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India has achieved a landmark milestone of 100 Gigawatt of solar PV module manufacturing capacity listed under the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), a remarkable leap from just 2.3 GW in 2014.
 
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the efforts and labelled it as a milestone towards self-reliance. In a Social media post, the Prime Minister said it reflects India’s success in manufacturing capabilities and popularising clean energy.
 
Highlighting this achievement, Union Minister of New and Renewable Energy Pralhad Joshi highlighted that his Ministry is building a robust, self-reliant solar manufacturing ecosystem.
 
Mr. Joshi said that this achievement strengthens India’s path towards Atmanirbhar Bharat and the target of 500 Gigawatt non-fossil capacity by 2030.
 
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi attributed the achievement to Prime Minister Modi’s visionary leadership and transformative initiatives like the Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for High-Efficiency Solar Modules.
 
He emphasised that this growth strengthens India’s path toward achieving 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030, reinforcing the nation’s commitment to global decarbonization efforts.
 
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy introduced the ALMM Order in 2019, with the first list enlisting 8.2 GW of capacity. In just over four years, this capacity has surged more than twelvefold to 100 GW, driven by 100 manufacturers operating 123 manufacturing units, up from 21 in 2021.
 
This growth reflects contributions from both established companies and new entrants, many adopting high-efficiency technologies and vertically integrated operations, creating a competitive landscape capable of meeting domestic and global demands.
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NLC India Ltd (NLCIL) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with CSIR-Central Electrochemical Research Institute (CSIR-CECRI), Karaikudi, to collaborate on beneficiation and extraction technologies for critical and strategic minerals.
NLCIL has been actively pursuing opportunities in the exploration and development of critical and strategic minerals from both primary and secondary sources. As part of this initiative, it has undertaken extensive studies on the occurrence and recovery potential of rare earth elements (REEs) and other trace elements from secondary source materials.
Under this MoU, detailed studies will be undertaken on overburden materials and tailings generated from NLC’s Neyveli Mines to assess the potential for extraction and recovery of rare earth elements (REEs) and other trace elements. The collaboration will also explore similar opportunities across other mining and exploration projects of NLCIL, with the objective of developing sustainable and economically viable technologies for resource recovery from secondary sources.
The chairman and managing director of NLCIL is a member of the committee constituted by NITI Aayog to examine the potential recovery of critical and strategic minerals from secondary resources such as overburden, lignite/coal, mine waste, and tailings.
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Thursday, July 9, 2026
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Stardust Solar Energy Inc. (SUN-X) plans to take on more commercial clients and utility-scale projects around the world, a growth trajectory the Burnaby-based company sees continuing with the bright future for renewable energy.
Founded in 2017 by CEO Mark Tadros and environmental scientist Evan Kraemer, Stardust started as a solar installation training and development platform. After educating thousands of professionals, its owners turned the company into a franchise network for installations, Stardust’s vice-president of corporate communications Erica Bearss said in an interview with Sustainable Biz Canada.
Its 106 franchisees are located in Canada, the U.S., the Caribbean, and most recently in Zambia, serving residential and commercial clients with solar power and energy storage in the case of residential. Stardust has made approximately 500 solar installations to date, including over 20 commercial-level projects.
Its upcoming project in Zambia is its first utility development, slated to have 30 megawatts (MW) of capacity when fully built out. The project is expected to be Stardust’s biggest project to date, Bearss said.
“It’s very, very exciting for all of us. It’s a huge, huge milestone,” she said about the development.
Stardust has historically been focused on the residential market, installing solar panels and battery systems for homes. The typical capacity of its residential solar systems ranges from five kilowatts (KW) to 20 KW.
But with generous financial incentives, the growth of its franchisees to the point where they have the capability to handle large projects, and a comparatively higher return on investment, Stardust has been transitioning to more commercial projects, Bearss said. Its commercial installations range from 20 KW to 100 KW.
The opportunity to develop the Zambia project was “fortuitous,” she said. Stardust has a U.S. franchisee whose owner grew up in the country and connected the company to the project. The development is to be phased, with Stardust initiating the development with two MW of capacity this year and gradually raising it to its full 30 MW.
Stardust is already fielding calls from companies in Latin American countries such as Peru, Mexico and Bolivia to develop similar projects, Bearss said.
“It means to us global expansion.”
The increased interest in commercial and utility installations is part of a broader strategy for Stardust.
In its Q1 results, the company said it continued its transition to higher-margin recurring revenue streams such as its education and training division. In its Q1 ended March 31, revenue for the division increased 69 per cent year-over-year.
“We’re noticing that there’s an interest in the world to train trades,” Bearss said, and for renewable energy broadly.
With signs of higher sales activity, Stardust is building a larger sales team to educate its clients about solar incentives in North America.
The future is bright for Stardust, Bearss said, as demand for solar is rising in some jurisdictions. Motivating factors are offsetting rising energy costs, building greater energy independence, and acting on corporate sustainability initiatives, she said. There has also been demand for home energy storage because of electric vehicles, Bearss added.
“Solar is an incredible opportunity for anyone thinking about renewables because the infrastructure is easier to build, the prices of solar panels are coming down, the technology is going up,” Bearss said. “We’re actually in a really good space and a space we can capitalize.”
In its Q1 results, Stardust reported revenue of $775,770, decreasing from over $1 million the year due to project cancellations and purchasing delays. However, its net loss was $106,060, an 84 per cent improvement from $652,263 the year prior.
Stardust’s project backlog was valued at over $3 million as of the end of the quarter.
Bearss said to expect more Stardust franchisees this year, and possibly more utility-scale projects on the horizon.
Stardust plans to scale up its residential solar lease-to-own platform in 2026, a way to help homeowners affordably install solar on their property. The first pilot was launched in Atlanta, and is planned to be offered in Canada soon, Bearss said.
Category: Finance   Energy   Residential  
Tags: Solar   Solar Energy   Renewable   Renewable Energy   Renewables   Commercial real estate   Sustainable building   Green Buildings   Housing  
Location : Metro Vancouver  

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Amherst Indy
Critical, Progressive, Independent
Amherst Indy
Amethyst Brook Elementary School Playground with the newly installed Corkeen surface. Photo: amherstma.gov
Report on the Meeting of the Elementary School Building Committee meeting, June 12, 2026i
This meeting was held over Zoom and was recorded.
The Elementary School Building Committee’s (ESBC) most recent monthly meeting took place on June 12, 2026. 
Construction Update
Kseniya Slavsky (Owner’s Project Manager, Accenture) reported that Corkeen, the cork-based, accessible playground surface, has been installed. She notes that this is the largest installation of this product in the country, if not the world. The playground will continue to be fenced off temporarily to keep it free from debris and damage until the school opens in the fall.
Tim Cooper of DiNisco Design reports that all rooftop work, including Photo Voltaic (PV) panels, is complete. Paving for the hard surface parts of the playground is done and site work around the building is progressing. On the interior, the gym floor is ready to be finished and the climbing wall is finished. Marker board installation throughout the building is in process.
Schedule Update
Slavsky reported that the building will be substantially complete by July 31 when a temporary certificate of occupancy will allow the school to open. The temporary status is only because the project will not be complete until phase 2 is done, which consists largely of the parking lot, site/field work, and demolition of the existing building.
A professional mover has been retained and teachers will begin packing their rooms after the current school year ends. The sixth grade move to the middle school will happen during the week of July 20. Furniture will be delivered by August 7, and the move of elementary school materials from Fort River and Wildwood schools into Amethyst Brook Elementary School will begin starting on August 10. Teachers will return on August 17, with classes starting August 24.
Slavsky notified the committee of one “schedule risk” in the form of the elevators. They were due to be delivered one month ago but only arrived on site this past week. The contractors that will be installing them have agreed in writing to accelerate their work so that it will be completed well ahead of the furniture delivery (which will require operational elevators). She assured the committee that they are monitoring the situation closely and do not anticipate any impact on the planned schedule. 
Eversource May Cause Delay in Photovoltaic (PV) Readiness
While the PV arrays are already installed, Cooper explained that Eversource must approve the application to “interconnect” the panels to the grid. Although the application was submitted in January 2026 and the design and plans have long been established, Eversource has not yet granted approval pending technical reviews and has requested that they be granted remote access to turn off the system as late as May 2026. While he was concerned that it is possible, and even likely, that PV will not be providing electricity to the building at the time of occupancy, he did say that the school would still be operational, albeit not generating its own electricity.
Town Finance Director Sean Mangano inquired whether that means that the town would need to pay for electricity until Eversource granted approval and what the approximate cost would be. Cooper was unable to provide a figure as there are many unknowns at this time. Town Manager Paul Bockelman wondered whether town or state legislators might be able to help resolve the issue more quickly. School Facilities Director Michael Gallo-O’Connell questioned whether a delay would jeopardize incentives that are based on net zero performance, but Cooper indicated that only a relatively small proportion of the Eversource incentive would be affected. ESBC member Bruce Coldham proposed that the project contingency might be used to cover any electrical expenses.
Principal Alison Estes Elected to Serve on Percent for Art Advisory Board 
Bruce Coldham initially volunteered to serve as the ESBC representative on the board that will select an artist for the Percent for Art project that will be installed at the school. However, he withdrew his name after Estes expressed interest in serving in this role. The committee unanimously voted to recommend her to Bockelman for final approval. 
Invoices
All invoices (approximate amounts listed below) were approved unanimously. Billing for the project is approximately 83% complete. Much of the remaining anticipated costs will be for abatement, demolition, and release of retainage (~5% of completed work held to incentivize timely and satisfactory completion of work by contractors).
Anser Advisory (OPM) $ 59,457   
DiNisco Design (Architects) $ 66,364    
CTA Construction (GC) $ 2,978,832
Allied Testing* $  8,272           
ProAv Systems (A/V) $ 85,458
TOTAL for June 2026 $ 3,198,383
*Coldham observed that only 39% of the testing budget has been billed with the building very nearly complete. Slavsky explained that much of the remaining approximately $288,000 would likely be realized as savings.
Upcoming Events
The next site tour for ESBC members will be on June 30. School staff have been touring the building every other week and are expected to continue to do so. A ribbon cutting ceremony will be planned. The committee will meet again on July 17.

