The prices of solar panels are falling fast, and that's putting enormous pressure on manufacturers to cut costs and improve the amount of power solar cells can convert from sunlight.

First Solar Inc. has announced the sale of its 9.9 megawatt solar plant near Zamora, Spain to European Solar Power Fund, a renewable energy-focused fund for institutional investors managed by KGAL.

Shares of solar LDK Solar Co. jumped 4 percent Wednesday after it signed contracts to supply solar modules to two electric power companies in China.

The U.S. Energy Department said it is offering to guarantee about $4.5 billion in loans for First Solar Inc. to finance three renewable energy projects in California that the solar-panel maker is developing.

German solar company Q-Cells unveiled its thin film modules in the United States on Wednesday as it seeks to cash in on growing demand in North America while lessening its reliance on the European market, where government support for solar is declining.

LDK Solar is the world's second largest manufacturer of solar wafers - displaced from the top spot by its rapidly growing rival GCL-Poly Energy Holdings last year. The company is also a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic products and competes with other solar energy players like First Solar, Suntech Power and Sunpower.

Suntech Power ousted its biggest competitor in the solar industry, FirstSolar, to become the largest supplier of photovoltaic (PV) modules in the world last year. The company shipped 1,522 megawatt ( MW ) of PV modules in 2010, comfortably ahead of the 1,411 MW First Solar shipped across the globe.

Suntech Power Holdings Co. Ltd. and First Solar Inc., the world's top solar panel suppliers, warned Monday that potential cuts in European government subsidies for solar power could lead to both lower demand and prices for their products, a combination that could hit their bottom lines.

First Solar Inc.'s (FSLR) first-quarter earnings fell 33% because of lower sale prices, higher costs and a slowdown in Europe's solar market, prompting the U.S. solar-panel maker to aim for new markets.

Bruce Sohn, First Solar's president of operations, may pursue work as chief executive of another solar company when he steps down at the end of this month, an analyst said. A First Solar spokesman said he couldn't comment on Sohn's departure.

The shock Italy gave us this week is another reason to stick with manufacturers that have project development divisions. First Solar and SunPower lead that group and should be cushioned if the second half of the year is tougher than expected. Most Chinese manufacturers are still trying to integrate and grow their upstream operations and don't have nearly the downstream capability of these two powerhouses.

First Solar reported a 10% rise in fourth-quarter earnings, beating Wall Street estimates, but the company lowered the top end of its 2011 sales forecast and its shares fell 4.7% after hours.

Yesterday First Solar closed at a new 52 week high after Goldman Sachs posted a Buy recommendation and news of a $1 billion manufacturing plant in Vietnam hit.

The first solar energy project on federal land has broken ground in California's Mojave Desert.

Retail juggernaut Wal-Mart is using panels from First Solar and MiaSole in what is expected to be one of the largest business installations of thin-film solar technology.

First Solar has announced a power purchase agreement to supply Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) with renewable electricity from a 300 megawatt utility-scale photovoltaic solar power facility that First Solar is developing in Southern California.

If the bearish options traders are right, First Solar should soon slip below the century mark. A pair of analyst downgrades and price decline of as much as 7%, to US$106.30, fueled bearish options activity on the manufacturer of solar modules. First Solar was cut to underperform from neutral and given a 12-month target share price of US$90 at Wedbush.

The potential impact of lesser subsidies has been an anchor on First Solar in recent sessions, after the company said last week that such cuts could pressure earnings in the second half of 2010.

First Solar has posted a higher-than-expected profit, but its shares fell as its outlook disappointed and profit margins narrowed.

First Solar has forecast 2010 profits of US$6.05-6.85 per share on revenues of US$2.7-2.9 billion. The Company said it plans to invest US$365 million of capital to add two production plants, consisting of four manufacturing lines each, to meet a demand pool.

First Solar has manufactured and shipped more than 1-gigawatt (GW) of its photovoltaic (PV) solar modules in 2009, becoming the first PV company to attain this production volume in a single year, according to the company.