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Against the backdrop of Assam’s ambitious clean energy targets and growing investor interest in the Northeast, Energetica India hosted the inaugural REconnect North-East Summit in Guwahati, bringing together policymakers, utilities, developers, and manufacturers to discuss opportunities and challenges across the region’s renewable energy value chain.
June 25, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

O&M of RE Assets Has Evolved into an Intelligence-Led Function: Praveen Kakulte

The Future Belongs to Energy-Intelligent Enterprises, Says CHI'GRIDS' Founder Raahul Hari Nair

Automation, AI and Smart Manufacturing Emerge as Biggest Draw at SNEC 2026: Dibakar Roy

Renewable Expansion Without Storage will put Increasing Stress on the Grid: Hiren Pravin Shah

Integrated EPC Solutions are IB Solar’s Strongest Differentiator: Aakshi Mahajan

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Large solar arrays take up valuable space on land. So many nations are floating the idea of, well, floating solar panels on water bodies such as lakes and reservoirs. But the technology is generally discussed for warmer climates. The presumption is that icy conditions would impact the panels’ supporting structures.
A new study refutes that notion. Using simple materials, researchers at Western University in Canada have designed a floating solar system that worked through an icy Canadian winter and efficiently generated clean energy.
“Floating solar can be technically feasible in cold Canadian conditions, but winter operation cannot be treated as a minor detail,” says electrical engineer Koami Soulemane Hayibo, and an author on the paper published in Applied Energy.
Ice and snow, low temperatures, and the interaction between the floating structure, panels, and the water surface all affect the system’s performance and durability, Hayibo says. So he and his colleagues set out to understand exactly how, and calculate how the energy needed for ice prevention would affect overall system efficiency and operation.
Plastic rafts typically support floating solar panels in warmer climates. But the Canadian team attached flexible solar panels onto sheets of thick, waterproof foam. They then installed air lines beneath the floating panels. An onshore aquarium pump pushed a steady stream of bubbles through the pipes from the bottom of the pond. Water is slightly warmer at the bottom during winter, so the rising bubbles push the warmer temperatures up toward the panels.
 
 
The researchers tested a 7-kilowatt system comprised of 40 panels on an pond in Ilderton, Ontario. They monitored the sunlight, air temperature, wind, humidity, water temperature, solar panel temperature, energy output, and visual conditions. And they factored in the energy that the air-bubbling system used to reduce ice formation.
“The energy used for ice prevention was relatively small compared with electrical energy produced during the studied periods, but it was not negligible,” Hayibo says. The bubbling system consumed between 0.02% and 14.5% of the solar electricity, depending on the operating period and assumptions.
He adds that while the air-bubbling system could be applied to plastic rafts, the exact results should not be generalized to all water bodies without additional analysis. “Large lakes and reservoirs can have strong wave, current, moving ice, more complex anchoring requirements, and different ecological constraints,” he says. “Those parameters must be considered before applying the findings at larger scales.”
The researchers now plan to test the system over longer periods, improve the ice-prevention strategy, and evaluate how different floating structures affect performance.
Source: Koami Soulamane Hayibo, Md Motakabbir Rahman, and Joshua M. Pearce. Design and thermal-energy performance analysis of foam-based floating photovoltaic systems in a cold climate: experimental results from a 7 kW floatovoltaics in Canada. Applied Energy, 2026.
Image: d3energy
 
 
 
 
 
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Polish independent power producer (IPP) R.Power has secured a €41.6 million (US$47.3 million) project finance facility for four solar projects in Romania with a combined capacity of approximately 75MWp.
The financing package comprises €34.1 million (US$38.8 million) and RON39.5million (US$8.5 million) and has been provided through a deal between ING Bank NV and UniCredit Bank SA, with each lender contributing an equal share.
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The portfolio includes four PV projects, among them a 55MWp high-voltage installation. The projects are scheduled to be connected to the grid in 2027.
“We have built a substantial pipeline of well-located, grid-secured assets across the region, and we are now seeing that pipeline translate into financed, operational capacity,” said Michał Swół, chief investment officer at R.Power.
The developments form part of R.Power’s Romanian pipeline, which the company said totals 2GW and includes two operational solar projects as well as projects awarded contracts for difference (CfDs) in Romania’s 2024 auction round.
The transaction increases the total amount of project finance secured by R.Power in 2026 to approximately €250 million (US$284.5 million), according to the company. The company plans to add battery energy storage systems (BESS) at the selected sites.
The Warsaw-based IPP, founded in 2010, is backed by equity investors including the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Three Seas Initiative Investment Fund (3SIIF), advised by Amber Infrastructure. The company has 1.4GW of renewable energy capacity either operational or under construction.
R.Power’s development pipeline includes more than 10GW of utility-scale battery energy storage, hybrid and renewable generation projects across Poland, Romania, Germany, Italy, Portugal and Spain. In Central and Eastern Europe, its solar pipeline totals 10GW across Poland and Romania.
Recently, the company secured project financing for the 80MW Lasocice solar PV project in western Poland.
The financing was provided by ING Bank Śląski to one of R.Power’s affiliates and comprised loans of €39.8 million (US$46.6 million) and PLN18 million (US$5 million), according to a company announcement. The project is scheduled to be connected to Poland’s grid in the second quarter of 2027.

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US developers have announced a number of project advancements this week. Vesper Energy has started construction at a 201MW Texas solar project, rPlus Energies has stared commercial operations at a solar-plus-storage project in Utah and Matrix Renewables has secured US$1.3 billion in finance for four projects in various stages of development across the country.
US independent power producer (IPP) Vesper Energy has started construction at the 201MW Nazareth Solar project in Swisher County, Texas.
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Vesper expects to begin commercial operations in autumn 2027, and the project will deliver power to the ERCOT grid, which covers around 90% of the electric load of Texas. Renewable energy connected to ERCOT has been a driving force behind the recent boom in solar deployments in Texas, with figures from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) showing that utility-scale solar generation on the ERCOT grid is expected to surpass that of coal this year for the first time.
The IPP secured finance for the project earlier this month, which will be built on land adjacent to its 600MW Hornet Solar project, one of the largest single-phase solar PV projects in the US that the company brought online last April.
The new project will be “providing energy at the local and regional levels,” according to Karl Smith, senior manager of project management at Vesper. “Breaking ground at Nazareth reflects what Vesper Energy proved at Hornet Solar, and we’re thrilled to bring the same discipline and execution to this project from day one,” he added.
Earlier this week, renewables developer rPlus Energies started commercial operations at its 400MW Green River Energy Centre in Emery County, Utah.
Alongside the 400MW solar PV component, the project includes a 400MW/1,600MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), and both PV Tech and our colleagues at Energy-Storage.news have reported on the project’s development and financing activities over the last four years.
In 2024, rPlus Energies secured over US$1 billion for Green River, with company president and CEO Luigi Resta saying the project was its debut as an IPP.
Later that year, rPlus Energies broke ground on Green River. The solar PV modules were provided by Elite Solar and the BESS solution by Tesla, while Sundt Construction was responsible for engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) services.
The IPP also signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the project with utility PacifiCorp in 2022. The original document was amended in 2024 to quadruple the site’s energy storage capacity from 400MWh.
Additional reporting by April Bonner. Read the original version of this story on Energy-Storage.news.
US IPP Matrix Renewables has secured over US$1.3 billion for a portfolio of solar PV and storage projects in the US.
The financing consists of over US$470 million of construction-to-term loan financing, US$400 million of tax equity bridge loan financing and US$100 million in letters of credit, with Santander, HSBC, MUFG and Nomura acting as co-lead arrangers for the transaction. DESRI has committed an additional US$210 million for a preferred equity investment in the two projects in the portfolio that are still in the construction phase.
The portfolio consists of two operating assets that have been refinanced—the 261MW Pleasant Valley solar PV project in Idaho and the 143MW Gaskell West solar project in California, which is co-located with 80MWh of BESS—and two projects currently under construction, the 457MW Tormes solar project and the 86.5MWh Alamo BESS project. The Alamo project is under construction adjacent to the Gaskell West project.
The news is the latest project advancement for Matrix, which broke ground on the Tormes project earlier this month.
“This transaction marks a significant milestone for Matrix in the US, optimising the financing of two existing assets while establishing an efficient, scalable structure for our construction portfolio,” said Matrix managing director and head of US, Cindy Tindell. “By transitioning to a multi-asset approach, we are unlocking additional value and strengthening the foundation for our growth.”
Thus emphasis on “multi-asset” financing echoes similar sentiments expressed in Europe. Earlier this year, speakers at Solar Media’s Solar Finance & Investment Europe event said that investors prefer to make decisions on whole portfolios at a time, rather than individual projects, to benefit from investing across as broad a range of markets and technology types as possible.

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The Guernsey County facility is expected to create 20 jobs with support from a $75,000 JobsOhio grant
Comstock Metals LLC has selected Cambridge as one of its national locations for an industrial-scale solar panel recycling and production facility and logistics hub.
The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Comstock Inc., is expected to create 20 full-time jobs through the Ohio operation.
The project is supported by a $75,000 JobsOhio grant, which promotes economic development, business expansion and job creation. OhioSE assisted the company through the process of establishing the facility and obtaining the financial assistance.
Comstock Metals specializes in industrial-scale recycling of end-of-life solar panels, recovering materials including aluminum, copper, silver and glass through a zero-landfill process.
The company has operated its initial recycling facility in Silver Springs, Nevada, for the past 2 1/2 years. The Cambridge facility will expand the company’s capacity and produce aluminum, silver and glass bead outputs for resale into Midwest industrial supply chains.
“Comstock Metals’ decision to establish its first Ohio processing and production facility in Cambridge reflects the strategic advantages the state offers growing companies,” said J.P. Nauseef, JobsOhio president and CEO.
The company has identified a 21,570-square-foot facility with an adjacent laydown yard.
Corrado De Gasperis, CEO of Comstock Inc., said the Cambridge facility is part of the company’s growing national network for logistics, storage and recycling of end-of-life solar materials.
“We thank Ohio for supporting and enabling jobs in this region,” De Gasperis said.
Dr. Fortunato Villamagna, president of Comstock Metals, said the central Ohio location provides a cost-effective logistics solution for the company’s Midwest and Northeast customer base.
Matt Abbott, president and CEO of OhioSE Economic Development, said the investment continues positive momentum in eastern and southeastern Ohio.
“We are grateful for the decision of Comstock Metals to invest in Guernsey County,” Abbott said.
Friday and Saturday feature the junior livestock sale, demolition derby, truck and tractor pull, and family events at the fairgrounds
Lisa Milliken was introduced as mayor at a June 22 special meeting, where residents backed keeping the village intact and officials said sewer billing and plant operations are being addressed
Prince and princess will be crowned after the July 24 parade, with queen and king named July 25
Harrison County approved a $507,127 bid from NLS Paving to resurface 2.678 miles of Foxes Bottom Road as the fair opened Monday
Village council heard June 17 that state and regional grants will support West Main, Old Hopedale Road and East Main Street projects
Council gave a second reading to the ordinance, approved Gordon Street culvert design work and heard a grant update on the water treatment plant relocation project
Village officials said receipts were up $3,846 in the second quarter as council also reviewed utility delinquencies and park restroom vandalism
Village also approved a $44,200 wastewater study contract and began monitoring hydrants for possible illegal water use
Council on June 11 approved sealed bids for multiple projects, while Charleston Street work is expected to begin in early 2027
Residents criticized the decision after a ricocheted bullet struck a camper at the village campground and officials said the village would cover repairs
Community Improvement Corp. said site work and due diligence continue on multiple proposals
Roberta Cireddu, Brenda Hartley and Pat Roper won their flights in the June 17 play day in Cadiz
Kathy Newburn led June 10 play with an A Flight win and a putting prize as the league held its Find the Fairway event
Weekly winners were Roberta Cireddu, A Flight; Brenda Hartley, B Flight; and Mary Carter, C Flight
Over the past two weeks, the Huskies have toppled both teams responsible for bouncing them from the bracket the last two seasons
The Harrison Central boys tied for seventh place as a team
Board awards bids for County Roads 47 and 51, approves Elk Run Road bridge work and backs victim services grant applications
Labor leaders told Harrison County commissioners that Nottingham Solar has broken ground near Cadiz while out-of-state contractors and workers are being considered
Agency says Harrison County company still has not filed months of required discharge monitoring reports after a second notice of violation
The village’s 2025 Consumer Confidence Report found no federal drinking water violations, though officials noted lead service lines and past reporting issues
Board says corrected language does not change plans to establish a county land bank, while officials also addressed rumors about a possible data center near Cadiz
In a separate case heard earlier in the day, Coda L. Boyd rejected a plea offer from the state for a second time
Jesse Keller of Carrollton and Josh B. Grim of Cadiz reached plea agreements, while theft cases against Jake Emery and Jessica R. Keadle remain pending
Scio Sportsman’s Club will host breakfast, tournaments, raffles, live music and fireworks July 4 at Scio Community Park
Free Harrison State Forest workshop will cover tree and fungi identification and woodland management at Ronsheim Campground
The fourth annual tournament at Jewett Park begins with signups at 10 a.m. and is open to players from ninth grade to age 99
Spaghetti dinner, auction and 50/50 drawing will run noon to 4 p.m. July 11 at the Holloway Volunteer Fire Department building
The Guernsey County facility is expected to create 20 jobs with support from a $75,000 JobsOhio grant
The July 18 fundraiser at the Big Barn will feature vendors, raffles, a bake sale and adoptable pets to support animal care in Harrison County
Opening ceremony Monday honored volunteers, highlighted fairground improvements and emphasized 4-H members at the center of the weeklong event
Nancy Elaine Scott, 83 of Bowerston, Ohio, passed away peacefully after a lengthy battle with cancer at Ohio’s Hospice Truman House in New Philadelphia, Ohio on Monday, June 15, 2026, with her beloved son at her side.
Walter Steven “Steve” Stackhouse, 74, of Cadiz, passed away unexpectedly at his home on Saturday, June 6, 2026.
Donald William Liming, 79, of Cadiz, Ohio, passed away on Monday, June 1, 2026, at his home.
Timothy James Horner, age 67, of Tippecanoe, Ohio, passed away unexpectedly on Monday, May 25, 2026.
Norris Edward Brooks, born February 11, 1941, age 85, passed away May 16, 2026, in Penang, Malaysia due to an accident.
Mark William Rogers, 70, of Freeport, Ohio, passed away on Sunday, May 24, 2026, at Cleveland Clinic Mercy Medical Center in Canton, Ohio, after a long period of declining health.
Volunteers gathered June 9 and are seeking donations to cover shipping before the next Oct. 13 packing in Jewett
At its June 18 meeting, the Harrison Regional Chamber also welcomed new members and shared plans for a business awards banquet
The fundraiser at Cadiz Country Club includes a 9 a.m. shotgun start, dinner and contests to support hospice services
The family-friendly event offers the public an opportunity to connect with local agriculture and learn how food is produced in today’s farming systems
The free July 30-Aug. 2 event at Alderman Airport will draw pilots from across the country and feature vendors and live entertainment
Col. Brian P. Wallace ended a 27-year career that included B-1 combat missions, a still-standing world record and service in Germany
The Sherrodsville Lions Club awarded the Conotton Valley valedictorian a $500 Bill Clow Scholarship May 21 for community service and volunteerism
MWCD will hold a ribbon-cutting June 26 in Freeport for the 3,400-square-foot facility as more lake upgrades move forward
The story of the fair began Feb. 28, 1846, when the Ohio General Assembly created the Ohio State Board of Agriculture and established procedures for organizing county agricultural societies
4-H members are busy in the community decorating windows and completing community projects
What began with one market hog project has grown into a nationally recognized swine operation focused on genetics, customer support and show pigs
Jefferson County Joint Vocational School principal says the role brought new challenges and growth as the school expanded career-tech opportunities
Recognized as an Ohio Bicentennial Farm, Cottage Hill Farm reflects eight generations of agricultural history near Cadiz

