SunTechnics, the solar engineering and engineering subsidiary of Conergy AG has just announced a tie-up in India. The deal is with Cauvery Kalpatharu Grameena Bank (CKGB), for retail funding of environmental friendly energy solutions. CKGB is a regional rural bank, with over 200 branches spread across the six districts of Mysore, Chamarajnagar, Hassan, Tumkur, Bangalore urban and Bangalore rural.

A lot of people have ignored India and concentrated on China when looking at the future impact of alternative energy. This is a huge mistake. India is growing almost as fast as China at around 9% p.a. rather than the Chinese 10% and the demographics suggest that India will be bigger than China in the not too distant future.

Conergy AG meanwhile appears to have had a positive response to its plans to enter the wafer module and cells production in the near future. Many think that the associated costs of solar power are so high, only vertical integration of production through to retail to installation can make it a truly viable business. Let's see . . .