The Fenix 6S gets an extra day and a half of life with the built-in solar panel.

South Korea's Hanwha Q Cells' market share grew 2pp last year to 12.9%, becoming the first overseas producer to top Japan's solar panel market, according to a survey conducted by Nikkei, tapping demand for inexpensive residential products. Canadian Solar Japan and China's JinkoSolar also managed to increase their share.

Tesla's offer represented about half of SolarCity's value a year ago, a tumble reflecting the solar company's slowing growth, complex financial structure and the increased scrutiny of government incentives for rooftop solar.

Electronics giant Sharp is ceasing solar panel production at its Wrexham factory with the loss of hundreds of jobs.

The commitment of solar panel manufacturers to good environmental practices may be fading as intense competition causes some companies to pare costs and others to go out of business, according to an industry watchdog.

Chinese solar manufacturers are still trying to sell panels at the lowest prices and have failed to adapt to an industry seeking more efficient components, said SunPower CEO Tom Werner.

Panasonic will close a solar panel manufacturing plant in Hungary to consolidate production in Malaysia and Japan.

Apple, working with Nevada utility NV Energy, is planning to build another solar panel farm next to a data center, and this time it's for its new data center in Reno, Nevada.

China-based solar manufacturer Jinko Solar staunched losses whilst increasing shipments and extending its global reach in the first three months of 2013.

China took aim on June 5 at exports of the Europe-made wines favored by its growing middle class, responding to an EU move to impose anti-dumping duties of China-based solar panels as tensions rise between two of the world's biggest trade partners.

Less than a day after the EU said it was imposing preliminary import tariffs on China-based solar panels, China's Ministry of Commerce announced on June 5 that it had begun a trade investigation of wines imported from the European Union.

The move comes a day after the EU imposed anti-dumping levies on China-made solar panel imports.

The Germany industries on June 4 expressed concerns over the EU's decision to impose provisional anti-dumping duties on China-made solar products.

The EU will delay for two months the full impact of import tariffs it planned to put on China-based solar panel equipment, to allow China-based manufacturers to negotiate a settlement that could defuse one of the biggest trade disputes in recent decades, EU officials said on June 4.

The EU's trade chief on June 4 carried out his threat to impose tariffs on solar panels from China.

Tariffs imposed by the EU on Chinese solar panels are lower than expected and may drive up imports for the next two months while officials pursue a trade agreement, renewable-energy developers said.

At least 14 times this year, thieves raided solar parks in Germany's Brandenburg state, carrying off tons of solar panels in a crime that's forcing investors in the world's biggest solar market to tighten security.

China and the EU are quarreling over China-based exports of solar panels, which Europe says are being dumped in its markets.

The solar panels covering a vast warehouse roof in the sun-soaked Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles were only two years into their expected 25-year life span when they began to fail.

Adroitly alternating the threat of a trade war with the lure of its huge import market, China appears to have driven a deep wedge between Germany and the rest of the EU. And it may even have caused a rift within the Germany business world.

A majority of EU governments oppose a plan to impose hefty duties on solar panel imports from China, a survey of member states showed on May 27, undermining efforts by Brussels to pressure Beijing over its trade practices.

China-based officials were in Brussels on May 27 to resolve the trade dispute with the EU over exports of solar panels and wireless telecom equipment.

Fearful of losing business in China, Germany, UK and the Netherlands are among at least 14 member states who oppose the sanctions, it was reported.

EU trade authorities on Monday signaled they would push ahead with a plan to impose import tariffs on solar-panel equipment made in China, despite heavy lobbying from the Chinese government that appeared to be weakening support for the duties among EU member governments.

Premier Li Keqiang, China's top economic official, has criticized the EU for pursuing anti-dumping cases against China-based solar power and telecommunications equipment that he warned will hurt both sides.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and China Premier Li Keqiang on Sunday called for an end to a trade row between Europe and China over solar panels and wireless equipment, telling a joint news conference they were both for free trade.

Major China-based solar panel makers on May 24 protested over punitive tariffs the EU plans to levy on China-made solar products.

China-based solar panel makers are seeking separate trade settlements with the US and the EU to avoid steep tariffs in their biggest markets.

The Obama administration and the EU have each decided to negotiate settlements with China in the world's largest anti-dumping and anti-subsidy trade cases involving China's roughly US$30 billion a year in solar panel shipments to the West, officials and trade advisers in Beijing, Brussels and Washington said.

As the European Commission gears up to impose average anti-dumping duties of 47% on Chin-based solar imports from June 6, China has called for dialogue to avoid a trade war.

The European Commission's (EC) proposed anti-dumping tax on imports of cheap solar panels from China has met with stiff opposition from the European industry body, the Alliance For Affordable Solar Energy (AFASE).

China resolutely opposes plans by the EU to impose punitive tariffs on imported China-made solar panels and will protect local companies, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce said on May 9.

Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker, plans to install the country's biggest rooftop solar power plant at one of its factories to expand the use of renewable energy and help reduce global warming.

The European Commission has proposed a tough 47% anti-dumping tariff to penalise the imports, it emerged on May 8.

The EU's trade chief will recommend placing punitive import duties on billions of euros of solar panels from China, people close to the matter say, putting up a barrier to protect Europe-based producers but risking upsetting Beijing.