Construction plans for a prospective solar farm have been postponed again.
The county would receive additional funding as a result of the extension.
Jay County Council agreed to move forward with amendments to its tax abatement and economic development agreement with Leeward Renewable Energy for its prospective Rose Gold Solar Farm during a nearly two-hour meeting Wednesday.
Leeward Renewable Energy had been required per its approved timeline with the county to start construction by June 30, 2027, with work to be completed by the end of 2028. The proposed changes would require construction to start by June 30, 2029, with completion by Dec. 31, 2030.
As a result of the two-year extension, the county would receive $3.975 million in economic development payments over a four-year period following the start of construction. That amount is an increase of more than $2 million from the previous agreement.
Likewise, the company would shift to a tax abatement that reduces property taxes by 75% for 10 years. Previously, the company had a 10-year graduated abatement, with taxes abated by 10% less each year.
Leeward Renewable Energy’s plans for Rose Gold Solar involve a $160 million, 150-megawatt solar facility on about 1,430 acres north of Dunkirk.
Sam Brooks, senior development associate with Leeward Renewable Energy, explained development began on Rose Gold Solar in late 2019. County officials approved agreements with the company in 2021.
Plans originally called for construction to begin in late 2022.
Delays with securing an agreement with regional transmission organization PJM Interconnection pushed Leeward Renewable Energy to adjust its timeline. (The organization — it coordinates wholesale electricity movement across 13 states and the District of Columbia — had been revamping its analysis process for new services joining the power grid.)
Despite submitting its application in early 2020, Leeward Renewable Energy didn’t receive its agreement with the organization until late last year. That agreement stipulates the facility can’t begin generating electricity until 2030.
Brooks noted the company is coordinating with PJM Interconnection on ways to accelerate the timeline, but realistically Leeward Renewable Energy is now planning for the solar farm to go online in 2030.
Andy Buroker, an attorney representing Leeward Renewable Energy, presented two options for council members to consider as amendments.
Buroker shared the aforementioned increased economic development payments and adjusted tax abatement as one option. If there are additional millions invested into the project beyond Leeward Renewable Energy’s $160 million commitment, he added, the economic development payment would increase.
He also shared another option, which would involve increasing the economic development payment from $1.95 million to $2.475 million. (That raises the payment to about $16,500 per megawatt, or a half-million-dollar increase overall.) It would also keep the original 10-year abatement, which saves the company about $7 million in property taxes.
Buroker noted discussions with Jay County Council president Matt Minnich, Jay County Commissioners president Duane Monroe, county attorney Wes Schemenaur and financial advisor Baker Tilly.
Minnich suggested council members move forward with the option that results in larger economic development payments.
“I just think there’s a lot of opportunity with some of the projects that we have in the works,” he said. “If they’ll have a larger EDA, maybe they’ll facilitate some of those projects, and hopefully they can do something like we did before, where we gave some money back to the smaller communities to help out with their projects.”
The amendments also call for starting economic development payments at the beginning of construction instead of when the facility starts generating electricity.
Buroker reassured council members that Leeward Renewable Energy still plans to construct a solar farm in Jay County.
“Rose Gold Solar is committed to this project, wants to do it, if we could start tomorrow, we would,” he said.
Council members agreed to the terms of the option recommended by Minnich. County attorney Wes Schemenaur noted he would draft the legislation for their next meeting. Commissioners will need to approve the updated economic development agreement as well.
Also Wednesday, council approved a recommendation from Jay County Tax Abatement Advisory Committee to grant a one-year tax abatement to Jay County REMC. As a result, the company will contribute a $40,000 economic development payment.
Council originally looked at a 10-year abatement in August with the electric cooperative for its proposed warehouse and office project. It agreed to a real property tax abatement at that point in time. Last month, council referred the abatement along with a request for a personal property tax abatement to Jay County Tax Abatement Advisory Committee.
Committee members last month expressed concerns about transparency, saying a few items in the cooperative’s application were misrepresented. They ultimately recommended a shorter abatement with an economic development payment included.
Jay County REMC board member Ken Denton read a prepared statement Wednesday from CEO Neil Draper asking for the council’s support for the abatement as originally approved. Addressing one of the concerns raised at past meetings, Denton read that construction site work prior to the project’s start date in September had been preliminary preparations.
Council members again questioned some of the details in the application, with council member Matt Minnich also saying it seemed like the abatement request came in at the last minute.
Council members Bryan Alexander, Faron Parr, Cindy Bracy, Michael Brewster, Randy May and Minnich agreed to the committee’s recommendation. Council member Harold Towell dissented.
Council also received a primer on changes coming to income and property taxes starting in 2029.
Sam Vanderveen, senior project manager with Policy Analytics and a former employee at the Indiana Department of Local Government Finance, shared an analysis of the fiscal impact of changes made by Senate Enrolled Act 1 and subsequent legislation.
Vanderveen pointed to decisions the Municipal Unit Strategic Taskforce will need to make before the end of the year. He shared graphs demonstrating property taxes for different entities — they included tax scenarios for individuals and businesses as well as school corporations and government agencies — over the next decade.
The overall effect, Vanderveen noted, contributes to significant increases in residential tax bills, specifically for properties with lower assessed values. Vanderveen suggested the county address how to make those effects less disproportionate.
To hear Vanderveen’s full presentation, check out council’s recording of the meeting at bit.ly/jaycouncilOct142026.
Also, council approved the county’s 2027 budget.
Next year’s budget came in at $27.04 million, roughly $1.1 million (4.4%) more than the current year. It includes just under $12.35 million in the general fund, an approximately $600,000 increase from this year’s general fund.
The 2027 budget includes at least 2.5% raises across the board for county employees along with the county’s $515,000 payment toward emergency responder radios.
In other business, council:
•Made the following additional appropriations: $25,000 for the reimbursed health bioterrorism grant, which helps fund Jay County Health Department; $17,650 for Jay County Courthouse utilities; $5,910 for Jay Circuit Court; and $1,500 for professional services from Ritter Strategic Services.
•Approved a salary ordinance amendment to give Jay County public defender Brandon Murphy a $1,250 one-time bonus — it’s a stipend given by the state — and made $1,485.63 in additional appropriations to account for the increase.
•Formally changed the November meeting date to 6 p.m. Nov. 18, a week later than the normally scheduled meeting. The change was made to avoid conflicts with Veterans Day.
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For decades, the Arctic has been dismissed as a solar dead zone. Long winters, heavy snow loads, and extreme cold seemed to rule out photovoltaics as a serious energy option for communities above the 60th parallel. A new report from the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (Task 13) challenges that assumption, arguing that solar PV is not just viable in the Arctic, but increasingly essential to the region’s energy security.
The 77-page report, titled “Photovoltaics and Energy Security in the Greater Arctic Region“ and authored by researchers across the US, Canada, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, and Finland, arrives at a moment when Arctic PV capacity is growing at rates of 46 to 145% per year in some regions. Total installed capacity above 60°N now stands at roughly 1,400 MWp as of 2023 — still a tiny fraction of global capacity, but the trajectory is unmistakable.
First and foremost, when planning a PV project at higher latitudes, the starting point must be considering seasonality: near the summer solstice in June, high-latitude regions receive large amounts of solar radiation. In contrast, near the winter solstice in December high-latitude regions receive little solar radiation (or not at all above the Arctic Circle at 66.56°N).
Bridging the gap between the intensity of summer and the scarcity of winter is the defining integration challenge for Arctic PV systems, and one that is addressed at length throughout the report.
The report’s central argument rests on a counterintuitive insight: cold is not the enemy of solar panels. It’s often an advantage.
Silicon PV cells produce more power at lower temperatures because the semiconductor bandgap widens, boosting voltage. The report cites data from a south-facing system in Alaska, where the median module temperature during daylight hours was just 15°C, which is far below the 25°C standard test condition at which panels are rated. In cold climates, modules may also degrade more slowly, with a median performance loss rate of just -0.37%/year measured across 16 systems above 59°N, compared to -0.75%/year for systems across the continental United States.
Snow, meanwhile, is a double-edged factor. It can block panels and stress racking systems, but it also dramatically raises ground albedo, potentially boosting the rear-side gain of bifacial modules to levels unseen in lower latitudes. The report notes that bifacial gain increases with latitude precisely because of long-lasting snow cover, increased diffuse light, and low solar elevation angles. The recommendation is clear: bifacial modules should be the default technology choice for Arctic deployments.
One of the report’s more striking practical findings concerns system orientation. East-west facing vertical bifacial arrays show particular promise above 60°N. Their near-90° tilt sheds snow naturally, avoiding the extended zero-production periods that plague tilted fixed-tilt systems in winter. They also produce power earlier and later in the day, better matching electricity demand curves and reducing the “cannibalization effect” that depresses midday wholesale prices.
Field data from a vertically-mounted agrivoltaic system in Sweden (59.55°N) illustrates the point. In December 2023, the vertical system outperformed its south-facing fixed-tilt neighbor on 28 out of 31 days, averaging 6.1 kWh/kW/month versus just 1.32 kWh/kW for the tilted array. On 14 of those days, the tilted system produced nothing at all due to snow coverage.
However, there is one section of the report that deserves special attention from developers: the discussion of frost heave and permafrost. Two detailed case studies — a 699 kW system in Luleå, Sweden, and a 563 kW array in Fairbanks, Alaska — document costly structural failures caused by ground freezing that installers failed to adequately anticipate.
In Luleå, perforated C-profile piles allowed the clay substrate to grip the racking, causing visible deformation within the first winter. The entire racking system had to be replaced with deeper, non-perforated piles. In Fairbanks, helical piles in a historically filled slough zone were jacked out of the ground and sank, breaking modules and requiring partial disassembly and reinstallation at 5.5 m depth.
The lesson from both cases: standard geotechnical surveys designed for construction and road work are not adequate for PV racking in frost-prone soils. Developers must commission surveys with PV-specific methodology, and should factor in the less obvious effect of the array itself.
In permafrost regions, the problem compounds further. Monitoring data from an array in Kotzebue, Alaska, shows that snow drifts accumulating behind solar rows are warming the permafrost, potentially destabilizing foundations over time. According to the report, solar arrays in these environments can act as snow fences, and the long-term structural consequences remain poorly understood.
For developers seeking to bankroll Arctic projects, the report identifies a persistent obstacle: the almost total absence of high-quality irradiance data above 60°N. Geostationary satellites degrade in accuracy beyond 65° latitude. Polar-orbiting satellites struggle to distinguish snow from cloud cover. Ground-based measurement networks are sparse, and those that exist face unique maintenance challenges, such as rime ice forming on radiometer domes, malfunctioning tracker mechanisms, and limited site access in winter.
As a result, energy yield assessments for Arctic projects carry substantially higher uncertainty than those at lower latitudes, which leads to complicated financing. The authors call for investment in heated, ventilated measurement instruments, rigorous maintenance protocols, and expanded ground-station networks across high-latitude regions.
The country-level data in the report paints a picture of a region moving fast despite the obstacles. Norway’s PV capacity above 60°N reached 173 MW in 2023, growing at 145% annually, with the country targeting 8 TWh of solar generation by 2030. Finland crossed 1 GW nationally and projects up to 9.1 GW by 2030. Arctic Sweden’s installed base hit 350 MW with a five-year mean growth rate of 58%/year, and utility-scale ground-mounted parks are now entering the permitting pipeline at gigawatt scale.
In North America, the story is different but equally dynamic. Alaska’s total PV capacity reached roughly 30 MW at end-2023, with the largest single facility at 8.5 MW and a 45 MW project announced for the Railbelt grid. More than 150 isolated diesel-dependent rural microgrids are receiving funding for solar-plus-storage systems, with some already capable of 100% renewable operation during favorable conditions.
The overarching message of this report is that the Arctic solar market is real, it is growing, and it has specific technical requirements that the global PV industry has not yet fully addressed. Bifacial vertical arrays, PV-specific geotechnical standards, Arctic-grade snow loss modeling, and expanded irradiance datasets are not nice-to-haves, but rather the foundations on which a credible high-latitude solar industry must be built.
Author: Ignacio Landivar
To access the full “Photovoltaics and Energy Security in the Greater Arctic Region,” you can download it here.
IEA PVPS Task 13 focuses on international collaboration to improve the reliability of photovoltaic systems and subsystems. This is achieved by collecting, analyzing, and disseminating information about their technical performance and durability. This creates a basis for their technical evaluation and develops practical recommendations to increase their electrical and economic efficiency in various climate regions.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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Nine cylinders of nitrogen went into the transformer over 90 minutes
A transformer subcontractor has been convicted and fined $120,000 over nitrogen risks at a NSW solar farm.
The Industrial Court of New South Wales handed down its sentence on October 2, 2026, in SafeWork NSW v Megavolt Australia Pty Ltd, after the company pleaded guilty to a workplace safety offence carrying a maximum penalty of more than $665,000.
Megavolt Australia Pty Ltd specialised in transformer installation and maintenance for medium and high voltage industries. In February 2023, Siemens Energy engaged it to install two large transformers at a solar farm near Wuuluman in central-western NSW.
The job went to plan until July 11, 2023, when one of the transformers failed to hold a vacuum. Megavolt started investigating a possible leak – but did not tell Siemens Energy.
The next morning, two pairs of workers split across the two transformers. The company's sole director and a trade assistant tackled the leak problem on Transformer No 1. Their fix was to switch off the vacuum pump and pump nitrogen into the system to manage tank pressure and stop moisture getting in while they searched for the leak.
Nine cylinders of compressed nitrogen went in over an hour and a half.
That detail sat at the heart of the case. Megavolt had not done a risk assessment for using nitrogen at the site. It had no safe work method statement covering leak detection. It had not given the safety data sheet for nitrogen to its workers or to Siemens Energy. And the trade assistant – who ended up working directly on the transformer – had received no training on confined spaces, hazardous atmospheres, or the properties of nitrogen.
The safety data sheet for nitrogen – which the workers never saw – describes it as a colourless, odourless gas that can cause asphyxiation in high concentrations. Symptoms include dizziness, drowsiness, weakness and loss of consciousness. A person may not even realise it is happening.
