China to be major player in India's energy security: Envoy

China claimed it would be a major contributor to India's energy security in the next 10 to 20 years and said India would achieve a 1 lakh MW generation capacity before 2012 mainly owing to use of Chinese equipment.

China on Thursday claimed it would be a major contributor to India's energy security in the next 10 to 20 years and said India would achieve a 1 lakh MW generation capacity before 2012 mainly owing to use of Chinese equipment.

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"Recently our Indian friends are talking very much about energy security. I have a feeling that in the short term, or in the next 10 to 20 years, if there is one country which will contribute the most to India's power sector, that country must be China," Chinese Consul-General Mao Sewei told the Bengal National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

While expressing confidence that India would be able to achieve 1,00,000 MW generation even before the targeted year 2012, he said, "A major reason is that the Electricity Act, 2003, has opened the door for international competition and China's major power equipment producers and plant builders have been quite active in the Indian market since then."

Chinese companies have obtained many contracts for power equipment and EPC power projects and incomplete statistics indicate that equipment from that country would account for production of over 30,000 MW or 30 per cent of the target.