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The photovoltaic industry has demonstrated resilience and continued technological advancement despite significant market challenges, according to the 17th edition of the International Technology Roadmap for Photovoltaics (ITRPV), released this week at Intersolar Europe.
The comprehensive report, compiled by 38 leading international companies and research institutes spanning the entire crystalline silicon (c-Si) value chain, reveals an industry in transition—shifting toward more efficient technologies while maintaining its historical cost reduction trajectory.
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A headline finding is that the PV industry’s learning rate has increased to 26% for the period from 1976 to 2025, up from 24.9% in the 15th edition. This metric, which measures the price reduction for every doubling of cumulative production, demonstrates the industry’s continued ability to drive down costs despite recent market volatility.
After experiencing dramatic price drops in 2023 and 2024, driven by overcapacity and intense competition, module prices stabilised and even increased slightly by the end of 2025, reaching approximately US$0.09 per watt-peak (Wp), up by around US$0.01 at the end of 2024. This price recovery was primarily attributed to energy market reforms in China, which have led to a freeze in new capacity expansions and brought some balance to a market that had been struggling with significant oversupply.
The solar industry is witnessing a fundamental technological shift. The report confirms that n-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology surpassed traditional p-type passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) technology in market share during 2024, with this transition accelerating throughout 2025.
Current module efficiencies reflect this technological evolution, with n-type TOPCon modules now achieving 23.5% efficiency, matching heterojunction (HJT) technology at the same level. TOPCon-based back contact (TBC) technologies lead the pack at 24.1% efficiency, while p-type mono-Si PERC modules remain at 21.7%. The report noted that price premiums for high-power, bifacial and n-type modules have largely disappeared, indicating that these advanced technologies have become mainstream rather than premium offerings.
New manufacturing capacity is overwhelmingly focused on n-type concepts including TOPCon, HJT and interdigitated back contact (IBC) cells. New p-type PERC capacity is expected only on a small scale outside China. Back contact manufacturing technology is gaining traction, with the report predicting a 28% market share for BC cells in the next decade.
The crystallisation and wafering segment has undergone significant transformation, according to the ITRPV, driven by the need to reduce material costs while accommodating larger wafer formats. Global production capacity for polysilicon, ingot and wafer manufacturing exceeded 1,230GWp by year-end 2025.
Polysilicon remains the most expensive material in c-Si solar cell production, making efficiency improvements in this area critical for cost reduction. The Siemens process continues to dominate silicon feedstock production, maintaining its mainstream position with approximately 85% market share in 2025. The fluidised bed reactor (FBR) process holds the remaining 15% and is expected to gradually increase to around 28% within the next decade.
The industry is making progress in reducing polysilicon consumption per wafer. For M10 (182.0 x 182.0mm²) format wafers, consumption is projected to decrease by approximately 26% over the next ten years, while G12 (210.0 x 210.0mm²) format wafers are expected to see a reduction of about 26.4%.
These improvements will be achieved through better yields in crystallisation and wafering processes, further reductions in kerf loss and continued wafer thickness reduction. Within ten years, polysilicon consumption is projected to reach approximately 1.39g/W for G12, 1.27g/W for M10 and 1.29g/W for G12 (R) formats.
The report reveals clear market dominance of recharged Czochralski (RCz) ingot crystallisation, which is expected to maintain approximately 95-100% market share through 2025 and beyond. Continuous Czochralski (CCz) processes are expected to gradually gain market share, reaching around 5% by 2036.
Magnetic Czochralski (MCz) technology, introduced in mass production starting from 2025, offers the potential to eliminate further impurities and extend crucible lifetimes. The technology is projected to capture more than 5% of the market by 2036, though RCz will continue to dominate.
Notably, kerfless wafering and direct wafering technologies are expected to enter the market around 2033 but will remain below 1% market share through 2036. This suggests that traditional diamond wire sawing will continue to be the mainstream wafering technology for the foreseeable future.
The wafer segment has seen significant standardisation around larger formats, with M10 and G12 sizes and their rectangular variants dominating new installations. The M6 format was completely phased out by 2025, reflecting the industry’s decisive move toward larger wafers.
By 2036, G12 and G12 (R) formats are expected to cover approximately 76% of the market, while wafers larger than G12 (>G12) will reach close to 20% market share. Rectangular M10 formats will sustain some market share, while standard square M10 is projected to phase out entirely. This trend means new cell production lines must be designed to accommodate these larger formats and remain flexible for even larger sizes in the future, the report noted.
One of the most significant ongoing trends in the crystallisation and wafering segment is the reduction in wafer thickness. For n-type wafers, which now dominate the market with approximately 82% share in 2025 and that the report expects to grow to more than 98% within ten years, minimum as-cut thickness continues to decrease across all formats and cell technologies.
The report shows no significant difference in thickness trends between M10 and G12 formats for n-type wafers. HJT technology leads the wafer thickness reduction rate, moving toward the thinnest wafers. G12 IBC wafers are expected to reach a wafer thickness of 110 µm within the projection period.
However, as wafer thickness decreases, practical challenges related to bending and handling must be addressed, the report noted.
Cell production capacity reached 1,260GWp by the end of 2025, with manufacturing increasingly focused on larger cell formats to accommodate creative cell-to-module architectures. The shift toward n-type technologies is particularly pronounced at this stage, with TOPCon and HJT capacities being deployed as the foundation for future c-Si-based tandem concepts.
The report highlights growing sophistication in cell manufacturing, with improved tool concepts enabling better-matched throughput between front-end and back-end processes. This optimisation is crucial for supporting future capacity increases while maintaining quality and efficiency standards.
One notable trend the report highlights is the introduction of laser-enhanced contact optimisation (LECO) for TOPCon lines, a process step that boost the conversion efficiency of TOPCon cells.
According to the ITRPV, homogenous emitters with LECO led the market in 2025 at 74% and will increase its share to 86% by 2036. Less than 5% of the market of emitters for n-type TOPCon cells will be manufactured without LECO in the coming decade.
Edge passivation using atomic layer deposition (ALD) or plasma-enhanced chemical vapour deposition (PECVD) processes is expected to gain importance in the coming decade, the report notes, to eliminate edge recombination in technologies such as TOPCon or HJT that use half-cut cells. ALD or PECVD edge passivation is expected to gain 80% market share by 2036.
One pressing challenge in cell manufacturing is the high silver consumption for metallisation. The ITRPV report reveals that the 706GW of modules shipped in 2025 consumed approximately 7,244 tons of silver—representing about 21.4% of the world’s total silver supply. This figure is notably higher than the 17% reported in the World Silver Survey 2026 edition, underscoring the solar industry’s significant impact on global silver markets.
Silver consumption varies by cell technology. In 2025, TOPCon bifacial cells consumed approximately 10mg per watt at the cell level (averaging M10 and G12 formats), while SHJ cells used 12.0mg/W and TOPCon-based back contact (TBC) cells required 12.2mg/W. The higher consumption in n-type concepts stems from the use of silver for both front and rear side metallisation, compared to p-type PERC’s lower requirement of around 8.9mg/W.
As the ITRPV noted, the industry faces a dual challenge: silver prices are notoriously volatile, directly impacting paste and cell costs, and the material represents a significant portion of manufacturing expenses. Silver reached an all-time high of US$3,729 per kilogram in January 2026, though it moderated to US$2,452/kg by June 2026—still corresponding to approximately 2.5 cents per watt per cell.
However, the report highlighted that overall silver consumption in 2025 was significantly below 2024 levels, demonstrating that reduction efforts are working. The roadmap projects aggressive reduction targets, with TOPCon cells expected to decrease to 6.3mg/W and SHJ cells to just 4.3mg/W within the next decade. For M10 format cells, silver consumption is projected to drop from approximately 90mg per TOPCon cell in 2025 to around 60mg by 2036.
Beyond reduction, the industry is actively pursuing silver replacement strategies. Copper-based metallisation technologies are gaining traction, particularly for HJT solar cells. The report projects that by 2036, silver-based metallisation for HJT cells will decline to just 8% market share, with copper-based metallisation capturing 62% and pure copper metallisation reaching 30%. “It is very clear that silver will be replaced for [HJT],” the report notes.
The report emphasises that continued reduction in silver consumption is essential not only for meeting future production and cost targets but also for partially decoupling PV cell production from silver price fluctuations. Close collaboration between paste suppliers, screen manufacturers and cell producers will be critical to achieving these ambitious reduction goals while maintaining cell performance and reliability.
“We see that for the first time in several years, silver consumption was reduced with the same amount of shipped modules,” said Markus Fischer, co-chair of the ITRPV steering committee at the report launch in Munich earlier this week. “So this is really good news.
“This is mainly realised by the efficient cell technologies and cell layouts, and also we see that copper-based materials are introduced especially for HJT, and in the future it will also be for tandem. And what we see here is peak consumption for silver. I am quite confident that silver will not be a material of shortage [for PV manufacturing].”
Module manufacturing capacity reached approximately 1,460GWp by year-end 2025,  with roughly 98% market share for c-Si technologies and about 2% for thin-film alternatives. This was close to the 1,500GWp recorded in the last report.
Reducing material costs and improving performance are key objectives in reducing overall module costs. On the former, reducing material volumes—for example, the thickness of glass, and reducing material waste—are among the main approaches, while on performance, measures include reducing optical losses on the front side, reducing resistive losses and reducing interconnection losses.
Glass has become a hot topic in the industry in recent years, with spontaneous breakage a growing concern. The report noted that glass of between 2 and 3mm is mainstream for glass-glass modules today, with thicknesses lower than 2mm expected to gain some market share in the coming years, from 5% today to around 10% in 2036. But glass of 2-3mm thickness will dominate, with a market share of 86% by 2036.
Other areas being targeted for cost reductions at the module level are encapsulation and back cover materials, both significant cost contributors. The report noted that pure ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) still has considerable market share due to its cost efficiency, but pure polyolefins (POE) and EVA/POE mix encapsulants will gain market share in the future due to their higher reliability.
Glass is expected to become dominant back cover material in the coming years, with the combination of glass at the front and foil at the back falling to under 16% market share within the next ten years.
Looking ahead, the roadmap projects continued efficiency improvements for single-junction cell technologies, with module efficiencies expected to reach 26.3% by 2035. However, the most exciting development lies in tandem cell technology, which promises to break through single-junction efficiency limits.
According to survey results, tandem cells and modules are expected to enter mass production around 2027, with module efficiencies of approximately 27.4% anticipated by 2028. These silicon-based tandem technologies represent the next frontier in PV efficiency, potentially enabling even higher performance levels in subsequent years.
The report also emphasises growing importance of recycling as both a business opportunity and challenge, as the installed base of PV systems continues to expand. Smart factory approaches and advanced manufacturing concepts, including improved data transparency and tracking systems, are expected to play increasingly important roles in supporting the industry’s growth trajectory.
The ITRPV report concludes with an optimistic yet realistic assessment of the industry’s future. Based on the broad electrification scenario from researchers Dmitrii Bogdanov and Christian Breyer cited in the ITRPV, the PV industry must install approximately 63.4TWp by 2050 to achieve a net-zero greenhouse gas emission energy system, generating 104 petawatt hours (PWh) of electricity—roughly 69% of global primary energy demand across power, heat, transportation and desalination sectors
This translates to an average annual market of approximately 4.5TWp by 2050. While historical shipments have tracked close to required levels, the lack of shipment growth between 2024 and 2025, despite available capacity, suggests that market development must accelerate to stay on track with climate goals.
Despite current overcapacity challenges, the report emphasises positive prospects for the entire c-Si PV industry. The combination of continued efficiency improvements, per-piece cost reductions, technology advancement through tandem cells, and the inevitable growth toward a multi-terawatt market provides a strong foundation for long-term success.
Read all of our coverage of Europe’s biggest solar trade show here.

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Comstock Metals plans to open a solar panel recycling and production facility in Cambridge, bringing new jobs and expanding the company’s national recycling network.
The Cambridge site is one of several locations selected by the company and will include a logistics hub, according to a community announcement. Company officials said the operation is expected to create 20 full-time positions.
Comstock Metals LLC, a subsidiary of Comstock Inc., focuses on recycling end-of-life solar panels and recovering materials such as aluminum, copper, silver and glass. The company says its process diverts all materials from landfills through a circular recycling model, according to the announcement.
The project includes support from a $75,000 JobsOhio grant aimed at economic development and job creation. Ohio Southeast Economic Development, known as OhioSE, assisted the company in securing the funding and establishing its presence in the region.
The company identified a 21,570-square-foot facility with an adjacent laydown yard in Cambridge. Officials say the location will strengthen access to Midwest and East Coast customers while reducing transportation costs tied to moving decommissioned solar panels.
“Comstock Metals’ decision to establish its first Ohio processing and production facility in Cambridge reflects the strategic advantages the state offers growing companies,” JobsOhio President and CEO J.P. Nauseef said. “With its centralized location and strong logistics network, Cambridge is well positioned to support Comstock Metals’ continued expansion as demand for solar recycling services grows across the country.”
Comstock Metals launched operations in Silver Springs, Nevada, in 2022 and has been operating a recycling facility there while scaling up its processing capacity. The Nevada operation is expanding to handle up to 100,000 tons of solar panels annually, according to the announcement.
Company leaders say the Cambridge facility will build on that capacity by producing aluminum, silver and glass bead materials for resale into industrial supply chains across the Midwest.
“Our new Cambridge facility in Ohio is an integral part of our growing national capacity as we enable a network of logistics, storage and recycling of the rapidly growing volumes of end-of-life solar materials that are decommissioning across the country,” said Corrado De Gasperis, chief executive officer of Comstock Inc. “We thank Ohio for supporting and enabling jobs in this region. The speed that we deploy our recycling network is critical to keeping these hazardous materials out our landfills, communities and eco-systems.”
Company leaders say the Cambridge location will help cut transportation costs, which can account for up to half of total recycling expenses, according to the announcement. The site is positioned to serve customers in the Midwest and Northeast more efficiently.
“The central Ohio location provides a cost-effective logistical solution for our growing Midwest and Northeast U.S. customer base, supporting the company’s goal to set the standard for solar recycling here in the United States,” said Fortunato Villamagna, president of Comstock Metals. “Our team has developed a strong network of relationships in the eastern US with solar power producers, O&M groups, and manufacturers. The support from JobsOhio is an important step in our nations recognition and prioritization of these critical recycling activities that best serve our communities.”
Local economic development leaders said the investment signals continued growth across eastern Ohio.
“We are grateful for the decision of Comstock Metals to invest in Guernsey County,” said Matt Abbott, president and CEO of OhioSE Economic Development. “This investment continues to prove the positive momentum that is taking place in eastern and southeastern Ohio,” said Abbott.
“Guernsey County is excited to welcome Comstock Metals to the community and grateful for their investment and the new job opportunities they will bring to Jackson Township,” said Bill Arnett, Cambridge-Guernsey CIC executive director. “We look forward to supporting them through their local startup and future growth opportunities.”
This story was created with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.

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In South Africa, 47% of the national population is energy poor, meaning that they spend more than 10%-15% of their income on power and still do not have nearly enough for their basic needs.
The problem is getting worse as informal or shack settlements continue to grow. This growth has accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of households exposed to precarious energy conditions is rising.
Read more: South Africans are leaving the electricity network – but are solar mini-grids a fair solution?
As an urban geography researcher, I was part of a team that studied Qandu Qandu, an informal settlement in Cape Town, from 2020 to 2023. We explored whether solar power and entrepreneurship training could help households cope with unreliable, unaffordable and unsafe access to electricity.
Qandu Qandu is a community of over 4,000 families living in self-built shacks made of corrugated metal. It was founded in 2018 and is about 35km from the Cape Town city centre, on the eastern edge of Khayelitsha (which means “New Home” in isiXhosa). This area was set up in 1983 by the apartheid government after it forcibly removed Black people from central Cape Town.
Most of Qandu Qandu has no formal connection to the electricity grid and residents use illegal (and unsafe) grid connections, paraffin and candles. These are health and fire risks. The unreliable power and limited internet access make it harder for people to work, study and find opportunities online.
Read more: Mini-grids can supply electricity, but what about demand? A private DRC project shows how it can work
We wanted to understand how energy access in informal settlements can support small businesses, digital services, skills development, jobs and community growth – do more than just supply light.
We installed mini-grids and home solar units. We also helped residents develop business skills so they could use solar-powered fridges and freezers in their small enterprises. Our findings were based on interviews, focus groups, surveys and hands-on work in Qandu Qandu.
Read more: Power to the people: renewable energy projects must be a collaborative effort
The law calls for universal energy access for all South Africans, at affordable prices, and free basic electricity for poor households. For years, South Africa’s strategy was to expand the electricity grid and connect everyone. But many people are still waiting, often in areas that are difficult to electrify. The challenge is finding quicker, more flexible ways to provide energy while communities wait for full connections.
Our findings show that solar electricity is a very promising way to reduce energy poverty and make electricity more affordable. When linked to things such as solar-powered productive use appliances, solar electricity can also improve people’s opportunities to generate income. City governments should do more to encourage off-grid solar solutions through schemes such as solar subsidies.
In late 2024, work started on the innovative Basic Solar Grant project, funded by InnovateUK, the UK government’s innovation arm, under its Energy Catalyst grant programme. Two South African solar companies – Zonke Energy, a minigrid-based firm, and the iShack Project, which offers solar home systems – together with the University of Exeter and UK-based development project management services firm Futures Advisory Limited, set up completely new minigrids and installed solar home systems in Qandu Qandu for the first time.
Qandu Qandu residents who signed up to this solar electricity were then offered a basic solar grant (a subsidy). This grant filled a gap. People in South Africa are entitled to a level of free basic electricity but can only get this from the national grid. Shack settlement residents therefore rarely have a way to access the free power. But with our basic solar grant model, these off-grid households could for the first time receive their free basic energy.
Read more: Solar power is taking off in Malawi: but poor households need financial help to make it work for them
The project tested whether private companies could run solar mini-grids and home solar systems using a municipal subsidy to reduce the cost for residents. The idea is that city administrations should adopt this model by working with private companies to make affordable solar power available in informal settlements.
To date, the basic solar grant is the largest alternative energy provision system in Cape Town that we are aware of. Most of its funding is from overseas funders and the project ends in 2027. A key challenge is whether the city will use the learnings from the project to electrify other shack settlements.
Rather than waiting years for a full grid connection that may never happen, households can get access to subsidised electricity straight away through solar mini-grids and home solar systems.
What is new about this approach is that it does not try to replace grid electricity, or create a separate long-term energy system for informal settlements. Instead, it uses existing electricity subsidies to support households facing the worst energy poverty while they wait for formal connections.
Read more: Satellite images reveal the dark side of household solar power – South Africa’s green transition is only for a few
The model recognises that informal shack settlements are not just places waiting for services. They are vibrant communities with local knowledge, businesses and strong social networks that can help improve living conditions.
Research in Qandu Qandu found strong interest in solar electricity. Residents recognised that the basic solar grant makes it more affordable. The project also showed that private solar companies can successfully deliver energy services and manage grant-funded support in informal settlements.
Read more: South Africa’s electricity price is soaring. Why protests are often the only way for people to be heard
The next step is to keep the pilot running, which will require support from the City of Cape Town. Fortunately the city has already committed in its 2050 Energy Strategy to make a basic alternative energy subsidy a priority. This will need the city to work with solar companies, which can administer the subsidy. While the subsidy should go straight to informal settlement residents, this is also a benefit to solar companies: the grant effectively enables their services to become more affordable, and they can secure more customers.
Read more: Solar power in Zambia: ‘If it works for my neighbour, I’ll try it too’
At the same time, the city gains because it pays only for the grant. It doesn’t need to pay for the installation, operation and management of the solar infrastructure.
In the longer term, cities will need to rethink electrification as informal settlements expand. In areas where extending the grid is slow, decentralised clean energy offers quicker, more flexible and lower-cost access to power, while also reducing reliance on unsafe practices like illegal connections.
This article was co-authored by Damian Conway (iShack Project), Alex Densmore (Zonke Energy) and Hendrik Schloemann (Zonke Energy).
Professor of Human Geography, University of Exeter
Federico Caprotti is a director of Futures Advisory Limited which does the administration and reporting for the InnovateUK grant on behalf of the South African partners. He has received funding from the British Academy, the Newton Fund, the Royal Society, and University of Exeter Translational Funding.

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By Adam Gallaher, Central Michigan University
The state of New York could meet its goal of building 46 gigawatts of large-scale solar by midcentury, but not without making difficult choices in how land is used across the state.
That’s the overall finding of an analysis several colleagues and I have made in that state. It’s an issue that other states, and the U.S. as a whole, are facing as they seek to shift electricity generation from fossil fuels to renewable sources, such as wind and solar.
The question of land use arises because power plants that burn coal and natural gas can produce large amounts of electricity from relatively small areas of land – but solar requires more space to generate the same amount of electricity.
That means deciding which land to build on, and why.
It’s often convenient to build solar projects in pastures and hay fields, for instance. But the dairy industry and agriculture more generally are key components in New York state’s economy, and building in agricultural areas would leave less land for those important industries. However, protecting farmland could lead solar developers to consider using existing forests. Yet forests not only soak up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, helping reduce the effects of fossil-fuel emissions that are changing the global climate, but also support biodiversity by providing important habitat for wildlife.
Basically, deciding to prioritize one type of land use means shifting that amount of development pressure to land now being used for other purposes. As a geographer, I study these trade-offs and their inherent tensions to better understand how to determine the best way to use a particular piece of land to reduce carbon emissions.
One of the primary obstacles to building more large-scale solar is the drawn-out debate over where to put it. Typical decision-making factors include farmland loss, wildlife habitat, rural landscapes and who ultimately uses the energy. The results will determine who benefits from the expansion of renewable energy and who bears the ecological and social costs.
Solar energy is the fastest-growing source of electricity in the U.S., with nearly 397 gigawatts waiting to come on line as of 2025. Of that, 70 gigawatts of generating capacity is expected to come on line in 2026 and 2027 – on top of the nearly 148 gigawatts operating at the end of 2025.
This represents progress toward reducing carbon emissions but also requires vast tracts of repurposed land. For example, a 100-megawatt solar project could require approximately 417 acres of land, roughly the same area as 316 American football fields, based on a conservative power density of 0.24 megawatts per acre.
Therefore, the 70 gigawatts of solar energy expected to come on line in the next two years will require just over 320,000 acres of land, or about 242,424 football fields, about 53% of which is expected to displace farmland. Additionally, those projects are expected to replace roughly 22,000 acres of forest and just under 10,000 acres of wetlands.
Energy, agriculture and conservation don’t have to be mutually exclusive uses of land. Instead, land can be managed more efficiently by integrating multiple uses, commonly referred to as colocation.
Grazing livestock or growing crops underneath or between rows of raised solar panels, known as agrivoltaics, is one way to keep land available for agriculture while also generating electricity.
Another approach, known as ecovoltaics, involves designing solar projects to equally support renewable energy and ecosystem services, such as providing habitat for pollinators or reducing evaporation in stressed arid ecosystems.
Another emerging alternative involves solar panels that are constructed to float on water rather than being mounted on land.
These approaches won’t work everywhere, but they demonstrate that, with careful thought, more renewable energy doesn’t have to hurt the environment.
Specific project proposals, evaluations by local planning boards and input from the public can consider more than the costs and electricity generated from new projects. They can also take into account how plants and animals will be affected and the degree to which the land use really must change to accommodate the addition of solar panels.
As New York, and the U.S. as a whole, seeks to achieve renewable energy goals to help fight climate change, I believe discussions will be more productive if they expand beyond just how much generating capacity can be built, but where and how it is constructed.
Adam Gallaher is an assistant professor of geography and environmental studies at Central Michigan University.
This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article. Banner photo: Floating solar panels and a solar farm (iStock image).
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The commercial solar module landscape continued to consolidate around higher-efficiency products during H1 2026. The period saw the emergence of the first commercially available 25% efficiency modules based on back-contact (BC) technology, while TOPCon breached the 24% threshold for the first time. At the same time, the composition of the TOP SOLAR MODULES ranking continued to evolve, with advanced n-type technologies increasing their presence and PERC products gradually retreating from the list.
The 8th edition of the TOP SOLAR MODULES Analysis from TaiyangNews reviews these developments based on 30 monthly editions of the TOP SOLAR MODULES feature published between January 2024 and June 2026. The report examines trends in commercial module efficiency, technology-specific performance, shifts across different efficiency bands, and changes in the technology mix represented in the ranking.
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Across India, solar plants lose up to 30% of their potential output to dust, heat, and reflection. A Mumbai-based startup, TriNANO Technologies, has built a nano-coating thinner than a human hair that is quietly changing those numbers.
Across India, solar plants lose up to 30% of their potential output to dust, heat, and reflection. A Mumbai-based startup, TriNANO Technologies, has built a nano-coating thinner than a human hair that is quietly changing those numbers.

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India’s TriNANO Technologies has developed a nanocoating for solar modules that reportedly increases the panel’s power generation by up to 4% owing to its light trapping, anti-reflection and self-cleaning properties.
In a solar plant in central Madhya Pradesh, an 11-year-old installation was dying a slow death.
The panels, battered by over a decade of dust and heat, had been manufactured by a Chinese supplier that had since folded — leaving no warranty, no support, and a plant manager watching his output drop month after month while his cleaning and labour bills climbed.
A few months after his panels were coated with a nanotechnology solution developed by a Mumbai-based startup, he called the company’s founder directly.
“Dr Sethi, we’re producing more power with less water,” he said. “We didn’t think that was possible.”
Dr Harsh Sethi remembers the relief in his voice. “It wasn’t just about the numbers for him,” he says. “It was about keeping the plant viable, keeping jobs secure, and making sure they could continue to serve their customers.”
That moment, Sethi says, is exactly why he built TriNANO Technologies.
Sethi’s path to solar wasn’t a straight line. A materials engineer by training, he spent over two decades working across energy, engineering, and global operations — refining oxygen-free copper, working with ESR tool steels, and eventually co-founding Neon Infotech in 2000, a technology solutions company that grew operations across India, Thailand, South Korea, Myanmar, the UAE, and the US.

Before that success, there were five failed startups. “I’m a first-generation, serial entrepreneur,” Sethi says simply.
The pivot to solar came almost by accident. In 2016-17, when oil prices spiked, one of his clients invested in a solar plant.
During a casual conversation, the plant manager said something that stayed with Sethi: “We lose more energy to dirt than to clouds.”
India was building solar capacity at record pace — but losing a significant share of it to something as mundane as dust.
Around the same time, Sethi witnessed a farmer using precious drinking water to wash his solar panels because he simply couldn’t afford the output loss from leaving them dirty.
“I knew we could do better,” Sethi says.
By 2018-19, he had begun building what would eventually become TriNANO’s core technology: a single nano-coating.
TriNANO Technologies Pvt Ltd was formally registered in January 2022, in Maharashtra, and was incubated at the Society for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SINE) at IIT Bombay. 
The journey wasn’t smooth — COVID hit the young company hard between 2020 and 2022 — but support from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and IIT Bombay helped it survive.
Today, TriNANO is a National Deep Tech award-winning startup, working with both rural cooperatives and some of India’s largest solar players.
The numbers behind the problem are stark. Solar panels rated for 20-22% efficiency under standard lab conditions typically deliver only 15-18% efficiency once installed in the real world — a gap caused largely by dust accumulation, light reflection, and heat. Large solar plants can lose anywhere between 15% and 30% of their potential output this way.
The conventional fix — manually cleaning panels — comes with its own costs. A single 1MW plant can use 20,000 to 30,000 litres of water per cleaning cycle, often repeated weekly or fortnightly. 

In water-stressed states like Rajasthan, where water is sometimes trucked in by tanker, this isn’t just an inconvenience — it’s a direct hit to a farmer or operator’s bottom line, and to a community’s water security.
Most existing anti-soiling coatings in the market also degrade within months, requiring repeated reapplication.
TriNANO’s answer is a 0.4-micron nano-coating — thinner than a human hair — applied directly to the glass surface of any solar panel, regardless of its brand, age, or manufacturer.
Sethi likes to describe the science using an unexpected metaphor: a rainforest canopy. “Our coating creates a similar micro-structure on the glass surface,” he explains. 
Once applied, the coating helps the panel in four ways. 
Light-trapping: It guides more sunlight into the solar cells instead of letting it scatter away. 
Anti-reflection: It reduces the amount of light that bounces off the glass unused. 
Self-cleaning: It makes it harder for dust, oil, grime or bird droppings to stick to the surface. When rain falls, wind blows, or someone gives the panel a soft brush, the dirt comes off more easily. 
Cooling: It also helps keep the panel cooler by reflecting some of the heat-heavy infrared light. This matters because overheated panels generate less power and wear out faster over time. 
The coating is different from a regular spray or paint. It forms a very thin, solid layer that bonds directly with the glass at the nanoscale.
This is why it can stay on panels with very different surfaces, whether they are brand-new or old, scratched panels that have spent years under the sun.

The best part is that it does not need a complicated factory setup to apply. It works at normal temperatures, without heating, baking or special equipment, whether the panel is on a production line or already installed in a field in Bikaner.
The technology has been independently validated at the National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE), IIT Bombay, through accelerated UV exposure, thermal cycling between 40°C and 185°C, damp heat testing at 85% humidity, and months of outdoor soiling trials against uncoated control panels. 
“Third-party validation is everything in solar,” Sethi says. “Trust is built on data, not marketing.”
Across different panel brands, ages, and locations, TriNANO’s field data shows a consistent 4% increase in energy output — a number that sounds modest until you consider it at scale. The coating also cuts water consumption for panel cleaning by 55%, saving over a million litres of water per MW annually. 
It helps panels last two to three years longer, reduces carbon emissions by 5.2%, and makes better use of land by 7.6%, because each panel produces more energy, so fewer panels and less space are needed. 
One of the clearest independent confirmations of these numbers comes from Renkube, a Bengaluru-based solar operator that ran its own side-by-side trial. 
Balaji Lakshmikanth, CEO and founder of Renkube, tested TriNANO’s coating against an uncoated panel over five months, from November 2024 to March 2025:
“We have tested the TriNANO coating on Renkube panels for a period of five months. Based on the field test results, we observed that the energy output of the coated panel was 6% higher compared to the non-coated, vertically aligned panel in the East-West direction. We appreciate the innovative solution.”
That kind of controlled, side-by-side comparison is rare in the solar coatings market, where claims are often made without a like-for-like baseline. 
A major solar power producer’’s own retrofit at its Neemuch plant in Madhya Pradesh, tells a similar story: 11-year-old, Chinese-made ReneSola panels that had been cleaned twice a week saw a 3.8% increase in power generation and a 56% reduction in cleaning frequency after coating — numbers that closely mirror TriNANO’s broader field data.
For a small farmer running a 10kW rooftop system, a 2-3 year extension in panel life can defer replacement costs by Rs 1 to 2 lakh — money that can instead go toward irrigation, seeds, or school fees.
For a rural cooperative running a 100kW plant, that saving scales up to Rs 10 to 20 lakh.
There’s also a quieter, longer-term benefit: delaying India’s looming solar e-waste problem. “For a 100MW plant, that’s 2,30,000 to 2,50,000 panels delayed from disposal,” Sethi says. “It’s a small but meaningful step towards a circular solar economy.”
The deployment itself looks different depending on scale. At large solar farms, TriNANO plans to use automated robotic machines capable of coating hundreds of panels an hour.
At rooftop installations and smaller cooperatives, the application is manual or semi-automated. 
“The large farms focus on ROI and MW-scale gains; small cooperatives care more about water savings and long-term durability,” Sethi says. “What’s common is the result — every panel, big or small, gains 4-6% more energy.”
For a farmer, cooperative, or solar plant operator, the first question is simple: how much will this cost, and when will it start paying back?
TriNANO has kept its exact per-MW pilot pricing private. Its pilots have run across different sites but the company has not shared one fixed pilot cost publicly.
What is available is the per-panel price and the payback estimate. The coating is listed at around Rs 750 per 540Wp panel through CII’s marketplace listing.
Sethi has also told pv magazine that a 10MW plant with coated panels could generate an additional 720MWh of power in a year.
For a solar operator, that extra power means extra revenue. According to Sethi’s estimate, the investment can pay for itself in about two years.
So while TriNANO has not shared a public cost for each pilot, its pitch is built around a practical question for customers: if the panels can generate more power every day and need less water to stay clean, how soon does the coating recover its own cost? 
TriNANO has raised close to $700,000 (roughly Rs 6 crore) across two funding rounds — a grant round and a seed round — from investors including Spectrum Impact, Aar Em VenturesNRDC (a division of Ministry of Science and Technology), and Elektron Invest GMBH (Austrian German investor).

Grants & awards have been from SISFS, Meity, IEEMA, LowCarbon.Earth, the CII Centre of Excellence for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Startups, Greenr India, and SINE IIT Bombay itself.
That capital is now feeding a far bigger ask. According to YourStory’s reporting, TriNANO’s roadmap involves raising ₹5.5 crore to scale its annual coating throughput from 7MW to 330MW by FY 2026-27  — a 48x jump in capacity.
Trinano has already built/assembled one machine with capacity of 65 MW/year and are raising funds to build/assemble 5 more such machines to scale up.
The company’s own materials describe a two-year build-out: automated coating machines integrated into solar manufacturing lines in year one, followed by a scale-up to 330MW/year throughput and expanded global pilots in year two. 
Each robotic coating line is reportedly capable of handling up to 65MW/year on its own, which is the throughput TriNANO is counting on to hit its broader target of 330MW of coating capacity by FY 2026-27, up from a standing start just four years ago.
Along the way, the startup has picked up recognition beyond MNRE backing — including a place on Forbes India’s Top 100 Startups list, the Maharathi Award at Startup Mahakumbh, and a Best Start-up award in the Deep Tech category at India’s National Startup Day, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the technology in person.
For all the data points, Sethi keeps returning to the human stories behind them: the Madhya Pradesh plant manager who could finally produce more with less, the Renkube founder who ran his own trial and came away convinced, the farmer who no longer has to choose between drinking water and a working solar panel.
“It works as an energy efficiency tool and a water security intervention,” Sethi says. “That’s why we say our coating makes both a climate and a social impact.” 
As India pushes to expand its solar capacity through the next decade, innovations like TriNANO’s suggest that some of the biggest gains may come from helping the panels already standing work a little harder, with a little less. 
Images courtesy of TriNano Technologies

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China-based solar manufacturer GCL System Integration Technology (GCL-SI) has set back-contact (BC) cell technology as the core pillar of its next-generation PV roadmap with new modules unveiled at Intersolar Europe 2026.
The announcement comes as manufacturers seek higher-efficiency solar technologies to address growing performance requirements in residential, commercial and industrial (C&I) and building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). The company unveiled its GPC 3.0 all-black BC module at Intersolar Europe 2026 in Munich.
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GCL-SI said the first shipments of its GPC 3.0 modules are already being delivered to Europe, marking the start of commercial deployment in the region’s distributed solar sector.
The company’s graphical precise-doping passivation contact (GPC) platform is its primary BC technology line. According to GCL, its existing GPC residential modules deliver power outputs ranging from 475W to 500W, with efficiencies between 23.27% and 24.05%.
The modules measure 1,800mm x 1,134mm x 30mm and carry 30-year product and linear power warranties, with annual degradation specified at 0.35%. GPC 3.0 incorporates updates in cell passivation, metallisation and materials integration.
Moreover, the company said mass-produced GPC cells have achieved average conversion efficiencies of 28.38%.
“BC is the ultimate architecture for crystalline silicon cells,” said GengWeng Huang, executive dean of GCL SI’s cell research division. “We’ve already explored tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) and heterojunction (HJT) extensively, but both are reaching their physical limits. BC is opening a broader window for future efficiency gains.”
The new module also incorporates the company’s fluidised bed reactor (FBR) granular silicon material, alongside metallisation technologies designed to reduce silver consumption.
The move reflects increasing industry interest in BC architectures, which eliminate front-side busbars and contacts to improve light capture and module appearance. BC technology is emerging as a key area of competition among Chinese solar manufacturers as conventional cell technologies approach efficiency limits.
GCL-SI said it will continue expanding its BC technology portfolio as part of its long-term product development strategy.

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Chinese heterojunction (HJT) solar module manufacturer Dinto Solar has unveiled a new panel for utility-scale applications at the upcoming Intersolar tradeshow in Munich, Germany.
“Its 1/3-cut architecture enhances mechanical reliability at the module level,” a spokesperson from the company told pv magazine. “Flexible interconnection structures distribute stress more evenly across smaller cells, reducing the risk of microcracks, while optimized hot-spot control and advanced encapsulation further improve operational safety, resistance to moisture and environmental stress.”
The DT198G-FZ module measures 2,384 mm x 1,303 mm x 33 mm and weighs 37.5 kg. It relies on 198 cells with a size of 210.6 mm x 71.7 mm and zero-barbus (0BB) technology, an IP-68 rated junction box, 2.0 semi-tempered glass on both sides, and an anodized aluminum alloy.
The new product is available in six versions with power output ranging from 750 W to 775 W and a power conversion efficiency spanning from 24.1% and 25.05. The open-circuit voltage is from 43.97 V and 44.66 V, while the short-circuit current is of 17.06 A and 17.36 A.
The module features a temperature coefficient of -0.22%/C and long-term degradation is rated at 1% in year one and 0.3% annually thereafter, implying 90.3% output retention after 30 years.
“Featuring bifaciality of up to 98%, the modules provide strong rear-side power generation and stable energy yield under variable irradiation conditions,” the manufacturer said. “A 94.59% active-area ratio and power output of up to 775 W further enhance light utilization and support higher system-level energy production efficiency.”
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The June issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
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Next2Sun is a Germany-based photovoltaic technology company, has announced the launch of its new Fields2Sun Max vertical mounting system. The system is designed for utility-scale photovoltaic power plants and supports high-power modules above 700 W. According to the company, the vertical design enables greater electricity generation during morning and evening hours, when market prices are often higher. Fields2Sun Max is compatible with both Next2Sun modules and standard modules from other manufacturers. The company stated that the system offers validated yield forecasting, weather resilience against hail, snow and wind, and is already being deployed in initial utility-scale projects. Next2Sun will showcase the new solution at Intersolar 2026 in Munich.
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MUNICH, June 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As solar PV rapidly emerges as a major power source in the global energy mix, power systems are facing increasing pressure to balance supply and demand while ensuring stability under highly dynamic operating conditions. Conventional PV-storage systems, however, were not designed to effectively manage this level of variability and complexity.

To address this challenge, Sungrow introduces PowerMatrix™ at Intersolar Europe 2026 — a next-generation energy system built on five core innovations, including multi-port topology, native PV-storage integration, distributed control, reconfigurable energy paths, and source-level grid-forming. PowerMatrix delivers source-level stability while maximizing the efficiency and economic performance of utility-scale PV projects.
System-Level Optimization for Lower LCOE
PowerMatrix moves beyond single-equipment optimization, enabling coordinated system-level optimization across the entire PV-storage architecture. Through integrated equipment design, simplified engineering, and flexible capacity configuration, it reduces BOS costs by over 10% while improving efficiency across the energy value chain from generation to consumption. Combined, these cost and efficiency gains significantly reduce LCOE.
In a reference system designed for 1 GW of rated grid connection capacity, 8 GWh of installed ESS capacity, and 3,000 annual full-load operating hours in China, the PowerMatrix reduces total CAPEX by approximately $120 million compared to a conventional AC-coupled architecture, with savings across substation & transmission cable, ESS equipment, PV equipment, and other system components.
End-to-End Efficiency Boost: +5% System Energy Yield
Traditional PV-storage systems typically optimize individual components or localized segments, leading to efficiency losses across multiple stages of the energy flow and limiting overall system performance. PowerMatrix addresses this challenge through end-to-end optimization across the full energy value chain, from generation to consumption.
From Compensated Stability to Inherent Stability
Unlike conventional PV-storage systems that rely on external balancing resources for stable operation, PowerMatrix embeds stability at the generation-unit level, enabling a stable power supply and enhanced grid-support capabilities.
Leveraging these system-level advantages, PowerMatrix delivers optimized performance and adaptability across utility-scale, commercial and industrial (C&I), microgrids, and AI data center applications. It enables key capabilities for next-generation power systems, including multi-source integration, bidirectional power flow, flexible dispatch, and high system reliability.
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3000393/PowerMatrix_2.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1344575/Logo.jpg
Sungrow, the global leading PV inverter and energy storage system (ESS) supplier, showcased its latest innovations in solar power, energy storage, EV …
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Both small- and grid-scale solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS) will be dominant in achieving Australia’s least cost energy transition to 2050, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) 2026 Integrated System Plan (ISP).
Targeting a total generation and storage capacity increase from 99 GW in 2026 to 308 GW over the next 24 years to 2050, would require from grid-scale wind and solar, a  5-fold increase from 23 GW in 2026, to 117 GW in 2050, or 3.9 GW per year.
Similarly, distributed solar would need to increase 20 GW to 87 GW, and dispatchable storage capacity from batteries, virtual power plants (VPP) and pumped hydro, would need an 11-fold increase from 6 GW to 64 GW, or an average of 2.6 GW per year to 2050.
The 117 GW of wind and solar will replace vanishing coal fleet capacity, which is projected to be 0 GW by 2049, when all plants are scheduled to be retired.
It will also be needed to meet rising demand, which the ISP forecasts will nearly double from 205 TWh in 2026 to 390 TWh in 2050.
Investment by consumers is forecast to contribute 87 GW of rooftop and other small-scale solar by 2050, and 35 GW of BESS.
In the 2050 Step Change scenario AEMO least-cost forecast, rooftop and other small-scale solar would have a 28% share of total National Electricity Market (NEM) capacity and, supported by consumer batteries and distribution networks, deliver a similar share of annual generation.
Similarly, in 2050, grid-scale solar would have a 21% share of NEM capacity and, supported by grid-scale batteries, deliver 29% of annual generation.
“This ISP projects a higher share of grid-scale solar and battery storage in the NEM capacity than previously, as their relative costs decline and battery connections increase,” the ISP says.
Transmission
Under the Step Change scenario, the plan forecasts around $106 billion (USD 73 billion) in annualised capital investment to 2050 (in today’s dollars) in transmission projects to connect to renewable energy generation and distribution sources.
“Around $6 billion of this is for transmission, which would deliver significant benefits, saving consumers $30 billion in avoided capital, operating and fuel costs compared to a pathway without these transmission investments,” the ISP says.
“Transmission is a relatively small share of overall system investment but delivers substantial benefits for consumers by unlocking lower-cost energy across the National Electricity Market,” Westerman said.
“The direction for Australia’s energy future remains clear, it’s renewable energy, supported by storage, connected by transmission and distribution, and backed up by gas.”
Smart Energy Council Chief Executive Officer David McElrea said “the more we delay, the more we pay”. 
“That’s almost $30 billion Australians stand to lose if we prolong our reliance on expensive, unreliable, ageing, and polluting fossil fuels like coal and gas.”
“Without a continued, rapid rollout of new transmission, grid-scale investment costs will balloon by $17 billion and system operating costs will shoot up by $12 billion. This infrastructure isn’t just about generating clean energy; it’s about moving it to where it is needed most – our regional manufacturing hubs, mining centers, cities, and electrified transport networks,” McElrea said.
AEMO Group System Planning Group Manager Eli Pack asked on LinkedIn what if the transition keeps moving, but delivery is harder, slower and more expensive than we’d like?
“That matters because this transition is happening in the real world, with real people, and not in a perfect model or giant spreadsheet. Even in that tougher world, there would still be around 45 GW of renewables and 31 GW of storage needing to connect by 2030, making transmission even more important across the NEM,” Pack said.