After the pair located the leak, the director told the trade assistant to photograph it and then help colleagues at the second transformer, about 30 metres away. The director left for the site office. Fixing the leak was put on hold.
Then the trade assistant went back to Transformer No 1.
A colleague working on the second transformer saw him walk toward it. Shortly after, the colleague heard gas escaping from an inspection hatch. When he next looked up, the trade assistant was on the turret, on his knees, leaning into the manhole.
The director phoned the trade assistant at 8:53am about crane work. At around 9:35am, he came back to the second transformer and asked where the trade assistant was. Told he was at the top of Transformer No 1, the director put on a harness and climbed up. Other workers followed.
NSW Fire and Rescue HAZMAT crews arrived at approximately 2:45pm and tested the oxygen levels inside the hatch. At 3:10pm, the reading was 20.1% – sitting at the very bottom of the normal range of 20.0% to 20.8%. The hatch had been open the entire time since the trade assistant removed it.
An occupational hygienist later found that both the transformer and its B-Phase turret were confined spaces with oxygen-deficient atmospheres. When the hatch was removed, nitrogen would have been released into the area immediately outside, also creating a danger zone until the gas mixed properly with air.
What made the case worse, from a compliance standpoint, was the sheer number of basic steps Megavolt skipped. The court found the company could have done a risk assessment for nitrogen use, written a safe work method statement for leak detection, handed out the safety data sheet, trained the trade assistant on confined spaces and hazardous chemicals, and talked to Siemens Energy before pumping nitrogen into the transformer.
The court called those steps "rudimentary."
Megavolt's existing safe work method statement for transformer work mentioned "compressed gases" in a hazards list but did not cover leak detection. And despite leak detection being part of what the court described as "the vast majority" of the company's installation jobs, it had never been folded into the company's safety documentation.
In Megavolt's favour, the court accepted that the company was generally safety-conscious. A Siemens Energy project manager gave positive evidence about the tidy way workers operated on site – they used personal protective equipment and fall arrest gear as required, tied ladders top and bottom, and had properly registered methylated spirits on the site's safety database when bringing them in.
That track record, the court found, reduced Megavolt's moral blame – but did not change how serious the offence itself was. The court placed it "well above the mid-range" of seriousness for this type of charge.
The court set a starting fine of $160,000 and applied a 25% discount for the guilty plea, arriving at $120,000. Megavolt was also ordered to pay the prosecutor's costs, with half the fine going to the prosecutor under the Fines Act 1996 (NSW).
The aftermath told its own story. The company's sole director gave evidence that he could no longer run the business after the incident. Megavolt ceased trading, walked away from contracts worth around $800,000, and sold off its operating assets. Its only remaining significant asset was a series of outstanding director's loans totalling $325,152, set against an outstanding debt of $62,000 to the tax office. Civil proceedings were commenced against the company in August 2026.
For WHS and HR teams, the case is a pointed reminder that routine familiarity with a hazardous substance does not replace a site-specific risk assessment – and that the steps a court looks for after an incident are the same routine ones most safety professionals already know how to do.
A huge solar power project in Jefferson County is receiving public pushback.
New York State’s Office of Renewable Energy Siting (ORES) has already approved a permit for the Greens Corners Solar Project. The proposed 140-megawatt solar field would span 800 acres surrounding Old Rome State Road in Watertown and Hounsfield, which is owned by a local dairy farmer.
New York State has a lofty goal of powering 70% of the electric grid with renewable energy by 2030, but it’s way behind on that target. To accelerate the creation of renewable energy, ORES has broad authority to review, permit, and site major facilities like Greens Corners. That also means local governments like the Town of Hounsfield are left out of decision-making.
According to WWNY-TV, dozens of nearby property owners packed a public meeting in Hounsfield last week with concerns over the solar farm. Those include impacts on agriculture, safety, and property costs. Randy Johnston, a resident, spoke at the meeting.
“These solar panels coming in, that don’t benefit any of us. That’s going to New York City.”
The Town Board had its concerns too. “Not that we don’t want a farmer to make a second income from solar, but we don’t want prime agricultural land to be the center of that project,” Dawn Nier, Town of Hounsfield board member, told WWNY-TV.
Hounsfield is updating several local laws and restrictions for solar farms under 25 megawatts, including regulations on battery storage sites. But it doesn’t have control over Greens Corners.
AES, a renewable energy company based in Virginia, is building Greens Corners. A company spokesperson said the project is expected to create hundreds of construction jobs, several full-time positions, and generate tax revenue for the local towns and schools.
Solar farms require a host community agreement so municipalities receive a kickback for energy generated. The exact terms of this agreement remain to be seen.
Trisha Lapell, a nearby property owner, told WWNY-TV that she feels like there’s a lack of transparency behind this solar project.
“Had I been aware, I certainly would not have purchased a home that was smack dab in the middle of a solar farm. It’s going to affect property values, it’s going to affect quality of life, it’s going to affect the natural habitat.”
At the public meeting, some residents said they want to pursue legal action against the state to revoke the project and hope pushback could stop it from moving forward.
The company’s website says initial construction is anticipated for next year, with commercial operation expected in 2028.
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A federal patent lawsuit filed in East Texas indicates that massive quantities of Chinese crystal-pulling equipment are bound for Texas to build out a 10 GW solar production line.
Court filings and public records tie the multi-hundred-million-dollar machinery deal to Tesla’s planned $10.1 billion vertically integrated solar gigafactory in Fort Bend County, highlighting the U.S. solar industry’s continued reliance on imported heavy machinery to establish domestic ingot and wafer manufacturing.
Linton Crystal Technologies, an equipment maker based in Rochester, New York, filed a patent infringement complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas against Chinese machinery manufacturer Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical and Electrical, known as JSG.
The legal dispute centers on high-precision industrial furnaces called Czochralski crystal pullers. The machines melt raw silicon and grow monocrystalline silicon ingots, which are subsequently sliced into thin wafers to make solar cells. Ingot pulling represents the foundational first step in the entire solar manufacturing chain.
What the lawsuit claims
Linton alleges that JSG infringed on its patented designs for specialized seed-lifting and rotating systems used inside high-temperature crystal pullers. The systems carefully regulate the growing silicon crystal as it is drawn out of the molten material to ensure uniform structure and diameter.
According to the court complaint, Linton and JSG competed directly to supply crystal-growth furnaces for a major photovoltaic project in the United States.
Linton claims JSG secured the supply contract by utilizing contested designs and subsequently began importing the hardware into the country.
To establish personal jurisdiction in Texas, Linton cites public market reports showing that JSG secured a massive contract to supply crystal pullers and associated equipment for a 10 GW photovoltaic production line in Texas, with deliveries scheduled in 2026.
Potential connection to Tesla
Although Tesla is not named as a defendant in the litigation, the location, equipment scale, and delivery timelines match public regulatory filings for Project Crystal Sun, Tesla’s proposed $10.1 billion vertically integrated solar cell and module factory in Fort Bend County, Texas.
Recent local regulatory proceedings show that the local school board approved property tax incentives for the massive project footprint. The filings outline an $8.6 billion capital commitment specifically earmarked for manufacturing equipment and personal property. Unlike standard assembly facilities that simply wire imported cells into finished panels, equipment lists for the Texas project detail comprehensive machinery for upstream ingot pulling, wafer slicing, chemical coating, and automated cell fabrication.
Industry context
The litigation highlights the intense competitive pressures surrounding upstream machinery as developers race to build domestic solar wafer and cell production lines. While U.S. manufacturing incentives and domestic content rules encourage fully localized supply chains, the specialized heavy hardware required for ingot and wafer manufacturing remains heavily reliant on global equipment suppliers.
Neither Linton, JSG, nor Tesla immediately responded to requests for comment regarding the litigation. The case, Linton Crystal Technologies Corp. v. Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanical and Electrical Co., Ltd., is pending before U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap in the Marshall Division of the Eastern District of Texas.
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NY rejects Hudson Valley solar farm opposed by Trump administration The Journal News | lohud.com
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China’s Ministry of Commerce and its Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed new export controls on October 16, 2026, that target the manufacturing technology behind perovskite and tandem solar cells, according to pv magazine and other outlets tracking the filing. The draft does not block shipments of finished solar panels. It targets the production know-how, equipment designs, and technical support that let factories outside China build the next generation of high-efficiency solar cells.
The timing lands the proposal squarely inside a broader pattern. Beijing has spent 2026 tightening its grip on technologies it considers strategically important, and this latest move follows a separate, wider catalogue revision covering artificial intelligence and biomedicine that Tech Insider reported on the same day. Solar manufacturing technology is the third leg of that stool, and it may be the one with the most direct bearing on how fast the rest of the world can build competing supply chains for advanced photovoltaics.
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The proposal would add perovskite and tandem solar manufacturing technologies to China’s catalogue of technologies prohibited or restricted from export. Four specific categories of manufacturing know-how appear in the draft, each defined by a size or efficiency threshold rather than a blanket product ban. The first covers perovskite-crystalline silicon tandem cell technology built on mass-produced silicon wafers measuring at least 182 millimeters and reaching at least 30% conversion efficiency. The second covers perovskite-specific slot-die coating technology with a processing width of at least 1.1 meters, the machinery used to lay down the thin perovskite layer at commercial scale.
The third and fourth categories apply to finished module production rather than cell manufacturing. Large-area single-junction perovskite cell module technology is covered when modules measure at least 1 square meter and achieve at least 18% efficiency. Large-area tandem perovskite cell module technology is covered at the same 1-square-meter size threshold but a higher 28% efficiency bar. The draft also names related equipment-manufacturing technologies, though the public version of the filing does not spell out separate thresholds for that category.
One detail separates this announcement from a routine policy draft: part of it is already live. A temporary requirement to register planned exports of the listed technologies through the Ministry of Commerce’s Technology Trade Management Information System took effect on October 16, 2026, the same day the broader proposal was published. Companies that want to export any of the covered manufacturing processes or equipment now have to log that intent with Beijing before the final rules are even settled.
The prohibition and licensing requirements themselves had not taken effect as of the announcement. That distinction matters for any company currently negotiating a technology-transfer deal or an overseas production line. The registration system creates a paper trail starting immediately, while the actual bans and license requirements wait on the outcome of a public comment process.
Public consultation on the proposed catalogue changes runs from October 16 to November 15, 2026, a month-long window in which companies, trade associations, and foreign governments can submit feedback before Beijing finalizes the list. That is a tight runway for an industry that spans continents and multiple regulatory jurisdictions. Equipment makers and cell manufacturers with existing licensing deals now have roughly four weeks to argue for carve-outs or threshold adjustments before the rules harden.
Thirty days is also short relative to how long it typically takes multinational solar manufacturers to assess technology-transfer exposure across a global supply chain. Legal and trade-compliance teams at firms with Chinese manufacturing partnerships or licensing agreements are likely to spend much of that window simply mapping which of their contracts touch the specific efficiency and size thresholds named in the draft.
China’s export-control catalogue system splits technologies into two tiers. Prohibited technologies cannot leave the country under any licensing arrangement. Restricted technologies can be exported, but only after the exporter obtains government approval. Reporting on the broader catalogue revision that includes the solar provisions puts the number of technologies proposed for full prohibition at 14 overall, spanning multiple sectors, with 12 photovoltaic technologies identified as covered by the proposed measures. Where the specific perovskite and tandem items fall within that prohibited-versus-restricted split has not been confirmed in the available reporting, and companies should not assume either tier until Beijing publishes the finalized catalogue.
The structure echoes an approach Beijing has already used for other strategically sensitive sectors. A technology-transfer license requirement lets the state control who gets access to a manufacturing process without stopping the sale of the physical product that process produces. For solar, that means a Chinese-made panel can still ship overseas even if the recipe for building the factory that made it cannot.
The distinction between a product ban and a technology-transfer ban is the single most important detail in this story, and it is easy to miss on a quick read of the headline. The proposal concerns technology transfers and specified manufacturing equipment, not a blanket prohibition on exporting finished polysilicon, wafers, cells, or modules made using those technologies. A factory in Europe or India that already runs the covered tandem process today is not retroactively shut down. A factory that wants to license that same process from a Chinese technology provider tomorrow faces a much higher bar.
That framing puts the policy in the same conceptual bucket as chip-equipment export controls rather than tariffs or trade sanctions on finished goods. It is a lever aimed at slowing the diffusion of production capability, not at shrinking current trade flows of physical panels.
This is not China’s first move to restrict outbound flows of technology it views as strategically valuable. The country has already applied export licensing requirements to gallium and germanium, two materials critical to semiconductor and defense manufacturing, and separately imposed permit requirements on certain graphite products, both steps that reshaped global sourcing for electronics and battery supply chains. Tech Insider has covered how those rare-earth curbs rippled through hardware markets, and the pattern holds a lesson for solar: material-level controls restrict what leaves the country physically, while technology-level controls like this one restrict who can replicate the manufacturing capability abroad.
China built its dominant position in conventional solar manufacturing over roughly two decades, accumulating the overwhelming majority of global polysilicon, wafer, cell, and module capacity along the way. The perovskite and tandem proposal suggests Beijing wants to protect its lead in the next generation of the technology the same way it protected its lead in the current one, by controlling not just output but the ability of rivals to build equivalent factories elsewhere.
The solar provisions arrived as part of a larger draft catalogue revision that also covers artificial intelligence and biomedical technologies, according to coverage from Global Times, which put the total count of newly added technologies across all three sectors in the dozens. The AI-specific portion of that filing, which separately proposes export curbs on large language models, autonomous agents, and chip-design methodologies, was significant enough to warrant its own coverage, detailed in Tech Insider’s report on the AI export curbs published the same day.
Seeing AI, biomedicine, and solar technology bundled into one regulatory action signals that Beijing is not treating this as a sector-specific response to a single trade dispute. It reads more like a general policy upgrade, one that extends the same technology-transfer control logic China has applied to hardware and rare earths into software, biotech, and clean-energy manufacturing simultaneously. The pattern is visible elsewhere too, including in how the European Union has been lining up alternative mineral suppliers to cut its dependence on Chinese-controlled inputs.
