Solar Now

Local solar firms team up to cut nonprofit’s utility costs by $11,000 a year  The Business Journals
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Renewable Energy
According to PV Magazine, the company NKS Solar One — a joint venture between Blueleaf Energy Philippines and NKS Energy Utilities, with a US$ 1.5 billion investment from the Australian group Macquarie — is building two floating solar parks in the Philippines: 162 MW on Lake Caliraya and 88 MW on Lake Lumot, both in the province of Laguna, southeast of Manila. Together, the two projects total 250 MW of capacity with commercial operation expected in the second quarter of 2026. What distinguishes NKS Solar One from any conventional solar park is not just the location over water.
It is the set of simultaneous benefits that the floating panels produce for the same reservoirs that support them: reduction of up to 70% in the water evaporation rate, suppression of algae blooms that degrade water quality, cooling of the panels by proximity to the water which increases generation efficiency, and production of clean energy without occupying any hectare of land in a country that, with 115 million inhabitants and 7,100 islands, has land available as one of the most contested resources.
The NREL — United States National Renewable Energy Laboratory — identified 584 floating solar installations around the world with a total capacity of 10 GW in September 2024. In less than a decade, the technology has gone from experiment to industry.
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The evaporation of reservoirs is one of the least discussed losses of natural resources in hydroelectric generation — and one of the most relevant in tropical regions like Brazil and the Philippines, where temperature and intense solar radiation combine to evaporate significant volumes of water throughout the year.
In tropical reservoirs, evaporation loss can represent between 5% and 15% of the total volume of water available for generation annually. In drought years, when reservoir levels are already compromised, this additional loss has a direct impact on generation capacity. The Itaipu reservoir, for example, has a surface area of approximately 1,350 km² — an area where annual evaporation can represent billions of liters of water that will never pass through the turbines.
Floating panels solve this problem by blocking direct solar radiation that heats the water’s surface. According to data from Power Prognosis, partial coverage of a reservoir with panels reduces water temperature and evaporation rate by up to 70% in covered areas. This not only conserves water for hydroelectric generation but also improves the reservoir’s reliability during periods of water scarcity — exactly when generation is most critical.
One of the physical advantages of floating solar that rarely appears in technical summaries — but has a measurable impact on energy production — is the cooling effect that the water surface exerts on the panels installed above it.
Photovoltaic panels lose efficiency as temperature rises. A panel operating at 65°C produces approximately 12% to 20% less energy than the same panel operating at 25°C — a thermal degradation that directly affects any installation in a tropical environment exposed to direct sunlight. In land-based parks during the Filipino or Brazilian summer, this loss of efficiency is routine and unavoidable.
Floating panels operate in a permanently cooler environment because the water surface beneath them continuously evaporates, absorbing heat through evaporation and maintaining the local microclimate cooler than on land. The additional efficiency estimated for floating installations compared to equivalent land-based installations ranges between 5% and 15%, depending on ambient temperature and wind speed over the lake surface. In terms of annual production, this difference can represent tens of gigawatt-hours additional without any extra capital cost.
NKS Solar One is the first major floating solar project in the Philippines — and one of the most complex in the Asian region as it involves two lakes in different municipalities connected to a single transmission substation.
Lake Caliraya will host the larger of the two parks, with 162 MW capacity. Lake Lumot will receive 88 MW. The two projects total 220 MWp of maximum output capacity, according to Rafael Macabiog, project manager at Blueleaf. The grid connection will be made via a 6 km 230 kV transmission line to the Lumban substation of NGCP — the national transmission company of the Philippines. The total project cost is estimated at PHP 15 billion, equivalent to approximately $260 million just for NKS Solar One, part of the total $1.5 billion portfolio that Blueleaf is investing in the Philippines.
The project received certification as an Energy Project of National Significance by the Filipino government — a classification that speeds up regulatory approvals and simplifies the licensing process. China Energy Engineering Corporation International signed an EPC contract for the Lake Caliraya project, while Xian Electric will be responsible for the substation. The expected production is approximately 200 million kWh per year for the Caliraya component alone, enough to supply more than 165,000 Filipino households with average consumption.
One of the benefits of floating solar that appears only in the most detailed technical studies — rarely in project announcements — is the suppression of algae blooms in reservoirs covered by the panels.
Algal blooms in reservoirs are a growing problem in tropical regions, where elevated water temperatures combined with nutrients from agricultural runoff create ideal conditions for the accelerated growth of cyanobacteria and other algae. The impact goes beyond environmental: intense blooms contaminate water with toxins, drastically increase treatment costs for human supply, and can reduce dissolved oxygen in the reservoir to the point of killing fish on a commercial scale.
Floating panels block the solar radiation that fuels algae growth, creating shaded areas where blooms cannot establish. The suppression of algae reduces water treatment costs for reservoirs serving riverside populations, improves the quality of water available to the hydroelectric plant itself — because excess algae damage turbines and filtration systems — and preserves the aquatic ecosystem that the local fishing community depends on.
Brazil has 1,300 hydroelectric reservoirs with a total surface area representing one of the world’s largest potentials for floating solar — and this potential remains practically unexplored.
Conservative estimates by Brazilian researchers indicate that covering just 5% of the surface of Brazil’s main reservoirs with floating panels would generate more than 100 GW of solar capacity — without occupying any land and with all the secondary benefits of reducing evaporation, suppressing algae, and natural cooling. For context: Brazil’s entire installed electricity generation capacity totaled 215 GW in 2024. Floating solar on 5% of the reservoirs would add almost half of that.
The Balbina reservoir in Amazonas — created by a hydroelectric plant now considered one of the biggest environmental mistakes in Brazilian energy history, for flooding 2,360 km² of forest to generate only 250 MW — has a surface area that alone could host dozens of gigawatts of floating solar. Itaipu, Tucuruí, Serra da Mesa, and Furnas have surfaces comparable to the entire Philippines. The model that Blueleaf, NKS Solar One, and CEEC are implementing in the Laguna lakes in 2026 is the same that could transform the environmental liabilities of Brazilian hydroelectric plants into energy assets without building a single new dam.
Floating solar went from a laboratory curiosity to a global industry in less than fifteen years. The NREL documented 584 installations with a total capacity of 10 GW in September 2024 — a number that did not exist as a generation category in 2015.
China dominates the market, with the largest floating solar park in the world: the Huainan plant in Anhui, with 150 MW installed over a flooded coal mine — another example of dual utility of environmental liability infrastructure. Japan has dozens of installations in decommissioned nuclear and hydroelectric plant reservoirs. South Korea, the Netherlands, and India have projects at different stages. The global floating solar market was valued at over $3 billion in 2023 with growth projections above 20% per year until 2030, according to Allied Market Research.
What unites all these projects — from Lake Caliraya in the Philippines to the Huainan reservoir in China, from the unexplored potential of Balbina in the Amazon to the Cirata hydroelectric plant in Indonesia, inaugurated in November 2023 with 192 MW — is the same logic that India’s initiative of covering irrigation canals with solar panels articulates: the water infrastructure that was built for a single purpose can generate energy, save water, and improve the ecosystem at the same time, as long as someone decides to install panels where there was previously only a surface reflecting sunlight to the sky.
Débora Araújo is a content writer at Click Petróleo e Gás, with over two years of experience in content production and more than a thousand articles published on technology, the job market, geopolitics, industry, construction, general interest topics, and other subjects. Her focus is on producing accessible, well-researched content of broad appeal. Story ideas, corrections, or messages can be sent to contato.deboraaraujo.news@gmail.com
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BusinessDay
Rekiyah Mohammed
May 15, 2026
epa01837390 Workers labor in a factory of a Chinese solar panel maker in Hangzhou in east China’s Zhejiang province 26 August 2009. Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers have asserted a major role in halfing the cost of solar panels over the last year, according to a recent report on The New York Times. EPA/STR
How small, local energy systems are solving a problem the national grid has struggled with for decades.
In the quiet village of Mpape, just a few kilometers from the sprawling luxury of Abuja, the sun sets with a heavy finality. A shop owner once closed his business at dusk. Not because he wanted to, but because darkness gave him no choice. Fuel for his generator was too expensive, and for the residents here, the “National Grid” was a myth, a series of wires that passed over their heads but never reached their homes. Today, his shop stays open into the night. A small solar-powered system hums quietly nearby, powering his lights, a fan, and even a charging point for customers. Business is better. Life is different. Minigrids are the shortcut to energy justice.
However, this shop owner’s success is an exception to a frustrating rule. For decades, Nigeria’s electricity story has been one of centralized struggle, where the focus on big power has left small communities in the dark. In many parts of Nigeria, electricity is still treated like a privilege instead of a basic need. Despite being rich in natural gas, the country continues to face unreliable power supply.  Nigeria had chased the dream of universal electrification through grid extension. It was a noble but flawed strategy. Stretching high-voltage cables across difficult terrain to reach a village of 500 people is prohibitively expensive and technically inefficient.
According to the World Bank, 85 million Nigerians, 45% of the population, still lack access to the electricity grid. Larger disparities exist in access to electricity between urban areas (84%) and rural ones (26%). Power deficit affects households, businesses, and key public buildings such as hospitals. It is estimated that 40% of primary health centres, which mainly serve rural areas, lack enough power to conduct standard operating procedures.
For most Nigerians living outside major cities, electricity is not just unreliable; it is simply unavailable. And for those with access to the grid, reliability is a myth. Nigeria’s national electricity grid has remained highly unstable, with repeated system failures disrupting power supply across the country. Between May 2023 and early 2026, the grid has recorded no fewer than 20 collapses, according to industry data. The critical electricity infrastructure financing gap estimated at $100 billion (about twice the country’s 2026 federal budget) annually over the next 30 years, makes grid-based electricity expansion increasingly challenging.

This is where minigrids come in.
Minigrids are small, local power systems that generate and distribute electricity within a community. Instead of waiting for the national grid to reach every community, a process that is slow and expensive, minigrids bring power directly to where people live. Most are powered by solar energy, making them cleaner, quieter, and cheaper to maintain over time compared to diesel generators.
When minigrids power productive activities, like agro-processing, tailoring, welding, or small-scale manufacturing, they create income streams that help communities sustain and expand their energy use. Field engagements and community-level feedback consistently highlight this link between energy and livelihoods. Where electricity supports income generation, adoption is higher, and systems are more sustainable.
The Path Forward: Innovation and Ownership

Paraphrasing the words of the National Coordinator of the Resource Justice Network Nigeria at a 2025 stakeholder renewable energy roundtable organized by BudgIT, the success of the energy transition will not be measured solely by the total megawatts added to the national grid, but by the extent to which it reduces inequality and creates opportunities for the marginalized.

 According to BudgIT’s analysis, at least N43.17 billion across 35 projects was allocated to minigrid (mostly solar) development in the 2025 budget. Certainly, the government recognizes that decentralised electricity systems are key to improving access across the country. But the government cannot achieve this on its own, especially given the paucity of public funds and rising public debt.
To make this dream a reality for the 80 million Nigerians still in the dark, we need more than just technology; we need innovative financing and private sector investors. Pay-as-you-go solar systems and microfinance schemes contribute to lowering the barriers to entry for low-income households. By reducing reliance on expensive and polluting diesel generators, these approaches ease financial pressure while promoting environmental sustainability.
But the issue also goes beyond access. As emphasized at BudgIT’s energy transition analysis, a “Just Transition“ must prioritize the productive use of energy. Reliable electricity should be a driver of development, enabling small businesses to expand and improve service delivery in sectors like healthcare and education.
Meaningful community participation must also be embedded into the design of these projects especially in rural communities. BudgIT’s studies and community engagements provide evidence that engaging local communities in decision-making ensures solutions are tailored to their needs and fosters a sense of ownership that enhances sustainability. There is greater trust, stronger ownership, and better maintenance of infrastructure over time.
Ultimately, Nigeria’s rural electrification challenge is complex, but it is not impossible to solve. The traditional approach of waiting for the national grid to expand everywhere has left too many people behind. Minigrids offer a different path: one that is faster, more flexible, and better suited to the realities on the ground.

Finally, minigrids will not replace the national grid. But they do not need to. What they offer is something just as important: a practical way to reach communities that have waited too long, using solutions that are faster, cleaner, and more responsive to their realities. “Because at the end of the day, electricity is more than wires and poles. It is about dignity. It is about opportunity. And for millions of Nigerians still living in the dark, it is about finally being seen”.
 If Nigeria gets it right with the right mix of innovation, inclusion and accountability, minigrids could help close one of the country’s most persistent gaps, one community at a time.
Rekiyah Mohammed is a Program Officer with the Natural Resource and Climate Governance team at BudgIT.

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Home » News » Government » India Launches 200 MW Solar Module Manufacturing Line to Boost Clean Energy and Make in India
New Delhi: India’s clean energy sector received a major boost after the launch of the 200 MW Solar Module Manufacturing Line of Central Electronics Limited (CEL). Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh dedicated the new facility to the nation and said renewable energy will play a key role in helping India achieve its net-zero emissions target by 2070.
The new solar manufacturing line is part of India’s larger plan to increase domestic solar production, reduce import dependence, and support the vision of “Viksit Bharat 2047.” The project highlights India’s growing focus on indigenous technology and clean energy manufacturing.
The newly inaugurated facility belongs to Central Electronics Limited, a government-owned enterprise working in solar and strategic electronics sectors.
Read also: NTPC and EDF Sign MoU to Explore Nuclear Power Projects in India with Focus on Clean Energy Expansion
Key highlights of the project:
According to official information, the Request for Proposal (RFP) for the project was issued on April 24, 2025, and the plant became operational within a year.
During the inauguration event, Dr. Jitendra Singh said India is rapidly expanding in several non-fossil energy sectors, including:
He also said every renewable energy source has its own importance and India is moving ahead with an integrated clean energy strategy.
The minister described the new solar line as:
The launch of this manufacturing line is important for several reasons.
India is trying to reduce dependence on imported solar equipment. The new facility will help improve local production capacity and strengthen supply chains.
India has set a target to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2070. Expanding renewable energy infrastructure is necessary to meet this target.
The project supports the government’s Make in India initiative by promoting local manufacturing and indigenous technologies.
CEL is also expanding into:
Dr. Jitendra Singh recalled that India’s first solar cell was manufactured by CEL in 1977, while the country’s first solar plant was established by the organisation in 1979.
Founded in 1974, CEL has played an important role in solar photovoltaic technology, railway electronics, and defence-related systems in India.
The minister also highlighted how CEL transformed from an organisation once facing disinvestment into a profit-making Mini Ratna PSU.
The event also included technology collaboration initiatives between CSIR laboratories and CEL.
Important projects discussed included:
Officials said the new Drishti system is now fully indigenous, supporting India’s self-reliance goals in strategic technology sectors.
Read also: ONGC Launches India’s First Geothermal Pilot at Ankleshwar, Converts Abandoned Well into 450 kW Clean Energy 