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From pv magazine Global
Researchers from Jordan have evaluated the performance of a battery energy storage system (BESS) using grid-forming (GFM) control to enhance stability in solar PV plants. Grid-forming controls emulate synchronous generators and provide fast frequency and voltage support during grid outages, large PV fluctuations, load changes, and fault events.
“The novelty of this research lies in the comprehensive evaluation of a GFM-BESS integrated with utility-scale solar PV plants under a wide range of operating conditions,” corresponding author Lina Alhmoud told pv magazine.
“While previous studies have largely focused on either theoretical analyses or limited case studies, our work systematically investigates the capability of GFM-BESS to enhance frequency stability, voltage regulation, and system resilience during grid disturbances.”
Alhmoud said the study provides quantitative evidence that grid-forming control strategies can support the transition to inverter-dominated power systems with high renewable energy penetration. She added that follow-up research will focus on coordinated operation of multiple grid-forming resources in large-scale renewable systems, optimisation of control parameters under varying grid strengths, interactions between grid-forming battery systems and other renewable technologies such as wind power and hybrid plants, and techno-economic assessments of real-world deployment.
The researchers modeled a utility-scale renewable energy system consisting of a 100 MW solar PV plant and a 35 MW / 60 MWh BESS. The PV plant was connected to a 4.16 kV distribution network via a 4.16 / 24.9 kV transformer, while the medium-voltage network was linked to a 230 kV transmission grid through a 24.9 / 230 kV transformer.
The BESS was equipped with a grid-forming inverter based on a virtual synchronous machine (VSM) controller, enabling synthetic inertia, voltage regulation, and frequency support. The system also included a local three-phase load and an equivalent external grid, with grid strength varied using the short-circuit ratio (SCR).
To assess stability, the researchers simulated a range of operating scenarios, including a grid outage disconnecting the PV plant and BESS from the external grid, a 50% reduction in PV output, a 45% increase in load demand, a 100 ms temporary three-phase fault, and a permanent three-phase fault. They also varied SCR values from 0.42 to 4.5 to evaluate performance under weak- and strong-grid conditions.
“One of the most interesting findings was the significant improvement in system stability achieved with grid-forming control, particularly during severe disturbances and weak-grid conditions,” Alhmoud said. “The results demonstrated that the GFM-BESS could rapidly support frequency and voltage recovery while maintaining stable operation of the solar PV plant. The extent of the stability enhancement exceeded initial expectations, highlighting the strong potential of grid-forming technology in future renewable-rich power networks.”
According to the simulation results, during a 50% reduction in PV output, total plant power temporarily dropped from about 92–93 MW to 70–72 MW, while frequency deviation remained limited to approximately 0.8–1.0 Hz and settled within 0.5 s. Following a 45% load increase, power fell to 75–77 MW and frequency deviated by 1.3–1.5 Hz, before recovering in less than 0.4 s.
In the most severe temporary fault scenario, voltage at the point of interconnection dropped to 0.25–0.30 pu before rapidly recovering after fault clearance. Under a permanent fault, the system remained stable despite voltage falling to 0.7–0.8 pu, reactive power peaking at 45–48 MVAR, and frequency deviations of up to 2.5 Hz.
The results have appeared in “Performance evaluation of grid-forming battery energy storage systems for stability enhancement in solar PV plants,” published in Scientific Reports. Researchers from Jordan’s Yarmouk University and Al-Ahliyya Amman University have participated in the research.
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Q1 2026 A1 Solar Index: U.S. solar panel prices surged 61% to $0.560/watt as domestic supply hit record lows. Trade tariffs eliminated Chinese, Southeast Asian, and Indian imports, but U.S. manufacturing hasn’t scaled to fill the gap. Inventory sits at just 42% of last year’s peak, buyers paid above asking price in 6 of 8 regions, and raw material costs keep climbing — just as peak installation season begins.

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Sunrun Surges Over 30% on Tesla Deal to Supply Power for AI  Bloomberg.com
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Comstock Inc. and its Comstock Metals subsidiary have selected the city of Cambridge, Ohio as the site of its newest industrial-scale solar panel manufacturing facility.
Expected to create 20 full-time positions once operational, the site comes as part of a partnership between Comstock, JobsOhio, and its Ohio Southeast Economic Development (OhioSE) regional partner. The incoming facility is partly support by a newly announced $75,000 grant from JobsOhio, which aims to promote economic development, business development, and job creation throughout southeastern Ohio.
Comstock currently boasts the only certified zero-landfill solar panel recycling solution in North America, representatives say. Now, the new site in the Buckeye State will also function as a production facility and logistics hub for Comstock Metals, officials add.
“Our new Cambridge facility in Ohio is an integral part of our growing national capacity of logistics, storage and recycling of end-of-life solar materials that are decommissioning across the country,” says Comstock CEO Corrado De Gasperis. “We truly appreciate the collaboration with JobsOhio and OhioSE for supporting and enabling these jobs. The speed that we build these human systems and deploy our recycling network is critical to keeping these hazardous materials out of our landfills, communities and eco-systems.”
Alongside the recycling and logistical improvements, the new facility will be a crucial link in the American solar manufacturing supply chain in 2027 and beyond.

Creating a more sustainable supply chain

Founded in Silver Springs, Nevada in 2022, Comstock Metals specializes in the recycling and reusing of industrial-scale, end-of-life solar panels. But what sets Comstock apart, representatives say, is the firm’s construction of a fully circular, zero-landfill solution, which sustainably recovers aluminum, copper, silver, glass, and other materials from those decommissioned solar panels.
The company’s Silver Springs recycling facility — the model from which the Ohioan plant will be constructed — currently recycles up to 100,000 tons of solar panels every year, and achieves 100% material recovery. The Ohio facility will aim even higher, expanding that capacity to produce aluminum, silver, and glass bead for resale, and ultimately, reinjection into the Midwest’s wider supply chain.
“The Cambridge facility will enable Comstock Metals to reduce long-distance transportation costs,” the firm says, “which can account for 30 to 50 percent of total recycling expenses, while better serving its growing Midwest and eastern US customer base.”
Dr. Fortunato Villamagna, president of Comstock Metals, says the support the country has received from JobsOhio and OhioSE is not only critical to Comstock’s mission, but to the recognition and prioritization of solar and material recycling across the U.S.
“The central Ohio location provides a cost-effective, logistical solution for our growing Midwest and Northeast US customer base, supporting the company’s goal to set the standard for solar recycling here in the United States,” he says. “Our team has developed a strong network of relationships in the eastern US with solar power producers, O&M groups, and manufacturers.”


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MUNICH, June 25, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — As solar PV rapidly emerges as a major power source in the global energy mix, power systems are facing increasing pressure to balance supply and demand while ensuring stability under highly dynamic operating conditions. Conventional PV-storage systems, however, were not designed to effectively manage this level of variability and complexity.

To address this challenge, Sungrow introduces PowerMatrix™ at Intersolar Europe 2026 — a next-generation energy system built on five core innovations, including multi-port topology, native PV-storage integration, distributed control, reconfigurable energy paths, and source-level grid-forming. PowerMatrix delivers source-level stability while maximizing the efficiency and economic performance of utility-scale PV projects.
System-Level Optimization for Lower LCOE
PowerMatrix moves beyond single-equipment optimization, enabling coordinated system-level optimization across the entire PV-storage architecture. Through integrated equipment design, simplified engineering, and flexible capacity configuration, it reduces BOS costs by over 10% while improving efficiency across the energy value chain from generation to consumption. Combined, these cost and efficiency gains significantly reduce LCOE.
In a reference system designed for 1 GW of rated grid connection capacity, 8 GWh of installed ESS capacity, and 3,000 annual full-load operating hours in China, the PowerMatrix reduces total CAPEX by approximately $120 million compared to a conventional AC-coupled architecture, with savings across substation & transmission cable, ESS equipment, PV equipment, and other system components.
End-to-End Efficiency Boost: +5% System Energy Yield
Traditional PV-storage systems typically optimize individual components or localized segments, leading to efficiency losses across multiple stages of the energy flow and limiting overall system performance. PowerMatrix addresses this challenge through end-to-end optimization across the full energy value chain, from generation to consumption.
From Compensated Stability to Inherent Stability
Unlike conventional PV-storage systems that rely on external balancing resources for stable operation, PowerMatrix embeds stability at the generation-unit level, enabling a stable power supply and enhanced grid-support capabilities.
Leveraging these system-level advantages, PowerMatrix delivers optimized performance and adaptability across utility-scale, commercial and industrial (C&I), microgrids, and AI data center applications. It enables key capabilities for next-generation power systems, including multi-source integration, bidirectional power flow, flexible dispatch, and high system reliability.
Photo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/3000393/PowerMatrix_2.jpg
Logo – https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1344575/Logo.jpg
Sungrow, the global leading PV inverter and energy storage system (ESS) supplier, showcased its latest innovations in solar power, energy storage, EV …
Sungrow, the globally leading PV inverter and energy storage system (ESS) provider, today unveiled the SG125CX-P3 at Intersolar Europe 2026 — an…
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MACHESNEY PARK, Ill. (WIFR) – The Harlem Consolidated School District and New Energy Equity mark a major milestone Wednesday with the completion of a landmark community solar project that will power the district while funding student scholarships.
The event recognized several students receiving scholarships funded through the initiative.
The community solar project represents a significant investment in renewable energy and student opportunity, combining environmental sustainability with direct financial support for district students.
Copyright 2026 WIFR. All rights reserved.

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Victoria-headquartered Deakin University has conductected a large-scale randomised control trial exploring a virtual energy network (VEN) that enables households and small businesses to buy and sell solar and battery power.
The VEN study, led by Deakin Business School and funded by Energy Consumers Australia’s grants program investigates how households and small businesses can be enabled to sell excess solar or battery-stored power directly to others via a digital platform.
300 sellers and buyers in the trial from Queensland, New South Wales (NSW), Victoria and South Australia (SA) traded energy based on mutually agreed prices, prompting cheaper than standard electricity rates and demonstrating a pathway to help consumers who cannot install solar panels.
One hundred participants did not have rooftop solar or batteries.
Deakin University Economics Associate Professor Dr Andrea La Nauze said the project shows a potential blueprint for creating a more inclusive and flexible energy system in Australia.
“Helping more people access the benefits of solar and battery power is vital to supporting Australia’s successful transition to net zero,” La Nauze said.
“The VEN allows people with solar to decide who their surplus power goes to, and how much they charge for it. It also shows how we can help more Australians access clean energy – even if they cannot install panels themselves.”
“Our research is a significant step toward leveraging this distributed energy resource for the benefit of all Australians, not just those able to install solar themselves,” La Nauze said.
The VEN is underpinned by Energy Locals, with trading managed via Enosi’s Powertracer software, and is funded through Energy Consumers Australia’s Grants Program in partnership with QuantumNRG, ReThink Sustainability, and WinZero.

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The June issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Thursday, July 9, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, June 18, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, June 11, 2026
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, June 1, 2026
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Madrid, Paris
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
6 am – 7:00 am CEST, Berlin
Friday, June 12, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new pv magazine Global May issue is now available!
Mountains to climb
Available in print and digital formats.
Entries open in seven categories: Modules, Inverters, BoS, BESS, Manufacturing, Sustainability, Projects.
April 01 – August 31, 2026
Energy-hungry data centers open new doors for solar and storage.
Available in print and digital formats.

