Chinese power firm wants in on Snowy 2.0

The world's largest power equipment manufacturer is keen to enter the Australian market, pinpointing the massive Snowy 2.0 project as a likely prospect.

Dongfang Electric Corporation, a state-owned publicly-traded Chinese corporation, is already doing business in about 70 countries around the world.

It is both a manufacturer of energy equipment, including for hydro and pumped storage operations, and a construction contractor either on its own or in partnership with non-Chinese entities.

DEC is aware the Australian government is looking at expanding by half the pumped hydro-electric storage in the Snowy Mountains scheme.

The project, a personal favourite of Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, is the subject of a feasibility study.

The estimated cost of expanding the iconic power generator's capacity and storage ranges from $2 billion to near $6 billion.

DEC has been involved in some of the world's biggest power generation projects including the Three Gorges Dam hydro-electric gravity dam on the Yangtze River.

It has also provided hydro technology to generation projects in Brazil, Ethiopia and Pakistan.

Apart from hydro, DEC is a manufacturer of thermal, nuclear, gas, wind and solar energy equipment.

Snowy 2.0, if it eventuates, is a project of interest for DEC.

"We'd like to get into the Australian market," executive Wu Zhang Wei told a group of Australian journalists who toured the companies Chengdu headquarters in southern China.

* The writer visited DEC as part of an Australian media delegation sponsored by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs.