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Damage can mar land, fencing, livestock areas, and structures.
Photo Credit: Hill County Emergency Management
Emergency crews in Central Texas contained a 33-acre grass fire after it broke out inside a solar farm complex in Hill County near Hillsboro.
According to Fox 44, county emergency officials said the fire burned 33 acres, prompting a response from multiple agencies.
Additional brush units were requested from Mertens and Peoria, as six nearby fire departments, the Hill County Sheriff’s Office, and county emergency management staff worked the scene.
The fire was fully contained, and officials did not identify a cause.
A fire near energy infrastructure can disrupt power generation, strain local emergency resources, and threaten nearby ranchland and homes.
In Texas and beyond, wildfire conditions intensify when vegetation dries out and wind picks up. Even when a blaze is contained before it reaches buildings, smoke can make it hard to breathe, reduce visibility on roads, and raise safety concerns, especially if flames move toward homes, workplaces, or highways.
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Damage can mar land, fencing, livestock areas, and structures as well as interrupt business operations and create unexpected repair costs.
The response involved firefighters from several jurisdictions, and support vehicles helped crews contain the blaze.
Site maintenance and fire preparedness around large energy facilities includes managing vegetation, maintaining access for emergency vehicles, monitoring equipment, and coordinating response plans with county agencies and local fire departments.
As Fox 44 said, the Hill County Office of Emergency Management first reported that the fire was 75% contained and forward progress had been stopped before saying it was 100% contained and that crews were mopping up.
In Texas and elsewhere, dry grass, extreme heat, and shifting weather can make fires hard to control. These stories show how drought and other patterns are raising wildfire risks.
• In Colorado, experts worried that storms could fan an 86,000-acre wildfire while raising flash flooding concerns.
• In Texas, extreme heat is testing the grid and worsening fire conditions.
• For farmers nationwide, flash droughts pose unprecedented risk as fields dry out with alarming speed.
Heat and dry conditions affect power systems, farms, and communities, raising the stakes for responders.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
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When electricity bills nearly tripled, millions of Pakistanis ditched the grid for rooftops—setting off a solar rush that has left the country's power establishment scrambling.
By Science Blog Editorial Team · Edited by Mal James
Published September 8, 2026 · How we edit
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Solar power under Pakistan’s net-metering rules jumped from 190 megawatts in 2020 to roughly 6,978 megawatts by June 2026. An almost 37-fold rise in six years.
On a chart it looks like the dream curve every energy ministry wants to claim but it is worth being clear, early, about what actually caused it.
We are not energy economists or policy advisers, and nothing here is investment or planning advice. This is a piece of reading and reflection on one country’s experience, drawn from official presentations and published analysis. The patterns described are national, not a forecast about any individual household, grid, or market.
A line like that begs for a tidy explanation, and that explanation is usually policy. Somebody designed a clever incentive, the theory goes, and rooftops followed. It is a comfortable read, because it puts a government in charge and turns a messy outcome into a repeatable playbook.
Pakistan introduced national net-metering rules through NEPRA in 2015. Under the original system, electricity a household exported was netted against the electricity it drew from the grid, effectively valuing those units at the consumer’s normal per-unit electricity rate. Any excess could be carried forward or paid out at the applicable off-peak rate. That mattered. But treating it as the engine of the boom gets the cause backwards, and the people closest to the data are the ones saying so.
At a webinar run by the SAARC Energy Centre, Pakistan’s Energy Adviser to the Power Division, Syed Faizan Ali, ran through the causes. His framing was direct: the growth came mostly from the wider economy, not a subsidy. Between 2021 and 2025, the rupee lost about 75 percent of its value while electricity tariffs rose nearly 140 percent. Over the same years, the price of imported solar panels fell by roughly 60 percent.
Those three lines together contain the whole mechanism. Grid power got much more expensive. The hardware to make your own power got much cheaper. No feed-in tariff, no national rooftop scheme, no marketing campaign was needed to close that gap. The numbers closed it.
Jan Rosenow, who leads the energy program at the University of Oxford’s Environmental Change Institute, makes the same point more sharply. He writes that no dedicated subsidy did the work: “No subsidy programme drove it. There was no national rooftop scheme. No feed-in tariff. People just did it.”
Two things get lost when you lead with “190 to nearly 7,000.”
The first is that these are net-metered distributed-solar figures, not a measure of all the solar installed in Pakistan. Large amounts of behind-the-meter and off-grid capacity never appear in the net-metering totals.That makes the escape story stronger, not weaker.
The second, harder point is who gets left holding the bill. When a high-paying customer installs panels and stops buying much grid power, the fixed costs do not vanish. The wires, the transformers, the payments for idle power plants all still have to be paid, and they get spread across everyone still connected. Pakistani distribution companies already lose around 20 percent of power in transmission before any of this. The World Resources Institute describes high-paying customers leaving as collapsing utility revenues while dozens of gigawatts of fossil-fuel plants sit underused.
The people most exposed tend to be the ones who could never afford panels in the first place. The households escaping are, broadly, the ones with money and a roof they own. The households absorbing the shifted cost are, broadly, poorer and stuck on the grid. A story that reads as a green triumph at the national level is also, underneath, a transfer from those who can’t leave to those who can.
In February 2026, NEPRA replaced net metering with net billing for new customers, charging them the applicable retail tariff for electricity drawn from the grid while crediting exports at the lower national average energy purchase price.
Perhaps the wider lesson here is not really about solar. It is about what happens when leaving a shared system becomes cheaper than staying in it.
Pakistan didn’t design its rooftop boom. Its grid became expensive and unreliable enough that leaving was the rational move for anyone who could manage it, and many ran the numbers on their own and reached the same answer. When that gap opens, exit becomes the real policy, whatever the official rules say.
The wires are still there, still need paying for, and the people best able to keep funding them are the ones with the strongest reason to walk away.
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As solar makers squeeze costs, a radical alternative to silver solder could rewire the entire industry.
The photovoltaic industry consumed 186.6 million ounces of silver in 2025 — a 6% decline from 197.5 Moz the year before — according to the World Silver Survey 2026, compiled by Metals Focus for the Silver Institute and reported by PV Magazine. In the same period, researchers at Forschungszentrum Jülich were presenting a rather different response to the same cost pressure: a solderless nickel anisotropic conductive tape, roughly 10 µm thick, used to interconnect solar cells at room temperature. In their test modules, the assembly came through 200 thermal cycles down to −40 °C with less than 1% power loss, according to work shown at the Metallization and Interconnection Workshop in Berlin on October 20–21, 2025.
Those two numbers sit at opposite ends of the same problem. One is a market-level accounting of how much silver the module industry still buys every year. The other is a laboratory attempt to change the physics of how a cell gets wired at all — and, by extension, how much metal and how much heat that step demands.
The World Silver Survey’s headline for PV is a contraction, not a collapse. Silver demand from the solar sector fell to 186.6 Moz in 2025 from 197.5 Moz in 2024, and Metals Focus expects a considerably steeper drop ahead: the survey forecasts a further decline of around 19% in 2026, to roughly 151 Moz, per PV Magazine’s reporting of the figures.
The pressure behind that trajectory is not subtle. Silver averaged just over $40 an ounce across 2025 — up around 42% year over year, according to the same survey — while total industrial offtake slipped 3% to 657.4 Moz and the market logged its fifth consecutive annual deficit, at 40.3 Moz. When a critical metallization input reprices that hard, cell makers respond the way they have responded for a decade: thrifting. Finer fingers, narrower busbars, thinner screen-printed pastes, and, increasingly, substitution work aimed at copper or at contact schemes that use less silver per watt in the first place.
The survey frames thrifting and alternative metallization as the industry’s cost-pressure response rather than as a solved problem, and that distinction matters. A 6% decline in ounces does not tell you whether the industry has structurally weaned itself off silver or whether it has simply shipped modules with less paste on them while volumes grew. It does tell you that the material is now a line item that R&D groups across Europe are designing around — including at the interconnection step, which has historically been treated as a solder-and-ribbon commodity operation rather than a materials question.
Conventional stringing joins cells with soldered copper ribbon. That works because crystalline silicon tolerates the localized thermal excursion. It works considerably less well for the cell architectures that the industry is now pushing toward efficiency records.
Silicon heterojunction cells carry thin passivating layers and transparent conductive oxides that degrade under soldering temperatures. Perovskite-silicon tandems are worse: the perovskite absorber itself is thermally sensitive, and the thermal budget of any downstream process step becomes a design constraint on the entire module. That is the motivation stated in the Jülich contribution to MIW 2025, presented by Benedikt Fischer and Yanxin Liu under the title “Room-Temperature Interconnection of Thermally Sensitive Solar Cells Using Electrically Conductive Tape.” If the cell cannot be heated, the interconnect has to be made cold.
An anisotropic conductive tape is a way of doing that. The adhesive conducts in one direction — through its thickness, cell to ribbon — while remaining insulating in the plane, so that particles bridging the joint do not short adjacent contacts. In the Jülich work, the conductive pathway is nickel rather than silver-coated filler, in a film on the order of 10 µm thick, applied and cured without a solder reflow step. The cell is never taken up to soldering temperature.
The materials logic runs in two directions at once. It removes the thermal insult that keeps heterojunction and tandem architectures from being interconnected with standard equipment, and it puts a base metal where the industry has conventionally used silver-bearing or solder-based joining chemistry.
Here the caveats need to be as precise as the numbers. The result reported at MIW 2025 is a test module in a laboratory research line — single-cell scale, not a certified commercial panel, and not a product with a name, a datasheet, or a supply agreement. Less than 1% power loss after 200 thermal cycles to −40 °C is a meaningful early durability signal for a room-temperature joint, because thermal cycling is precisely where a cold-formed adhesive interconnect would be expected to fail: differential expansion between cell, adhesive, and ribbon working the contact loose over repeated excursions. The joint held.
What it does not establish is field lifetime. Standard module qualification runs cycling in combination with damp heat, humidity-freeze, mechanical load, and UV exposure, on full-format laminates, over durations that a workshop presentation does not cover. Nor does the Jülich work claim otherwise.
There is also a mechanical trade-off flagged in the research line itself: the thin nickel tape shows weaker peel and adhesion performance than the thicker alternatives tested alongside it. That is a soft caveat, not a disqualifier — but it is the sort of finding that determines whether a 10 µm film survives lamination, handling, and two decades on a roof, or whether the recipe needs more thickness and therefore more material.
And nothing in the tape work substitutes for the industry-wide thrifting the World Silver Survey is measuring. The 186.6 Moz consumed in 2025, and the roughly 151 Moz Metals Focus projects for 2026, are being driven down by front-side metallization changes at cell level, not by interconnection adhesives in a German research institute. What Jülich has is an early, lab-scale demonstration that a base-metal, room-temperature joint can survive 200 cycles to −40 °C with less than 1% loss — one line of attack on a materials bill the survey shows is still very much unresolved.
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Australia and India have formalised a broadened energy partnership that spans renewable energy deployment, supply chain resilience, critical minerals, rooftop solar training and uranium exports.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi confirmed the agreement in Melbourne on 9 July 2026, framing the bilateral relationship around two parallel tracks.
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This includes securing the near-term supply of conventional fuels and accelerating the energy transition through renewables and electrification.
The joint statement acknowledges the prolonged disruption to global energy supply chains stemming from instability in the Middle East. It reaffirms both countries’ commitment to open markets and rules-based trade.
Against that backdrop, it commits Australia and India to strengthening cooperation to maintain a stable supply of coal, diesel, other liquid fuels, and natural gas. India is currently Australia’s fourth-largest source of refined petroleum, while Australia is a longstanding supplier of coal and liquefied natural gas to India.
At the same time, the statement recognises that “increasing electrification of respective energy systems will be a valuable source of energy security into the future,” and welcomes progress under the India–Australia Renewable Energy Partnership, including the opening of a Rooftop Solar Training Academy in Gujarat.
The academy draws on Australian technical expertise to support India’s growing solar installer workforce, a practical expression of a collaboration first formalised in a 2022 letter of intent that committed both countries to reducing the cost of solar PV, battery energy storage and other clean technologies through scaled manufacturing and deployment.
The statement comes at a moment when both countries are implementing renewable energy programmes at scale but are wrestling with the infrastructure and policy conditions needed to sustain deployment.
India added approximately 26GW of solar capacity in the first half of 2026 alone, a 43% increase on the same period in 2025, according to JMK Research, taking cumulative renewable energy installed capacity to around 288GW.
Utility-scale projects accounted for 19GW of those additions. At the same time, the rooftop segment recorded approximately 6.4GW, more than double the figure for H1 2025, driven largely by the government’s PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana (PMSGY) rooftop solar initiative.
JMK projects India will add around 47GW of solar and wind combined across the full year 2026, keeping it on track toward its target of 500GW of non-fossil fuel capacity by 2030.
Rooftop solar momentum in India is building, but execution remains uneven, according to analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
More than 3.3 million systems have been installed under PMSGY, adding over 12GW of capacity. Still, by mid-2025, only around 22.7% of the scheme’s 5.8 million applications had been completed, a gap that varies sharply by state.
The Rooftop Solar Training Academy, which opened in Gujarat, India’s leading state for solar capacity additions in H1 2026, sits at the heart of that execution challenge.
In Australia, the scale of the renewable energy task is no less formidable. AEMO’s 2026 Integrated System Plan (ISP) calls for nearly 120GW of utility-scale wind and solar by 2050, roughly five times the current level of around 23GW, and explicitly states that delivery, rather than planning, is now the binding constraint.
Australia needs to build at a sustained pace that has not been achieved in any consecutive five-year period, and the ISP identifies 35GW of short and medium-duration battery storage alongside 5GW of long-duration storage as essential firming infrastructure to make the renewable energy build-out dispatchable.
Meanwhile, investor confidence in Australia’s clean energy sector has deteriorated sharply, according to the Clean Energy Investor Group’s 2026 survey.
Just 8% of respondents believe Australia is on track to meet its 82% renewable energy target by 2030, with 65% saying it will not be met. Transmission buildout delays have become the single largest challenge for investment, surpassing planning approvals.
Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen framed the partnership in terms of mutual commercial interest as much as geopolitics.
“Both our nations understand the importance of practical action on climate, and the significant economic opportunity the energy transition presents,” Bowen said, citing the Rooftop Solar Academy as an example of Australia’s technical expertise meeting India’s installer workforce needs.
The statement also acknowledges the energy security vulnerabilities of Pacific Island Countries and the importance of maintaining energy resource supply to their resilience, a signal that the bilateral energy framework is intended to extend its reach across the region, not solely between the two signatories.