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The Phosgo Go5 series launches on July 27th starting at $1,999 for the most daring of early birds.
The Phosgo Go5 series launches on July 27th starting at $1,999 for the most daring of early birds.
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I like the idea of a solar-powered electric bike, but I don’t think anyone should buy the new Phosgo Go5 — not yet, anyway. This “world’s first AI solar e-bike” promises to “eliminate range anxiety,” and is sold by a new brand out of China hoping to make a big splash by selling direct-to-consumer through a global crowdfunding campaign. So many red flags here.
According to a media kit the company sent me from a generic gmail.com address, Phosgo is a joint venture between Jiaxing Dazhe Solar Energy and Shenzhen Honglianda Technology. Dazhe provides the flexible solar technology pioneered by someone identified only as “Dr. Li,” while Honglianda delivers an established supply chain and e-commerce expertise.
Phosgo is selling two 8-speed, aluminum-frame models in the US and Europe built around Bafang mid-drive motors, the company tells me, although a motor from Ananda is clearly visible in some photos. The base Go5 has a “super early bird” price of $1,999 while the beefier Go5 Ultra starts at $2,799. The prices will supposedly double in the future but that’s a FOMO marketing tactic typical of these campaigns. It launches on Kickstarter Saturday, July 27th.
All the bikes are fitted with a total of four 50W circular solar panels inside the wheels, made of BC (back contact) cells. BC solar cells make sense here because they move all the electrical contacts to the inside of the panels giving them a uniformly sleek look without those visible grid lines. BC panels should also deal with partial shading caused by cars, buildings, trees, the bike frame, and the rider better than traditional panels. The solar components account for about 8 pounds of these roughly 50-pound bikes.
Here’s the issue: all 200W of those solar panels are facing the wrong way. To get the best charge you’d need to lay your bike on the ground, and even then only half would be exposed to the mid-day sun. Realistically, you’re only going to produce a few watts on average when riding or when parked on the kickstand.
Phosgo’s range claims are all over the place. But deep in the media kit I found a table showing the solar panels adding 17 miles between charges from a wall outlet. It doesn’t say how it measured that but I’m assuming it’s the maximum achieved under optimal, unshaded daylight. It’s safe to say you’ll get far less than that anywhere outside the Sahara, especially when parked side-by-side with other bikes in a city bikerack. One thing’s for sure: you will still have charging worries.
Lastly, Phosgo’s “advanced speech-to-speech AI” is just dumb. No e-bike needs an integrated AI assistant. The chance of it successfully recommending a decent hamburger shop is minuscule, and it certainly won’t be properly smashed.
Look, I hope I’m wrong. I hope the Phosgo Go5 series does everything it says. Everyone loves an underdog. But please don’t back this crowdfunding campaign unless you’ve got money to burn. Global fulfillment is hard enough when not dealing with giant batteries and sensitive electronics that also have to be serviced over their lifetimes. Best wait this one out if you’re truly interested.
Otherwise, maybe consider a general purpose solar generator and portable solar panel. They’ll charge your e-bike, drone, power tools, laptop and phone, and keep the fridge and PS5 running during the next blackout.
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The Ohio Power Siting Board rejected a permit for a Clark County solar project Wednesday, adding to a regulatory graveyard of renewable energy developments killed by state officials. 
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Invenergy, of Illinois, wanted to build Sloopy Solar, a 3,200-acre development of more than 357,000 solar panels that developers say could power more than 33,000 homes. The developers expected to spend tens of millions on construction and pay about $1.62 million per year in local taxes alone once the project was operational. 
However, the Clark County Board of Commissioners and trustees of Harmony Twp. both formally opposed the project, as did some neighboring local government bodies. 
This opposition became the driving force for staff at the Ohio Power Siting Board to recommend rejection under a legal requirement that the project meets the “public interest, convenience and necessity.” The regulators didn’t identify any threats to the environment or water systems nearby. 
Sloopy Solar is now the eighth utility-scale solar project stopped cold by the OPSB in light of local-level conservative opposition. 
“The Board finds that the unanimous opposition from each local government entity as well as the overwhelming public opposition outweighs the various positives attributes of the project and, thus, necessitates a finding against the public interest, convenience, and necessity,” the OPSB opinion, heeding the staff recommendation, states. 
In Clark County, as is typical with solar projects, unions and the Chamber of Commerce supported the development, emphasizing the jobs associated with construction, the economic inputs and outputs, and payouts to landowners who lease their farms. 
However, conservative political opposition to utility-scale renewables has spread wide and deep. Republicans in 2021 passed a state law that has allowed 27 Ohio counties to ban wind and solar outright. Citizens have stuffed public hearings to speak out against proposed developments and rejected them on the ballot, raising concerns about the viewshed, noise, possible decline in property values and others. 
The Ohio Power Siting Board has rejected eight permit requests for solar farms since 2020. And more recently, the six Republicans on the Ohio Supreme Court voted to at least temporarily overturn a permit that had been granted by the OPSB to a solar developer. 
Gaby Rubio, manager of development for Invenergy, said the company is disappointed by the ruling. 
“Sloopy Solar represents an opportunity to deliver reliable, Ohio-generated energy to support increasing electricity demand, strengthen regional economic and workforce development, and provide long-term local economic benefits to Clark County and surrounding communities,” he said. “We are currently reviewing the Board’s decision and evaluating next steps.”
Three local unions – the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 683, the Laborers’ International Union of North America Local 1410, and the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 18 – said rejection means the loss of 200 construction jobs. 
“When projects like this get turned away, workers lose an opportunity for steady paychecks, apprentices lose a path forward, and our community loses the kind of long-term economic benefit that helps everyone,” said Pat Hook, business manager for IBEW Local 683, in a statement. “That’s the part that really concerns me. These are the jobs and the future we should be fighting to keep here at home.”
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Comstock, a metals company headquartered in the United States, is setting up a large-scale solar panel recycling operation, a manufacturing site, and a distribution center in Cambridge, Ohio. This initiative is being carried out by its subsidiary Comstock Metals, working alongside JobsOhio—a nonprofit economic development organization—and OhioSE, its regional partner covering the southeastern part of the state.
The venture is projected to generate roughly 20 positions in the local area and involves a 21,570-square-foot building plus an adjoining laydown yard. A US$75,000 grant from JobsOhio is backing the effort. OhioSE helped Comstock Metals obtain the financial incentive and choose the Cambridge location.
Corrado De Gasperis, who serves as CEO of Comstock Inc., stated that the new Cambridge site forms a vital part of the company’s expanding nationwide network for handling, storing, and reprocessing solar materials that have reached the end of their useful life and are being taken out of service across the country. The growth is intended to enlarge Comstock Metals’ closed-loop recycling activities, cut logistics expenses—which make up an estimated 30% to 50% of overall recycling costs—and enhance service to its expanding clientele in the Midwest and Eastern United States.
Comstock Metals already runs a recycling site in Silver Springs, Nevada, where it is boosting capacity to 100,000 tons of retired solar panels each year, achieving a reported 100% material recovery rate. The Ohio facility will increase the downstream production of reclaimed aluminum, copper, silver, and glass for sale into local industrial supply chains, while cutting down on long-distance transport needs.
Fortunato Villamagna, president of Comstock Metals, remarked that the central Ohio site offers an economical logistical option for the company’s increasing customer base in the Midwest and Northeast US, advancing its objective of establishing the benchmark for solar recycling in America. He further noted that the firm has built a robust network of connections in the eastern US with solar energy producers, operations and maintenance teams, and manufacturers, and that backing from JobsOhio and OhioSE marks a significant milestone in the nation’s acknowledgment and emphasis on these essential recycling efforts that benefit communities.
Established in 2022 and based in Nevada, Comstock Metals functions across the Southwest, Midwest, and Eastern US. In February 2026, the company obtained certification from the California Department of Toxic Substances Control to handle universal waste and process photovoltaic modules at its California site. At the time of the announcement, Comstock indicated that this approval arrives as the volume of decommissioned solar panels nationwide is on the rise, fueling greater demand for specialized PV recycling infrastructure.
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‘Solar installs hit 664GW record in 2025’  reNEWS
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Two proposed local solar projects appear to be dead as of Wednesday.
The Ohio Power Siting Board denied a request to construct the Sloopy Solar project in Harmony Township in Clark County at its meeting on June 24.
The board pointed to what it called “overwhelming public opposition” as the reason behind the denial.
“The OPSB found that the unanimous opposition of local governments in the project area, as well as the overwhelming public opposition to the project, outweighed the positive attributes of the project,” an OPSB spokesperson wrote in an email.
The 180 megawatt, 1,900-acre solar project could’ve been the first utility-scale solar generation facility in Clark County.
Sloopy’s developer Invenergy said in a statement the company is disappointed by the decision and will evaluate next steps.
“Sloopy Solar represents an opportunity to deliver reliable, Ohio-generated energy to support increasing electricity demand, strengthen regional economic and workforce development, and provide long-term local economic benefits to Clark County and surrounding communities,” Invenergy’s development manager Gaby Rubio wrote in a statement.
“We appreciate the time and input provided by local stakeholders throughout this process and remain proud of the work our team has done to develop the project responsibly and transparently.”
A group of Harmony Township residents joined together to form the Harmony Farmland Preservation Coalition.
Harmony Township resident and founding member of the group Joshua Trapp said they are elated with the recent decision.
“We will remain focused on our mission and be watching to see if Invenergy decides to appeal the case to the Ohio Supreme Court,” Trapp said. “This is a large positive step in the right direction for our community, protecting the rural characteristic of Harmony Township and its prime farmland.”
Three unions were selected to work on the project: International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 683, the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 1410, and the International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 18.
In a statement, the union coalition said the decision “represents a loss of hundreds of local construction jobs for the community.”
“When projects like this get turned away, workers lose an opportunity for steady paychecks, apprentices lose a path forward, and our community loses the kind of long-term economic benefit that helps everyone,” said Pat Hook, business manager for IBEW Local 683 in a statement.
“That’s the part that really concerns me. These are the jobs and the future we should be fighting to keep here at home.”
Staff from the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio recommended the board deny Sloopy’s application in March.
At the same meeting, the Power Siting Board approved a request from the developer of the Champaign County project called Hillclimber Solar to withdraw its application.
RWE’s Hillclimber project is a 116 megawatt solar and 40 megawatt battery storage project. The 900-acre project was proposed for construction in Urbana Township.
In its filing to the board on May 19, Hillclimber’s developer says it reserves the right to file another application at a later date.
That project also faced staunch local opposition.

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Partly cloudy with a slight chance of a shower or thunderstorm. Highs in the lower 80s..
Passing showers and thunderstorms. Lows in the middle 60s.
Updated: June 25, 2026 @ 4:36 am

PILOT GROVE — Cooper County residents came to the Pilot Grove High School on Tuesday to take part in a town hall discussion over possible 200-megawatt solar farms being built in the county. 
Around 100 people filled the cafeteria of the high school to ask the project managers questions about the solar farms.
Renew Missouri and Renewable Energy Sources were present at the town hall to answer questions, where they largely told residents that the solar farm would not impact their farming or day-to-day lives.
A map presented at Tuesday’s meeting showed the proposed areas in Pilot Grove and beyond that would house the solar farms.
David Brumback, a local farmer, said his property is connected for about five miles on one side to a property that will hold a solar farm. 
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“I’m just not wired to do that with my land that my dad (and) my granddad have bought and pieced together over the years,” Brumback said. “My sons, they will be the fifth generation on that land. So I just can’t do that with my land.”
Concerns brought up by residents during the meeting included tax incentives, drainage and water protections, protections for nearby residents, wildlife and agriculture protections, and road use and maintenance logistics.
During the meeting, both companies said the 200-megawatt solar farm would feed energy to transmission lines, but that it was not guaranteed that energy would remain local.
Negotiations with the Cooper County Commission are ongoing, according to representatives from Renewable Energy Sources.
The proposed solar farm project would begin construction in 2028 and be finished in 2029.
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Concerns have been raised that a large solar farm would surround homes in a village in Derbyshire if it is approved.
British Solar Renewables (BSR) has submitted an application to install panels on almost 300 acres (121 hectares) of farmland in Brailsford, between Derby and Ashbourne.
James Hodson, who has lived at Top Wild Park Farm for 28 years, said accessing his home would be "like entering a prison" due to high fences and security lights.
Plans show there would be solar panels in every direction from his home, but BSR said it has reached out to residents affected and would create a £275,000 fund for the local community.
Hodson and his neighbours said they were proud of the views from their homes.
Now, they are campaigning to stop the fields being turned over to solar panels.
"We're going to be surrounded by the development which has 8ft (2.4m) fences and security lights around it," said Hodson.
"Our entrance down the lane will be through a fence tunnel so it will essentially be like entering a prison."
Hodson's neighbour Jennifer Smith said she had felt overwhelmed since the solar proposals were first announced.
She said her home would also be surrounded by the panels.
"The views are irreplaceable, we'll never have them back again and once this land has gone they're not making any more," she said.
"It's vast, a large industrial area that's going to cover most of the land around the Mercaston Estate, and it will massively reduce the enjoyment of the area."
About 70 villagers attended a public meeting at Brailsford Golf Course where Hodson urged people to lodge their opposition with Derbyshire Dales District Council, which will decide whether to give the project the go-ahead.
Carla Hardaker, development director at BSR, said the company was keen to work with the community.
"We originate, develop, build and then operate and maintain all of our own projects, so we do recognise that we are going to be neighbours in the communities that we go into for typically 40 years," she said.
"In order to manage these relationships we are out on site and we carry out very robust surveys as part of the application to ensure that we're in an appropriate environment or we've selected an appropriate site."
Hardaker added that the company reached out individually to residents most affected by the plans prior to going to public consultation in December 2025.
"We identified there is a higher level of impact to them. As a result of speaking to them and understanding their concerns we reduced the size of the park overall, with particular focus on the areas around their property," she said.
"We were able to remove panels just to create a further offset between their properties and where the development may begin."
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The global PV industry is now in a cyclical correction marked by price volatility, rising trade barriers and intensifying competition, putting many companies under growing pressure.
Against this challenging backdrop, energy technology company Hanersun has bucked the trend with steady growth—driven by prudent operations, a global sales network, and an integrated solar PV-storage strategy. The company continues to expand across key overseas markets in Europe, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, with energy storage now firmly established as its second growth driver.
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In this feature story, we sit down with Michael Liu, Chairman of Hanersun. Our conversation covers the company’s latest performance, global footprint, market dynamics at home and abroad, industry outlook, trade challenges, and long-term strategy, revealing the core strengths that have enabled Hanersun to weather the downturn and sustain steady growth.
Since late 2023, the global PV industry has slipped into a downward cycle, weighed down by widespread overcapacity and sustained price erosion. Numerous peers have faced severe operational pressures, with some scaling back capacity and others exiting the market altogether.
Asked about the company’s overall performance, Liu frankly acknowledged that Hanersun has not been immune to the harsh industry environment. Still, backed by long-built core strengths, it has maintained solid fundamentals and achieved steady growth despite the downturn.
According to Liu, Hanersun’s resilience amid cyclical headwinds rests on five core strengths. First, a professional, pragmatic, and highly efficient management team—seasoned through multiple industry cycles—delivers strong execution, tackles tough challenges, and combines problem-solving acumen with forward-looking foresight, all of which underpin the company’s stable expansion.
Second, Hanersun adheres to a rational development mindset—expanding sustainably within its capacity, avoiding blind growth, and directing resources toward product innovation, customer support, channel development, and brand building. It steers clear of capital-intensive full-value-chain investment, preserving flexibility amid the overcapacity-driven downturn.
Third, the company has long cultivated premium overseas markets like Europe and Japan, where stringent quality and service standards command healthy margins—shielding it from low-end price wars and solidifying its operational footing.
Fourth, energy storage has become its second growth engine. Since making storage a strategic priority in 2022, Hanersun has steadily expanded the business, now operating a dual-growth model alongside its flagship PV module division.
Moreover, the company upholds a customer-first philosophy. It prioritises brand credibility and market reputation, responds swiftly to client needs, and enforces rigorous quality control standards. These efforts continue to boost Hanersun’s brand awareness among global clients and financial partners.
Amid cutthroat industry-wide competition, Liu stressed that Hanersun abides by a streamlined, “less-is-more” development strategy. The company does not blindly follow trends or attempt to cover the entire industry chain or all technology routes. Instead, it concentrated resources on its core businesses-PV modules and C&I storage-to channel resources to build unrivalled competitiveness within these high-margin, premium segments.
Liu said: “This industry covers a vast array of segmented sectors. Hasty and scattered expansion will only erode core competitiveness. survival and growth hinge on identifying a clear niche and cultivating it with singular focus.”
Hanersun has embraced a global vision from the very beginning and has consistently prioritised overseas expansion. It now operates in over 100 countries and territories across Europe, the Americas, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Australia—with international markets forming the foundational pillar of its growth.
Liu explained that regional PV markets have diverged sharply this year. Hanersun tailors its deployment to local conditions, delivering differentiated performance across its various markets.
“The European PV market has seen an overall downturn this year. Conventional large-scale ground-mounted plants have taken a heavy hit from negative power prices, and the sector is gradually shifting toward decentralised PV and PV-storage integration. Thanks to years of intensive market cultivation, Hanersun has secured multiple landmark milestones across Europe. The key wins stand out: First, the company has expanded its distribution channels to build a more comprehensive regional network. Second, it has brought on board key customers in major European markets including Germany, Spain, Italy and Poland, supplying large volumes to local top-tier partners and dismantling long-standing market access barriers; Third, there has been a marked rise in standalone projects above 100MW, lifting both project scale and customer coverage to record highs,” Liu noted.
Parallel to its expanding PV business, Hanersun’s storage arm has also registered robust growth. According to company briefings, the storage business has carved out a clear position in Europe, focusing on utility-scale and C&I segments. Leveraging established PV distribution networks and client resources, it expanded rapidly across Southeast Europe, posting strong year-on-year gains last year.
“Europe’s storage market is still early-stage but holds massive potential—and we’ll ramp up investment and sharpen our strategic focus there,” said Liu, who remains bullish on the storage business.
To date, Hanersun’s storage products have secured orders across several European nations, including Bulgaria, Croatia, and Romania. Multiple liquid-cooled storage systems have passed authoritative certifications—including SGS and CE—earning widespread market validation within the EU.
Liu added that beyond Europe, emerging markets—including Southeast Asia, North Africa, and Pakistan—continue to show robust growth. The Philippines has seen a sharp demand surge this year, shipments to Pakistan are climbing steadily, and PV demand is picking up across multiple African nations. As Hanersun’s global footprint expands, these booming markets complement its European core, mitigating risks tied to reliance on a single regional market.
On April 1, China officially scrapped VAT export rebates for PV products—a policy shift that became a pivotal factor shaping global supply chains and market prices in the first half of the year. Liu reviewed the market fluctuations and corporate countermeasures before and after the policy took effect.
He explained that the rebate adjustment was officially announced around January 15, giving the industry minimal lead time to prepare. Once the news broke, overseas buyers—fearing higher procurement costs down the line—rushed to place advance bulk orders, triggering a short-term surge in industry-wide bookings. Benefiting from this wave, Hanersun hit an all-time high in Q1 shipments, jumping 195% year-on-year, with March shipments reaching a periodic peak.
Following the policy’s rollout on April 1, the sector saw a marked downturn—prices slipped, overseas clients were already overstocked, and the resulting drop in orders and shipments from April through May weighed heavily on Q2 performance.
Liu remains optimistic about the policy’s long-term outlook. He noted that China’s PV manufacturing holds an overwhelming global edge—backed by a full industrial chain, advanced manufacturing know-how, and cost-competitive products—a lead no other nation can overturn in the next three to five years. While PV companies, already squeezed by thin margins, will face intensified short-term headwinds, the policy will ultimately guide the industry toward healthier, more sustainable growth.
Moreover, Liu pointed out that China’s domestic PV market is massive in scale, capturing roughly half of the global market share—an indispensable key market for participants. Even so, Hanersun has refrained from hasty market entry through conventional business models.
China’s domestic PV market is highly mature and fiercely competitive. Relying solely on module sales invites brutal price rivalry, while pure project investment also faces considerable pressure. Drawing on its inherent strengths, Hanersun has adopted a differentiated strategy rather than confining itself to commodity-only sales.
The company integrates local government resources, project assets, and financial investment partners into a unified framework combining project investment, EPC, and BT—forming a closed-loop industrial ecosystem. These integrated energy projects, in turn, drive sales of PV equipment and storage products. Hanersun is now building an independent domestic business team and gradually expanding its presence in the home market.
Hanersun earned widespread overseas recognition before gaining traction at home. Years of deep-rooted international expansion have built distinct strengths to support its domestic market launch. With products long supplied to high-end markets like Europe, its standards, quality systems, and service frameworks match leading global benchmarks—forming the foundation of its confidence to develop China’s domestic market.
Meanwhile, its established global brand reputation serves as a strong market endorsement for its domestic business layout, helping dispel local customers’ concerns regarding the company’s overall brand competence.
“We’re entering the domestic market at a measured pace, focused on steady penetration. With strong cash flow and brand equity from our overseas business, we can give our local operations the time to mature—building recognition step by step and refining our strategy based on real-time feedback,” said Liu.
Addressing the current cyclical downturn, Liu predicted that the H2 rollout of upgraded capacity—TOPCon multi-cut and BC cells—will accelerate consolidation, bringing a genuine bottom in H1 next year. In the meantime, intensifying survival-of-the-fittest competition is squeezing small and mid-sized manufacturers with cash flow crunches and mounting operational pressures.
Over the medium-to-long term, Liu outlined three key trends. Consolidation will accelerate, channelling resources, orders, and profits toward tier-one players. For niche SMEs like Hanersun, sustainable growth means avoiding price wars with the giants and instead doubling down on differentiated products, specialised segments, and targeted regional markets.
Second, the rules of competition are shifting fundamentally. The industry is moving past the old volume and price driven growth model. From now on, competition will centre on five pillars—technology, quality, service, brand, and global deployment—with end-to-end comprehensive strength as the decisive edge.
Third, technology roadmap choice is make-or-break. With multiple routes now competing fiercely, a misstep can leave companies far behind. BC technology is gaining ground; Gen2 TOPCon and multi-cut cells are industry hotspots. HJT, while still plagued by high costs and low yields, retains a loyal following for its patent independence, low-temperature welding, and superior bifaciality—and top BC producers are now integrating HJT pathways into their own pipelines.
That said, Hanersun believes any next-gen cell technology must prove its viability across the supply chain, cost structure, and standardisation system before mass rollout—especially during a cyclical downturn. Once a clear route is identified, the company will move swiftly to adjust its technical strategy.
Having weathered countless industry cycles, Hanersun anchors its growth in prudent operations, global expansion, and PV-storage synergies—a formula that has secured overseas share and built resilience through volatility. Looking ahead, Michael Liu acknowledged near-term headwinds—trade barriers, price wars, and cyclical swings—but stressed that the long-term global clean energy transition remains unshaken.
“As the industry consolidates and shakes out, steady, measured expansion is the only path to sustainable success. We don’t chase short-term revenue spikes—we pursue sound growth with global partners, seizing the long-term opportunities of the clean energy revolution,” Liu concluded.

