Scope and Attributes

1. What does this database cover? What does it not cover? What are the caveats?

   China's overseas economic activity comes in many forms, led by diverse entities. The China's Global Power (CGP) Database tracks power generating units financed through Chinese foreign direct investment (FDI) and/or loans from China's two development finance institutions (DFIs)—the Export-Import Bank of China (CHEXIM) and the China Development Bank (CDB).

   The CGP Database does not track lending commitments from Chinese commercial banks. This database does not include projects inside China.

   Only projects with more than 10 percent Chinese ownership are tracked. The Database does not include investment amounts, as these figures are challenging to identify for each project.

   The Chinese participants indicated for units in the database may not be the sole investor or financier of the project. Power generating units in the CGP Database may have other sources of finance besides Chinese DFI loans and FDI. This could be the case for some projects, but oftentimes there are local or other international investments and financiers involved as well. When using the database for analysis, it is important to recognize that a larger project measured by generation capacity does not always mean greater monetary amounts of finance from China. The influence that Chinese entities have on the projects could be very different from project to project due to the different levels of their participation.

2. What are the specific definitions of all the attributes in the database?

   Attribute:	Definition:
   CGP ID	Unique identifier for referencing each power plant unit in the database
   Unit Name	Unique name of power generating unit, with technology and capacity (MW)
   Plant Name	Name of the power plant, which may have multiple units
   Capacity (MW)	Gross generating capacity of unit (MW)
   Project Status	In operation, under construction or under planning
   Year of Commission[*]	Year unit entered or is scheduled for commission
   Year of Commission (M&A: Acquisition Year)	Normally the commission year, but if the investment is an M&A and the commission happened before the acquisition, we use the acquisition year instead. This ensures we capture the year China actually began its presence.
   Technology	Primary fuel: Coal, gas, solar, wind, etc.
   State/Province	State or province where the unit is located
   Country	Country where the unit is located
   Region	Region where the unit is located
   Estimated Annual CO2 Emissions	Estimated annual CO2 emissions in thousand metric tons (ktons)
   M&A Year	The year of acquisition
   Deal Type	M&A, greenfield investment, involves both FDI and DFIs or DFI finance only
   FDI?	Involving Chinese foreign direct investment or not
   Investing Company	Primary Chinese investor
   Investing Company Ownership %	The share of ownership held by the primary Chinese investor, if known
   FDI Deal Type	Greenfield or M&A
   Involving Chinese DFI?	Involving Chinese DFIs or not
   Lender	Which Chinese DFI provided the loan
   Borrower	Primary recipient of the loan
   Funding Year	The year that an equity investment is made in the case of FDI (greenfield and M&A) and the year a loan is committed in the case of DFIs
   BU_ID	A unique common identifier to allow for cross-referencing with other GDP Center Databases
   Source 1	Online weblink or database source to verify the entry
   Source 2	Secondary online weblink to double verify the entry

   [*]Year of Commission: Since the status of power plants involved in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) deals is usually determined before the transaction, commission years would not reflect the activities of Chinese capital. For analyses focused on Chinese activity, it is more appropriate to use the 'Year of Commission (M&A: Acquisition Year)' that captures the start of China's presence.

3. What is the relationship between the "Deal Type", "FDI" and "DFI" attributes?

   There are two types of FDI – greenfield investment, which means investment in a project from the ground up, and mergers and acquisitions (M&A), which is related to the purchase of shares of an existing company.

   For projects that involve Chinese FDI, but not Chinese DFIs, the "FDI" attribute will be "Yes", and the "DFI" attribute will be "No". "Deal Type" will reflect which kind of FDI transaction it is.

   For projects that involve both Chinese FDI and Chinese DFIs, the "Deal Type" attribute will be "FDI + DFI". Both "FDI" and "DFI" will be "Yes".

   For projects that involve Chinese DFIs but not Chinese FDI, the "Deal Type" attribute will be "DFI Only". The "FDI" attribute will be "No", and the "DFI" attribute will be "Yes".

4. What does "NA" mean in the database?

   For projects that do not involve FDI, "Investment Company", "FDI Deal Type" and "Ownership %" are not applicable (NA); for projects that do not involve DFIs, "Lender" and "Borrower" are not applicable.

   For non-fossil fuel units, "Estimated Annual CO₂ Emissions" is NA.

   The "State/Province" attribute is NA for Singapore.

5. Which variables are estimated, and which are measured? To what extent are they accurate?

   Except CO₂ emissions estimates, most power plant information is derived from the S&P Global World Electric Power Plants Database (WEPP). On a few occasions where confirmed projects from official sources are not found in WEPP, they are added to the database. Information for the financial attributes comes from the China's Global Energy Finance (CGEF) Database and double-verified internet sources (see Methodology Guidebook).

   For CO₂ emissions estimates, fuel-based capacity factors and region-specific emission factors are used to estimate emissions from different fuels. More information can be found in the CGP Database Methodology Note. These estimates should be taken as approximations – additional information will be needed to conduct a more nuanced calculation.

Interface Structure

• What do the "Overview" & "Multi-attribute Comparison" tabs do?

  The interactive interface provides two different views for the data. The Overview provides mapping, bar charts and a project-level table for all projects by geographic distribution and over time. It also exhibits a breakdown of project capacities on both spatial and temporal dimensions by project status, technology, deal type and DFI lender for projects with their involvement.

  

  Spatial aggregation and comparison are available by country and by region. View of timeframes is adjustable with the "CHANGE TIMEFRAME" button. Single-country or region view is available by clicking on the country or region of interest on the map and can also be chosen from the dropdown menu on the top left of the map. Single-year view is available by clicking on the column of the year of interest in the bar chart and can also be chosen from the "CHANGE TIMEFRAME" menu.

  

  Country or region overviews are available under each feature by hovering on the maps. Detailed views of country/region projects show up when clicked on the country/region or project, and the table below will be filtered accordingly. The table can be collapsed or expanded by geography and the feature of display. By clicking on the column tab of the feature of interest, the user can sort the table project by the feature of choice. For more project information than what is displayed in the table, the floating project information window is available both on the map and in the table by hovering and by clicking. The globe icon on the top left of the map takes users back to the global view from a country/region view.

  The MULTI-ATTRIBUTE COMPARISON tab allows users to choose multiple countries or areas of interest and generate Sankey charts to compare the capacity of plants with different status and technologies, as well as estimated CO₂ emissions from different kinds of power plants in the database between countries.

  In the MULTI-ATTRIBUTE COMPARISON tab, a line chart will be generated to demonstrate estimated annual emissions over time from the power plants in the database. A floating window will appear while hovering that shows the newly added emissions each year and the fossil fuel power plants that lead to these emissions. In the line chart, all projects still under planning are assumed to start generation in 2030 for simplicity. A corresponding table of the projects in the chosen countries/regions will also be generated.

How to Download the Data

Fill out the form in the About/Data Download section, and a link for download will be sent to your email from gdp@bu.edu. Please check your Spam folder if you do not receive an email within a few minutes.

Additional Questions?

For technical inquiries or suggestions regarding this database, please contact Diego Morro, dm3760@bu.edu.

For media inquiries, please contact Sam Igo, sigo@bu.edu.