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Global Leading All In One Solar Street Light Manufacturer
Core Advantages of LECUSO s Integrated Technology
Yangzhou, Jiangsu Sep 9, 2026 (Issuewire.com)  – With urban development increasingly favoring sustainable practices, solar lighting has emerged as an integral component of the global energy transition. As municipalities and private sectors seek efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly solutions, the demand for high-quality integrated lighting systems has skyrocketed. LECUSO has quickly established itself as the global leader in all-in-one solar street lights, meeting modern outdoor illumination challenges with technological innovation and stringent manufacturing standards. By incorporating advanced photovoltaic modules, high-efficiency LEDs, and intelligent energy management technology into a single unit, the company has revolutionized renewable lighting infrastructure reliability and performance.
Global energy trends are rapidly shifting toward decentralization and carbon neutrality, replacing traditional street lighting, which relies heavily on grid infrastructure and fossil fuels, with autonomous solar solutions. By 2030, solar street lighting market growth is projected to accelerate significantly due to demand for clean energy integration into smart city environments; as such, specialization among manufacturers becomes ever more essential in meeting this challenge.
Yangzhou Lecuso New Energy Co., Ltd. has made an indelible mark in this sector since 2005. Since then, they have focused their research and production of solar-powered lighting systems from within their state-of-the-art 50,000-square-meter facility located in Yangzhou, China –a hub for lighting technology–providing consistent supply to over 200 countries and regions through global distribution channels.
Understanding the All In One Solar Street Light
At the core of the company’s product lineup lies its All In One Solar Street Light. Unlike traditional split-type solar lights, which require separate mounting for panels, batteries, and lamps – which require separate installation – “All In One” solar lights integrate all components in one sleek housing. This integration includes monocrystalline solar cells; LiFePO4 batteries; LED light sources; as well as an intelligent MPPT (Maximum Power Point Tracking) controller – into a single housing.
One of the key offerings in this category is the All-in-One Solar Street Light With Pole, a comprehensive solution that streamlines procurement and installation for project managers. By offering both components synchronized as one system, manufacturers ensure structural integrity and aesthetic consistency of installations. Incorporating high-grade materials like die-cast aluminum with anti-corrosion treatments makes these systems suitable for harsh environmental conditions, from coastal humidity to desert heat.
Core Advantages of LECUSO’s Integrated Technology
LECUSO stands out as a global leader not simply due to volume sales; their technological prowess in every product makes the difference – for instance, their All In One Solar Street Light solution has led to several key breakthroughs that address industry pain points.
Strategic Manufacturing and Quality Assurance
As a global leading all-in-one solar street light manufacturer, the company adheres to stringent quality control standards. Their production processes are certified ISO9001, while products bear CE, ROHS, TÜV, IEC, and SGS certifications – this ensures compliance with international standards that are essential in large municipal projects where safety and longevity must not be compromised.
Manufacturing facilities equipped with automated production lines for solar cells and high-precision CNC machines for light pole fabrication allow brands to keep tight control over all aspects of the product, from raw silicon solar cell production to galvanization of light poles. In addition, OEM and ODM services offer customization according to individual project requirements such as wind resistance ratings or decorative pole designs.
Future Outlook and Industry Leadership
The future of outdoor lighting lies at the intersection of renewable energy and the Internet of Things (IoT). LECUSO is already taking strides toward this vision by designing intelligent solar street lighting systems that can be remotely managed via a central management platform – these provide real-time data on energy consumption, battery health, and lamp status that enable proactive maintenance for further energy savings.
LECUSO(https://www.lecusostreetlight.com/) serves as an invaluable resource for engineers and urban planners seeking reliable information on solar performance and product specifications. As our global community places more importance on green infrastructure initiatives, experienced manufacturers will become even more important.
The development of the All In One Solar Street Light represents an impressive milestone in sustainable technology. Through commitments to quality and integrated design, as well as proactive approaches to research and development, LECUSO has become a trusted partner in the global energy transition – whether providing standalone All In One LED Solar Street Light With Pole or implementing smart lighting networks at large scale in cities worldwide.
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The Pinal County Board of Supervisors present a proclamation to the Casa Grande Rotary Club Wednesday in celebration of the club’s 100th anniversary.
Pinal County Recorder Dana Lewis, from left, and Supervisors Jeff Serdy, Jeffrey McClure, Steve Miller and Rich Vitiello are pictured with stainless steel replicas of some of America’s founding documents, which were donated to the county.

The Pinal County Board of Supervisors present a proclamation to the Casa Grande Rotary Club Wednesday in celebration of the club’s 100th anniversary.
The Pinal County Board of Supervisors present a proclamation to the Casa Grande Rotary Club Wednesday in celebration of the club’s 100th anniversary.
Pinal County Recorder Dana Lewis, from left, and Supervisors Jeff Serdy, Jeffrey McClure, Steve Miller and Rich Vitiello are pictured with stainless steel replicas of some of America’s founding documents, which were donated to the county.
FLORENCE — Eloy Valley Energy Center III, a 1,263-acre solar energy complex south of Eloy, was approved on Sept. 2 by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors.
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ELOY — An event bringing the hearts and minds of people together to recognize and celebrate Hispanic heritage has become a decades-long tradition in Eloy. Read moreFiestas Patrias celebrates 75 years of honoring Hispanic culture
SAN TAN VALLEY — The San Tan Valley Town Council held a regular meeting on Wednesday, Sept. 2, the first meeting since Aug. 5. With such a long time between meetings, there was plenty for the … Read moreSTV Town Manager offers insight on Flock cameras within town limits
FLORENCE — Eloy Valley Energy Center III, a 1,263-acre solar energy complex south of Eloy, was approved on Sept. 2 by the Pinal County Board of Supervisors. Read moreSolar energy complex OK’d south of Eloy
FLORENCE — Vice Mayor Nicole Buccellato was named Outstanding Elected Official of the Year by the Arizona Parks and Recreation Association. Read moreVice mayor wins statewide award for parks, Hunt Highway widening in the works
FLORENCE — The town has a new ordinance pertaining to the use of electric bicycles, or e-bikes, and stand-up scooters, following the Town Council’s approval on Sept. 1. Read moreNew ordinance governs e-bikes, scooters
CASA GRANDE — The colorful character depictions, bold lettering and dramatic artwork panels of illustrator and designer Alex Jay will be on display at the Casa Grande Art Museum beginning Oct. 9. Read moreComic book artist to be featured at Casa Grande Art Museum
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CASA GRANDE — Jean Henderson lived out of her truck, usually parked at the Main Library. It was a good fit for Henderson, well-educated and well-read. Read moreCoates: Crash sends a woman unhoused to places unknown
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Texas crews contain 33-acre grass fire after it ignites inside Hill County solar farm  Yahoo
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Rocket Lab Introduces New Solar Cell — Can RKLB Tackle Supply Chain Constraints In The Space Power Industry?  Yahoo Finance
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Cardinal News
Serving Southwest and Southside Virginia
Botetourt County, like many counties, is in the process of developing an ordinance governing solar projects.
My advice: Choose carefully.
Choose very carefully.
The planning commission meets Sept. 14 in a work session to go over details. This isn’t a public hearing, but it already seems clear where much of the Botetourt public is — at least the vocal parts of it.
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Earlier this summer, when there were two requests to allow solar projects, the county burst into bloom with signs that proclaimed: “Keep Botetourt Green — No Industrial Solar.”
One project was withdrawn, the other turned down.
Anti-solar protesters may have thought they won a victory, but it may be only a temporary one. Solar panels may never cover those two properties, but those fields won’t stay green forever. Both are in parts of the county that are being developed. The question wasn’t solar vs. green fields but solar vs. future housing developments. In fact, a “for sale” sign went up recently for the largest of the two properties. That’s likely 50-plus acres of future housing.
That’s not really the issue here, though. It’s what rules the county adopts for solar — and then how it applies those to future solar requests.
Botetourt is not alone, merely the most convenient example for me to make this point: Rural counties that don’t want solar run the risk of triggering the heavy hand of Richmond coming down on them if they look too resistant to it.
I’m not here today to make the case for or against solar — there are plenty of people on both sides who can do that. I am here to lay out the political facts of life that my neighbors in Botetourt (as well as other rural counties across Virginia) need to understand as they grapple with solar development. I dealt with some of these in my previous column when Henry County moved to restrict solar development. Today I’ll just be a bit blunter.
Here’s the first thing to know: It doesn’t really matter what you think the state’s energy policy should be. That was decided when Virginia passed the Clean Economy Act in 2020. To the extent that you got a say — in General Assembly elections and elections for governor — those who disagree with the goals of that law got outvoted. Whether you like it or not, the Clean Economy Act is going to be the law of the land until at least 2030 (I’ll get into why that date matters later).
Here are the uncomfortable politics (well, uncomfortable to many rural areas) of the Clean Economy Act: It was passed by Democrats from the urban crescent, but the implementation must largely come in rural Virginia, which is represented almost entirely by Republicans who voted against the law. From a Democratic point of view, everyone must do their part in this energy transition. From a Republican point of view, particularly those who see solar as industrial blight on the rural landscape, the urban crescent legislators who voted for this don’t have to suffer the consequences of this legislation.

The Clean Economy Act mandated that the state’s two biggest utilities — Dominion Energy and Appalachian Power — go carbon-free by 2045 and 2050, respectively. There are some provisions to allow for natural gas in the name of “reliability,” which is why we’re seeing gas plants proposed in Chesterfield County and Cumberland County and a big expansion proposed in Fluvanna County.
Nonetheless, both utilities are required to develop or purchase carbon-free forms of energy. This is why we’re seeing a rush of energy development across the state. Mostly we’ve seen this in the form of solar facilities, which have been concentrated in Southside Virginia but now are spreading statewide. There are other energy projects that are still in the proposal stage — Dominion has proposed adding a small nuclear reactor to its existing North Anna nuclear station in Louisa County; Appalachian has proposed putting a small reactor (these are called “small modular reactors”) at its Joshua Falls substation in Campbell County. A private developer out of Charlottesville is building the state’s first on-shore wind farm on a mountain ridge in northern Botetourt County; a private developer out of Florida has proposed building two small pumped storage hydroelectric projects in Wise County.
The problem with solar and wind (but not hydro) is that they are part-time energy sources; those facilities can only produce power when the sun is shining, and the wind is blowing. That’s why we’re also seeing a big push for energy storage sites, basically big batteries that will store that power and release it onto the grid when it’s needed. Basically anything that can produce more electrons of power is in demand right now.
For our purposes here, I’m skipping past Dominion’s wind farm off the coast of Virginia Beach because that was planned long before the Clean Economy Act; however, this is an opportune time for our standard disclosure that Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions. You can see our policy here. You can also test this out yourself; you can become a donor yourself and have no say.
All this is by way of background to explain why Botetourt (feel free to substitute the name of your locality) is seeing more interest from solar developers. State law requires that Dominion and Appalachian get more renewable energy somehow — and that’s created a market for private development. Solar is popular because it’s relatively cheap, easy and quick to build. It’s on one end of the energy spectrum; nuclear is on the other end — expensive, hard and slow to build. Nuclear may be more reliable (a nuclear plant can run around the clock, solar can’t) and may produce far more gigawatts than solar, but if we start now, we could have a solar farm up and running maybe in a year, while it may take a decade or more with nuclear. The goal with those small reactors is that they’ll be cheaper and quicker to build, but since we don’t actually have any yet in commercial operation, we just don’t know. The promise of nuclear is speculative; solar is here now.
Anyway, for those who are against what they deride as “industrial solar,” what you think about this doesn’t really matter. This is the market reality in Virginia: Rural counties are going to see more solar proposals because the state law has intentionally created this demand — and there’s really nowhere else for it to go. This year the state did try to create some options for more developed areas: parking lot solar and plug-in home solar. Home solar may be fine for an individual residence, but it’s not producing utility-scale solar. Parking lot solar conceivably could, but solar developers haven’t shown much interest in it because building the canopies is more expensive than just sticking solar panels in a field somewhere — and eventually those expenses will get passed on to consumers, which defeats part of the purpose of solar, which is that it’s inexpensive. For better or worse, energy producers (be they utilities or private developers) are always going to look to rural areas for energy sites because that’s where the land is.
Here’s more reality: When some rural counties either got fed up with solar or decided they didn’t want it in the first place, they passed bans on solar development. Virginia legislators were so unhappy with those bans that this year they passed legislation to “ban the bans.” Localities must now consider every solar proposal. They don’t have to approve them; they don’t have to approve any of them — but Richmond is watching. And taking notes. State law now requires localities to explain to Richmond why they’re turning down solar projects. The state is essentially building a database of all the reasons localities are saying “no.” This can and will be used against rural localities that say “no” too many times.
Here’s where this comes home to Botetourt — or Bedford County next door, which is also famously anti-solar. It may not take much to push the General Assembly into a mood where legislators say, “You know what, we just can’t trust these counties to approve enough solar projects. We’re going to take away their local authority and do this ourselves.”
From the standpoint of pro-solar advocates, the state has decreed these renewable energy mandates but left the implementation up to individual localities, many of which just aren’t going along. If going carbon-free is an important goal to the state, and local governments are seen as standing in the way of saving the planet, the state will have to take over solar siting.
Remember: I’m not saying the state should; I’m just saying that’s what some would see as a logical way to make sure the Clean Economy Act goals are met.
Are those goals reasonable? Are they realistic? Are they wise? None of that matters, at least not to local governments. Those questions ought to matter to state legislators, and there is occasionally talk among Democrats that maybe the details of the Clean Economy Act need to be tweaked. Republicans, of course, would like to trash it altogether, but they are in the minority right now — and would need a trifecta (House, Senate, governor) to make radical overhauls. The earliest that can happen is 2030 — if Republicans were to a) win a majority in next year’s state Senate elections and then b) win a majority in the House and the governor’s race in 2029. Botetourt voters can’t do anything about that next year; they already have a Republican state senator (and House member). They need to hope that Republicans win in the more urban parts of the state, but that’s a matter for a lot more columns to come. For now, those who are putting up the “no industrial solar” signs need to understand that they are inviting the exact opposite of what they want. They want the county to block solar, but they could trigger the state coming in and saying what the county wants doesn’t really matter. We need more solar, so here it is. No need to thank us.
Notice that I haven’t mentioned the issue that has fired up many in Botetourt and elsewhere: Data centers. Yes, data centers are energy hogs that are driving up the demand for power. However, even if data centers didn’t exist, much of this solar development would be happening anyway because state law indirectly calls for it.
From a purely practical standpoint, rural boards of supervisors need to figure out how to deal with solar in a way that doesn’t get them thrown out of office in the next election but also doesn’t bring down the hammer from Richmond on them and rural counties across the state. Good luck with all that.
That’s why my advice to the Botetourt planners, and rural government elsewhere, is what I said at the beginning: Choose carefully. Choose very carefully. Or the day may come when you don’t get to choose at all.
It’s a short week coming out of the Labor Day weekend, but we’ll still have plenty of politics to talk about by week’s end in West of the Capital, our weekly political newsletter that comes out every Friday. Sign up here:
Yancey is founding editor of Cardinal News. His opinions are his own. You can reach him at dwayne@cardinalnews.org… More by Dwayne Yancey
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Developer Zero-E Australia and its parent company Grupo Cobra have received 5.3.4A Connection Approval from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) for the 145MWac Moranbah solar-plus-storage site in Queensland.
The approval, confirmed by grid connection engineering firm OSA Engineering, covers a 145MWac solar PV facility coupled with a 50MWac battery storage system, located near Coppabella in Queensland’s Bowen Basin.
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The plant uses an AC-coupled hybrid architecture with grid-forming inverter technology, placing it among a growing cohort of Australian solar and storage projects specified to provide active grid stability support rather than simply generating and exporting power.
Section 5.3.4A of the National Electricity Rules sets out the process that generators must follow before they can operate in the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Achieving this approval requires extensive power system modelling, including electromagnetic transient studies using power systems computer-aided design (PSCAD) and load flow analysis using power system simulator for engineering (PSS/E), along with performance validation and negotiations with AEMO and the relevant network service provider, in this case, Energy Queensland.
OSA Engineering said the process involved close collaboration between the project team, AEMO and Energy Queensland across all stages of the technical assessment.
The 5.3.4A approval is the connection milestone that confirms a project can connect to and operate securely within the NEM while maintaining system reliability.
It does not itself authorise construction to begin, but it removes the primary technical uncertainty that sits between development approval and a final investment decision and is typically one of the last formal steps before a project proceeds to procurement and construction contracts.
The project is being developed by Zero-E Australia, the Australian subsidiary of Spanish infrastructure group Grupo Cobra, which is itself part of the VINCI Group. The Moranbah project is Grupo Cobra’s first Australian clean energy development.
The company has partnered with the Barada Barna People, the Traditional Owners of the land, on a Cultural Heritage Management Agreement and a Shared Benefits Agreement as part of the project’s community commitments.
Up to 250 jobs are expected during construction, with a focus on local participation from the Moranbah region.
The Moranbah solar-plus-storage project was one of 19 projects awarded contracts under Australia’s Capacity Investment Scheme Tender 7 in May 2026, which delivered 7.8GW of renewable energy across the NEM, which exceeded the 5GW originally targeted.
Eight of the 19 successful projects in that tender were hybrid solar or wind developments paired with battery storage, with the cohort contributing over 2GW and 7.9GWh of storage capacity to the grid.
The Moranbah project was listed in the CIS Tender 7 results as a 171MW solar PV plant paired with 100MWh of battery storage, operated by Zero-E/Grupo Cobra.

