Stretching from the Red Sea to the East China Sea, the disparate markets across this expansive region share one thing in common: exciting potential for growth. AES had the foresight to get into these markets early and to build for the long term. We started developing projects in India and Pakistan in 1992 and entered China’s market in 1994. Today, AES remains one of the few strong foreign players in the Asian power market—and we plan to remain a key player in this growing market for years to come.

In 1996, AES joined with Chinese partners to build Yangcheng, the country’s first “coal by wire” power plant, to help fuel China’s rapid economic expansion through affordable power. Located inland near the majority of China’s coal supplies, Yancheng has the capacity to send 2,100 MW of power to the densely populated coast—an area where coal is not readily accessible. In India, AES successfully participated in the country's first and only generation privatization. Today, AES is helping to shape India’s rapidly expanding economy through the US-India CEO Forum, comprised of 10 CEOs from India’s leading companies and 10 from leading US companies, including AES’s CEO, Paul Hanrahan. This forum focuses on driving investment in India’s infrastructure, liberalizing India’s financial sector and encouraging more bilateral trade.

In the Middle East, AES owns and operates two power and water desalination plants—the first independent water and power facilities of their kind in both Oman and Qatar. Today, Ras Laffan in Qatar generates over 30% of the country’s peak system capacity, and the desalination plant provides approximately 25% of the country’s water supply. AES Barka in Oman provides over 15% of the country’s peak generation supply and converts up to 20 million gallons of seawater into fresh water each day. In Pakistan, where we’ve been active for more than a decade, we are one of the largest independent power producers in the country.