The near-term market effect should be limited for companies that only buy finished panels, since the proposal does not touch module shipments directly. The bigger exposure sits with overseas manufacturers and project developers that depend on Chinese-origin process recipes, equipment lines, installation support, or commissioning services to build or expand tandem production outside China. Those relationships are exactly what the registration requirement now puts on the record starting this week.
Coverage from Bloomberg Law frames the move as part of a broader effort by Beijing to preserve its renewable-energy technology advantage as the United States, India, and parts of Europe expand their own domestic manufacturing ambitions. If the rules finalize close to their current draft form, the practical effect is likely to raise the cost and stretch the timeline for any non-Chinese company trying to stand up advanced tandem production from scratch, even as existing Chinese panel exports continue largely unaffected.
Perovskite-silicon tandem cells sit at the frontier of commercial solar efficiency, and the race to scale that technology outside China has drawn growing interest from manufacturers and research groups across Europe, the United States, and South and Southeast Asia. Coverage from The Hindu BusinessLine notes that the proposed curbs land at a moment when several governments outside China are actively courting investment in domestic solar-cell manufacturing, viewing tandem technology specifically as a chance to leapfrog rather than simply replicate China’s existing crystalline-silicon capacity.
Whether that leapfrogging happens on schedule now depends heavily on how the finalized export rules treat equipment sales, licensing, and technical-support arrangements. A government or company that has already secured a technology-transfer agreement before the rules take final effect is in a very different position than one still negotiating. The next 30 days are likely to see a wave of accelerated dealmaking from parties trying to lock in access before any license requirement applies.
The structure of China’s proposal, controlling technology transfer and equipment rather than finished-good trade, mirrors the logic Washington has used for years to restrict Chinese access to advanced semiconductor manufacturing tools. The United States has spent several years tightening controls on EDA software, lithography equipment, and other chipmaking technology headed to China. Beijing’s solar proposal applies a similar playbook in the opposite direction, protecting the manufacturing capability behind a product category where China currently holds the global lead.
That symmetry is worth sitting with. Both regimes now rely on technical thresholds, wafer size, efficiency percentage, processing width, node dimension, rather than country-of-origin bans, to decide what can move across borders. It is a sign that technology-transfer control via specification threshold, not blanket embargo, has become the preferred regulatory tool on both sides of the US-China technology relationship. A similar calculus is already playing out in heavy manufacturing, where Toyota’s decision to bring gigacasting technology into a Chinese plant shows how manufacturers weigh the benefits of China’s production scale against the risk that the underlying process technology becomes harder to move in or out of the country later.
Industry attention over the next month is likely to center on three questions: which companies currently hold technology-transfer or licensing agreements that would fall inside the new thresholds, whether the final rules include any grandfather clause for contracts signed before October 16, and how strictly Beijing enforces the registration requirement that is already in effect. Detailed annex language describing the full scope of the draft catalogue, including the specific wording used for the artificial-intelligence and biomedicine provisions bundled alongside the solar rules, is laid out in the filing documented by Geopolitechs.
Equipment manufacturers that sell slot-die coating systems and tandem-cell production lines are in a particularly sensitive spot, since their core business is exactly the kind of technology transfer the proposal targets. Expect lobbying groups representing both Chinese exporters and foreign importers to submit detailed comments before the November 15 deadline, each pushing for threshold adjustments that favor their existing contracts.
Several outcomes look more likely than others based on how the proposal is structured and how similar Chinese export-control actions have played out in the past.
The next concrete milestone is November 15, 2026, when the public comment window closes and China’s regulators begin incorporating feedback into a final catalogue. Until then, the registration requirement already in effect gives Beijing real-time visibility into who is planning to export the covered technologies, even before any license requirement applies. Companies with exposure to the named thresholds, whether through existing licensing deals, planned overseas production lines, or equipment sales, have roughly four weeks to make their case.
For an industry already navigating chip-tool restrictions, tariff disputes, and critical-minerals curbs, as seen in how chipmakers have had to adjust to China tool restrictions this year, the solar proposal is one more signal that technology-transfer control, rather than trade volume control, is becoming the default regulatory instrument on both sides of the Pacific.
No. The proposal concerns technology transfers and specified manufacturing equipment, not a blanket prohibition on exporting finished polysilicon, wafers, cells, or modules made using those technologies, according to reporting on the draft catalogue.
No. The proposed bans and licensing requirements had not yet taken effect as of the October 16, 2026 announcement. Only a temporary requirement to register planned exports of the listed technologies took effect that day.
The draft covers large-area tandem perovskite cell module technology for modules measuring at least 1 square meter and achieving at least 28% efficiency.
Public consultation on the proposed catalogue changes runs from October 16 to November 15, 2026, a 30-day window.
Reporting on the draft catalogue identifies 12 photovoltaic technologies as covered by the proposed measures, part of a wider total of 14 technologies proposed for complete export prohibition across all sectors named in the filing.
Yes. The solar provisions are part of the same broader draft catalogue revision that also proposes export curbs on artificial intelligence and biomedical technologies, which Tech Insider covered separately the same day.
China’s Ministry of Commerce and Ministry of Industry and Information Technology proposed the export controls covering the perovskite and tandem solar manufacturing technologies.
Through the Ministry of Commerce’s Technology Trade Management Information System, where the temporary registration requirement took effect on October 16, 2026.
Elias Virtanen is the Cybersecurity Analyst at Tech Insider, bringing hands-on expertise from his background in penetration testing and security consulting. He previously worked as a security researcher at F-Secure in Helsinki, where he focused on threat intelligence and vulnerability disclosure. Elias covers ransomware trends, zero-trust architecture, and the evolving regulatory landscape including NIS2 and the EU Cyber Resilience Act. He holds a CISSP certification and an MSc in Information Security from Aalto University.
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According to the OPIS Global Solar Markets Report released on Oct. 13, Free-On-Board (FOB) China TOPCon M10 cell prices fell 0.86% week on week to $0.0463/W, while FOB China TOPCon 210R cell prices fell 0.66% to $0.0454/W.
The declines ended two consecutive weeks of stability and left both formats around 13% below their late-August peaks, as overseas demand continued to signs of weakening after the Golden Week holiday.
A trader source, echoing a recent assessment by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNMIA), said U.S. restrictions on stockpiling were expected to further weaken overseas demand and weigh on cell prices. The temporary U.S. rule covers polysilicon and its derivatives ahead of Section 232 measures taking effect on Dec. 4.
In India, a manufacturer said an earlier buying rush from the commercial and industrial (C&I) segment was tapering. An extended exemption allows eligible C&I projects commissioned by Dec. 31, 2026, to forgo the use of approved India-made solar cells. The manufacturer said, however, elevated FOB China cell prices and the approaching deadline made further stockpiling commercially unattractive.
In China, CNMIA forecast a gradual strengthening in utility-scale demand toward year-end. Procurement to meet project deadlines could support buying, although market participants questioned whether any pickup would translate into a sustained recovery in installations.
China added 97.19 GW of solar capacity in January-August, down more than 57% year on year, according to National Energy Administration (NEA) data.
The China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) forecast in February that installations would reach 180-240 GW in 2026, down around 24%-43% from the record 315.07 GW added in 2025. Reaching that range would require average monthly additions of 20.7-35.7 GW from September through December, compared with about 12.1 GW a month in January-August.
On the supply side, market participants continued to expect lower cell output in October, citing production-line upgrades ahead of China’s new minimum efficiency requirements. The mandatory standard, which covers modules and inverters, takes effect on Jan. 1, 2027, and will prohibit domestic sales of products that fail to meet the required thresholds.
Meanwhile, market sources said senior executives from several major solar manufacturers met in Hangzhou on Oct. 11 to discuss cost calculations, sales pricing and production cuts.
Although neither the meeting nor its reported outcomes have been officially confirmed, market participants said the discussions yielded more detailed implementation plans for capacity restrictions and a proposal to set a minimum polysilicon price of CNY 43 ($6.38)/kg, including tax. Sales below that threshold would reportedly be classified as low-price dumping.
Discussions also reportedly covered price floors of CNY 0.79/W for TOPCon modules and CNY 0.86/W for back-contact modules, with reported FOB equivalents of $0.117/W and $0.128/W, respectively.
The proposed TOPCon floor, at its FOB equivalent, would be approximately 9% above the Chinese Module Marker (CMM), OPIS’s benchmark for TOPCon modules below 645W from China, which was assessed at $0.107/W in the same report.
According to market participants, the proposed floors would apply to both export sales and domestic procurement, including tenders.
The meeting also reportedly called on relevant authorities to investigate and penalize state-owned enterprises that award procurement contracts through tenders based solely on the lowest available bids, citing concerns that such practices could disrupt market order.
However, market participants noted that industry self-regulatory agreements do not constitute legally enforceable price controls, with actual transaction prices continuing to be determined by supply-demand fundamentals. As such, the effectiveness of these measures would depend on manufacturers’ willingness to adhere to the proposed guidelines.
OPIS is a specialist business within Dow Jones Energy, a global energy intelligence business that brings together trusted price reporting, research and market intelligence across the energy value chain. OPIS publishes the OPIS Global Solar Markets Service, which includes pricing data for solar panels and components across Asia, Europe and the U.S., manufacturing capacity data, module forward curves, and a global solar policy tracker.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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Earlier this month, after a series of stops and starts, the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced changes to a long-running program that is supposed to help farmers and rural small businesses stand up renewable energy projects.
The new rules, set to go into effect today, October 16, effectively make any solar power development ineligible for funding through the Rural Energy for America Program, or REAP. It’s the latest of multiple rollbacks by the second Trump administration that advocates say are essentially making the program unusable.
Installing solar systems on farmland can cost tens of thousands of dollars upfront, which many agricultural producers may not have or may be reluctant to spend, given their low profit margins. REAP has long provided financial support to farmers to build out renewable energy systems on their land.
These projects often provide multiple benefits to participants. First, they can help lower utility bills for agricultural producers and rural businesses by providing their operations with additional power. But farmers and business owners are also able to sell excess energy back to the grid. By cutting costs or padding revenue, these systems can be a lifeline at a time when farmers are facing escalating costs for things like fertilizer, fuel, labor, and seeds, making it difficult to make ends meet.
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Research shows investing in renewable energy can also be an economic driver in rural parts of the country. “All of these things lined up,” said Matt Russell, the executive director of the Iowa Farmers Union, an independent organization representing family farmers. So for the Trump administration to “shift away from those kinds of win-win-win investments is very disappointing,” he added.
The Iowa Farmers Union is one of the plaintiffs in a lawsuit filed last month against the USDA, alleging that previous changes to REAP were already harming rural communities by severely restricting solar development under the program. (The lawsuit was filed on September 28, just days before the agriculture department published its new rules.)
The lawsuit takes aim at changes made to REAP in August 2025, following an executive order by President Donald Trump the previous month stating that taxpayers would no longer “subsidize expensive and unreliable energy sources like wind and solar.” Although the executive order did not instruct the USDA to do anything in particular, the office within the agriculture department that administers REAP changed the criteria for applicants such that most solar projects would become ineligible for grants or loan guarantees.
Part of the plaintiffs’ argument is that such a move violates the REAP statute. Lawmakers created REAP in 2008 as part of that year’s farm bill by combining two existing programs that sought to develop renewable energy and increase energy efficiency. “Rather than complying” with this mandate, “the agency has decided to completely ignore what Congress told them to do,” said Michael Youhana, an attorney at Earthjustice, the nonprofit environmental law group representing the plaintiffs. “In fact,” he added, the USDA is doing “the opposite of what Congress told them to do” by promoting the use of fossil fuels over renewables.
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The lawsuit also alleges that these anti-solar moves from the USDA violate the Administrative Procedure Act, which essentially requires agencies to show that regulatory decisions were made through careful consideration. The USDA says “that they’re taking this action to protect farmland from being gobbled up by solar systems,” said Youhana. “But farmers are voluntarily applying for REAP, and they’re doing it because solar gives them all kinds of really great financial benefits that the agency has completely ignored.”
The USDA told Grist it “will not comment on pending litigation.” In an email to energy news site Utility Dive, a representative for the USDA said that under the Biden administration, “fertile farmland that should be feeding America” was used instead to produce solar power. “Those days are over. USDA will not actively participate in repurposing farmland historically used to sustain this country’s abundant food supply.”
Grist has previously reported on how the USDA’s abrupt freeze of REAP grants in the early days of Trump’s second term created confusion and chaos for small farmers who had already spent tens of thousands of dollars on energy upgrades. In March 2025, the agency released that grant money but asked participants to voluntarily revise and resubmit their applications without any mention of climate change. That summer, the USDA announced the anti-solar policy over which Earthjustice, along with the Environmental Law and Policy Center, are suing.
But the switch-ups didn’t stop there. A year later, in March 2026, the USDA effectively paused REAP as a whole, announcing it would suspend further grant awards until the program rules were rewritten to comply with Trump’s executive order from the year before.
This month, on October 1, the department published its final rule changes. They state that solar or wind projects on cropland involving “any component made in a country named as a foreign adversary” are no longer eligible for funding through REAP. Because so many parts of solar power systems are manufactured in China, this effectively means an end to any new solar development on farms through the once-popular USDA program.
Another change drags out the timeline for receiving funding; applicants must now have energy systems up and running for one year in order to be considered eligible for reimbursement.
These changes “more deeply entrench the anti-solar policy we’ve challenged in our lawsuit,” said Youhana. While “federal investments in renewable energy projects could help to offset rising energy costs, making life more affordable for farmers and the broader American public alike,” he added, the USDA seems to be moving in the opposite direction.
Russell argued that further restricting funding sources like REAP will only lead to the further consolidation of the agricultural industry, where only the biggest, wealthiest operations can survive, and the little guys suffer without adequate public support.
“It’s like stacking the deck against family farms, and entrepreneurial businesses in small towns that are trying to bootstrap themselves,” he said. “It’s picking winners and losers, and the losers are the very kinds of farms and businesses and communities that I think the vast majority of American taxpayers think that they’re investing in.”