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Published 7:30 am Friday, June 12, 2026
By Don Jenkins
A Yakama Nation attorney told the Washington Supreme Court that ex-Gov. Jay Inslee pushed through the Horse Heavens wind and solar project by imposing his green-energy agenda on a state council.
The Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council at first recommended scaling back the number of windmills. But the council then bowed to Inslee’s “illegal policy demand” and restored the windmills, tribal lawyer Shona Voelckers said June 11.
“The statute required balancing the energy needs of the state with the harm (caused) by the project,” Voelckers said. “There is significant harm to the Yakama Nation here.”
The court heard arguments on whether to uphold or yank the permit Inslee issued to Scout Clean Energy for the massive Horse Heavens project on hills near the Tri-Cities in south-central Washington.
The Yakama Nation, Benton County and Tri-Cities CARES alleged that procedural errors riddled the project’s review. The state and Scout argue the review was thorough and Inslee’s approval was justified. Green-energy advocates warn stopping the project could scare away other energy developers.
Scout has a permit to place up to 222 windmills and cover about 6,000 acres of farmland with solar panels. Dryland wheat farmers who plan to lease land to Scout say reliable lease payments will help them survive lean years farming.
The tribe calls the hills a sacred landscape, and EFSEC agreed with the its concerns and recommended eliminating half of the windmills. Inslee said the project was vital and ordered EFEC, whose members are drawn from state agencies, to come back with a new recommendation.
The tribe, county and citizens group argue the first recommendation struck a balance, but the second recommendation illegally prioritized renewable energy.
Scout attorney Phil Talmadge, a former state Supreme Court justice, said governors should have the discretion to decide what’s best when it comes to energy development.
“The governor is in the position of being the only person with a statewide portfolio, elected by all the voters, to make this kind of fundamental decision about the energy future of the state of Washington,” he said.
EFSEC and Inslee based their decisions after years of review, Talmadge said. “The hearing process was robust to say the least — 64,000 pages of records,” he said.
Tri-Cities CARES attorney Richard Aramburu said the 64,000-page record didn’t have one page to support Inslee’s claim that the project was vital.
Tri-Cities CARES wanted to probe the intermittent energy project’s actual contribution to grid reliability, he said.
“We wanted to find out how important this project was,” Aramburu said. “We weren’t permitted to talk about it.
“But the governor decided to rest his decision on that,” he said. “There was no evidence to support his decision. Zero.”
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Opposition prevails: Solar farm near Curran’s Orchard denied  MyStateline
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Tractor-trailer hauling solar panels catches fire in Suffolk  13newsnow.com
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Daqo New Energy has disclosed that its subsidiary, Daqo Energy Technology (Shanghai), has signed an investment agreement with the Kunshan Economic and Technological Development Zone Administrative Committee. Under the agreement, the company will establish a project entity to develop a smart energy systems manufacturing base with a total investment of CNY 6 billion ($835 million). The polysilicon manufacturer said the facility will focus on the research, manufacturing and commercialization of integrated smart energy solutions and related equipment, including energy storage systems, solid-state transformers, solid-state circuit breakers and solid-state batteries. It is intended to support next-generation power distribution and smart energy integration systems for AI data centers (AIDCs).
The Silicon Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNIMA), meanwhile, reported that polysilicon prices continued to decline. N-type recharging polysilicon traded at CNY 33,000–34,000/ton ($4,590–4,730/ton), with an average transaction price of CNY 33,900/ton, down 2.31% week on week. N-type granular silicon traded at CNY 33,000–34,000/ton, with an average price of CNY 33,500/ton, down 1.47% week on week. The association aslo reported stable wafer prices across all major product categories. Average transaction prices remained unchanged at CNY 0.93 per piece for n-type G10L wafers (182 mm × 183.75 mm, 130 μm), CNY 1.00 per piece for n-type G12R wafers (182 mm × 210 mm, 130 μm), and CNY 1.17 per piece for n-type G12 wafers (210 mm × 210 mm, 130 μm).
China General Nuclear Power New Energy (CGN New Energy) has released the shortlist for its 2026 framework procurement of PV modules. Selected bidders include TCL Zhonghuan, Gokin Solar, JA Solar, JinkoSolar, GCL System Integration, Yingli Energy and Astronergy. Bid prices ranged from CNY 0.742/W to CNY 0.770/W (USD 0.103/W–0.107/W). The tender comprises two procurement packages covering seven lots in total, each with a capacity of 1.2 GW, representing an aggregate procurement volume of 8.4 GW. Framework agreements will be valid for one year from the date of contract signing.
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Highjoule Foldable Solar Container Successfully Enters the U.S. Market, Integrated Solar-Storage Solution Earns Strong Recognition from North American Customers  StreetInsider
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Science and Technology
The solar panels installed in one out of three houses have placed Australia at the center of a new residential energy race. According to a report published by The Guardian on May 31, 2026, the country is accelerating home batteries to store solar energy and reduce pressure on the power grid.
The change involves families, energy companies, the Australian government, and electrical sector specialists. Since July, about 415,000 residential batteries have been connected in the country, at a rate of over 1,000 units per day, as consumers try to use solar electricity at night and escape the most expensive times of the grid.
Australia was already known for the strong presence of solar panels on residential rooftops. More than a third of the houses have solar systems, a result of public policies, simple licensing, price drops, and broad popular acceptance.
Starlink stops selling antennas to consumers in the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and starts charging a monthly rental fee for the equipment in a new strategy for satellite internet.
SpaceX created an artificial flood to protect the largest rocket ever developed by the company.
A common laboratory bacterium was used by scientists to transform part of the PET bottle into vanillin, the compound associated with the aroma and flavor of vanilla.
Brazil has already created globally successful games, trained professionals for major studios, and won over players abroad, but it still hasn’t managed to produce its own AAA blockbuster.
Now, the shift is happening with home batteries. The roof is no longer just a generator during the day and starts to power the house at night as well. This change alters the traditional logic of the electricity bill and reduces dependence on plants activated during peak hours.
The speed of the expansion is noteworthy. According to analysis cited by the Guardian, almost 60% of the residential battery capacity installed in nearly 200 countries, excluding China, in this fiscal year will be in Australia.
Since July, about 415,000 units have been connected. This equates to approximately one battery for every 25 Australian households. The pace of over 1,000 daily installations shows that the technology has moved from niche to being part of the country’s everyday energy landscape.
For years, solar panels helped families generate electricity during the day, but part of the challenge was nighttime use. When the sun set, many homes returned to relying on the grid, precisely when demand rose and electricity prices were under pressure.
With batteries, the energy generated on the roof can be stored for later use. This changes the domestic dynamic: the family produces during the day, saves part of the electricity, and uses it at night, reducing exposure to the system’s expensive peaks.
Previously, the high demand in the early evening was usually met by gas plants, one of the most expensive forms of generation in the Australian grid. This role is beginning to be filled by batteries, which enter the market precisely when energy tends to be more valued.
According to experts interviewed by the Guardian, this is already changing how electricity prices are set. Gas can still function as a backup, but it is no longer the only answer to the nighttime peak. The residential battery is starting to compete in an area once dominated by thermal power plants.
The expansion of batteries did not happen on its own. The Labor government of Anthony Albanese launched a subsidy to reduce the initial cost for families by 30%, with a billion-dollar public investment over four years.
The initial expectation was to support 1 million batteries by 2030, but the uptake exceeded forecasts. Later, the government announced adjustments to the incentive for larger batteries and expanded the total funding, maintaining the program until the end of the decade and raising the overall target to 2 million units.
The practical promise for the consumer is simple: use more self-generated energy and rely less on the grid during expensive hours. In a country with a strong presence of solar panels, the battery turns potential savings into something more manageable throughout the day.
The Guardian cited the case of Emma Hewitt, a single mother living south of Perth who installed a 16 kWh battery after already investing in home electrification. According to the report, the unit helped reduce grid dependency and save hundreds of dollars on the quarterly bill.
Despite the progress, the model has limits. Families living in rental properties, for example, may be left out of the solar panel and battery revolution, as they do not control the house’s roof or do not have permission to install equipment.
Researchers also warn of the risk of the policy benefiting certain regions and income groups more. The energy transition can reduce costs for everyone, but direct access to batteries still depends on housing, income, and location.
To address part of this inequality, the Australian government announced a “solar energy sharing” program. The proposal requires distributors to offer three hours of free electricity daily to all customers, including tenants.
The measure seeks to take advantage of the surplus solar energy produced during the day. Even so, there is concern that electricity companies may offset the free hours by increasing other tariffs. Therefore, the final impact on the electricity bill will depend on how the program is implemented.
The transformation is not only happening inside homes. Industrial-scale batteries are also advancing rapidly in Australia, which ranked just behind China and the United States in new installed capacity after connections more than doubled in the previous year.
A symbolic example is the site of the former Liddell coal power plant. The unit’s chimneys were demolished, while the company AGL commissioned a 500-megawatt battery system with two-hour autonomy to help replace the old energy source.
Even with solar panels on millions of rooftops and the rapid advancement of batteries, Australia still faces a heavy contradiction. The country remains among the world’s major exporters of coal and gas, maintaining a strong economic link with fossil fuels.
The government has also approved new polluting projects in recent years, according to the Guardian. This shows that the domestic revolution does not automatically erase the country’s climate challenges. The transition advances inside homes but still competes with industrial decisions and high-impact exports.
Australia aims to have 82% of its electricity come from renewable sources by 2030. However, this goal is still uncertain, mainly due to difficulties in large solar and wind farms, transmission delays, and investment market uncertainties.
Even so, experts assess that residential advancement creates a new way to operate the electrical system. Families are no longer just consumers but also act as small producers, storers, and participants in the energy market.
But the experience also raises an important question: can this model become a reference for other countries, or does it only work where there is plenty of sun, public subsidy, and high residential adhesion? Would you have a home battery to store solar energy at home? Leave your opinion in the comments.
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A new energy-efficient desalination system produces fresh water without chemical additives and transforms leftover salts into useful materials.
Communities from California to the Middle East currently rely on desalination plants to convert ocean water to fresh water. But, common desalination techniques—such as reverse osmosis and thermal distillation—are energy-intensive, require chemical water treatment, and leave behind a concentrated saltwater byproduct called brine, which wreaks havoc on sea life if it’s deposited back into the ocean by raising the salt content and lowering oxygen levels.
Now, a novel approach developed at the University of Rochester offers a way to overcome these drawbacks. Their new solar-thermal desalination process does not leave behind brine and requires no chemical additives to pre-treat the water, according to the paper published in Light: Science & Applications.
The technology uses solar panels made of black metal etched with femtosecond lasers to make the surface super light-absorbing and super-wicking, extremely attractive to water.
The panels have a laser-treated active region that pulls a thin layer of water across the surface, absorbs nearly all solar radiation, distills the water, and deposits the leftover salts and minerals into the panel’s untreated sides, leaving the active region unclogged for continuous desalination.
A team led by senior scientist Chunlei Guo, a professor of optics and physics at the university, says other researchers have developed solar-thermal desalination techniques that only work well in lab experiments—using simulated seawater made of only water and sodium chloride. The real ocean is much more complex, and these systems tend to encounter problems when used in the field.
Unlike sodium chloride, many other components in seawater, such as magnesium- and calcium-based materials, crystallize in a crusty and non-porous fashion on the solar panel’s surface—and water can’t seep through anymore. This is the same phenomenon as your shower head clogging over time, except that seawater contains hundreds of times more salts than your tap water.
To keep their solar panel surface from gumming up, Guo’s team etched the black metal’s grooves so the various salts and minerals in ocean water would simply slough off. They also leveraged a physical phenomenon java-lovers have encountered for centuries: the coffee ring effect.
“If you drop coffee on a surface, eventually the water evaporates, and there’s a ring left at the outer edge that is the concentrated coffee particles,” says Prof. Guo. “We use that same principle to advance the salts to the passive region.”
Testing their solar-thermal desalination technique using samples of water from the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian Oceans, Guo and his team were able to make the surface self-cleaning.
It extracted freshwater and directed the remaining salts to where they could be collected without reducing the panel’s efficiency.
Another distinct advantage is that instead of leaving behind brine that must be disposed of or processed, it extracts nearly 100 percent of the salts in solid form. This could not only produce an abundant supply of table salt, but it could also be used to extract more precious minerals, including lithium, which helps power electric vehicles and electronics.
BREAKTHROUGH: Batteries That Use Sodium Instead of Lithium Could Be Low-Cost Rival to Tesla’s
“Mining lithium from the earth has proven to be very taxing from an energy and environmental standpoint, so pulling lithium directly from saltwater could be a very important future route,” says Guo.
In a related paper in the Journal of Materials Chemistry, Guo and his colleagues showed how they can use the same super-wicking solar panels to separate lithium from the rest of other salts in desalination.
Embedding nanoparticles made of hydrogen titanate in the tiny grooves of the black metal surface isolates the lithium from other salts and minerals.
Using water samples from Great Salt Lake, the researchers extracted about 50 percent of the lithium from the salts left behind by the desalination process.
Guo sees the technology as inherently scalable, capable of improving global access to drinking water while building a more sustainable supply of precious minerals.
“Mining lithium from the earth has proven to be very taxing from an energy and environmental standpoint, so pulling lithium directly from saltwater could be a very important future route.”
RESOURCE WONDER: Lithium Discovery in Crater in Nevada Could Be Biggest Deposit Ever Found
See how the process works in the university video, below…
(The work was funded by the National Science Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and Worldwide Universities Network.)
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Energy Transition/ Sustainable Finance
Kenny Fisher June 12, 2026
Renewables developer and power producer Cypress Creek Energy announced that it has secured $3.5 billion in financing to fund the construction and operation of the first two phases of the Steel River Energy Center project in Arkansas, one of the largest solar and battery storage projects under development in the U.S.
The Steel River Energy Center project is expected to generate up 1.63 GW of solar capacity and 1.9 GW of battery storage to the regional grid through its first two phases. Upon completion, the three-phase project is expected to provide a total of 2.45 GW of solar capacity and 2.9 GW of battery storage by 2029.
The company said that the project is expected to generate nearly $300 million in new tax revenue over its lifetime, supporting local schools, public safety, road infrastructure, and other community priorities. The development is also expected to create approximately 700 construction jobs on site, along with additional jobs supporting construction activity through local hotels, restaurants, suppliers, and other businesses across the region.
The project will be built using 100% U.S.-made structural steel and domestically manufactured solar panels, the company added.
Kevin Smith, Chief Executive Officer, Cypress Creek Energy said:
“This financing reflects both the scale of the project and the strong support we’re seeing from the capital markets for high-quality energy infrastructure projects backed by experienced sponsors. “…” Together, we’re advancing infrastructure that can help meet Arkansas’s and America’s rapidly growing electricity demand while delivering long-term economic benefits to local communities.”
Barclays, BNP Paribas, Santander, and Wells Fargo acted as lead arrangers for the financing, with a major tax equity investor providing the tax equity financing. Long-term power sales for the first two phases were secured through a virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) with an investment-grade corporate counterparty.
Andrew Platt, Head of Energy Structured Finance & Advisory US, Santander Corporate & Investment Banking added:
“We are proud to have led the financing for these landmark projects and to have supported Cypress Creek Energy throughout every stage, from development through construction.”

