Wind and solar energy is rich in West China where many wind-driven power plants have been put into operation

The 2009 China International Clean-Tech and New Energy Investment Forum, attracting numerous large wind turbine producers, solar cell producers and several large international venture capital companies, aimed to pair green energy companies with potential investors from the private sector.

Ma Songde, Director of the China Association of Technological Entrepreneurs, said in his keynote speech that China's industries of new energies, energy conservation and environmental protection will experience a boom for the next decade, providing a myriad of lucrative opportunities for companies in these fields and the venture capital companies that are willing to invest in them.

According to China's national long-term development plan for renewable energy, China's renewable energy consumption against total energy consumption will rise from 7 percent in 2007 to 16 percent by 2020. To reach this goal, the plan requires China to generate 300 million kilowatt-hours (kwh) of hydropower, 30 million kwh of wind power, 30 million kwh of bio-power and 1.8 million kwh of solar power by that year.

Ma said a joint survey by The Energy Foundation and the China Development and Reform Commission (CDRC) shows that China needs to invest 18 trillion yuan ($2.6 trillion) in the energy industry between 2005 and 2020, of which 7 trillion yuan ($1 trillion) will be spent on developing alternative energies, energy conservation and environmental protection and a large proportion will come from the private sector.

China has already been the world's largest producer of solar cells since 2007, the first year China produced cells with a total capacity of 1 gigawatt. However, Ma said around 90 percent of China-made solar cells has been exported due to the lack of solar power plants in the country. In the past, power generated by solar cells was not connected to the national grid due to its price disadvantage compared with thermal power.

However, China is moving steadily towards commercialized solar power generation. Now the CDRC is selling at public auction the franchise rights to equip and operate China's largest solar power plant with an installed capacity of 10 megawatts, which will be built in northwestern Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. This will be China's third national pilot solar power plant, whose electricity will be connected to the national grid.

China is also the world's largest user of hydropower. In 2008, China installed wind power capacity of 6.3 million kilowatts, second only to the 8.38 million kilowatts in the United States.