Yingli has experienced positive growth in the U.S. solar market, with module shipments having notably increased. It also announced the opening of a new R&D facility in San Francisco.

One of the biggest solar panel factories in Europe has been launched in Italy as a U.N. report says photovoltaic modules have become more price-competitive.

There are two key goals for any solar energy equipment makers: converting a greater percentage of the sunlight into electricity and cutting production costs. Suntech Power, which is the world's top solar cell and panel maker, has launched two solar panels built with technologies that can do both, the company said Tuesday.

MIT researchers have shown how solar panels can be printed on paper and other cheap materials, opening a range of possibilities including homes with solar-panel window shades or wallpaper.

The Indian state of Karnataka has published its updated solar policy, which includes a target for 350MW of solar projects by 2016. The Government will allocate 40MW worth of projects for direct sale to the different distribution companies in the state, commonly known as ESCOMS, up to the amount of 200MW. A total of 50MW of bundled solar thermal power will be allotted to state-owned utilities for development. The split between photovoltaic and concentrated solar power (CSP) has not yet been defined.

The president of the Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp. said Monday it will localize more of its solar panel production outside the country, as the strong yen makes exports too expensive while fast-growing Chinese makers create a global inventory glut.

Renewable sources in the U.S. are starting to produce enough energy to rival oil output, according to the federal Energy Information Administration.

Having 8 facilities within the Tokyo Electric Power Company and Tohoku Electric Power Co service areas, Kyocera has increased the size of the rooftop solar power system at its Tanagura manufacturing plant in Fukushima Prefecture, to meet energy reduction targets of 15%, due to the power consumption regulations dictated after the Fukushima nuclear power disaster.

QSolar Limited has introduced new high end solar panels with power outputs from 260W to 300W, designed specifically to address the large scale utility solar power plant applications. These panels produce 30% higher power output in comparison to the previous highly successful 230W range.

Tough market conditions have forced polysilicon producer Daqo to lower its second-quarter financial outlook for revenue and shipments. The move came after Daqo was hit hard by weak demand and declining prices for its products

A 2006 long-term wafer supply deal between Suntech and MEMC has been ?？utually terminated' at a cost to Suntech of approximately US$212 million. Suntech said that the decision to cancel the wafer supply deal was due to ?？apid changes in the market for silicon wafers.' Suntech also announced that it was stopping investment in CSG Solar's research and development operations, which focused on crystalline silicon thin-film technology. MEMC remains a wafer supplier to Suntech under other supply agreements.

Silver Age, a British Virgin Islands company, owns 100 percent of Solar Silicon Valley Electronic Science and Technology Co., Ltd., which is a China-based solar wafer manufacturer. It is, in turn, 70 percent owned by Jinglong Group, a company controlled by JA Solar's chairman, Baofang Jin.

In early June, Gestamp Asetym Solar revealed that it would be working with French automaker Renault to install a solar system on the automakers manufacturing plants in France. The companies recently advised that they had chosen Trina Solar as the PV module supplier for the project. Through its subsidiary, Trina Solar Spain, the company signed a sales agreement with Gestamp, but neither company disclosed any of the financial details for the deal.

Two of potentially the largest utility-scale PV projects so far planned in China will be supplied modules by Yingli Green Energy. A module supply agreement has been signed with Huanghe Hydropower Development Co for the supply of a total of 110 MW of PV modules for two ground mounted plants to be built in Wulan, Qinghai province and Golmud, Qinghai province. Yingli said the modules are expected to be delivered from June through August of this year.

Australia's renewable energy sector has reassured consumers about the safety of household solar power systems after NSW Government released a statement yesterday discussing the results of an audit conducted by the Office of Fair Trading.

The DOE is working with utilities and local governments to streamline U.S. solar permitting - a 'new frontier for solar cost decline,' says advocacy group

After two quarters of declining shipments, photovoltaic module manufacturers are set to see strongly recovering demand through the second half of 2011.

The production cost of solar power could be halved by 2013 given higher demand, improved technology and economies of scale, according to to Suntech Power Holdings Co, the world's largest thin-film solar cell manufacturer.

German solar company Q-Cells unveiled its thin film modules in the United States on Wednesday as it seeks to cash in on growing demand in North America while lessening its reliance on the European market, where government support for solar is declining.

LDK Solar is the world's second largest manufacturer of solar wafers - displaced from the top spot by its rapidly growing rival GCL-Poly Energy Holdings last year. The company is also a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic products and competes with other solar energy players like First Solar, Suntech Power and Sunpower.

The solar power industry is facing a double threat from a Congress that may turn off the flow of federal subsidies and take a pass on mandating renewable-energy standards that would increase demand.

Suntech Power's Just-Roof building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) module has been approved by French certification body CEIAB (Comit矇 d'Evaluation de l'Int矇gration au B璽ti). CEIAB is France's official evaluation committee for all BIPV products, and its endorsement sees Just Roof gain eligibility for the country's highest available feed-in-tariff.

Ontario's Minister of Energy, Brad Duguid, was on site as Eclipsall Energy opened the doors of its solar PV panel manufacturing facility in Toronto, Canada. Full production is expected to occur later this summer at the 120,000 square foot facility, which accommodates all of Eclipsall's operations and has room for expansion.

LDK Solar Co., Ltd., a leading vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic products, today announced that its Board of Directors approved a share buyback program that authorizes LDK Solar to repurchase up to US$110 million of its American Depository Shares ("ADSs") in the open market or through privately negotiated transactions. The program does not obligate LDK Solar to acquire any particular amount of its ADSs and may be modified or suspended at any time at the sole discretion of LDK Solar.

Britain's biggest array of solar panels has begun generating in Oxfordshire. The first large ground system to feed into the national grid will benefit from the tariff scheme paying a premium for supplying clean electricity.

Yingli Green Energy Holding Co., one of China's biggest solar equipment makers, said it is prepared for an industry-wide capacity glut and that its narrowing profit margins are good for consumers.

Californian Governor Jerry Brown, U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar and the Mayor of Blythe Joseph DeConnick have taken part in a ground breaking ceremony at the site of two vast solar-thermal power plants in Blythe, California.