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Chinese PV module maker Aiko has introduced its fourth-generation G4 Infinite Ultra module at SNEC 2026 in Shanghai, extending its all-back-contact (ABC) module platform into the 690 W power class.
The company said the new product, also marketed internationally as the Infinite Ultra Series, builds on its previous Infinite ABC module design. Aiko reported a peak module efficiency of 26% and a mass-production output of up to 690 W at 25.6% efficiency.
The module is based on Aiko’s n-type ABC cell technology, which places all electrical contacts on the rear side, leaving the front surface free of metal gridlines. The architecture is intended to increase light absorption and improve aesthetics, particularly for rooftop and distributed PV applications.
According to the company, the G4 platform retains key module features from earlier generations, including hidden busbars, zero cell spacing and zero-busbar (0BB) technology. Power output has been increased within the same standard module footprint through improvements at both cell and module level, the manufacturer said.
On the cell side, Aiko has optimized the poly layer, interface passivation, front-side texture, hydrogen passivation, PN-region structure and gap-region design. These changes have increased average mass-production ABC cell efficiency from 27.2% to 27.4%, according to the company.
On the module side, Aiko has introduced nanoscale insulating coatings and process upgrades that reduce edge creepage distance by 32%, while maintaining reliability. The company says the design reduces non-active area by 20% and increases active-area ratio to 97%. Combined cell and module improvements add around 10 W in power output compared with the previous Infinite generation.
The standard-format G4 Infinite Ultra module measures 2,382 mm × 1,134 mm. Aiko expects variants for different applications to enter mass production and delivery in the third quarter of 2026.
At the event, Aiko also showcased an ABC fire-resistant module for higher-safety applications. The product incorporates a thermal-shielding fire-resistant barrier material and a protection system covering temperature control, arc prevention, flame retardance, fire isolation and thermal insulation.
The company reported 3.75 GW of G4 module orders during the first two days of SNEC 2026, including 650 MW in China and 3.1 GW from overseas markets.
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The National Park Service sought FEMP technical assistance for guidance on how to modernize the off-grid solar PV system at the Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah.
The National Park Service’s Natural Bridges National Monument in Utah has operated as an off-grid system since the 1980s. This system, which includes solar photovoltaics (PV), battery storage, and diesel generators, serves as the sole source of electricity for the park’s operations. Over two decades ago, NREL researchers provided technical assistance for the development of a solar PV system within this off-grid setup. While still operable, certain components of that PV system are past their useful life, such as the PV modules exhibiting issues like delamination. The National Park Service sought FEMP technical assistance for guidance on how to modernize the system.
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© UKA– With effect from June 11, 2026, Daniele Ascioti will become Managing Director of UKA Solar Latiano S.r.l. and UKA Solar Ramacca S.r.l. as well as Head of photovoltaics and storage project development at UKA Italia S.r.l.

Dresden/Rom (renewablepress) – The UKA Group is strengthening its position on the Italian market. With effect from June 11, 2026, Daniele Ascioti will become Managing Director of the special purpose vehicles (SPV) UKA Solar Latiano S.r.l. and UKA Solar Ramacca S.r.l. as well as Head of photovoltaics and storage project development at UKA Italia S.r.l. Álvaro Sierra Torrón, who has successfully developed UKA Italia since its founding, will now focus on his role as Managing Director of UKA Iberia to further advance the Group’s Spanish business. “Italy is one of the most attractive markets in Europe for renewables, with ambitious build-out targets., attractive electricity prices and an enabling regulatory framework”, says Maximilian Neef, Head of the International Department at UKA headquarters in Germany. “We plan to apply our many years of expertise in the development of renewable energy projects to Italy. In Daniele Ascioti, we have gained an experienced manager who is very familiar with the Italian market and an excellent set of qualifications to successfully drive our projects forward.”

17 Years of Experience in Project Development in Italy

Ascioti is an electronic engineer who has worked for around 17 years in the development of energy projects – with a focus on renewable energies in Italy. He has worked at several international companies, most recently as Director Project Development at Vestas in Rome.

About UKA-Group

As an energy park developer, the UKA Group plans, builds, operates and sells wind and photovoltaic (PV) parks, complemented by energy storage facilities. The company is helping to design a future power supply in Germany, Europe as well as North and South America that is independent of fossil energy imports, keeps electricity generation costs low and is climate friendly. The UKA Group is an owner-managed company and has pursued a long-term business strategy since it was founded in 1999. Its employees work hard to achieve the best possible outcome for their projects, and follow the highest standards in terms of quality and economic efficiency. They drive projects forward with determination, even when external circumstances demand patience and perseverance. In Germany, the UKA Group is one of the leading project developers for renewable energies and currently has 1.6 GW of onshore wind projects under construction there. In addition, an impressive project pipeline of currently 7 GW in the international markets underlines the company’s attractive growth potential abroad.

