French President Nicolas Sarkozy will detail on Tuesday a tender for the construction of the country's first offshore wind power farms, an ecology ministry spokeswoman said on Monday.

France aims to build wind power capacity of 25,000 megawatts by 2020, including 6,000 MW offshore, for an investment of 20 billion euros ($27.1 billion) to meet its goal of generating enough green energy to cover

Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI:

Even as international nuclear power producers keenly watch the fate of the Civil Nuclear Liability Bill in India, as many as 62 countries eager to launch or expand their nuclear energy programmes assemble in Paris next week to explore the possibility of bilateral and multilateral cooperation in this sector.

Mumbai: The second two-day Indo-French Nuclear Business Meet will begin in the city on October 14.

Nearly 500 Indian and French nuclear industry players and decision-makerswill get the opportunity to exchange ideas on nuclear cooperation with respect to various aspects including technical, business and economics.

ENGINEERING and construction company Larsen & Toubro (L&T) is eyeing big bucks from the nuclear power business with annual revenue projections of Rs 7,000-8,000 crore once India launches its ambitious nuclear power capacity addition programme.

Venezuela has yet to develop a plan to explore or exploit its uranium deposits despite comments by a government official saying it was working with Iran to locate them, Venezuela's energy minister told Reuters.

On Friday, Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz said Iran and Venezuela were working together to find uranium, and preliminary tests showed the South American country holds large deposits.

French Secretary of State for Foreign Trade Anne Marie Idrac on Thursday said her country would not set up a nuclear plant in Pakistan.

At a press conference, she said France would provide technical assistance to Pakistan to improve security of its existing civil nuclear facilities.

EDF Energies Nouvelles and U.S. solar panel maker First Solar Inc said on Thursday they will build France's largest solar panel manufacturing plant at an investment cost of 90 million euros ($128 million).

The plant will initially be able to produce panels with a total capacity of around 100 megawatts, enough to provide electricity to 50,000 homes per year.