Lignite power plants belch dust and smoke into the air above the southern Greek town of Megalopolis, but residents resistant to environmental arguments have blocked a scheme to build the country's biggest solar energy project on a nearby hillside.

Builder taps wind energy to complete project on time The first phase of the Golden Park housing project in Kalyan in Thane district ended about two years ago. By then the builder was fed up with the irregular power supply that had escalated the cost and delayed the project. Now, it is the residents who face the ordeal of seven to eight hours of erratic power cuts daily. The

The existing energy crisis can easily be solved by proper utilisation of alternate energy sources. Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sardar Assef Ahmed Ali said this on Thursday.

State committee to look into turbine maker

The dramatic growth in wind turbines around the British Isles may lead to huge spikes in power prices by 2030 and threaten the viability of backup plants needed for calm periods, according to Poyry Energy Consulting.

Global investment in clean energy and climate-friendly technologies leapt in the last three months but full-year levels won't recover until 2010 or 2011, analysts said on Wednesday.

Falling energy demand and more expensive debt have hurt large renewable projects for example in wind and solar power. Recession has cut risk appetite, curbing funding for clean technology start-ups.

Norway's government proposed a new law on Friday to develop sea-based wind power as part of a plan to diversify from offshore oil and gas toward renewable energy.

"Offshore wind energy may become the next adventure for the Norwegian industry and energy sector," Oil and Energy Minister Terje Riis-Johansen said in a statement of a draft bill presented by the center-left government.

The world's biggest wind farm, China's Rudong, is unlikely to blow any business the way of foreign turbine manufacturers such as Vestas, Gamesa and Suzlon, according to local officials.

Recent share placements by renewable energy companies suggest the industry has passed through a financial bottleneck, but investor appetite for further stock sales could vanish as quickly as it surfaced.