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Caption: With effect from June 11, 2026, Daniele Ascioti will become Managing Director of UKA Solar Latiano S.r.l. and UKA Solar Ramacca S.r.l. as well as Head of photovoltaics and storage project development at UKA Italia S.r.l.
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60-megawatt solar farm approved in Lee County  WLTX
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Solar farm or higher taxes? Lee County’s vote pits 600 acres of farmland against the budget  WLTX
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Nooksack Valley Food Bank may save up to about $400 a month on utilities after the grant-funded installation of a solar panel array at its Everson location. 
Last year, the nonprofit food bank saw a more than 40% cut in the amount of food it was previously receiving from a federal program and two nonprofits it’s supported by. 
Puget Sound Energy awarded the food bank a $63,655 grant for solar panels in December. Amy Steele, director of the nonprofit, said in an interview the utility bill for the building in Everson was about $400 a month before the upgrade. 
The first bill since the panels were installed by Western Solar, a Bellingham-based company, in late May was cut in half, Steele said. The nonprofit’s leaders anticipate the solar panels will cover nearly the full amount. 
Steele said the money saved is the equivalent of a half-gallon of milk in each box taken home by clients for one week. About 250 to 270 households across Whatcom County receive food from the nonprofit weekly, she said at a ribbon-cutting for the solar panels on Thursday, June 12.
Nooksack Valley Food Bank’s distribution site in Everson is open Thursdays from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at 100 E 2nd St., Everson. The food bank’s Sumas location is currently closed due to flooding in December 2025. Miracle Food Network, a separate nonprofit, distributes food on Wednesdays from 2 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Sumas Advent Christian Church, 125 Front St., Sumas.

Sophia Gates covers rural Whatcom and Skagit counties. She is a Washington State Murrow Fellow whose work is underwritten by taxpayers and available outside CDN’s paywall. Reach her at sophiagates@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 131.
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UAE state-owned renewables developer Masdar has acquired a 49.99% stake in a 705MW operational renewables portfolio in Spain from oil major Repsol.
The portfolio comprises six solar PV plants with a combined capacity of 303MW, with the remaining capacity from wind farms. The entire portfolio entered operations in 2025 and the first quarter of 2026.
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This agreement is part of Repsol’s strategy to rotate its renewables assets and represents the eighth renewable asset rotation carried out by the Spanish company. Cumulatively, the eight transactions cover nearly 3.9GW of assets located in Spain and the US. In total, Reposl has 6GW of operational renewable energy capacity.
Last year, the company sold a 40% stake in US renewables developer Hecate Energy, which settled an outstanding dispute with Hecate’s parent company, Hecate Holdings.
The stake acquisition of the renewables portfolio is valued at €849 million (US$983 million), with the transaction expected to finalise by the end of 2026.
Moreover, the portfolio has the potential to hybridise the projects with solar PV, wind and energy storage with more than 565MW additional capacity.
Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, CEO of Masdar, said: “Spain is one of Europe’s fastest-growing major economies, and renewable energy is playing a critical role in powering that growth. This transaction strengthens Masdar’s portfolio, while deepening our support for Spain’s economic ambitions.”
The minority asset acquisition in Spain expands Masdar’s portfolio in the Iberian Peninsula to 4.1GW of operational capacity and with nearly 1GW under development. The renewables developer targets to reach 100GW of global capacity by 2030.
Mostly present in the Middle East and Africa, Masdar has recently made moves in other European markets, including Turkey and Montenegro. In Turkey, the company will develop a 1.1GW solar-plus-storage project in partnership with the Turkish government, while in Montenegro it formed a joint venture with the country’s power utility to develop large-scale renewable energy projects in the country.

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Visitors to SNEC, the world’s largest solar exhibition, could be forgiven for mistaking it for a battery storage convention. Panels were still on show, but this year, energy storage filled much of the floor, paired with power-solution showrooms, solar-storage demonstrations and zero-carbon park simulations. The shift, executives at the Shanghai event said, signals an industry moving beyond manufacturing toward integrated services — and higher-value business — as it tries to escape a punishing downturn at home.

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Georgia-based solar cell manufacturer Suniva and New York-based solar installer SUNation have jointly announced a merger agreement, under which the former company will merge with a wholly-owned subsidiary of the latter, after which the parent company is expected to rebrand and continue to operate as Suniva. 
The agreement will give Suniva, one of a relatively small field of domestic solar cell manufacturers, access to U.S. capital markets through the newly merged company’s listing on the NASDAQ stock exchange. 
Prior to the merger’s announcement on June 8 2026, shares of SUNation (SUNE) stock were trading at approximately $1.13 per share, leaving the company with a total market cap of $4.66 million. The merger agreement would award pre-merger SUNation stockholders with equity equal to an implied value of $2.26 per share, or double the previous day’s closing price.
In the days following the merger announcement, individual share prices rose as high as $9.45 before setting around $2.45 as of the close of business Friday.
SUNation background
SUNation, a residential and commercial solar company headquartered in Ronkonkoma, New York, was formerly known as Pineapple Energy. The company was formed out of a merger between Minnesota-based Communications Systems, Inc. and Pineapple Energy, LLC. 
The company, then trading under the stock symbol PEGY, originally acquired the SUNation brand in 2022. It completed a rebrand in 2024 to adopt the SUNation name and take the SUNE stock symbol, which had previously belonged to Sun Edison prior to its 2016 bankruptcy. The two companies share no other relationship. 
SUNation is also the parent company of Hawaii Energy Connection and E-Gear. The company’s most recent earnings report indicated top-line revenue of $7.2 million for Q1 2026 with a net loss of $4.1 million.
Suniva background
Suniva’s story has been one of ups and downs. In recent years, the company has manufactured solar cells at its 1 GW facility in Norcross, Georgia, on production lines it began operating in November 2024. In the months prior to beginning operations, Suniva inked deals with domestic solar module manufacturers Heliene and Imperial Star Solar. 
It has also announced plans to invest up to $350 million to open a second domestic facility in South Carolina which will ultimately have the capacity to produce up to 4.5 GW of solar cells per year.
The company had previously declared bankruptcy in 2017, just days before it filed petitions for relief with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) under Sections 201 and 202 of the Trade Act of 1974, alleging that a surge of cheap imported solar cells, heavily subsidized by foreign governments, had caused serious injury to domestic manufacturers. 
The ITC ultimately agreed with Suniva, leading the Trump administration to impose a 30% tariff on imported solar cells and modules in January 2018. Those tariffs, which had been scheduled to step down over a four-year period, were ultimately extended in 2022 under the Biden administration.
Suniva currently represents about one-third of the total estimated 3 GW domestic capacity for silicon solar cell manufacturing, but it may soon have a great deal of company. Qcells has just begun manufacturing cells at its plant in Cartersville, Georgia, and plans to ramp up production to 3.3 GW by the end of 2026.
Other companies such as T1 Energy, Silfab Solar and Mission Solar are planning domestic cell manufacturing lines. In total, up to 30 GW of cell manufacturing is expected in the U.S. by 2028. However, that capacity will be dwarfed by expected module production of as much as 85 GW per year. 
As long as gaps continue between the domestic production capacity of solar cells and modules, there will be built-in demand for domestically produced cells.
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Permitting can also add $7,000 to the cost of rooftop solar, according to a study by Environment America and Frontier Group. In New York, lawmakers are considering legislation that would require municipalities with more than 5,000 residents to adopt automated residential solar permitting platforms by June 30, 2027.
The New York state proposal comes as Kingston prepares to become the first jurisdiction in the state to adopt SolarAPP+, an automated permitting platform for residential rooftop solar and battery storage systems, underscoring the state’s move toward faster permitting.
Prohibitive permitting processes
Slow and complex permitting processes remain one of the largest non-hardware barriers to residential solar adoption. While module prices and other hardware costs have fallen over time, U.S. residential solar costs remain elevated compared with peer markets. As hardware has come to account for a smaller share of total installed costs, policymakers and installers have increasingly focused on soft costs such as permitting, interconnection, customer acquisition, financing, and labor, making these barriers central to the cost discussion.
Permitting and other bureaucratic hurdles can often add significant amounts to the total cost of a typical residential rooftop solar system, according to a report from Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group. The study found that navigating complex permitting and inspection processes can add an estimated $6,000 to $7,000 to the cost of a typical residential solar system. The report also found that these barriers can delay projects and discourage customers from completing installations.
NREL research found that about 22% of residential PV projects that had submitted a permit, interconnection, or incentive application failed to reach installation, suggesting that nearly one in four projects entering the approval process are abandoned before completion.
That backdrop helps explain why automated permitting is intended to reduce incomplete projects by replacing manual plan review for qualifying residential projects with standardized code checks and minimizing delays. Applications that meet local code requirements can receive permits automatically, while more complex or nonstandard projects can still be routed through traditional review.
Jonathan Cohen, policy director for the New York Solar Energy Industries Association, said Kingston’s adoption of automated permitting shows how local governments can reduce costs while improving administrative efficiency.
“Kingston is setting the pace for New York by embracing automated permitting for residential solar and showing that cutting red tape is one of the most powerful ways to deliver affordable, reliable energy to homeowners,” Cohen said. “By eliminating delays and reducing unnecessary costs, automated approvals make it easier for families to access the long-term savings that solar provides, while also streamlining workloads for local governments and improving efficiency for municipal staff.”
The City of Kingston said residents will be able to use SolarAPP+ beginning in July. The platform is designed to screen residential solar and storage applications for compliance with applicable codes and standards, allowing qualifying projects to receive permits in minutes rather than weeks.
New York explores automated permitting
Companion bills S5781/A6270 in New York state would require authorities with jurisdiction over populations of more than 5,000 to adopt a residential automated solar permitting platform by June 30, 2027, provided that a no-fee platform is available. The bills also direct jurisdictions to anticipate that the platform would be able to process at least 75% of residential solar applications for existing construction.
The bill includes reporting requirements for municipalities, including the number of permits issued through automated platforms, the number issued through other means, and the software used. Jurisdictions would also need to submit plans to increase the use of automated permitting if fewer than 75% of residential solar photovoltaic permits for existing construction are issued through the platform.
The proposal also includes a remote inspection provision that requires jurisdictions covered by the bill to offer recorded video or photo inspections for projects permitted through the automated platform. Those inspections would be required to be offered at no greater cost and with no greater delay than in-person inspections.
Automated permitting fills incentive gap
The legislation reflects a broader push to address residential solar costs without relying only on incentives, especially as federal solar incentives sunset. In recent years, automated permitting policies have advanced in several states as residential installers face higher financing costs, policy changes, and a more difficult customer acquisition environment. New Jersey passed legislation requiring a smart solar permitting platform for residential solar and battery systems, while California and Maryland have also taken steps to support automated permitting, showing the policy’s wider momentum.
For New York, automated permitting could support the state’s distributed solar market by reducing project timelines and improving certainty for installers and customers. Faster approvals can also help reduce cancellations, limit labor spent on administrative follow-up, and give homeowners a clearer path from contract signing to installation.
Kingston’s adoption gives New York its first local test case as lawmakers consider whether to make automated residential solar permitting a statewide standard, highlighting the policy’s final takeaway: faster approvals could become the model for broader adoption. If the state moves forward, the city’s experience could help show how the policy works in practice.
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This would be great, about permits, we still need inspection to hopefully catch bad solar installers, on the work they did, we still need to be vigilant about bad solar installers companies…. And people STOP LEASING SOLAR….
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MISSISSIPPI COUNTY, Ark. (KAIT) –Cypress Creek Energy has secured $3.5 billion in financing for the Steel River Energy Center, one of the largest solar and battery storage projects in the United States.
The plan is to deliver more than 1.6 gigawatts of solar power and nearly 2 gigawatt-hours of battery storage to the Arkansas grid, with full buildout expected by 2029.
Clif Chitwood, president of Mississippi County Economic Development, says the county’s electric-arc-furnace steel mills use a tremendous amount of power, and this project is a big step toward keeping up with that demand.
“Mississippi County has become one of the major heavy industrial sites in the United States, producing more steel than any county in the United States,” Chitwood said. “And one of the necessities is to have electric power.”
Chitwood says solar energy is relatively quick to install, and when coupled with storage batteries, it becomes reliable.
“You just have to have power to sell if you’re going to grow jobs,” Chitwood said. “That’s what it’s come down to now.”
Steel River is expected to generate nearly $300 million in new tax revenue over its lifetime, helping fund local schools, public safety and roads.
It’s also expected to create around 700 on-site construction jobs, with hundreds more supporting local hotels, restaurants and suppliers across the region.
“The steel industry continues to grow in Mississippi County,” Chitwood said. “There’s hardly a week goes by that we don’t have an inquiry from a company looking to come in and locate where they can buy fairly directly.”
The Steel River Energy Center will use 100% U.S.-made structural steel, nearly all of it produced in Mississippi County, along with domestically manufactured solar panels from First Solar.
“Mississippi County has been on a winning streak as far as attracting big industries,” Chitwood said. “I do think we’ve turned a corner on our long-range industrial strategy that will pay big dividends over the next generation.”
Construction on the first two phases is now underway following the close of financing.
The full project is expected to be complete by 2029.
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A look inside Qcells  Jackson Progress-Argus
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Stricter photovoltaic installation rules with fines up to €50,000 drive Germany to launch modular training for mid-career switchers and update safety regulations.
New liability risks and fines of up to €50,000 for unregistered photovoltaic work have forced Germany’s electrical trades to redesign their training pipeline – just as the country confronts a staggering 1.3 million adults in North Rhine-Westphalia alone who hold no vocational qualification.
Stricter rules for rooftop solar installations took effect at the start of 2025. Mounting photovoltaic panels now counts as a full craft trade, not a minor one. Companies that fail to register in the Handwerksrolle face fines as high as €50,000 and possible operating bans. Clients who commission unregistered firms can also be held liable. Limited legalisation routes exist – for example, through the Altgesellenregelung (old-journeyman provision) or by appointing a qualified technical manager.
The ZVEH (Central Association of German Electrical and Information Technology Trades) has launched a seven-module partial-qualification programme for people aged 25 and over who cannot complete a standard apprenticeship. Participants can study online or in a hybrid format. Those who finish all modules can take an external exam to obtain the journeyman’s certificate. The Federal Employment Agency covers up to 100 percent of costs under certain conditions.
The same risk-management thinking that drives Germany’s new compliance requirements applies wherever safety regulations are tightening – and many employers underestimate a dangerous gap in their documentation. Missing or outdated risk assessments leave businesses exposed to fines and liability. A free toolkit with 41 ready-to-use templates and checklists helps you document hazards, control measures, and training records in a legally sound format. Download the free Risk Assessment Toolkit
Free information webinars will run on 26 and 30 June 2026.
The chambers of industry and commerce in North Rhine-Westphalia are pursuing similar strategies. Bodies such as the IHK Cologne and IHK North Westphalia offer job-accompanying partial qualifications. After a competency assessment, participants receive nationally recognised certificates.
The Betriebssicherheitsverordnung (BetrSichV) remains the central legal framework for plant and equipment safety. It was last amended in December 2025. A comprehensive overhaul of the Arbeitsmittelbenutzungsverordnung (AMBV) is under discussion.
The core duty for every employer: a risk assessment under § 3. Violations of inspection deadlines can trigger fines of up to €20,000. Lifts and other systems requiring surveillance must be checked every two years by an authorised inspection body. For equipment such as ladders or forklifts, a competent internal person suffices.
The ZVEH is pushing wider use of the so-called E-Check, especially during renovations of properties with electrical installations older than 30 years. Typical defects include outdated wiring, missing circuit breakers, and too few circuits. A thorough inspection of the installation, protective conductor, and meter cabinets forms the planning base for modern technology – because heat pumps, wallboxes, and solar panels can only be integrated safely when the underlying wiring is sound.
Staying compliant across multiple safety domains – from workplace risk assessments to fire safety and hazardous substances – requires a comprehensive approach. A free Health & Safety Toolkit gives you ready-to-use risk assessments, checklists, and toolbox talks aligned with UK regulations, covering everything from COSHH to PUWER. Over 37,000 UK businesses already rely on it to protect employees and visitors. Get the free Health & Safety Toolkit
The need for niche expertise shows in concrete training offers. The Mannheim Chamber of Crafts will run airbag and seatbelt-pretensioner technical courses in October 2026, allowing automotive professionals to acquire the restricted specialist qualification. Registrations close mid-October.
Large inspection providers are expanding. DEKRA, after a strong 2025 financial year, reports growing assignments in industrial fire protection. The company plans appearances at trade fairs such as FeuerTrutz in Nuremberg at the end of June 2026.
Demand for technical inspections related to sustainability and cybersecurity is rising sharply, according to reports from the testing sector.