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24 June 2026
Infineon’s GaN technology boosts efficiency and power density in BRC Solar’s Power Optimizer
Infineon Technologies AG of Munich, Germany says that its CoolGaN Transistor 100V devices have been selected by BRC Solar GmbH of Ettlingen, Germany (which provides module-level power electronics for photovoltaic systems) as the core switching technology for its Power Optimizer.
The CoolGaN Transistor 100V family is claimed to deliver industry-leading switching performance and power-handling capability in a compact 3mm x 5mm package, enabling panel-level maximum power-point tracking (MPPT) with the highest efficiency and power density available in this class of solar application. The selection underlines the growing adoption of Infineon’s gallium nitride (GaN) technology in renewable energy applications, where superior switching performance, compact form factor, and cost competitiveness are critical design requirements.

Picture: Infineon’s CoolGaN Transistor 100V devices, in a compact 3mm x 5mm package.

“The adoption of CoolGaN technology from Infineon in BRC Solar’s Power Optimizers demonstrates the tangible impact that GaN switching performance can deliver in real-world renewable energy systems,” says Johannes Schoiswohl, senior VP & general manager GaN business line at Infineon. “By enabling higher efficiency, greater power density, and cloud-based performance monitoring in the same compact form factor, CoolGaN helps solar system designers push the boundaries of what is achievable in rooftop solar applications and brings meaningful benefits to end users and the environment alike.”
Rooftop solar installations face a fundamental efficiency challenge: when MPPT is implemented at the string level, partial shading of a single panel reduces the output of the entire string. The CoolGaN Transistor 100V family addresses this directly by enabling cost-effective panel-level MPPT optimization, eliminating the performance drag of the weakest panel and maximizing energy yield across the full installation. The inherently superior switching characteristics of GaN, including lower switching losses, higher-switching-frequency capability and reduced EMI compared to silicon alternatives make CoolGaN the enabling technology for power optimizers that must simultaneously meet stringent efficiency, size and regulatory requirements.
“Since its founding, BRC Solar has recognized the transformative potential of gallium nitride technology for achieving best-in-class performance in solar power optimizers," says the firm’s chief financial officer Pascal Ruisinger. “Infineon and BRC Solar share the same vision: to leverage state-of-the-art technologies such as CoolGaN to benefit the environment and society by delivering optimized green energy through feature-rich and affordable products.”
The switching performance of CoolGaN, combined with a diverse product portfolio spanning discrete and integrated solutions across a broad range of voltage and power levels, is said to allow BRC Solar’s Power Optimizer design to achieve the optimal balance between cost, size and efficiency. The result is reckoned to be a solution that delivers tangible performance benefits to end customers in residential and commercial rooftop solar installations.
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In March 2025, the Government of Montenegro issued urban planning and technical requirements for the construction of the B1 solar power plant at Kapino polje.
The Environmental Protection Agency said the environmental impact assessment report for the Kapino polje B1 solar power plant is in accordance with the Law on Environmental Impact Assessment and that it contained measures to prevent, reduce, or eliminate harmful impacts on the environment. The report was produced by Eko-centar.
The construction of the solar power plant is planned in the cadastral municipality of Štedim, just 2.7 kilometers of straight line distance from the center of Nikšić, the small country’s second-largest city.
The B1 solar power plant is the first of four that EPCG plans to build at Kapino polje
The solar power plant at the Kapino polje plain will have 19,704 photovoltaic modules of 580 W each. It translates to 11.4 MW in peak capacity, while the project area covers 16 hectares.
The expected annual electricity generation in the first year of operation is 15.8 GWh. The solar power plant is planned to be connected at the 10 kV voltage level via two medium-voltage cables between two 10/0.8 kV substations and the Kličevo 110/10 kV substation.
B1 is the first of a total of four solar power plants that EPCG plans to build at Kapino polje, near Nikšić. The others are called B2, L1, and L2, and the investment is valued at EUR 35.1 million in total.
Solar power projects at Kapino polje were criticized last year by the Center for Protection and Research of Birds (CZIP). The organization claimed that EPCG should not start the works without environmental approval and warned that Kapino polje is an ecologically sensitive area.
According to the analysis Mapping the Potential of Solar and Wind Energy in the Municipality of Nikšić, published by Eko-tim and The Nature Conservancy, Kapino polje was identified as a conflict zone for the construction of energy facilities due to the high sensitivity of the area. CZIP also referred to the Local Biodiversity Action Plan of the Municipality of Nikšić 2024–2029, which recognizes Kapino polje as Montenegro’s fourth potential Ramsar site – a wetland of international importance – and a future Natura 2000 site.
CZIP also pointed out that Kapino polje is within Nikšićko polje, an area of global importance for bird conservation, one of the so-called Important Bird and Biodiversity Areas, or IBAs.
However, the report approved by the Environmental Protection Agency states that the specific location is not formally identified as an IBA nor a special protection area, or SPA, within the Natura 2000 network. At the same time, it acknowledges that the wider area of Nikšićko polje is important for the presence, feeding, and migration of certain bird species, especially in relation to wet and seasonally flooded habitats.
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Qcells launches solar cell production in Georgia, advancing the US’ first fully integrated solar factory.
Qcells has begun manufacturing solar cells at its new facility in Cartersville, Georgia, bringing the company closer to operating what it says is the United States’ first and only fully vertically integrated solar manufacturing factory.
The company announced that the plant is now producing solar cells and expects all production lines to reach full capacity by the third quarter of 2026. Once fully operational, the facility will manufacture ingots, wafers, cells, and solar modules under one roof.
The start of cell production marks a significant milestone for domestic solar manufacturing, as most solar panels installed in the US still rely on imported components. Qcells said the Cartersville site will become the largest operating solar cell factory in US history.
Module assembly operations at the facility are already running at full capacity, producing about 16,700 solar panels every day.
When fully ramped up, the Cartersville factory will produce 3.3 gigawatts (GW) of annual capacity each for ingots, wafers, and cells, along with 3.5 GW of solar modules.
Combined with Qcells’ expanded manufacturing facility in Dalton, Georgia, the company’s total US module production capacity is expected to reach 8.6 GW annually by the end of the third quarter. According to the company, that output is enough to generate the equivalent annual electricity needs of roughly 1.3 million American homes.
“Producing the first solar cells at Cartersville is a milestone for Qcells and for American manufacturing,” said Andy Park, Global CEO of Qcells.
The company said producing key solar components domestically could provide customers with greater certainty around supply availability, pricing, and potential tariff-related disruptions.
Qcells said the Cartersville operation could also help project developers qualify for the federal Domestic Content Bonus tied to the Investment Tax Credit. Because major solar module components are produced in the US, developers may find it easier to meet domestic sourcing requirements.
The company added that its vertically integrated manufacturing approach allows it to claim production incentives under Section 45X of the Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit across multiple stages of the solar supply chain, including ingots, wafers, cells, and modules.
The investment is also expected to support thousands of manufacturing jobs in Georgia. Together, the Cartersville and Dalton facilities are projected to employ nearly 4,000 workers, including about 3,800 direct jobs across Bartow and Whitfield counties.
Qcells said the Cartersville factory is the first US facility of its kind built in more than a decade and includes what it describes as the largest ingot and wafer production plant ever constructed in the country.
With over a decade-long career in journalism, Neetika Walter has worked with The Economic Times, ANI, and Hindustan Times, covering politics, business, technology, and the clean energy sector. Passionate about contemporary culture, books, poetry, and storytelling, she brings depth and insight to her writing. When she isn’t chasing stories, she’s likely lost in a book or enjoying the company of her dogs.
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The world's largest photovoltaic park in China has transformed an arid desert into a surprising ecosystem.
On the Tibetan Plateau, at high elevation and in one of China’s driest regions, a massive energy project has triggered an unexpected phenomenon. What was once barren sand is now covered with tall grass, and more than 20,000 sheep graze across the landscape. All of this is taking place around what is widely regarded as the world’s largest solar power plant, a photovoltaic complex that has reshaped both the environment and the livelihoods of people in the region.
Developed in Qinghai Province by a subsidiary of State Power Investment Corporation, the project covers more than 230 square miles, an area comparable in size to the White Sands National Park. The facility consists of more than 7 million solar panels and includes over 60 independent operators within the same site.
Its estimated generating capacity is approximately 21 gigawatts, roughly equivalent to the output of fifteen conventional nuclear power plants. The facility produces more than 18,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually, placing it among the most ambitious energy infrastructure projects in the world.
Beyond its energy output, however, scientists and environmental experts have been particularly intrigued by the indirect ecological changes the project has produced. Just three years after installation, the previously dry and desert-like terrain began supporting abundant vegetation beneath and between rows of solar panels. According to findings from several studies, this transformation is the result of a combination of factors.
The solar panels act as a barrier against the region’s constant winds, reducing soil erosion. In addition, water used to clean the panels drips onto the sandy ground, increasing moisture levels in soil that is composed of approximately 98 percent sand.
The panels also provide shade, lowering ground temperatures and reducing water evaporation by roughly 30 percent. Together, these effects have created an artificial microclimate beneath the installation.
This new environment has allowed vegetation to grow densely enough to support livestock grazing. In fact, grass growth became so extensive that the solar farm’s operators introduced thousands of sheep to keep it under control and prevent the vegetation from shading the photovoltaic panels.
To accommodate this arrangement, the supporting structures were raised higher above the ground, allowing animals to graze freely beneath the panels.
Each year, from June through October, herders from approximately twenty villages across the region bring more than 20,000 sheep to the site, where they can feed at no cost across the vast grazing area. The company that manages the solar farm benefits from natural vegetation maintenance, while local communities gain access to a valuable new pasture that previously did not exist.
Annual grass production in the area is estimated at about 121,000 tons. This remarkable outcome has turned the site into a leading example of what some experts call “photovoltaic eco-grazing,” a model in which renewable energy generation and agricultural activity successfully coexist on the same land.
The phenomenon has even reached the marketplace, with the region now selling canned meat products made from what have popularly become known as “solar sheep.”
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University of Potsdam
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Testing an organic solar cell

