The Canadian province of Ontario is becoming a magnet for global heavy hitters in the green energy sector, drawn by alluring subsidies at a time when incentives are being scaled back elsewhere.

Already this year, two prominent players -- South Korea's Samsung C&T Corp and Bosch Solar Energy AG -- have said they will set up shop, and more are expected to follow.

U.S. solar company SunEdison plans to build a major photovoltaic installation in Italy with capacity exceeding 60 megawatts as it aims to expand in Italy's booming solar market, a source familiar with the project said.

"The facility, which will be on operating by the end of this year, will surpass Spain's Almedilla de Alarcon which has a 60 MW capacity and is considered the biggest operating in the world," the source said.

More than Half Megawatt Installation at California Agricultural Facility Now Producing Clean Solar Energy and Substantial Energy Savings

SunPower Corp. (Nasdaq: SPWRA, SPWRB) and K6 S.a.S. today announced an agreement under which the companies are building two 1-megawatt photovoltaic (PV) solar power plants in the Puglia region, Italy. The two plants are located in Casamassima and Conversano and will be complete by August 2010.

The clean, renewable solar power generated by the plants will provide electricity locally, and contribute to Italy's national electric grid.

Phoenix Solar, Germany's sixth-biggest solar company, is expecting business in the ongoing first quarter to be significantly better than in the year-earlier period, the company's chief executive told Reuters.

"The first quarter of 2010 has been going well so far and it will be significantly above the first quarter of 2009," Andreas Haenel said in an interview on Tuesday.

"Of course, the first quarter of 2009 was very, very weak -- for everyone in the industry," he said, adding the only dampening effect in the current quarter was the cold weather.