Feb. 13 (Bloomberg) — Cleanergy AB, a Swedish developer of
engines used to generate power from gas or solar, is in talks to
sell all or part of its business to companies in China or Europe
alongside discussions on building projects in the Asian nation.
“We’re having discussions with both Chinese and large
European industrial groups and we’ll see with whom we close
first,” Chief Executive Officer Anders Koritz said. “We need
to be seen as being Chinese in order to succeed in China, and
that’s why we have a number of strong friends in China.”
Koritz wouldn’t name the companies talking to Cleanergy.
Separately, the Gothenburg-based company is in “advanced”
talks with “big five” Chinese utilities over building projects
in the Asian country. China Huaneng Group, China Datang Corp.,
China Huadian Corp., China Power Investment Corp. and China
Guodian Corp. are the biggest power producers in the nation.
Cleanergy is developing Stirling engine technology that can
generate power from biogas, natural gas and landfill gas or be
used in solar-thermal plants. China aims to install 10 gigawatts
of the more common photovoltaic solar capacity by the year-end,
compared with only 1-gigawatt of solar thermal power by 2015.
Photovoltaic projects attracted nearly half of the $67.7
billion invested in China’s clean energy sector last year.
“Although solar thermal is part of the Chinese
government’s expansion plans, creating demand for solar
photovoltaic is likely to be more a priority in the next two to
three years,” Jenny Chase, the head of solar research at
Bloomberg New Energy Finance, said today by e-mail.
While a 50-megawatt solar-thermal plant installed today
would have costs of about 0.11 euros (15 cents) to 0.12 euros a
kilowatt-hour, in two years that would drop to about 0.06 euros,
Koritz said in an interview in London. Cleanergy in August set
up a 110-kilowatt demonstration plant in Inner Mongolia.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Louise Downing in London at
ldowning4@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
Reed Landberg at
landberg@bloomberg.net
