It’s the rare industry these days that isn’t getting hit by the global financial storm. Chinese solar stocks, after years of rosy prospects and burgeoning growth, are facing a mountain of a challenge, in the form of wobbly share prices, exorbitant costs of silicon and increased caution from investors. The decline of the euro and [...]

With solar subsidies starting to dwindle in Spain and Germany no longer the world’s solar poster child, the search for the next big solar power—in terms of both market and production—has been going on ever since Germany slashed its subsidies. There are of course the usual heavyweights, such as the U.S. and Japan, and [...]

This news is rather old, but please bear with me: the World Bank announced four weeks ago that its funding for renewable energy and energy-efficient projects and programs in developing nations increased by 87 percent over the past fiscal year. For the year ending June 30, 2008, the World Bank had committed a total [...]

For a country so abundant in sun, Pakistan has been slow to foray into the ever-expanding group of nations adopting solar energy. Yet, for a country so recently initiated, Pakistan appears to harbor some pretty big solar aspirations. It already boasts its first solar-powered base station (Base Transceiver Station, or BTS site) for mobile [...]

A professor at the University of Sao Paulo is piloting a project that uses the sun to power self-contained wi-fi units, in hopes of ultimately delivering free wireless internet to poor communities lacking proper power plugs and internet infrastructures. Professor Marcelo Zuffo, the Interactive Electronics Coordinator of the University of Sao Paulo, is testing [...]

It hasn’t happened yet, but it’s a distinct possibility: in a recent report, analysts have predicted that China’s solar market will experience a glut in late 2009. In light of the sky-high prices of imported polysilicon, Chinese manufacturers such as LDK Solar and Suntech (Suntech is China’s largest solar cell producer, and the world’s [...]

In the face of 391 power outages in its main power lines during the first half of 2008 and an estimated national energy shortage of 1,000 to 2,000 megawatts, Venezuela is expanding its energy production with various renewable energy projects, one of which incorporates solar.

Through its Energy Revolution Mission, the South American nation has [...]

As recent years have shown, social entrepreneurship in the developing world doesn’t have to come from philanthropic behemoths such as Google or Microsoft—they can start right at home in the grassy steppes, rainy jungles or dusty cities. Case in point: Sunlabob’s solar initiative in Laos, which has brought solar lanterns, panels and even entire [...]

Let us rejoice as India cements the beginning of a (hopefully) long relationship with solar with plans for its first polysilicon solar project, its largest solar thermal plant and the world’s largest solar farm. Not bad for a country just recently getting into the game—and perhaps expected, for a country with a potential generation capacity [...]