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Antaisolar has unveiled an upgraded version of its TAI-Universal 2P multi-drive solar tracker at SNEC 2026 in Shanghai last week.
The system features reinforced main structures and joint points, supporting spans of up to 80 meters and wind resistance of up to 60 m/s.
Antaisolar said the longer span and higher structural strength are intended to reduce pile counts and lower project levelized cost of energy (LCOE). The design targets large ground-mounted solar plants, including projects in desert and other arid regions, where foundation requirements, wind performance and installation efficiency are key cost drivers.
The tracker uses a 2P multi-drive architecture with multiple drive points along each tracker row. According to the company, the design improves torque distribution and structural stability across longer rows, while supporting high-power modules and higher DC/AC ratios. It also said the system is designed to enhance bifacial gain by reducing rear-side shading. However, Antaisolar did not disclose a production ramp-up timeline for the upgraded TAI-Universal in its SNEC release.
Antaisolar also showcased its AT-Spark 1P flagship tracker and SmartTrail intelligent tracker control system. AT-Spark uses the company’s self-developed octagonal torque tube and dual spherical bearing design. The latest version delivers a 40% increase in structural stiffness and 50% higher strength, making it suitable for long-row layouts and complex terrain, the company said.
The SmartTrail control system is compatible across Antaisolar’s tracker portfolio. It uses multi-dimensional irradiance algorithms to optimize tracker angles and includes protection logic for extreme operating conditions, supporting stable performance under high wind, snow, hail and sandstorm events.
The SNEC launch came shortly after Antaisolar was ranked seventh in Wood Mackenzie’s 2026 global PV tracker manufacturer ranking and named a Global Grade A tracker manufacturer. Wood Mackenzie said its ranking assesses manufacturers across criteria including R&D, after-sales service, supply chain stability, certifications, financial health and ESG performance.
During the exhibition, Antaisolar also announced several certification and partnership updates. It signed a strategic agreement with TÜV Rheinland covering UK market access certification, and an ESG cooperation agreement with TÜV SÜD. Its Altra-Metals rooftop mounting system received UL 2703 certification, while AT-Spark obtained IEC 62817 certification.
Antaisolar also signed strategic agreements with Gebeng Energy and Raystech covering more than 800 MW of solar projects and cooperation across Southeast Asia and Australia. The company said its cumulative global shipments reached 50.1 GW across 21 countries by the end of 2025.
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JAKARTA – After dominating the solar panel industry on Earth, China is now directing its ambitions to outer space. Citing a report by Yicai Global, Friday, June 12, a number of Chinese photovoltaic giants have begun to push the development of space-based solar power plants with lighter and cheaper perovskite solar cells.
Photovoltaics is a technology that converts sunlight into electricity. Perovskite is a new generation of solar cell materials that are considered lightweight, flexible, and less expensive than a number of old technologies.
This step was seen when Trina Solar and Golden Concord Holdings or GCL Group formed a Space Energy Development Alliance. They partnered with aerospace companies and research institutions. The alliance was announced at the SNEC International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference & Exhibition in Shanghai.
For China, this project is part of the ambition to build solar power from orbit. Energy is harvested in space, then used for satellites, spacecraft, and in a later stage can potentially be sent back to Earth.
GCL is moving more concretely. Its subsidiary, Kunshan GCL Optoelectronic Material, together with Ziwei Network Technology, plans to launch its own “computing satellite” by the end of this year.
The satellite will use a perovskite GCL solar panel, a solid-state energy storage system, and Chinese-made GPUs. Solid-state refers to a solid-state energy storage technology. GPUs are graphics processing chips that are also widely used for heavy computing.
The satellite will be tested in Earth orbit for one year. The goal is to prove a complete system, from electricity generation, energy storage, to power consumption.
On paper, space solar power is tempting. Solar panels in orbit are not disturbed by night, clouds, rain, or pollution. Solar exposure is more stable and its energy density is higher than that of solar power plants on land.
According to a report by Yicai Global citing Central China Securities, space solar power can theoretically generate eight to 15 times more energy than systems on Earth. The global market is estimated to reach 56.9 billion yuan or about US$8.3 billion this year.
With more and more low-orbit satellite constellations, this market is projected to approach 1.1 trillion yuan or about US$162.3 billion by 2035. Low orbit is the orbit region of satellites that are relatively close to Earth and are widely used for satellite communication networks.
Until now, the space sector has relied heavily on gallium arsenide or GaAs solar cells. This technology is strong, efficient, and resistant to extreme conditions, so it is commonly used on satellites. The problem: it costs a lot.
Tian Qingyong, General Manager of GCL Optoelectronics, quoted Yicai Global, said that the unpackaged gallium arsenide space solar cell costs about 300 yuan or US$44 per watt. If it becomes a complete panel system, the cost can reach 500 yuan per watt. Per square meter, the value is around 100,000 yuan or US$14,750.
This is where perovskite comes in. According to Huajin Securities, perovskite cells can cut costs by as much as a tenth of traditional technology. The weight can also be reduced by half and the shape is more flexible.
For terrestrial use, the production cost of perovskite cells is around 0.50 yuan or 7 US cents per watt. The challenge for the space version still exists, especially on radiation-resistant coating glass. However, Tian said there is still a large room to reduce costs if the radiation resistance of the material can be improved.
The development of technology is also fast. On June 3, GCL announced that the conversion efficiency of a certified 2,042-square-centimeter perovskite-silicon tandem module cell reached 30.2 percent. This is the first time that the module has penetrated 30 percent.
In January, a single-junction perovskite solar cell made by SolaEon Technology recorded an efficiency of 27.8 percent, a world record for its category.
This step marks China’s solar industry’s efforts to expand the application of perovskite technology to the space sector.
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E360 Digest
June 10, 2026
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Last month, for the first time in the U.S., solar generated more electricity than coal, a reflection of both the rapid adoption of renewable power and the declining fortunes of America’s aging fleet of coal power plants.
Solar output reached an all-time high last month, supplying 12.8 percent of U.S. electricity, with coal supplying 12.2 percent, according to an analysis from energy think tank Ember. As a share of the power supply, solar typically reaches a high in May, when longer days spur greater generation, but mild weather keeps demand in check.
Coal output continued to slump last month, reaching a new record low, according to Ember. Its decline comes despite a push by the Trump administration to extend the lives of aging coal plants. Just this week, Energy Secretary Chris Wright issued an emergency order to keep a coal power plant in Orlando, Florida, online. The plant had been scheduled to be retired last year under a plan by the local public utility to shift to renewable energy.
While solar is gaining ground on coal nationally, it still trails far behind natural gas. In some states, however, that is beginning to change. A massive buildout of renewables in California has led to a marked decline in gas power in that state. The Energy Information Administration projects that California will see solar generation surpass gas generation for the first time this year.
Globally, renewable generation overtook coal last year, according to Ember, which finds that countries are increasingly turning to solar to meet new demand. As a share of global generation, coal has been dropping for more than a decade, while gas has been in decline for five years running, the think tank found. 
While natural gas had, until recently, been favored as a means of new generation, the think tank said, “gas power is losing momentum as a source of global growth and may be approaching a structural peak.”
A First Among Major Nations, India Is Industrializing With Solar
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US independent power producer (IPP) MN8 Energy has reached commercial operations at two utility-scale solar PV plants totalling 260MW.
Both projects are under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with tech major Microsoft.
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The two solar PV projects are the 120MW Long Point Solar project, located in Brazoria County, Texas, and connected to ERCOT, and the 140MW American Beech project in Halifax County, North Carolina, which will generate electricity for the PJM grid.
Texas has been one of the leading states in solar PV additions, with more than 53GW of capacity in operation and is forecast to add the most new solar PV capacity over the next five years.
Tech giants, such as Microsoft, have been at the forefront of solar PV offtake agreements in Texas, with Meta signing a 180MW PPA with Spanish IPP Zelestra this month and Google recently acquiring renewables developer Intersect to develop a new data centre and energy complex powered by 1GW of solar PV, wind and energy storage.
Meta alone has signed more than a dozen solar PV offtake agreements in Texas over the past two years, either to directly supply its operations or to offset other energy sources.
“As digital infrastructure scales across the US, energy solutions must scale with it,” said Moe Hanifi, senior vice president and head of revenue and commodities at MN8 Energy. “These projects deliver new solar capacity into two critical power markets and highlight MN8’s role as a partner to Microsoft in meeting their sustainability goals.”
The addition of 260MW of operational solar PV to MN8’s portfolio brings the total to nearly 4GW of operational and under-construction solar PV capacity, 1.5GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) and over 40 high-power EV charging stations across ten states. The IPP recently entered into a toll agreement with Californian utility San Jose Clean Energy for 40 direct-current fast-charging (DCFC) ports across five California cities, as covered by our colleagues at EV Infrastructure News.
Last month, the IPP raised US$300 million to extend a corporate credit facility aimed at helping build out its pipeline of solar PV and energy storage projects.