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By Nicolás Rivero
To avoid the worst consequences of climate change, the world needs to rebuild its energy systems to eliminate planet-warming greenhouse gas pollution. So far, solar panels and wind turbines have taken a leading role, ramping up more rapidly and less expensively than even optimists predicted.
But solar and wind won’t be enough to keep the lights on without heating the planet, according to three energy experts from a think tank, a state regulator and a data center developer.
“Solar and wind are becoming so cheap that they can be the mainstay of power systems of the future, but they can’t do it alone,” said Karl Hausker, a senior fellow in the Polsky Center for the Global Energy Transition at the World Resources Institute.
To build a truly zero-emissions grid, Hausker said, the world needs “clean firm power,” a broad category of technologies that can deliver electricity on demand without releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
Hausker and other proponents of clean firm power say a new generation of nuclear reactors, geothermal plants, batteries and other technologies could step in when the wind isn’t blowing and the sun isn’t shining — if they can overcome technological hurdles and bring their costs down.
There are opportunities to develop these technologies in the United States even under a presidential administration that has downplayed the threat of climate change and sought to boost oil, gas and coal production. 
Although the Trump administration and congressional Republicans phased out federal subsidies for wind and solar projects, they left federal subsidies for nuclear, geothermal and utility-scale energy storage mostly untouched.
 
 
Clean firm power may also get a boost from the AI boom, which has driven up the cost of electricity and strained tech companies’ ability to meet their climate goals. Data center developers are willing to pay high prices for always-on clean energy, creating a market for early projects.
“You need first movers to adopt and build and deploy,” said Tyler Huebner, a member of Google’s Energy Market Development team. “Hopefully then you can bring the cost down, so the next level of users can take it on.”
In the United States and around the world, most new electricity generation capacity comes from solar and wind, which have grown quickly as their prices have fallen. 
But they can be a headache for grid operators. The amount of electricity generated by solar panels and wind turbines fluctuates depending on the weather, season and time of day. 
To avoid blackouts, wind and solar have to be paired with some combination of batteries, transmission lines that can shift energy between regions and “peaker” power plants — typically gas turbines that can ramp up or down to balance renewable output.
When solar and wind are a relatively small part of the grid, evening out their intermittent power is relatively cheap. But that balancing act gets harder and more expensive as wind and solar become a bigger part of the grid.
Last year, 17% of U.S. electricity came from wind and solar power, which is still very manageable, according to Hausker. 
Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory wrote in a 2021 paper that “there is no simple answer to how far we can increase RE penetration before costs rise dramatically or reliability becomes compromised.” But Hausker offered a rough rule of thumb.
When wind and solar generate less than 40% of the electricity on the grid, it’s pretty cheap to balance them out with batteries and gas power plants. 
Between 40 and 80%, it gets harder to deal with the overnight gap in solar power, but it’s doable with enough battery capacity. Longer-lasting batteries, which are still being developed, would help with this challenge.
Beyond 80%, costs rise fast. Grids have to deal with seasonal variations in wind and sunshine, which means storing energy for months — a “largely unsolved” problem, Hausker said.
This is where clean firm power sources come into play.
Long-duration batteries could store energy for days to smooth out long lulls in wind and sunshine. Form Energy, for instance, says it’s building an iron-air battery that can deliver 300 megawatts of electricity for 100 hours (compared to about four hours of storage for a standard lithium-ion battery). The project will help power a Google data center in Minnesota.
Enhanced and “superhot” geothermal plants use techniques borrowed from the fracking industry, among other innovations, to make electricity from a wider range of hot rocks, which could allow this 24/7 source of zero-carbon electricity to work in more places. 
For example, Fervo Energy is building a 500-megawatt enhanced geothermal project in Utah to sell power to utilities and a Google data center.
Meanwhile, Google and Microsoft are each bankrolling projects to restart shuttered nuclear plants in Iowa and at Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania (subscription required). 
And other companies are working on new nuclear designs dubbed “small modular reactors,” which proponents say can be built more quickly and easily than previous designs.
The drive for more energy has even pushed companies to invest in natural gas plants that capture their carbon dioxide pollution and store it underground. The technology is expensive and has historically struggled to meet promised capture rates, but proponents say it will improve with time. Google is backing a 400-megawatt gas plant with carbon capture equipment in Decatur, Illinois. 
“It’s so important to develop a menu and place bets on multiple technologies,” Hausker said. ”We don’t know how these things are going to play out. We just know we need lots of them available to solve climate change.”
Although energy experts can’t be sure which of these technologies will succeed or fail, Hausker and the other experts emphasized the need to keep all options open.
Many U.S. states have set net-zero emissions targets, but they generally target 100% clean energy, including sources such as nuclear and natural gas with carbon capture, rather than restricting themselves to 100% renewable energy, including solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric power. 
Illinois, for instance, has a strict 2050 clean energy target and a plan to phase out fossil fuel power plants — but its goals leave room for its large nuclear fleet to play a leading role.
That flexibility makes it much more feasible for the state to reach its goals while dealing with rising energy demand and trying to keep costs down, according to Doug Scott, chairman of the Illinois Commerce Commission, the regulatory body that oversees the state’s energy industry.
“Before the last couple years, we felt really pretty confident about our ability to do 100% clean energy by 2050,” said Scott. “We still think that way, but with the advent of larger loads we’re looking at new variables that we weren’t looking at back in 2021.”
 
 
Having alternatives to wind and solar is also crucial for tech companies, which made splashy public climate commitments in the years before the AI race set off a scramble to build and power huge data centers. 
Google has vowed to power its operations entirely with clean energy by 2030 (subscription required) using a strict “hourly matching” standard that would be difficult to meet using wind and solar alone.
“We’re really excited about the progress that we’re making, but we’re also facing a daunting challenge to continue making that progress,” Google’s Huebner said.
While all three experts agreed that clean firm power will have some role to play in future energy grids, none ventured a guess at exactly how big that role would be. Will these technologies fill in a small niche where wind, solar and lithium-ion batteries fall short, or will they form the backbone of future grids?
The answer will depend on the progress scientists and engineers can make and the priorities companies and governments choose in the coming years.
[Editor’s Note: Material for this story was drawn from a panel moderated by Rivero at the Society of Environmental Journalists’ annual conference in Chicago, Illinois, in April 2026, whose sponsors are listed here. Listen to the panel audio recording here (see Room H; SEJ members only).] 
Nicolás Rivero is an environmental accountability reporter at The Florida Trib. Previously, he covered climate change and the environment for The Washington Post, the Miami Herald and Quartz. He was part of a team of reporters named a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in National Reporting for their coverage of Hurricane Helene in 2024.
* From the weekly news magazine SEJournal Online, Vol. 11, No. 31. Content from each new issue of SEJournal Online is available to the public via the SEJournal Online main page. Subscribe to the e-newsletter here. And see past issues of the SEJournal archived here.




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Solar offers new opportunities for forage production  Farm Progress
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Its primary focus is to investigate and understand the causes of solar PV-related fires, enabling the development of recommendations and practical solutions to reduce future incidents.
Solar PV systems are inherently safe, as demonstrated by the millions of installations operating successfully worldwide. However, as adoption continues to grow rapidly, the number of fire incidents is also expected to increase, even where failure rates remain low.
PV-FIN was established not to create concern within the industry but to better understand current failures, identify their causes and develop practical measures to prevent future incidents.
By implementing evidence-based recommendations, the initiative aims to reduce financial losses, protect lives and minimise damage to property and the environment.
Central to the project is the collection and analysis of reliable qualitative and quantitative data on PV-related fires. To address current gaps in available information, PV-FIN is reaching out to stakeholders across the sector with a request for supporting data.
PV-FIN have identified two streams of data that will provide different but complementary information on solar PV incidents. The first will provide an indication of what solar, electrical and fire professionals are currently observing with regards to the safety of solar PV installations today. The second will provide more reliable information on the exact causes of historic fire incidents involving solar installations.
The first stream of data is being gathered using a series of questionnaires targeted at individuals, organisations and professionals who have knowledge of, or experience with, solar PV fire incidents, near misses or related work practices.
They can support this work confidentially reporting on experiences by completing the questionnaires, which are available online at www.pvfin.org. The questionnaire is designed to capture information specifically with regards to general work practices, near miss incidents and actual fire incidents in which solar PV systems were the cause of the fire.
These three questionnaires cover the following:
The questionnaires have been prepared so that information can be provided anonymously, and the same person can complete multiple questionaries if they apply to different incidents.
The second stream of data collection is aimed at insurers, fire investigators and forensic fire scientists. These professionals often have access to detailed evidence from specific incidents, including informed assessments of which components may have failed and the level of confidence in those conclusions.
Recognising that such information is often confidential and commercially sensitive, PV-FIN is working closely with these stakeholders to ensure that only the minimum data required for analysis is shared. All identifying details relating to individual incidents are excluded. The focus of the research is solely on understanding which components failed and the degree of confidence in the findings, enabling meaningful analysis while maintaining confidentiality and protecting sensitive information.
It must be noted that any information provided, for both streams, will only be used exclusively to support this research work and not for any attribution of fault or blame.
Once the data gathering phase is complete BRE will interpret, analyse and present the data to PV-FIN which will be reviewed to identify causes, frequency and trends, with key findings alongside recommendations to improve solar PV system safety.
This will support the identification of potential solutions in terms of best practices, public/industry guidance, product improvements, new or revised standards/codes and more effective processes as well as identifying improved data gathering approaches and areas for further research in the future. This will be published in a freely available briefing paper.
Interest beyond the UK is growing in this project, with enquiries from Japan, Australia and the USA to replicate this approach there and identify relevant solutions that could be implemented locally. If these collaborations could be led and performed in a similar way then this information could potentially be shared between and beyond the groups. Please get in touch if interested.
If you have knowledge of, or experience with, solar PV fire incidents, near misses, or related work practices then please complete the relevant questionnaire at https://www.pvfin.org/
If you have reliable data on the causes of solar PV fires or if you have additional relevant information that could support this project, then please contact [email protected].