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CIM Group announced today the launch of Permanent Power Company (the “Company”), a national power platform, following a series of recent transactions including securing a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) and a $400 million financing commitment.
Permanent Power Company reflects the evolution of CIM Group’s power business from a collection of assets into a long-term power platform designed for scale, durability and sustained ownership across a broader geography and portfolio of assets. In order to best meet the growing needs of clients, the Company consolidates operating solar generation, energy storage, transmission infrastructure and development?stage projects under one platform, providing greater operational efficiency, financing flexibility and the foundation for expansion nationwide.
The Company believes there is significant and growing demand for power generation and energy storage, and plans to continue developing, acquiring and operating power projects across the U.S. It has an active pipeline of projects and is evaluating a range of opportunities, with a strategic focus on assets located in qualified rural Opportunity Zones.
“Permanent Power Company is a power platform focused on long-term growth and a stable energy supply, domestic power generation, energy storage and transmission,” said Avi Shemesh, Co-Founder and Principal, CIM Group. “Securing this significant, long-term PPA with the regulated power division of a $200 billion global energy supermajor underscores the momentum behind this platform and supports our ability to deliver power to our clients at significant scale.”
Long-Term Power Purchase Agreement with a Regulated Energy Service Provider
Permanent Power Company recently signed a long?term PPA with an investment-grade, regulated energy service provider, for the entire capacity of solar generation and battery storage at the Grape project. The agreement covers 100 percent of the project’s 246 MW of solar PV capacity and 150 MW (600 MWh) of BESS capacity, providing long?term contracted revenue from an investment?grade counterparty.
Permanent Power Company currently operates 652 MW of solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and 360 MW (1,440 MWh) of battery energy storage systems (BESS), as well as 15 miles of transmission lines in California. It also has one project under construction, Grape, and one construction ready project, Daylight, with a combined 550 MW solar PV power generation capacity and 330 MW (1,320 MWh) of BESS. Upon completion, the portfolio is expected to comprise approximately 1,200 MW solar PV and 690 MW (2,760 MWh) of BESS.
The Grape and Daylight projects are located within Westlands Solar Park, one of the largest permitted solar parks in the U.S. encompassing more than 20,000 acres in California’s San Joaquin Valley.
$400 Million Financing from HPS Investment Partners
In further support of the platform’s scale and commercial strength, Permanent Power Company secured a $400 million financing commitment from funds and accounts managed by HPS Investment Partners, part of BlackRock Private Financing Solutions, a leading global, credit-focused alternative investment firm that seeks to provide creative capital solutions.
The financing serves as a major milestone that advances the Company’s strategic growth plan focused on delivering power, energy storage and transmission solutions across the U.S. It will help the Company accelerate development of Grape and Daylight while also providing resources to expand its pipeline through strategic acquisitions of future projects.
Together, the long?term PPA and the $400 million financing highlight confidence from strategic energy partners and capital markets, supporting Permanent Power Company’s development as a scaled platform serving commercial and institutional customers.
About Permanent Power Company
Permanent Power Company was formed to build upon CIM Group’s energy platform with an initial portfolio of approximately 1,200 MW of solar photovoltaic systems, 690 MW (2,760 MWh) of battery energy storage systems capacity, and 15 miles of transmission infrastructure in California. Permanent Power Company is a national enterprise focused on power initiatives such as energy reliability with long?term ownership, operation and expansion of power assets, including projects located in qualified rural Opportunity Zones across the United States.
About CIM Group
CIM is a community-focused real estate and infrastructure owner, operator, lender and developer. Since 1994, CIM has sought to create value in projects and positively impact the lives of people in communities across the Americas by delivering more than $60 billion of essential real estate and infrastructure projects. CIM’s diverse team of experts applies its broad knowledge and disciplined approach through hands-on management of real assets from due diligence to operations through disposition. CIM strives to make a meaningful difference in the world by executing key environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and enhancing each community in which it invests. For more information, visit www.cimgroup.com.

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50 times growth in 10 years: How India is scaling up its Solar capacity, working towards ending dependency on China and consistently beating the goals it sets  OpIndia
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Large solar array being installed at Vermilion Country School  The Timberjay
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Solar power has gotten cheap enough that putting up panels is among the cheapest ways of providing energy. This isn’t just the case for bulk electricity on a power grid, either; even small devices are easier and cheaper to power with solar than ever before. For example, landscape lighting which once relied on 12V or 24V DC wires all over one’s yard with a transformer and power supply hidden somewhere have partially been converted to simpler individual solar-powered lights now. These small devices can also be given additional capabilities as [Mauro] demonstrates.
In this case, [Mauro]’s goal was to add on-demand lighting to a solar-powered light which was otherwise motion-activated only. To do this, they added a NRF24L01+ radio inside the light’s housing paired with an STM32 microcontroller. This secondary system is largely separated from the existing control circuitry with the exception of being able to switch the lights and receiving its power from the same solar panel. [Mauro] also created a small library to help with communicating with these new modules, whether that’s using a home automation system like Home Assistant or some other method.
Although adding in a few capabilities to inexpensive solar lighting might seem simple on the surface, a project like this is a gateway to adding in all kinds of interesting features to things with built-in solar panels and lots of free space in their cases. The best example here is the addition of a Meshtastic node to one of these lights, making it convenient and stealthy, but we could also see adding in other remote hardware to a landscape lighting module like a gate sensor or a plant health monitoring system.
a gateway to adding in all kinds of interesting features
Not to mention that since they are individually addressable, I can now flicker them on and off chaotically “Stranger Things” style to creep out trespassers
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The new standards, DNV‑ST‑C108 Structural design of floats for floating photovoltaic systems and DNV‑ST‑E309 Station keeping of floating solar photovoltaic systems, are complemented by DNV‑RP‑0584  Design, development and operation of floating solar photovoltaic systems, the world’s first recommended practice on FPV originally released in 2021 and with an update due in June 2026.
Together, the documents provide a comprehensive and aligned framework for the design, analysis, operation, and risk management of FPV systems across their full life cycle, from component to system level.
Floating solar is increasingly being deployed on inland and near‑shore water bodies as developers seek to expand renewable capacity while reducing competition for land. As projects scale up, technical robustness and consistency in engineering practices become critical to investor confidence, insurability, and long-term asset performance. Indeed, the floating solar market is expected to grow from USD 7.9 billion in 2026 to USD 9.2 billion by 2035, at a CAGR of 1.75.
“Floating solar is moving from niche applications to large-scale infrastructure,” said Ditlev Engel, CEO, Energy Systems at DNV. “These new standards are designed to help the industry manage risk, improve reliability, and enable innovation while maintaining appropriate safety margins.”
DNV‑ST‑C108 defines technical requirements for the structural design and qualification of FPV float structures, addressing both short‑term and long‑term performance. It introduces a flexible, performance-based design approach that aligns engineering and testing requirements with the potential consequences of float failure, while supporting cost‑effective and innovative solutions. The standard includes requirements covering safety classification, design basis, material qualification, structural design, testing and corrosion protection, with particular attention to non‑metallic materials and degradation due to solar irradiation.
DNV‑ST‑E309 establishes principles and methodologies for the design of mooring and station-keeping systems for floating solar applications. It provides guidance on design loads, load combinations, and analysis procedures, and includes specific requirements for components and system configurations to reduce the risk of failure across the station-keeping system. A failure modes, effects, and criticality analysis forms the basis for risk assessment within the standard, while safety factors are calibrated through structural reliability analysis to ensure alignment between methodological approach and risk level.
DNV‑RP‑0584 recommended practice brings together requirements, recommendations, and guidelines for the design, development, operation, and decommissioning of FPV systems. It is intended to be applicable across major global markets and focuses primarily on FPV systems in sheltered inland and near‑shore water bodies, while explicitly defining the limits of applicability for harsher offshore environments, where it is only applicable as general guidance or reference document.
The introduction of the two new standards positions the RP as complementary system-level guidance rather than a primary design-level reference.
“The principles and terminology used across the two standards are aligned, providing industry stakeholders with a coherent and consistent set of guidance documents for floating solar photovoltaic systems,” concluded Daniel Pardo Tovar, Global Lead Floating Solar, Energy Systems at DNV “By creating a common technical language and a clear link between component‑level requirements and system‑level guidance, DNV is helping developers, owners, insurers and regulators work from the same foundation.”
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GOLDBECK SOLAR has been named a The smarter E AWARD 2026 finalist for HeliomatiX in the Photovoltaics category. HeliomatiX is a utility-scale PV construction automation system that links AssemblyHub, autonomous electric Crawlers, and AMoS within one site workflow. AssemblyHub preassembles module rails and up to four modules in portrait mode, while checking module damage, scanning serial numbers, and securing elements before transport. Autonomous Crawlers move these preassembled elements across slopes, mud, and harsh site conditions. AMoS uses sensors, a precision gripper, alignment, and laser-based scanning to mount up to 4 modules at once. HeliomatiX is focused on fixed-tilt installations and differs from existing 1P tracker automation systems. The system can cut module assembly labor needs by up to 85%, while reducing on-site transport, packaging waste, noise, and emissions. The smarter E AWARD 2026 winners will be honored on June 22 at the International Congress Center, Messe München.

