Despite a slowing economy, this year China could see a national power shortage of up to 40 gigawatts - roughly Singapore's annual consumption - a senior power company executive says.
Power demand would grow 9.5 per cent this year, compared with 12 per cent last year, said Liu Yan, corporate finance director of Datang International Power Generation.
'The national power supply will still be tight in 2012, with power shortages in some regions. This will benefit power companies like us,' he said.
Datang, listed in Hong Kong, Shanghai and London, is mainland China's second-largest independent power producer. Although its operating revenue rose 19 per cent to 72.4 billion yuan (HK$88.7 billion) last year, its net profit fell 23 per cent to just under 2 billion yuan due to high coal prices, Liu said.
The National Development Reform Commission would continue to control coal prices this year, he said, meaning coal would be cheaper.
Datang's net profit last year beat a Bloomberg consensus estimate of 1.65 billion yuan by 17 analysts.