Akzo Nobel nv , a Dutch chemicals company, has been charged with stealing technology that makes solar energy cheap enough to compete with conventional electricity. A Dutch entrepreneur Peter van der Vleuten is planning to initiate legal action against the company alleging the theft. He had started a US $37 million solar energy development project in April with the aid of three universities, a research centre and Akzo. But last month, Akzo applied for patents for a new solar cell technology even though the know-how was developed by all the members in the co-operative and not by Akzo alone.