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The $220 million project has a capacity of 305 MW and is located in the province of Mendoza, in the sunny Cuyo region.
Image: Prensa Gobierno de Mendoza
From pv magazine Latam
The province of Mendoza has inaugurated the El Quemado Solar Park, located in the department of Las Heras, in the province of Mendoza, in the sunny Cuyo region.
With an installed capacity of 360 MW, the facility is now the largest photovoltaic plant in Argentina. Prior to the commissioning, the country’s largest solar facity was the 315 MW Cauchari complex.
Originally developed by the provincial utility Empresa Mendocina de Energía Sociedad Anónima (Emesa), the $220 million project was subsequently acquired and built by YPF Luz. The first 100 MW unit entered commercial operation in December last year.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Governor Alfredo Cornejo, YPF President and CEO Horacio Marín, and Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni. Officials highlighted that El Quemado is the first renewable energy project approved under Argentina’s Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), designed to attract investments through fiscal, customs, and foreign exchange incentives.
The plant spans approximately 620 hectares and comprises more than 511,000 bifacial solar modules, 5,800 trackers, 1,170 inverters, and 40 transformer stations. It has an estimated capacity factor of 31.4%. According to official estimates, annual generation will be sufficient to cover residential demand in the city of Mendoza, as well as the departments of Las Heras and Lavalle.
The grid connection works included a new transformer station linked to the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI), as well as a substation equipped with GIS technology and an outgoing feeder for three 220 kV/33 kV transformers. The project also included 180 km of fiber-optic cabling for control and protection systems.
Construction lasted 18 months and peaked at more than 350 workers, with 87% of labor sourced locally. Key technology suppliers included JinkoSolar, Arctech Solar, and Huawei.
With El Quemado now online, Mendoza exceeds 700 MW of installed solar capacity and is moving toward a provincial pipeline projected to surpass 1 GW. Among upcoming developments are the Anchoris and San Rafael projects, each with 180 MW of capacity.
Several power purchase agreements (PPAs) have meanwhile been secured. In December last year, YPF Luz signed an agreement with Molinos Río de la Plata to extend its renewable supply contract to 2030, increasing the company’s clean energy share to up to 80%, with the potential to reach 100% in the future. The agreement builds on a prior contract signed in September 2023, which included the 100 MW Zonda Solar Park in San Juan, and now incorporates generation from El Quemado.
In March this year, YPF Luz signed a three-year agreement with Skyonline, an Argentine technology company specializing in digital infrastructure, to supply approximately 7,200 MWh annually. The contract will cover 85% of the electricity demand of Skyonline’s data center in downtown Buenos Aires, supplied through generation from El Quemado and the General Levalle Solar Park in Córdoba.
In April, YPF Luz also announced an agreement with Molinos Basile, covering 50% of the company’s electricity demand, equivalent to around 2,200 MWh per year.
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Century-Old Brick Townhouse Expansions  Trend Hunter
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The Montreal-based company is working through phase 1 of a project partially funded by the California Energy Commission, and has just began serving the Quebec market. As it works to prove its technology can support the California grid and its homeowner customers, the company is planning for phase 2.
Image: dcbel
Montreal-based smart energy technology company dcbel (pronounced like “decibel”) is in the process of implementing a California program it calls Ready Deployment with Dynamic Rates, largely funded by the California Energy Commission (CEC) through an initiative called Responsive, Easy Charging Products with Dynamic Signals (REDWDS).
The REDWDS program is designed to accelerate the development and deployment of easy-to-use EV charging products that respond to remote signals to support grid reliability and decarbonization goals.
Dcbel’s key technology is the Ara Home Energy Station, a hardware hub that combines a bidirectional electric vehicle charger, a solar inverter, and a stationary battery management system into a single enclosure. 
Powered by the company’s Orchestrate software, the Ara system is designed to learn household energy patterns to optimize power consumption, helping homeowners save money on a dynamic rate schedule. In addition, the system enables vehicle-to-home backup power during grid outages and can export stored energy back to the grid when electricity prices are high.
Under phase 1 of the Ready Deployment with Dynamic Rates program, which runs through December 31, 2026, the company plans to install 200 Ara stations at single-family homes to demonstrate that its products are capable of participation in energy transactions as part of dynamic rate pilot programs.
The dynamic rates programs are experimental utility rate structures that are currently being tested by the state’s investor-owned utilities. The programs use hourly rates that change daily based on expected grid conditions, allowing customers who can shift their usage to lower cost periods to save money.
Solutions like the dcbel Ara system automate this shifting, allowing a customer’s solar and EV battery to power the home or even export power when prices are highest.
Program details for California homeowners 
According to the dcbel website, homeowners who participate in the California program can receive up to $13,800 in rebates, including over $10,000 for the Ara unit and installation costs, as well as rebates for interconnection, switching to a dynamic rate plan and owning a bidirectional EV. 
While the company is nearing the limit of 200 participants, spots in the program remain available to homeowners who qualify.
“Our interest is in a broad collection of participants,” said Diana Gilmore, U.S. programs lead at dcbel, in an interview with pv magazine USA. Gilmore said the company is looking for homeowners with “diverse use cases” in various places throughout the state, so it can prove its technology works for many different kinds of homeowners.
Participating homeowners can use the Ara equipment to charge (and discharge) their bidirectional-capable electric car to perform peak shaving (using stored energy to avoid drawing from the grid during peak times), and get access to backup power for their homes. 
Gilmore says the Ara technology works with any car that uses the ISO 15118 bidirectional standard. The company’s CEC grant award letter specifically lists the Nissan Leaf and Volvo EX90 as compatible cars for phase 1. Cars from Mitsubishi, GM, Hyundai and others are listed as compatible cars for planned phase 2 deployments.
Additionally, Gilmore says dcbel has tested Ara for compatibility with cars from manufacturers that prefer not to publicly disclose that their cars are capable of the technology.
Future CEC funding 
The CEC awarded dcbel with more than $52 million in potential funding under the REDWDS initiative in early 2024, but only $2,466,148 in funding for phase 1 of the project was guaranteed. Additional funding of $49,923,904 is available for phase 2 only if dcbel meets certain performance metrics during phase 1.
To qualify for the phase 2 funding, the company must complete the initial deployment to homeowners with electric vehicles, with at least 50% of those customers residing in ZIP codes that represent disadvantaged or low-income communities. The company must also demonstrate that its technology works to perform energy transactions and track and report data to the CEC.
If everything goes well, dcbel plans to expand its offering to thousands of single family homes as part of phase 2. But first, the company must successfully complete phase 1 and obtain permission from the executive director the CEC to proceed to phase 2. 
Additionally, stipulations in the initial award make it clear that funding for the REDWDS program beyond phase 1 is not guaranteed. 
The Clean Transportation Program, under which the CEC administers REDWDS funding, is currently expected to deliver $95.2 million per year through 2028-29, but the state leaders have recently been grappling with a projected $24 billion budget shortfall over the next two years. A revised budget recently released by Governor Gavin Newsom eliminates the shortfall and makes no changes to CEC funding.
For the time being, dcbel is focusing on executing its phase 1 California plan, as well as serving homeowners in Quebec, where it announced it would enter the market in April.
“We’re at the point where the rubber is hitting the road, so to speak,” said Gilmore. “The technology is being installed at these homes. For anyone who’s been looking forward to this: now is the time. It’s coming to fruition, and that’s very exciting for us.”
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“The path to home energy independence is becoming clearer…”
Photo Credit: Instagram
With fuel prices across the U.S. seeing major increases, more and more homeowners are looking for smart upgrades to dodge rising costs. 
Luckily, the experts at EnergySage offered a few helpful tips for people looking to save. 
“Gas prices just jumped $0.50 a gallon because of a war overseas,” Kristina Zagame, senior content producer at EnergySage, said in a short Instagram video. “Americans have been at the mercy of global energy markets for over 50 years.” 
A post shared by EnergySage (@energysage_official)
However, Zagame explained that consumers today have options to avoid absorbing the higher costs tied to conflict or inflation.
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
“We have real alternatives,” Zagame said. “Sunlight doesn’t travel through pipelines. Stored solar energy in a battery can’t be blocked by a military conflict, and your home can run on both.” 
Solar panels and batteries are a tried-and-true method to reduce your home energy costs, and during times of energy instability, they can offer even greater savings on utility bills — even more so if you drive an electric vehicle or plug-in hybrid and can drive off the effectively free power of the sun. 
If you’re curious about how a solar panel upgrade can save you money in the long term, connect with the experts at EnergySage to get started with quick installation quotes. 
Zagame continued by explaining that adopting solar panels and pairing them with energy-efficient appliances and EVs can help you take control of your energy needs and help you steer clear of the energy rate rollercoaster. 
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
“The path to home energy independence is becoming clearer: solar, batteries, EVs, and electrified homes that give people more control over their bills,” the video’s caption said. 
With more Americans feeling the pressure of increased fuel and living costs, those with solar can see as much as six figures in savings over the lifetime of their system. 
To see how much you can save with solar panels in your area, check out the free resources from EnergySage. Homeowners who connect with EnergySage experts can save as much as $10,000 on installation costs. 
EnergySage even has a helpful mapping tool that shows the average cost of solar in your area and details available incentives, so you can snag the best price possible for an upgrade. 
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Even better, if you’re looking to go fully off-grid or avoid peak energy rates, a battery backup could be perfect to pair with solar panels. EnergySage can help you get started there, too, with free, helpful home battery information. 
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The eighth edition of kWh Analytics’ Solar Risk Assessment identifies equipment-triggered fires, penalties from regulators, and battery measurement errors as the newest challenges to returns from renewable energy assets.
According to the report, although severe weather continues to be a significant driver of financial losses, the emerging danger comes from within the facility itself. The sector has traditionally concentrated on protecting against wildfires, yet merely 4% of photovoltaic fire loss incidents happen in zones with high wildfire risk. Conversely, 84% of fire incidents are brushfires caused by equipment, meaning the solar hardware itself is the ignition source.
Nextpower points out a critical shortfall in present maintenance routines: 79% of high-risk photovoltaic connector and fuse problems identified show no detectable heat signature during inspections. Thermal drones, commonly used to find module-level defects, frequently miss balance-of-system issues where no measurable heat exists prior to failure. Nextpower contends that high-resolution visual checks must supplement thermography to lower the occurrence of fires.
Test results from Kiwa PVEL and Kiwa PI Berlin reveal that 30% of manufacturers experience junction box failures during reliability testing, which elevates fire risk across entire portfolios. The report advises stakeholders to emphasize production oversight and pre-shipment inspections to confirm manufacturing quality.
GameChange Solar reports that current IEC 62782 standards for single-axis tracker design underestimate the cyclical loading encountered during an actual hurricane by a factor of eight. Modeling conducted by CPP Wind Engineering Consultants for GameChange Solar indicates that a site during Hurricane Ian likely endured over 8,000 cycles with pressures reaching 1,400 Pa, whereas the standard mandates only 1,000 cycles at 1,000 Pa. Tests demonstrated that common rail designs passed the standard test but developed visible cracks under more realistic cyclical loading conditions.
Vaisala Xweather reports that in 2025, 32% more US wind turbines were struck by four or more lightning strokes compared to the prior year, underscoring the need for stronger grounding and protection measures.
Hail remains the costliest type of insured loss for the solar industry. Research from kWh Analytics and GroundWork Renewables shows that standard 2 mm glass modules are no longer adequate for 52% of the contiguous United States to maintain risk below an acceptable loss threshold. In the highest-risk zones, covering 13% of the US, both hail-resistant modules and robust stow protocols are necessary, with robust stow defined as achieving a tilt of 70 degrees or more during a storm. Software-based stow can fail if operational procedures are insufficient. GroundWork Renewables testing confirms that hail-resistant constructions using 2.5 mm or 3.2 mm glass have significantly lower failure probabilities.
Above Surveying examined data from over 3,000 assets and discovered that thermal anomalies do not follow a linear degradation trajectory. Defect rates, including cell cracks and busbar peeling, increase markedly after year seven, creating substantial long-term financial risk for projects that assume a constant degradation rate over a 30-year lifespan.
ACCURE Battery Intelligence finds that state-of-charge inaccuracies in lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries can cost operators more than $1 million per GWh each year in dynamic markets such as ERCOT, because the flat voltage curve makes it challenging for standard management systems to provide a dependable view of available energy. PowerUp reports that 75% of utility-scale battery sites show early signs of HVAC-related thermal anomalies, which can lead to thermal runaway if not addressed.
Crux reports that new rules regarding prohibited foreign entities take effect in 2026, yet only 38% of developers feel fully prepared to comply. Vaisala notes that failing to meet heightened Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cybersecurity and regulatory standards can result in penalties of $1 million per day for renewable energy developers. CAC highlights that tax insurance underwriters are tightening conditions, with 75% of underwriters refusing to cover valuation step-ups above 25%, which creates a limitation for project financing.
The report concludes that as the industry expands, risks are becoming more localized, more technical, and more costly, necessitating a strategy grounded in detailed, field-verified data.
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Global solar PV capacity reached around 2,974 GW by end-2025, with nearly 698 GW added in 2025. The sector, however, is shifting from rapid deployment to integration challenges, as high penetration rates drive curtailment, storage demand, grid constraints, and evolving policy and market designs.
Solar on a warehouse.
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From pv magazine Global
It took the solar industry more than 40 years to install its first terawatt of capacity. It took less than three years to nearly triple that. Global cumulative installed PV capacity reached approximately 2,974 GW by the end of 2025, according to the IEA Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme’s 13th annual Snapshot of Global PV Markets (find the accompanying fact sheet here).
Annual installations in 2025 reached an estimated 698 GWp — confirmed figures of at least 608 GWp plus a further 90 GWp identified through expert estimates — representing 16% growth over 2025. That sounds impressive until you compare it to the 28% growth recorded in 2024 and the staggering 93% surge in 2023. The market is still expanding, but the pace is moderating.
China remains dominant but growth rates are slowing
China accounted for approximately 60% of new global capacity in 2025, installing up to 415 GWp. China’s annual additions alone exceeded the entire global market as recently as 2022.
The EU held second place with 66 GW,  similar to 2024’s 65 GW in 2024, while India leaped to third with 56 GW thanks to accelerating utility-scale deployment ahead of domestic content deadlines and expanding distributed solar support policies. The USA slipped to fourth at 43 GW, its first time outside the top three since 2019. The American slowdown is attributed to rising costs for structural and electrical components, grid interconnection bottlenecks, higher interest rates, and policy uncertainty accompanying the change of administration.
Beyond the top four, the rankings reveal a genuinely diversifying market. 39 countries installed at least 1 GW in 2025, up from 33 in 2024. Saudi Arabia entered the top ten for the first time, commissioning several very large utility-scale projects, while Pakistan, despite a measure of uncertainty in estimated volumes, remained among the largest annual markets, almost entirely in the distributed segment driven by low-cost imported modules.
Module prices
One of the report’s most striking observations is the deepening paradox at the heart of the global supply chain. Module prices in China fell by more than 60% from early 2023 levels, supporting deployment across virtually every market. Yet this same price collapse drove manufacturer margins to the floor, with cumulative losses among Chinese module producers approaching USD 5 billion from early 2024 onward.
The report is direct about the consequences: this divergence between strong market growth and constrained industrial profitability is a defining feature of the sector, with real implications for warranty exposure, bankability, and long-term operations and maintenance under sustained price compression. In plain terms, buying cheap modules today may come with hidden costs if the manufacturer cannot honour its 25-year warranty.
Under these conditions, deployment bottlenecks in a growing number of markets shifted away from module CAPEX and increasingly towards permitting, grid connection, grid congestion and the evaluation of curtailment and negative price risk. IEA PVPS also notes that curtailment, negative prices and grid access constraints are becoming more material as penetration rates rise.
Penetration rate challenges
Perhaps the most significant data in the report concerns PV penetration. Global theoretical PV penetration reached approximately 10.5% of electricity demand and 12.0% of electricity consumption in 2026, based on installed capacity at the end of 2025. Thirty-five countries now theoretically exceed 10% penetration, up from 27 in 2024 and just 18 in 2023.
At the top sit Greece and Spain, both at or above 31% of electricity demand, though the report notes that curtailment in Greece means actual delivered penetration is meaningfully lower. Pakistan could be approaching 28%, though between the uncertainty in estimated installation volumes and grid instability, a significant but unknown volume is also being curtailed. Cyprus, Lithuania, Chile, the Netherlands, Australia, and Germany all sit above 18%.
Even the two largest markets are crossing meaningful thresholds: the EU is approaching 15% penetration, while China has surpassed 13%. At these levels, system-level effects like curtailment, negative prices, and grid voltage issues are becoming routine operational realities rather than edge cases. The report’s conclusion is pointed: the key question for PV markets is no longer simply the scale of deployment, but the conditions under which additional capacity can be integrated into reliable and economically sustainable electricity systems.
Integration
The structural shift the report describes has sweeping implications for policy, investment, and system design.
On the policy side, feed-in tariffs and simple volume-based tenders are giving way to more complex instruments. China has moved utility-scale solar to market-based pricing. Several countries are introducing storage mandates — India now requires storage to be paired with new utility-scale tenders, China’s new distributed PV rules demand that projects be “monitorable, measurable, adjustable and controllable.” Spain’s 11 regional governments launched fiscal subsidy programmes for self-consumption in 2025 even as national policy cooled on export remuneration. Austria is exempting storage from grid fees where it demonstrably serves system stability.
On the commercial side, PPA structures are evolving from simple long-term electricity price hedging tools towards arrangements that must increasingly reflect counterparty risk, flexibility needs and system value. In North America, large technology companies signed major utility-scale solar PPAs in 2025, while in Australia volumes secured for greenfield solar remained significant as mining and other large industrial consumers pursued long-term decarbonisation and cost-stability objectives. In Saudi Arabia, five solar PPAs totalling 12GW were signed over the same period. Data centres and industrial consumers are emerging as a significant driver of contracted solar demand globally.
The rise of co-located solar-plus-storage is also beginning to complicate the industry’s own reporting conventions. The report highlights the AC/DC accounting problem: as DC-to-AC ratios on utility-scale projects push above 1.5 — and in solar-plus-storage projects beyond 1.7 — the gap between AC reported and real DC installed capacity grows. This is not a trivial issue; at current market scale, methodological differences between IEA, IRENA, PVPS, and BNEF datasets can represent several tens of gigawatts.
PV and the broader transition
In 2025, PV represented more than three-quarters of new renewable generation capacity added worldwide, and around 60% of new renewable electricity generation. Its share of installed capacity continues to outpace its share of generation, reflecting its lower average capacity factor compared to wind or hydro — but the trajectory is clear.
The report illustrates an increasingly tight three-way convergence between annual PV additions, stationary battery storage deployment, and light EV sales, all of which accelerated sharply after 2021. These are no longer separate markets, but reinforcing components of the same energy transition, each making the others more valuable — PV charging EVs and batteries, batteries shifting PV output to higher-value hours, EVs providing flexible demand that smooths grid balancing. The report also points out that over 300 GW of PV is now more than a decade old, making inverter replacement, repowering, and end-of-life recycling immediate operational concerns rather than future abstractions.
What 2026 holds
The near-term outlook is shaped by challenges  on several fronts. The USA entered 2026 in a volatile trade and policy environment, with tariff pressures increasing procurement costs across the solar supply chain even as domestic manufacturing capacity continues to expand under the Inflation Reduction Act. France faces potential slowdown as shifting political priorities reshape national energy policy. India is expected to remain one of the largest growth markets, though grid absorption and the pace of storage development will determine how much new capacity can actually be integrated.
China, meanwhile, is not retreating from scale but rather reorienting, shifting toward stronger integration with storage, grid capacity, and smart-system infrastructure. Whether the rest of the world’s grids, policy frameworks, and financing structures can keep pace with a market that is closer and closer to 1 TW per year is the defining question of the solar decade now underway.
Author: Bettina Sauer
This article is part of a monthly column by the IEA PVPS programme.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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Researchers at the German institute built a photovoltaic water electrolysis system based on micro-concentrator photovoltaics coupled to proton exchange membrane electrolysis. Outdoor testing demonstrated a record solar-to-hydrogen efficiency of 31.3%, achieved by a four-junction CPV system driving two PEM cells in series under real operating conditions.
The CPV-driven PEM electrolyzer
Image: Fraunhofer ISE
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) in Germany have developed a photovoltaic water electrolysis system that utilizes its own micro concentrator photovoltaics (micro-CPV) technology.
The scientists explained that prior approaches using dual- and triple-junction III-V concentrator cells reached up to 19.8% solar-to-hydrogen efficiency (SHT) outdoors and around 30% indoors, but required careful matching of voltage, current, and system configuration. Their new work demonstrated a four-junction concentrator system driving PEM cells outdoors, achieving a record 31.3% STH efficiency.
“We are still at low technology readiness level (TRL) and therefore it is hard to say how quickly we can get to a low levelized cost of hydrogen which is competitive. We first need partners to develop the system fully,” Frank Dimroth told pv magazine. “With Clearsun Energy, we try to create a startup to commercialize concentrating photovoltaics and this solar hydrogen module could be a future generation product for the company.”
The TRL measures the maturity of technology components for a system and is based on a scale from one to nine, with nine representing mature technologies for full commercial application. “I would say our system is a proof of concept which is TRL3,” Dimroth added. “Currently we have no funding to build a pilot system but of course this would be the next step.”
In the paper “Photovoltaic water electrolysis reaching 31.3% solar-to-H₂ conversion efficiency under outdoor operating conditions,” published in communications engineering, the Fraunhofe ISE researchers explained the electrolysis sytem is driven by the propietary HyCon system, which consists of Fresnel lens arrays focusing light onto four parallel-connected 4-junction CPV cells with a size of 7 mm² each, which are in turn electrically and thermally linked to the anode and cathode of two proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzer cells connected in series.
An aluminum frame holds a Fresnel lens array at an 80 mm focal distance from the CPV solar cells, with screw adjustment for fine-tuning alignment. The solar cells are mounted on copper (Cu) substrates fixed to a large copper baseplate, which also supports the overall thermal and structural integration. A series-connected PEM electrolysis stack is attached to the rear of the baseplate, electrically and thermally linked to the CPV system via titanium (Ti) screws and the Cu interface.
Image: Fraunhofer ISE, communications engineering, CC BY 4.0
The CPV solar cells are built by wafer-bonding of two dual-junction structures, namely gallium indium phosphide (GaInP)/gallium arsenide (GaAs) and gallium indium arsenide phosphide (GaInAsP)/gallium indium arsenide (GaInAs). “This 4 J solar cell technology has demonstrated world record solar-to-electricity (STE) conversion efficiencies of up to 47.6% under the concentrated reference AM1.5 direct spectrum,” the scientists emphasized.
The PEM electrolyzer consists of two machined chlorinated polyvinyl chloride (PVC-C) plates that guide deionized water to the reaction chamber containing the membrane electrode assembly (MEA), which uses a 175 μm perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membrane with a 1.13 cm² active area, coated with iridium at the anode and platinum at the cathode as catalysts. A titanium screw presses a titanium mesh onto the MEA to act as a porous transport layer and flow field for water distribution and product removal.
The whole system was designed to operate the electrolysis stage at elevated temperatures, ideally through thermal coupling with the CPV array.
In its current version, however, only limited passive heat transfer was achieved, so additional inlet water heating was required to sustain stable operation and maintain efficiency. “Hence, active heating will be avoided through an enhanced thermal coupling between the CPV and electrolysis cells in a future design,” the academics emphasized.
The conducted field testing of the CPV/PEM electrolysis system using a dual-axis solar tracker over 13 summer days in Freiburg, Germany, and found the system can achieve hydrogen production with a solar-to-hydrogen (STH) efficiency of 31.3%. “This is 5% higher than the best photovoltaic/electrolysis systems reported in literature which range between 20 and 30%,” the team said.
This peak performance corresponded to operating conditions where the CPV array and PEM electrolysis stack reached efficiencies of 34.7% and 91.1%, respectively. At this operating point, the system operated at a current density of 368 mA/cm² and a cell voltage of 3.25 V. “No degradation was observed during the 107 hours of operation in which our system went through 13 dynamic cycles,” the researchers concluded, noting that increasing the capacity factor of the HyCon technology to 35% could enable a levelized cost of hydrogen (LCOH) below $3/kg.
 
