MONEYMAKERS
power shift: After making waves in the wind energy sector, the Madras-based NEPC group is all set to shine on the solar energy scene. The group holds 80 per cent of the market share in wind energy generation and is planning to invest about Rs 2,000 million in solar power generation. It has already begun generating solar energy equivalent to 250 kW at its first venture in Kethanur near Coimbatore. The group will employ a new technique of generating solar energy in their wind energy farms which would drastically reduce the cost of power generation.
alternative aid: Non-conventional energy seems to be catching on. The United Western Bank Ltd (UBW) of Satara, Maharashtra is planning to set up a joint venture with the US-based E&Co to promote business in the alternative energy sector. The new company would offer credit to entrepreneurs working in the field of bio-mass, solar, wind and other sources of non-conventional energy, who would provide it to consumers to run household gadgets. UBW will have a 30 per cent equity participation while E&Co will provide 49 per cent of equity with the balance coming from individual experts.
fuelling gains: Cashing in on the growing number of vehicles in Indian cities and the parallel rise in air pollution, the Delhi-based Hindustan Oil Exploration Company and the US giant Bardahl are tying up to distribute and produce auto-additives. Initially, the company will distribute the additives in the country before starting full-scale production. The additive can help save fuel by upto 12 to 15 per cent fuel economy. The fuel saver would be priced in the range of Rs 160 for 250 millilitres for petrol engines and Rs 100 for the same amount for diesel engines.
sensing attacks: Patients suffering from cardiac disorders can take heart. To help detect these disorders as early and as accurately possible, Boehringer Mannheim GmbH of Germany has developed a new device called Tropt based on an immunological principle. Using blood samples from a vein in the arm of a patient, the testing machine shows within 20 minutes whether a heart attack has occurred and, if so, how serious it is. Minor infarctions and attacks which occurred in the past can also be detected by the device.
imaging pollutants: Detecting oil spills, poisonous chemicals, industrial and municipal effluents in rivers and seas will be a lot easier with an airborne detector developed by Russian scientists. The detector would help experts to scan the entire range of an oil spill with a laser beam that moves perpendi-cular to the aircraft's movement. The image of the spill appears immediately on the video screen as a topographic map. The cost of the detector would be far less than the existing models.
planting profits: Hoechst Schering AgrEvo, a plant protection group of Germany will move into the top league of the world's plant biotechnology groups. It will purchase Plant Genetic Systems (pgs), a Dutch-Belgian biotechnology concern in a US $550 million-deal. PGS specialises in technologies to make corn, rapeseed and other vegetables resistant to illness, insects, or herbicides, or to improve their quality. AgrEvo has developed a technology which makes plants resistant to herbicides through genetic manipulation.