China Everbright held its inaugural roundtable on renewable energy in China on Wednesday, December 3. The event, organized in collaboration with The Asset, the leading voice of Asia’s financial community, brought together China’s top and promising renewable energy firms and international institutional investors to forge a constructive dialogue on the issues, challenges and opportunities in the alternative energy sector in mainland China. 

 

China has become one of world's leading renewable energy producers. At present, 8% of the energy consumed in China is from renewables. The current five-year plan calls for renewables to account for 10% of the country's energy consumption by 2010 and 15% by 2020. In terms of installed capacity of renewable energy China led the world in 2007 with 152 GW. Excluding the investment in large hydropower projects, investment in renewable energy in China in 2007 amounted to US$10.8 billion, up 91% over the year before, and second only to Germany. 

 

Joining the roundtable discussion were Fan Yan Hok, general manager of China Everbright International, Hsu You Yuan, executive director of Solargiga Energy Holdings Ltd, Luo Maofeng, vice president of China WindPower and Chen Zuotao, chairman of the board of China Energy Conservation (HK) Co. Ltd. Also present were David Luo, chief financial officer of Chun Wo Development Holdings as well as Zhou Jiangbo, head of investor relations at GCL-Poly Energy Holdings. 

 

The investor side was represented by, amongst others, China Construction Bank, Bank of China, DBS, Société Générale, China Merchants Securities, CITIC United Asia Investments, Deloitte, GE Commercial Finance and Sun Hung Kai Financial. 

 

Chen Shuang, executive director and CEO of China Everbright Limited, believed such business would “not only keep safe our natural surroundings for future generations but also demonstrate that good development sense can, and should, go hand in hand with good investment.” In other words, engaging in renewables not only benefits the green industry but also provides a platform for investors to generate profits. Echoing the bullish sentiment on renewables in China felt by many present at the Island Shangri-La function, Chen enthused: “We are excited to see where the road ahead takes us.”