 
 
 
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Ministry data showed domestic solar module capacity nearly doubled from 38 gigawatt (GW) in March 2024 to 74 GW in March 2025, while solar cell capacity rose from nine GW to 25 GW over the same period. The increase in domestic manufacturing has improved supply chain resilience and supported larger deployments across states. Analysts said the capacity gains reflect policy support and market demand.
Despite the gains, the report observed a heavy reliance on imports for key upstream components. In the financial year 2025 India imported around 35 million (mn) solar modules valued at about 1.6 billion (bn) US dollars, with an estimated 60 to 80 per cent procured from China. These figures underline the gap between module assembly and upstream material production and the challenge of moving up the value chain. The report recommended accelerating localisation to capture value and reduce vulnerability to global supply disruptions.
Overall non-fossil fuel capacity has crossed 50 per cent of total installed capacity, reaching 262.7 GW, according to the ministry. Solar and wind account for the bulk of recent additions and continue to shape the power mix as thermal capacity adjusts. Policymakers and industry participants were said to be focused on scaling manufacturing, addressing logistics and improving financing to sustain the energy transition. Policy efforts are concentrated on incentives, technology transfer and investment in domestic supply chains to reduce import dependence.
India ranks third globally in installed renewable energy capacity, according to a report by Morgan Stanley and data from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy. The report said the transition would reduce external dependence but that success would depend on how quickly the country localises critical segments such as solar cells, wafers and polysilicon. Officials noted that solar and wind additions have driven most recent growth. The Morgan Stanley analysis also emphasised the need to address manufacturing bottlenecks to sustain momentum. Ministry data showed domestic solar module capacity nearly doubled from 38 gigawatt (GW) in March 2024 to 74 GW in March 2025, while solar cell capacity rose from nine GW to 25 GW over the same period. The increase in domestic manufacturing has improved supply chain resilience and supported larger deployments across states. Analysts said the capacity gains reflect policy support and market demand. Despite the gains, the report observed a heavy reliance on imports for key upstream components. In the financial year 2025 India imported around 35 million (mn) solar modules valued at about 1.6 billion (bn) US dollars, with an estimated 60 to 80 per cent procured from China. These figures underline the gap between module assembly and upstream material production and the challenge of moving up the value chain. The report recommended accelerating localisation to capture value and reduce vulnerability to global supply disruptions. Overall non-fossil fuel capacity has crossed 50 per cent of total installed capacity, reaching 262.7 GW, according to the ministry. Solar and wind account for the bulk of recent additions and continue to shape the power mix as thermal capacity adjusts. Policymakers and industry participants were said to be focused on scaling manufacturing, addressing logistics and improving financing to sustain the energy transition. Policy efforts are concentrated on incentives, technology transfer and investment in domestic supply chains to reduce import dependence.
In a bid to ease congestion and improve urban mobility during monsoon, MMRDA has undertaken one of the largest coordinated barricade removal and monsoon preparedness drives across its ongoing metro and infrastructure projects.With substantial progress achieved in viaduct and structural works across multiple metro corridors, barricades from completed stretches beneath metro viaducts are being systematically removed, restoring maximum possible road space before the monsoon. Wider carriageways across key arterial roads are expected to improve traffic flow, reduce congestion, support better rainwa..
The Pune railway division has announced plans to remove all 16 diamond crossings by the end of 2026 as part of a major yard remodelling project following the derailment of a Vande Bharat Express at Pune Junction on April 27. Railway authorities said the replacements aim to improve safety and streamline train operations across the busy station. The decision followed a Central Railway finding that the accident involved a non-standard diamond crossing and highlighted the need for replacement. Regular maintenance of existing crossings will continue until the replacement work is completed. Official..
The Goa state government has declared 80 million square metres (mn) of land a no development zone, designating the area as protected from new construction. The notification reclassifies tracts across the state under a no development category for planning and regulatory purposes. The declaration signals a formal halt to new building permits within the defined zone. Authorities indicated that maps will be issued to show broad boundaries while detailed surveys will refine precise limits. The move transfers responsibility for enforcement to local planning authorities and relevant departments, whic..
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The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office is funding the American-Made Challenges: Perovskite Startup Prize, a two-stage, $3 million prize competition designed to accelerate the development and manufacturing of perovskite solar cells by moving world-class research out of the lab and into new U.S. companies.
Competitors who advance from the first stage to the second will receive a $200,000 cash prize. The winners of the second stage will receive $500,000 in cash—a combined total of $700,000—plus $100,000 in technical support vouchers for launching a viable solar manufacturing company with the potential to introduce marketable perovskite products in the United States.
By soliciting the talents and innovative spirit of diverse American entrepreneurs, the Perovskite Startup Prize will advance this promising technology and help increase opportunities for U.S. manufacturers.
The prize was announced on March 25, 2021. Applicants had to build teams and form for-profit U.S. companies whose date of incorporation was on or after October 16, 2020. Individuals and nonprofits were not eligible to compete.
On January 30, 2024 SETO announced one grand prize winner for the Liftoff Competition.
The first stage of the competition is the Countdown Contest. To enter, participants must assemble a team of strong technical and business experts and then submit plans for a viable perovskite solar business with quantifiable goals. During the contest, teams can leverage the American-Made Network—consisting of national laboratories, investors, industry experts, and more—for resources, connections, and technical support. Teams selected to advance to the next stage of the competition will receive $200,000 in cash.
The second and final stage of the competition is the Liftoff Contest. Competitors will complete the objectives in the plan evaluated during the Countdown Contest, obtain third-party validation of their perovskite solar cells and modules, and solidify the network that will help them launch their business.
SETO added a new prize level called the Power Up Prize, which will provide a $40,000 cash prize to support teams that present a compelling innovation that needs further refinement. Power Up Prize winners are encouraged to further iterate on their technology and continue competing in future Countdown deadlines.
Verde Technologies
Location: Burlington, Vermont
Project Summary: In partnership with a network of national labs, research groups, and industrial partners, this project is developing a domestically manufactured lightweight and flexible perovskite solar module. The goal is to make the panels more efficient than foreign-sourced panels and less costly to install, resulting in a more robust solar supply chain and a lower levelized cost of energy for all. The team’s core technical differentiator is its ability to rapidly translate laboratory-scale perovskite advancements to commercially-relevant manufacturing processes, in part using a novel solution processing hardware called Verde Slot Coating. Throughout the Countdown Phase of the Perovskite Startup Prize, the team used its expertise in coating to successfully integrate and translate third-party intellectual property into scalable processes, complete a full-scale manufacturing trial with industrial partners, demonstrate strong market pull for novel perovskite solar products, and raise capital from investors.
Perotech Energy
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Project Summary: This team’s innovation is developing perovskite bifacial modules using high throughput and a low-cost solution process with high stability and energy yield.
American Perovskites 
Location: San Jose, California
Project Summary: This team is working with a host of players including Colorado School of Mines, TDA Research, TandemPV, and the University of Toledo. Their approach is to scale up the production of novel materials that can be used in perovskite solar cells and improve the reliability, performance, and cost of these device components.
MujiElectric
Location: Renton, WA
Project Summary: This team, a previous Power Up Prize Winner, is working closely with the University of Washington and is licensing technology from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Their innovation aims to produce and commercialize state-of-the-art high-efficiency perovskite solar cells.
Verde Technologies
Location: Burlington, Vermont
Project Summary: This startup spun out of the University of Vermont and is demonstrating a high-performing, single-junction perovskite device, with the goal of developing a flexible all-perovskite tandem module for the residential solar market.
SoFab Inks
Location: Louisville, Kentucky
Project Summary: This startup spun out of the University of Louisville and is developing high-performance inks to be used in perovskite devices.
Beyond Silicon
Location: Chandler, Arizona
Project Summary: This team, a startup that spun out of Arizona State University, is developing a perovskite-on-silicon tandem solar cell that has the potential to surpass the efficiency limit of standard silicon solar cells. Beyond Silicon’s mission is to bring to market perovskite/silicon two-terminal tandem solar cells that are more than 28% efficient in 2024.
MujiElectric
Location: Renton, Washington
Project Summary: This team is working closely with the University of Washington and is licensing technology from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory. Their innovation aims to produce and commercialize state-of-the-art high-efficiency perovskite solar cells.
Perotech Energy
Location: Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Project Summary: This startup spun out of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and is developing perovskite bifacial modules using high-throughput, low-cost solution processes with high stability and energy yield.
The Perovskite Startup Prize is part of the American-Made Challenges and is administered by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
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Breakthrough in solar manufacturing for battery-free sensors  Industry Update
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Each year, some of the power solar could have produced is blocked by aerosols.
Coal is by far the most polluting fuel that we use. It produces the most carbon emissions per unit of energy, and impurities in the coal produce a lot of sulfur dioxide aerosols, as well as nitrous and nitrogen oxides. Then there’s the coal ash that’s left behind, which typically contains a lot of toxic metals. The health benefits of displacing coal power are typically estimated to be well above the costs of the new generating equipment. 
But a new study suggests that the problems with coal-derived pollution go beyond health; it interferes with other power sources. Researchers have found that aerosols, both natural and human-derived, significantly reduce the power we could be getting from solar panels, to the tune of hundreds of terawatts a year. And a lot of those aerosols come from burning coal.
The new work, done by a team in the UK, is based on a new global inventory of solar facilities. This started with known inventories of solar facilities, and was supplemented with AI-analyzed satellite imagery and crowdsourced records of locations. Satellite images were then used to determine the size of these facilities, and location-tagged weather data could then be used to estimate their power production.
That could then be used to estimate what the facilities would be producing if clouds and/or aerosols weren’t scattering the sunlight that would otherwise reach the panels. This produced some significant numbers. In 2023, for example, over a quarter of the potential solar power production was lost, with over 20 percent due to clouds and another 6 percent from aerosols. That works out to be a bit over 500 terawatt-hours, or the full annual output of 84 coal plants (each with a 1 GW generating capacity). 
Aerosols alone are a major contributor to these losses. The researchers note that, for the five years leading up to 2023, we installed enough solar capacity to produce an average of 250 TW-hr of additional power per year, but were losing 75 TW-hr of that to aerosols. (Obviously, solar production kept going up because the existing capacity rose each year.)
The researchers note that aerosols can also contribute to cloud formation, which also causes further losses. But the degree of that contribution is much harder to estimate, so the researchers focus on aerosols for much of the analysis. Some of those aerosols occur naturally, typically from dust kicked up by winds in desert regions. However, despite deserts’ reputation as sunny paradises, the world as a whole hasn’t built much solar infrastructure in the desert yet, so this isn’t as much of a factor as you might expect. 
Coal appears to be a major contributor. It’s estimated that sulfur dioxide aerosols, primarily produced through coal burning, account for nearly half of the aerosols analyzed here. Carbon-rich material, which also typically comes from fossil fuels, accounts for another 18 percent. 
The impact of aerosols, however, is not evenly distributed. In China, the researchers estimated that aerosols were reducing solar production by 7.7 percent overall and offsetting anywhere from a third to half of its annual growth. The researchers note that “the spatial distribution of photovoltaic losses in China mirrors that of its coal-fired power capacity,” and an analysis of pollution data from China shows that 30 percent of the losses due to aerosols can be attributed to coal burning. 
In contrast, most solar production in the US takes place in the south and west, while coal plants are more common in the east and northeast. As a result, the annual losses in the US were less than half of those seen in China (3 percent).
The good news is that things are getting better in China. In response to some severe pollution problems, the country built a new generation of high-efficiency coal plants and retired some of the worst polluters. And the data show that this is also benefiting solar power, with the impact of aerosols dropping over the last few years.
Even with the improvements, it’s striking that coal appears to be the only power source that actively reduces the productivity of what’s shaping up to be its primary competitor. It should also provide an impetus to move off coal more quickly, as at least some of the loss of coal production will be offset by enhanced productivity from solar.
Nature Sustainability, 2026. DOI: 10.1038/s41893-026-01836-5
Ars Technica has been separating the signal from the noise for over 25 years. With our unique combination of technical savvy and wide-ranging interest in the technological arts and sciences, Ars is the trusted source in a sea of information. After all, you don’t need to know everything, only what’s important.

