Cashing in on China’s Demand for Clean Water

Water treatment could be clean tech’s next big growth sector in the mainland, as economic expansion has led to shortages

November 6, 2007 (BusinessWeek) – Singapore’s first desalination plant opened in 2003. It was located on a piece of land in the island-state’s west that had itself been reclaimed from the sea some years before. The plant is now contracted to turn seawater into 136,000 cubic meters of drinking water a day for the resource-strapped island-state.

The plant is surprisingly quiet. It operates with hardly any noise and is run by just 10 workers. Add a perpetual sea breeze and, as one staff member at the plant noted, it’s practically like being at a holiday resort.

Now, Hyflux, the company behind the Singapore plant, is building a similar facility in China’s coastal city of Tianjin to service a refinery owned by oil and gas giant Sinopec. It will be China’s largest seawater desalination plant, with an output of 100,000 cubic meters, when it is completed in 2009.

“The problems in China, especially environmental ones, are an opportunity for us,” said Sam Ong, Hyflux’s chief investment officer.

Advertisement

Dow & WHI to Provide Water Systems for 11 Million People in India

October 2, 2007 (CSWire) – The Dow Chemical Company in conjunction with WaterHealth International, revealed last week its commitment to provide $30 million of loan guarantees to support the financing of up to 2,000 WHI community water systems, serving 11 million people in rural India. This commitment was highlighted at the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) 2007 Annual Meeting, an invitation-only gathering of heads of state, CEOs and other global leaders from around the world. With this commitment, Dow and WHI are combining efforts to address the global challenge of more than one billion people without access to safe, clean drinking water.

ABN Amro Launches Clean Tech Fund

October 3, 2007 (Asian Investor) – ABN Amro Asset Management has launched a Clean Tech Fund that will invest globally and will have an investment horizon of around three to five years. The fund will be managed from Paris by a team of fund managers led by Dominique Pouliquen and will be available to investors worldwide. Pouliquen and his team will consider investing only in so-called clean technology companies that derive at least 50% of their revenues from environmentally friendly technological advances or are leaders in the particular area where they are advancing environmental sustainability. An example of a company that fits this requirement is Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan, which is a leading manufacturer of hybrid vehicles and has strong brand recognition in this area.