Renewable Energy Corporation, one of the world's biggest makers of solar power equipment, said the worst was over for the solar industry after a sharp drop in prices this year resulted in heavy second-quarter losses for the Norwegian group.

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.

The Italian utility network authority has published a list of the photovoltaic installations that qualify for governmental solar subsidies this year. However, the prerequisite is that they are connected to the grid in time.

While estimates of how many jobs are being created in "green industries" are never easy, a report by nonprofit research institution Brookings has found that 2.7 million workers are now employed in industries that also benefit the environment, such as photovoltaics.

Chinese manufactures of photovoltaic crystalline silicon cells and modules, China Sunergy, has opened its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco.

On July 13, 2011, Solar Frontier K.K. (Tokyo, Japan) announced that it has begun shipping 150 watt copper indium selenium (CIS) solar photovoltaic (PV) modules from its Kunitomi Plant in Japan.

Everybody has been copying Groupon, so why not the solar power folks? San Francisco officials are rolling out a first-in-the-nation program today where commercial building owners can participate in group purchasing for discounted solar power.

Analysts covering the solar energy technology industry have been reviewing the wares this week at the Intersolar North America industry conference in San Francisco, which started yesterday and ends tomorrow.

Yingli has experienced positive growth in the U.S. solar market, with module shipments having notably increased. It also announced the opening of a new R&D facility in San Francisco.

One of the biggest solar panel factories in Europe has been launched in Italy as a U.N. report says photovoltaic modules have become more price-competitive.

There are two key goals for any solar energy equipment makers: converting a greater percentage of the sunlight into electricity and cutting production costs. Suntech Power, which is the world's top solar cell and panel maker, has launched two solar panels built with technologies that can do both, the company said Tuesday.

MIT researchers have shown how solar panels can be printed on paper and other cheap materials, opening a range of possibilities including homes with solar-panel window shades or wallpaper.

The Indian state of Karnataka has published its updated solar policy, which includes a target for 350MW of solar projects by 2016. The Government will allocate 40MW worth of projects for direct sale to the different distribution companies in the state, commonly known as ESCOMS, up to the amount of 200MW. A total of 50MW of bundled solar thermal power will be allotted to state-owned utilities for development. The split between photovoltaic and concentrated solar power (CSP) has not yet been defined.

Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. and Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) today debuted a solar-powered charging station for electric vehicles at the MMNA headquarters in Cypress, California.

On Friday, representatives from the individual federal states approved the energy law, which was decided on by the German federal government over a week ago.

Tata BP Solar India Ltd, a joint venture of Tata Power and BP Solar, has installed and commissioned a megawatt scale solar power plant under the Rooftop and Other Small Solar Power Generation Plant scheme administered by IREDA under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) for the first time in the country. The plant is coming up in Mayiladuthurai district, Tamil Nadu.

Phase II of Geosolar's workshop has gone into production. The potential for over 200 new jobs has been created and an extra 180 megawatts (MW) of annual production capacity added.

Investor concern among Italian and foreign photovoltaic operators is said to be running high after rumors emerged that the government would further cut incentives. Despite assurances to the contrary, GIFI says the industry is panicked.

Satcon Technology has released preliminary unaudited results for revenue and gross margin for the second quarter of 2011, which show that the company has revised its gross margin for the quarter downwards from 17-20% to within the 7-11% range. Revenue for the quarter, previously forecasted at between US$50 and US$60 million, now looks set to come in at between US$45 and US$47 million.

Drops in solar cell prices and surging interest in developing nations led to a 32% increase in investments in renewable energy globally in 2010, a United Nations report finds.

Scheuten Solar has realized nearly 20 megawatts worth of photovoltaic projects in the first half of the year, in Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.

Q-Cells' North American subsidiary is gearing up to start work on the last ten megawatt (MW) AC phase of Starwood Energy Group Global's 60 MW photovoltaic project in Ontario.

Arista Power, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of wind turbines, renewable energy power storage and management systems, and a supplier of solar energy systems, announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Helios Solar Works, a manufacturer of high-performance, mono-crystalline solar modules for solar electric systems.

Trading company giant Mitsui & Co. plans to build huge solar power plants in the Tohoku region to help the region recover from the March 11 disaster by easing its power shortages, it was learned Wednesday.

Solar and LED equipment maker GT Solar International Inc said it received orders worth $81.7 million for polysilicon production equipment from two new Asian customers, sending its shares to their lifetime high.

The president of the Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. said Monday it will localize more of its solar panel production outside the country, as the strong yen makes exports too expensive while fast-growing Chinese makers create a global inventory glut.

Renewable sources in the U.S. are starting to produce enough energy to rival oil output, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

Having 8 facilities within the Tokyo Electric Power Company and Tohoku Electric Power Co service areas, Kyocera has increased the size of the rooftop solar power system at its Tanagura manufacturing plant in Fukushima Prefecture, to meet energy reduction targets of 15%, due to the power consumption regulations dictated after the Fukushima nuclear power disaster.

QSolar Limited has introduced new high end solar panels with power outputs from 260W to 300W, designed specifically to address the large scale utility solar power plant applications. These panels produce 30% higher power output in comparison to the previous highly successful 230W range.

Leader of the UK's opposition party, Ed Miliband, has challenged the government's decision to slash the country's photovoltaic feed-in tariffs (FITs) for systems over 50 kilowatts in size.

Tough market conditions have forced polysilicon producer Daqo to lower its second-quarter financial outlook for revenue and shipments. The move came after Daqo was hit hard by weak demand and declining prices for its products

After declining for two consecutive quarters, rapidly falling PV module price is a key factor in strong recovery of PV module shipments and re-establishing demand in 2H 11, as per the latest report from IMS Research.

A 2006 long-term wafer supply deal between Suntech and MEMC has been ?？utually terminated' at a cost to Suntech of approximately US$212 million. Suntech said that the decision to cancel the wafer supply deal was due to ?？apid changes in the market for silicon wafers.' Suntech also announced that it was stopping investment in CSG Solar's research and development operations, which focused on crystalline silicon thin-film technology. MEMC remains a wafer supplier to Suntech under other supply agreements.

Silver Age, a British Virgin Islands company, owns 100 percent of Solar Silicon Valley Electronic Science and Technology Co., Ltd., which is a China-based solar wafer manufacturer. It is, in turn, 70 percent owned by Jinglong Group, a company controlled by JA Solar's chairman, Baofang Jin.

In early June, Gestamp Asetym Solar revealed that it would be working with French automaker Renault to install a solar system on the automakers manufacturing plants in France. The companies recently advised that they had chosen Trina Solar as the PV module supplier for the project. Through its subsidiary, Trina Solar Spain, the company signed a sales agreement with Gestamp, but neither company disclosed any of the financial details for the deal.