China’s Burgeoning Power Industry

China presents the greatest energy market opportunity that has ever existed. As a result of the country’s incredible growth over the past ten years, its installed power generation capacity and output are now second only to the US.
Moreover, experts estimate that with average GDP growth of only 6.5%, China will need 48GW of new capacity each year though 2020 – that is, each year China will build the equivalent of two thirds of the UK’s total installed capacity today (Capgemini, China Electricity Market 2006). Yet even with this growth, China’s per capita consumption of electricity in 2020 will only reach the level of the US in the 1950s. This means growth is going to continue for a long time.