China Introduces a Unified Grid Feed-in Tariff for Solar Power

Solar developers in Spain are trying to build Europe’s first large-scale plants to sell electricity at market prices, taking advantage of a crash in equipment costs and some of the continent’s highest levels of sunlight. Builders have sought permits to connect 37.5 gigawatts of utility-sized projects to Red Electrica Corp. SA’s transmission grid, company spokeswoman Susana Moreno said. While demand studies show that’s far more new generation than the country needs, the first few plants could set a commercial precedent.

By John Hall:The first major piece of news since our recommendation to take profits on solar's powerful rally this year has turned out to be decisively negative - underlining the fact that investors with anything other than a very long-term buy and hold strategy would do well to stay on the sidelines for now and invest another day. The German government looks likely to announce that it is planning to cut subsidies for solar power installations by between 20% and 30%.

While the solar industry is going through something of a rough patch in the United States, the sun still shines in other parts of the world – a strong indication that better days are ahead for this vital source of clean power.   Germany’s Solar Boom  

By Tate Dwinnell: Nothing seems to be working to get the China solar stocks off the ground, not even the announcement of China’s first nationwide solar FIT (Feed-In Tariff) program. Rumors have been swirling for a few days and it was announced that the government will provide developers payment of RMB 1.15 (.18 kw/hr) if approved by July 1st or completed by the end of the year and RMB 1/kWh if approved after July 1st.

The European Commission agreed to impose punitive import duties on solar panels from China in a move to guard against what it sees as dumping of cheap goods in Europe, prompting a cautious response from Beijing which called for further dialogue. EU commissioners backed EU Trade Chief Karel De Gucht’s proposal to levy the provisional duties by June 6 and make Chinese solar exports less attractive, two officials said.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's governme

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's economic policy priority is to maintain relatively fast gr