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Distributed energy provides public health and environmental benefits and can make our energy system and communities more resilient.
Solar power
September 8, 2026
Most of our energy comes to us via pipeline, tanker or transmission line from hundreds or even thousands of miles away. Big, centralized energy systems can sometimes harness economies of scale and improve efficiency. But often they leave us vulnerable to circumstances beyond our control – from extreme weather to mechanical failures to international conflict – and use a lot of land and resources.
When the owners of those systems use their political clout to keep us dependent on them – as they must to recoup their massive capital investments – they not only constrain our freedom, but they also limit our ability to use smarter, more sustainable energy solutions available to us right in the places where we live. 
Frontier Group staff have written about the potential of distributed energy, from its public health and environmental benefits to the ways it can make our energy system and our communities more resilient.
***
In “The ‘soft energy path’ at 50: America’s road half-taken,” Tony Dutzik recounts the incredible progress America has made to use less energy and produce more of it from renewable sources produced locally. Energy visionary Amory Lovins called for a transition to these “soft” energy resources in an acclaimed 1976 essay, but as Dutzik writes, that transition is only half complete. And America once again faces an energy crossroads. 
Clean energy
July 7, 2026
Rooftop solar power has numerous benefits for the climate, for ecosystem and land conservation, and for improving the resilience of the electricity grid in the face of climate-related disruptions, all of which we reviewed in “The Environmental Case for Rooftop Solar Energy.”
Solar power
Report ●  July 8, 2021
Distributed solar maximizes use of the built environment: By putting solar panels on the roofs of homes, schools, businesses, warehouses and big box stores, the nation can increase the production of clean electricity while minimizing disruption of farmland, pasture or desert habitat. In “Solar on Superstores,” we calculated that by adding solar panels to the roofs of existing big box retail stores, supercenters, large grocery stores and malls, the nation could generate enough electricity to power almost 8 million average U.S. homes. 
Solar power
Report ●  January 20, 2022
Adding batteries to rooftop solar energy systems enables individual families or even neighborhoods to keep the lights on if extreme weather events damage transmission lines or limit generation at large power plants. In addition to home energy storage systems, batteries from parked electric school buses can store electricity and feed it back into the local power network, as we described in “Electric School Buses and the Grid.” . 
Electric vehicles
Report ●  March 14, 2022
Distributed energy sources don’t just change how we get electricity; they also create new opportunities to make our lives better. Nilou Yaar identified many ways that small solar applications were showing up in her daily life and noted that “every light that charges itself during the day and runs on its own battery at night is one less thing that needs to be hooked up to centralized power. They keep working in outages. And they subtly shift the idea that electricity must always arrive from somewhere else.”
Clean energy
January 14, 2026
Unfortunately, in many communities, adding solar panels and batteries to homes and businesses is easier said than done due to complex permitting and inspection processes. Many of these rules do nothing to protect health or safety, even as they add costs and delay. We documented examples of this problem in Texas and Illinois in 2025. 
Solar power
Report ●  March 25, 2025
Solar power
Report ●  April 15, 2025
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March 10, 2022
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January 12, 2022
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November 10, 2021
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Solarworld Energy Solutions Limited, an Indian solar solutions provider, and Rays Power Infra Limited, has announced a 50:50 joint venture for solar cell manufacturing. The partners planning to establish 2.4 GW facility in Madhya Pradesh. The plant will manufacture high-efficiency N-Type TOPCon G12R solar cells. It will be developed across approximately 41.30 acres at Mohasa-Babai in Narmadapuram. The venture will support backward integration from solar cells to modules and utility-scale projects. The companies said the facility will also support domestic solar manufacturing under the Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives.
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Midsummer, Metalogika To Found JV For Solar Cell Plant In Indonesia  TradingView
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The Togolese Agency for Rural Electrification and Renewable Energies has administered a tender for a new solar power plant.
The project is set to be built in Agoe Nyive, a prefecture in the northern part of Lomé, capital of Togo.
Available tender details state the selected developer will be responsible for the design, supply, construction and commissioning of the solar power plant, as well as the operation and maintenance for three years after commissioning. The planned capacity of the solar plant has not been disclosed.
The Togolese government has received funding from the French Development Agency to cover the costs of the project.
The tender opens with a prequalification round. Prospective applicants can purchase a complete set of the prequalification documents for a non-refundable fee of XOF 100,000 ($177.32).
Applications for prequalification must be delivered via sealed envelope to the agency by September 15.
This latest tender in Togo follows an opportunity to construct solar minigrids in 27 rural localities across the country, which closed for applications in May.
The Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) has identified 654.7 MW of operational solar projects in Togo, according to its project database, the majority of which is unidentified C&I projects.
The country’s largest operational solar project is the Blitta solar PV plant, developed by Amea Power. It was originally commissioned at 50 MW but has since been expanded to a total capacity of 70 MW.
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
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A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
Saudi Arabia is accelerating its clean energy transition—join the SunRise Arabia Clean Energy Conference 2026 in Riyadh to explore how solar PV and energy storage are powering its digital economy.
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Wednesday, September 9, 2026
The US war on Iran at the start of 2026 gave Australia a major reminder of why energy security is yet another reason for the whole of our country to embrace the energy system transformation to electrification and decarbonisation – a permanent solution to our addiction to expensive, high emissions, scarce diesel and oil imported from the Middle East.
Nowhere is this need and opportunity more evident than in remote communities of outback Australia. For these communities, excessive dependency on imported diesel means energy insecurity is a near daily threat.
Across the top of Australia, hundreds of communities, primarily Indigenous, remain entirely dependent on imported diesel-powered generators for electricity. For regional and remote Indigenous communities, these diesel systems consume around 25 million litres of diesel each year in the Northern Territory alone.
Data on the number of these communities is hard to track, fragmented across the states and territories. But a look at the numbers suggests that between 200 to 300 remote communities between WA, QLD, SA and the NT depend entirely on costly, fragile, diesel imports.
In Queensland, the state’s Community Service Obligation costs under the Regional Electricity Subsidies (Uniform Tariff Policy) have reached $604m annually in FY2026, up from $537m two years earlier in FY2024.
Western Australia operates a nearly identical framework known as the Uniform Tariff Policy (UTP), which costs Horizon Power (Regional & Remote WA) $240-270m, and Synergy (covering the South West Interconnected System) at a system cost of $671m annually.
In February of 2024, Renew Economy reported that the Northern Territory government launched community consultations on its Remote Power System Strategy (RPSS), aimed at building renewable energy capacity in remote indigenous communities, targeting an average of 70% penetration by 2030.
The program targeted the territory’s 72 communities serviced by Indigenous Essential Services (IES), with initial consultations expected to involve Land Councils, Regional Government Councils, Local Aboriginal Corporations, and other relevant stakeholders.
Following the renewable energy target rollback in the NT in March of 2025, which saw the state scrap the 50% renewable energy target by 2030, we have seen no material progress on this critical community program. 
Rooftop solar and batteries and virtual power plant technology solutions could permanently reduce this massive state budget subsidy, but it requires capacity building and up front capital, as well as political will and policy developments, and ultimately a nationally coordinated approach.
Australia has installed over 487,000 home battery systems in the last 12 months.
But how many have been installed in remote, end-of-grid and off-grid communities? Next to none. Now is a great time to change this Minister Chris Bowen and Assistant Minister Josh Wilson, Minister Amber Jade Sanderson and Minister David Janetzki.
Would not this latest fossil fuel war in the Middle East be a great reason to undertake reforms to permanently cut our exposure to imported diesel, starting with those most vulnerable in remote communities across Australia?
This would deliver significant ongoing budget savings by permanently reducing the ongoing increase in the Community Service Obligation, as well as providing greater energy system reliability, with decarbonisation an added bonus.
Renewable-based microgrids offer communities more than energy reliability and the passive benefits that are generated associated with increased reliability. Energy developed with/by community is an enabler of the solutions to many social, cultural and economic challenges that plague Indigenous communities across the nation.
This development model, shown below, not only minimises harm or mitigates downside risks, but offers communities a physical foundation to pursue and attain upside or benefits in a far more active way.
Health, education, employment, homeownership, income, economic development, community cohesion, language, culture, self-determination and a range of other community outcomes can all be improved via an energy system developed with the intention of being the means to these higher level community ends.
The opportunity draws attention given the global instability of energy and our ability to permanently reduce downside risk.
In the last decade state governments have begun to bring some of these communities on the journey to green resilience. But the journey is half-hearted and disjointed at best, largely ignoring the massive improvements in technologies such as rooftop solar and behind-the-meter batteries.
The Federal government has commendably stood up ARENA’s Microgrid Fund Program – First Nations Community Microgrids (Stream B), which offered a total of $75m to communities around Australia to develop microgrids, and the $50.4m Remote and Regional Community Reliability Fund (RRCRF) from the Department of Environment, which was allocated to different interests developing feasibility studies for renewable energy projects. 
Unfortunately, the total amounts assigned to these programs and the massive lag in deployment means this is not enough to catalyse the systems change needed, and insufficient to make a material difference across the nation.
Furthermore, these programs were administered on a first-come-first-served basis, with no real strategic driver to maximise the impact or learnings gained, and reinforcing the disjointed approach being taken to remote community energy. We need State-Federal cooperation and collaboration.
Below we examine the situation in three remote First Nations communities at Lockhart River (Cape York in FNQ), Maningrida (500km east of Darwin in the Northern Territory (NT)) and Yarrabah (near Cairns, Qld), to understand the profile of historic efforts and the scope for a massive step up in electrification, decarbonisation and energy independence that could be unlocked with a relatively modest investment.
In 2017, the Queensland Government trialled a project pilot at Lockhart River, a remote Cape York community that, until then, ran entirely on imported diesel. Delivered by a consortium comprising Ergon Energy, Australian Sustainable Energy and Indigenous Energy Australia, the project added 209kW of rooftop solar and a 60kWh battery sized specifically for “cloud smoothing”: evening out short dips in solar output rather than displacing diesel generation more broadly.
Like much of remote Queensland, Lockhart River’s power is supported by the $604m a year in subsidies in the Queensland state budget. The project, which was projected in year one to generate ~341MWh, create $90,000 in savings, and reduce emissions by 365 tonnes, was first designed as a pilot to see if solar could reduce the state’s subsidy costs. Nearly ten years later, and the project has not been formally evaluated. 
Still, solar now covers about 10% of Lockhart River’s energy needs, and diesel use is down 8% — roughly 62,000 litres a year. That 10% figure was the deliberate design target from the outset.
Without further investment in batteries, renewables hit a ceiling when complementing diesel networks, as old diesel generators need to stay above a minimum safe load to keep the grid’s voltage and frequency stable.
It would be entirely feasible to dramatically expand the rooftop solar system, add behind-the-meter batteries and upgrade the VPP to move the diesel gensets to a backup role to allow a permanent reduction in imported diesel, thereby permanently cutting the state subsidy and greenhouse emissions, whilst simultaneously improving system reliability to mitigate the high cost of regular power outages.
Reliance on scarce, expensive imported diesel is the same problem facing the people of Maningrida, about 500km east of Darwin. Disconnected from the main grid, they rely on a local diesel power station that can burn up to 10,000 litres a day. For roughly four months every year, when Cahill’s Crossing becomes impassable in the wet season, that diesel gets delivered by barge from Darwin.
So long as the diesel arrives, the system tends to stay on. Outages are rare, and when the generator does trip, it’s back within about 15 minutes. 
The problem here is affordability. 
Every day, individual households in Maningrida are without power, says Dhukurrdji Development Corporation (DDC) Chairman Reggie Wuridjal: “Every day I’m telling you. When payday comes, we might be a week off. We’ll see that with no power. People end up with no power at their houses for days.” 
A three bedroom may support 15 or 20 people, says Wuridjal, with only two or three rent payers connected to Centrelink. Cheaply built community housing, combined with reliance on inefficient box air conditioners, drives up electricity consumption, and come wet season demand soars.
Power bills range from $8 to $30/day for a three-bedroom dwelling — up to $10,000/year –– a bill beyond the reach of much of the community. No wonder that the pay-as-you-go system means that families run out of credit in the weeks between paydays, going without power for days at a time.
The consequences ripple out from there, says Wuridjal: “At this time of year where it’s dry season, at night time it chills down quite a bit too. You’ll have people who don’t have power to do proper cooking. And so when the mozzies are bad, they have to go outside to cook, where they light fires. And a lot of people end up quite sick from all the mozzies and the smoke.”
“You’ll get a big number from heart disease in the hospital. They’ll tell you what’s happening in the community.”
But it’s not just health that is affected. Wuridjal says that the stress caused by power outages breeds frustration in the community: bad sleep, absenteeism, family conflict, and police intervention are all linked to this basic infrastructure failure. 
In a community survey conducted by Indigenous Energy Australia, 100% of respondents named power supply as a top daily concern in Maningrida; seven in eight linked it directly to food security, health, housing, and education. It’s a testimony that energy instability isn’t an inconvenience; it’s a root cause constraint on everything else.
DDC CEO Adam Longbottom fears the situation will soon get worse, with energy insecurity moving from individual houses to the whole grid when a significant building development comes online next year. “[NT Power and Water] already told us that they’re out between 80 [and] 100% capacity… potentially up to 120%,” says Longbottom. 
But next year will see demand grow massively. “There’s a new police station, a compound with about 15 dwellings on it, as well as a courthouse. It’s got its own fuel station. It’s a huge compound.”
That development would push the diesel power station into unstable territory, but NT Power and Water have told the Maningrida community they have no upgrade plans for at least five years. “They have no plans in the works whatsoever. I don’t think they’ve got any idea what they’re doing yet.”
Like Lockhart River, Maningrida does carry some solar, but until batteries arrive solar use is at a ceiling of 15%. Diesel generators have to stay above a minimum load to hold voltage/frequency stable: push too much solar in, and the diesel would drop below that safe floor.
The solution is known and already proven. At Daly River in 2017, ARENA and the NT government installed a 1MW solar array (3,200 panels) plus a 2MWh lithium-ion battery, with the result that Daly River has since been running at 47–50% renewable for years.
Similarly, the community at Titjikala received support in 2019 to add a battery energy storage system (BESS) on top of their existing arrays, and their renewable share roughly tripled, from ~15% to as high as 53%, letting diesel generators idle for backup capacity instead of running continuously. 
In its 2019 Lessons Learned and Performance Report, NT Power and Water wrote: “The Daly River project has met all objectives and has proven BESS technology can operate reliably in remote locations. In the Northern Territory future ‘least-cost’ power systems are likely to be based on BESS technology.”
And yet, as we enter late 2026, the people of Maningrida have no idea if and when similar upgrades will reach them. Until they do, energy insecurity will continue to plague the community at Maningrida, and as fuel prices continue to climb, the Northern Territory government will continue to pay for it.
Head to Yarrabah, just outside of Cairns, and the problem is not a fragile independent diesel-powered grid but a fragile fringe-of-grid. A single overhead line running back to Cairns powers the community, and it regularly fails in storm season: recording 41 unplanned outages between 2018 and 2020 alone.
Like Maningrida, temperatures here get dangerous, and the housing stock is poorly designed for the heat. Blackouts always hit when the community needs energy most.
Even when the power does work, the community is still worse off than people over the hill in Cairns. Thanks to Queensland’s Uniform Tariff Policy, Yarrabah pays the same per-unit tariff as Cairns, but much higher consumption leads to significantly higher bills.
Crowded, poorly insulated housing forces heavier air conditioning and refrigeration to keep pace with the tropical climate, leading to a consumption level 2.7 times the regional Queensland average.
IEA’s Troyson Bassani, raised in Yarrabah, says Yarrabah experiences multiple blackouts a quarter.
“There are a disproportionate number of blackouts during the wet season. And that’s largely due to Yarrie being on the end of a grid, fed by overhanging power lines that run through rainforest.”
Those outages, he says, cause significant damage to white goods, and to the items protected by them. “Yarrabah is not home to a legitimate supermarket, so when power does go out for four or eight hours, a week’s worth of shopping is lost.”
“When you have households living in poverty, a week’s groceries really impacts the hip pocket. All of that has to be thrown out.”
Meanwhile, the loss of air conditioning during the wet season brings tension to the community. “You couple that with 40 degree heat in an overcrowded house with no aircon — there’s a direct correlation between that and domestic violence. When people are hot and bothered, they tend to take it out on the family, and social issues spiral from there.”
“A lot of kids are turfed onto the streets. And I’m talking about young kids as well. That affects then the next day, truancy, school attendance, like all of that, which has a sort of flow-on effect. And they are potentially exposed to drugs and alcohol-fuelled incidents.”
The solution, again, would be a solar-and-battery microgrid that decreases reliance on the fragile line to Cairns while significantly decreasing emissions.
A correctly sized microgrid, says Indigenous Energy Australia CEO Michael Frangos, would give Yarrabah islanding capability, meaning the community could keep power running independently during an outage on the single 90km line, rather than losing supply entirely.
IEA research suggests that installing rooftop solar and battery storage across Yarrabah’s social housing could save households $480 a year in energy costs.
Notwithstanding the ongoing $604m pa in Queensland, state financial support to remote communities like Yarrabah, the current arrangement makes for a recurring, ever-growing government liability with no end date. 
A one-off microgrid investment, by contrast, would convert that into a fixed capital cost that shrinks the annual bill going forward whilst delivering massive health and welfare benefits to the community. A well structured program could also concurrently provide skills development for First Nations people to ensure on-country service support and underpin a progressive system rollout across the whole of Northern Australia.
Alistair Kitchen is head of communications at Indigenous Energy Australia. Tim Buckley is director of Climate Energy Finance
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ACEN Corp, the renewable energy platform of Philippines conglomerate Ayala Corporation, has loaned PHP9 billion (US$144 million) to subsidiaries within the group for renewable energy and battery storage projects.
In transactions disclosed to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) on 3 September, ACEN Corporation said it executed two short-term loan agreements with its wholly owned subsidiaries.
In the first, ACEN Corporation agreed to lend project developer subsidiary GIGA ACE 8 up to PHP3.24 billion. The loan is intended to support the construction of Palauig 2, a 300MWdc solar PV project, including transmission and substation infrastructure.  
Palauig 2 joins the existing 65MW Palauig 1 plant, which was completed in 2021 in Zambales, in the Central Luzon region. It is one of the areas with the highest solar irradiance in the Philippines.
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In 2023, as construction began on the project, ACEN Corp said Palauig 2 would require a 1,200MW transmission line, with the estimated total cost at PHP16 billion at the time.
Meanwhile, the other PHP6 billion loan agreement was signed with ACEN Corp subsidiary Sanmar Solar.
The loans to Sanmar Solar will support the construction of SanMar Battery Energy Storage System Project. The 500MW/1,000MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) will be installed at the site of SanMar Solar, an existing 585MW solar PV plant, also in Zambales province.
SanMar Solar repurposed land that had lain idle and was otherwise unusable, due to its coating of lahar, debris left in the aftermath of a volcanic eruption.
For ACEN Corp, which also has significant renewable energy and energy storage portfolios in Australia and India, the Philippines remains its largest market by far. The company reported a 17% year-on-year increase in renewable energy generation and 41% increase in revenues in the Philippines in its recent H1 2026 results.
In July, the company said it is turning Zambales into one of the country’s largest renewable energy hubs, with the SanMar Solar and Palauig Solar projects alongside 775MW/1,660MWh of BESS projects it now has under construction in the province.        
ACEN was the developer of the Philippines’ first-ever hybrid solar-plus-storage project, piloting the combination of 120MW solar PV generation capacity with two 20MW/40MWh BESS facilities, inaugurated in 2022.   
Since then, the Philippines has raced to become the leading country in Southeast Asia for battery storage deployments, largely due to market design that allows asset owners to stack revenues from multiple applications.
National legislation to create a framework for energy storage development, utilisation and commercialisation was passed at the beginning of this year, and in February the government Department of Energy (DOE) issued instructions that large-scale renewable energy plant developers integrate energy storage into their proposals.
Read coverage from, and related to, the Energy Storage Asia Summit 2026, which took place in Thailand in July, covering the Southeast Asian market.

