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They said the unit has been running “full time since July.”
Photo Credit: Reddit
A homeowner’s test of using an Oupes Guardian 6000 as a daily power source has delivered an encouraging result. On sunny days, the system can keep one side of the house running around the clock.
The trial has also exposed some weaknesses. Dust has been collecting at the air intakes, and the wireless connection has been unreliable, though the homeowner said the system itself has continued supplying power.
According to a Reddit post in r/SolarDIY, the setup centers on a permitted transfer switch installed in July and 2,400 watts of solar wired in a series/parallel configuration. The Guardian 6000 has been running “full time since July” and is handling about two-thirds of the house rather than the entire home.
Instead of covering every circuit, the system serves six 20-amp, 120-volt circuits along with two 240-volt lines for mini-split heating and cooling. The homeowner wrote, “on a sunny day the Guardian is charged by noon,” and added, “I can run my side of the house off solar 24/7 as long as the sun stays out.”
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
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After dark, heating and cooling remain a key constraint. If you need air conditioning or heat at night, the battery lasts only part of the evening before the AC units and kitchen switch back to grid power. Going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy, and homeowners who want to compare a setup like this with professionally installed systems can use EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
Budget has shaped the project from the start. The homeowner said the system is being built “a little at a time as funds allow,” and they expanded the solar array two panels at a time instead of buying it all at once.
Two issues became more noticeable over time. Because the fans run whenever solar input is active, the air intakes “get a bit dusty,” which raised concerns about dirt accumulating inside the unit over time. Bluetooth and wireless connections were also inconsistent, and one outage was fixed only after a brief shutdown and full disconnect.
The display problem did not stop the electricity supply, the homeowner said, and power kept flowing. In the comments, the original poster also praised the transfer switch, writing, “It’s been solid and reliable. Seems really well made,” while another commenter, discussing a different home backup setup, said, “EG4 has a great ecosystem and very nearly went with it.”
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Rather than try to run the whole house at once, the homeowner focused on the most-used areas, added selected circuits to the system, and used “night mode” to shift heavier loads back to the grid.
For people considering a similar route, EnergySage can help simplify the cost comparison. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state, along with details on solar panel incentives in each state; together, these tools help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is also one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Homeowners who want to compare battery options and get competitive installation estimates can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage.
After running it full time since July, the homeowner summed up the experience, writing, “If you need occasional whole-house backup to run a few critical circuits, it’s freaking awesome. Whether it’s something you can count on as a daily driver remains to be seen.”
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
For a sense of how other solar-and-battery setups perform in real homes, these stories offer a few useful comparisons. They show homeowners using rooftop solar and batteries to get through blackouts, cut bills, and expand their backup power.
• In Australia, a homeowner said 20kW solar made blackouts invisible and produced a $545 monthly credit.
• During 90-degree summer heat, one homeowner found rooftop solar powers whole-house AC with energy left for two EVs.
• In Tennessee, an off-grid family said they secured their energy independence for decades and barely need a generator.
• Across the home battery market, next-gen alternatives can save families from blackouts without relying on Tesla.
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.
© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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In the final part of the special Austin-debrief series of articles this week in pv magazine, I review the outlook for U.S. solar manufacturing capital expenditure (capex) by quarter to the end of 2027.
For reference, Part 1 of the series addressed domestic U.S. module production forecasting, capturing themes covered at the recent Solar Manufacturing USA 2026 event in Austin, Texas on 22-23 September, with Part 2 looking at cell production by quarter to the end of 2027.
The analysis underpinning the data and conclusions within each of the articles is taken directly from the new Solar Manufacturing USA Quarterly report.
The bottom-up analysis from more than 50 companies in the U.S. manufacturing space for 2027 shows that solar PV manufacturing capex is forecast to see a year-on-year decline compared to the final numbers expected for 2026 (circa. $3 billion).
U.S. solar manufacturing capex peaked in 2024 (almost $4 billion), with more than half this spending coming from just two companies; First Solar and Qcells.
The forecast for 2027 solar manufacturing capex reveals that more than 70% of the announcements made by companies over the past 12-18 months (that would have necessitated spending in 2027) are either unfunded or stranded.
Waiting in the wings however is potentially the most disruptive play ever to be seen in the history of U.S. solar PV manufacturing; Tesla’s mega-sized ingot-to-module manufacturing plans.
It is getting close to factoring in Tesla’s manufacturing capex plans to the analysis that forms the basis of the new Solar Manufacturing USA Quarterly report and indeed using the capex phasing to drive the incremental production volumes across the silicon-based value-chain in the United States.