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Testing an organic solar cell
Credit: Thomas Roese
Although the efficiency of organic solar cells has now risen to over 20 percent, there are physical limits that make it difficult to further increase their performance. A research team of Linköping University in Sweden, University of Potsdam, Paul-Drude-Institut in Berlin and other collaborators has now been able to demonstrate which physical processes limit a key parameter for the performance of organic solar cells. This opens up the possibility of overcoming the long-standing efficiency limits of organic solar cells.
The efficiency of solar cells is essentially determined by three parameters: short-circuit current, open-circuit voltage, and fill factor, which describe their performance in a current-voltage curve. All three parameters need to be further optimized so that organic solar cells can truly compete with established solar cell technologies.  
However, recent publications show that an improvement in the open-circuit voltage often leads to a simultaneous deterioration in the fill factor—and vice versa. This challenge has now been addressed through a close collaboration between the research groups of Prof. Feng Gao (Linköping University, Sweden), Prof. Dieter Neher (University of Potsdam) and Prof. Safa Shoaee (Paul-Drude-Institut für Festkörperelektronik, Berlin) together with other participants. The team was able to demonstrate that, under certain conditions, the generation of free electric charges in the active layer of the solar cell depends heavily on the electric field in the organic semiconductor material. “This results in a previously poorly understood limitation on the fill factor, which becomes particularly relevant when voltage losses need to be minimized,” explains Dieter Neher.
In organic solar cells, light excites certain states known as excitons. An exciton consists of a negatively charged electron that is bound to a positively charged hole on the same molecule and therefore cannot move freely. The separation of these electron-hole pairs into free electric charges is achieved through a charge transfer that has been the subject of intensive research by the groups of Dieter Neher and Safa Shoaee in recent years. In the actual publication, the concepts developed in this work were incorporated into simulations of the entire solar cell. The results showed that the lifetime of the excitons and the energy released by charge transfer are the most important parameters determining the fill factor at low voltage losses.
“We were able to trace the trade-off between fill factor and open-circuit voltage back to a few physical quantities and simulate how this limitation can be significantly mitigated by increasing the exciton lifetime,” says Dieter Neher. Experimental and theoretical results confirm that a longer exciton lifetime is a crucial factor in further increasing efficiency. To test this approach, the team developed new material combinations. The organic solar cells produced using these combinations achieved both high fill factors and high total power output. The model provides general guidelines for material development and the optimization of solar cell components. It thus opens up new possibilities for overcoming long-standing efficiency limits in organic solar cells and further increasing their performance.
 
 
Link to Publication: Zhang, H., Yuan, J., Wang, T. et al. Overcoming the fill-factor limit of organic solar cells. Nat. Photon. (2026).  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-01946-8
 
Image:
2026_052_PM_org.Solarzellen1_Thomas Roese: Testing an organic solar cell. Photo: Thomas Roese.
2026_052_PM_org.Solarzellen2_Thomas Roese: Prof. Dr. Dieter Neher in the solar cell laboratory at the University of Potsdam. Foto: Thomas Roese
 
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Dieter Neher, Institut für Physik und Astronomie
Tel.: +49 331/977-1265
E-Mail: neher@uni-potsdam.de
 
 
Media Information 23-06-2026 / Nr. 052
Dr. Stefanie Mikulla

University of Potsdam
Press and Public Relations Office
Am Neuen Palais 10
14469 Potsdam
Tel.: +49 331/977-1474
Fax: +49 331/977-1130
Email: presse@uni-potsdam.de
Website: www.uni-potsdam.de/presse
 
Nature Photonics
10.1038/s41566-026-01946-8
Overcoming the fill-factor limit of organic solar cells
19-Jun-2026
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
Media Contact
Matthias Zimmermann
University of Potsdam
matthias.zimmermann@uni-potsdam.de
Office: 3319771869

Expert Contact
Prof. Dr. Dieter Neher
University of, Institute of Physics and Astronomy
neher@uni-potsdam.de
Office: +49 331/977-1265

University of Potsdam


Copyright © 2026 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Copyright © 2026 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

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“It’s paid for already. About 38-40 months until the savings exceeds the final cost.”
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One homeowner’s simple spreadsheet is turning heads after showing how lucrative solar panels were for them, slashing their electricity bills by roughly 98% from 2022 to 2025.
After years of paying SDG&E hundreds of dollars a month, averaging nearly $280 a month in 2022, the homeowner shared their “happy solar math”: during the entire year of 2025, they paid the utility just over $71.
The Reddit post laid out several years of SDG&E data, including electricity use, net grid imports, and total yearly payments. 
In 2022, the annual total reached a high of $3,349.09 as household use rose to 7,148 kWh, after 2021 recorded 6,685 kWh consumed, 6,685 kWh imported from the grid, and $2,557.35 paid.
The 2023 entry looked dramatically different: 6,139 kWh of use, negative 2,376 kWh in the import column, likely meaning excess power was sent back to the grid, and just $5.79 paid to SDG&E for the year.
The homeowner said the system was already paid off, responding to a commenter who asked, “What’s your system costing you over 20 years? These solar companies are making a killing on the interest for the systems,” 
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The original poster responded, “It’s paid for already. About 38-40 months until the savings exceeds the final cost.”
Comparing several installer quotes can help identify pricing differences. If you’re interested in lowering your electricity costs with solar panels, consider checking out EnergySage‘s free tools, which let you compare quotes from vetted installers and save up to $10,000 in the process.
If you can’t afford the upfront costs of buying solar panels, consider a solar subscription program. The LightReach leasing program, for example, can help you lower your utility rate by up to 20% and for no money down.
Pairing solar panels with efficient electric appliances can also reduce overall utility costs, allowing solar production to cover more of a home’s needs.
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Illinois lawmakers want to make it quicker for schools to connect solar energy to the grid. One Central Illinois grade school has been waiting two years to connect rooftop solar panels.
The bill requires energy companies to give priority to schools and companies have 30 days to give an evaluation on a project. They will also have to disclose upgrade costs to the grid and construction timelines to the school.
The bill now goes to the governor’s desk to be signed.
Republican state Sen. Chris Balkema, representing a large rural area between Bloomington-Normal and Interstate 80, supported the bill because the Metamora grade school in Woodford County is in his district and he said it is better to use rooftops for solar than to build solar farms on top of farmland.

“If there’s not a solar panel on a rooftop, the rooftop is still there, so if we put a solar panel on a rooftop, we’re getting some value out of that rooftop that otherwise there would have been no value,” Balkema said.
Balkema said he wants to make sure Illinois has enough power because he is worried that the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act [CEJA], a landmark 2021 law that calls for Illinois to phase out fossil fuels and use renewable energy exclusively by 2050, could lead to lower energy in Illinois.
Balkema said he is worried that schools will still have to wait a long time to finish connecting solar panels to the grid because of the need for grid upgrades.
“If it’s going to produce a bad outcome on the technical and quality side and cause instability in the grid. Then they’re still going to have to go slow and try and make the necessary upgrades to the grid to not cause power outages, or surges or other unintended consequences,” Balkema said.
Balkema said this is not a partisan issue and lawmakers should be focused on maintaining the stability of the grid.
“The Amerens, the ComEds, they’re not the bad guys. They own pieces of the grid, they own the supply of electricity, and so they are trying to have reliable energy going to customers,” Balkema said.
Balkema said he opposes CEJA but with the deadline to phase out fossil fuels he wants to make sure people in Illinois have stable energy.

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Why China’s green exports to the US are suddenly surging  South China Morning Post
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Business US panel makers seek trade probe into Hanwha Qcells’ cell imports
Published : June 23, 2026 – 09:09:28
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Three solar panel makers asked US trade officials ‌to investigate cell imports from South Korea, saying producers including Hanwha’s Qcells are using them to evade longstanding US tariffs on Chinese ‌products, according to a petition seen by Reuters.
The petition was filed with the Department of Commerce on June 18 on behalf of Canadian Solar, SEG ⁠and Heliene, which all operate solar panel factories in the United States.
The group, calling itself American Manufacturers for Energy Resilience, is seeking an anti-circumvention probe ⁠into solar cell imports from South Korea. Cells are the building blocks of modules, or panels, that convert sunlight ​into electricity.
Under US trade law, tariffs can be extended to ‌goods routed through third countries when processing there is minor.
In the ‌petition, the ‌group accuses Qcells of shifting production to Korea from ‌China to avoid US tariffs.
An attorney ​for the group did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Qcells ⁠has two solar factories in the US state of Georgia and has a goal to manufacture all the key components that go into a silicon-based ⁠solar panel ​on US soil.
Qcells, ⁠which has invested billions into its US manufacturing operations, has been a driving force ​behind recent US trade petitions targeting solar imports from countries in Southeast Asia. Some of those imports supplied factories owned by Canadian ⁠Solar, SEG and Heliene.
“Qcells has led ⁠the effort ⁠to ‌reshore solar manufacturing in the United States, and we have a decade-long record of supporting strong trade enforcement, not evading it,” Qcells spokesperson Marta Stoepker ​said in an emailed statement. “We’ve reviewed this filing and are confident the evidence will show its claims are without merit.” (Reuters)
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NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd (NTPC REL) has invited bids for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package for the development of a 600 MW (2 x 300 MW) grid-connected solar PV project in Dhule, Maharashtra.
The scope of work includes the design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, installation, testing and commissioning of the solar PV plant, including the supply of solar PV modules. The selected contractor will also be responsible for the design and construction of foundations, erection of tracker-based module mounting structures (MMS), installation of PV modules on the trackers, and interconnection of PV modules.
In addition, the contract covers comprehensive operation and maintenance (O&M) of the solar PV plant, associated electrical equipment, consumables and spare parts for a period of three years from the date of commissioning of the full project capacity.

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The June issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
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April 01 – August 31, 2026
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Perovskite solar module manufacturer Oxford PV announced it achieved a power conversion efficiency of 25.6% for a perovskite-silicon tandem solar module relying on a shingled architecture developed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE).
“For the first time, the two organizations have successfully combined Oxford PV’s perovskite-silicon tandem solar cells with Fraunhofer ISE’s Matrix Shingle module technology,” Ed Crossland, CTO of Oxford PV, told pv magazine. “Beyond the efficiency gains, the combination also reduces resistive losses, removes the need for copper interconnects, and improves resilience under partial shading – all key considerations as the industry looks to reduce costs while increasing energy yield.”
“The module presented is a prototype, but it is built using standard production cells and in a way that is fully compatible with mass production. Our current tandem modules are already delivering efficiencies of 25% with 10-year lifetime today, and this result builds directly on that. We continue to make progress along our roadmap, with a 26% product planned for release this year and a path to 27% with extended lifetimes by 2027,” Crossland added.
The Matrix Shingle approach improves conventional solar module interconnection by replacing traditional busbar-and-ribbon architectures with a dense, overlapping cell layout. In this method, photovoltaic cells are precision-cut into narrow strips and reconfigured into a shingled pattern, similar to roof tiles. Adjacent strips overlap slightly and are bonded using electrically conductive adhesive (ECA), which provides both mechanical adhesion and electrical interconnection between neighboring cell segments.
By eliminating soldered interconnect ribbons and busbars, the architecture removes inactive spacing that would otherwise block incoming light. As a result, optical shading losses are significantly reduced and a larger fraction of the module surface becomes active photovoltaic area, improving packing density. The reduction in metallisation shading also enhances current collection efficiency, as more of the cell surface is exposed to sunlight.
In addition, the shingle configuration shortens current pathways and distributes current more uniformly across the module, which can reduce resistive losses and localized heating. The use of ECA instead of high-temperature soldering also reduces thermal stress during assembly, helping to preserve cell integrity and potentially improve long-term reliability. Overall, the Matrix shingle approach increases module power density by combining higher active-area utilization with improved electrical and optical performance.
“We are delighted to be able to combine two high-tech approaches from Europe in this PV module,” said Stefan Glunz, head of photovoltaics at Fraunhofer ISE. “To achieve this, we have cut the solar cells from Oxford PV into shingles, arranged them in a matrix structure, electrically connected them using conductive adhesive, and then encapsulated them.”
Two tandem glass-glass modules were built with this configuration and edge sealing to protect the moisture-sensitive solar cells: a 491 W rooftop module with an area of 1.92 m², and a 546 W bifacial module with an area of 2.13 m². “Both achieved an efficiency of 25.6% across the entire module area,” Oxford PV’s spokesperson said.
“Our tandem technology and the shingle interconnection work well together technologically,” Crossland said. “Due to the lower current densities of the perovskite–silicon solar cells, they can be cut into wider strips, which increases productivity. Tandem solar cells achieve significantly higher voltages and efficiencies than conventional cells, while the current is lower due to distribution across two sub-cells. This lower current density is beneficial, as it helps reduce resistive losses within the PV module. At the same time, the adhesive interconnection of the Matrix shingle technology is a low-temperature process and requires no copper connectors.”
Oxford PV unveiled its first perovskite-silicon tandem solar module with 26.9% efficiency in June 2024. A few months later, the company announced the commercial launch of perovksite-silicon tandem modules in the United States.
It began working on its perovskite tandem solar modules in 2014 and claims to have a “clear roadmap” to bring the technology to over 30% efficiency.
From pv magazine Global
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The June issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Thursday, July 9, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, June 18, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Tuesday, June 9, 2026
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The new pv magazine Global May issue is now available!
Mountains to climb
Available in print and digital formats.
Entries open in seven categories: Modules, Inverters, BoS, BESS, Manufacturing, Sustainability, Projects.
April 01 – August 31, 2026
Energy-hungry data centers open new doors for solar and storage.
Available in print and digital formats.

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Britain forced to rely on EU to avoid power shortages during heatwave  The Telegraph
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A startup is planning to reflect sunlight from space – and charge us for extra daylight  BBC Science Focus Magazine
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