"The potential in China is massive, and the only place with similar potential is Brazil," he said, forecasting a continued growth rate of 40 to 50 percent in China's biomass market in the next five years.

"Apparently, the government policy is driving in that direction by encouraging investment," Parker said.

But unlike other new energy sectors, like wind power, the seemingly booming sector poses unique challenges.

"Biomass is hard work, and negotiating with farmers can be very problematic, which makes the work of collecting biomass fuel difficult," the senior executive said.

The fact that the participation level by private enterprises remains very low is another hurdle to the biomass sector. The energy industry is controlled by small group of huge power generation companies, which restricts to some extent the development of medium-sized biomass plants, according to Parker.

"If you are managing 40 to 50 gigawatts of power, how can you focus on the 30-60 megawatt plants?" he asked.