According to IEA’s factsheet, Renewables in global energy supply, the wind energy sector has grown at more than 52 per cent per annum since 1971, and solar power by 32 per cent per annum.

At Renewables 2004 "an international action plan will be on the agenda, including actions and commitments by governments, international organisations and stakeholders,' says the conference

Starting before industrialised Germany and the UK, India has perhaps promoted renewables the longest though a dedicated establishment. The country's Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources (MNES) is one of its kind in the world. India has the fifth largest installed wind capacity in the world at 2400 MW. In 2003 alone, India added 615 MW of wind energy. By March 2003, it had 484 MW of installed biomass power/zcogeneration, 53 MW from biomass gasifiers and 2.5 MW of solar PVs. Installed capacity for all renewables by March 2004 was more than 4,600 MW.

The International Conference for Renewable Energies is to be held in Bonn, Germany. But here is a sector dwarfed by fossil fuels, and although governments can proactively root for renewables, and some have, the options given to developing countries are qu