India

Suzlon Energy has won an order to install 49 wind turbines in the north western state of Rajasthan over the next two years from the state-owned Oil & Natural Gas Corp (ONGC), India’s biggest energy producer.

The northwestern Indian state of Gujarat has included an offshore wind energy project, claimed to be the first of its kind in the country in its 2013-2014 budget plans and will establish 20-MW of new solar power, writes The Indian Express.

The state government of Odisha (formerly know as Orissa) has established a dedicated public company to provide focused attention to developing small hydro power projects in the Indian state, according to its chief minister, Naveen Patnaik.

According to the NPD Solarbuzz Q1’13 Asia Pacific Major PV Markets Quarterly report, PV demand in the Asia Pacific (APAC) region is forecast to grow to by 50 percent year-on-year 13.5-GW in 2013. China, Japan, India, and Australia will remain dominant for PV demand in the region, accounting for 90 percent of demand in 2013, however, discrete end-market demand environments are now evolving in each of these countries.

The Indian government has come under criticism for bowing to commercial pressure to use non-renewable power sources rather than thermal and hydro resources in the state of  Andhra Pradesh.