China's solar power firms are emerging as the industry's dominant force after the collapse of foreign competitors, but the new market leaders are already struggling with low prices and overcapacity.

GE has entered the Brazilian solar market with its new agreement signed with MPX, a division of EBX Group.

Trina Solar Ltd. (TSL) developed a solar unit with "record" output, and Roth & Rau AG (R8R) and Day4 Energy Inc. (DFE) created a module with increased power efficiency as cell makers compete to produce greater energy at lower cost.

Solar power from Australian rooftops has become so cheap and efficient that photovoltaic cells now produce electricity for the same price that's charged by the electricity grid.

Power generated from solar modules in Europe may take until the end of the decade to be competitive vis-?-vis conventional forms of energy, the world's biggest solar association said on Monday, adding that point could be reached sooner in some regions.

Abound Solar Inc., the photovoltaic- panel maker using technology favored by General Electric Co. (GE) and First Solar Inc. (FSLR), said bankruptcies that are culling higher-cost competitors will help lower prices for modules to $1 a watt.

The solar industry stands at a point that renewable energy advocates have yearned for - and feared.

China is targeting 3 gigawatts (GW) of roof-mounted solar power generating capacity by 2015 and 25GW by 2020, the China Securities Journal reported on Monday, citing a government renewable energy development plan that is likely to be unveiled soon.

A study sponsored by the solar power industry has concluded that the United States ran a trade surplus of $1.88 billion in solar technologies last year, as exports of raw material and factory equipment for the solar sector outpaced imports of finished solar panels.

The price of polysilicon, the main raw material in photovoltaic panels, rose in August for the first time in five months, and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said solar-equipment makers are poised for recovery.

IKEA's San Diego, California store has officially commenced operation of its 252kW rooftop solar power system; the tenth solar installation the company has completed at its stores nationwide.

A roof-mounted solar panel announced by Ford in the US this week could help to drive electric versions of its Focus small car up to 1600 kilometres a month for free.

Germany-based Solar Millennium AG said in a statement released last week that it has changed its plans for the proposed 1GW Blythe solar farm in California, and will install the first 500MW of the facility using PV panels.

When it comes renewable energy solutions, sometimes nature has the best ideas. That was 13-year-old Aidan Dwyer's conclusion after a wintry hike in New York's Catskill Mountains, a trip that inspired him to build a unique and effective solar array design.

JA Solar Holdings Co., Ltd. has signed an agreement to supply approximately 21MW of solar products to Huanghe Hydropower Development Co., Ltd. by September 2011.

Shares of solar energy technology provider First Solar (FSLR) are down $5.55, or 5%,at $98.91 this morning after the company last night announced its former chief financial officer, Jens Meyerhoff, currently head of its division that sells projects to utilities, will leave the company at the end of September.

Silex Systems is to close the only Australian manufacturing facility of solar cells for PV panels, saying it can no longer compete with imported cells, and cannot afford the continued investment given the uncertainty of clean energy policy in NSW and the rest of Australia.

Silver prices have been bad news for photovoltaics of late. Their continuing spike is causing ripples across the photovoltaic manufacturing industry as it forces companies to find cost-effective solutions to the super-conductive metal or face losses.

Monday's announcement that China is to introduce a national photovoltaic feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme was received well by many in the industry, however analyst opinion is that the Chinese tier-one manufacturers stand to gain the most.

Rebates for Los Angeles solar panel installations are 32% lower under the newly relaunched Solar Initiative Program, which will start accepting applications next month.

SunPower has updated its expected fiscal second-quarter financial results, joining a growing number of PV manufacturers adjusting to weaker-than-expected demand in the second quarter of 2011.

According to a report soon to be published in Solar Energy, the official journal of the International Solar Energy Society, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on roofs are also doing a surprisingly good, if unexpected, job of keeping houses and buildings cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

Solar energy is gaining fans in homeowners who aren't just tree huggers - they're penny pinchers.

A $1.2 billion write-down by solar equipment maker REC on Tuesday highlighted the pain being inflicted by aggressive Chinese competition and may herald wider consolidation in the sector and flattening of prices.

Solar panels on building roofs don't just provide clean energy they also cool the building, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Suppliers of photovoltaic modules have suffered from gross margins falling by more than 25 percent this year. That's according to IMS Research, which said there's a tough price war in the industry with supplier not able to cut costs as much as prices, so eroding the margins.

China-based solar equipment maker LDK Solar Co Ltd said on Monday the chairman of its audit committee had resigned, and its shares fell to their lowest level in a year.

Silicon Valley is one of the world's cleantech big-idea centers but so far it's been Chinese manufacturers -- not valley entrepreneurs -- who are dominating the global solar industry. The Chinese are winning by driving down production costs through incremental innovation, said Zhengrong Shi, founder and CEO of China-based Suntech Power, the world's largest producer of solar panels.