Germany's Siemens AG has said it intends to invest an additional 150 million euros (US$192 million), mainly in alternative energy production, in China over the next three years.

This spending is on top of planned investments of 1 billion euros by 2010 that the industrial conglomerate announced at the end of 2006. The new investment will partly expand the production capacities for alternative energies, Siemens said in a statement.

"Although the overall energy consumption in China is slowing down in the course of the economic downturn, the need for environmental friendly and efficient technologies is unchanged in order to replace old and environmentally critical technologies and to secure a safe power distribution," said Richard Hausmann, president and CEO of Siemens China.

The company said China is planning projects in the water and energy industries, transport as well as environmental protection and technological innovation to stimulate the domestic economy.

Siemens, whose products range from light bulbs to wind turbines and trains, generated 19 billion euros from green technologies.

Separately, Chijen Hsu, director of R&D center at Siemens PLM Software (Shanghai), said the firm aims to develop a platform for innovative technologies among manufacturers in China in five to 10 years.

(Shanghai Daily February 2, 2009)