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The dawn of 24/7 solar power  Financial Times
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Jitendra Singh Inaugurates 200 MW Solar Module Manufacturing Facility of Central Electronics Limited to Strengthen India’s Clean Energy Sector  SolarQuarter
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Author : Manini
As solar power drives India’s energy transition, the challenge is shifting from rapid capacity addition to ensuring grid stability, storage integration, and market readiness so that renewable growth translates into reliable and sustainable power
Image Source: Pexels

Solar power is driving India’s energy transition. Over the past decade, competitive auctions have sharply reduced tariffs, making solar one of the cheapest renewable sources in the country. This cost advantage has accelerated adoption across both utility-scale and decentralised segments. Consequently, installed capacity has expanded from just 2.8 GW in 2014 to 140.6 GW, accounting for around 27 percent of total installed generation capacity as of January 31, 2026.
The more important question, though, is what happens when the sun is not shining. Storage is one solution. At the same time, the growing cost-competitiveness of solar-plus-storage projects points to a shift in capacity addition, as well as how power is produced and priced. However, sustaining this momentum and scaling further will depend on addressing gaps the sector still faces.
In calendar year (CY) 2025, India added 37.9 GW of solar capacity, including 28.6 GW of utility-scale capacity (up 54.6 percent year-on-year), 7.9 GW of rooftop solar (up 72 percent), and 1.35 GW of off-grid installations (down 8.8 percent). As a result, total solar capacity rose to 135.81 GW by December 2025, and further to around 143 GW by February 2026, within overall power generation capacity exceeding 524 GW. India’s current pipeline across wind, solar, hybrid, and storage projects is around 169 GW. Of this, about 68 GW is solar, with another 10 GW under bidding, likely to become operational over the next 4-5 years. This has positioned India as the world’s third-largest solar market, while domestic manufacturing capacity has increased to 173 GW of solar modules.
While solar capacity has expanded rapidly, it needs adequate storage to ensure generation is not lost and curtailment risks remain limited. However, battery energy storage systems (BESS) are still at an early stage in India. Between 2022 and May 2025, around 12.8 GWh of BESS capacity was auctioned across hybrid and standalone projects. However, operational capacity lagged far behind, with only 219 MWh active as of March 2024, owing to a large pipeline under construction. From an operational base of around 507 MWh at the end of 2025, storage capacity is projected to rise to nearly 5 GWh by the end of 2026, largely driven by projects already under execution.
For renewable energy (RE) to play a reliable role in the transition, cost remains a key factor. Over time, solar power in India has become significantly more competitive, driven mainly by competitive auctions and falling technology costs.
While storage increases costs compared to standalone solar, it also makes power dispatchable. At current price levels, it is increasingly competitive with coal-based power.
The levelised cost of energy for solar PV currently stands at around INR 3.5/kWh. Tariffs have fallen from nearly INR 15/kWh in the early 2010s to INR 2.44/kWh in 2017, and further to around INR 2/kWh in 2020, as seen in the Bhadla and Solar Energy Corporation of India auctions. More recently, tariffs have stabilised at around INR 2.86/kWh in 2025, reflecting changing cost conditions. Solar is now cheaper than the variable cost of coal-based power.
However, tariff-based comparisons alone do not capture intermittency. For solar to provide reliable power, storage costs also need to be considered. Solar-plus-storage projects are beginning to address this gap. A TERI study highlights that if standalone solar generation costs INR 2.5/kWh, adding BESS raises the cost to around INR 3.9-4.3/kWh, while solar plus pumped storage costs around INR 4.4-4.9/kWh. Even then, this remains lower than new thermal power, estimated at around INR 5.4–5.8/kWh.
This suggests that while storage increases costs compared to standalone solar, it also makes power dispatchable. At current price levels, it is increasingly competitive with coal-based power.
Achieving India’s 2030 targets will require a sustained scale-up in solar deployment. JMK Research projects about 42.5 GW of new solar capacity in CY 2026 alone. Looking further ahead, NITI Aayog estimates that solar could account for 46 percent of India’s total 856 GW power capacity by 2047 under its “India Energy Securities Scenarios 2047” framework.
At the same time, storage requirements are expected to rise. Reflecting the National Electricity Plan 2023, the Central Electricity Authority estimates BESS capacity of 236.2 GWh by 2031-32, alongside 175.2 GWh of pumped hydro storage.
To support the scale-up, the government has introduced a mix of measures across demand creation, manufacturing, grid integration, and storage:
Many de-risking initiatives, including competitive bidding guidelines and transparent e-auctions, have also helped push tariffs down. Project aggregation, standardised tenders, pre-bid consultations, and long-term contracts of at least 25 years have also improved investor confidence and reduced price volatility.
Beyond direct policy incentives, India’s institutional framework has also supported scale-up. Mechanisms like open access and captive procurement allow large consumers (with loads above 1 MW) to source power directly from generators, rather than relying solely on local DISCOMs. Supported by a unified national grid, this creates flexibility on the supply side by allowing clean power to be sourced across regions and transmitted where needed. Captive and group captive solar plants, set up in the open access market, also benefit from lower, more predictable energy costs and have lower exposure to DISCOM tariff hikes. Overall, this makes India’s market structure more flexible than in many advanced economies.
Many de-risking initiatives, including competitive bidding guidelines and transparent e-auctions, have also helped push tariffs down. Project aggregation, standardised tenders, pre-bid consultations, and long-term contracts of at least 25 years have also improved investor confidence and reduced price volatility.
Despite early investments, subsidies, and falling costs helping scale solar in India, many challenges continue to hinder growth.
Grid-related constraints remain a major concern. High integration costs (INR 5-20 lakhs/MW), transmission delays, and land acquisition hurdles continue to slow the expansion of solar-heavy grids. At the same time, manufacturing capacity is beginning to outpace demand. With 173 GW module capacity, utilisation levels remain low. Many factories built to exceed 125 GW capacity are only utilising 25 percent of it, raising the risk of oversupply, without a matching rise in domestic demand.
India’s solar expansion, from 2.8 GW in 2014 to more than 140 GW in 2026, reflects rapid scaling. However, meeting the 500 GW non-fossil fuel target will depend not only on installed capacity, but also on improving storage, grid integration, transmission and demand absorption.
Storage gaps further complicate the transition. Limited storage increases the risk of curtailment. Between May and December 2025, India reduced 2.3 TWh of solar generation to maintain grid stability. In parallel, RPO targets continue to see uneven compliance across states. DISCOM financial stress, uneven policy implementation, and slow rooftop adoption also continue to affect deployment. Although dependence on imported components, particularly from China, has reduced over time, supply-chain vulnerabilities remain relevant.
India’s solar expansion, from 2.8 GW in 2014 to more than 140 GW in 2026, reflects rapid scaling. However, meeting the 500 GW non-fossil fuel target will depend not only on installed capacity, but also on improving storage, grid integration, transmission and demand absorption.
While falling tariffs and policy support have made a difference, capacity addition alone does not always translate into usable power. For solar to lead India’s broader transition and support the Viksit Bharat vision, addressing these structural gaps will be essential.
Manini is a Research Assistant with the Centre for Economy and Growth at the Observer Research Foundation.
Manini is a Research Assistant at the Centre for Economy and Growth, ORF New Delhi. Her research focuses on the intersection of geopolitics with international …
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The Solomon Islands and Asian Development Bank have signed an agreement to develop the country’s first large-scale solar project as Pacific energy ministers convene in Papua New Guinea calling for an accelerated renewable energy transition in Oceania.
Image: Asian Development Bank
The Solomon Islands Electricity Authority (SIEA) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) have signed a transaction advisory services agreement geared towards developing the country’s first large-scale solar project.
The agreement was signed in the country’s capital, Honiara, by ADB Solomon Islands Country Director Anthony Gill and and SIEA Chief Executive Officer Delia Homelo, to support SIEA in mobilising the first solar independent power producer in the Solomon Islands to develop a grid-connected solar power project in the capital via private sector investment.
Under the terms of the agreement, ADB will act as the transaction advisor and conduct project preparation and tendering for the project via its Office of Markets Development and Public-Private Partnership. It will also support SIEA in awarding the contract to supply electricity.
As part of the technical assessments, the need for a battery energy storage system (BESS) will be reviewed.
“With tendering processes yet to commence, the selection of a private partner will be a key milestone determining the project’s timeline and the pace at which Solomon Islands can materially shift its energy mix away from fossil fuels,” an ADB Linkedin statement says.
A statement published on the government’s website explains the solar project forms part of its effort to attract investment in renewable energy generation.
Diesel currently accounts for 98% of total power generation in the Honiara grid, which the government’s statement explains exposes SIEA to fuel supply disruptions and international price volatility.
According to figures published by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), the Solomon Islands had 8 MW of cumulative solar capacity at the end of 2025, up from 6 MW at the end of 2024.
Australian Anthony Gill was appointed as the ADB’s first country director for the Solomon Islands in February 2026.
Oceania
At the 6th Pacific Regional Energy and Transport Ministers Meeting (PRETMM) underway in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea, the Fiji government has called for an accelerated renewable energy transition and implementation of sustainable transport solutions.
Image: Fiji Ministry of Public Works
The Minister noted that Fiji continues to advance renewable energy investments, rural electrification, and transport decarbonisation initiatives, while strengthening energy security and resilience.
“Fiji’s message is clear: the policies are in place, reforms are underway, and projects are moving. What the Pacific needs now is to scale what is working — together,” Tuisawau said.
Fiji is collaborating with the Global Green Growth Institute, the United Nations Environment Programme, and the International Solar Alliance on practical initiatives including electric mobility projects, solar-powered charging systems, rural solarisation programmes, and the development of a Sustainable Maritime Transport Roadmap.
“Pacific countries may be small in size, but we continue to demonstrate leadership in climate ambition, resilience, and sustainable maritime development,” Tuisawau said.
Elsewhere in the Oceania region, the island nation of Nauru signed an agreement in early May, to develop 18 MW of solar tied to 40 MWh of battery storage.
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Sydney-headquartered commercial solar and battery system installer Sharp EIT Solutions has partnered the Victoria Racing Club, custodians of Flemington Racecourse to install a 767 kWdc commercial solar installation.
Image: George Sal/Racing Photos
Australian commercial solar and battery system installer Sharp EIT Solutions has partnered the Victoria Racing Club (VRC), the  custodian of Flemington Racecourse, home to the Melbourne Cup, to install a 767 kWdc commercial rooftop solar installation.
Featuring approximately 1,238 panels installed across key Flemington Racecourse infrastructure, including the Hill Stand and Grandstand, the system is being designed to generate an estimated 1 GWh of renewable electricity annually.
The project first stage paves the way for a broader long-term renewable energy strategy across the racecourse, with the potential to scale to approximately 2 MW of solar generation across the precinct over time.
Sharp EIT Solutions equates the installation as equivalent to avoiding approximately 302,527 litres of petrol consumption per year and avoiding about 343,821 kg of coal burned annually.
Sharp EIT Solutions Managing Director Mario Bernatovic said the project reflects the growing momentum behind large-scale renewable infrastructure adoption across Australian businesses and venues.
“Commercial organisations are increasingly looking for smarter and more sustainable ways to manage long-term energy costs while improving operational efficiency,” Bernatovic said.
“This project, facilitated through Sharp EIT Finance , demonstrates how commercial solar can be successfully integrated into large-scale sporting and entertainment venues in a way that delivers both environmental and commercial outcomes.”
VRC Chief Executive Kylie Rogers said as a global leader in racing and major events, the VRC is continually exploring opportunities to strengthen its sustainable business practices and future-proof our operations.
“This project allows us to reduce reliance on traditional electricity infrastructure while continuing to evolve Flemington Racecourse as a world-class venue for racing, entertainment and major events,” Rogers said.
As part of the multi-year partnership, Sharp EIT Solutions has also been appointed the VRC’s Official Green Energy Partner.
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A quick FDNY response kept the fire from spreading into the home, the battalion chief said.  SILive.com
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Greenvolt Next said that it signed a new agreement with Sam Mills to develop and operate a photovoltaic project for self-consumption of over 2 MW, integrated with a 10.03 MWh battery energy storage system. Greenvolt Next will invest more than EUR 2.6 million in this project, bringing the total value of renewable energy solutions implemented for the Satu Mare-based group to over EUR 2.8 million. 
Developed under a Power Purchase Agreement, the project enables Sam Mills, a leading player in the milling industry with exports to 35 countries, to access clean energy with no upfront investment, the company said. 
The solution combines a 2,16 MW photovoltaic system with 3,660 panels and a battery energy storage system with a capacity of 10.03 MWh, allowing surplus energy generated during peak periods to be stored and used when needed.
This project builds on a first installation already in operation, a 456 kWp ground-mounted system developed under a 5-year Power Purchase Agreement, which is expected to deliver measurable cost savings of over EUR 100,000 for Sam Mills over that period, according to the press release.
“The partnership with Sam Mills reflects the rapid pace at which industrial companies in the northwest region are adopting on-site energy generation solutions,” said Filipe Dias, Country Manager of Greenvolt Next Romania.