This would appear to be the missing link in forming a credible 2030 capex and production forecast – something that the downstream buying community and the upstream equipment/materials supply side is badly in need of. Many have spent the past few years looking at interactive pins-on-maps, a trend that was started back in 2022 by U.S. trade associations and government-based portals (once the IRA was introduced) and has no shortage of variants these days.
The financing details and phasing of solar manufacturing capital expenditure ultimately hold the key to forecasting domestic U.S. productivity out to 2030 and beyond. I will return to 2030 production forecasting in the coming days, pending the ‘Tesla’ question.
Those who heard my talk at the recent Solar Manufacturing USA 2026 event in Austin, Texas on 22-23 September will recall me stating that capex is the most important aspect of solar market research and part of understanding this relates to spending cycles.
End-markets can grow during capex downturns, but a capex downturn is likely a symptom of other industry factors that could have longer-term implications.
Figure 1 Excluding Tesla and other upside PV manufacturing capex in 2027, investments in domestic U.S. PV manufacturing are still adapting to the initial post-IRA flurry that was loaded into 2024 as First Solar and Qcells committed record levels of capex to the U.S. sector.
Since 2025, solar manufacturing capex in the United States has been going through a minor downturn cycle. This is a consequence of two factors.
First, the capex by First Solar and Qcells, that was loaded mostly into 2024, was significant in comparison to the overall spending trends of the 20-30 companies that were investing in the U.S. manufacturing space at this point. The loading into 2024 can therefore be regarded as a one-time hit, or an annual outlier. Had the spending phases from either or both companies been spread more into 2023 or 2025, the peak seen in Figure 1 for 2024 would not have been so pronounced.
Second, outside the capex from First Solar and Qcells, there is no other ‘major spender’ at the billion-dollar annual level. Therefore, although the number of manufacturing sites associated with solar manufacturing capex in the United States in the past few years now exceeds 60, the total capex figures for 2025, 2026 and 2027 are all well below the peak seen in 2024.
But the big issue for 2027 is not the specific capex number being forecast. It is driven by Tesla. When will spending start for real? How long does the company plan to keep Chinese equipment in warehouses?
No longer ‘if’, the changes are coming soon. Forecasting U.S. solar capex and production is set to move into unchartered territory
To register your interest in the Solar Manufacturing USA Quarterly report, please send an email to: [email protected]
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Monday, October 12, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.
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A collaboration among Okanagan College (OC) students, instructors and local industry could be described as a “bright light” for the sector.
The OC-led partnership creates new hands-on learning opportunities for people preparing to work in the renewable energy sector, including preparing them with the advanced skills and knowledge to install solar systems.
Three students completing the College’s 30-week Carpenter Foundation program worked with their instructor to build an eight-by-12-foot mock roof capable of supporting four solar panels.

The new structure complements an asphalt-shingle mock roof built last year. Together, the two structures allow solar students to practice precision installation methods on both metal and asphalt-shingle roofing — surfaces they are likely to encounter on residential and commercial job sites.
Hometown Roofing Ltd. of Penticton contributed more than $500 in materials, labour and industry instruction over two phases of the project. The company previously donated asphalt shingles and provided staff to install them. This year, it supplied metal roofing and shared instructions with the carpentry students on proper installation methods so they could complete that section themselves.
“As a local company, we believe in supporting practical training that strengthens our community and helps prepare the next generation of skilled tradespeople,” said Robin Watson, owner of Hometown Roofing Ltd. “We’re proud to contribute materials that will give Okanagan College students specialized experience installing solar panels on different types of roofing.”
The project also gave the carpentry students an opportunity to learn about another part of the building industry while creating a training resource that will serve future solar students.
“The carpentry students learned that the trade involves more than working with wood,” said Nelson. “They also had an opportunity to try their hand at metal roofing. We appreciate Hometown Roofing for supplying both the materials and the knowledge needed to install it properly.”
The mock roof is being used for Okanagan College’s Solar Photovoltaic Systems Introduction and Installation microcredential, which began this month at the Penticton campus.

The program combines instructor-led evening classes delivered online, self-paced study and in-person practical training. Its flexible format is intended to make the program accessible to working adults who want to build new skills without stepping away from full-time employment.
“Having a mock roof with both asphalt shingles and metal roofing makes the training much closer to what installers actually see in the field,” said Forrest Tymchuk, solar PV instructor at Okanagan College and project manager with Swiss Solar Tech Ltd., a locally owned solar energy company that has served the Okanagan for more than 25 years. “Students can practice safe, proper installation techniques in a controlled environment and build practical skills they can take directly to the job site.”
