China's power games

Overview

Already the second largest global electricity consumer, China is stretching its capacity to the limit through surging demand. With consumption expected to treble by 2020, the government is prioritising expansion of output. But network bottlenecks are aggravating regional imbalances, while substantial amounts of electricity are lost in transmission and distribution.

The investment climate for power producers, which draw more than 70 per cent of their resources from coal, is clouded...