Zhao Jianguo: Energy Man

It’s just sometime where we are born and the company that employs us which spells the difference whether we are well-known to the general public or not. People and companies in the Western World have a much freer press which reports on just about everything. This includes business and executive personalities.

So it’s not surprising that very few people in the Western World have not heard of Zhao Jianguo. He is the chairman of China Southern Power Grid (CSG).  To head this company involves a lot of responsibilities and skills and just mere connections will not do it. You have to be at the top of your game.

The area that CSG covers is a staggering 1 million square kilometers which has a population of 230 million.  If you think about it most of the countries in the entire world don’t have that kind of population. While the company Zhao runs covers 5 provinces it’s almost like running the energy needs of three or more countries.

China has greatly progressed over the decades and has a more sophisticated electricity sector.  CSG uses a variety of power resources including coal-fire, hydro power, oil/gas-turbine and wind power. The total installed capacity reached 188GW by the end of 2011.  One can just imagine the magnitude of what Zhao’s company deals with in term of electricity; the 220kV-and-above transmission line was 90,000 km in the aggregate.

CSG has actually one of the most sophisticated and technically advanced power grids in the world. It has long-distance, large capacity, ultra-high voltage and hybrid operation of AC DC. The company specifically operates in Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou and Hainan provinces and regions. This puts CSG in a good location being adjacent to Hong Kong, Macau, and bordering Vietnam, the Laos and Cambodia. It has existing and planned projects with these entities/ countries.

Ranked as the 152th largest company in the world by Fortune magazine in 2012 with revenues of $60.5 billion and assets of $83 billion, Zhou heads a company whose performance not only affects China but many Southeast Asian countries as well. A huge responsibility and so far he has been up to the task.