The introductory microcredential provides training in solar fundamentals and installation and is a prerequisite for the College’s Solar Photovoltaic Systems for Professionals microcredential. The professional program, intended specifically for Red Seal electricians, begins on the evening of Nov. 2, 2026, and is also delivered in a hybrid format.
“Okanagan College is providing students with comprehensive, up-to-date training in solar photovoltaic installation,” said Roger Huber, owner of Swiss Solar Tech Ltd. “Graduates understand current equipment, installation practices, safety requirements and industry terminology, and they have an opportunity to apply that knowledge through hands-on training. They still need to build field experience, as every new installer does, but they arrive with the knowledge and practical preparation to begin contributing on the job. For an employer, that makes hiring and initial workplace training considerably easier.”
There are funded seats still available for the Solar Photovoltaic Systems Introduction and Installation microcredential and latecomers are welcome. To find out more, contact Warren Edis at [email protected] or 250-460-0455.
For the professional program details and registration information, click here.

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“My chef husband, who used gas all his life, says he will never willingly go back to gas.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A homeowner in Victoria, Australia, had nearly finished switching everything from bottled gas to electric and solar, but their kitchen was the last holdout. 
The response was overwhelmingly in favor of the move — with the main caveat being a short adjustment period.
They wondered whether replacing the integrated gas stove and oven was worth it. “Are you happy with the change?” they asked on Reddit. 
The homeowner chose induction over a conventional electric stove. Induction is popular because it uses electromagnetism to heat pans, making it safer, more energy-efficient, and easier to clean when food sticks to a hot burner.
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
The reaction was largely enthusiastic. 
“There’s a learning curve, but it’s so good. My chef husband, who used gas all his life, says he will never willingly go back to gas,” one commenter wrote. 
Another person who had already moved off bottled gas said they were “kicking myself for not doing it earlier.” 
Others recommended trying the technology before committing fully. One suggested starting with a portable induction cooker.
FROM OUR PARTNER
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Pairing electric appliances with solar panels is one of the best ways to save on home energy. For homeowners on a similar path, EnergySage can help you get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
One commenter said a portable induction plate plus an air-fryer oven had reduced their need for a conventional cooker so much that the full-sized stove sat unused “for six months” before they removed it.
A portable induction burner is a low-risk, cost-effective way to start testing the technology. One commenter said it helped them sort through their cookware, set aside pans that wouldn’t work, and replace one with a $20 wok-shaped pan from an op shop.
The replies also included practical tips: Induction can heat faster than people expect, and built-in units may run more quietly than portable ones.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
For homeowners eyeing a broader solar path, EnergySage adds another money-saving step. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations, and EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, along with details on solar panel incentives for each state. Together, these resources can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives. 
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save on energy costs, and go off-grid. Homeowners can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
As for induction, the overall verdict was simple: “Just do it. It’s great.”
These stories explore why many people are switching from gas to induction and other electric appliances. They cover real-world switchovers, how induction works, and the health concerns driving the change.
• One homeowner saw their gas bill disappear a month after switching to induction.
• How an induction stove works helps explain its speed and control.
• Concern over the health risks associated with gas stoves keeps driving more families to switch.
• For buyers comparing options, what an induction stove is often matters less than how efficiently it cooks.
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.
© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.
“$450 was my monthly gas bill, and I’ve stretched that into a full year’s worth of driving.”
Photo Credit: iStock
One Ford F-150 Lightning driver said the truck’s power costs over one year matched what gasoline used to cost for just one month.
Replies to the post on the r/F150Lightning subreddit showed that many electric vehicle owners have reaped similar savings.
“Had my home charger installed almost one year ago exactly. Roughly 9k miles of usage in that time, only ever fast-charged 1x since then,” the original poster said, sharing an image of their charging costs. “Coming from the Raptor I owned previously to this, $450 was my monthly gas bill, and I’ve stretched that into a full year’s worth of driving.”
Commenters shared their own experiences and noted that outcomes depend heavily on utility prices. “My monthly bill went up by roughly the cost to fill up the Prius I had before my Lightning…and I’d fill up twice a month,” one wrote.
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Others said their savings were not nearly as dramatic. 
“Unfortunately where I live in Massachusetts that would be $1,500 for me and my electric rates,” someone else said. “But still cheaper than gas for an F-150.”
