China's voracious energy needs will provide lucrative opportunities for those willing to step into the fray, Louis Schwartz, the president of China Strategies, said at the Roth Capital Partners Third Annual China Investment Conference in Miami Beach on Tuesday.

Currently, about 69 percent of China's energy comes from coal. But over the next four decades, that is expected to drop to less than 50 percent as the nation ramps up its hydroelectric, wind, solar and nuclear production.

Already one of the top solar cell producers in the world, China is also on track to overtake Germany as the top generator of wind power.

China sees ``the restructuring of the energy industry as the next big driver of economic growth,'' Schwartz said.

Schwartz delivered the keynote address at the conference, which runs through Wednesday at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach.

The annual event featured 60 publicly traded Chinese companies and 10 U.S. firms that have set their sights on China.

Interest in the country has never been stronger, Roth Research Director Mark Tobin said in a press release.

``This interest is driven by widespread confidence that China is poised to lead the world out of recession.''

China is already one of the fastest growing economies on the planet. Its gross domestic product is expected to surpass that of the United States sometime within the next 20 or 30 years.

As that growth hauls millions of new consumers into the marketplace, China will need to invest $2.65 trillion in energy projects over the next decade to keep up.

``China is extremely coal-oriented'' now, Schwartz said.

``But it's at the precipice of reorienting its energy mix.''

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