This story has been updated with the USDA’s response to Grist’s request for comment.
Editor’s note: Earthjustice is an advertiser with Grist. Advertisers have no role in Grist’s editorial decisions.
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Idaho 55 through downtown Cascade is getting a new look.
A $260,000 project to install new solar streetlamps along Main Street (Idaho 55) is currently underway and expected to be complete this fall, according to Cascade Mayor Judith Nissula.
The project is intended to improve safety by better illuminating the street and reducing the number of poles and trees that can obscure pedestrians as they enter crosswalks.
“As a driver, you can’t see people coming out,” Nissula said. “It’s just kind of scary.”
So far, the new streetlamps have been installed in front of the Valley County Courthouse. Crews will continue replacing the lights on the west side of the road before moving to the east side. Once complete, the solar lights will span Main Street between Payette Street and Spring Street.
The solar lights are about twice as tall as the existing streetlamps and include a solar panel mounted atop each light pole. The lights comply with the city’s dark skies ordinance, which requires outdoor lighting to meet certain standards to avoid shining onto other properties or into the sky.
Once the replacement project is complete, Main Street will have fewer lights overall, or three per block on each side of the road.
About five trees planted in sidewalk beds are also likely to be removed to make room for the new streetlamps. Replacement trees could be planted elsewhere in sidewalk planters in the future.
Nissula said some have been critical of the city’s decision to remove trees, but the city council believes the changes will help balance the number of trees on each side of the street. Currently, significantly more trees line the west side.
“I was born and raised here,” she said. “The last thing that I would want to do is make this place look ugly. In my heart, I know it will look better once it’s done.”
The solar panels are expected to produce enough energy to power the lights, with no electrical connections in place to provide supplemental energy.
The city is confident the lights will receive enough solar energy to turn on nightly, based on similar lights installed near Family Dollar about two years ago using a Safe Routes to Schools grant. Nissula said she is not aware of a time when the lights were unable to turn on due to snow or lack of sunlight.
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“The whole point was to test to see what we wanted to do in the future,” she said.
This past summer, the city spent about $1,500 per month on electricity to power the existing streetlamps. The cost is even higher during the winter when there are more hours of darkness, Nissula said.
The streetlamps currently lining Main Street were installed in the 1980s. Their age has made it impossible to find matching replacements and difficult to find parts for repairs.
That has become increasingly problematic as the decades-old lights begin to break down or get damaged, like in 2022 when one of the lights melted in the Watkins Pharmacy fire.
“We couldn’t replace these anyway,” she said. “When we took the old lights down (by the courthouse), they basically just crumbled.”
The $260,000 streetlamp project is funded by grant money, the city’s Street Department, and local-option tax funding.
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For years, French homeowners with solar panels could bank on selling their excess electricity back to the grid, adding a tidy sum to the family budget. But that’s a thing of the past. The collapse of feed-in tariffs for surplus solar power—plus the axing of self-consumption bonuses—has fundamentally changed the economics for photovoltaics in France. Put simply: it’s now smarter to use your own solar energy or store it for later, rather than counting on selling it off.
According to data from Enedis (France’s electricity distribution operator), solar installations equipped with storage systems shot up by nearly 167% between Q4 2024 and the end of 2025. In fact, their numbers have more than tripled in just three years. While battery-equipped systems still make up just around 8% of the total self-consumption market by volume, they’re by far the fastest-growing slice of France’s solar scene.
This acceleration is partly thanks to a new generation of battery storage solutions, like those developed by Zendure. Gone are the days of complex hybrid inverters and heavy-duty electrical work. These new low-voltage modular batteries plug directly into a standard power outlet, meaning no mandatory electrician is needed for installation. This opens the battery game to renters and small-installation owners who, until now, were locked out by the cost and complexity of traditional solutions.
What’s more, Zendure is betting big on artificial intelligence to squeeze every last cent of value from storage. Its ZEN+ HOME ecosystem—built around the ZENKI AI assistant and their proprietary ZenPulse model—constantly tracks solar production, household consumption, and electricity prices. The result? It can anticipate your energy needs 24 hours ahead, then automatically trigger the smartest charge-discharge cycles.
The PowerHub, described as the heart of this ecosystem, manages everything: from solar panels and batteries to grid connection, backup supply, and even smart home devices like heat pumps or electric vehicle charging stations.
Come August 2026, Zendure raised the bar again with a new partnership with French energy supplier Sobry. Now, users of certain SolarFlow models can activate a variable-rate electricity subscription—straight from the app. The benefit? You charge your battery when power is cheapest, and use it when rates soar. According to Zendure, a household equipped with solar panels and an 8 kWh battery could save up to €625 (roughly $675) per year, without needing to touch a thing.
The lesson? If you thought solar’s game-changing days were behind us, think again: smart storage (and a dash of clever software) is rewriting the rules once more.
Silfab Solar files lawsuit against York County to end zoning battle, resume solar panel manufacturing Queen City News
source
FORT MILL, N.C. (WBTV) – A controversial solar panel plant in York County filed a complaint on Friday against the county to resume solar cell production at its site.
On Friday, Oct. 16, Silfab Solar, whose facility in Fort Mill, filed a complaint against York County to resume its “fully permitted” solar cell and solar module manufacturing.
The complaint was seeking clarification from a judge’s ruling from earlier this year that Silfab Solar can not operate under the light-industrial zoning classification. The complaint said the judge’s ruling applies retroactively to Silfab despite them receiving approval from York County Council prior to the judge’s ruling.
Companies under the light-industrial zoning manufacture computers, computer parts, communication equipment and similar electronic products. Solar manufacturing was not permitted under the light-industrial district, where Silfab Solar is currently operating.
Silfab Solar said in the complaint that the ruling cannot be applied retroactively to Silfab. The county would seek for Silfab to stop operations or revoke its permits, the complaint said.
In July a South Carolina judge upheld a March 2024 ruling that Silfab Solar was not qualified to work within the light-industrial zoning classification. In February 2024, the York County Zoning Administrator concluded that Silfab Solar’s Fort Mill plant was able to produce solar panels under the light-industrial zoning classification.
However, in March 2024, the York County Board Zone of Appeals reversed that decision. The Board Zone of Appeals ruled 5-0 that the area where Fort Mill plant is located is only permitted to do light industrial work.
The complaint said in August 2021, York County confirmed solar panel manufacturing was allowed under light-industrial zoning.
According to the complaint, in May 2024, the York County Zoning Administrator said solar panel manufacturing is not listed under the use for light-industrial zoning.
In June 2024, the county issued a statement saying the decision by the York County Zoning Administrator did not apply to Silfab, according to the complaint. The complaint said, “the zoning verification gave Silfab the legal right to develop the property for its intended purpose.”
The ruling from the zoning administrator would only apply to future projects in the light industrial zoning, according to the complaint.
The complaint said the court did not address whether the zoning decision made by York County applied to Silfab. The complaint also said in August the court denied a reconsideration of the decision made by zoning administrator.
“Silfab Solar, consistent with the views of local authorities, today took affirmative action to further protect the company’s legal right to operate at its Fort Mill, SC, facility. While we believe the filing of the declaratory judgment action is unnecessary given Silfab’s receipt of all permits and approvals needed to operate, Silfab is hopeful that this action will bring finality to the uncertainty caused by a small but vocal minority.
“Silfab understands and sympathizes with York County’s desire to seek clarity, which is why the company took this step to secure a declaratory judgment.
“Our complaint accurately and convincingly details how Silfab’s opponents have abused the zoning processes to improperly challenge County Council’s legitimate actions to recruit Silfab to our specific site and to induce Silfab to invest hundreds of millions of dollars and create hundreds of jobs in York County. We are confident that the courts will ultimately validate the legitimacy of our operations. That result will not only protect Silfab’s workers and our investment in the community; it will also ensure that future employers will have the stability, predictability, and trust necessary to create jobs and grow the state’s economy without fear that zoning processes will be weaponized against them.
“Furthermore, this action seeks to protect Silfab’s rights and ability to bring more jobs to the region and maximize the full capacity of its space at Fort Mill.
“Silfab’s filing is in alignment with York County’s efforts to achieve what we believe is a mutually agreeable outcome.”
Copyright 2026 WBTV. All rights reserved.
A Los Angeles Department of Water and Power employee has been charged with 12 felony counts of vandalism in a yearlong graffiti vandalism spree across Los Angeles that cost businesses over $170,000 in repairs to their buildings. Many of the buildings ar Instagram
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Construction Review
Published on Oct 16, 2026
M Kubwa
Washington state utility Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has stated that it has launched the construction of a 130-MW solar park in Montana. The solar project is in proximity to its 248MW Beaver Creek wind farm in the northwestern US state.
Also, the launched Battle Butte Solar project will support PSE’s clean energy goals in compliance with Washington’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA).
The solar project commissioning is targeted for mid-2028. It is located in the high plains near the Rapelje community in Stillwater County. Furthermore, the photovoltaic (PV) farm is expected to have an annual output that will be equal to the electricity consumption of around 20,000 homes.
Moreover, the plant will cover 1,400 acres of flat, open ranch land. Additionally, it will utilise existing transmission infrastructure near the Beaver Creek wind farm, which was brought online in the summer of 2025.
PSE foresees the construction phase of the Battle Butte project to open around 250 jobs. “Battle Butte solar represents a critical component of our clean energy strategy,” said Craig Pospisil, senior vice president at PSE, adding that the utility will build upon its positive relationships with the Stillwater County community.
Lastly, as of end-2025, PSE has already eliminated coal from its energy portfolio. The utility delivers electric and natural gas service to the Puget Sound region of Western Washington.
Project Name: Battle Butte Solar Project
Developer / Owner: Puget Sound Energy (PSE)
Location: Stillwater County, Montana (High plains near Rapelje; 15 miles north of Columbus)
Capacity: 130 MW
Estimated Generation: Equivalent to the annual power consumption of 20,000 homes
Land Footprint: 1,400 acres of flat, open private ranch land
Target Completion: Mid-2028
Grid Infrastructure: Co-located near PSE’s 248-MW Beaver Creek Wind Farm; utilizes existing Colstrip Transmission Line capacity
Economic Impact: 250 construction jobs; local tax revenue generation for Stillwater County
Regulatory Drivers: Supports Washington’s Clean Energy Transformation Act (CETA) goals
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Six months after its commissioning, the world’s largest photovoltaic system on a stadium roof is becoming one of the most visible symbols of renewable energy in international sport. On the roof of SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, the home ground of Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, the project sets new standards for sustainable energy supply in professional football.
The record-breaking plant on the roof of one of Europe’s best-known football stadiums will generate more than 4 GWh of renewable electricity per year in the future. This corresponds to the amount of energy required to operate the stadium’s floodlight system for around 1,000 match days. At the same time, around 1,700 tons of CO₂ emissions are avoided annually.
The plant, which has been fully operational since December 2025, replaces an earlier system that could no longer meet the association’s increasing energy requirements. The modernisation is part of Borussia Dortmund’s comprehensive sustainability strategy and supports the goal of future-proofing stadium operations in the long term through large-scale clean energy generation.
“For us, this project was the next logical step on our way to greater sustainability,” says Florian Demnitz, Energy Manager at Borussia Dortmund. “We already had a solar system on the roof, but it was clear that we could achieve even more. We needed even more performance to ensure that the stadium’s energy needs could continue to be met for decades to come.”
The system was developed by Borussia Dortmund’s energy partner RWE. The focus was not only on maximising electricity generation from renewable energies, but also on maintaining the unmistakable appearance of SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. To ensure this important balance between performance and design, Borussia Dortmund and RWE chose JA (formerly JA Solar) as their technology partner.
The system consists of a total of 11,132 bifacial n-type modules of the type JA JAM54D41/LB with an output of up to 450 watts per module. Compared to conventional modules, they offer higher efficiency and lower power degradation over the entire service life. The double-glazed construction further increases durability and helps to ensure reliable operation over the planned service life of 30 years. The bifacial design makes use of sunlight on both the front and back of the modules, which further increases the energy yield.
A full black design was chosen for the facility, which blends harmoniously into the roof landscape of the stadium, retains the visual identity of SIGNAL IDUNA PARK and at the same time picks up on the black and yellow club colours of Borussia Dortmund. The modules are manufactured according to JA’s ITS Supply Chain Standard and thus meet defined requirements in terms of sustainability and complete traceability.
“We are proud to have been selected as a module supplier for such a groundbreaking project. For us, this is a testament to the quality and reliability of our technology,” says Alastair Mounsey, Vice President Europe at JA.
“The solar plant is already making an important contribution to Borussia Dortmund’s sustainability goals by providing clean, renewable electricity for match days and other events. In addition, the project impressively demonstrates how solar technology can be integrated into existing infrastructure on a large scale – from stadiums to entire cities. With millions of fans on site and in front of their screens worldwide, SIGNAL IDUNA PARK is now much more than a football stadium. It is also a strong example of how sport and renewable energy can work together on a global scale.”
“We are very satisfied with the performance of the solar system in the first months of its operation. The results are completely in line with our expectations,” adds Florian Demnitz. “The project is already having a noticeable impact on the energy supply and operational efficiency of SIGNAL IDUNA PARK. At the same time, we hope that it inspires other sports organizations to resolutely advance their own sustainability goals.”
On the occasion of the cooperation between Borussia Dortmund and JA, Karl-Heinz Riedle, former German national player and BVB legend, will visit the JA stand at Intersolar (Hall A2, Stand 380) at around 3:30 p.m. on Tuesday, 23 June. Visitors will have the opportunity to take a souvenir photo and get an autograph from one of the most famous personalities in the club’s history.
The installation at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, which is officially recognised as the world’s largest solar system on a stadium roof, is one of the most visible symbols of renewable energies in international sport
In the future, the plant will generate more than 4 GWh of renewable electricity per year – enough energy to operate the stadium’s floodlight system for around 1,000 match days
JA’s modules have been selected to meet Borussia Dortmund’s high energy requirements and ensure reliable performance over the entire 30-year lifespan
The full black design ensures that the solar system blends harmoniously into the stadium’s roofscape and at the same time reflects Borussia Dortmund’s black and yellow brand identity
With millions of fans in the stadium and in front of their screens worldwide, SIGNAL IDUNA PARK is an impressive example of how sport and renewable energies can come together on a global scale
The AVENTOS Group has leased 16,500 square meters of logistics space in Leverkusen to Westmax Consulting KG. This marks the full occupancy of the BENTO Leverkusen site.