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Norwegian solar mapping software provider Glint Solar has launched a ‘land screening’ program that allows users to assess land across several US states for suitability for the deployment of solar PV projects and battery energy storage systems (BESS).
Launched last week, the software combines a land parcel search tool—which includes search criteria such as land steepness, local environment and proximity to nearby grid infrastructure—and a map on which users can draw areas to restrict their searches. It then finds a number of available areas in the region that meet the search criteria, ranked by buildable acreage and number of individual parcels of land.
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A further two tools—‘area insights’ and ‘buildable area’—are then available to show every constraint layer within an area and generate a buildable footprint for a region based on those constraints. All of this information can then be exported into a CSV file.
It is not currently clear exactly which states are covered by the product; Glint Solar claimed on LinkedIn that it works in Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas, and on its own website that the program can be used in Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania and Virgina. PV Tech has asked for clarification on this point.
“The best opportunities are becoming harder to find, while the cost of pursuing the wrong ones continues to rise,” said Glint Solar CEO Simen Fure Jørgensen. “Land Screening gives developers the ability to cast a much wider net while still having the granular insight they need to make confident decisions.”
A lack of available grid connections has been a longstanding obstacle to renewable energy deployments in the US and many other developed markets. Last year, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California reported that almost 80% of new US energy generation projects awaiting a grid connection had withdrawn their applications due to significant delays in the approvals process.
Figures from the same laboratory put the US’ total grid connection backlog as of the end of 2023 at 2.6TW, with standalone solar accounting for more than 1TW.
Glint Solar also announced that it would expand its land screening platform to Europe, aiming to deploy the software in France and Germany “in the coming weeks”.

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Ashley Gale
Published: September 8, 2026
A few more solar-powered trash cans have arrived near Mission: SPACE at EPCOT at Walt Disney World Resort.
We spotted a few new trash cans near the attraction, including the trash and recycling bins seen above.
There were also single trash cans in the area as well, including one by a bench and the entrance to Mission: SPACE, as seen below.
There are seemingly five sets total, including another trash can near the moon of Mission: SPACE, which has been roped off, and a trash and recycling bin near Space 220 Restaurant.
The trash cans are gray and feature no design, unlike other bins we’ve seen around the park recently.
Since June, Disney has been adding these new trash cans around Epcot, as well as other parks. Solar panels built into the rounded tops power compactors inside, allowing the bins to hold more waste before they need to be emptied. The small handles on the front are for Cast Members to access the inside.
We first covered the debut of the solar-powered trash and recycling bins at EPCOT near World Showcase. The rollout later reached more of the land, including the Japan and Italy pavilions. Disney also installed them in The Seas, The Land, and Soarin’ areas of the park, along with World Celebration. Just last week, we noticed more solar-powered trash cans near Test Track.
What are your thoughts on the new solar-powered trash cans? Let us know on social media!
For the latest Disney Parks news and info, follow WDW News Today on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
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Solar installations grew slightly in Europe in the first half of 2026 compared to last year, according to new figures from SolarPower Europe.
Mid-year analysis from the trade body recorded 33.8GW of new PV capacity in the first half of the year, a small increase over the 33.2GW installed in the first half of 2025.
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SPE said the rise in deployments was driven by external factors such as the summer heatwaves and concerns over energy supply, rather than strong policy support.
As highlighted in other statements from SPE over the year, solar PV has helped offset some of the price increases in imported gas resulting from the US-Israeli war with Iran. Meanwhile, the body reiterated the key role Europe’s solar fleet has played in providing a bulwark against the impacts of the summer heatwaves, for example, by compensating for reduced output from some nuclear and hydropower plants resulting from lower water levels.
But despite the resilience shown by solar so far in 2026, SPE predicts 2026 will see a small contraction in deployments compared to 2025. More concerningly, the organisation said the European Union was off track to meet its 2030 targets.  
The body ascribed this to weakening policy support in many parts of the EU, in particular on the investments and wider market reforms needed to maximise the benefits of an increasing solar penetration.
“Maximising the benefits of solar now requires more than solar deployment alone,” SPE said. “As solar becomes a central pillar of Europe’s energy system, investment in storage, electrification, flexibility and grid infrastructure must scale rapidly. Without faster progress in these areas and more stable policy and regulatory frameworks, the resilience demonstrated in 2026 will be difficult to translate into the sustained growth required to meet Europe’s 2030 solar targets. Under current market and policy conditions, the EU remains off track to meet its 2030 solar target.”
The organisation highlighted weakening policy support in a number of key markets, including France, which has further reduced support for rooftop solar, Czechia, where changes to the country’s New Green Savings Programme have impact on residential PV demand, and Germany, which is debating reforms that would reduce support for new rooftop systems from 2027.
Aside from these specific instances, SPE highlighted the extent to which regulatory uncertainty and grid bottlenecks are making investment decisions more difficult across the EU. The consequences of this are becoming increasingly visible, with several markets experiencing rising curtailment, declining solar capture rates, more frequent negative-price periods and evening price peaks.
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, said:”The lesson from the summer could not be clearer: when fossil fuel prices rise, when heatwaves hit, when Europe needs affordable, home-grown energy, solar delivers. Yet, instead of strengthening the conditions for further solar growth, many governments are unplugging support and increasing uncertainty. Europe should not need an energy crisis to make the case for solar, and it should certainly not weaken the conditions for solar investment in the middle of one. Policymakers must now focus on the fundamentals: grids, storage, flexibility and stable investment frameworks.”

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Norwegian solar mapping software provider Glint Solar has introduced a land screening program designed to help users evaluate land across several US states for potential solar PV and battery energy storage projects. The program, launched last week, combines a land parcel search tool with criteria such as land steepness, local environment, and proximity to grid infrastructure, along with a map where users can draw restricted areas. It then identifies available regions meeting the criteria, ranked by buildable acreage and parcel count.
Two additional tools—area insights and buildable area—display constraint layers and generate a buildable footprint for a region. Users can export all information to a CSV file. The exact states covered remain unclear; Glint Solar’s LinkedIn mentions Illinois, New York, Pennsylvania, and Texas, while its website lists Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. PV Tech has sought clarification.
Glint Solar CEO Simen Fure Jorgensen commented that the best opportunities are increasingly difficult to find, and the cost of pursuing wrong ones is rising. He said the land screening program allows developers to cast a wider net while retaining granular insight for confident decisions.
Grid connection shortages have long hindered renewable deployments in the US. Last year, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory reported that nearly 80% of new US energy projects awaiting grid connection withdrew applications due to approval delays. The same laboratory estimated the US grid connection backlog at 2.6TW by end of 2023, with standalone solar exceeding 1TW.
Glint Solar also announced plans to expand the program to Europe, aiming to deploy it in France and Germany in the coming weeks.
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Victoria’s workplace health and safety regulator said Aus Renewable Development Group Pty Ltd was sentenced in the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court late last month after pleading guilty to 10 charges under the state’s Occupational Health and Safety Act and OHS Regulations.
The company was fined $60,000 (USD 43,200) for five counts of failing to ensure workplaces under its management or control were safe and without risks to health, $30,000 for three counts of failing to provide or maintain a safe workplace, and $10,000 for two counts of failing to produce information and documents.
The company was also ordered to pay costs totalling $12,587.
The charges related to four rooftop solar installations conducted over a 10-month period in 2024 in the Melbourne suburbs of Patterson Lakes, Point Cook and Vermont, and the coastal town of Warrnambool.
Worksafe said two workers were observed in February 2024 on the roof of a Patterson Lakes property without fall protection equipment working at heights of between 2.6 and 5.2 metres.
In May of that year, Worksafe inspectors intervened when a worker was seen accessing the roof of a property in Warrnambool using an unsecured ladder and working at heights of between 2.7 and 3.2 metres without fall protection or a safe work method statement in place.
A month later, an inspector responded after a worker was spotted working on a second-storey roof at a height of 5.6 m without guardrails or fall restraints in place.
In September 2024, inspectors attended a property in Vermont where a worker was working at a height of about 7 m wearing a harness that was not attached to any rope or anchor point.
WorkSafe said it later established that Aus Renewable Development Group was responsible for the works at each of the sites and the company then failed to produce documents and photographs for investigators.
He regulator said it was “reasonably practicable” for the company to have reduced the risk of serious injury or death by using a passive fall prevention device such as guardrails, a work position system such as a travel restraint, a fall arrest system, or portable scaffolding; and a secured ladder extending at least 900 mm above the step-off point.
WorkSafe Chief Health and Safety Officer Sam Jenkin said strong enforcement action was required to deter employers from ignoring their obligations to keep workers safe.
“It is clear that this employer repeatedly ignored their health and safety obligations regarding working at height and put their workers lives’ at risk, despite multiple warnings,” Jenkin said.
“This behaviour is completely unacceptable and this significant penalty sends a clear message that WorkSafe will not tolerate duty holders who fail to control the risk of falls – whether an incident happens or not.”
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Award-winning project demonstrates how local investment and clean energy can create lasting community impact
ROCHESTE R, N.Y. — GreenSpark Solar, Foodlink, and local entrepreneur Bob Bechtold have been recognized with a 2026 Rochester Business Journal Top Projects Award for the Foodlink Solar PV Project, a rooftop solar installation that demonstrates how local investment, clean energy, and mission-driven organizations can work together to create long-term community impact.
The Rochester Business Journal’s Top Projects Awards honor the most notable building and construction projects completed across the Rochester region during the past year. Selected by the publication’s editorial staff, the Foodlink x GreenSpark Solar PV Project was recognized as one of just 10 projects named a 2026 Top Projects winner.
Installed atop Foodlink’s headquarters and distribution center on Mt. Read Boulevard, the project includes a 679-kilowatt rooftop solar array featuring more than 1,100 solar panels. The system required no upfront capital investment from Foodlink and is expected to generate approximately $200,000 in electricity savings over the next 25 years. Made possible through a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), Bechtold financed and owns the system and GreenSpark served as developer, installer, providing ongoing operations and maintenance for the life of the system.
“This project represents the best of what community partnerships can achieve,” said Kevin Schulte, CEO of GreenSpark Solar. “It’s a privilege to be part of a story where a local entrepreneur is using the success of a mission-driven business to invest in clean energy for a food bank that serves our most vulnerable neighbors. It’s a full-circle moment that reflects the power of local action driving lasting impact.”
This project serves as a model for how nonprofits can transform underutilized rooftop space into a long-term asset through innovative solar financing. By eliminating upfront costs and delivering decades of energy savings, the project demonstrates how clean energy can help mission-driven organizations maximize their impact while advancing sustainability goals.
Visit the Foodlink solar project case study to learn more about this award-winning project.
About GreenSpark Solar
GreenSpark Solar is a nationally recognized renewable energy leader with nearly 25 years of experience providing accessible solar and battery storage solutions to businesses, homeowners, and communities throughout the Northeast and beyond. Ranked New York State’s #1 solar installer by Solar Power World, GreenSpark has helped thousands of customers take control of their energy future through innovative, high-quality renewable energy solutions.
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ACEN Corp Activates Two Intragroup Loans to Fund Solar and Storage Projects in the Philippines  energynews.pro
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A new study titled ‘Lifetime modelling of photovoltaic degradation under imperfect monitoring,’ provides a practical new approach to modelling photovoltaic degradation is giving asset owners and planners a clearer view of how long utility scale solar plants will perform before hitting defined loss thresholds, even when monitoring data are patchy. The method treats degradation as a time to event problem and uses survival style statistics to handle the reality of field data that often arrive with gaps, irregular sampling and short observation windows.
The framework builds on maximum likelihood estimation as the primary engine for inference, with density power divergence weighting used as a scenario-based check on robustness. In tests using multi-year records from two crystalline silicon utility scale systems, the generalized Lindley distribution provided the strongest in sample fit for the more complete dataset, while its edge over the Weibull model narrowed for the more intermittent record. Rolling origin validation indicated similar short horizon prediction performance across candidate models, underscoring that the main gain lies in how the method represents incomplete observations rather than in raw forecasting power.
Why this matters for African solar portfolios
Many African solar assets operate with limited telemetry, seasonal data gaps and maintenance driven outages that break continuous time series. The hybrid censoring structure is designed for exactly these conditions.
Threshold defined lifetime metrics such as T90 give investors and operators a probabilistic estimate of when a plant will reach a specified performance loss, supporting warranty claims, refinancing and repowering decisions.
By downweighting outliers and transient disturbances, the approach reduces the risk that a few bad data points distort long term degradation estimates used in bankability models.
How the method works in practice
The approach discretizes field monitoring data into stage level pseudo units and applies hybrid censoring to reflect that some systems never reach the degradation threshold within the available record. This contrasts with conventional performance ratio trend methods that output an annual slope but do not directly model the distribution of time to a defined loss level. The generalized Lindley family adds flexibility in hazard shape, which can be useful when degradation shows early life adjustments followed by slower aging.
For the more complete system record, the three-parameter generalized Lindley fit was informative but weakly identified with only seven stage level units, so the authors treat parameter level and extrapolated threshold time results as descriptive rather than precise. Environmental associations are likewise interpreted as exploratory and specific to each system, pointing to the need for larger fleets and longer records to draw general conclusions.
Implications for developers, lenders and O&M teams:
The study does not introduce entirely new statistical machinery but integrates existing reliability tools with photovoltaic performance analysis in a way that matches how solar plants are actually monitored in the field. For African markets where data gaps and operational disturbances are common, that operational reliability perspective could help close the gap between academic degradation studies and the practical needs of project finance and portfolio management.

