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ABB to maintain investment paceThe power and automation technology giant， ABB Group， will invest more than US$100 million in China this year， to maintain its robust growth in the country， a senior official said.“We will keep up our investment scale in China this year， as we have maintained strong organic growth in 2010 in spite of the global financial crisis and challenging market conditions in the power transmission domain，” said Claudio Facchin， president of ABB North Asia Region and China.Taking energy efficiency， industrial productivity and power reliability as its key business drivers， ABB has kept a steady annual investment of more than $100 million in China during the past seven years in manufacturing facilities， refining and expanding designs， and localizing the latest technologies and products.“ABB has accelerated its footprint in China since the global financial crisis broke out and invested more than US$500 million in the last three years，” said Facchin.The company’s China unit released its 2010 result on Monday， which showed the country retaining its top market position for the ABB group， with revenue of US$4.5 billion， representing year-on-year growth of 10 percent and 50 percent growth in export.China is also an important materials and components sourcing hub for ABB’s worldwide operations. The company sourced materials and components worth US$3.6 billion in 2010， up 37 percent from the previous year， which strongly contributed to ABB’s global cost-reduction program.“ABB has decided to set up its global purchasing center in China this year，” said Facchin.” ABB’s strategy for China has been evolving from ‘in China for China’ to ‘in China for China and the World’ since early 2010， with greater effort on innovation and research and development (RD). This widely implemented strategy has proved to be key for our continued success.”Meanwhile， ABB achieved strong growth in renewable energy， water， railways and services in China last year， as it played an active role in supporting the country’s rapid development in these areas.According to Facchin， ABB achieved 49 percent growth in wind， 26 percent growth in water and 24 percent growth in the service business.ABB is also keeping a strong focus on the railway industry. It established a new company called Guangzhou ABB Microunion Traction Equipment in Guangzhou last year and localized more railway-related technologies and products.“I anticipate continued strong growth in the energyefficiency and emission-reduction， renewable-energy， water， railways， and services fields. ABB will maintain its strong investment pace in China this year，” said Facchin.Although many challenges still remain， ABB has listed a dozen important projects including building new factories， expanding RD facilities， and furthering product localization on its investment agenda this year.“We plan to increase our total China workforce to more than 18，000 people by end of 2011. This means we will recruit at least 2，000 new employees. Most of them will be engineers，”added Facchin. (China Daily)Chinese vehicle maker BYD to inaugurate electric buses in DenmarkCOPENHAGEN， March 10 China’s electric vehicle maker BYD Automobile Co.， Ltd. is set to trial a full-size， allelectric bus in the Danish capital Copenhagen， according to a news release issued by Denmark’s biggest public transport operator Movia and Denmark’s Ministry of Foreign affairs.Designed and manufactured by BYD， a leading Chinese electrical vehicle and battery producer， the model K9 bus is expected to reduce carbon emissions by 55 percent compared to conventional buses.Two K9 buses will initially be deployed on ordinary passenger routes in and around Copenhagen from the second half of 2012， in partnership with Movia， Denmark’s biggest public transport agency.“The Danish cleantech industry already has a very good market in China，” said Lene Espersen， Denmark’s foreign minister while commenting on the BYD-Movia venture.“But now， Chinese clean-tech companies have also opened their eyes to the possibilities of testing and developing their products in Denmark.”The K9 has already rolled-out in China， where BYD says sales-orders have been high， but this is the first time the K9 is being tested abroad.In fact， BYD and Movia were put in contact with each other via a Danish government investment initiative aimed at improving Denmark’s green-growth competence in foreign markets.“Green Growth is becoming more and more crucial， and of course， I am proud that we in Denmark are at the forefront in， among others things， electric cars and electric buses，” Espersen added.In February， Denmark presented an ambitious clean-energy strategy， which expects to make the country free of fossil-fuels by 2050. It is encouraging investment in electric transport by waiving registration taxes on electric cars.The energy-efficient K9 is 12 meters long and 2.5 meters wide， has a battery which charges within four to six hours， and can travel 250 kilometers on a single charge.The company already runs small electric buses on some Copenhagen routes， but the K9 could become the first full-size electric bus to run on ordinary passenger routes in Europe.“These BYD buses may prove to be a very interesting alternative for Movia， both environmentally and operationally，”said Dorthe Noehr Pedersen， the company’s director， in a press statement announcing the partnership. (Xinhua)