As President Barack Obama arrived at the G20 summit in France on November 3, the acrimonious Solyndra face-off reached a flashpoint in the U.S. Congress.

Amongst a range of announcements, thin-film manufacturer First Solar has announced that it will “postpone commissioning” of its 250-megawatt (MW) Vietnam factory. The announcement was made only hours after the inauguration of its second factory (FF02) at its Frankfurt (Oder) site in Germany.

Trina Solar is also suffering from the shaky solar market conditions. As such, it has revised its full year photovoltaic module shipment downwards.

Taking the wheel once again at First Solar, chairman of the board and interim CEO, Michal J Ahearn set out a new direction for the company in a conference call to discuss the company’s third quarter (Q3) results.

The U.K. Parliament’s Environmental Audit Committee and Energy and Climate Change Committee has launched an inquiry into the Department of Energy and Climate Change’s (DECCs) proposed photovoltaic feed-in tariff (FIT) cuts.

According to new research, photovoltaic wafer, cell and module capacity expansions are predicted to “slow dramatically” from now until the first half of 2012. It was also found that while supply of these products has grown by 54 percent since the start of the year, demand has only increased by 19 percent.

BTU International Inc. which, among other products, produces thermal processing equipment for solar cells, has experienced a weak third quarter Q3 2011. The results were said to have been primarily affected by the weak solar market. It has also announced staff layoffs.

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.