Quantum has successfully leased around 900 m² of office space in P1 in Berlin. The tenants are the management consultancy RITTERWALD and HYSTAKE Investment Partners, which are expected to move in in December 2026.
The AVENTOS Group has sold a data center in Nuremberg to AEW. Built in 2010 and covering approx. 2,592 square metres with a connected load of 6.4 MVA, the property is fully leased on a long-term basis to an international technology company.
TotalEnergies is bundling its integrated power business in Germany under "Integrated Power Germany". QUADRA energy Sales & Origination, Kyon Energy, VSB and the offshore wind business will be combined. Alexandre Duret-Proux will head the new unit.
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Pasco County Commissioners heard presentations for two forms of solar panel construction at the October 6th meeting. The board directed the leadership of the Facilities and Utilities departments to return at a later meeting to provide answers to questions that were not available and gather information on funding mechanisms.
Pasco County is considering installing Floating Photovoltaic (FPV) solar panels installed on floating structures in the Boyette Reservoir and the Land O’ Lakes reservoir, both located in East Pasco.
Utilities Director Joseph Amoah listed the benefits of the pontoon-supported structures, including a possible 70 percent reduction in evaporation of the reservoirs, reducing algae growth, and leading to better water quality. The downside is a high initial cost and regular maintenance expenditures. It would require a long-term investment to realize a return on investment.
The Land O’ Lakes system would cost approximately $1 million, and the Boyette system an estimated $3.3 million. Cisco Pavez, Utilities Senior Program Manager, explained that funding by Investment Tax Credit (ITC) would lower the costs to $700,000 and $2.3 million, respectively, after a 30 percent investment credit called DirectPay.
Cisco Pavez, Utilities Senior Program Manager, explained that DirectPay “allows tax-exempt and governmental entities to receive a direct cash refund from the IRS for clean energy investments. Under section 48E, the technology-neutral Clean Electricity Investment Credit offers a baseline refund of 30 percent of eligible project costs.”
Pavez added that a grant application has been submitted to the FDEP Alternative Water Supply Grant program.
Both locations planned for the FPVs are near power plants and would be used to generate power for these facilities. Chairman Jack Mariano requested an agreement with the power facilities outlining how savings would be passed on to their customers.
Commissioners instructed Amoah to gather information on replacement costs if damaged and insurance coverage.
At the West Pasco Government Center, the proposal is to construct solar-canopy parking on the East lot, topped with solar panels. These bays could additionally be fitted with EV (electric vehicle) charging equipment.
Beginning with 52 spaces to assess the benefits, two additional canopies will provide a total of 196 covered spaces. The first 52 stations would range from $218,400 to $301,600 without future EV capability and $282,000 to $458,000 if included.
Yearly operating expenses range from $5,500 to $9,100 and $6,500 to $12,700 with EV charging. Interim Facilities Management Director Nikki Allen cautioned that the figures are conceptual until a feasibility study is completed. If successful, the solar canopies could save the County $28-49K annually and would take 10-17 years to realize payback. Allen will also return to the board with an engineering report and additional funding sources.
The Hernando Sun is a locally owned weekly newspaper. The founders of the newspaper are Rocco and Julie Maglio. They saw the need for a newspaper when the Hernando Today newspaper closed their doors in 2014. Rocco is from Hernando, he went to school from Moton Elementary through Hernando High. Growing up in Hernando enhances his ability to provide background to ongoing issues. The Hernando Sun Printed their first issue in March 2015. They published monthly for a year before increasing to a weekly printing. The newspaper is delivered through the US mail, so it arrives with your mail.
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Organization representatives, Youthnet staff and community members celebrate Thursday the recently completed installation of an 83.3-kilowatt solar array at Youthnet’s Mount Vernon campus, which is seen in the background.
Organization representatives, Youthnet staff and community members celebrate Thursday the recently completed installation of an 83.3-kilowatt solar array at Youthnet’s Mount Vernon campus, which is seen in the background.
MOUNT VERNON — The nonprofit Youthnet celebrated Thursday a new 83.3-kilowatt solar array at its main campus in Mount Vernon.
A $172,088 Solar Enhanced Incentive award from Puget Sound Energy covered the full cost of the panels.
Youthnet provides support, particularly foster care resources, to youth and families throughout Western Washington.
Bellingham-based Western Solar installed the panels, a process completed at the end of September. Western Solar and Puget Sound Energy have partnered on several community solar array installations in Whatcom and Skagit counties.
“Today we are celebrating clean energy,” Rocio Castillo-Foel, community affairs manager at PSE said at the Thursday event.
Castillo-Foel said the project will help Youthnet run more efficiently and better support families throughout the region.
Puget Sound Energy launched the Solar Enhanced Incentive program in 2017, and in 2025 the program provided $3.3 million for 20 solar installations throughout the state.
“Not only are they providing customers with funding, but they’re actually reducing the revenue that they earn,” said Evan Bush, Western Solar’s vice president of commercial sales and operations.
Jon Rylaarsdam, Youthnet’s executive director, said the solar panels will likely save the organization about $1,800 a month, or $200,000 a year, in energy costs.
Youthnet was founded in 1969 with the mission to supply temporary housing for teenagers “that would bridge the gap between living at home and foster care or institutions,” according to its website.
It’s nearly 60-year legacy has included establishing group homes, alternative educational settings and individualized care programs.
The nonprofit supports youth and families in 15 Washington counties.
“This is just a small fraction of the people representing so many partnerships,” Rylaarsdam said of the organizational leaders present at Thursday’s celebration and ribbon cutting. “We don’t do it alone.”
According to a 2023 Puget Sound Energy Community Profile, Puget Sound Energy provides electricity to about 50,000 residences in Skagit County.
Puget Sound Energy encourages government agencies, community-based organizations, government agencies and tribal entities to apply for Solar Enhanced Incentive funding.
Applications are reviewed monthly. To learn more, visit https://www.pse.com/en/green-options/solar-energy-credit.
Josh Hernandez can be reached at jhernandez@skagitpublishing.com
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The Winnebago County Board of Supervisors continue to craft revisions to an ordinance that deals with data centers, solar farms, and battery storage. The intention of the supervisors is to protect Winnebago County residents, business, and industry while still creating opportunities for those new industries.
Supervisor Terry Durby has taken examples of ordinances from other Iowa counties and is asking the other supervisors, the County Attorney, and the County Engineer for input on a draft to send to the Winnebago County Zoning Board. That board would create a final draft for approval.
Durby used the data center ordinance from Greene County as a model for Winnebago County.
Durby also pointed to the solar farm issue need to be addressed. He admitted that this portion was modeled after a county in southern Iowa.
The ordinance which Durby reviewed gives a height restriction of 15 feet and must be anti-glare glass. Durby highlighted the other requirements which must be met.
Durby believes that the board will review the model ordinance and revise it to more accurately reflect the needs of Winnebago County.
Battery storage regulations were also discussed by Durby who said that the county is getting some guidance in this area.
The board will continue to gather information in the composition of the new ordinance.
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“The VPP earns me back a couple of hundred each year.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A Los Angeles homeowner shopping for rooftop solar got a Tesla quote that topped $60,000 once roof work and an electrical-panel upgrade were added.
They took to Reddit’s r/TeslaSolar community to ask, “Is this a reasonable quote for Los Angeles?”
The homeowner laid out the details in the Reddit post, explaining that the updated estimate covered a 13.44-kilowatt system, $17,470 in roof work, and a $4,130 upgrade to the main electrical panel.
The original poster, a customer of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, asked whether the total was typical for Los Angeles and whether splitting the work among different contractors might lower the cost.
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
OP also questioned whether the potential $530.64 monthly payment would be worth it over the next 15 years. Some commenters clearly agreed, with one writing, “Seems high for a system with no battery backup.”
Replies largely debated whether tacking on battery storage to a proposed solar array makes sense under LADWP. One commenter said “you don’t need batteries with LADWP” because exported solar earns better credit there than with SCE, but another Angeleno called their Powerwall “Definitely worth having” after living through a 24-hour outage during fires. This same commenter added, “Plus the VPP earns me back a couple of hundred each year.”
Taken together, the comments highlighted a familiar decision for city homeowners: whether to prioritize lower utility bills or spend more for outage protection. Some people pointed to LADWP’s billing setup as a reason batteries may be unnecessary, while others argued backup storage still has value in Los Angeles because outages are part of life there.
One sensible way to evaluate a package like this is to price out the roofing, electrical, and solar portions separately instead of treating them as a single all-in proposal.
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Still, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy, but this post shows why comparing bids matters. Homeowners can try EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes before signing a long-term loan. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations.
Homeowners curious about backup battery options can also explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage, including competitive installation estimates.
For more background, EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state, along with details on solar panel incentives for each state.
These stories explore the same issues behind a pricey solar quote in Los Angeles, from what drives installation costs up to where homeowners can save.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
• EnergySage experts have helped homeowners slash solar prices by $9,000 through competitive bidding.
• Tesla and IronRidge are rolling out a lower-cost rooftop mounting system to simplify installations.
• Tesla’s newer inverter technology could save homeowners about $4,500 by reducing solar equipment costs.
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The string of records from Australia’s renewable energy transition continue to tumble with rooftop solar output reaching a new all-time high of 17,488 MW in the National Electricity Market (NEM) at noon on Sunday.
Geoff Eldridge from Global Power Energy (GPE NEMLog) said the new peak is 495 MW higher than the previous record of 16,993 MW set just two weeks earlier and 2,388 MW, or 15.81% up on the 15,100 MW generated on 4 October 2025.
At the time of the new rooftop solar generation peak, combined distributed PV and utility-scale solar share of NEM consumption reached a record 72.29%, up from the 70.80% achieved on 12 September 2026.
Eldridge said the latest rooftop solar output milestone is part of a “remarkable run” with four new records across three regions in just five days.
On Wednesday, 7 October Victoria recorded 4,191 MW of rooftop solar generation, surpassing its previous high of 4,036 MW set in January this year. During this peak interval, renewables contributed 65.9% of the state’s total generation.
On the same day, South Australia recorded a new rooftop solar peak of 2,070 MW, eclipsing the previous peak of 1,970 MW set two weeks earlier. At the time of the new high, renewables covered 96.3% of the state’s total electricity demand.
On Friday, 9 October New South Wales recorded a new rooftop solar generation peak of 6,346 MW, 241 MW higher than the previous record of 6,106 MW set nine days earlier.
Eldridge highlighted that the new peaks are instantaneous output records and not daily energy production records but pointed out that they do demonstrate the growing contribution of renewable energy across the NEM.
“They reinforce the expanding contribution of consumer energy resources and the changing daytime operating environment across the NEM,” he said.
The Australian Energy Market Operator said between 1 January and 30 September 2026, renewable energy has accounted for an average of 44% of all electricity generation across the NEM. About 4 million Australian homes and small businesses have embraced rooftop solar, having installed an estimated 22 GW of rooftop PV capacity, and that enthusiasm is continuing to build with 2026 on track to be a record year of installations.
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R.Power has completed construction of its 55MWp Lazuri solar project in Satu Mare County, north-western Romania, with energisation planned by the end of 2026.
The European independent power producer said the high-voltage project comprises 88,708 PV modules and six medium-voltage stations.
R.Power added that the facility is expected to generate around 70GWh annually once operational, equivalent to the electricity consumption of more than 44,000 households.
The Lazuri development is one of Romania’s largest solar farms by installed capacity and has secured a 15-year Contract for Difference (CfD) from the Romanian authorities.
The project was financed through a €44 million project finance facility signed by R.Power in June 2026 with ING Bank NV and UniCredit Bank SA.
The financing covers a portfolio of four PV projects in Romania with a combined capacity of approximately 75MWp.
Lazuri forms part of R.Power’s 1.5GW pipeline of solar, hybrid and energy storage projects in Romania.
R.Power country head for Romania Florin Federenciuc said: “Completing construction works at Lazuri is an important milestone for R.Power’s Romanian solar portfolio.”
“The project has moved efficiently from development through financing and construction, and we are now preparing for energisation and the start of operations.”
“Romania remains a key market in our CEE strategy, and we look forward to Lazuri contributing utility-scale clean energy to the grid.”
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Solar cells normally absorb sunlight from a narrow range of directions but can emit light across a much wider range.
Solar cells could potentially generate more electricity by controlling not only how they absorb sunlight, but also the directions in which they emit light. Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Barcelona have experimentally demonstrated a method for reducing one source of energy loss in solar cells by narrowing the angular range over which they emit photons.
The approach, published in Energy & Environmental Science, could offer a route to surpass the conventional theoretical efficiency limit for single-junction solar cells. The work focuses on a loss mechanism known as Boltzmann loss, which occurs because a material that absorbs light can also emit it.
A solar cell receives sunlight from a relatively narrow range of directions. The Sun occupies only a small area of the sky, meaning incoming sunlight reaches a solar cell within a narrow angular cone.
Photons generated inside the solar cell, however, can normally be emitted over a much wider range of directions. According to the ICFO researchers, this mismatch between the narrow incoming cone and broad emission cone reduces the amount of useful work that can ultimately be extracted from the device.
The researchers sought to reduce that loss by making the solar cell more selective about the directions in which it can emit light.
The team, led by ICFO and UPC Professor Jordi Martorell, included Dr. Francisco Bernal Texca, Chiara Cortese, Dr. Mariia Kramarenko and Dr. Quan Liu. They used an inverted organic solar cell based on the PM6:Y6 material blend and transformed it into an optical cavity.
The resulting structure inhibited photon emission at large angles, effectively narrowing the cell’s emission cone.
The researchers achieved the effect using a silver-based front electrode combined with a layered structure and a second silver electrode at the back of the cell.
