The Toshiba Corporation has announced that it will commence the construction of PV plants totaling 100MW in Minami Soma on the battered northeastern coastline where a tsunami and an earthquake caused the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl a year ago.

The dust is yet to settle on tariff determinations against China-based manufacturers, but the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM) has released a statement warning of a "conspiracy to commit offense or to defraud the US".

Many politicians and anti-nuclear activists in other countries are joining the international outcry against Japan and its decision to restart two reactors at the nuclear power plant in Oi, Fukui Prefecture.

Solar power has long been touted for its environmental impact. But now it has a new role: saving teachers' jobs.

Non-conventional energy projects in the district have received a boost with more and more people coming forward to install solar panels and bio-gas plants to combat power shortage.

The recently inaugurated Gujarat Solar Park was developed in less than two years with the co-operation of 21 international companies.

Oil rose to near US$85 a barrel Monday in Asia after Greek election results suggested the country will stay in the euro common currency, reducing the risk of a major upheaval in financial markets and the world economy.

The pro-bailout New Democracy party came in first Sunday in Greece's national election and could gather enough support to form a pro-bailout coalition to keep the country in the eurozone.

The UK offshore wind industry attracted GBP1.95 billion (US$3 billion) of investment in the last financial year as the government boosted the technology to curb emissions and secure energy supplies, Energy Secretary Ed Davey said today.

At first glance, Poland's renewable energy sector appears to be doing quite well, and the government's target of producing 10.4 per cent of the country's final energy consumption from renewable energy by 2012 has already been exceeded.

US-based First Solar, the world's No. 2 maker of solar cells, will ramp up production at its plants in Germany, scheduled to close later this year, to meet an unexpected surge in demand, a spokesman said on Tuesday.

The US Department of Commerce (DOC), responding to last autumn's petitions by SolarWorld and other members of the Coalition for American Solar Manufacturing (CASM), announced preliminary duties of 2.9-4.73% on crystalline silicon solar PV cells to counter Chinese subsidies to its solar PV manufacturers.

Solar installations in the US jumped 85% in the first quarter of 2012 from the previous year, according to an industry report that prompted a research firm and a lobbying group to raise their capacity forecasts for the year.

Germany's aleo solar AG has today announced it will close its solar module factory in Santa Maria de Palautordera, Spain, by the end of the year at the latest. 92 jobs will go.

Germany may pass legislation to cut solar-power subsidies before July 7 should the government and regional leaders reach a compromise this week, according to an official at the Federal Environment Agency.

May was a record month for solar energy production in Germany, with 4 billion kilowatt hours of electricity generated by the country's solar panels.

Moody's Investors Service downgraded MEMC's corporate family rating to B3 from B2 and its 2019 notes to Caa1 from B3 yesterday, while raising the company's speculative grade liquidity rating to SGL-3 from SGL-4.

The solar power industry has continued to forge ahead in Northwest China's Qinghai province since it topped the list of the province's top 10 major industries in 2010.

Having scrapped import duties on solar systems, Pakistan could be become a highly viable emerging market for photovoltaics, due to its high insolation values and growing energy demands.

Germany may call on the European Union to apply high import tariffs on Chinese solar panels that are sold at less than production costs, Environment Minister Peter Altmaier told the WirtschaftsWoche busniess magazine.

China-based energy group Hanergy is set to buy part of Q-Cells, the insolvent Germany-based solar-panel maker, in a deal that highlights the buying power of Chinese energy companies in the troubled European solar market.

Air quality in all of the 32 Chinese cities that track pollution falls short of World Health Organisation guidelines. Beijing is among the world's most polluted cities.

According to a recent UN report, the number of renewable energy jobs doubled globally between 2007 and 2011 and millions more will be employed in the sector over the next 20 years.

The last nine days of May saw a record production of solar power in Britain.