“Green energy and cost predictability are essential, particularly in the current geopolitical context and energy market volatility, as they allow us to ensure greater stability and control over our costs. At the same time, sustainability is becoming increasingly important, as we move towards more sustainable products and work with partners who actively seek these solutions,” stated Cristian Babiciu, CEO of Sam Mills.
Greenvolt Next currently operates 22 projects in northwestern Romania, with a combined installed capacity of 7.2 MW, contributing to an estimated annual reduction of 5,800 tons of CO2 emissions.
irina.marica@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: press release)
Greenvolt Next said that it signed a new agreement with Sam Mills to develop and operate a photovoltaic project for self-consumption of over 2 MW, integrated with a 10.03 MWh battery energy storage system. Greenvolt Next will invest more than EUR 2.6 million in this project, bringing the total value of renewable energy solutions implemented for the Satu Mare-based group to over EUR 2.8 million. 
Developed under a Power Purchase Agreement, the project enables Sam Mills, a leading player in the milling industry with exports to 35 countries, to access clean energy with no upfront investment, the company said. 
The solution combines a 2,16 MW photovoltaic system with 3,660 panels and a battery energy storage system with a capacity of 10.03 MWh, allowing surplus energy generated during peak periods to be stored and used when needed.
This project builds on a first installation already in operation, a 456 kWp ground-mounted system developed under a 5-year Power Purchase Agreement, which is expected to deliver measurable cost savings of over EUR 100,000 for Sam Mills over that period, according to the press release.
“The partnership with Sam Mills reflects the rapid pace at which industrial companies in the northwest region are adopting on-site energy generation solutions,” said Filipe Dias, Country Manager of Greenvolt Next Romania.
“Green energy and cost predictability are essential, particularly in the current geopolitical context and energy market volatility, as they allow us to ensure greater stability and control over our costs. At the same time, sustainability is becoming increasingly important, as we move towards more sustainable products and work with partners who actively seek these solutions,” stated Cristian Babiciu, CEO of Sam Mills.
Greenvolt Next currently operates 22 projects in northwestern Romania, with a combined installed capacity of 7.2 MW, contributing to an estimated annual reduction of 5,800 tons of CO2 emissions.
irina.marica@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: press release)
Greenvolt Next said that it signed a new agreement with Sam Mills to develop and operate a photovoltaic project for self-consumption of over 2 MW, integrated with a 10.03 MWh battery energy storage system. Greenvolt Next will invest more than EUR 2.6 million in this project, bringing the total value of renewable energy solutions implemented for the Satu Mare-based group to over EUR 2.8 million. 
Developed under a Power Purchase Agreement, the project enables Sam Mills, a leading player in the milling industry with exports to 35 countries, to access clean energy with no upfront investment, the company said. 
The solution combines a 2,16 MW photovoltaic system with 3,660 panels and a battery energy storage system with a capacity of 10.03 MWh, allowing surplus energy generated during peak periods to be stored and used when needed.
This project builds on a first installation already in operation, a 456 kWp ground-mounted system developed under a 5-year Power Purchase Agreement, which is expected to deliver measurable cost savings of over EUR 100,000 for Sam Mills over that period, according to the press release.
“The partnership with Sam Mills reflects the rapid pace at which industrial companies in the northwest region are adopting on-site energy generation solutions,” said Filipe Dias, Country Manager of Greenvolt Next Romania.
“Green energy and cost predictability are essential, particularly in the current geopolitical context and energy market volatility, as they allow us to ensure greater stability and control over our costs. At the same time, sustainability is becoming increasingly important, as we move towards more sustainable products and work with partners who actively seek these solutions,” stated Cristian Babiciu, CEO of Sam Mills.
Greenvolt Next currently operates 22 projects in northwestern Romania, with a combined installed capacity of 7.2 MW, contributing to an estimated annual reduction of 5,800 tons of CO2 emissions.
irina.marica@romania-insider.com
(Photo source: press release)
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For every three solar panels’ worth of electricity that came online somewhere in the world between 2017 and 2023, the equivalent of one panel’s worth of power quietly vanished. Not stolen by faulty wiring or cloudy weather. Taken by the air itself, specifically the the microscopic particles drifting out of the coal-fired power plants that solar was supposed to be replacing. The numbers are, when you sit with them, a little vertiginous. Globally in 2023, aerosol pollution shaved 5.8% off solar photovoltaic output: 111 terawatt-hours, enough to supply the entire annual generation of 18 medium-sized coal plants, gone before it reached the grid. And most of this effect was invisible in the models governments and energy planners had been using to track the clean energy transition.
That gap between what solar produces and what it could produce is the subject of a new study in Nature Sustainability, led by researchers at the University of Oxford and University College London. The team mapped more than 140,000 solar PV installations worldwide using satellite imagery and machine learning, crossing that facility-level geography with atmospheric data to calculate losses site by site: the most granular picture yet of how fossil fuel infrastructure is degrading the very renewables built to replace it.
The study’s central finding cuts at something that gets underappreciated in the relentless optimism surrounding the solar boom: renewable capacity and fossil fuel capacity have not been trading places. They have been growing together. China built solar installations at a pace that made it the world’s largest solar producer, generating 793.5 terawatt-hours in 2023, some 41.5% of the global total. It also kept building coal plants, with new construction reaching a near-decade high in 2024. The consequence shows up with uncomfortable precision in the data. In China, aerosols cut solar output by 7.7% in 2023, and the aerosol losses from existing installations ran at 38.4% of the energy added by new capacity on average. In some years, that ratio exceeded 50%; it peaked at 62.1% in 2021. In other words, for stretches of three consecutive years, more than half the electricity China was adding via new solar panels was simultaneously being eaten away by the pollution its coal plants were producing.
“We are seeing rapid global expansion of renewable energy, but the effectiveness of that transition is lower than often assumed,” said lead author Dr Rui Song, of the University of Oxford’s Department of Physics and the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at UCL. “As coal and solar expand in parallel, emissions alter the radiation environment, directly undermining the performance of solar generation.”
The mechanism itself is not new physics. Coal combustion emits sulfur dioxide, which oxidises in the atmosphere into sulfate aerosols, fine particles that scatter and absorb incoming sunlight before it can reach a panel. In China’s case, sulfate aerosols accounted for 46.2% of all aerosol-related PV losses, which made them the dominant factor by some margin. Carbonaceous particles (also partly from coal) added another 18.4%. Dust, though spatially concentrated in arid western regions, contributed roughly a third of losses, but even in those desert zones, where you might expect coal’s influence to be minimal, the data showed sulfate aerosol losses remaining high. The co-location of solar farms and coal plants in China, it turns out, extends far beyond the North China Plain into the regions that policy documents have tended to describe as dedicated renewable hubs.
The contrast with the United States is instructive. American solar installations suffered only 3.1% aerosol-induced losses in 2023, and the loss-to-growth ratio reached a minimum of 12.8% by year’s end. The researchers traced this partly to atmospheric conditions, but also to something simpler: in the US, solar and coal are geographically separated. Large-scale solar has concentrated in the low-pollution West, while coal plants cluster in the East, and there is essentially no spatial correlation between coal capacity and solar losses across American grid cells. The upshot, as the paper notes, is that aerosol-induced performance loss is not an inherent property of solar panels. It is what happens when you build them next to coal plants.
There is, however, a piece of good news embedded in the China data, and it is somewhat paradoxical. Despite suffering the worst aerosol losses of any major economy, China is also the only country where those losses have been falling consistently, at an average rate of 1.4% per year since 2013. The US and Europe, meanwhile, saw losses trend upward by 1.5% and 1.3% per year respectively. The improvement in China came not from closing coal plants but from retrofitting them with ultra-low-emission technology, which accounted for 91% of SO2 reductions from the coal power sector. Retirements contributed only 9%. China’s coal fleet is getting cleaner without getting smaller.
Song was unambiguous about the limits of what cleaning up existing coal can achieve. “Air pollution doesn’t just block sunlight – it also changes clouds, which can cut solar power even further,” he said. “That means the real impact is likely to be bigger than we’ve measured, so we may be overestimating how much solar power can contribute to reducing emissions if we do not get pollution from coal power under control.” The study explicitly notes that its loss estimates are conservative, capturing only the direct radiative effects of aerosols on sunlight, not the additional suppression that comes when aerosol particles alter cloud formation and reflectivity. What’s already measurable is large enough, arguably, but the actual toll could be higher still.
Professor Myles Allen of Oxford, who founded Oxford Net Zero and was not involved in the research, offered an observation that puts the economics in a different frame. “All scenarios that meet the goals of the Paris Agreement show a rapid transition away from unabated coal, which isn’t happening,” he said. “The reason is that coal power is still remarkably cheap – as this study shows, that’s because the real costs are hidden.”
Those hidden costs have a way of showing up elsewhere. Dr Chenchen Huang of the University of Bath, a co-author, pointed to the risk that standard projections will systematically overestimate how much clean energy the world is actually delivering. “Our findings send a clear warning to the Sustainable Development Goals: overlooking pollution-induced solar energy losses can lead to a systematic overestimation of renewable energy output by governments, businesses and the broader community,” she said. “To stay on track, policies must account for this hidden drag and shift fossil-fuel subsidies away from coal.”
The study’s methodology is likely to sharpen in coming years. Professor Jan-Peter Muller of UCL’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory noted that the satellite infrastructure for tracking these effects in near-real-time is already emerging. “In the near future, we will be able to observe the impacts of dust and smoke particles on reducing solar energy at the Earth’s surface in real-time every 10 minutes from geostationary satellites spanning the Earth,” he said. What that improved surveillance reveals about the interaction between coal and solar, in a decade when both are still expanding across large parts of the world, remains one of the more consequential questions in energy policy. The panels are going up. So is the smoke. The question is which one we’re really counting.
Read the study: Coal plants persist as a large barrier to the global solar energy transition, Nature Sustainability (2026).
Why would building more solar panels not automatically reduce coal’s share of the grid?
Because renewables and fossil fuels have mostly been expanding in parallel rather than trading places. When energy demand grows fast enough, new solar capacity can come online without displacing existing coal generation. This study adds a physical twist to that economic problem: coal pollution actively degrades the output of nearby solar panels, meaning the net electricity gained from new installations is smaller than the nameplate capacity suggests.
How much does coal pollution actually reduce what a solar panel produces?
Globally, aerosol pollution cut solar PV output by 5.8% in 2023, equivalent to losing the entire output of 18 medium-sized coal plants. In China, where solar and coal plants are often built near each other, the figure was 7.7%. In some years, the energy lost to aerosols was more than half the energy gained from new solar installations in China, a loss rate that largely goes unaccounted for in official projections.
Is cleaning up coal plant emissions enough to fix the problem, or do the plants need to close?
Cleaning up helps: China’s aggressive ultra-low-emission retrofit programme has reduced aerosol-related solar losses by about 1.4% per year since 2013, even as coal capacity has continued to grow. But retrofits cut particulate and sulfur emissions, not carbon dioxide, so they don’t address the climate dimension. The researchers are also clear that their loss estimates are conservative; aerosol effects on clouds add further suppression that wasn’t captured, which means full coal retirement would deliver substantially more benefit than cleaning up existing plants.
Does this problem affect solar panels in the UK and Europe?
Europe’s aerosol losses are moderate and closer to the global average, but the trend is moving in the wrong direction: aerosol-induced PV losses in Europe rose by about 1.3% per year over the study period, compared with China’s sustained decline. In the UK specifically, cloud cover is a bigger factor than pollution in limiting solar output. Improved geostationary satellites are already making it possible to forecast cloud movements more accurately, which helps grid operators manage fluctuations in solar generation.
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OCI Energy and Arava Power have signed a membership interest purchase agreement (MIPA) for the 670 MWdc La Salle Solar project. The project is located in La Salle County, Texas. Under the agreement, Arava Power will acquire a 50 per cent stake in the project, with both companies jointly financing, constructing, owning, and operating the plant. 
The agreement marks the third collaboration between the two companies in the Texas renewable energy market. Additionally, the project is expected to generate clean electricity sufficient to power approximately 100,000 homes. The project is expected to commence commercial operations in 2028. La Salle Solar is projected to generate enough clean electricity to power nearly 100,000 homes.
In September 2025, OCI Energy closed construction financing for Project Alamo City, a standalone battery energy storage system (BESS) project in Bexar County, Texas. The financing package consists of a construction-to-term loan, a tax equity bridge loan, and letters of credit. The debt was underwritten by ING, which acted as sole coordinating lead arranger, bookrunner, and green loan coordinator, in addition to serving as administrative agent. 
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India installs 15.3 GW of solar in single quarter  Renewables Now
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While most of the solar panels used worldwide come from China, a factory in Puebla is seeking to make inroads into the domestic energy industry with products made in Mexico. The facility, called “Tonalli,” already produces photovoltaic modules for schools, social programs, and clean energy projects.

