Investment

Alstom to focus on green sector

By Wan Zhihong (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-10-19 07:55

French firm to explore China's clean energy industry business

Beijing - French industrial group Alstom is increasing its focus on clean energy industries in China to expand in the world's fastest growing market, the company said on Monday.

The company, which has three major business units - power generation, power transmission and rail transport - will continue to take an active part in green energy sectors in the country such as hydropower, nuclear power, wind power and solar power, Patrick Kron, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Alstom, told a press conference.

The company is active in the international wind power market. It is also looking at opportunities to enter China's wind power market, Kron said.

These could be "acquisitions, or to form partnerships" with Chinese companies, he said.

Alstom has invested in solar thermal projects and is looking at further opportunities, Kron said.

Alstom has built a strong presence in China's hydropower market as a leader in the sector.

Its hydropower equipment manufacturing base in Tianjin municipality supplies products to the Chinese market and other Asian countries, Kron said.

Products made by the plant have been exported to Vietnam, he said.

Alstom in September won an order worth 100 million euros ($139 million) from Chinese industrial group Dongfang Electric Ltd to supply equipment and services for six 1,000-megawatt steam turbine-generator packages for three nuclear power plants in China, the company said in a statement.

The power plants are in Ningde and Fuqing in Fujian province, and Tianwan in Jiangsu province.

The company has made environmental protection its key focus, Kron said.

One strategy of the company is to "largely increase our presence in fast-growing countries such as the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China)", he said.

Development of green energies has become the most dynamic of industries in China, analysts said.

Although they are still small-scale sectors compared with conventional energies like coal and oil, these industries are expanding with unprecedented pace, they said.

China has already made remarkable strides in some industries, like nuclear power and wind power, said Li Junfeng, deputy director-general of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission.

According to the National Energy Administration (NEA), China currently has the world's highest number of nuclear reactors under construction.

The country is now building 25 reactors with a total capacity of 27.73 gigawatts (gW).

The government has also approved the construction of 34 other reactors, with a combined capacity of 36.92 gW, according to the NEA.

Development of new energy is indispensable for the country to achieve its two primary targets in energy and environment, analysts said. China aims to increase the use of non-fossil energy to make up 15 percent of its primary energy consumption by 2020.

It also pledged to reduce its carbon intensity by 40 to 45 percent by 2020 from the 2005 level.

China Daily