Britain unveiled 1.4 billion pounds ($2.04 billion) of initiatives to encourage investment in green energy on Wednesday and also gave tax breaks to help squeeze the remaining oil from the declining North Sea.

General Electric unit GE Wind, a maker of wind turbines, expects to return to double-digit growth rates in 2010, after being flat in 2009, the head of GE Wind's German business said on Tuesday.

GE Wind's European business is expected to double this year thanks to the launch of new products, Rainer Broering told Reuters on the sidelines of the Hanover industry fair.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Sunday ordered to immediately stop auctions of land in Thatta. He also announced that Darawat Dam would be built to reserve rainwater for irrigation in this area.

In a fresh bid to strengthen the national power-grid with another 400 MWs, 159 licences have already been issued to prospective corporate stakeholders to carry on with renewable energy power generation, and interested parties are bound to complete their projects within a set timeframe of two years, a Ministry of Power and Energy press release said.

Federal Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez Ashraf told a press conference on Wednesday that the country's first ever windmill project in Jhimpir, Sindh, will become functional on April 19. This would mark an important beginning towards power production from alternative sources of energy. Built by a Turkish company, the project is part of a 50mw wind farm.

A TIMELY call by experts at a roundtable the other day for alternative energy sources, undoubtedly, remind the planners both in the public and private sectors of the urgency of expediting the adoption of renewable energy technologies for meeting the growing demands for electricity.

M. Soundariya Preetha

COIMBATORE: Windmill installations in the district during 2008-09 are slightly more than the previous year, according to K. Kasthurirangaian, vice-chairman of the Indian Wind Power Association.

He told The Hindu here on Tuesday that 212 MW was installed during 2008-09 in this region, which had the Palghat Pass.

This was about 50 MW more than the previous year.

Federal Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf has said that the government would facilitate and provide investor friendly environment to the Chinese companies in Pakistan. He said that the Chinese interest to invest in the hydel and wind power generation projects would help meet countrys future power requirements at affordable prices.

Shishir Prashant / Dehra Dun April 13, 2009, 0:57 IST

Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) says it is shelving a proposed wind energy project in Karnataka, but is going ahead with a second one in Gujarat.