The Californian Public Utilities Commission approved today approved five renewable energy contracts worth 1,088MW. Three of the agreements were signed with Southern California Edison and Solar Star California–which is subsidiary of SunPower–for the Quinto, AVSP I and AVSP II photovoltaic projects, collectively worth 711 megawatt (MW).

In the case that all the solar industry in the UK will be watching closely, judges at the Court of Appeals said today that they will deliberate on the government’s appeal against the High Court’s recent findings that its cuts to the photovoltaic feed-in tariff (FIT) rates were unlawful.

One of the largest electric utilities in the U.S., Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), has announced that 185-megawatt (MW) worth of new photovoltaic projects came online in 2011. The capacity was spread across eight project sites.

Germany renewables developer juwi announced today that it has completed the sale of a solar power plant with a capacity of 1,065 kilowatt (kW). The plant was commissioned in 2009 and has been operated by juwi for two years.

Uncertainty in the UK’s solar industry may be reduced today as the Government’s appeal against a High Court ruling that its feed-in tariff (FIT) cut was illegal is heard. The High Court’s initial ruling was made in response to a case brought before it by the environmental NGO Friends of the Earth and a coalition of solar companies.

Chinese manufacturer JinkoSolar has announced that it will open a French subsidiary. The new office will be located in Montpellier, which the company describes as being in France’s “sun belt”.

In what it says are efforts to realign its business away from upstream manufacturing, Schott Solar announced today that it will discontinue its wafer manufacturing processes. 290 jobs will be affected by the move.

In a country where development projects are often bold, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has launched a solar park that, when completed, will be worth some 1,000 megawatts (MW).

Only one month after the country’s only photovoltaic module manufacturer suspended production, a new 60 megawatt (MW) module assembly plant has opened in the city of Adelaide, South Australia. The fab will produce around 300,000 240V modules per year.

Thin-film manufacturer First Solar has been investing heavily in politically lobbying, both in Washington and in the state of California, a report from Bloomberg has observed today. USD2.2 million has been spent since 2007.