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.

The European Commission said that trade talks between them and the China-based solar industry have not ?？roken down' as cited this week by an industry trade group in Beijing.

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.

The management board of the inverter manufacturer for solar PV systems is still unable to rule out a loss for the current financial year. Thus there will presumably be further layoffs at SMA.

The Osaka-based company plans to stop making wafers at the end of June, a spokeswoman Chieko Gyobu said on May 23 by phone in Tokyo.

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.

The restructuring administrator of Suntech Power Holdings' Wuxi unit, which was forced into bankruptcy in March, has confirmed CNY3.32 billion(US$541 million) of debt claims, the Wuxi city government said.

Los Angeles is moving forward with two major new projects that will offer California's sprawling metropolis a combined 350MW of solar power utilizing a combination of feed-in-tariff (FIT) and request for proposal (RFP) pricing systems as it transitions from coal power to green energy.

China has almost completed its investigations into solar-grade polysilicon from the US, the EU and South Korea, but the timing of announcing the preliminary rulings depends on the EU's decision on whether to impose punitive duties on China-made solar panels, experts 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.

The EU looks set to join the US in imposing punitive duties on imports of solar panels from China.

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.

eteran American investor Warren Buffett has never had an interest in buying Suntech, according to an interview the Sage of Omaha gave to China Business News, and which was carried by news agency Bloomberg.

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.

Centrotherm has sold subsidiary GP Solar to German software company Isra Vision AG. Meanwhile, the company's insolvency proceedings at the Ulm District Court are expected to be completed by the end of this month.

The European Commission (EC) has begun a countervailing duty (CVD) investigation into imports of glass from China used in solar manufacturing, based on a trade complaint filed by trade group EU ProSun Glass.

China-based LDK Solar said on April 26 that it sold 25 million newly issued shares to Fulai Investments Ltd., a company owned by Cheng Kin Ming, a Chinese businessman based in Hong Kong, for US$25.8 million.

To spur the national solar market, France's environment and energy agency recommends installing more than ten GW of new capacity over the next six years.