Concerns have been raised that western investors are leaving the Chinese generation market after a number of high profile players sold their stakes in Chinese assets, despite huge growth in the sector of close to 15%. Most recently, Siemens and Hew, a unit of Vattenfall, sold a combined 40% stake in a power plant in Hebei Province to China’s Huaneng Group for $168 million, leaving Siemens with only a 12.5% stake in a power plant in Rizhao, in Shandong Province.
While some investors have left the energy market as a result of strong competition with rising domestic power interests, more significant has been inconsistent policies and a frail administrative and legal system that has seen PPA contracts broken as oversupply lowers power prices and coal becomes more costly.
