World's First Geothermal-Solar Power Plant opens in Nevada

By Alex Shadunsky: Although fossil fuels are still the standard for energy around the world, companies with green technologies are making inroads in their respective areas. Some technologies like solar panels are already being put in use.

Italian energy company Enel on Wednesday inaugurated an innovative solar thermal plant that stores heat from the sun in molten salts.The Archimede plant, near Syracuse in southeastern Sicily, is the first to use molten salts as a heat transfer fluid, Enel said in a statement.The plant "can collect and store the heat of the sun for many hours in order to use it to generate electricity at night or in overcast conditions, (overcoming) the common limitation of this renewable source, namely that you can use it only when nature makes it available," Enel said.

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  

The chart shows the top nuclear power producing countries from 1985 to 2010. The chart created by Curious Cat Investing and Economics Blog may be used with attribution.

In early 2010, your humble correspondent began warning of an inevitable rise in trade disputes over "green" subsidies.  Since that time, several cases have popped up, and yesterday the EU announced that it wanted in on the fun:

Suntech Power Holdings Co. (NYSE: STP) is China's largest U.S.-listed solar player by market-capitalization.