Former solar billionaire and Australian citizen Shi Zhengrong is being investigated by China authorities over financial dealings that may have contributed to the insolvency of the company he founded, Suntech Power.

China-based solar-panel makers are set to follow the lead of Suntech as the industry enters a difficult period of consolidation and "adjustment", according to a senior industry executive.

The trustee administering US$541 million in bonds from Suntech Power sent the solar company a notice of default yesterday as the deadline to redeem the notes passed, a person familiar with the matter said.

Suntech Power Holdings said it didn't make a required payment on US$541 million of bonds that matured Friday.

Five Wall Street investment and hedge funds have the most to lose as China's Suntech Power seeks more time to repay US$541 million of convertible debt.

Solar panel maker Suntech Power Holdings reached an agreement with some of its lenders to defer its obligations on a US$541 million loan due this Friday by two months, providing the company more time to restructure the debt.

Suntech Power has reached a settlement regarding its fraud dispute with GSF Capital Pte Limited (GSF Capital). A part of the agreement has seen the China-based solar manufacturer taking over ownership of the GSF Fund.

Suntech, the solar panel maker, has forced out its founder Shi Zhenrong, in a dispute that highlights the painful contraction in the China solar panel sector.

Solyndra, the bankrupt solar- panel maker that received a US$535 million US government loan guarantee, accused Suntech Power Holdings and other China-based panel makers of driving it out of business by running an illegal cartel.

China-based Suntech Power Holdings Co.,the world's largest solar-panel manufacturer by output, surprised analysts by announcing that its founder would step down as chief executive, and naming as his successor a non-Chinese national who joined the company only last year.

After a couple of particularly challenging months for the company, Suntech has announced it has delivered more than 1GW of solar panels to customers throughout North and South America as of the end of July.

Silicon Valley is one of the world's cleantech big-idea centers but so far it's been Chinese manufacturers -- not valley entrepreneurs -- who are dominating the global solar industry. The Chinese are winning by driving down production costs through incremental innovation, said Zhengrong Shi, founder and CEO of China-based Suntech Power, the world's largest producer of solar panels.

Solar panel producer Suntech Power Holdings Co. said Wednesday it is buying 375 megawatts of wafer manufacturing capacity in China for $127 million.

Suntech Power Holdings has struck deals with four companies: Azuray, Enphase, National Semiconductor and Tigo to enable "smart panel" solutions.

Suntech Power China's largest maker of solar panels, said on Thursday that it has signed a deal to develop solar plants in South Africa with up to 100 megawatts in capacity.

Chinese wafer supplier Huantai Silicon has suspended its partnership with the country's solar cells and panels giant Suntech Power on their joint venture Glory Silicon, and will jointly build a new venture with U.S. veteran wafer producer MEMC Electronic Materials.

Suntech Power has announced that its first US manufacturing plant for the growing North American market would be located in the Greater Phoenix, Arizona area. The plant will have an initial production capacity of 30 megawatts (MW) and is expected to begin production in the third quarter of 2010.

Suntech Power has announced that it has beaten all previous records for multicrystalline silicon module conversion efficiency. The new world record conversion efficiency (aperture area only) was measured at 16.53%.

The Chinese solar company is now choosing among four sites for its first, 100-megawatt factory to build solar panels in the US, says an executive.

Solar power leaders remain hopeful in what could be a huge upturn in US solar demand, but continue to be careful about the rest of 2009 after being hit hard from the global credit predicament.