Santa Barbara’s Solar3D Inc. announced that it’s completed the design and is on track to complete a prototype of a “super-efficient” 3-D solar cell by the end of 2011. Holding out the promise of substantially increasing solar cell conversion efficiencies, the company believes its 3-D solar cell design “will dramatically change the economics of solar energy.”

Google have amazing ratings for employee satisfaction, serve 100 percent local food in its massive cafeteria, and power its "Googleplex" with over 9,000 solar panels situated atop its four main buildings, but now Google plans to help homeowners get solar panels to power their own homes as well.

The U.S. Solar Market Insight: Q1 2011 from the Solar Energy Industries Association and GTM Research shows that the solar industry continues to be one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. Grid-connected photovoltaics grew 66% over the first quarter of 2010, with a cumulative grid-connected solar electric installations have reached more than 2.85 gigawatts (GW), enough to power nearly 600,000 US homes.

Australian researchers have developed solar panels which can be painted or printed directly onto a surface. The project is one of several initiatives which have the potential to revolutionise solar energy by eliminating the need for bulky panels which need to be attached to buildings.

U.S. airmen are one step closer to going off the grid. The Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., announced the completion of an on-base solar energy farm June 13 that generates up to 6 megawatts of solar power.

The US Navy requires stainless steel for all its PV projects. The project was awarded to AE by Maui Solar Energy Systems, the solar integrator that will construct the project.

According to the DOE’s statement, the $25 million it is providing will need to be matched by the winning universities, national labs, private companies or others who apply and are accepted for the program. Initially, the grant recipients are meant to focus on three specific areas, including building energy efficiency, second-generation biofuels and solar energy.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is backing a drive to increase solar energy capacity in Asia-Pacific by six-fold to 3,000 megawatts by 2013.The ADB plans to provide up to US$2.25 billion in financing for solar projects and draw in a further $6.75 billion, mainly from the private sector, said Xiaoyu Zhao, vice-president for operations.

The 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference and Exhibition (26th EU PVSEC) will take place in Hamburg, Germany, at the CCH Congress Centre and International Fair Hamburg. The Conference extends over 5 days from 5-9 September 2011, the Exhibition runs over 4 days from 5-8 September 2011.

ANU has a partnership with a Chinese manufacturer to commercialise new solar cell technology. The scarcity of high grade silicon is one of the things which pushes up the price of roof top solar panels. The majority of existing solar energy cells on the market rely on high grade silicon components.

Australian prime minister Julia Gillard today announced the approval of a $104.7 million project to integrate solar energy into one of Queensland’s largest fossil fuel power stations. The 750 megawatt (MW) coal-fired Kogan Creek Power Station in South West Queensland will be integrated with a new 44 MW solar thermal system, making it the largest project of its kind in the world.

In recent times, Gia Lai Power Company has taken many measures in propagating the economic and effective use of electricity, thus saving not only an energy source for the country but also expenses for agencies, businesses and households. Thereby Gia Lai Power Company has made a good use of the electric energy source allocated for production and social-economic development in the province, contributing significantly to the electric energy saving movement.

100% of the barracks and households in Truong Sa District (The Spratly - Khanh Hoa Province) can now use electric energy for their work and life, with the continuous supply for 24 hours a day. The whole district is now under television and telephone coverages. It is special that all the electric energy used in this island district is produced from wind power and solar energy. So far, Truong Sa has been the first district in the country to use clean energy sources.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed by Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research Kim Carr in Berlin last week the ASI and Germany’s Deutches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt (DLR) will collaborate to accelerate technologies aimed at enabling solar energy to become a sustainable energy source globally.

Richard MacLellan, Halifax Regional Municipality’s SEMO Manager (Sustainable Environment Management Office) remarked that adopting solar heating technology was a good cost- effective proposition. As the demand for hot water was very high in the building, the opportunity for savings by decreasing the operating costs in the facility was also huge. He mentioned that they would continue their exploration to discover the most promising and innovative renewable technology that could be used in the projects.

Award winning Israeli company Solaris Synergy has designed solar energy grids that can float on water, reducing energy production costs, and preventing water loss. Generating energy from the sun would be more practical if not for two huge drawbacks: The expense of the silicon material that converts light to electricity, and the large tracts of land needed for solar farms.

This is the finding of a recent US study that was compiled by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Department of Energy, the University of Maryland and NASA, which introduced a new assessment method to analyze interactions between solar thermal and electrical systems. The aim is to overcome one of the greatest difficulties of economic models that were used up to now for the energy evaluation of solar power, which practically did not take into account the source’s natural variability compared to network loads.

Siemens Healthcare is developing a solar power solution, which would support the medical imaging equipments including MRI, CT, ultrasound scanning and X-ray systems. The company said this would largely help the centres located at the rural parts of the country, where power shortage is high.

The sun power industry in Germany, the world's leader in solar energy, is facing a tough year amid the threat of growing competition from Asia and falling prices. German solar-power companies rebounded last year from a dramatic slump in profit during 2009 as a boom in the sector took shape last year.