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Thin-film module manufacturer First Solar has inaugurated today its second plant (FF02) at its Frankfurt (Oder) site in Germany’s east. The plant will have a capacity of 250 megawatts (MW) a year, bringing the company’s capacity at the site to 500 MW.

Just days after the halving of photovoltaic feed-in tariff (FIT) rates was announced by the U.K. Government, an installer has reported a rush on modules meaning that orders cannot be completed before the six-week FIT cutoff date.

The Asia Pacific PV Expo closed on a positive note today as the pre-monsoon rain drizzled outside the Marina Bay Sands convention center. The numbers were perhaps not as high as what many exhibitors had expected, but the companies present told pv magazine it was the quality of the visitors who stopped by their booths, and not the quantity that counted.

Refusing to be intimidated by scandal-starved Republicans, the Obama Administration pushed back on October 28 – not only declining to provide more documentation on the spectacular collapse of the California-based solar company, Solyndra LLC, but also mandating its own independent, 60-day review of Energy Department loans.

According to a new U.S. survey, solar is the most popular energy resource. The majority of Americans, it found, believe it should receive federal subsidies. Meanwhile, many say they would be more likely to buy a product if it were made using solar.

Flywheel energy storage solutions company, Beacon Power has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company, which among other products, offers cloud mitigation for photovoltaic plants, received a Department of Energy (DOE) loan guarantee in April.

Earlier this week, Ontario’s Premier Dalton McGuinty ordered a review of the province’s feed-in tariff (FIT) program. Canada’s Solar Industry Association (CanSIA) said that it wants clear rules as to what to expect from the program in the future.

Day two of the PV Asia Pacific Expo has focused on the issue of alternative solar technologies. Questions like why anyone would switch from crystalline technology to technologies like thin film were posed.

LDK Solar today held a ground breaking ceremony for its new 30,000 metric ton (MT) polysilicon manufacturing facility in Hohhot City, Inner Mongolia. The company believes “strong” polysilicon demand will be seen in 2014 “and beyond”.

In the wake of the leaked-and-then-announced U.K. photovoltaic feed-in tariff (FIT) cuts, one installer says that it is the timeframe not the level of cuts that presents a problem for the industry.