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.

The US trade agency has agreed to review a complaint by Freescale against Funai Electric, Funai, Mediatek and Zoran.

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.

Aixtron and SINANO signed an agreement to open a training center in Suzhou Industrial Park, China, while Aixtron has also introduced its largest MOCVD reactor to date.

Mitsubishi Electric & Electronics USA, Inc. and Mitsubishi Motors North America, Inc. (MMNA) today debuted a solar-powered charging station for electric vehicles at the MMNA headquarters in Cypress, California.

On Friday, representatives from the individual federal states approved the energy law, which was decided on by the German federal government over a week ago.

Tata BP Solar India Ltd, a joint venture of Tata Power and BP Solar, has installed and commissioned a megawatt scale solar power plant under the Rooftop and Other Small Solar Power Generation Plant scheme administered by IREDA under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) for the first time in the country. The plant is coming up in Mayiladuthurai district, Tamil Nadu.

Elpida Memory plans to issue new shares to raise capital, a person familiar with the matter said, without specifying the amount of the equity financing.

Up to a million ARM processors are to be linked together to create a massive computer, called SpiNNaker (Spiking Neural Network architecture) that can simulate the workings of the brain.

Toshiba has announced that it will establish two new technology development centers for hard disk drives (HDD). The "HDD Advanced Technology Center" will seek to accelerate development of higher density technology and the "HDD Manufacturing Technology Center" will develop enhanced manufacturing capabilities. Both will open on July 16th.

STX Group, owner of the world's third-largest marine-engine maker, said it may team up with a Middle Eastern sovereign wealth fund to bid for a stake in Hynix Semiconductor.

Phase II of Geosolar's workshop has gone into production. The potential for over 200 new jobs has been created and an extra 180 megawatts (MW) of annual production capacity added.

Investor concern among Italian and foreign photovoltaic operators is said to be running high after rumors emerged that the government would further cut incentives. Despite assurances to the contrary, GIFI says the industry is panicked.

Satcon Technology has released preliminary unaudited results for revenue and gross margin for the second quarter of 2011, which show that the company has revised its gross margin for the quarter downwards from 17-20% to within the 7-11% range. Revenue for the quarter, previously forecasted at between US$50 and US$60 million, now looks set to come in at between US$45 and US$47 million.

Drops in solar cell prices and surging interest in developing nations led to a 32% increase in investments in renewable energy globally in 2010, a United Nations report finds.

FBR Capital analyst Craig Berger asserted in a research note that OmniVision could be at risk of losing its status as the dominant provider of image sensors for the Apple iPhone.

Applied Materials has announced a trio of new systems designed to boost performance in the next generations of DRAM chips. These innovative systems overcome key challenges in fabricating the transistor and contact areas of memory chips.

Korean companies and developers are now able to directly develop or invest in overseas mines for indium and lithium, two rare metals that are used to produce display panels and batteries for electric cars, the government said yesterday.

Scheuten Solar has realized nearly 20 megawatts worth of photovoltaic projects in the first half of the year, in Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands.

Q-Cells' North American subsidiary is gearing up to start work on the last ten megawatt (MW) AC phase of Starwood Energy Group Global's 60 MW photovoltaic project in Ontario.

Arista Power, Inc., a developer and manufacturer of wind turbines, renewable energy power storage and management systems, and a supplier of solar energy systems, announced today that it has entered into a strategic partnership with Helios Solar Works, a manufacturer of high-performance, mono-crystalline solar modules for solar electric systems.

Trading company giant Mitsui & Co. plans to build huge solar power plants in the Tohoku region to help the region recover from the March 11 disaster by easing its power shortages, it was learned Wednesday.

Hyundai Heavy has announced it was dropping plans for a takeover of Hynix Semiconductor.

Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology say they have developed a technique for pushing the resolution of high-speed e-beam lithography to write patterns for chips as small as 9-nanometers across, much smaller than previously thought possible.

Solar and LED equipment maker GT Solar International Inc said it received orders worth $81.7 million for polysilicon production equipment from two new Asian customers, sending its shares to their lifetime high.

Leading LED lighting manufacturers have announced large price drops for the next-gen tech, meaning we could all be using far less energy in a few years.

With a 5-year goal of manufacturing nitride-based LEDs on large-diameter silicon substrates, Siltronic has joined IMEC's gallium-nitride-on-silicon program.

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.

Chipmaker Wolfson Microelectronics has lost a quarter of its value after it warned on profits after customers sold fewer products than expected and delayed new launches. The company supplies chips for smartphones and tablets for the likes of Samsung, LG and Research in Motion (but crucially, not Apple).

Covent Garden Market is harvesting some dramatic energy savings thanks to a high-tech lighting system installed by two small London companies. Some merchants say the new LED lighting system has even reduced spoilage in their fruit and veggies.