Munich, Germany-based manufacturer Wacker Chemie has released a statement taking a firm stand against efforts to impose trade duties on China-made solar modules in the European Union.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday in choppy trading, faltering after a downgrade of Spain's credit rating sent the euro to nearly a two-year low against the dollar.

Solar power plants in Germany produced a world record 22GW of electricity per hour - equal to 20 nuclear power stations at full capacity - through the midday hours on Friday and Saturday, the head of a renewable energy think tank said.

China is developing third-generation photovoltaic technology, which may help China-based solar makers circumvent heavy duties imposed by the US, according to He Zuoxiu, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

US renewable-energy subsidies in five states violate free-trade rules, China's Ministry of Commerce said today.

California is poised to more than double its targeted electricity output from rooftop solar panels.

An experimental solar-powered airplane took off from Switzerland on its first transcontinental flight yesterday, aiming to reach North Africa next week.

Solar companies Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd and Trina Solar Ltd said their first-quarter margins were squeezed as they set aside money to offset anti-dumping tariffs imposed by the US government on solar panel imports from China.

China should respond forcefully and make every effort to let the United States withdraw the unfair and harsh ruling, so as to avoid a trade war between the two countries in the solar power sector, said Li Junfeng, deputy director of the Energy Research Institute under the National Development and Reform Commission.

A move designed to punish China-based solar panel makers that charge unfairly low prices in the US could, ironically, end up hurting American-based solar panel installers, a fast-growing sector of the green economy.

When will the stock price of China solar panel makers stop collapsing? When China starts switching to solar power. In other words, unless there are bottom feeders in the market with a long-term bullish outlook on the sector, 2012 promises to be a killer for China solar. Yet, despite US government's anti-dumping charge against them on Friday, industry insiders said at a conference in Shanghai that they were hopeful for a rebound.

Apple said its North Carolina facility will be powered by a combination of photovoltaic solar energy, green fuel cells and other sources of renewable energy.

China-based solar panel manufacturers are making plans to source components from Taiwan in order to get around US anti-dumping tariffs of at least 31% announced by the Department of Commerce last week.

China unleashed a storm of protest Friday on multiple fronts against the US decision to impose a 31% antidumping tariff on Chinese solar-panel makers and said the action could backfire on US industries.

The move, announced by the Commerce Department, is certain to infuriate Chinese officials already upset after recent bilateral frictions over China's human rights policies and its increasingly confrontational approach toward American allies like the Philippines and Japan.

The US yesterday imposed tariffs of as much as 250% on Chinese-made solar cells to aid domestic manufacturers beset by foreign competition, though critics said the decision may end up raising prices and hurting the US renewable energy industry.

SolarWorld said its Hillsboro, Oregon-based U.S. unit can't compete with Chinese exporters, including Suntech Power Holdings Co. (STP), the world's largest solar-panel maker, and Trina Solar Ltd. unless tariffs are imposed. Suntech was told to pay 31.22%, Trina's levies were set at 31.14% and others were told to pay duties ranging from 31.18-249.96%.

The US solar-power industry has been nervously awaiting a federal decision on whether to impose antidumping tariffs on Chinese solar-panel makers.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is announcing plans to install solar panels at Massachusetts stores in the next two years, making it the largest user of solar power in the state.

Canadian Solar Inc., the world's fifth-largest maker of solar modules, plans to build a plant in Japan as soon as fiscal 2013 to become the first foreign company to produce solar panels here, company sources said.

The German Federal Council has determined that that the bill earlier adopted by the German Parliament for the reduction of solar subsidies will be going a the mediation committee, which will allow for the federal and state governments to negotiate finding a comprise.