The metal front electrode provides high reflectivity across a broad range of angles for emitted light. Together with the rear electrode and surrounding layers, it forms an optical cavity.
The cavity performs two functions at once: it suppresses light emission at wider angles while allowing incoming sunlight to enter efficiently from the direction it arrives. That allows the angular distribution of emitted light to more closely resemble the angular distribution of incoming sunlight.
Importantly, the researchers say the approach does not require additional fabrication complexity compared with many other strategies being explored to push photovoltaic efficiency beyond conventional limits.
The work addresses the well-known Shockley–Queisser limit, which describes the theoretical efficiency ceiling for a conventional single-junction solar cell under the assumptions of the model.
ICFO puts that limit at 33.16 percent. The researchers say that if the emission cone could be narrowed sufficiently to better match the absorption cone of sunlight, efficiencies approaching 43 percent could theoretically become possible.
That does not mean the researchers have produced a 43-percent-efficient solar cell. The study demonstrates the optical strategy for reducing the relevant loss mechanism in an organic photovoltaic device.
“Our study is a significant step forward in the solar energy conversion field as it opens a completely unexplored route to surpass the Shockley–Queisser limit,” said Dr. Francisco Bernal Texca, first author of the study.
The researchers also emphasize that the underlying principle is not restricted to organic photovoltaics. While the experiment was conducted using an organic solar cell, Martorell said the concept could, in principle, be applied across different photovoltaic technologies.
If the approach can be translated into higher-performing practical devices, controlling the direction of photon emission could become another tool for squeezing more electricity from the same amount of incoming sunlight.
Higher photovoltaic efficiency could also reduce the land and materials needed for a given amount of solar generation while lowering the cost per watt of electricity produced, according to the researchers.
Kaif Shaikh is a journalist and writer passionate about turning complex information into clear, impactful stories. His writing covers technology, sustainability, geopolitics, and occasionally fiction. A graduate in Journalism and Mass Communication, his work has appeared in the Times of India and beyond. After a near-fatal experience, Kaif began seeing both stories and silences differently. Outside work, he juggles far too many projects and passions, but always makes time to read, reflect, and hold onto the thread of wonder.
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From left, Union Township solicitor Paul Bametzreider, supervisors Stephen Lum, Kerry McCrary, and Gary Longenecker, and township manager Brent McFeaters at the Oct. 14 meeting. (Todd Lassa)
This article was funded by LebTown donors as part of our Civic Impact Reporting Project.
Union Township supervisors voted 3-0 Wednesday to grant conditional approval to SolAmerica Energy’s planned Newswanger Solar Farm at 107 Awol Road.
Approval was made conditional after township solicitor Paul Bametzreider’s recommendation because SolAmerica was not yet able to provide $1.1 million escrow for required stormwater improvements to the project.
“Until that escrow agreement is funded, and the bank is supposed to give us the escrow agreement in writing when it is funded, you cannot finally approve the plan,” Bametzreider told the board.
Union Township’s planning code allows conditional approval before the developer secures financing, Bametzreider said, “but they’re limited to 90 days before that conditional approval goes away.”
In addition to the $1.1 million in escrow for stormwater improvements, signed agreements and the recording fee remain outstanding.
SolAmerica Energy will need the full 90 days of the conditional approval period to secure escrow for the stormwater improvements, Alviez Chagan, senior project development manager for the Atlanta-based company, told supervisors.
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The developer plans a 2-megawatt solar farm to generate solar power sold to energy utilities, on 10 to 20 acres of farmland leased from the Newswanger family, Chagan told LebTown. He did not have the estimated total cost of the solar farm, but said the company expects to begin construction next year.
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In a separate item, township manager Brent McFeaters said in his zoning officer’s report that Sudarshan Niroula approached him about two weeks earlier to discuss establishing a roadside stand and shed at 2629 State Route 72 to sell chickens. Customers would choose a chicken from the house or stand, where it would be defeathered before being handed to the customer, McFeaters said.
Niroula told McFeaters the business plans to have 100 to 200 chickens in stock and expects to sell about 50 per week, but to sustain such a business the business would need 500 to 600 chickens, including peeps, McFeaters said. The property is on eight acres in a residential neighborhood zoned as an agricultural district, he said.
“They can have up to a thousand chickens,” McFeaters said. “My concern is avian influenza, for one thing.”
Before Union Township can issue a zoning permit, Niroula’s chicken business would need a number of state and federal permits, including a permit from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
“They kind of backed off when I mentioned the USDA permit,” McFeaters said.
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Todd Lassa is a career journalist with experience at metro dailies, a business weekly, a Capitol Hill newsletter publisher, and three national car enthusiast magazines. Lassa also contributes to LNP/Lancaster Online and Autoweek and is founding editor of thehustings.news. He lives in Columbia with his… More by Todd Lassa
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New solar-cell design based on dots and wires MIT Energy Initiative
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Availability depends on the municipality or school district, not a national program.
Photo Credit: iStock
A few volunteer hours at a library, community center, or administrative office can mean lower property taxes for some older homeowners.
In parts of eight states, local “tax work-off” programs turn volunteer service into credits on residents’ property tax bills, according to Kiplinger.
Availability depends on the municipality or school district, not a national program.
The AARP indicates these arrangements can reduce annual costs for older Americans by as much as $1,500.
Most programs require the applicant to own and live in the home year-round as a primary residence. Many programs set eligibility at age 60, 62, or 65, though some also include veterans, surviving spouses, or people with disabilities.
Participants typically serve in public departments, including libraries, community centers, and administrative offices.
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States usually convert their hours at either the state minimum wage or a locally set rate, and apply the resulting credit to the homeowner’s property tax bill.
Kiplinger identified eight states where laws allow some form of work-off property tax relief: Massachusetts, Maine, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Washington, Colorado, and Texas.
Rising housing costs are one reason this type of relief can matter for older adults.
The National Institutes of Health estimates that about 168,000 adults over 65 face eviction or forced displacement each year.
That makes even modest credits significant, particularly in places where annual savings can reach four figures. Retirees on fixed incomes feel property tax increases sharply when local assessments outpace their household budgets.
The rules vary widely by state.
In Massachusetts, the standard cap is $1,500 per fiscal year, although towns can approve an increase to $2,000. In Rhode Island, qualifying residents may receive up to $1,500 per year for municipal volunteer service.
In New York, some volunteer firefighters and ambulance workers can qualify for a property tax break of up to 10% where local tax jurisdictions allow it, while many Pennsylvania school districts cap benefits at about $550 to $1,000, with some reaching $1,200.
Anyone interested in using one of these programs should start with their local municipal or school district website, because the detailed rules are often set there.
Even when a legal framework exists, local municipalities or school districts determine the cap, required hours, and participating departments.
Maine lets residents 60 and older earn up to whichever is greater: $1,000 or 100 times the state minimum wage. Washington’s version depends on participating local school districts and is open to residents 62 or older.
Homeowners in towns that don’t offer a tax work-off option may still have other ways to reduce their bills.
Kiplinger listed exemptions, tax freezes, and circuit breaker programs as alternatives, and cited New Jersey, where qualifying households may be eligible for as much as $6,500 a year across three property tax programs.
Kiplinger, citing AmeriCorps Seniors, says one to two years of volunteering was associated with lower depression, anxiety, and loneliness. It also referenced an NIH survey linking at least 100 volunteer hours per year to lower mortality risk and fewer physical-function limitations.
The NIH survey Kiplinger reviewed linked about two hours of volunteering per week, or at least 100 hours a year, to better mobility and higher overall physical activity.
Other programs can help homeowners offset rising housing costs, including state insurance relief and government-backed rebates or tax credits for home upgrades.
• In Hawai’i, lawmakers approved a lifeline for thousands as insurance costs climbed.
• States are unlocking billions from the government for home renovation rebates and efficiency upgrades.
• In Virginia, homeowners can collect up to $550 for bill-cutting renovations through performance rebates.
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In December 2025, BloombergNEF projected a pullback in global solar installations, with China slowing and the rest of the world growing. Ten months later, China has slowed more than expected. The rest of the world has grown slightly faster.
BloombergNEF now projects 584 GW of solar installations in 2026. That is a 10.8% decline from 655 GW in 2025. In December, it forecast 649 GW. In the first quarter of 2025, it expected 753 GW. That earlier 2026 figure is 29% higher than today’s forecast.
When asked whether there have been any surprises in the solar industry in 2026 – any Pakistan’s for instance – BloombergNEF CleanTech Analyst Jenny Chase said, “Honestly, none so far, a big theme has been no major booms. I don’t think it has anything to do with Chinese politics or pricing.”
BloombergNEF estimates China installed 383 GW in 2025. It now expects 271 GW in 2026, a 29% decline. In the group’s 2025 Q4 projection, China had been forecast for 2026 was 341 GW.
In December, BloombergNEF CleanTech Analyst Jenny Chase said growth in China “cannot continue at its historical breakneck pace.” She now attributes the deeper slowdown to saturation. “We doubt that either batteries or EVs will halt this, they just slow it down a little,” Chase told pv magazine USA.
Last year China deployed 383 GW of solar capacity, of which Chase noted the “breakneck” pace. The nation-state is projected to decline a massive 29% to 271 GW deployed. Through the end of June 2026, China installed about 71.8 GW of PV, down from 212.2 GW in the same period of 2025, a even sharper decline of roughly 66%.
The decline came as part of a shift in policy and a new five year plan taking attention off of capacity, and focusing on energy storage.
Outside of China, non-utility, and batteries
The world has slightly outperformed BloombergNEF’s projections. 2025’s deployment capacity of 272 GW was projected to grow to 308 GW – a 13% pop. Current projections put global capacity at 313 GW deployed, well within the end of 2025’s margin of error.
Growth is coming from markets like India, “chugging along”, the Philippines, Nigeria and Malaysia. Regarding both Nigeria and the Philippines, Chase pointed out that the growth in those markets was almost entirely residential and commercial based.
This aligns with a recent report, shown in the above BloombergNEF chart, that with the pullback in utility scale solar in China – non-utility solar is now the largest sector of global renewable energy investment.
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Thursday, October 29, 2026
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Thursday, November 5, 2026
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.
pv magazine Session returns to NetZero Milan as Knowledge Partner, organizing and moderating a two-hour conference on the evolving global solar supply chain.
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Geneva (Switzerland) (AFP) – Swiss pilot Raphael Domjan beat the altitude record for a solar-powered electric plane in a 2025 flight that took him soaring to 9,640 metres, the World Air Sports Federation (FAI) confirmed.
Issued on:
The FAI governing body, holding its 120th general conference in Lausanne from Wednesday to Friday, validated the record attempt after verifying the flight data.
The SolarStratos plane made the landmark flight from Sion airport in southwest Switzerland on August 12 last year, taking advantage of warm air thermals to beat a 15-year-old record.
The previous certified altitude record for a solar plane was 9,235 metres (30,298 feet).
Domjan’s flight lasted five hours and nine minutes.
“After several months of verification and certification, FAI ratification now gives this achievement full international recognition,” the SolarStratos team said a statement.
“SolarStratos officially becomes the highest-flying crewed electric and solar-powered aircraft in history.”
On Wednesday, Domjan was given the FAI’s Louis Bleriot Medal — established in 1936 and named after the French aviation pioneer — in recognition of his world record flight.
“This distinction crowns more than 10 years of research, testing and commitment to pushing the boundaries of electric and solar-powered flight,” SolarStratos said.
“SolarStratos takes another step towards its ultimate goal: reaching the stratosphere aboard a crewed electric and solar-powered aircraft, without using a single drop of fossil fuel.”
Domjan is aiming to make the first manned solar-powered flight into the stratosphere, which at Switzerland’s latitude begins at around 10,000 to 12,000 metres, depending on climatic conditions.
The single propeller plane, registration HB-SXA, is made of carbon fibre to ensure lightness and strength.
SolarStratos is 9.6 metres long. Its 24.8 metre wingspan accommodates 22 square metres (237 square feet) of high-spec solar panels and allows for flying at low speeds.
The plane can take off at low speeds, from 50 kilometres (30 miles) per hour upwards. Its maximum speed is 140 kph, while its cruising speed is around 80 kph.
© 2026 AFP
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Eight major Chinese polysilicon manufacturers, including Tongwei and GCL Technology, met behind closed doors in Hangzhou on Oct. 11 to discuss measures to curb below-cost sales and reduce output amid persistent overcapacity.
The meeting followed an industry self-discipline agreement signed in Shanghai on Aug. 6 by the same companies: Tongwei, GCL Technology, Daqo New Energy, Xinte Energy, Asia-Silicon, East Hope, Qinghai Lihao and Xinjiang Goens. Together, they account for more than 80% of China’s effective polysilicon production capacity.
Shanghai Securities News and Xinhua Finance, citing participating companies, reported that the Hangzhou meeting proposed a tax-inclusive minimum price of CNY 43,000 ($6,324) per metric ton for both conventional Siemens-process polysilicon and granular silicon.
The proposed threshold reflects production costs, including raw materials, electricity, depreciation and labor. Participants also reportedly discussed applying cost-based pricing principles to exports, procurement and tenders.
Local media reported separate proposed minimum prices of CNY 0.86/W for back-contact (BC) modules and CNY 0.79/W for TOPCon modules, although the companies have not confirmed these figures.
Participants also purportedly discussed adjusting production independently in response to market demand and encouraging reports of suspected below-cost sales. No binding output quotas, company-specific reduction targets or enforcement mechanisms have been disclosed.
Meanwhile, polysilicon futures remained well below the proposed price floor. On Oct. 15, the most-active contract, PS2611, closed at CNY 33,255 per metric ton on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, down 4.58% on the day.
Weak downstream demand and rising inventories continued to pressure prices. The Silicon Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNMIA) estimated September polysilicon output at 120,400 metric tons and projected a decline to around 105,000 metric tons in October as producers reduced operating rates.
The Hangzhou meeting follows nearly two years of industry efforts to address the supply-demand imbalance. After sharp price declines and widespread manufacturing losses in 2024, leading producers pursued voluntary output cuts and consolidation plans in 2025. In December 2025, several manufacturers established a joint platform to facilitate the acquisition and retirement of excess capacity.