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Meteorite found in Sahara desert may be 1st evidence of lost solar system world  Space
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On September 4, 2026, IFA 2026 (Berlin International Consumer Electronics Exhibition, Germany) officially opened. Themed “The Future is Now”, this year’s IFA gathers over 1900 exhibitors from 49 countries and regions, and is expected to attract 220,000 visitors from more than 140 countries.
The “Leitech IFA26 Reporting Team” dispatched by Leitech (ID: Leitech) is currently in Berlin, delivering timely, comprehensive and in-depth coverage of IFA 2026. As a pivotal exhibition in the global consumer electronics and home appliance sector, this year’s IFA features not only smartphones, TVs, smart home and AI products, but also home energy storage as a key display category. Brands including Anker, Dreame, Bluetti, Jackery, ALLPOWERS INC, and Tuestrong Power are no longer satisfied with producing a simple “electricity-storing battery”. They have begun to integrate photovoltaics, energy storage, household power consumption, dynamic electricity pricing and AI energy management into one unified system, transforming home energy storage from a single hardware category into a home energy access point.
If we trace the development trajectory of the home energy storage market over the past few years, a very clear product upgrading path can be observed: outdoor power station – photovoltaic power generation – balcony photovoltaic energy storage – home energy storage – home energy management.
Pursuing larger battery capacity is now a thing of the past. Today, enterprises are focusing on how to integrate photovoltaic power generation and energy storage into the home energy dispatch system, and reduce consumers’ electricity costs through AI algorithms.
It should be noted that pure photovoltaic power generation “depends on the weather”, and its power generation capacity is directly proportional to the light intensity. During consecutive rainy days, the value of traditional home energy storage will be greatly reduced. It is also a tricky problem to decide when to release the electricity stored in the energy storage device and how to minimize the overall electricity cost.

(Source: Shot by Leitech)
In response to this, Jackery has launched the Ark AI EMS system, which can automatically predict the household electricity demand in different time periods, as well as the photovoltaic power generation output and dynamic electricity price, so as to optimize the charging and discharging strategies.
Anker has taken similar steps. Its Solarbank Max AE111 can be used with photovoltaic panels, with a peak power generation of up to 10kW. MindBase, the home AI data hub, can monitor the presence of people in the house and the working status of home appliances in real time, to decide whether the Solarbank Max AE111 should enter the charging or discharging state.

(Source: Shot by Leitech)
Dreame’s AI home energy management platform LumeGret Orbit is similar to Jackery’s Ark AI EMS system, which can monitor photovoltaic power generation output, dynamic electricity prices and power consumption data in real time to optimize charging and discharging strategies.
The home energy storage system of Aoi Electronics is also integrated with the KARST electric vehicle charging solution, which can intelligently select time periods to charge new energy vehicles.
Considering factors such as the area of power generation panels and light intensity, photovoltaic power generation may not be enough to meet the daily household electricity demand. In addition, during long periods of poor light in the plum rain season, the power generation of photovoltaic panels will drop significantly. It is difficult to reduce electricity costs by relying solely on photovoltaic power to supply power for the whole household.
After the AI control system is added, the system will charge the battery during the off-peak electricity price period, and discharge power during the peak power consumption period to balance the electricity cost. This design makes home energy storage devices no longer dependent on photovoltaic panels, and realizes power regulation by relying on large-capacity batteries. Users can still enjoy the same electricity cost during peak price periods as they do in off-peak periods.

(Source: Shot by Leitech)
Leitech believes that home energy storage is undergoing a transformation of product logic from “storing electricity” to “managing electricity”. In the past, enterprises competed on battery capacity, but now the core of competition lies in how to realize the synergy of photovoltaics, energy storage, power grids, home appliances and new energy vehicles.
Especially after the introduction of AI, home energy storage no longer passively waits for photovoltaic power generation, but can actively decide when to charge and when to discharge by combining photovoltaic power generation output, dynamic electricity price and household electricity demand.
In other words, photovoltaics solve the problem of “where the electricity comes from”, energy storage solves the problem of “when to use the electricity”, and AI solves the problem of “how to use electricity at a lower cost”. This is also the key for home energy storage to truly enter the mass market. In the future, what users buy may no longer be a single battery, but a set of “smart energy stewards” that can continuously help households reduce energy costs.
While the industry is developing rapidly, home energy storage also has a threshold restricting its development — the purchase cost. A set of 10kWh energy storage equipment including an inverter costs at least 7,000 to 8,000 yuan, and even tens of thousands of yuan. Coupled with the cost of photovoltaic power generation equipment, the payback period takes at least several years. In addition to the purchase cost, battery degradation is also a hidden cost of home energy storage devices.
To solve this problem, Jackery SolarVault 3 Pro Max adopts a modular design, supporting capacity expansion from 2.52kWh to 15.12kWh.
Anker realizes modular design based on its PluginPower technology. Anker SOLIX Power Dock is equipped with 4*3600W sockets, supporting a maximum AC output of 4.8kW, photovoltaic power generation of 14.4kW, and an ultra-large battery capacity of 64.5kWh. Users can adjust its output power and battery capacity according to their own needs, which greatly reduces the upfront cost.

(Source: Shot by Leitech)
In addition, as the battery capacity continues to increase, the boundary between home energy storage and outdoor power stations is blurring. Take Jackery Explore 3000v2 as an example. This product has a capacity of 3.072kWh, an output power of 3600W, a peak power of up to 7200W, 8 output interfaces, and can be used with the SolarSaga photovoltaic charging panel. It is both a large-capacity outdoor power station and a home energy storage device.
The EcoFlow STREAM series exhibited by Ecoflow, based on the scalable modular design, can be expanded to a maximum capacity of 90kWh and an output power of 18kW. Its lithium iron phosphate battery has up to 10,000 cycles, and the product has a design life of up to 15 years.
Leitech believes that as modular design gradually becomes mainstream, the difference between home energy storage and outdoor power stations will be further narrowed. Enterprises including Anker, Jackery and Dreame can add modular design to all their outdoor power stations to support parallel output, making each outdoor power station a component of home energy storage.
When users need to use electricity outdoors, they can remove part of the unit from the home energy storage system and take it away. This design can not only greatly reduce the cost for consumers to purchase home energy storage devices and outdoor power stations, but also is expected to attract home energy storage device owners to buy multi-scenario outdoor power stations that can be used both at home and outdoors, and attract outdoor power station users to expand their home energy storage systems, which kills two birds with one stone.

(Source: Shot by Leitech)
Judging from the home energy storage products exhibited at IFA 2026, modular design is becoming an important path for the industry to lower the consumption threshold and expand usage scenarios. Compared with purchasing a large-capacity energy storage system at one time, users can gradually increase the battery capacity according to their household electricity needs, thus reducing the upfront investment and extending the life cycle of the device at the same time.
What is more noteworthy is that modular design is breaking the product boundary between home energy storage and outdoor power stations. When batteries, inverters and energy storage hosts can be flexibly combined, an outdoor power station can not only work independently, but also become a “battery” of the home energy storage system.
In Leitech’s view, this may have greater industrial value than simply pursuing larger capacity. It not only enables consumers to realize “one set of equipment for multiple scenarios”, but also provides enterprises with the opportunity to expand their user base from outdoor power station users to home energy storage users. In the future, home energy storage may no longer be a set of fixedly installed equipment, but a group of energy modules that can be freely combined, expanded on demand, and switched freely between household and outdoor scenarios.
Judging from the products exhibited at IFA 2026, home energy storage is entering a new stage of development. In the past, the core competition of the industry focused on battery capacity, output power and cycle life, and enterprises hoped to use larger batteries to meet more household electricity needs.
Nowadays, as photovoltaics, dynamic electricity pricing, new energy vehicle charging and AI energy management are gradually integrated into one unified system, the competition logic of home energy storage is undergoing fundamental changes.
In this development process, AI will become the “decision-making layer” of the home energy system, enabling energy storage devices to actively participate in home energy dispatch by predicting power generation, power consumption and electricity prices; modular design will serve as the important “hardware foundation”, allowing consumers to gradually expand capacity according to their needs, and promoting the disappearance of the boundary between home energy storage and outdoor power stations.

(Source: Shot by Leitech)
Looking further, home energy storage may also become a new connection node between smart homes and new energy vehicles. Photovoltaics is responsible for power generation, batteries are responsible for energy storage, AI is responsible for dispatch, and home appliances and new energy vehicles become the energy consumption end. When these devices form a closed loop, the role of home energy storage will evolve from a single device to the “hub” of the entire home energy system.
Leitech believes that the real signal released by IFA 2026 is not how many new home energy storage products have been launched, but that this industry is shifting from “selling equipment” to “selling systems”, and from one-time hardware sales to continuous energy services. In the future, what consumers buy may no longer be a fixedly installed battery, but a smart energy system that can automatically generate, store, use and regulate electricity, and continuously help households reduce energy costs.
This is perhaps the most anticipated next transformation after home energy storage truly enters the mass market.
This article is from “Leitech”, authorized for release by 36Kr.
该文观点仅代表作者本人，36氪平台仅提供信息存储空间服务。
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DJI enters the balcony photovoltaic sector, where opportunities and challenges coexist, reshaping the industry’s underlying logic.
Foresee Energy learned that the recently-opened Internationale Funkausstellung Berlin (IFA 2026) gathered a dazzling array of new product booths, among which DJI showcased a complete balcony solar energy system. A photovoltaic panel, a micro-inverter, and a Schuko power socket are connected in series to form a complete power generation system.
This move has been interpreted by many media outlets as a “cross-border disruptive strike”. But a question worth further exploration is: what does DJI’s entry into the balcony photovoltaic track actually mean for the photovoltaic industry?
DJI’s foray into the energy business is neither an impulsive decision nor a mindless chase of market trends. The starting point of this business line stems from the real pain points of drone users.
In the second half of 2022, DJI began internal planning for portable energy storage products. At that time, range anxiety for outdoor drone shooting was a rigid demand — a single battery could only support 20 to 30 minutes of flight, so it was common for users to carry multiple spare batteries.
In the past, this demand was met by third-party power supply brands, but DJI chose to develop its own product. At the end of 2023, DJI officially launched its first outdoor power station, one of whose core selling points is the ability to fast-charge batteries for its own drones.
This step has a clear positioning, it is not an independent energy business, but a supporting service for the drone ecosystem.
Later, DJI gradually expanded its power product portfolio. In 2025, its energy storage products began to extend from “outdoor” scenarios to “indoor” scenarios — the term “home backup power supply” appeared in its official public statements.
In the same year, DJI launched matching solar panels, allowing users to charge the energy storage system with photovoltaic power. At this point, DJI’s energy business has completed its first leap from “charging accessory” to “independent power system”.
At the IFA exhibition in September 2026, DJI completed its third step, packaging energy storage units, photovoltaic panels and micro-inverters into a complete grid-connected home energy system that can be directly plugged into a household socket for use, targeting urban apartment residents.
This system does not rely on rooftop installation and requires no construction team, targeting users who cannot install traditional photovoltaic systems but want to reduce their electricity bills.
Looking at this timeline, from drone chargers to outdoor power stations, and then to home energy storage systems with photovoltaic panels — every step is an extension of the previous stage, with users expanding from drone enthusiasts to camping groups, and further to urban tenants. This is not a “cross-border disruptive strike”, but a natural process in which a company gradually expands its business along the needs of its core users.
DJI has picked a favorable timing.
Germany is one of the world’s largest markets for balcony photovoltaics. As of May 2026, the number of official registrations for plug-and-play photovoltaic systems in Germany has exceeded 1.3 million units. After Germany simplified registration, raised the power upper limit and granted tenants the right to install such systems under the Solar Package I in 2024, market demand rose rapidly. The United Kingdom has legally allowed plug-and-play photovoltaic systems to be connected to the grid for use since August 27, 2026. California has also passed relevant bills. DJI has entered the market at a time when the policy window has been fully opened.
However, picking the right timing does not mean there are no challenges. DJI faces at least three real problems:
First, there is uncertainty in the policy orientation.
The rapid development of balcony photovoltaics is highly dependent on policy support, but relevant policies are not immutable. In June 2025, Germany issued the draft “IEC 60364-7-751”, requiring balcony photovoltaic systems to be connected through independent circuits with protection devices, instead of being powered through ordinary sockets. France has also mandated that all balcony photovoltaic equipment must be connected to an independent circuit with a circuit breaker since August 2025, with the installation completed by a licensed electrician.
Although Germany and the United Kingdom currently maintain a relatively loose regulatory framework, the trend of European supervision tightening from “plug-and-play” to “standardized installation” has emerged. If more countries follow the French model, DJI’s core selling point of “being usable as soon as it is plugged into a socket” will be greatly weakened.
Second, shortcomings in channels and supporting services.
DJI excels at making consumer electronics products, covering design, production and sales through retail channels. However, balcony photovoltaic systems involve installation, grid connection and after-sales maintenance, areas where DJI has no ready-made experience. Although “plug-and-play” lowers the installation threshold, users still need basic electrical knowledge and operational capabilities. If there are problems with installation, equipment failures, or poor connection to the power grid, does DJI have the ability to handle these issues? This is not a simple problem of drone users sending products back for repair, but an issue related to household electricity safety.
The German Plug & Play Photovoltaic Association also pointed out that if regulators force users to hire electricians or install special sockets, it will significantly increase costs and hinder the popularization of such systems, posing a potential threat to DJI’s “plug-and-play” model.
Third, the competitive landscape is far more crowded than imagined.
DJI is not the only company that has spotted this market opportunity. Anker Innovations released its balcony photovoltaic and energy storage product Anker SOLIX Solarbank 4 E5000 Pro in May 2026. IKEA has already launched balcony photovoltaic packages in Germany. There are also many local balcony photovoltaic brands in Europe.
More importantly, DJI’s pricing strategy puts it in a delicate position. The basic version of IKEA’s package costs 449 euros, and a typical two-component plug-and-play system in Germany is priced at around 500 euros. In contrast, DJI’s Power 2000 alone sells for between 900 and 1100 euros, and the full set of system including photovoltaic panels and micro-inverters is likely to cost more than 1500 euros.
DJI is not selling the cheapest photovoltaic system, it is selling an “energy system” with built-in energy storage. But the question is, when an urban apartment tenant is faced with an entry-level system priced at 500 euros and a DJI system priced at more than 1500 euros, which one will they choose? Whether DJI’s brand premium can support this price gap remains to be verified by the market.
There is also a more fundamental question: how large is the market size of balcony photovoltaics itself? Germany has an estimated balcony installation potential at the 20 million level.
Calculations from a securities firm’s research report, based on 2026 data from Germany, assuming that balcony photovoltaic installations increase by 400,000 units per year, there will be about 3.17 million balcony photovoltaic households in Germany by 2030, with a penetration rate of around 7.6%. There is a huge gap between “having potential” and “every household will install one”. A system priced at more than 1500 euros is not an impulsive purchase for ordinary families.
The real impact of DJI’s entry on the industry is not reflected in sales volume, but in reshaping the industry logic. It has verified a new path: photovoltaic products can be sold in the same way as consumer electronics.
For a long time, photovoltaics have been a typical B2B business with multi-layer distribution, where power stations are regarded as assets and photovoltaic panels are treated as production materials. However, DJI packages photovoltaic panels, micro-inverters and energy storage units into a “plug-and-play” set, which is displayed on the IFA consumer electronics exhibition booth alongside drones and sweeping robots.
This move sends a signal that photovoltaics are evolving into “home appliances”, entering supermarket shelves and e-commerce shopping carts.
This trend is not unique to DJI. Haier invested 6 billion yuan to build a new energy ecological park, TCL Zhonghuan maintains its leading position in silicon wafer shipment volume, Midea has taken control of Hiconics New Energy, and BYD has put residential photovoltaic products on the shelves of its dealerships in Brazil. Cross-border players are pouring in from all directions, jointly activating the consumer market for photovoltaic products.
However, whether DJI’s model can succeed depends on whether two key problems can be solved:
The first is to convert “consumer brand trust” into “professional trust in energy sector”. When buying a drone, users care about image quality; when buying a photovoltaic system, users care about whether it will catch fire, how much electricity it can save, and who will repair it if it breaks down. The logic of building these two types of trust is completely different;
The second is to cope with the fading of policy dividends. If the convenience of “plug-and-play” is gradually weakened by policies, DJI will lose its biggest differentiated selling point. At that time, it will have to compete head-on with traditional photovoltaic installers, which will be a completely different battle.
For traditional photovoltaic enterprises, DJI’s entry acts as a mirror.
It warns the whole industry that if the consumer market for photovoltaics is truly activated, traditional enterprises must learn to build brands, develop sales channels and optimize user experience, instead of only focusing on producing components and constructing power stations.
But DJI may not be the ultimate winner. The “plug-and-play” policy dividend it relies on has already shown cracks in Europe, and the energy service capabilities it lacks are precisely the core barriers in household scenarios.
This case will eventually prove one thing: whether the consumer market for photovoltaics is a real vast blue ocean, or just a short-term window spawned by policies and capital.
The answer may not lie on DJI’s exhibition booth, but in the direction of European regulatory policies in the next three years and the real choices of users.
This article is from the WeChat Official Account “Foresee Energy”, written by WANG Mengjiao, and published with authorization from 36Kr.
该文观点仅代表作者本人，36氪平台仅提供信息存储空间服务。
36kr Europe (eu.36kr.com) delivers global business and markets news, data, analysis, and video to the world, dedicated to building value and providing business service for companies’ global expansion.
© 2024 36kr.com. All rights reserved.

