Developing Renewable Energy Partnerships

Serious about renewable energy, new Chinese government incentives have sent manufacturers scrambling to grab market share, and foreign expertise, technology and know-how are welcome. Husayn Anwar discusses the importance of two critical factors to develop strong and successful partnerships in the renewable energy industry in China: conducting extensive due diligence on potential partners, local governments and the industry as a whole, and bringing value-added to these partnerships.

Mr. Anwar argues that while it is important for foreign investors to protect their technology and know-how, the fact that these change so quickly in this young industry diminishes the adverse effects of potential leaks. He suggests that energy would be better spent on establishing joint R&D operations to develop new technologies together with the local partner, so they benefit from it and have an incentive to protect the new shared intellectual property.