The initiative faced regulatory scrutiny in January 2026, when China’s State Administration for Market Regulation summoned leading producers over antitrust concerns and warned against coordinated agreements on capacity, output and prices.
The industry subsequently shifted its focus toward cost-accounting standards and voluntary commitments to avoid below-cost sales, leading to the August agreement and the latest discussions in Hangzhou.
The impact of these measures remains uncertain. Recent reports from TrendForce and the Silicon Industry Branch indicate that polysilicon inventories continue to rise in China, with weak downstream demand limiting the effectiveness of voluntary production cuts.
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Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, November 5, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.
pv magazine Session returns to NetZero Milan as Knowledge Partner, organizing and moderating a two-hour conference on the evolving global solar supply chain.
Get your ticket at a discounted rate with pv magazine.
Join pv magazine for an expert session exploring quality, technology and the challenges of scaling India’s solar industry.
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In December 2025, BloombergNEF projected a pullback in global solar installations, with China slowing and the rest of the world growing. Ten months later, China has slowed more than expected. The rest of the world has grown slightly faster.
BloombergNEF now projects 584 GW of solar installations in 2026. That is a 10.8% decline from 655 GW in 2025. In December, it forecast 649 GW. In the first quarter of 2025, it expected 753 GW. That earlier 2026 figure is 29% higher than today’s forecast.
When asked whether there have been any surprises in the solar industry in 2026 – any Pakistan’s for instance – BloombergNEF CleanTech Analyst Jenny Chase said, “Honestly, none so far, a big theme has been no major booms. I don’t think it has anything to do with Chinese politics or pricing.”
BloombergNEF estimates China installed 383 GW in 2025. It now expects 271 GW in 2026, a 29% decline. In the group’s 2025 Q4 projection, China had been forecast for 2026 was 341 GW.
In December, BloombergNEF CleanTech Analyst Jenny Chase said growth in China “cannot continue at its historical breakneck pace.” She now attributes the deeper slowdown to saturation. “We doubt that either batteries or EVs will halt this, they just slow it down a little,” Chase told pv magazine USA.
Last year China deployed 383 GW of solar capacity, of which Chase noted the “breakneck” pace. The nation-state is projected to decline a massive 29% to 271 GW deployed. Through the end of June 2026, China installed about 71.8 GW of PV, down from 212.2 GW in the same period of 2025, a even sharper decline of roughly 66%.
The decline came as part of a shift in policy and a new five year plan taking attention off of capacity, and focusing on energy storage.
Outside of China, non-utility, and batteries
The world has slightly outperformed BloombergNEF’s projections. 2025’s deployment capacity of 272 GW was projected to grow to 308 GW – a 13% pop. Current projections put global capacity at 313 GW deployed, well within the end of 2025’s margin of error.
Growth is coming from markets like India, “chugging along”, the Philippines, Nigeria and Malaysia. Regarding both Nigeria and the Philippines, Chase pointed out that the growth in those markets was almost entirely residential and commercial based.
This aligns with a recent report, shown in the above BloombergNEF chart, that with the pullback in utility scale solar in China – non-utility solar is now the largest sector of global renewable energy investment.
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With sustained policy support, India has rapidly grown its domestic supply of PV modules over the past few years. Now it is moving into the more challenging sectors of cell and wafer manufacturing. The second Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM-II) came into force on June 1, 2026. This key milestone in India’s supply …
Thursday, October 29, 2026
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Thursday, November 5, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.
pv magazine Session returns to NetZero Milan as Knowledge Partner, organizing and moderating a two-hour conference on the evolving global solar supply chain.
Get your ticket at a discounted rate with pv magazine.
Join pv magazine for an expert session exploring quality, technology and the challenges of scaling India’s solar industry.
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Terra Verde
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A new law allows California residents to use plug-in solar, or what’s better known as “balcony solar,” setups that can power home devices such as fridges, computers, and air conditioners for several hours. The idea of balcony solar is catching on fast — bills to legalize it have been introduced in more than half of US states, and 10 states, including California, have already adopted them.
Earth Island Journal editor-in-chief and Terra Verde co-host Maureen Nandini Mitra talks with two veteran solar advocates — Bernadette Del Chiaro, the California head of the Environmental Working Group, which co-sponsored the state’s new bill, and Dave Rosenfeld, executive director of Solar Rights Alliance, a statewide network of solar power users that champions the right to generate solar energy without utility interference. They share how California residents can plug in and reap the benefits of this technology, and discuss the larger political landscape in which the push for balcony solar is playing out.
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China’s Solar Module Exports Reach 15.26 GW In August 2026 As Cell Shipments Surge 54% SolarQuarter
source
Since late August 2026, silver prices have entered a rapid pullback. According to SMM data, the SMM #1 silver price fell from its stage high of 16,889 yuan/kg ($2,513/kg) on August 27 to 13,584 yuan/kg ($2,021/kg) on October 15, a cumulative drop of 19.6%, before edging back to 13,842 yuan/kg ($2,059/kg) on October 16. Over the same period, the solar cell cost curve shifted lower across the board: taking the M10 (183 mm) cell as an example, total cost per watt fell from 0.348 yuan/W to 0.310 yuan/W, a decline of about 10.8%.
Unlike in February 2026, when a sharp silver drop was matched by a synchronous fall in cell quotations, the latest cost relief has not translated into lower cell prices. SMM price data showed that G12R (210R) cell prices have held steady since September 18, with no adjustment for nearly a month; G12 (210 mm) cell prices rose rather than fell in mid-October; and M10 cells only drifted lower within a narrow band.
Silver Price Correction: Macroeconomic Headwinds Weigh on Precious Metals Valuations
The latest silver price correction was primarily triggered by developments in the overseas macroeconomic environment. The minutes of the US Federal Reserve's September policy meeting struck a relatively hawkish tone, while the US Dollar Index climbed above 102 and US Treasury yields reached multi-year highs, putting pressure on precious metals valuations.
COMEX silver futures fell below the USD 60/oz threshold on October 8, touching an intraday low of USD 58.96/oz. Domestic silver prices followed the downward trend. Between October 12 and 15, the SMM 1# Silver price declined by a cumulative 8.6%, marking the steepest phase of the latest correction.
Cost Transmission: Lower Silver Paste Prices Drive Down Total Cell Production Costs
According to SMM data, the average price of TOPCon front-side fine-line silver paste fell from 15,976.5 yuan/kg ($2,377/kg) on August 27 to 12,991 yuan/kg ($1,933/kg) on October 15, down 18.7%. The silver paste cost of G12R cells fell from 0.143 yuan/W to 0.116 yuan/W, down 18.9%. Notably, in the three weeks from September 28 to October 15, the total cost of G12R cells fell by a cumulative 0.013 yuan/W, while the silver paste cost fell by the same 0.013 yuan/W — meaning the improvement in cell costs came essentially from the single variable of silver prices.
Market Performance: Price Stability, Selective Increases and Marginal Declines Coexist
While the cost curve moved lower, cell prices showed three distinct trajectories. SMM price data showed that since September 18, the average G12R cell price has held at 0.31 yuan/W, anchored by upstream and downstream psychological price levels, with no adjustment for nearly a month. G12 cells were largely stable in September after pulling back from late-August highs, before the average price was raised to 0.2975 yuan/W on October 13, within a range of 0.295-0.3 yuan/W, up 1.5% from the start of the month. M10 cells edged down from 0.2995 yuan/W to 0.2955 yuan/W, a move of less than 2% during the window of steepest silver declines. None of the three formats followed costs lower in tandem.
Why Have Cell Prices Remained Resilient? Production Line Upgrades and Output Cuts Tighten Supply
The first pillar of price resilience came from the supply side. SMM data showed that China's solar cell output fell 15.2% year on year in September, staying below the July year-to-date high for a second consecutive month, while the industry operating rate fell to 53.5%, down 23.04 percentage points from a year earlier. The reduction mainly came from ongoing production line technology upgrades at some cell makers; the resulting temporary shutdowns squeezed effective market supply and left fewer spot cargoes in circulation than before.
Three Cell Formats, Three Market Dynamics: Weak but Stable 183, Export-Supported 210R and Tight 210N Inventories
The second pillar is that the three formats are driven by different demand logics — there is no single price direction in the market right now. Inventory movements are a key clue to this divergence. Inventories staged a rebound in September, but then fell again as some producers cut output for technology upgrades, pre-holiday stockpiling kicked in and export orders were delivered. As of October 12, industry inventory was down about 31.68% from its mid-September high.
By format, domestic demand for M10 cells has been shrinking steadily, and export order volumes are relatively limited; with neither buyers nor sellers showing much initiative, prices have moved within a narrow band. G12R cells are mainly supported by export orders, with cell makers prioritising existing supply for export markets — even when domestic module makers tried to press for lower prices on the back of cheaper silver, they struggled to secure meaningfully cheaper cargoes. G12 cells, meanwhile, have benefited from the release of utility-scale project demand and module makers' restocking in October; spot supply has tightened, pushing prices up rather than down.
Outlook
In the near term, falling silver prices help improve cell makers' costs, but are not yet enough to trigger across-the-board cell price cuts. For M10, limited demand upside means little room for prices to rise, but prices will largely move within a narrow band until supply recovers. For G12R, order support should hold until the export window closes; watch for changes in the export pace and any backflow of cargoes into the domestic market after early November. Whether G12 can sustain its strength depends on the continuity of utility-scale project deliveries and module makers' restocking. Overall, this round of "silver down, cells flat" does not signal a failure of cost-based pricing — it reflects a temporary shift of pricing power from the cost side to structural supply and demand.
Data Source Statement: Except for publicly available information, all other data are processed by SMM based on publicly available information, market communication, and relying on SMM's internal database model. They are for reference only and do not constitute decision-making recommendations.
Notice: By accessing this site you agree that you will not copy or reproduce any part of its contents (including, but not limited to, single prices, graphs or news content) in any form or for any purpose whatsoever without the prior written consent of the publisher.
NTPC Ltd, India’s largest power utility, and Africa50, a specialist investor in African infrastructure, have signed a Cooperation Agreement to identify, assess and develop power-generation projects and cross-border electricity trading opportunities across Africa.
The partnership will draw on NTPC’s engineering and operational capabilities and Africa50’s project development and financing expertise to advance commercially viable power projects, attract investment and expand reliable electricity supply for households and businesses.
NTPC will bring its extensive technical, engineering, project development, construction management and operations expertise to assess project feasibility, develop viable solutions and support the progression of identified opportunities towards implementation. Africa50 will complement these capabilities by leveraging its continental-scale pipeline and access to governments and regulators through its 34 African country shareholders to identify priority power projects, structure them for investment and support their progress across the project life cycles.
“We look forward to working with Africa50 to develop commercially viable power projects in mutually agreed countries in Africa. Combining NTPC’s technical and operational experience with Africa50’s project development capabilities and relationships across the continent creates a strong foundation for supporting reliable power supply and regional electricity trade,” said Gurdeep Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of NTPC Ltd.
Alain Ebobisse, Group Chief Executive Officer of Africa50, said: “Reliable and competitively priced power is central to Africa’s industrial and economic transformation. This partnership combines Africa50’s ability to develop, de-risk and deliver investable projects with NTPC’s proven technical expertise to translate public ambition into private investment in power generation.”
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China’s Growing Dominance of Renewable Energy Industry Hard to Resist Despite Security Risks The Japan News
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Several replies stressed that a standard wall-outlet charge is still demanding.
Photo Credit: iStock
A portable power station owner said a routine recharge turned into a frightening close call after plugging a Pecron F5000LFP into an extension cord.
Hours later, the charging cable had fused to the cord, with the plug’s plastic softened and hardened around it.
The Reddit post in r/Pecron described the problem as user error after the original poster updated it. The owner said they had “made an amateur mistake” by charging through an extension cord and later found the cable stuck to it. In the same warning, they wrote: “Don’t do what I did.”
The owner originally referenced a 3,600-watt figure as the cause of the melted cord.
One commenter pointed out, “The Pecron f5000lfp will only draw 3600w when using the RV cord to charge. It caps out at 1800w maximum with the standard 5-15 ac cord that plugs into a wall outlet.”
In an update, they wrote that “3600W was an incorrect memory of what happened” and acknowledged that “No way a 15W or 20W breaker could supply 30A.” They ultimately said a cheap extension cord and the decision to use it were to blame.
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Several replies stressed that a standard wall-outlet charge is still demanding. One commenter said that “even with the normal 5-15 cord at 1800w even the OEM Pecron cord gets slightly warm,” while another speculated that the setup may have involved “a 16 gauge 13 Amp extension cord best suited to lamps.”
One commenter reduced the outlet issue to a basic rule: “any device (microwave, iron, heater, whatever) can only pull up to 15A from a typical home outlet.” The same person added a separate safety reminder: “Extension cords must be extended (not coiled or rolled up) when in use.”
Cost savings also came up in the discussion as a use for the battery.
One commenter said they charge overnight at 18 cents per kilowatt-hour instead of paying 45 or 60 cents later, adding that filling a 10-kilowatt-hour battery pack takes “near 12kWh of grid power.” Using those figures, a full overnight charge could save roughly $3.24 to $5.04 compared with buying the same amount of power at higher rates.
The clearest advice was to avoid light-duty extension cords when charging a large power station. A commenter said owners should “make absolutely sure you are using a 12awg or 10awg extension cord,” adding that “the longer the extension cord the thicker the gauge if wire it should be.”
Some commenters pointed to lowering the charge speed as another way to reduce risk while still taking advantage of off-peak rates. One noted that users can “slow down the charge rate percentage on the settings menu,” while another said they reduced their unit’s maximum rate to 1.5 kilowatts because they did not want to “have to remember that risk.”
The thread also included heavier-duty alternatives for people who still want faster charging. One commenter said, “I installed a new RV socket, 30 amp breaker and maybe half a meter of Romex (the pink stuff) in order to safely charge that beast.”
The owner’s final update was blunt: “I agree it was a cheap extension cord and my use of it that caused the problem. On to bigger and better things once I get a replacement cable from Pecron.”
