The Spanish government must put more reasonable photovoltaics (PV) feed-in tariff (FIT) laws in place and allow all parties adequate access to the power grid if it is to remain competitive, an industry expert has told pv magazine.

China’s Shandong province has set an electricity purchase price of 1.7 yuan (25 cents) a kilowatt-hour for photovoltaic (PV) power plants for this year. It has also been said that next year and in 2012 Shandong will lower the tariffs for ground-mounted PV plants to 1.4 yuan and 1.2 yuan a kilowatt-hour, respectively.

Manz Automation AG has said it is currently seeing “a significant revitalization in the thin film segment”. The news comes as the company announces its acquisition of €8 million worth of new thin film orders in Germany and the U.S.

Solargiga Energy Holdings Limited has said it intends to acquire 51 percent interest in Qinghai Chenguang New Energy Co., Ltd under a new cooperation agreement with the Xining Economic & Technology Development Zone Administration Committee.

ABB has won an order worth USD$50 million from Actelios SpA, through its subsidiary Actelios Solar SpA, in Italy to supply three photovoltaic (PV) solar power plants in western Sicily.

Lawyer Dr. Sebastian Henneke of Registry hrm Henneke, Ropke, Messerschmidt in Germany has been appointed as the provisional liquidator for the insolvency proceedings over the assets of Meier Solutions GmbH in Bocholt.

Publicly funded demonstration projects and trials (DTs), such as those for photovoltaics (PV), are “vitally important” for developing low-carbon technologies in the fight against global warming. However, according to new research from the Advanced Institute of Management Research (AIM Research), the process of innovation needs to be managed holistically for DTs to be effective.

French group Tenesol has invested €1.5 million to increase the capacity of its South African solar module factory, based in Cape Town, to 85 megawatts (MW) per year.

The Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has unveiled new guidelines for off-grid and decentralized solar applications, which are to be achieved as a part of the National Solar Mission. Rooftop and other small solar power plants are also included.

Chinese solar power system manufacturer Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. aims to triple solar panel production capacity in the next three years to three gigawatts a year at a total cost of roughly 200 billion yen (around USD$2.2 billion; €1.8 billion), says Japanese news source Nikkei.