Tonalli’s growth reflects the progress of an industry that is beginning to expand in Mexico amid rising energy demand. The plant has the capacity to manufacture more than 200,000 solar panels per year and is part of the strategy to develop domestic energy technology under the “Made in Mexico” label.

The solar energy market in Mexico has gained momentum in recent years due to industrial growth, the expansion of manufacturing parks, and the need to reduce electricity costs.

In Puebla, solar panel production has also begun to be used in public infrastructure. According to data presented by state authorities, over the past year, photovoltaic modules were installed in 800 schools that had electricity supply issues.

Local solar panel manufacturing also opens opportunities for the creation of specialized jobs, technological development, and new supply chains related to clean energy.

The Mexican energy sector maintains growth expectations due to the advancement of nearshoring and the establishment of industries requiring greater electricity capacity.
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Design World
By Rachael Pasini | May 15, 2026
A right-sized automation platform using open configuration techniques helped a user monitor a solar power system and improve return on investment.
Bruce Cloutier, Integ Process Group
Solar energy has bathed our planet for eons, and yet the ability to harness the Sun’s power as a renewable energy source is only a very recent development. The conversion of sunlight into electricity using ever-improving photovoltaic (PV) technologies has now become commonplace, enabling many to overcome complete dependence on the electrical utility company. A real-time monitoring system can help users optimize the value of their investment, but only if it avoids contributing significantly to the cost.
Various types of edge controllers are becoming available with the promise of delivering economical and flexible monitoring options. Typical solar PV system providers offer some level of monitoring with their own equipment, but these siloed views fail to provide a complete picture of system performance or energy flow. Obtaining real-time, instantaneous, and cumulative energy generation and usage status is key to visualizing reality and achieving results.
For users on a budget who still demand an improved level of sophistication, an independent programmable digital platform for monitoring is needed. A simple, compact, and capable automation controller can provide just the right degree of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) functionality, without the lock-in and overhead costs of traditional systems.
Solar PV installations include certain basic features. The PV panels themselves can be installed in arrays or groupings that are ground-based or mounted on top of structures. Location decisions are often driven by the available real estate and the orientation of candidate buildings. PV panels are connected to inverters, whose purpose is to produce electricity compatible with the power grid (Figure 1). Batteries may be included to provide energy storage for use when weather impacts solar output, at night when generation ceases, or during grid outages.
Figure 1: Typical solar installations may include arrays of solar panels installed on the ground or other structures, typically connected to inverters, which create grid-compatible electricity.
While there may be a separate means to monitor each inverter and battery system through a mobile app or web-based interface, there is likely no all-encompassing record of power generation or power use by the facility. Overall status of supply and consumption, both onsite and in relation to the utility, is needed to truly track energy independence. Real-time information is a necessity for understanding the flow of power and for getting the most benefit from the solar PV system. A secondary and often overlooked consideration is using available information to confirm that all elements are always working to their best potential.
At one site, the user had installed each of the noted solar power elements, in each case choosing the preferred products and vendors to fit the need. The ground-based solar panels supply electricity directly to the grid, while the rooftop panels were integrated with a battery system providing backup power to the residence (Figure 2).
Figure 2: This diagram depicts 36 kW of grid-connected solar, 11 kW of rooftop solar supplying a battery backup system, and their interconnection with the facility and the utility. A SCADA system was developed to monitor overall operations.
Once the system was completed, the components worked as intended, but there was no single interface to evaluate overall performance at any given moment. This end user was aware that a custom SCADA system could do the job, but was unwilling to foot the development and ongoing licensing costs for such an endeavor.
Seeking a simpler SCADA solution, the first step was to evaluate available connectivity. The inverters for the ground-mounted array were found to support the MODBUS TCP protocol over Ethernet and so could supply data via the network.
The battery backup system is a closed design offering no data communications without additional ongoing expense, and would only provide information via a mobile app. To overcome this form of vendor lockout, inexpensive power meters with digital communications were installed on both the output of the system and the facility load side, measuring how much power was provided by the battery backup system and how much was consumed by the facility itself.
While a power utility’s meter can only be electronically read by the power company, the power readings from the inverters and the added meters are sufficient to calculate the flow of power either imported from or exported to the grid. One other grid status point is needed. When the grid goes down, the battery backup system isolates the facility to seamlessly supply site power. At that point, it is not possible to determine the grid status simply from the power meter readings, so a simple line voltage monitor is connected on the grid side. This measures voltages across all phases at the grid and provides a dry-contact signal if low voltage indicates an outage.
The SCADA system for this solar installation needed to provide visualization of real-time status and be able to historically trend data for all elements. The most flexible way to display data would be achieved by using a platform able to serve up dynamic internet-accessible web pages. This platform would also need to connect to the various data sources and preprocess the information to be presented in a web page format.
For a local interface, a simple stacklight would be sufficient to provide the following at-a-glance indications:
While consumer-grade single board computers (SBCs), such as Arduinos and Raspberry Pi’s, appear to be an economical option for a SCADA platform, the reality is that creating a robust, reliable, and maintainable system based upon those products is technically challenging and lacking in technical support. Furthermore, these types of products would not carry standard industry safety certifications, resulting in possible building code concerns.
Another option would be to install an industrial-grade programmable logic controller (PLC) or edge controller, with a comparatively large hardware cost. Each of those solutions would require different types of programming and configuration skills. Many brands charge for software development environments and then require licensing on a continuing annual basis.
Facing these choices, it became apparent that a more straightforward and robust all-in-one device based on familiar IT technologies would be a better approach. One suitable option for this role was found to be the JNIOR automation controller, offered by Integ Process Group (Figure 3).
Figure 3: The Integ JNIOR automation controller is a right-sized platform for combining essential visualization, automation, and connectivity functions, empowering users to enhance solar or other applications with digital capabilities and edge control, without unwanted effort and overhead.
The JNIOR is an easily configured and programmed SBC platform optimized for control and monitoring. It includes the on-board I/O, serial communications, and Ethernet connectivity needed for the project. It has industry safety certifications and accessible live-person technical support, all at a very reasonable one-time cost. The controller also features a purpose-built multi-tasking operating system (OS) for responsive control, supporting edge networking capabilities such as TLS/SSL for secure communications, and a full-featured web server supporting visualization.
For environmental protection and wiring convenience, the controller was mounted in an industrial wall-mount enclosure. Once connected to the site network, it was immediately reachable using a standard browser and served up a default WebUI. Hardwired I/O connections were easily established and tested through the WebUI. These included an input from the grid monitor relay and relay outputs to operate the stacklight modes.
Obtaining data from the four inverters servicing the ground-mounted arrays was the first real challenge. The controller supports MODBUS server and client applications, and it is supplied with an open-source subroutine that was readily adapted to read values from those inverters. A small application program was created to read data from all four inverters in a 15-second repeating control loop. Instantaneous information (including voltages, currents, and more) would be retrieved and simply stored in the controller registry, where it became available for viewing via the WebUI. The JNIOR even includes a built-in network sniffer to confirm proper ongoing communications with the inverters.
A second application program to query the two power meters over an RS-485 serial connection was created and verified, and a third program was established to track the status of the grid monitor and perform calculations based on the power readings written to the registry by the other applications. For example, the instantaneous power supplied by each inverter and the battery backup system are totalized, and the power used by the facility is subtracted to obtain the net amount of power being delivered to, or supplied by, the power grid. This routine provides the final information needed to complete the web interface, and it also operates the stacklight and beeper as needed.
The modular approach of implementing a few individual application programs, each handling the communications with a distinct subsystem, greatly simplified program development and testing. Because project development proceeded so smoothly, the scope of the SCADA project was (unsurprisingly) expanded. A second JNIOR was set up elsewhere at the facility to mirror the main controller’s I/O and provide the outputs needed for another stacklight station. A Linux-based server was added to collect the data from the JNIOR and store it long-term in an open-source MySQL database, which in turn supplies data for historical power plots. The second controller will be used to enable a conservation mode for prolonging runtime in the event of a utility failure and to automate other energy savings steps.
Obtaining and installing solar panels, inverters, and batteries represents a sizable cost. Only a small fraction of the solar power generated at this site is consumed by the facility. The result was a reduction of the facility’s monthly electric bill to $0.00, and the creation of a new revenue stream from exported energy — clearly demonstrating the value of full system visibility.
The ability to implement a streamlined SCADA platform using familiar and open configuration methods has provided a useful operational view at a low initial cost and with no recurring costs. A wealth of data is now available to support optimization efforts and is helping the end user get the most for the investment. These same right-sized, open SCADA techniques can be effectively applied to virtually any commercial or industrial automation project to deliver similar gains in visibility, flexibility, and cost efficiency.
Integ Process Group
jnior.com
Rachael Pasini is the editor-in-chief of Design World, covering industrial automation technologies, advanced materials, fluid power, additive manufacturing, and more. She also supports engineering leaders and managers in developing and sustaining innovative teams. Rachael holds a master’s degree in civil and environmental engineering and a bachelor’s degree in industrial and systems engineering from The Ohio State University. With nearly two decades of technical writing experience, along with trade journalism and teaching college math and physics, she is passionate about educating individuals and building supportive engineering communities.
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Plug-in solar panels can be fitted to balconies, walls and gardens, but safe installation depends on the right location, permissions and connection method.
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Plug-in solar panels could soon give households a simpler way to generate their own electricity, without paying for a full rooftop solar installation. Instead of a large array of panels fixed to the roof and wired into the home by an installer, these smaller systems are designed to be mounted on a balcony, wall, terrace or garden frame and connected to the property using an approved plug-in setup.
It could make solar power accessible to people who have traditionally been locked out of the market, including renters, flat owners and homeowners whose roofs are unsuitable for conventional panels.
But while the name makes the technology sound straightforward, “plug-in” does not mean risk-free or completely hands-off. The panels still need to be positioned properly, fixed securely and connected safely. This guide explains how plug-in solar panels work, what comes in a typical kit and what fitting one is likely to involve.
Read more: Best solar panels 2026 for UK homes, reviewed by experts
Use our comparison tool to get free quotes from leading solar panel installers.
Plug-in solar panels are small-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) systems designed to generate electricity for use in the home. In parts of Europe, they are often described as balcony solar panels because they are commonly installed on apartment balconies and connected to the property’s electricity supply.
A typical plug-in solar kit may include one or two solar panels, a microinverter, mounting brackets or a frame, connecting cables and a plug or connection unit. Some systems may also include a monitoring app, allowing users to see how much electricity the panels are generating, or a small battery for storing some excess power.
They work on the same basic principle as rooftop solar panels, but on a smaller scale. A plug-in system isn’t designed to power an entire home. Instead, it is intended to offset some of your daytime electricity use, reducing the amount of power you need to buy from the grid.
Read more: Are plug-in solar panels worth it for UK homes?
Like standard solar panels, plug-in panels use photovoltaic cells to turn daylight into electricity. When sunlight hits the panel, the cells generate direct current electricity. Solar panels work best in strong, direct sunlight, but they can still produce electricity on cloudy days, although output will be lower. For a fuller explanation of the technology behind solar PV, read our guide to how solar panels work.
The electricity produced by the panel cannot be used directly by most household appliances. UK homes use alternating current electricity, so the power first passes through a microinverter. This small device converts the direct current from the solar panel into alternating current that can be used by the home.
Once safely connected, the electricity can feed into the household circuit. If appliances are running at the same time, they can use the solar power first. This might include background electricity use from a fridge, a wifi router, a laptop charger, a television or a washing machine.
In practical terms, this means the home imports less electricity from the grid while the panel is generating. The benefit depends on how much electricity the system produces and how much of that electricity you use at the time it is generated.
Read more: Do plug-in solar panels save you money?
The exact equipment will vary between manufacturers, but most systems are built around a few core components.
The solar panel is the part that captures daylight and generates electricity. Many plug-in systems use one or two panels, making them much smaller than a typical rooftop array.
The microinverter is usually fixed near the panel and converts the electricity into a form that the home can use. Mounting equipment holds the panel in place, whether that means clamps for a balcony railing, brackets for a wall or a frame for a patio, garden or flat surface.
Cables connect the panel to the inverter and the system to the home. This is one of the most important parts of the setup. The UK-approved systems should use a connection method designed for domestic electrical circuits, rather than improvised wiring or unsuitable extension leads.
Read more: Lidl to sell £400 plug-in solar panels – here’s everything you need to know
Plug-in solar panels are likely to be most useful in places where rooftop solar is not practical. This could include flats with balconies, homes with small gardens, terraces, sheds, garages, outbuildings or exterior walls that receive a good amount of sunlight.
The best location is usually one with strong exposure to daylight for much of the day. A south-facing position will generally produce the most electricity. But east- and west-facing panels can still be useful, particularly if they match when your home tends to use electricity.
Shading is one of the biggest factors to watch. Trees, neighbouring buildings, balcony railings, walls and even nearby objects can all reduce output. A panel that is easy to fit but shaded for much of the day may generate far less electricity than expected.
The position also needs to be safe. A panel fixed to a balcony or wall must be secure enough to withstand wind and bad weather. Cables need to be routed carefully so they are not damaged, trapped in doors or windows, or left where someone could trip over them.
The fitting process will depend on the product and where it’s installed, but the broad steps are likely to be similar.
First, you must choose a suitable location. This means checking the amount of sunlight, the direction the panel will face, whether anything will cast shade over it and how the cable will reach the connection point.
Next, the mounting system is assembled. On a balcony, this may involve clamps or brackets that attach the panel to the railing. In a garden or on a patio, the panel may sit on an angled frame. On a wall, it may need brackets fixed into masonry or another suitable surface.
The panel then needs to be secured. This is a crucial step, especially for balconies, upper floors and exposed locations. Even a relatively small solar panel can become dangerous if it is not properly fixed.
Once the panel is in position, it is connected to the microinverter. The inverter is usually mounted close to the panel, protected from unsuitable conditions and connected using the manufacturer’s cabling.
The final step is connecting the system to the home’s electricity supply using the approved method provided with the kit. This is the part of the process that UK rules are being updated to enable. Homeowners should only use products approved for use in the UK and should follow the manufacturer’s instructions closely.
After connection, many systems allow users to monitor generation through an app or display. This can help you understand when the panels are producing the most electricity and shift some usage into daylight hours.
The appeal of plug-in solar is that it should be easier to install than a conventional rooftop system. A full rooftop solar array normally requires a professional installer, scaffolding, electrical work and certification. A plug-in system is intended to be simpler and cheaper to set up.
However, there are two separate issues: physical fitting and electrical connection. Mounting a panel on a balcony, wall or outbuilding still needs care. If the location is high, exposed or difficult to access, professional help may be sensible even if the electrical side is designed to be simple.
The safest approach is to buy a UK-approved kit, avoid modifying any cables or sockets, and follow the instructions exactly. Households should not use imported products that are not designed for the UK market, plug systems into extension leads, or attempt DIY wiring to get around the rules.
Permissions may be just as important as the technology itself.
Renters should check with their landlord before attaching anything to a balcony, wall, shed or exterior space. Flat owners may need permission from a freeholder, managing agent or residents’ association, especially if the panel affects a shared wall, balcony, roof terrace or the building’s external appearance.
Planning rules may also matter in some cases. Small solar installations are often straightforward, but listed buildings, conservation areas and flats can be more complicated. If the panel is visible from the street or fixed to a shared structure, it’s worth checking before buying.
Home insurance is another consideration. If the panels are fixed to the property, the insurer may need to know. Leaseholders and renters should also check whether balcony railings, external walls or shared areas are allowed to carry extra equipment.
The main risks are poor performance and safety. A badly positioned panel may produce less electricity than expected. Too much shade, a poor angle or the wrong orientation can all reduce output. That doesn’t make the system unsafe, but it may make it disappointing.
More serious problems can arise from poor mounting or unsafe connections. A panel that is not fixed securely could come loose in high winds. Damaged cables could create an electrical hazard. Running cables through windows, across walkways or near water can also create risks if the system hasn’t been designed for that setup.
This is why plug-in solar should be treated as a home energy product, not a casual gadget. It may be much simpler than rooftop solar, but it still needs to be installed with care.
The main difference is scale. A conventional rooftop system usually has six or more panels and is designed to cover a larger share of a home’s electricity demand. It is fixed permanently to the roof and connected by a certified installer. For more on the price of a larger rooftop system, see our guide to solar panel costs.
Plug-in solar panels are smaller, more portable and easier to fit. They are better suited to households that can’t install rooftop panels or people who want to try solar at a lower upfront cost.
The trade-off is output. A plug-in system will not usually generate enough electricity to run a whole home, and it is unlikely to match the long-term savings of a well-sized rooftop array. Its role is more modest: to reduce some daytime grid use and make solar accessible to more households.
Plug-in solar panels work in the same way as other solar PV systems. They capture daylight, convert it into usable electricity and feed it into the home so appliances can use solar power before drawing from the grid.
What makes them different is the installation. Rather than requiring a full rooftop system, they are designed to be fitted to smaller spaces such as balconies, walls, terraces and gardens. That could make them especially useful for renters, flat owners and households without suitable roofs.
But “plug-in” should not be confused with “anything goes”. The panel still needs a sunny, secure location, the right permissions and a safe, approved connection method. For the right household, plug-in solar could be a practical first step into home-generated electricity, but getting the fitting right will be essential.
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By Rebekah O’Reilly
Plans have been submitted for a 148-hectare solar farm on an existing wind farm site at Stonestown near Cloghan
The application was lodged on Friday, May 1, by GP Joule Ireland Limited.
The site is located approximately 1.7km south of Cloghan and 8.2km from Banagher, spanning the townlands of Stonestown, Kilcamin, Crancreagh and Derrinlough.
The project would form a co-located hybrid renewable energy facility, integrating a solar photovoltaic (PV) array within the footprint of the existing wind farm.
Planning permission is being sought for a 10-year period, with an operational lifespan of 40 years from the date of commissioning.
The development would consist of a solar PV farm and cable route, including the installation of up to 145MW of solar capacity across approximately 148 hectares, along with 41 transformers and one Ring Main Unit (RMU).
The panels would have a maximum height of 3.5 metres and would be tilted at an angle of 18 degrees facing south. They would remain in a fixed position and would not track the movement of the sun.
The project would use one existing construction entrance and two operational entrances, as well as existing internal access tracks. Approximately 7km of new internal tracks would also be constructed.
A website set up for the Stonestown Solar Farm states that the panel rows are not expected to be visible beyond the site boundaries.
“Hedgerows will be planted along the boundary adjacent to the N62 national road to virtually eliminate visibility,” it states.
“Several large areas will be kept free of panels due to potential archaeological remains, invasive plant species and existing wildlife habitats.”
Recognising the importance of community involvement, the applicant said it carried out extensive engagement with local residents and stakeholders.
A public consultation pack was distributed to 51 households in the vicinity of the site, allowing residents to review materials at their own pace.
Each pack included a summary brochure, key visualisations, environmental information and contact details for the liaison team. A feedback form and digital contact options (including email) were also provided.
Feedback focused on visual impact, noise management and construction traffic, which were reviewed and incorporated where possible.
A decision on the application is due by Thursday, June 25.
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A 44-acre solar power farm in Wrangell is officially underway after the local borough assembly approved the project at a meeting this week.
The approval comes after the towns main power agency has been looking to increase energy capacity as residential use has increased. The move is also part of the City and Borough goal of incorporating renewable energy.
Wrangell, like Petersburg and Ketchikan, runs mostly on hydroelectricity generated by two lakes. The system is operated by the public nonprofit Southeast Alaska Power Agency or SEAPA.
The island town uses diesel-generated power every June for at least a week while the local hydropower system undergoes maintenance. This year, that short stint is expected to cost Wrangell about a quarter of a million dollars.
But the new solar farm could offset this cost in the future.
“This is huge for our economic development potential,” Mason Villarma, Wrangell’s borough manager said during the assembly meeting.
The solar farm will start with a capacity of 1.5 megawatts, with plans to expand to five megawatts of battery power. That’s enough to keep Wrangell’s lights on during short outages.
“If there’s a bird strike on the lines, or a tree on the lines, or something like that, that fluctuation will just cause the whole grid to go down,” Villarma said.
Villarma said solar energy will complement the existing hydropower system during periods of high demand, especially during the winter. He said the solar farm will also prepare Wrangell for economic development on the horizon, such as a new shipyard that’s expected to be the largest in the region.
The move to renewable energy will also help the town move away from diesel.
“The diesel prices skyrocketed, given the war in Iran and geopolitical events, and as such, this project could fully run the town,” he said. “We wouldn’t have to burn any diesel.”
SEAPA will build and operate the solar farm, leasing the land from the City and Borough of Wrangell for $1 a year. In exchange, Wrangell will get priority for the generated power.
The location is on previously logged land about six miles south of town on the upland side of Zimovia Highway. The borough acquired the land from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority in March through a land swap.
The power agency has been seeking additional capacity in recent years as residential use has increased. Residents moved from diesel heating to electric heat pumps. There are also more electronics in most homes.
SEAPA also plans to expand its hydroelectric capacity by adding a third turbine at Tyee Lake and a new substation near Ketchikan.
But they also wanted to pursue solar after studying other alternative energy options. They looked at wind, but in Southeast it’s either not blowing or blowing too strongly. Tidal technology is too new, and there are too many unknowns for permitting. And geothermal exploration was too costly.
SEAPA’s CEO, Robert Siedman, hosted a town hall in Wrangell this month about the solar farm.
“It’s built to support local renewable energy goals,” he said. “We want to stay renewable and stay off diesel.”
He said people often question solar power in Southeast — after all, it is a rainforest. But he said solar still works. It just works less, say, than a sunny state like Arizona. He said Wrangell’s farm will run at about 10-20% of capacity over the course of a year.
It’s not clear exactly when the solar project will be complete.
Some of the construction must be completed by July 4 due to limitations in the One Big Beautiful Bill passed by Congress last year. The bill killed the 30% federal tax credit for residential solar projects.
The first phase is expected to cost $6 million. SEAPA hopes to use outside funding for most of it, including to save half through investment tax credits. That funding requires the project to be fast-tracked. The borough’s land lease term is 25 years.

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RenewSys India, India’s integrated manufacturer of Solar PV Modules, has added its bifacial N-Type TOPCon Solar PV Cells to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE)’s ALMM (Approved List of Models and Manufacturers) List-II for Solar PV Cells. The approval covers the company’s Hyderabad manufacturing facility with an annual capacity of 452 MW. The approved cells use a 182.2 mm × 183.75 mm wafer format with a 16-busbar configuration. Cell efficiencies range from 24.0% to 25.6%, with power output between 8.03 W and 8.54 W per cell. The enlistment remains valid until April 29, 2030. RenewSys is also advancing a planned 4.5 GW G12R Solar PV Cell expansion, with 2.25 GW currently under execution.