These stories look at similar charging-safety issues, including home setup mistakes and the limits of charging from a standard outlet.
• An EV owner said outlets were melting after improper home-charger wiring choices.
• A Tesla owner sparked backlash after using a kitchen outlet to charge at home.
• U.S. apartment shoppers warned that free plugs are vanishing as EV access tightens.
• In Santa Clarita, drivers returned to destructive trend takes over local charging stations.
• In Portland, an overnight stop ended with a disappointing scene overnight at chargers.
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Luis Reyes
Oct 16, at 9:30am ET
Grass grows under solar panels whether anyone wants it to or not. And once it gets tall enough to shade the bottom edge of the glass, somebody has to deal with it. For years, that somebody was a guy on a mower, or a crew with string trimmers picking their way around a few thousand steel posts.
Lately, it’s sheep. The developer pays a shepherd, the mower stays in the barn, and everybody involved seems pretty happy with the arrangement.
Sounds easy enough, but you gotta hear the size of the job first. A team at Cornell spent three summers running its own teaching flock through a working 18-megawatt solar farm in Dryden, New York, at three different stocking rates, and counting the insects that showed up in each plot. The lightest grazing left 38% more wild bees, honeybees and ladybugs than a plot that was simply mowed. The heaviest grazing kept the grass down best of all and cut honeybee numbers by 45%. The paper came out in Environmental Research Letters on October 7, and Cornell wrote it up a week later.
You’d think a sheep is a sheep. It turns out the number of them matters as much as the fact that they’re there at all.
If you don’t farm, the phrase probably means nothing to you, so here’s the short version. A stocking rate is how many animals you put on a given piece of ground. The Cornell team ran theirs at two, four, and eight sheep per hectare, which, in American terms, works out to two, four, and eight sheep per 2.5 acres. Even the heavy end of that is only about three sheep per acre, which doesn’t sound like much until you watch what three sheep do to an acre over a summer.
Light grazing leaves a fair amount of the pasture standing, and standing pasture gets to flower. Heavy grazing takes the plants down before most of them get the chance. Bees, as you’d expect, go where the flowers are.
Well, that’s the plain-language read, anyway. I had to rely on Cornell’s summary and the abstract since the paper is behind a paywall. So I didn’t see the full methods. I’d maybe treat the mechanism as my interpretation rather than the authors’ stated finding.
At two sheep per 2.5 acres, the researchers counted 38% more beneficial insects than in the mowed control plot, and the honeybees alone were up 83%. Lady beetles were in the count too, which is what entomologists call ladybugs, and they earn the “beneficial” tag because they eat aphids for a living.
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At four sheep, the insect numbers landed about where the mowed plot did. The grass control was better than at two, though, so if you’re a developer who cares mostly about shading, four is arguably the sweet spot.
At eight sheep, the vegetation was as tidy as it got, and Cornell says the flock stayed healthy the whole time. The honeybees were the ones that lost out, down 45%.
One thing Cornell hasn’t said, at least not in the summary, is where those honeybees came from. But I got you there.
Honeybees are livestock in their own right, and in upstate New York there’s a decent chance somebody’s hives sit within flying distance of the arrays. Wild bees were in the mix too, but the 83% figure is honeybees specifically, so I’d want to know whether the count was measuring habitat or measuring a neighbor’s beekeeping before I built a policy on it.
This wasn’t a test plot with a dozen panels. The Cascadilla Community Solar Farm is rated at 18 megawatts, spread across three sites in Dryden, and sends more than 30 gigawatt-hours a year to the NYSEG grid, which Cornell says is enough for about 3,000 homes. Cornell put the panel count at roughly 79,000 on a 125-acre parcel the ag school had written off as nonproducing farmland. The renewable energy credits cover the equivalent of 20% of the Ithaca campus’s electricity.
The sheep belong to Cornell too. The university’s own Sheep Program has been grazing the farm’s 54-acre south arrays for some time now, with the five fenced arrays serving as the experimental blocks. So the animals in this study weren’t rented from a contractor for a season. They live there.
That’s one reason I’d put a bit more faith in these numbers than in a one-summer demo. Three years, one site, the same flock, and a mowed plot sitting right there for comparison is about as clean as a field trial of this kind gets. The flip side is that it’s one site, in one climate, with one grass mix, and nobody should assume a Texas solar farm in August behaves like Tompkins County in June.
Quite a lot, from the looks of things. Leana Zoller, the postdoc who led the insect paper, told Cornell that grazing and insect habitat are usually studied as separate questions, even though a developer has to decide on both in the same patch of ground. Steve Grodsky, the senior author, said the team picked stocking rates specifically because a sheep farmer already thinks in those terms.
One of the co-authors, Nikola Kochendoerfer, isn’t an academic by day. She grazes 700 ewes on solar sites in New York and Vermont, and her pitch to Cornell was blunt: with solar, “you get paid to graze as opposed to having to pay to graze.” She says she’s working with farms that are scaling up because of it.
Cornell’s business school put a number on that side of things in a second paper, published September 28 in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. Vincent Slaugh, Linwei Xin and Shane Henderson built a spreadsheet model that tells a shepherd how many sheep to buy or sell to cover a given set of solar contracts without ending up short of mouths when the grass takes off. An Ithaca outfit called United Agrivoltaics already uses it to onboard new graziers.
Slaugh’s bigger bet is that solar contracts could grow the American sheep industry outright. Cornell points out that about half the lamb and mutton eaten in the US is imported, mostly from New Zealand and Australia, so there’s room. I’d call that plausible rather than proven. A model is a model, and 700 ewes on two states’ worth of solar farms is a business, not an industry.
Sheep under panels have been a recurring theme on this site, from Oregon lambs that gained the same weight on 38 percent less grass to 4,200 merino sheep hiding under 755,000 panels in Australia. This is the first one I’ve seen that asks how many sheep is too many, and the answer, at least for the bees, is somewhere between four and eight per 2.5 acres.
Zoller’s paper went live in Environmental Research Letters on October 7, 2026, with funding from the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and the National Science Foundation.
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Renewable energy developer Swift Current Energy is suing First Solar in New York state court, alleging the manufacturer knowingly supplied defective solar modules and used deceptive testing to hide significant performance issues.
The complaint, filed in Sept. 2026, alleges that First Solar supplied over 2.4 million defective Series 6 Plus and Series 7 thin-film cadmium telluride modules across three major U.S. solar installations, including the 800 MWdc Double Black Diamond project in Illinois.
The developer states it paid more than $360 million for the equipment, which it claims has consistently failed to meet promised power output metrics.
According to the complaint, the modules experienced increased degradation and significantly lower-than-expected output immediately upon installation in 2023 and 2024. Swift Current says it initially submitted formal warranty claims on Dec. 23, 2024, after discovering the widespread underperformance.
First Solar formally responded on May 2, 2025, stating that the developer had not adequately described or provided evidence of the claimed defects, and noted that evaluating power output claims based on system-level performance data is invalid under the warranty terms.
The module maker requested that Swift Current coordinate with its technical support to conduct individual module power output measurements in a laboratory. Swift Current’s court filing called this proposed remedy “commercially impossible,” arguing it would require shipping more than 1.5 million modules back to First Solar at a cost exceeding the value of the claims.
In the complaint, Swift Current points to its inability to meet commitments to its commercial offtakers under power purchase agreements as a result of the power output loss. In addition, the developer says it has lost revenue from decreased compensation under capacity contracts it signed for two of the projects in question.
Defect allegations
Swift Current claims that First Solar identified two primary errors in its manufacturing process that led to lower power output in 1.6 million of the modules it purchased from the module maker.
The developer alleges First Solar knew about the defects at the time it shipped modules to its sites, but concealed them from the developer until October 2024. Importantly, one of the defects alleged in the complaint appears never to have been publicly acknowledged by the module maker.
The first type of these errors, which Swift Current calls “Edge Grind Defects” is related to a flaw in the manufacturing process for Series 7 modules first publicly disclosed by First Solar in an Oct. 2024 earnings call.
In the call, First Solar CEO Mark Widmar provided details how the company identified the issue early in Series 7 production, in which materials that have been ground from the edge of module glass “calcify” onto the glass during the “dwell time” between the grinding step and a module washing step that occurs after.
At the time, First Solar said it had identified and taken actions to address the edge grind issues and was taking a warranty charge of $50 million in anticipation of providing service to buyers of affected modules.
The second, previously-undisclosed type of defect is referred to in the complaint as “Substrate Defects,” which Swift Current alleges arose from a change to the manufacturing process initiated by First Solar in 2021, which prevented the absorber layer for its Series 6 Plus and 7 modules from forming as designed. The complaint states these defects “impacted the annealing process, film quality, recombination rates, and ultimately, module power output.”
Swift Current says it was presented with an investigative report First Solar commissioned from Leidos Engineering, LLC to examine its Series 7 modules, which identifies the two defects being present in the modules. The complaint says the Leidos report found an average power loss of approximately 8 percent for modules tested after nearly one year of field deployment.
The complaint also goes further, alleging “metastability losses inherent in First Solar’s thin film cadmium telluride technology,” which can result in seasonal loss of power output during cold periods of the year.
Swift Current alleges that First Solar artificially inflates its modules’ nameplate power ratings using a secret, proprietary “preconditioning” testing method that masks the metastability loss by testing module power output immediately after subjecting the panels to at least eight hours of extreme heat, voltage and irradiance.
The complaint says that while the edge grind and substrate defects were present in more than 1.6 million of the modules it received, all 2.4 million failed to perform as promised, with the alleged metastability issues solely at fault for lower-than expected production from the remaining modules.
Swift Current is seeking damages and restitution due to the alleged defects. In addition, it has asked the New York court to apply penalties under a Massachusetts law regarding willful misconduct, because the Swift Current employees who evaluated the modules and negotiated the deal to purchase them are based at the company’s headquarters in Massachusetts and the commercial relationship between the two companies was managed there.
The case is active and ongoing, with the parties scheduled to appear before Justice Andrew Borrok of the New York county commercial division of the New York state supreme court on Nov. 16, 2026.
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NTPC REL Invites Bids For 2,100 MW Solar Bifacial Module Procurement In Rajasthan SolarQuarter
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Saturday, October 17, 2026
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency says it remains confident Australia can expand its onshore solar module manufacturing capacity enough to meet the aspirational target of 1 gigawatt a year, as it seeks to foster competition for the nation’s sole panel maker, Tindo Solar.
Arena this week launched round three of its $850 million Solar Sunshot funding scheme, putting another $250 million up for grabs in the form of production subsidies and grants.
And while the focus for this round has shifted from cells and modules to supporting innovative, cost-cutting construction methods, Arena’s general manager of solar investment Dan Sturrock says the agency has not given up on the dream of Australian made solar.
Currently, Adelaide-based Tindo Solar is Australia’s only PV module maker – a title it has held since it was founded in 2011. Tindo won $34.5 million in Sunshot funding in 2025, to scale up production from 20 megawatts (MW) a year to 180 MW and to test the water for a future giga-scale plant.
A second module manufacturing contender – a company headed up by one of the legends of Australian solar research and development, Zhengrong Shi – in December last year won more than $150 million in Sunshot funding to build a commercial-scale PV panel manufacturing plant in New South Wales.
The Hunter Valley Solar Foundry, which also received $20 million from the state government, proposes to become a 500 MW per annum manufacturing facility that will produce Sunman’s lightweight solar panels, and provide production capability to other manufacturers.
“We see competition as good… [and] there’s room in the market for multiple producers,” Sturrock told Renew Economy’s Solar Insiders podcast on Thursday.
“We do have one more project in the pipeline that’s not yet announced, so … watch this space for potentially a third project. But we were always hoping to get to a gigawatt and we still hope that we might achieve that.”
Tindo in 2024 set out its own ambition to build a solar panel “gigafactory” in Australia, a feat it claimed at the time that it could pull off with just $90-100 million and within two years, with the right federal government support.
When Tindo got its SunShot money, in August of last year, federal energy minister Chris Bowen, whose home rooftop solar system uses Tindo panels, said the grant would give Tindo the opportunity to cater for around 10 per cent of Australia’s domestic demand.
But progress is slow and the competition from cheap and abundant Chinese panels is fierce. Sturrock says Arena is always trying to balance accountability – making sure projects are delivering what they have proposed to – while also providing flexibility to allow for evolving pathways and plans.
“We are the custodian of taxpayer dollars, and we take that quite seriously, very seriously. But there is that balancing act of, you want to work really closely with those companies to achieve success and sometimes acknowledging that you’re not going to achieve every one of the … success factors that you set out to achieve.
“So you’ve got to be balancing up, you know, what’s really important and how you continue to manage that funding commitment over time as the market changes, competition changes [and] regulations change.”
SunDrive – a solar cell innovator spun out of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) – in 2024 applied for round one Sunshot funding in partnership with Chinese PV giant Trina, with a proposal to set up a module manufacturing plant in Western Sydney, with an initial production capacity of 1.2 gigawatts (GW).
The bid was not successful, although SunDrive – whose technology uses copper for solar cell metallisation, instead of silver, making cells cheaper to produce – has had strong support from Arena through other programs, including a $25.3 million grant through the Advancing Renewables Program.
“We’ve supported [SunDrive] with their core technology development… [and] that’s been going for about a year now and they’re continuing to bring their novel copper-based metallisation technology into the market and looking to sell that at a commercial scale over the next six months,” said Sturrock.
“So we’re, we’re still supporting them with that core technology pathway and we hope to see some real commercial traction in the next 12 months with SunDrive. But I think they’ve stepped away from the module manufacturing ambition, is my understanding.”
Meanwhile, Sturrock says Tindo is in the process of ramping up its production at the new facility in Adelaide and the Hunter Valley Solar Foundry is working towards starting construction next year.
“That [will] be the new competitor producing modules at scale competing with Tindo,” he tells Solar Insiders.
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Sophie is editor of Renew Economy and editor of its sister site, One Step Off The Grid . She is the co-host of the Solar Insiders Podcast. Sophie has been writing about clean energy for more than a decade.
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