Bangkok Post, Thailand --Oct. 8

Oct. 8--Encouraged by economic growth and increased energy demand in the Asia-Pacific region, Siemens Power Generation of Germany has set an ambitious target of expanding sales in the region by 25 percent over the next three years, according to vice-president Markus Reismann.

Siemens PG, the world's leading supplier of power generating equipment, outlined its plans on the sidelines of Power-Gen Asia 2004, which ended yesterday.

Of the company's total revenue of US$8.6 billion last year, 13 percent or $1.1 billion came from the Asia-Pacific region, a figure on par with Africa and the Middle East. The biggest contributor was the United States at 43 percent, followed by Europe at 31 percent.

Mr Reismann said that back in 1995, the Asia-Pacific region had accounted for 25 percent of the company's worldwide sales. But after the economic crisis in 1997, revenue dropped sharply as growth and consumption plummeted.

Demand for gas-turbine power generation in Asia is about five gigawatts per year, with a peak of 10 GW seen in 1994. After the crisis, a sharp decline in the power plant market was seen until it finally bottomed out in 2001. Since then, the market's recovery has restored the company's sales in the region.

Besides new investment in generating capacity to serve increasing demand, plants in the region need upgrades to improve efficiency and competitiveness.

Mr Reismann forecast that economic growth in the Asia-Pacific region overall would be around 5-6 percent annually over the next 10 years, driven mainly by China and Southeast Asia. This would lead to significant demand for new plants in countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and Vietnam.

The world's power plant capacity is expected to increase by 60 percent to 5,700 GW within the next 20 years. The Chinese market alone is expected to account for almost 1,000 GW.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to require additional generation capacity of at least 1,000 gigawatts over the next decade, mainly driven by growth in China. Mr Reismann said the company expected the Thai market to generate the highest sales among all Asean countries over the next five years.

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