, has exceeded its sales goal for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, winning 400 infrastructure projects in and around Beijing that will generate US $700 million in revenues, the company said in a statement on Monday. NBC Universal will also generate a record of more than $1 billion in advertising revenues, making the Beijing Games the most successful Games in GE's history. GE, which has been providing technology to support the Olympic Games and other major sporting events for more than 70 years, is managing projects in all 37 official Beijing Games competition venues and 168 commercial buildings in and around Beijing. Several projects feature technological “firsts” for China, including filtration technology for safe drinking water and rainwater recycling at the National Stadium (Bird's Nest), 73 electrical substations to provide power at more than 50 Olympic Games venues, and advanced baggage screening at the Beijing Capital International Airport. GE is also supplying 120 wind turbines to the Zhangbei and Shangyi wind farms north of Beijing, which supply energy to the Olympic Central Area. “GE is uniquely positioned to deliver a variety of critical technology solutions for Olympic host cities,” said Jeff Immelt, chairman & CEO, GE. “The company has been active in China for more than 100 years and we are proud to have worked so closely with the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee and other partners to help prepare the country for the world's largest sporting event.” GE technologies are front and center in some of the most high-profile Olympic Games competition venues in and around Beijing, including the Bird's Nest, National Aquatics Center (Water Cube), National Indoor Stadium and the Wukesong Baseball Field. Throughout the city, GE is supporting municipal projects and facilities, including energy distribution systems at the Beijing Power Supply Bureau, Beijing Subway Line 4 and Beijing Capital International Airport. “GE's contributions to the building of the Beijing Games have provided significant support in transforming the city of Beijing,” said Gerhard Heiberg, chairman of the International Olympic Committee Marketing Commission. “Through its projects ranging from city infrastructure to water treatment, GE is helping to ensure that the Games' facilities operate smoothly for athletes, spectators and media.” In line with ecomagination, a company-wide initiative to develop and market technologies that help customers address pressing environmental challenges, the company is providing solutions for multiple clean energy projects in areas surrounding Beijing. GE is supplying 120 wind turbines to the Zhangbei and Shangyi wind farms north of Beijing, which connect to the North China Grid and supply 180 megawatts of sustainable energy for Tianjin, Tangshan and Beijing. The wind farms can power nearly 400,000 average Chinese households per year, the equivalent of eliminating more than 400,000 tons of carbon dioxide in China, supporting the country's goal of hosting a “green” Olympic Games. In addition to providing two different water treatment technologies to the National Stadium, GE is providing reverse osmosis membrane technologies for the Tangshan Nanpu Waste Water Reclamation Project, located east of Beijing in the North China Plain. The plant will produce more than 93,000 tons of treated water each day, enough to fill 37 Olympic-sized swimming pools, and the water will support industrial operations of the Tangshan Nanbao Economic Development Zone. GE water filtration technologies are also in place at the Qinghe Waste Water Recycling Project to process 80,000 cubic meters of wastewater per day to be recycled for landscaping purposes during the Beijing Games. In May 2008, GE announced it donated two advanced water treatment systems to provide clean drinking water for more than 60,000 Chinese residents in Dongguang City and surrounding villages. Dedicated as a gift to the people of China, the systems are designed to help promote human health with clean, sustainable potable water. Working in partnership with the Ministry of Water Resources in China, GE will install and start up a full-scale water treatment plant in Dongguang City during this summer and supply a mobile water treatment plant that will purify water for neighboring villages. This is the first time that an advanced mobile water treatment system will be used in China to bring clean water to areas that are not within reach of the nation's centralized municipal water infrastructure. GE Healthcare is working with medical leaders in the Olympic Movement to advance the use of innovative medical imaging technologies to provide insight into athlete health and benefits for the general public. As an extension of the company's Olympic Games sponsorship, GE developed a global sales incentive program targeting its more than 40,000 salespeople worldwide, which has resulted in over US $190 million in revenue growth for the company in 2007 and 2008. __
