Advocates of renewable energy say an electricity supergrid could enhance the clean-power industry by connecting power sources like wind farms in Scotland and solar arrays in Spain or North Africa to the population centers of Europe.

The Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, yesterday expressed his country's interest in collaborating with the UAE on renewable energy projects.

Renewable energy companies are hoping the World Future Energy Summit, which opens in Abu Dhabi today, will help answer that question.

Located within the equatorial "Sun Belt," where more solar radiation hits the earth than any other part of the globe, best available measurements are that Saudi Arabia receives an average 2,200 thermal kilowatt hours (kWh) of solar energy per square meter of land area every day.

Charging a mobile phone by simply using a solar charging panel on the back cover is possible but challenging, Nokia has concluded after ending a research project on the subject.

LDK Solar Co. (LDK)'s plan to buy Germany's Sunways AG (SWW) provides China's second-largest solar-panel maker with access to new technology and a distribution network in the world's biggest photovoltaic market.

Adding to a recent US Department of the Interior (DoI) announcement of two new renewable energy projects being approved, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar has approved the construction of a further two projects - a utility-scale solar power plant in California and a transmission line for a wind farm in Oregon.

The German Solar Industry Association (BSW) has announced that German solar power producers have increased electricity output this year by 60 percent over 2010 to 18 billion kWh. This is more than three percent of total power output volumes.

For the past decade, solar companies and investors have largely focused their energy on transforming the electric power business of developed countries, first in Europe and then the United States.

Indian utility Tata Power Ltd said on Tuesday it would buy out BP Alternative Energy Holding's 51 percent stake in joint venture Tata BP Solar for an undisclosed amount.

REC modules were selected for a 60MW module supplier agreement with the German project developer GP JOULE for solar power plant installations in France and Germany.

German solar-power developer Solar Millennium AG said Wednesday it has filed for insolvency after it was unable to sell four US solar-power projects, in the second such filing by a German solar firm in a week.

BP has taken the axe to its solar power business, saying it "can't make any money" from selling panels at a time when it continues to spend US$20bn annually on oil and gas developments.