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MN8 Energy, an independent power producer based in the United States, has commenced commercial operations at two utility-scale solar photovoltaic installations with a combined capacity of 260 megawatts. Both facilities are covered by a long-term power purchase agreement with Microsoft, the technology giant.
The first site, the 120-megawatt Long Point Solar project, is situated in Brazoria County, Texas, and links to the ERCOT network. The second, the 140-megawatt American Beech project, is located in Halifax County, North Carolina, and will provide electricity to the PJM grid.
Texas has emerged as a frontrunner in solar PV expansion, with over 53 gigawatts of installed capacity and forecasts indicating it will lead in new solar PV additions over the coming five years. Major technology companies, including Microsoft, have been active in solar offtake deals in the state. Meta recently finalized a 180-megawatt PPA with Spanish IPP Zelestra, and Google recently purchased renewables developer Intersect to build a data center and energy complex powered by one gigawatt of solar PV, wind, and storage. Meta alone has executed more than a dozen solar offtake agreements in Texas over the last two years, either to directly power its operations or to compensate for other energy sources.
Moe Hanifi, senior vice president and head of revenue and commodities at MN8 Energy, stated that as digital infrastructure expands across the United States, energy solutions must keep pace. He noted that these projects introduce new solar capacity into two key power markets and underscore MN8’s role as a collaborator with Microsoft in achieving its sustainability objectives.
The addition of 260 megawatts of operational solar PV brings MN8’s total portfolio to nearly 4 gigawatts of operational and under-construction solar PV capacity, 1.5 gigawatt-hours of battery energy storage systems, and over 40 high-power EV charging stations across ten states. The IPP recently entered a toll agreement with California utility San Jose Clean Energy for 40 direct-current fast-charging ports across five California cities. Last month, the company raised $300 million to extend a corporate credit facility intended to support the development of its pipeline of solar PV and energy storage projects.
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Renewable Energy, Solar Energy
Farmers switched from diesel to solar panels in Pakistan and started running irrigation pumps at a much lower cost. The relief on the wallet came quickly, especially for those who depended on expensive fuel or an unstable power grid to water their crops.
The information was published by Reuters, an international news agency with economic and environmental coverage, on October 2, 2025. The case shows an unexpected effect of solar energy in the field: the technology became more accessible, but it also facilitated the extraction of water hidden underground.
This water is called groundwater. It is stored below the soil and acts as a natural reserve. When many pumps draw this water for longer, the level can drop and put the field on alert.
Migrant workers left the world’s largest renewable energy park in India after extreme heat, 12-hour shifts, delayed wages, and poor accommodations at a site that still promises to supply 18 million homes.
Taiwanese fishermen accepted offshore wind turbines in the name of clean energy, but now they say that old routes have disappeared, fish have decreased, and income has become uncertain on the coast.
Europe wants to hold onto the black powder from used batteries because this dark residue contains valuable metals, can supply up to 1 million electric cars per year, and has become an industrial dispute.
NGO opens slots for free solar energy course exclusively for women in São Gonçalo
The change appears in the routine of farmers like Karamat Ali, 61 years old, a rice producer in the Punjab province. He started using solar panels to operate a tube well, which is a system consisting of a well and a motorized pump to draw groundwater.
Previously, this type of irrigation relied more on diesel or grid electricity. With solar panels, the farmer can use sunlight to activate the pump and bring water to the crops.
In practice, irrigation becomes easier and cheaper. The producer spends less energy, has more freedom to water the crops, and reduces fuel dependency.
The problem arises exactly at this point. When pumping water becomes almost free, many farmers start irrigating for longer. What seems like a solution for the energy bill can turn into pressure on the groundwater reserve.
The advancement of solar pumps in the Pakistani countryside has gained scale. The country already had about 650,000 solar tube wells in 2025, a number that shows how solar energy has ceased to be a small alternative and has become part of rural irrigation.
These wells are important because they draw water from the underground. In agricultural regions, they help keep crops alive when surface water is not enough or when traditional irrigation does not meet the demand.
But the equation changes when thousands of pumps work for longer periods. An isolated farmer may not seem like a risk. Many wells operating simultaneously can lower the groundwater level in an entire region.
Therefore, the warning is not about the solar panels themselves. The central issue is the use of water without sufficient control, in a country where agriculture heavily depends on irrigation.
Rice is a crop that requires a lot of water. When irrigation becomes cheaper, planting rice can become more attractive for farmers seeking to improve production.
In Pakistan, rice areas grew 30% between 2023 and 2025. This growth increased the pressure on irrigation pumps and on the groundwater used to sustain the plantations.
Solar energy helped the farmer reduce expenses, but it also removed part of the natural limit imposed by the cost of diesel. If before the fuel weighed on the decision to irrigate, now the sun allows the pump to be activated with less immediate concern.
This is the point that draws attention: the same technology that reduces expenses can increase the consumption of a reserve that takes time to replenish.
Reuters, an international news agency with economic and environmental coverage, brought the central numbers about the pressure underground. Between 2020 and 2024, zones of severe groundwater depletion in parts of Punjab more than doubled in size.
Severe depletion means that water is getting lower in critical areas. For the farmer, this can mean less efficient wells, the need to seek water deeper, and greater risk for future production.
The alert is silent because groundwater does not appear on the surface. The field may seem productive for a while, while the reserve below the ground decreases.
When the problem appears strongly, recovery can be difficult. Rain and rivers can help replenish some of the water, but this process does not happen at the same speed as the withdrawal made by thousands of pumps.
The case of Pakistan does not place solar energy as an enemy of agriculture. Solar panels reduce costs, help rural producers, and can decrease dependence on expensive fuels.
The problem lies in water use. Without clear rules, sufficient measurement, and withdrawal control, the solar pump can function like an open tap over a reserve that is not infinite.
To understand simply, just imagine groundwater as a water tank hidden in the soil. If many people withdraw water every day and little water returns inside, at some point the level drops.
Therefore, the debate needs to unite clean energy and water management. The solar pump solves part of the cost, but it does not solve the natural limit of the underground reserve alone.
Solar energy entered the Pakistani field as an economic solution for farmers pressured by expensive diesel and unstable energy. The technology improved irrigation and made pumping more accessible.
At the same time, the expansion of rice crops and the increased use of solar tube wells have increased pressure on groundwater. The red alert arises from this combination of immediate economy and hidden environmental risk.
The lesson is clear: clean technology needs to go hand in hand with water use control. Without this, the economy in irrigation can demand a high price on the future of crops.
In Pakistan, the sun helped the farmer spend less, but also showed that the water underground needs to be treated as a limited resource, not as an endless reserve.
If solar energy makes irrigation cheaper, who should control the use of groundwater: the farmer, the government, or both together? Leave your opinion and share this discussion.