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ILOS Energy has issued a response to local concerns about its solar farm proposals near Holsworthy, emphasizing the environmental benefits and scale relative to other projects.
AN ENERGY company which is proposing to install solar panels near Holsworthy has responded to concerns raised locally after a letter was sent to local stakeholders.
ILOS Energy is in the process of developing proposals to put solar panels on 38 hectares of land at Ratherton Farm, near Holsworthy.
It says that if the plans progress and are approved, it would save 5,025 tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere and generate enough electricity to power 7,500 average homes.
However, its plans have been met with concern by campaigners trying to stop a different solar project at Holsworthy Beacon.
That proposal by Galileo Empower would see 1,100 hectares of solar panels and battery storage – with this plan from ILOS energy being 3.4 per cent of the size of those proposals.
In the letter to stakeholders, shared with Stop Beacon Solar, ILOS Energy said that the proposed development would consist of rows of photovoltaic solar panels which would have a south facing orientation, typically reaching a height of three metres and starting 0.8 metres above the ground.
They added that they would be supported by mental stanchions piled or screwed to the ground with grass, wildflowers and/or grazing in between. The site would be secured by a deer fence.
A spokesperson for ILOS Energy told the Post its proposals for Ratherton Farm solar were in the early stages of development.
They said: “Ratherton Farm Solar Farm is at a very early stage of development. ILOS New Energy UK Ltd is currently undertaking the technical, environmental and grid studies needed to understand the site’s potential for the site.
“The project remains pre-planning and has not yet passed the Gate 2 grid process, so there is still a considerable amount of work and consultation to be completed before any final proposals are brought forward.”
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In 2024, China held about 93% of worldwide polysilicon production.
Photo Credit: iStock
A major update to the data used in photovoltaic life cycle assessments could change how companies, governments, and buyers measure the environmental footprint of solar panels and related equipment.
According to PV Magazine, a new IEA PVPS Task 12 report represents the most comprehensive overhaul since 2020 of the life-cycle inventory information used to evaluate solar electricity systems.
Included in the revision are the solar products and system types that dominate the market: crystalline silicon technologies such as PERC and TOPCon, cadmium telluride modules, inverters, mounting hardware, and standard reference setups for rooftop and utility-scale projects.
Much of the report is built on 83 vetted, factory-level datasets gathered through France’s ADEME photovoltaic tender program between 2022 and 2025. Those data run from polysilicon purification through module assembly and, the report said, offer unusually strong public coverage of the solar manufacturing market.
Better underlying numbers can improve sustainability reporting, procurement standards, green finance disclosures, and environmental product declarations.
Solar remains a clean energy tool that homes and businesses use to reduce planet-warming pollution and electricity costs.
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The report reflects how quickly solar manufacturing has changed.
One clear example is the shift in cell design: TOPCon is quickly overtaking PERC in crystalline silicon. According to the report, the shift to TOPCon technology means cells will “achieve higher conversion efficiencies and better performance.”
Currently, China has a strong hold on production. The factory sample for crystalline silicon is concentrated in China, with 82 of the 83 facilities in the assessment located there, which matches the industry’s 2024 global footprint. 
In 2024, China held about 93% of worldwide polysilicon production, 96% of wafers, 90.3% of cells, and 86.1% of crystalline silicon modules. According to the report, 58.6% of these types of panels were installed in China, but in the Americas, they accounted for only 14% of installations. 
The report also draws on modeled information from Fraunhofer ISE for a manufacturing site designed around 5 GWp of annual capacity. Relative to much older industry datasets from 1999 to 2006, that simulated plant showed lower environmental impacts in 14 of the 15 categories used in the EU Environmental Footprint method, with reductions ranging from 11.7% to 94.3%.
To reflect the larger arrays commonly being installed, the old 3-kilowatt residential reference system was replaced with a 10-kilowatt version, alongside a 250-kilowatt commercial rooftop system and a 10-megawatt utility-scale system.
This gives the solar sector a benchmark for product comparisons and a better sense of where environmental improvements are still possible.
The report also highlights the next areas to update: newer silicon designs, broader balance-of-system inventories, and, once commercial-scale factory data exists, perovskite-silicon tandem solar.
A shared and up-to-date dataset gives developers, utilities, and public agencies a more realistic way to reward lower-impact manufacturing without leaning on outdated assumptions.
For homeowners thinking about rooftop solar, tools such as EnergySage are also available. That can make it easier to find a system that cuts both energy bills and home pollution.
The report said the data “may be slightly biased towards lower-carbon supply chains,” but noted that it is still most useful as a harmonized benchmark when specific manufacturer data is unavailable.
New emissions data is only one part of the rooftop solar picture. Better panel performance, changing incentives, and hard-to-compare installation costs can all shape what homeowners get from going solar.
• In California, residential solar incentives fell sharply, creating new friction for rooftop adoption.
• Maxeon pushed the most efficient panels of 2025, and module performance continues to rise.
• EnergySage said interconnected cost factors still shape how homeowners evaluate rooftop solar.
Better carbon benchmarks help, but they do not settle every question around solar. The bigger picture still comes down to whether cleaner energy sources perform well and remain affordable enough for people to install.
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PUBLISHED : 9 Sep 2026 at 11:52
WRITER: Reuters and Post reporters
The Thai government’s programme ​to ⁠provide 50 billion baht (US$1.52 ‌billion) in support to consumers ⁠to install rooftop solar panels will start in ​mid-October, Finance Minister ⁠Ekniti Nitithanprapas said on Wednesday.
The government will exempt ​tax ‌on some solar ​panel ⁠part imports, Mr ⁠Ekniti Nitithanprapas said.
⁠According to Areeporn Asawinpongphan, an energy policy specialist at Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), the government’s energy transition measures, particularly its promotion of household rooftop solar installations, are a good starting point for Thailand’s shift to cleaner energy.
The government’s initiatives could genuinely help drive the country’s energy transition, as the cost of installing solar power has fallen considerably, not only for rooftop solar systems but also for solar farms, she noted.
If Thailand can support greater electricity generation from solar power, it would reduce the need to import fuel from abroad, particularly liquefied natural gas (LNG), while also supporting the energy transition and strengthening energy security.
“However, rooftop solar installations are most suitable for households that consume a significant amount of electricity during the daytime, and may not be suitable for every household,” said Ms Areeporn.
“For households that use relatively little electricity during the day and consume more at night, installing rooftop solar without a battery storage system would provide them with very little benefit.”
Consumer protection officials inspect solar energy and lighting products at a shopping centre in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 20, 2026. (Photo: Somchai Poomlard)
Renewables including solar make up about 10% of Thailand’s power generation, ‌while gas accounts for more than 60%, government data for the six months through June showed.
Over a quarter of the gas used for electricity generation is imported, according to energy think-tank IEEFA. Thailand buys half its ⁠LNG on the spot market, Kpler data shows, making it more vulnerable to shocks such as the surge in LNG prices after the United States and Israel launched the war with Iran six months ago.
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You’re reading Dispatch Energy, a regular dive into the politics, policy, and innovation shaping America’s energy future, featuring a roster of subject-matter experts including Alex Trembath, Philip Rossetti, Lynne Kiesling, Rory Johnston, and Roger Pielke Jr.
Welcome to Dispatch Energy! In past articles, I’ve written about the American electricity industry, especially its technology, its regulation, and the pressures now coming from data centers. But my focus has been domestic, and it would be understandable if you concluded from all this that American arrangements are, shall we say, idiosyncratic. This industry is physically and economically complicated, built on enormous infrastructure. Is it really this weird everywhere, or just here?
I start, as always, with the physical reality that electricity does not care about state lines. A generator in one state can serve customers in another. Transmission networks let regions share reserves, tap different resources, smooth out weather and demand, and increase competition, lowering the cost of keeping the lights on.
Some of the most important changes, though, are happening at the opposite scale. Rooftop solar panels, batteries, electric vehicles, and flexible loads sit behind millions of individual meters, and their owners know things no grid operator can know for them, like what they’re willing to pay, when they can shift consumption, or how much inconvenience they’ll tolerate.
Modern electricity, therefore, poses an institutional puzzle: While coordination across enormous areas benefits some decisions, decentralized knowledge and individual choice drive others. International comparison helps clarify these competing demands by showing how different institutional arrangements divide authority, coordinate across scales, and adapt to similar technological and economic pressures. Australia is similar enough to the U.S. to make a comparison worthwhile. Both countries have a large land mass, a federal system dividing authority between a national government and the states, and long distances separating both population and varied energy resources.
Australia has built what I’ll call nested institutions: Different organizations make decisions at different scales, but their roles connect deliberately. The United States, meanwhile, more often has layered institutions: Federal, regional, state, utility, and local authorities overlap, sometimes productively and sometimes at seams that impose real transaction costs. The difference shows up at both ends of the grid, with wholesale markets and transmission at the top and rooftop solar at the bottom.
Australia’s electricity industry started, like America’s, as a decentralized mix of private, municipal, and small public utilities in the late 19^th century. But by the 1930s, Australian states had consolidated their systems into large public utilities and used that ownership to electrify rural areas. The United States took a different route, mostly keeping investor-owned utilities in place and reaching rural areas instead through the Rural Electrification Administration, which financed member-owned cooperatives with low-interest federal loans rather than nationalizing the industry.
By the eve of the 1990s reforms, Australia’s system looked like the traditional American utility model, but with public rather than investor ownership, with each state running its own vertically integrated utility and connecting to its neighbors only at the margins. That legacy of public ownership created a different starting point for reform than America’s landscape of primarily investor-owned utilities and cooperatives.
In the 1990s, the Australian government undertook a broad program of reforms similar to those in the United Kingdom under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher—namely, privatization and market mechanisms for big infrastructure industries like power and telecommunications. That program meant unbundling the vertically integrated state authorities into generation, transmission, distribution, and retail, with implementation varying by state while the wires stayed regulated monopolies everywhere. The states then worked together to build a single National Electricity Market, launched in 1998 across the interconnected eastern and southern states.
The United States restructured on a similar timeline but a more decentralized path. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 reduced legal barriers to competitive wholesale markets, and utilities were encouraged, not required, to join the resulting regional markets. Several formed instead of one—PJM, New York ISO, ISO-New England, California ISO, and Texas’ ERCOT—while much of the Southeast and West never joined one at all.
Both countries confronted the same economic insight in the 1990s: Generation gets more competitive when transmission opens up and more generators compete and are dispatched across larger areas. And they built that insight into very different forms of federalism—Australia through a single national bargain, America through a landscape of separate regional agreements.
The National Electricity Market did not eliminate the role of the states, and Australia did not create a national regulator to plan and operate the industry. Different institutions instead acquired different functions: The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) runs the wholesale market and power system, the Australian Energy Regulator polices monopoly networks, the Australian Energy Market Commission writes the rules, states retain authority over energy policy, and firms make their own investment decisions.
The market design reflects the same instinct toward specialization. Rather than layering on a separate administrative capacity market of the sort that some U.S. markets use to induce generation investment, Australia made the National Electricity Market an energy-only market: Generators earn their revenue through electricity and ancillary-service prices alone, including potentially very high prices during genuine scarcity, while financial derivatives let participants manage that price risk on their own. The goal, in the Australian Energy Market Commission’s own account, is economic efficiency—dispatching the cheapest available resources first and letting scarcity pricing do the work a capacity market would otherwise do by administrative fiat. In the U.S., only Texas’ ERCOT market operates under similar rules.
This division of institutional labor is easiest to see in transmission. Australia tracks price spikes and investigates market power, and a 2005 review found transmission congestion behind a large share of high-price periods, triggering institutional change. AEMO gained a system-wide planning role, and new projects had to prove their economic benefits, while regulated companies kept building them. This structure in which national information sits above decentralized implementation is nested institutional coordination.
America’s version looks similar on paper, but its seams run deeper, worsened by a basic incentive problem: A utility earns its regulated return by expanding its own network inside its own territory, so a line that mostly benefits customers elsewhere is somebody else’s problem to fund. The problem isn’t the number of organizations; a utility, a state regulator, and FERC can each do their job fine on their own. The real question is whether these layers fit together well enough for a decision at one level to account for costs and benefits at another.
Another instructive comparison comes from how the two countries have managed distributed energy resources, mainly rooftop solar, sitting behind millions of individual meters. Australia has become one of the world’s great rooftop-solar experiments, with more than 4 million small systems installed, roughly one for every three homes.
Why? Subsidies, for one. The federal government cut the upfront price of installations, and several states offered extraordinarily generous feed-in tariffs, making solar privately profitable for households where it otherwise wouldn’t have been.
This investment was not necessarily socially efficient—a subsidy drives a wedge between private and social cost, and invoking emissions damages does not show rooftop solar is the least-cost way to abate them. High solar adoption is not evidence of good institutions: Pay people enough to buy something, and they generally will.
But subsidies are only part of the story. Australia also made installing rooftop solar routine. A subsidy changes the return on an investment; removing unnecessary permitting and paperwork reduces the resources an investment consumes in the first place. The distinction contrasts with American residential solar’s unusually expensive installations, even though installers in both countries buy the same globally traded panels and inverters. A routine American installation can run into utility rules, permits, inspections, building codes, and jurisdiction-specific fees—thousands of small resource-consuming requirements. Australia regulates rooftop solar too, but it has made the ordinary installation standardized and administratively boring.
California’s experience drives the point: Few places have pushed rooftop solar harder with layers of subsidies and net metering, and yet Australia has achieved far higher penetration at lower cost. California illustrates American institutional layering—state regulation, utility rules, municipal permitting, building codes, and local inspection, seams that repeated streamlining has never quite closed. The comparison is not regulation versus deregulation—both California and Australia regulate heavily—but whether institutions are nested into channels for coordination, or merely layered into transaction costs.
