Shares of LDK Solar (LDK) were tumbling after hours following the company's first-quarter guidance.The stock, which gained 3.3% today, was down 2.4% in recent after hours trading.

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.

Solar Frontier, a unit of Japanese refiner Showa Shell Sekiyu,said it began production at a 100 billion yen(US$1.2 billion)thin-film solar module factory.

LDK Solar said it has filed a lawsuit against solar module maker Canadian Solar demanding compensation from contract termination.

LDK Solar is planning to build a solar manufacturing facility with 1 gigawatt of solar cell and 500 megawatts of solar module capacity. The manufacturing facility is expected to begin production in the second quarter of 2011, backed by US$368 million in financing for up to three years from a Chinese lender.

Hyundai Heavy Industries said it doubles its annual solar module and solar cell production capacity from current 320MW and 370MW to 600MW respectively by early 2011.

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.

DuPont Apollo has announced the opening of its silicon based thin-film photovoltaic module manufacturing facility. The 538,000-square-feet facility will have an annual capacity of up to 50 megawatts with a thin-film-on-glass PV module production line. Full-scale commercial production is slated for the first quarter of 2010.

Applied Materials has acquired substantially all the assets, including the intellectual property, of Advent Solar for an undisclosed cash amount. Advent Solar is a developer of advanced technology for crystalline silicon (c-Si) PVs.

Suntech Power and Schott Solar announce plans for new US production plants as demand for panels continues to climb.

Although solar module makers are trying to get rid of excess inventory, the price of conventional home solar systems remains somewhat unfazed because of other factors, like declining subsidies.

Kyocera has announced the construction of a new solar module manufacturing plant in Tianjin City, China in order to expand production capacity at Kyocera (Tianjin) Solar Energy. Construction of the new plant is timed to align the production capacity of solar modules with the increase in production of solar cells which Kyocera is set to expand to 650MW by March 2012.