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In order to reduce the cost of energy in the country and also of imports of solar panel devices, Mozambique is to start its own production of solar panels to capture and transform solar energy into electric power.

Dr. Farooq Abdullah, the Hon’ble Union Minister for New and Renewable Energy urged the Indian solar photovoltaics (PV) industry to focus on developing research initiatives, during the Solarcon India 2010, held in Hyderabad, India last week.

Suntech Power Holdings Co., Ltd. has said it will be supplying Azure Power, an Indian, independent solar power producer, with several megawatts of solar panels under a new partnership, in order to develop utility-scale solar projects across various states in India.

The government of the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in India has undertaken several outstanding initiatives in solar photovoltaics (PV), according to K. Rosaiah, Hon’ble Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, who was speaking at the Solarcon India 2010 show in Hyderabad, India.

Astronergy (also known as Chint Solar) has announced that its parent company, the Chint Group, has officially signed a strategic cooperative framework agreement with the Gansu Development and Reform Commission, where it will invest in one gigawatt (GW) of solar energy projects and in 200 megawatts (MW) of manufacturing capabilities. This agreement marks the official launch of the province’s push to develop its solar industry.

Germany-based Q-Cells SE is to offer a professorship at the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, in Halle, starting in its 2010/2011 winter term in a bid to educate graduates beginning their careers about the opportunities available in the photovoltaics (PV) industry. With both activities, the company says it is underscoring its commitment to Germany as a research location.

Hanwha Chemical Corporation, based in Korea, has bought around USD$78 million worth of shares in China-based Solarfun Power Holdings Co., Ltd. under a new strategic agreement between the two companies. In addition, it has entered into separate agreements to acquire shares from Good Energies II LP and Yonghua Solar Power Investment Holding Ltd. As a result, it now owns 49.99 percent of Solarfun’s outstanding shares and holds a 49.99 percent voting interest in the company.

Saudi Arabia will export as much solar energy as it does petrol today, according to the country’s Minister for Petrol and Raw Materials Ali Al-Naimi, who was speaking at a one-day Saudi-German solar conference, held today in Magdeburg, Germany.

Spain’s Asociación Empresarial Fotovoltaica (AEF) announced at a press conference held last week that negotiations on future solar subsidiaries have been postponed for the next two months, while the country’s government awaits the results of an investigation to find out which PV plants were illegally connected to the power grid in September 2008.

The U.K. photovoltaics (PV) market could be artificially restrained by its government, after attaching certain conditions to its payment of remuneration, says market research institute, EuPD Research.