Flavia Marinho is a postgraduate engineer with extensive experience in the onshore and offshore shipbuilding industry. In recent years, she has dedicated herself to writing articles for news websites in the areas of military, security, industry, oil and gas, energy, shipbuilding, geopolitics, jobs, and courses. Contact flaviacamil@gmail.com or WhatsApp +55 21 973996379 for corrections, editorial suggestions, job vacancy postings, or advertising proposals on our portal.
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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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Zurich-headquartered Galileo, a European renewable energy developer and independent power producer, has announced the sale of three PV projects in Northern Italy. The projects have a combined capacity of 19 MW. A renewable energy investment platform acquired the portfolio. Galileo said the transaction followed consent for more than 400 MW of solar and BESS projects in Italy over the last 18 months. The company is preparing a consented solar and BESS cluster in Campania for construction. Galileo is also advancing more than 3 GW of solar PV, BESS, onshore wind and offshore wind projects across Italy.

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Domestic cell mandate triggers supply crunch, may hit rooftop solar installation  The Indian Express
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CRAWFORD COUNTY, Kan. — In an unexpected turn of events, Shasta Power has decided to pull the plug on its solar project in Crawford County.
In an email sent to the Crawford County Commission and to The Morning Sun, Shasta President John Copyak wrote, “Following an extensive evaluation and engagement with local stakeholders, Shasta Power has decided to discontinue the development of its proposed solar project in Crawford County, Kansas.”
Copyak goes on to lay out the benefits the county, local communities, and stakeholders would have received had the project been completed. According to Copyak, the project represented an anticipated investment of approximately $500 million, with county taxes estimated at $77 million and an additional $20 million offered to project neighbors, the fire department, and the City of Mulberry over the project’s 30-year life.
“The project would have generated substantial economic benefits for the workforce, local businesses, schools, and the community at large,” Copyak wrote.
Copyak said Shasta Power has worked in good faith to address community questions, provide project information, and incorporate stakeholder feedback over the past four years, but cites actions and positions taken by the Crawford County Commission and the Zoning Board created a regulatory environment that has blocked a reasonable or predictable path forward for the project.
“Despite significant efforts to advance a responsible energy project and respond to local concerns, the County Commission and Zoning Board's ongoing lack of support ultimately prevented the project from moving forward,” Copyak said. “As a result, Shasta Power has determined that continued investment of time and resources in the project is not justified.”
Copyak says that he and Shasta Power are disappointed that Crawford County residents will not realize the economic benefits associated with this investment, they will respect the authority of local elected officials to determine the future of development within their jurisdiction.
“We remain grateful to the landowners, residents, and community members who supported the solar-energy-plus-battery-storage project and participated constructively throughout the process,” Copyak concluded.
Upon receiving this email, The Morning Sun immediately reached out to all three county commissioners for their reaction to this surprise development.
“There are several aspects of the email we received that I find relevant,” responded Commissioner Bruce Blair. “First, I feel that the county, along with several residents, dedicated a lot of time and energy discussing the project.”
Blair continued, pointing out that the commission and zoning board worked to encourage input from both sides of the issue from the very beginning, and that during these sessions, the commission used surveys, forums, and countless meeting hours to allow all the stakeholders an opportunity to respond to the project.
“I would like for the people to remember that this project was in the zoned area of the county and zoning and land use is used to see how projects like this fit within an area,” Blair concluded, adding, “Likewise, our current zoning didn’t cover projects of this scope. I can’t help but read the ‘blame’ within this email, but everyone needs to realize we are doing our best to figure out these issues in a reasonable and responsible way.”
Commissioner Tom Moody said he hates that it turned out the way it did, but there is a protocol to follow when making these kinds of decisions.
“I’m not for or against alternative energy, or any new business that comes into Crawford County; I’m open to hear any case,” Moody said, “but when deciding where that business should go, there is a right fit and a wrong fit.”
Commissioner Carl Wood had not responded by the time of publication.
This reporting is made possible, in part, by the Support Local Journalism Project Fund. Learn more at: southeastkansas.org/Localnews

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With My Power, Engie bundles rooftop solar panels, installation, and digital monitoring into a single self-consumption service aimed at homeowners who want to cut grid dependence and stabilize their electricity bills.
Responsible: ad hoc news Lifestyle & Consumer Desk. Reviewed prior to publication on June 12, 2026 at 8:04 PM ET. Details in the imprint.
Engie is pushing deeper into residential energy-as-a-service with its My Power solar self-consumption offer, which bundles rooftop panels, inverters, installation, and a digital monitoring solution into a single package for homeowners. The program is designed to let households generate and consume their own electricity locally, reducing dependence on the grid and helping to stabilize energy bills over the long term. Instead of buyers piecing together hardware, installers, and software on their own, Engie positions My Power as a turnkey service that combines engineering, installation, and ongoing support under one contract. For consumers who feel overwhelmed by the technical and regulatory complexity of rooftop solar, this kind of bundled approach can significantly lower the barrier to entry.
At its core, Engie My Power is a residential rooftop solar package focused on self-consumption, meaning the system is optimized so that as much solar electricity as possible is used directly in the home rather than exported to the grid. The service typically includes design and sizing of the photovoltaic system, supply of solar panels and inverters, professional installation, and connection to the local grid where applicable. Engie also integrates a digital monitoring platform that lets users track real-time solar production and household consumption via an app or web interface, making it easier to adjust usage patterns to match solar output and maximize savings. While system details vary by country, the underlying concept is consistent: households receive a complete, managed solution rather than a collection of standalone components.
Engie markets My Power primarily in selected European retail markets where it already serves residential energy customers. Exact launch timing and commercial terms differ by country, but the offer has been rolled out progressively across the mid-2020s as rooftop solar economics and policy frameworks have become more favorable. Instead of a single list price, Engie typically structures My Power either as an all-in installed system cost or as a financed monthly payment, with pricing dependent on system size, roof characteristics, and available national support schemes such as tax credits or feed-in mechanisms. That flexibility allows the company to tailor offers to different regulatory environments and household budgets, while still emphasizing predictable, long-term energy costs.
Because self-consumption is the guiding principle, My Power targets homeowners with enough roof or ground space to accommodate solar arrays that cover a meaningful share of their annual electricity needs. In practice, that usually means detached or semi-detached houses rather than apartments, and customers who plan to stay in their property long enough to benefit from multi-year payback periods. Engie highlights My Power for households that want a turnkey way to install solar, use most of the electricity on site, and potentially hedge against future volatility in retail power prices. For many customers, the appeal is less about exporting power for income and more about gaining a measure of energy autonomy within a managed, service-based framework.
My Power also fits into Engie’s broader strategy to grow in distributed and low-carbon energy solutions, complementing its utility-scale renewables portfolio with services that reach directly into consumer homes. By owning the customer relationship at the residential level, Engie not only sells electricity but also positions itself as an energy partner that helps households plan and manage their consumption. That could open the door to future add-ons such as home batteries, electric-vehicle charging integration, or demand-response services, even if these are not core elements of the current My Power offer in every market. For consumers evaluating rooftop solar, one practical takeaway is that a service-backed package from a large energy provider may feel more familiar than dealing with a small installer, especially when it comes to long-term support and app-based monitoring.
From an internal perspective, Engie My Power gives the company another lever to deepen engagement with retail customers while advancing its decarbonization agenda, as each installed system contributes incremental rooftop solar capacity across its markets. Since financial reporting for individual products is not broken out in detail, the direct revenue contribution of My Power is not publicly quantified, but the offer aligns with Engie’s stated focus on renewable generation and energy services. Shares of Engie S.A. (FR0010208488, ticker ENGIY) traded at $31.88 on OTC Markets on June 12, 2026.
Readers who follow Engie S.A. and its consumer-facing energy solutions can find additional company and capital-market information via the following links.
This article was created with a.i. assistance and editorially reviewed. Product information is provided without warranty; prices and availability may change at any time. Not investment advice, not a buy or sell recommendation. Trading in securities carries risks up to the total loss of capital.

