May 26 (Bloomberg) -- China, the world’s second-largest energy user, may spend as much as 680 billion yuan ($100 billion) building so-called smart power grids, said Huang Shouhong, an analyst at Essence Securities Ltd.

The nation may need to spend as much as 68 billion yuan annually on the grids from 2011 to 2020, Huang, a power equipment analyst, said by phone from Beijing today. China may spend 4 trillion yuan on the overall power grid from 2009 to 2020, he said.

Smart grids deliver electricity to consumers from producers using digital technology that reduces costs, saves energy and increases reliability. China State Grid Corp., the nation’s biggest power distributor, plans to build a smart grid by 2020, company President Liu Zhenya said in Beijing last week.

--Winnie Zhu, John Liu in Shanghai. Editors: Josh Fellman

To contact the reporters on this story: John Liu in Shanghai at jliu42@bloomberg.net;

Last Updated: May 25, 2009 23:30 EDT