Japan approved a bill today to subsidize electricity from renewable sources, joining European nations in shifting away from nuclear power after the Fukushima reactor meltdowns in March.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Services on Wednesday placed its noninvestment-grade "B+" corporate credit rating for LDK Solar Co. Ltd. under review for possible downgrade after the Chinese solar products company cut its financial outlooks for the second quarter and the full year.

IKEA's San Diego, California store has officially commenced operation of its 252kW rooftop solar power system; the tenth solar installation the company has completed at its stores nationwide.

A roof-mounted solar panel announced by Ford in the US this week could help to drive electric versions of its Focus small car up to 1600 kilometres a month for free.

First Solar has officially opened its new factory in Mesa, Arizona at a ceremony on Friday morning. Module production at Mesa is expected to begin by Q3 2012 and will employ approximately 600 full-time staff.

SoloPower has received a $197m loan guarantee from the US Department of Energy (DOE) for the construction and operation of three solar module manufacturing facilities.

Germany-based Solar Millennium AG said in a statement released last week that it has changed its plans for the proposed 1GW Blythe solar farm in California, and will install the first 500MW of the facility using PV panels.

When it comes renewable energy solutions, sometimes nature has the best ideas. That was 13-year-old Aidan Dwyer's conclusion after a wintry hike in New York's Catskill Mountains, a trip that inspired him to build a unique and effective solar array design.

Schott Solar has received a PV module order to supply a pair of projects in Thailand with a cumulative capacity of 16.9MWp. The 9.7MW and 6.2MW sites, located north of Bangkok, are being built by Phoenix Solar Singapore and are scheduled to be completed and activated by the end of the year.

Flying in the face of the shaky market conditions seen in the first half of 2011, Chinese photovoltaic product manufacturer JinkoSolar has bucked the trend to post positive second quarter 2011 results.

Silver prices have been bad news for photovoltaics of late. Their continuing spike is causing ripples across the photovoltaic manufacturing industry as it forces companies to find cost-effective solutions to the super-conductive metal or face losses.

Only hours after PV-Tech reported that Evergreen Solar had said it was in detailed and time-consuming negotiations with holders of its 13% Convertible Senior Secured Notes due 2015, which had caused the company to delay quarterly SEC filings, the company has said it has filed for voluntarily bankruptcy, under US Chapter 11 bankruptcy codes.

The European Union has launched a legal challenge against Canada at the World Trade Organization to protest against provincial backing for solar and wind energy projects, the bloc's executive said on Thursday.

Centrotherm Photovoltaics AG (CTN), a German maker of production equipment for the solar industry, rose the most in almost three years, buoyed by surging sales in Asia.

Monday's announcement that China is to introduce a national photovoltaic feed-in tariff (FIT) scheme was received well by many in the industry, however analyst opinion is that the Chinese tier-one manufacturers stand to gain the most.

Rebates for Los Angeles solar panel installations are 32% lower under the newly relaunched Solar Initiative Program, which will start accepting applications next month.

The Ontario government has negotiated a 75-per-cent cut in its controversial subsidy to a Korean consortium that is building new wind and solar farms in the province.

Dow Corning Corporation has announced that its subsidiary Hemlock Semiconductor Group is selling all of the polysilicon it produces, and remains sold-out "for the foreseeable future".

MEMC Electronic Materials Inc., which makes wafers for solar panels, said Wednesday that its second-quarter profit climbed, helped by a boost in revenue from the resolution of a wafer supply agreement with Suntech Power Holdings Co.

Having cited weaker-than-expected financial results for the first quarter of 2011, due in part to the halt in PV installations in the key Italian market , Trina Solar has revised its second-quarter guidance, which points to the demand issues in Italy for the company's lower sales expectations.

Photovoltaic cells are best known for turning sunlight into electrical power - and they're big business. But did you know that there's a type of PV cell that eats heat instead of light to make power? It could replace the Li-ion battery in your cell phone, and it may also be used to scavenge waste heat from almost anything that normally dumps it into the environment, from your TV's electronics to your car's engine (even an electrical one).