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Tata BP Solar, which specialises in solar photovoltaics, has signed an agreement with Calyon Bank (Credit Agricole CIB) and BNP Paribas to raise a $78 million debt to fund its 128 mw solar cell expans

It will be the California-based firm's largest global facility.

The report on climate change by the council appointed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is likely to be announced in June, which will pave the way for a national policy on climate change.

Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to leave here on Monday on a six-day visit to India with a Congressional delegation.

Like to mix beer and wine when you're drinking? Fancy some wine on ice cubes when the weather's hot? Perhaps a ''green'' beer made with sensitivity to the environment will quench your thirst?

Visitors to Thalheim in eastern Germany enter a grey landscape of abandoned industrial buildings, the remnants of the communist-era chemicals industry.

Japan is planning to invest up to $1.93 billion in an international fund aimed at encouraging the use of renewable energy technology in developing countries, the Nikkei financial daily said on Sunday. The fund, to be set up jointly with the United States and Britain, is expected be the largest ever of its type, with total investment of about 500 billion yen ($4.82 billion), the Nikkei said. By investing in technologies such as wind and solar power in less developed countries, participating governments hope to encourage private finance to follow suit, the newspaper said without identifying its sources. The British government last year announced 800 million pounds in support for the fund over three years, while the United States said this year it would provide $2 billion, also over three years, the Nikkei said. Spain and other European nations are considering participating, it said. Japan's finance ministry is likely to make an announcement on Tokyo's contribution at a meeting of G7 finance chiefs and central bank governors in Washington in April, the newspaper said. Japan, this year's host of the G8 summit of industrialised nations, is trying to take a lead on climate change and media reports say the government is planning a 16-nation leaders conference on the issue in parallel with G8. (Reporting by Isabel Reynolds; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani) REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

North Bengal University (NBU) will soon take up a slew of projects to explore non-conventional sources of energy. At today's meeting of the executive council, the highest statutory body of the university, a proposal to set up an energy park in collaboration with West Bengal Renewable Energy Development Authority (WBREDA) was formalised. "The park will generate awareness among students and common people of the use of renewable energy sources and energy conservation techniques,' said Arunava Basumajumdar, vice-chancellor of NBU. "We have earmarked a plot adjacent to Akshay Kumar Maitreya Heritage Museum for the park. Alongside the heritage museum, which already gets a good number of visitors everyday, the park will be an added tourist attraction for this part of Siliguri,' said Basumajumdar. The vice-chancellor added that it had also been decided that solar heaters would be provided to students' hostels so that they could heat water. "We have also tied up with WBREDA for illuminating campus streets, using solar power,' said the vice-chancellor. A bio-mass power generator will also be set up, the vice-chancellor said. He added that renewable energy sources were the best alternatives to meet the additional energy requirements. A major study that the university will be taking up is on the water table. "With funds from the state government, we will be undertaking a major study on the water table in the hills and the effects of global warming on it,' Basumajumdar said.

Chief Adviser's Special Assistant for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Prof M Tamim leaves for the USA today to attend a conference titled 'Washington International Renewable Energy 2008'. Seventy-five ministerial-level representatives from different countries are likely to participate in the conference, organised jointly by American Council on Renewable Energy and an organisation of 14 international businesses dealing with renewable energy. The first and second conferences on renewable energy were held in Germany and China in 2004 and 2005 respectively with the participation of world leaders.