David Laurier, CEO of AppliTek in Nazareth, Belgium, was interviewed by the China Daily. He said he was confident that his company can sustain its success in China even though it is a latecomer. The company sells analytical technologies to nearly 120 countries. About 20% of its business comes from China, after only a few years on the Chinese market. Laurier is upbeat about the Chinese market potential. In Europe, he said, the common perception of the Chinese is that they produce inexpensive goods but pollute the water, soil and air. “But if these Europeans were to go there as often as we do in our business, they would see that China is making huge efforts to control pollution,” he said. “I am amazed at just how serious the Chinese government is about providing healthy conditions for its people and a sound environment.” Laurier said he was impressed that the Environmental Monitoring Center in Beijing can monitor nearly all of the major rivers and cities, but in Europe, there is no such integrated system. AppliTek’s sales volume dropped slightly compared with last year, Laurier said, but more projects were clinched. It now has about 20 to 30 small projects. “China’s economy could not be sustained without enough environmental protection policies and measures being put in place,” he said. Laurier is going to create a China task force in the company that can offer strategic solutions for building an environmentally friendly and resource-saving country. The company also intends to set up a service center in Shanghai by the end of this year together with a regional distributor. It currently has one distributor in Shanghai and one in Beijing. So far, the company’s analytical equipment has sold well in China, but it has been more difficult to find buyers for its integrated solutions because of the higher prices and a lack of a business network. AppliTek was set up by Laurier’s parents in 1985 and his father is still the President of the Board, the China Daily wrote.

The Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest hydropower project, started working at full capacity as the last of its 32 large turbine generators was put into operation. “With a combined generating capacity of 22.5 million kilowatts, the full operation of the generators makes the Three Gorges Dam the world’s largest hydropower project and largest base of clean energy,” Zhang Cheng, General Manager of China Yangtze Power Co, the operator of the generators, said at a ceremony in early July. The dam’s first generator went into operation on July 10, 2003. “The project has not only eased power shortages and boosted the country’s economic development, but also played a significant role in developing clean energy and cutting greenhouse gas emissions,” said Li Pingshi, Director of the Three Gorges Power Plant. The installation of the project’s 32nd 700-megawatt (MW) unit brought the total capacity up to 22.5 gigawatt (GW), accounting for 11% of the country’s total hydroelectric capacity.

At the end of last year, Qinghai province’s total on-grid solar power capacity was 1,003 MW, accounting for 37% of China total of around 2,700 MW. By the end of 2015, Qinghai plans to boost the installed generating capacity of solar electricity to more than 4,000 MW, almost 1.5 times the current national capacity. This explosive growth happened in just one year, as by the end of May last year, there was only 50 MW of installed capacity in Qinghai. In May 2011, the Qinghai government promised PV station developers CNY1.15 per kilowatt-hour for electricity supplied by photovoltaic projects that became operational before September 30, much higher than the CNY0.4-0.5 paid for coal-fired electricity. “Before the move, more than 20 developers had signed project agreements. But as there was no guidance price, none of them dared to start construction,” said a local industry observer. Huanghe Hydropower’s project is the most ambitious. Located in Golmud, the center of Qinghai’s PV industry, the CNY3.2 billion project is the world’s largest PV farm measured by installed capacity and floor space. By the end of last year, it had been integrated into the main grid and started supplying electricity. PV power, with all its prospects, still faces a large obstacle — the power grid’s ability to assimilate it. In 2011, only half of China’s 2,700 MW solar power capacity was integrated into the power grid.

New York-listed China Ming Yang Wind Power Group is considering acquiring Vestas Wind System. Ming Yang will offer €1.4 billion to €1.5 billion to buy the Danish company, a source, who declined to be named, said. Ming Yang Wind Power is the 10th largest turbine manufacturer in the world, whereas Vestas produces the most. In the first quarter of 2012, Ming Yang’s revenue plunged by more than 70% year-on-year, the result mainly of overcapacity in the industry and government tightening policies. China’s wind power industry has started to expand at a slower pace as wind projects are being required to go through a stricter approval process. An increase in price competition and a decrease in demand have reduced Chinese wind turbine manufacturers’ profit margins, according to Zhang Chuaiwei, Chairman and CEO of Ming Yang. “Nevertheless, the unusually demanding conditions now prevalent in the industry may prompt further market consolidation, which we believe we will benefit from as a leading market player,” Zhang said. Vestas also reported a larger-than-expected loss. The Danish company closed its factory in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, in June. Vestas installed only 501 megawatt (MW) worth of wind turbines in China in 2011, down 42% from a year earlier. Ming Yang announced a plan to move into India, saying it wants to acquire a significant stake in the Reliance Group unit Global Wind Power and develop up to 2,500 MW of clean energy projects in the country, the China Daily reported.

Shanghai Luming Environment Science Co has signed a letter of intent with Netherlands-based SkyNRG, a major jet biofuel supplier, to provide refined swill oil. The first 2,000 tons of biofuel were to be sent to the Netherlands at the end of July and would be used to power commercial jets after further processing. It will be used by SkyNRG’s client airlines, including KLM, Air Canada and Qantas. SkyNRG’s Managing Director, Dirk Kronemeijer: “We have a strong ambition on the Chinese market where only 2% of wasted cooking oil is recycled, compared with 70% in the Netherlands”. The waste cooking oil has large amounts of animal fat that can be processed into bio kerosene after refining and chemical reactions. After further processing, the fuel will qualify to power planes. Planes using the biofuel generate about 40% less emissions. In Shanghai, waste oil collected from restaurants reaches more than 68 tons a day. The government is tightening efforts to block swill oil from being illegally recovered and recycled and prevent it from being used in restaurants. Kronemeijer said the company plans to build a plant in China in the future to collect and refine swill oil into jet biofuel. The company has been looking for waste cooking oil suppliers from China since last year and tests on such oil have been satisfactory, he added. More than 15 commercial airlines have made test flights powered by processed waste cooking oil from the Amsterdam-based company. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, one of the three founding partners of the company, completed its first commercial biofuel flight carrying 171 passengers from Amsterdam to Paris in June 2011. It operated with a half blend of biofuel to regular kerosene. Chinese carriers have also made efforts to develop biofuel, the Shanghai Daily reported.