China

The national wind-solar demonstration project in China’s Zhangbei county, Zhangjiakou city, Hebei province, marked 100 consecutive days of safe operation last week with cumulative output of power over 100 million KWh.

Domestic PV demand in China grew to 2.75-GW in 2011, according to the latest research in the Solarbuzz Marketbuzz report, making it the third largest PV market globally in 2011, with Germany (7.5-GW) and Italy (6.8-GW) taking the top spots. With significant uncertainty over policy and demand in these countries, however, NPD Solarbuzz analyst Ray Lian believes China could become the world’s largest PV market in 2012. Writing in his blog, Lian said: “Latest forecasts from Solarbuzz suggest that the PV market in China will almost double in 2012, to around 5-GW, with an upside potential to exceed 6-GW.

China has proposed joint projects with Japan in marine environment protection in the East China Sea as part of efforts to ease tension over the disputed Senkaku Islands located in the sea, sources familiar with bilateral ties said on Monday.

More people around the country are opting for environmentally friendly ways to pay tribute to their deceased loved ones with the approach of the Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb Sweeping Day. Zhang Kui, a 73-year-old resident of the city of Harbin in Northeast China's Heilongjiang province, wrote a letter and a check to his late wife at a municipal funeral service held just days before the start of the festival, which falls on April 4 this year. After attaching the letter to a board and dropping the check into a box labeled "Post Office" and "Bank of Heaven," respectively, Zhang had a few words to say about his late wife.

India’s Suzlon Group, the world's fifth largest wind turbine manufacturer, has signed a global strategic partnership with CGN Energy — a wholly owned subsidiary of China Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNWE) — to develop 800-MW of domestic and international projects over the next three years.