Australia’s rooftop solar boom eventually produced a different problem. Distribution networks were built to move electricity in one direction, from generators to customers. Put enough panels on enough roofs, and customers start sending it back the other way.
Solar adoption in a legacy one-way distribution network becomes an economic problem at scale: Local feeders have finite capacity, and midday solar output can grow abundant enough that another kilowatt-hour has little value, even as electricity a few hours later stays valuable (which is why batteries are such economically transformative technologies). A network built for passive consumers must now allocate scarce capacity among millions of small producers.
The first responses were blunt: fixed export limits that capped how much a household could send back regardless of conditions. Australia has since moved toward flexible exports. In South Australia, for example, smart inverters let households export more when local capacity allows it, varying access with conditions instead of designing every connection around the worst possible moment (which is what we tend to do in the U.S.). The same logic applies to batteries, EV charging, and flexible demand: Electricity at noon is not worth what it is at 7 p.m., and a battery behind a constrained feeder can be worth more than an identical battery elsewhere.
Here the role of prices and distributed knowledge applies, with a caveat: The mechanism is administered, not organic. Using a dynamic operating envelope, the network operator calculates a number from real-time voltage and loading data on the local feeder, feeding it back to smart inverters as a synthetic limit rather than a price discovered through voluntary trades. It still provides real coordination, because no grid operator has to know what any household wants, and no household has to know the condition of every generator and feeder on the system. The distribution business only measures its own wires and computes a number, and the household only responds to it.
Australia should not be lionized: Its electricity system is intensely political, heavily regulated, and burdened with its own distortions. Its solar subsidies offer a textbook case of the price distortions market-oriented economists rightly scrutinize. But American diversity should not be demonized: Multiple regional markets test different designs, and states and utilities adapt to local circumstances, creating experimentation that a uniform system might suppress.
Having many layered centers of authority instead of one isn’t a problem in itself. The question is whether they’re connected well. A good system has authority operating at the right scales, joined up so information and learning can travel between them, while a badly layered one produces veto points, incompatible rules, and boundaries where nobody accounts for the gains from working together.
Australia’s institutions look nested, with a common wholesale market sitting above regional networks, national planning incorporating local information, distribution companies experimenting with flexible access within common rules, and households staying free to invest as they choose. The United States contains more institutional layers and more institutional seams. Sometimes those seams protect valuable autonomy; sometimes they are just transaction costs. Distinguishing between the two situations is the hard economic question.
Technological change makes that question more urgent because power systems now need coordination across vastly different scales. Wholesale trade wants large geographic markets, transmission needs planning beyond utility territories, distribution needs granular local information, and solar, batteries, EVs, and flexible loads depend on millions of private decisions no central planner should make.
Australia’s reforms are interesting because they move in both directions at once, integrating markets upward while letting decisions and experimentation move downward. Rather than being a contradiction, this may be the central institutional problem of the modern grid.
The problem isn’t centralization versus decentralization; it’s matching decisions to the scale where the relevant knowledge, costs, and benefits actually reside, and then connecting those levels effectively. The choice is between institutions that are nested and institutions that are merely stacked. Electricity needs both large markets and local knowledge, and designing institutions that can use both is the difficult work ahead.
Lynne Kiesling is a contributor to Dispatch Energy and an economist focusing on regulation, market design, and the economics of digitization and innovation in the electricity industry. She is director of the Institute for Regulatory Law & Economics in the Center on Law, Business, and Economics, a faculty fellow in the Paula M. Trienens Institute for Energy and Sustainability, and an adjunct professor in the Master of Science in Energy and Sustainability program, all at Northwestern University. She is also a research professor at University of Colorado Denver, a member of the external faculty of the Santa Fe Institute, and a nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
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The plan involves burying irrigation pipes underground and installing solar panels over the disturbed land, with the potential to boost energy production, improve water quality, and address safety concerns with open irrigation canals.
YAKAMA NATION, Wash. — The Yakama Nation presented a new energy idea to federal officials that paired irrigation upgrades with solar development.
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Rocket Lab Shares Rise 1.79% After Hours on New Solar Cell Tech – Rocket Lab (NASDAQ:RKLB)  Benzinga
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The White Cliffs Solar Power Station, the first commercially operated solar thermal power station in New South Wales (NSW) and one of the earliest of its kind in the world, has been listed on the State Heritage Register.
Built in 1981, the White Cliffs power station was the first full-scale demonstration of solar thermal technology put to commercial use in NSW. 
Developed through a collaboration between the NSW government and the Australian National University, the system used 14 sun-tracking parabolic dishes to produce power for the remote opal mining town, about 250 kilometres northeast of Broken Hill in the state’s west.
The five-metre dishes were used to concentrate sunlight, heat water and produce steam to drive a single phase 37 KVA alternator. The generator produced up to 25 kW of electricity to power the off-grid community, with some energy stored in batteries for use at night. Electricity from the station supplied the local hospital, school, post office and 12 homes in the remote town. A back-up diesel generator ensured supply during extended cloudy periods. 
The facility was adapted to PV technology in 1997 with the dishes resurfaced with new mirror panels and the thermal absorbers replaced by a cluster of 16 PV cells that were more than 22% efficient in converting solar radiation directly into electricity. The facility continued operating until 2005.
NSW Environement and Heritage said the White Cliff power station had played an important role in proving the effectiveness and practicality of solar energy production beyond the laboratory.
The department said the facility helped prove solar power could reliably supply electricity for everyday use long before renewable energy became an established part of the state’s energy grid, adding that the “lessons learnt from this ambitious engineering innovation have, and continue, to play a key role in the development of renewable energy technologies.”
Heritage NSW Executive Director Sam Kidman said the heritage listing honours what is one of the world’s few intact examples of early solar technology.
“White Cliffs Solar Power Station tells an important story about the ingenuity that helped prove renewable energy could power homes and essential services in remote NSW,” he said.
“This remarkable engineering achievement put solar technology into practical use decades before renewable energy became part of everyday life.”
The White Cliffs Solar Power Station now operates as a tourism attraction and is also used periodically for scientific research.
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Advent Upgrade Solar Inc. and Proterial Philippines sign 20-year PPA for first solar PV system in LIMA Estate  Aboitiz Eyes
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Long Beach, California. Sept. 8, 2026 – Rocket Lab Corporation (Nasdaq: RKLB), a global leader in launch services and space systems, today announced the production release of Inverted Metamorphic (IMM) Apex, the latest iteration of its next-generation solar cell designed to deliver exceptional efficiency and reliability for space applications. IMM Apex boasts a Beginning of Life solar conversion efficiency of 31.5% and 40% lower cell mass, giving it best-in-class specific power (watts per kilogram) while maintaining excellent radiation hardness and performance over temperature.
IMM Apex is free of the germanium substrates used for conventional, multi-junction solar cells produced for the last three decades. By eliminating reliance on this critical mineral, IMM Apex mitigates rising costs and supply chain constraints currently facing the space power industry.
Crucially, IMM Apex is a mechanical and electrical drop-in replacement for heritage solar cell products on germanium, meaning customers can integrate it into existing systems without major investments to re-tool for new cell technology.
IMM Apex builds on the proven success of Rocket Lab’s IMM cell technology, which powered NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its historic mission and has been powering satellites on orbit for more than a decade.
In addition to being free from germanium supply constraints, optimized manufacturing processes and targeted capital investments have enabled efficient manufacturing in multi-100-kilowatt volumes to meet growing demand.
“Rocket Lab is excited to bring this cutting-edge solar solution to market. IMM Apex delivers exceptional performance while addressing real-world challenges like rising material costs and supply chain constraints,” said Brad Clevenger, President of Rocket Lab USA. “With IMM Apex, customers gain access to a high-efficiency, lightweight, germanium-free product that combines proven reliability with faster production times. IMM Apex is designed to more cost-effectively power the most ambitious missions without compromising performance.”
IMM technology has undergone more than a decade of rigorous testing and qualification, ensuring its readiness for a wide range of customer needs and mission requirements. IMM Apex is available now, with ongoing advancements to support future applications.
IMM Apex adds to Rocket Lab’s long history of delivering reliable, high-efficiency solar solutions for critical missions. The company has provided space-grade solar technology to critical civil, national security and commercial space programs including the James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s Artemis lunar explorations, and other interplanetary science missions. More than 1,100 satellites on orbit are powered by Rocket Lab solar products.
More information about Rocket Lab’s Space Solar solutions is available here.
ENDS
Rocket Lab Media   
Matt McKinney  
media@rocketlabusa.com 
About Rocket Lab  
Rocket Lab is a leading space company that provides launch services, spacecraft, payloads and satellite components serving commercial, government, and national security markets. Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket is the world’s most frequently launched orbital small rocket; its HASTE rocket provides hypersonic test launch capability for the U.S. government and allied nations; and its Neutron launch vehicle in development will unlock medium launch for constellation deployment, national security and exploration missions. Rocket Lab’s spacecraft and satellite components have enabled more than 1,700 missions spanning commercial, defense and national security missions including GPS, constellations, and exploration missions to the Moon, Mars, and Venus. Rocket Lab is a publicly listed company on the Nasdaq stock exchange (RKLB). Learn more at www.rocketlabcorp.com. 
Forward-Looking Statements   
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. We intend such forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements contained in Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”) and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). All statements contained in this press release other than statements of historical fact, including, without limitation, statements regarding our launch and space systems operations, launch schedule and window, safe and repeatable access to space, Neutron development, operational expansion and business strategy, and statements regarding our satellite capabilities, manufacturing scale, and constellation support are forward-looking statements. The words “believe,” “may,” “will,” “estimate,” “potential,” “continue,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “expect,” “strategy,” “future,” “could,” “would,” “project,” “plan,” “target,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements, though not all forward-looking statements use these words or expressions. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including but not limited to the factors, risks and uncertainties included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2025, as such factors may be updated from time to time in our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”), accessible on the SEC’s website at www.sec.gov and the Investor Relations section of our website at https://investors.rocketlabcorp.com which could cause our actual results to differ materially from those indicated by the forward-looking statements made in this press release. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change. 
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Proposed solar farm raises questions in Smith Township  WKBN.com
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A research group led by scientists from Qatar University has proposed a new design for a semi-transparent photovoltaic (STPV) greenhouse. The researchers optimized the greenhouse geometry to increase electricity generation while maintaining constraints such as total floor area and STPV coverage.
“This study introduces a novel greenhouse design that focuses on maximizing solar energy capture on the south-facing sections and wall surfaces, specifically tailored for the climatic conditions of Qatar,” the researchers said. “The new design is evaluated and compared with common greenhouse configurations, while maintaining constraints such as equal total floor space and STPV area. This ensures that the proposed design effectively optimizes solar energy reception without compromising space requirements.”
The scientists assessed the energy performance of five greenhouse geometries: even-span, uneven-span, vinery, modified-arch, and their proposed design, which assigns a larger share of the STPV surface to south-facing roof sections and vertical walls.
They modeled all five configurations using the same 280 W p-type bifacial, double-glass semi-transparent PV modules. Each greenhouse had a floor area of 24 m² and an effective installed STPV area of 71 m².
The researchers assessed the four conventional greenhouse designs using fixed, non-optimized geometries and compared their performance with that of the proposed configuration. They then optimized the new design using an improved mean-variance mapping optimization (IMVMO) algorithm, a metaheuristic optimization method.
The algorithm varied the greenhouse length, width, maximum height, and roof and wall tilt angles, with the objective of maximizing annual electricity generation.
“This study advances the mean-variance mapping optimization (MVMO) algorithm by developing an improved version (IMVMO),” the researchers explained. “The enhanced algorithm introduces mechanisms to avoid premature convergence and falling into local optima, a common limitation in many metaheuristic methods. This improvement makes IMVMO more robust and efficient in solving complex optimization problems, ensuring superior performance in optimizing greenhouse designs.”
In terms of total energy production, the proposed design consistently outperformed the four conventional greenhouse configurations with the same structural dimensions. Compared with the vinery design, it achieved an energy gain of 56.86%. The gains over the even-span and modified-arch designs were 25.14% and 24.60%, respectively, while the improvement over the uneven-span configuration was 6.03%.
The researchers said the walls played a significant role in electricity generation under the new design, contributing 7,518.3 kWh, compared with 5,493.5 kWh from the roof. The non-optimized configuration measured 6 m long and 4 m wide, with a maximum height of 3 m and a roof tilt angle of 50 degrees. Following optimization, the dimensions changed to 4 m by 6 m, with a maximum height of 2.5 m and a roof tilt angle of 26 degrees. The optimized geometry increased annual energy output by 20.1%.
“This optimization approach emphasizes the importance of strategic parameter selection in achieving energy-efficient greenhouse designs,” the team concluded. “Overall, this study highlights the possibility of design optimization to significantly improve greenhouse energy efficiency, offering practical insights for integrating renewable energy solutions into modern agriculture.”
The researchers presented their findings in “Optimizing semi-transparent PV-integrated greenhouse: A novel design for enhanced solar energy harvesting,” published in Energy Reports. The research team included scientists from Qatar University, BRAC University in Bangladesh, and Shanghai Maritime University in China.

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Trinasolar Powers Uzbekistan’s 126 MW Sarimay Solar Project with 184,328 Vertex N Modules  The Malaysian Reserve
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German Solar Developer Enerparc Files for Insolvency in Hamburg  energynews.pro
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