Investec
Investec is financing the development of a 300 megawatt wind farm in Sutherland in South Africa’s Karoo region in the Northern Cape province, Beeld said, citing Michael Meeser, the bank’s head of project finance.

The bank is also advising Concentrix Solar GmbH on a project to build a 3 billion rand ($420 million) concentrated photovoltaic system that will produce 50 megawatts of electricity in Touws River, in the Western Cape province, the Johannesburg-based Afrikaans-language newspaper reported.

Investec has also agreed to finance a 1,000 megawatt power plant for GDF Suez SA, the newspaper quoted Meeser as saying. A decision on the project will be taken next year, it said.

The Australian Investec team developed and sold the Collgar, Oaklands Hill and Coopers Gap wind farms.

World’s largest offshore windfarm set to open
The world’s largest offshore windfarm, which cost over £750m to build, is poised to open off the coast of Kent, with 100 turbines producing enough electricity to supply heat and light for 200,000 homes. The Thanet facility, which is being commissioned by Vattenfall, its Swedish power company operator.

The Thanet farm, which will be able to produce 300MW of electricity, will be the biggest offshore facility of its kind until the even larger London Array, which has an eventual goal of 340 turbines, is completed. It will dwarf the nearby Kentish Flats facility off Whitstable, also run by Vattenfall and using similar Vestas turbines.

Suzlon
Suzlon Energy Ltd., India’s biggest maker of wind-turbine generators, said it plans to expand capacity at its plant in China as that market gains importance and the company returns to profit this financial year.

The Ahmedabad-based manufacturer will make turbines capable of generating a combined 1,000 megawatts in China by 2013, Chairman Tulsi Tanti said yesterday in an interview in Tianjin, China. That’s 67 percent more than the current capacity of 600 megawatts, which Tanti said will be used fully next year.

“In the long term, the epicenter of our industry and our business will move to China,” he said. “China will remain the largest market for the next 10 years.”

Suzlon joins General Electric Co. and European rivals that are introducing newer technology and opening factories in China, the world’s fastest-growing green energy market, as they compete for orders. The country plans to add 18 gigawatts of wind capacity this year, which Bloomberg New Energy Finance estimates is double what’s expected in the U.S., the No. 2 market.

The Indian turbine maker is looking to form partnerships with Chinese companies to develop offshore wind projects using 5-megawatt and 6-megawatt turbines, he said. Orders from China and India may help Suzlon offset slowing orders in Europe after the debt crisis made it difficult to raise funds for renewable energy projects.

Suzlon’s loss in the three months ended June 30 doubled as a weaker euro devalued the company’s overseas assets, though the company expects to return to profit this financial year. Analysts are not all in agreement.

Tanti said Suzlon isn’t selling stakes in its European units, including Repower Systems AG, a German wind turbine maker. Suzlon is in talks to sell as much as a 25 percent stake in Repower for $500 million, the Economic Times reported on Aug. 16.

“It’s a strategic investment and we would like to integrate the company,” Tanti said. Suzlon held 90 percent of Repower as of March 31, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Suzlon won’t sell its interest in Hansen Transmissions International NV until it can get a better valuation for the Belgian gearbox maker, Tanti said. “There’s no benefit for us at this valuation to sell,” Tanti said. “At an appropriate and good and right valuation, we might think of an exit.”

Suzlon retains a 26 percent stake in Hansen after selling a 35.2 percent interest in the company for 224 million pounds on Nov. 19 to help pare debt. Hansen’s share price has fallen 50 percent this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Solar Millennium
Solar Millennium AG, the maker of parabolic solar-power equipment, fell in German trading after cutting its earnings target because of extraordinary charges.

Full-year earnings before interest and tax will be about 30 million euros ($38 million), compared with an earlier goal of 45 million euros, the company said today in a statement on its website.

Solar Millennium was burdened by unspecified one-time charges in connection with payments to former CEO Utz Claassen as well as delays with a solar-power generating station, Andalusia being built in Spain. The company is beginning development of two power plants Palen and Bylthe in California, and preparing financing, it said.

Andasol 1, was the first parabolic trough power plant in Europe, generating electricity since December 2008, close by is the second stage, Andasol 2 which was completed in 2009. Currently with Stadtwerke München, RWE Innogy, Rhein Energie and Ferrostaal, Solar Millennium is realising the third solarthermal power plant at this site in Andalusia. In June 2010 the assembly of all parabolic trough collectores has been completed.