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Texans fighting to get out of solar panel contracts | Inside the Investigation  KXAN Austin
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“What we saw was a very swift rise.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Maine’s community solar boom once made the state a national leader. However, after a major policy shift, developers have said that rapid growth has stalled, and the future of similar projects looks far less certain.
Community solar allows multiple customers to subscribe to a larger solar array instead of installing panels on their own homes. In Maine, the model expanded quickly after the state broadened support for it in 2019.
For many households, community solar has been one of the few ways to lower electricity costs and support cleaner energy without needing a suitable roof or dealing with expensive upfront costs. That makes it especially important for renters, apartment dwellers, and people who can’t afford their own systems.
The Maine Community Solar website offers residents the opportunity to lower their electric bills by 15% through these shared solar panel subscriptions.
In an explainer, the site states: “Community solar starts with a locally developed solar project that brings clean energy to your area. By joining, you support renewable energy and enjoy potential savings — without installing panels. Your participation helps make these projects a reality, strengthening Maine’s energy future.”
According to Canary Media, Maine’s community solar capacity reached 694 watts per person by the end of 2025. An Institute for Local Self-Reliance report said the state with the next highest community solar capacity was Minnesota, with 164 watts per capita.
BOBS from Skechers has helped over 2 million shelter pets around the world — and the charity program just announced this year’s Paws for a Cause design-winning sneakers.
These “hound huggers” and “kitten kicks” sneakers are machine washable and equipped with memory foam insoles. Plus, they were designed by passionate students who were inspired by their very own rescue pets.
BOBS from Skechers is also committed to donating half a million dollars to the Best Friends Animal Society this year to help every dog and cat experience the safety and support of a loving home.
But a 2025 law changed the math for developers. As Canary Media observed, it added roadblocks that have seriously slowed development. The first change barred larger community solar projects from using net energy billing, which helps solar energy producers get paid for the energy the panels generate.
The second change added major fees for existing community solar projects in Maine. Now, developers are less likely to want to continue business in the state.
“What we saw was a very swift rise, and it has now come to an end,” Eliza Donoghue, the executive director of the Maine Renewable Energy Association, told the publication. “Right now, there is no opportunity for growth.”
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NEW DELHI -India now ranks third globally in installed renewable energy capacity, but the long-term effectiveness of the renewable transition in strengthening macroeconomic resilience will depend on the country’s success in localizing upstream manufacturing segments such as solar cells, according to a Morgan Stanley report.
Renewable energy has emerged as the central pillar of India’s medium-term strategy to structurally reduce external energy dependence, the Morgan Stanley report said.
Domestic solar module manufacturing capacity has expanded rapidly, supported by Production Linked Incentive (PLI) schemes and customs duties. According to recent data from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), domestic solar module manufacturing capacity increased from 38 GW in March 2024 to 74 GW in March 2025, while solar cell manufacturing capacity rose from 9 GW to 25 GW during the same period.
“However, in upstream segments, such as solar cells, wafers and polysilicon, India’s renewable deployment remains partly reliant on imported components. In FY2025, India imported approximately 35 million solar modules valued at around $1.6 billion, with an estimated 60-80 per cent of these imports sourced from China,” the Morgan Stanley report said.
The report noted that while the renewable energy transition reduces dependence on fossil fuels, it does not completely eliminate external exposure linked to manufacturing supply chains.
It added that although renewable deployment capacity has scaled up quickly, upstream manufacturing capabilities have not kept pace, leaving a significant portion of the solar ecosystem exposed to external supply chains, particularly from China.
According to the Morgan Stanley report, India’s non-fossil fuel installed power generation capacity crossed 50 per cent of total installed capacity, reaching 262.7 GW in November 2025. Solar energy capacity stood at 132.9 GW, while wind energy capacity reached 54 GW, accounting for the majority of incremental additions.
The report also noted that the government’s 2030 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) target calls for 500 GW of non-fossil fuel capacity. India achieved the milestone of 50 per cent non-fossil capacity five years ahead of schedule, supported by utility-scale renewable expansion, distributed generation schemes such as PM Surya Ghar and PM-KUSUM, and continued policy support for grid integration.
“From a macro standpoint, the expansion of renewables directly compresses the import intensity of growth, as every incremental unit of domestic solar and wind reduces the economy’s sensitivity to imported fossil fuels,” the Morgan Stanley report said. (IANS)
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A report from the Applied Economics Clinic reveals that Massachusetts possesses 92 GW of technical potential for distributed solar, a capacity nearly four times higher than the state projected peak electricity demand for 2050. The report explores program design for more equitable access to the benefits of distributed solar and storage.
A 6.7 kW solar array in Weymouth, Massachusetts installed by Devlin Solar.
Image: Wikimedia Commons
As the Massachusetts pursues net zero emissions by 2050, the electrification of building and transportation sectors is projected to double peak electricity demand to 24 GW. Behind the meter (BTM) resources, specifically rooftop and canopy solar paired with energy storage, offer a massive underutilized opportunity to meet this rising demand without new fossil fuel investments. Pairing this solar buildout with storage at a 0.4 ratio would create 40 GW of storage capacity. This combined capacity represents 165% of the state total 2050 peak demand forecast.
This potential is explored in a report from the Applied Economics Clinic titled Electrification with Equity, Part 1: The Opportunity for Behind-the-Meter Solar and Storage in Massachusetts.
Despite this vast potential, current deployment remains minimal with only 157 MW of BTM storage capacity currently installed. The report suggests the chief barrier is not technology but program design.
Interconnection remains a critical technical hurdle for developers, as stakeholders report that while hundreds of systems enter the queue annually, very few receive timely authorization to connect. The traditional cost causation model, which requires project owners to fund all grid upgrades, continues to act as a deterrent for many BTM projects. While the Department of Public Utilities has introduced a provisional system to share these costs through Capital Investment Projects, the default remains an expensive barrier for projects that do not meet specific utility criteria.
Cost and equity
High upfront costs remain out of reach for many, as existing incentives like the Solar Massachusetts Renewable Target (SMART) and ConnectedSolutions provide performance based payments but do not cover initial installation. For example, a 5 kW solar installation averages $15,510, while a 13 kWh storage system averages $21,970.
Equity gaps are particularly stark, finds the report, with very low participation rates among low income and environmental justice communities. Although the state has committed to ensuring all residents can participate in the low carbon transition, current programs lack the necessary equity provisions. Low-income households often cannot utilize tax credits if they have zero tax liability, and recent revisions to the SMART program actually removed storage adders for small residential systems under 25 kW. Furthermore, residents in environmental justice neighborhoods often face additional hurdles such as older building stock requiring expensive electrical upgrades.
To bridge the gap between technical potential and actual deployment, the report issues 23 policy recommendations. Recommendations include establishing a 50% participation target for environmental justice neighborhoods in statewide programs and providing upfront financial incentives for low income households.
Other proposals include restoring the storage adder for small systems and increasing the cap on the residential energy tax credit for low-income participants. The authors also call for better coordination between programs so that customers can enroll in efficiency, solar, and storage incentives simultaneously.
Expanding distributed resources would provide localized benefits beyond carbon reduction, said the report. Solar and storage systems provide backup power for essential services like grocery stores and hospitals during grid outages. By displacing peaker plants that disproportionately pollute minority and low income areas, these resources also offer significant public health advantages. Ultimately, the shift toward thousands of small scale community investments can foster energy autonomy while securing an affordable and reliable grid.
The economic benefits of such a transition are substantial for all residents. Widespread BTM deployment reduces the need for costly transmission and distribution upgrades that would otherwise be funded through rate increases. Additionally, localized storage can discharge during peak hours to lower wholesale energy prices across the entire ISO New England market. These systemic savings, combined with the personal resilience of onsite generation, position distributed energy as a central pillar of the Massachusetts energy strategy.
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More articles from Ryan Kennedy
Cities, townships & counties have to implement this strategy by adopting expedited permitting for pre-approved standardized modular VPP systems with solar parking lot canopies, on-site non-flammable BESS & Vehicle-2-Grid chargers at existing large workplace, shopping center, and apartment & condo parking lots. Pre-planning multiple batched projects to speed up utility interconnections would help too.
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It could make home solar cheaper and easier to install.
Photo Credit: iStock
Smartphone cameras may be doing more for the world than originally thought. Now, in parts of the U.S., they’re helping to speed up solar panel approvals by turning long, in-person inspections into fast virtual reviews.
That shift could make home solar cheaper and easier to install at a time when many households are looking for relief from rising utility bills and energy inflation. 
A growing number of local governments are allowing remote virtual inspections for rooftop solar, home battery backup, and other electrification projects.
So, instead of waiting for inspectors to arrive, technicians can simply use smartphones to capture images of key equipment, including electrical panels, meters, disconnect switches, and wiring, before sending pictures back to local officials for review.
Canary Media spoke with a solar inspector from Pima County, Arizona. Chaz Weatherford told the outlet that the process can shrink approvals from hours to minutes. After installers submit photos and videos, they often quickly receive emails saying whether the jobs passed or need to be fixed.
Advocates have said that faster approvals and easier permitting can help reduce solar installation costs and remove barriers, which remain high in the U.S. compared to many other countries. 
BOBS from Skechers has helped over 2 million shelter pets around the world — and the charity program just announced this year’s Paws for a Cause design-winning sneakers.
These “hound huggers” and “kitten kicks” sneakers are machine washable and equipped with memory foam insoles. Plus, they were designed by passionate students who were inspired by their very own rescue pets.
BOBS from Skechers is also committed to donating half a million dollars to the Best Friends Animal Society this year to help every dog and cat experience the safety and support of a loving home.
As of May 2026, six states have considered, or are considering, bills that would reform solar permitting, potentially helping streamline solar projects. In Maryland, Governor Wes Moore is expected to soon sign a bill that would do just that. 
The introduction of bills advocating for faster permitting of solar projects coincides with the explosion of statewide efforts to legalize balcony solar panels for residents as well. Both efforts could lower the barriers to entry in the clean energy space, helping residents to lower their electricity bills and reduce installation costs. 
Delays in permitting and inspections can add up for everyone involved. But the use of phone cameras for virtual inspections can reduce costs by over $30,000, according to the Interstate Renewable Energy Council. 
Those savings can ripple outward. Faster approvals mean homeowners can start generating electricity sooner, which can lower monthly power bills more quickly. That is especially important as energy costs climb. 
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Even though federal support for rooftop solar has weakened after the government eliminated the tax credits in 2025, these virtual inspections are a tool to help solar industry flourish. 
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The $220 million project has a capacity of 305 MW and is located in the province of Mendoza, in the sunny Cuyo region.
Image: Prensa Gobierno de Mendoza
From pv magazine Latam
The province of Mendoza has inaugurated the El Quemado Solar Park, located in the department of Las Heras, in the province of Mendoza, in the sunny Cuyo region.
With an installed capacity of 360 MW, the facility is now the largest photovoltaic plant in Argentina. Prior to the commissioning, the country’s largest solar facity was the 315 MW Cauchari complex.
Originally developed by the provincial utility Empresa Mendocina de Energía Sociedad Anónima (Emesa), the $220 million project was subsequently acquired and built by YPF Luz. The first 100 MW unit entered commercial operation in December last year.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Governor Alfredo Cornejo, YPF President and CEO Horacio Marín, and Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni. Officials highlighted that El Quemado is the first renewable energy project approved under Argentina’s Large Investment Incentive Regime (RIGI), designed to attract investments through fiscal, customs, and foreign exchange incentives.
The plant spans approximately 620 hectares and comprises more than 511,000 bifacial solar modules, 5,800 trackers, 1,170 inverters, and 40 transformer stations. It has an estimated capacity factor of 31.4%. According to official estimates, annual generation will be sufficient to cover residential demand in the city of Mendoza, as well as the departments of Las Heras and Lavalle.
The grid connection works included a new transformer station linked to the Argentine Interconnection System (SADI), as well as a substation equipped with GIS technology and an outgoing feeder for three 220 kV/33 kV transformers. The project also included 180 km of fiber-optic cabling for control and protection systems.
Construction lasted 18 months and peaked at more than 350 workers, with 87% of labor sourced locally. Key technology suppliers included JinkoSolar, Arctech Solar, and Huawei.
With El Quemado now online, Mendoza exceeds 700 MW of installed solar capacity and is moving toward a provincial pipeline projected to surpass 1 GW. Among upcoming developments are the Anchoris and San Rafael projects, each with 180 MW of capacity.
Several power purchase agreements (PPAs) have meanwhile been secured. In December last year, YPF Luz signed an agreement with Molinos Río de la Plata to extend its renewable supply contract to 2030, increasing the company’s clean energy share to up to 80%, with the potential to reach 100% in the future. The agreement builds on a prior contract signed in September 2023, which included the 100 MW Zonda Solar Park in San Juan, and now incorporates generation from El Quemado.
In March this year, YPF Luz signed a three-year agreement with Skyonline, an Argentine technology company specializing in digital infrastructure, to supply approximately 7,200 MWh annually. The contract will cover 85% of the electricity demand of Skyonline’s data center in downtown Buenos Aires, supplied through generation from El Quemado and the General Levalle Solar Park in Córdoba.
In April, YPF Luz also announced an agreement with Molinos Basile, covering 50% of the company’s electricity demand, equivalent to around 2,200 MWh per year.
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London headquartered EBRD approved a senior secured loan of up to EUR 53 million for SPV Blue 2 and SPV Blue 3 in Albania. The financing supports construction of a 160 MW solar photovoltaic plant and a 60 MW co-located BESS project. Total project investment is estimated at EUR 105 million. The development is expected to become one of the region’s first utility-scale co-located solar PV and storage projects. EFSD+ Hi-Bar guarantees are expected to provide first-loss risk coverage for the project. The project aims to diversify Albania’s electricity mix and reduce dependence on hydropower.

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India installed a record 15.3GW of solar capacity in the first quarter of 2026, according to new data from market research firm Mercom. 
The country’s quarterly solar additions rose 143% year-on-year from 6.3GW in Q1 2025 and were up 49% from the 10.3GW installed in Q4 2025, marking the highest quarterly solar capacity additions recorded in India to date. This was driven by developers rushing to commission projects ahead of looming policy changes and transmission waiver reductions, the report said.  
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Large-scale solar projects accounted for 12.6GW of installations during the quarter, representing 82% of total capacity additions. Installations in the segment increased 55% quarter-on-quarter and 147% year-on-year, while open access projects contributed 21% of utility-scale additions. 
According to Mercom, a combination of approaching policy deadlines and improved transmission readiness across key solar markets accelerated project commissioning activity during the quarter. 
One of the primary drivers was the upcoming implementation of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) List-II, scheduled for June 2026. Developers accelerated commissioning activity under the current procurement framework amid concerns over constrained domestic DCR cell availability and rising module procurement costs. 
Execution activity was also supported by increased deployment under the Government of India’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme, alongside developers seeking to complete open access projects ahead of the next phase of Inter-State Transmission System (ISTS) waiver reductions. 
India added 19.9GW of total power capacity during Q1 2026, with solar accounting for 77% of all new additions, according to the report. 
As of March 2026, India’s cumulative installed solar capacity stood at 152GW, including utility-scale and rooftop systems. Large-scale projects represented 85% of installed solar capacity, while rooftop installations accounted for 15%. Solar energy now accounts for 28% of India’s total installed power capacity and 55% of installed renewable energy capacity. 
Rajasthan remained the leading state for cumulative utility-scale solar installations, accounting for 32% of the national total. Gujarat and Karnataka followed with 21% and 11%, respectively. 
During Q1 2026, Gujarat and Rajasthan led quarterly utility-scale installations, contributing around 40% and 39% of new additions, respectively, while Maharashtra ranked third with 6%. 
Mercom said the average cost of utility-scale solar projects using TOPCon DCR modules declined nearly 1% quarter-on-quarter but increased 6% year-on-year. 
Meanwhile, solar tender activity reached 3GW during the quarter, rising 100% quarter-on-quarter but falling 68% year-on-year. A total of 4GW of solar projects were auctioned in Q1 2026, down 47% from the previous quarter and 64% lower year-on-year. 
In March 2026, Mercom reported that India had added 119GW of solar module manufacturing capacity and more than 9GW of solar cell manufacturing capacity during 2025. 
According to the firm’s ‘State of Solar PV Manufacturing in India 2026’ report, the country’s cumulative solar module manufacturing capacity had reached approximately 210GW by December 2025, while cumulative solar cell manufacturing capacity stood at around 27GW. 

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