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New York school districts are increasingly converting unused property into solar farms, finding a way to reduce energy costs while putting more money toward student programs.
Schoharie Central School District recently transformed a former hayfield behind its campus into a one-acre solar installation, funded through a $2.4 million voter-approved capital project, with most of the money coming from state aid.
"The solar field will pay for our power, which right now our energy is about $19,000 a month," said Dave Blanchard, superintendent of Schoharie Central School District. "Now that’s getting paid for entirely by the solar field."
The New York State School Boards Association says the trend has gained significant traction statewide, driven in part by students pushing for greener campuses.
"School districts are looking at it more actively from an environmental stewardship position," said Brian Fessler, chief advocacy officer for the association. "A lot of that is coming from our students."
Districts are identifying underused spaces — from land beside bus garages to the edges of athletic fields — as viable solar sites.
"Maybe a solar farm next to a bus garage that otherwise really isn’t used, or on the edges of athletic fields when there’s big open spaces," Fessler said. "A lot of companies and school leaders recognize that’s kind of a good fit."
The Schoharie project was more than a decade in the making, requiring state approvals through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority and coordination with National Grid. Blanchard says the lengthy process was worth it.
"The money that we’re saving by not having to put toward electricity, we can put toward opportunities for students," Blanchard said. "This kind of insulates us from further taxation locally, or if there are state cuts to the budget."
The School Boards Association says its focus now is on lowering the barriers for other districts looking to follow suit.
"Our role is to help facilitate that as much as possible, remove barriers that exist when it’s appropriate to do so, and encourage the state to allow and perhaps even incentivize some of these actions, to help school districts get over what can be meaningful short-term cost increases," Fessler said.
Blanchard says the Schoharie array is expected to power the district for at least the next 20 years, giving administrators long-term financial flexibility.
"We’re here to educate kids," Blanchard said. "Now we have to find ways to creatively fund that education. And the solar field allows for that."

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SHASTA POWER ENDS PLANS FOR CRAWFORD COUNTY SOLAR FARM  KOAM News Now
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The solar-powered garden — embracing the sun to power up your yard  Tom’s Guide
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Tornado slams into solar panel field in Illinois  AccuWeather
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Meta has entered into another power purchase agreement with RWE, this time for a solar project located in Texas, according to a report published on June 12, 2026.
Under the terms of the agreement, Meta will purchase the electricity generated by RWE’s 298MW Rabbits Foot solar facility in Bowie County, in the northeastern part of the state. Construction on the project started earlier this year, and commercial operations are scheduled to begin by the end of 2027.
RWE stated that the power purchase agreement supports Meta’s objective of matching its operations with 100% clean energy. Those operations are primarily driven by the company’s extensive data center expansion in the United States and the development of artificial intelligence infrastructure.
This marks the fourth corporate PPA that Meta and RWE have signed in the U.S. The previous agreements include two projects in Illinois and Louisiana, signed in 2024, which together have a combined capacity of 274MW, as well as a 200MW PPA for another Texas project that was finalized last year.
Including the Rabbits Foot project, the two companies have now contracted for a total of 827MW of solar photovoltaic capacity.
Meta has made significant investments in Texas energy infrastructure, particularly to support its planned data center expansions and other operations in the state. In July 2025, Canadian energy developer Enbridge announced plans to build a 600MW solar PV project near San Antonio, Texas, backed by a PPA with Meta. Additionally, Spanish independent power producer Zelestra signed a 200MW offtake agreement with Meta for a Texas PV plant earlier this week.
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Cypress Creek Energy has reached financial close on phase 1 and phase 2 of its Steel River Energy Center development in Mississippi County, Arkansas – one of the largest solar and battery storage projects in the United States.
The $3.5 billion of project financing will support construction of 1.63 GW of solar and 1.9 GWh of battery storage. An anticipated third phase is expected to bring the project’s total capacity to 2.45 GW of solar and 2.9 GWh of battery storage by 2029.
Steel River Energy Center has been backed by leading global banks, with financing fully underwritten by initial coordinating lead arrangers Barclays, BNP Paribas, Santander and Wells Fargo. At the same time as raising construction financing, Cypress Creek closed tax equity financing for the project.
Kevin Smith, CEO of Cypress Creek Energy said the project financing showed the strong support the developer is seeing from capital markets for “high-quality energy infrastructure backed by experienced sponsors.”
Revenue for the grid-scale solar and energy storage project has also been secured. The developer announced it had signed a virtual power purchase agreement with an “investor-grade corporate counterparty.”
Cypress Creek Renewables has reached financial close on the first two phases of Steel River shortly after acquiring the project. The developer purchased the Steel River Energy Center from Swift Current Energy in early 2026, doubling the developer’s operating and under-construction portfolio in the process.
Steel River will make use of American-made structural steel and domestically manufactured solar panels, according to the developer. Construction is expected to create around 700 full-time jobs, along with 19 permanent positions once the facility is fully operational.
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The CPUC voted to advance a community solar program that solar industry members are calling “unworkable.” The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) says “virtually ensures” that no new community solar projects will be developed in the state under current structure. 
Rather than creating a viable path for new, independent projects, the commission chose to implement portions of its community solar program using an existing, utility-controlled pricing structure. According to solar industry advocates and the advocacy group Californians for Local, Affordable Solar and Storage (CLASS), the regulatory decision essentially hands the keys back to the state’s investor-owned utility monopolies, the same utilities that have spent years working to ensure community solar never gets built. 
The CPUC’s decision relies on the existing Renewable Market Adjusting Tariff (ReMAT) pricing structure to determine grid export compensation rates, rejecting the solar industry-backed Net Value Billing Tariff model. SEIA and other industry advocates argue the rate structure makes building community solar a losing proposition for any business, ensuring projects won’t be built. 
In most U.S. community solar programs, subscribers, including homeowners and businesses, pay a discounted monthly fee for a share of a remote solar farm’s energy and receive larger credits on their standard utility bill for the electricity that share produces, typically resulting in a net savings of 5% to 20%. However, in California’s approved program, the rate paid by utilities to solar developers is too low, which stifles the creation of projects and ultimately leaves subscribers with nothing to sign up for 
Commission officials, including CPUC President John Reynolds, stated the move ensures the program grows responsibly by balancing affordability, equity, and grid reliability so non-participating customers do not pay more than the avoided wholesale cost of the generated electricity. However, clean energy groups argue the baseline wholesale metrics are far too low, destroying the predictable market economics needed to secure private capital and make new project construction viable for developers. 
The approved framework also relies on one-time federal funding, specifically the $250 million federal Solar for All grant money awarded to California. Advocates state that by packaging this federal money into an utility-led model rather than a scalable market-based program, the CPUC is effectively forfeiting the funding’s potential and dooming future deployment. 
“Today’s vote is a doubling down on failure,” said Derek Chernow, Executive Director of CLASS. “In the midst of an affordability crisis and rising utility rates, the CPUC has once again handed the keys to the utilities and called it a program. California ratepayers are drowning in electricity bills. The Legislature passed AB 2316 four years ago with clear direction to deliver a workable community solar and storage program. Instead, the CPUC produced a program that got zero projects built, forfeited $250 million in federal Solar for All funding, and is now being voted through again in essentially the same packaging.” 
The regulatory gridlock leaves California ratepayers completely cut off from bill relief during a period of record-high energy prices. While families, renters, and small businesses across the Central Valley continue to face soaring electricity costs, more than 20 other states have successfully deployed market-based community solar programs that actively save consumers money. 
With the CPUC maintaining its focus on utility-backed positions to avoid cost-shifting to non-participating customers, solar advocates argue the regulatory route through the commission is officially a dead end. 
Clean energy advocates are redirecting their efforts to the state legislature, pushing for the immediate passage of AB 1813 in the Senate to bypass the CPUC’s framework entirely and establish a functional, financeable community solar program by law.
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From pv magazine USA
Trinasolar has launched its Vertex N Shield photovoltaic module in North America, expanding its n-type portfolio with a product aimed at commercial and industrial (C&I) as well as utility-scale solar projects increasingly exposed to extreme weather risks.
The new module arrives at a time when hail, high wind, and uneven snow loads are becoming key design constraints for developers and asset owners, not only from an engineering perspective but also due to their growing influence on insurance premiums and long-term project bankability. Against this backdrop, Trinasolar has positioned the Vertex N Shield as a mechanically reinforced solution intended to improve resilience in climate-challenging regions.
At the core of the design is a dual-glass architecture paired with reinforced glass that achieves surface compression stress above 69 MPa. According to the manufacturer, this translates into an impact resistance approximately 2.5 times higher than conventional PV modules. The system has been engineered to withstand direct strikes from 55 mm hailstones at terminal velocities of 33.9 m/s, while also surviving 75 mm hail impacts at a 45-degree angle—specifications that place it among the more hail-resistant products currently targeting the utility-scale segment.
Mechanical robustness extends beyond hail protection. The module has been designed to address increasingly complex structural loading scenarios seen across diverse geographies. It is certified for static wind loads of +7,000 Pa downward pressure and -5,000 Pa uplift, enabling deployment in high-wind and hurricane-prone coastal areas. It also supports asymmetrical snow loading up to +6,600 Pa, which roughly corresponds to uneven accumulation approaching 7.2 feet, a parameter particularly relevant for mountainous or high-latitude installations. When deployed on tracker systems, the module retains certified structural performance at +3,600 Pa and -3,000 Pa, even with a reduced 790 mm purlin support configuration, reflecting its adaptation to modern single-axis tracker architectures.
While mechanical resilience is the headline feature, the electrical design remains consistent with Trinasolar’s established medium-format n-type platform. The Vertex N Shield is built around a 210R rectangular cell architecture using a 132 half-cut cell layout on an i-TOPCon monocrystalline platform. The module delivers a peak output of 620 W with a maximum efficiency of 23.0%, supported by a temperature coefficient of -0.29%/C. Its low-voltage design further enables longer string configurations, an approach commonly used to reduce balance-of-system costs in large-scale PV plants.
Dimensionally, the module measures 2382 mm × 1134 mm × 30 mm and weighs 39.7 kg. Electrically, it offers an open-circuit voltage of 49.6 V and a short-circuit current of 15.91 A, aligning with high-power utility-scale string design requirements.
On the reliability side, the module has undergone environmental stress testing with Kiwa PVEL, with reported validation against a range of long-term degradation mechanisms. These include potential-induced degradation (PID), light-induced degradation (LID), and light- and elevated temperature-induced degradation (LeTID), along with accelerated exposure testing for salt mist, ammonia, and high-dust conditions—factors that collectively define performance in harsh operating environments.
The module also carries UL 61730 Fire Type 30 certification and achieves Class A performance in standard fire safety evaluations, supporting compliance in regulated North American deployment environments. Trinasolar further backs the Vertex N Shield with a 30-year performance warranty, reinforcing its positioning in a segment where durability, risk mitigation, and lifecycle yield are increasingly central to project economics.
With the launch of Vertex N Shield, Trinasolar is clearly aiming to align higher mechanical robustness with the efficiency and power density expectations of modern utility-scale PV, as developers continue to prioritize survivability alongside energy yield in an increasingly volatile climate landscape.

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