For drivers hoping to cut charging costs, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Homeowners can use EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
“About 40 miles round trip cost me $0.97. In my previous ICE Ram, $8 with gas at $4 a gallon. Now…..” another user explained.
FROM OUR PARTNER
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
One person said they averaged 2,200 miles per month after installing a charger in mid-April, while another said their costs were $85.76 per month.
Someone else noted they paid 2.8 cents per kilowatt-hour for six months and 3.8 cents after that. A payout from a Canadian carbon credit program led them to conclude, “I’ve made money charging.”
The discussion also touched on ways to monitor charging, with one commenter saying an Emporia energy monitor system could track the usage of any charger. The consensus was that EV drivers save big.
“Electric haters are out there; they aren’t very bright,” one user wrote.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Solar energy at a good price can make the math even more favorable. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on a solar purchase and installation. 
EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state as well as details on solar panel incentives in each state. Together, those resources can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Homeowners who want to pair backup power with a home charger can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
How EV charging and ownership costs compare with those of gas vehicles is a common area of observation and study.
• Across the U.S., drivers found home EV charging costs 5 to 6 cents per mile.
• In the Bay Area, one motorist found their EV cost 7.9 times less than a gas vehicle.
• For many households, the cost benefits of owning an EV extend far beyond fuel.
• After 10 years driving, owners found maintaining an EV costs far less than it does for a gas vehicle.
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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Blacksburg invests in clean energy with solar panel deal  Collegiate Times
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Solar panel researchers say cells could hit 43% efficiency by using this new approach to reducing infrared glow  TechRadar
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Get informed in minutes with our Voter Guide for California’s November 3 election.
The story of Nancy Pelosi’s rise in American politics.
See TV Programming Manager Emma Casley’s recommendations from this month’s KQED 9, PLUS and Passport schedules.
Watch recordings of recent KQED Live events.
Support KQED by using your donor-advised fund to make a charitable gift.
Get informed in minutes with our Voter Guide for California’s November 3 election.
The story of Nancy Pelosi’s rise in American politics.
See TV Programming Manager Emma Casley’s recommendations from this month’s KQED 9, PLUS and Passport schedules.
Watch recordings of recent KQED Live events.
Support KQED by using your donor-advised fund to make a charitable gift.
This story is part of Flipping the Switch, KQED’s series about California’s transition to clean energy and what it means for you. What works? What doesn’t? And how much does it cost?
Driving from Los Angeles to San Francisco, Jordan Harris saw the concrete canals that transport water across the state slowly evaporating under the scorching West Coast sun.
Harris said he spent a lot of his life in France, where he noticed how trees lined the canals and protected their precious water from the wind and sun. “And so I started thinking, could we do something similar in California?”
California’s extensive network of canals and aqueducts is the lifeblood of the state, providing clean water to populous cities and expansive farms that wouldn’t otherwise have it. While the state has long struggled with evaporation, researchers at UC Davis estimate that California’s total water supply could shrink by up to 25% by 2050, the equivalent of two Lake Shastas. They attribute the decline, in part, to hotter temperatures caused by climate change. 
In an effort to limit warming poised to dry out the state, California pledged to shift to 100% clean electricity by 2045. 
The state currently generates 62% of its electricity from renewable and zero-carbon sources, with the largest percentage of that coming from solar. But meeting California’s energy demand will require an unprecedented expansion of solar and storage capacity.
Thinking back to the baking concrete canals, Harris pitched an “obvious” solution to his friend Robin Raj: Why not build solar panels on top of California’s 4,000 miles of open canals that transport water across the state? The panels would produce clean energy while limiting evaporation by shading the canal — a win-win. 
The duo went on to start Solar Aquagrid, an advocacy firm dedicated to reimagining aging canals, and partnered with the Turlock Irrigation District, UC Merced and the California Department of Water Resources to cover small sections of Turlock’s canals with solar panels. The new “solar canal” provides shade to limit evaporation and generates power all in one neat package. They call it Project Nexus, and it operates at the intersection of the state’s need for clean water and energy.  
Project Nexus tests not one, but three different solar canal models. A wide-span canopy rises over one of Turlock’s 115-foot canals, resembling the top of a barn. A more classic set of slanting solar panels sits atop a 20-foot canal. And accordion-like retractable panels are positioned low across the narrow canal, ready to roll up at a moment’s notice. 
Raj affectionately called the wide-span canopy his “singular field of dream.”
Roger Bales, a professor at UC Merced who co-authored a 2021 study that helped convince the state to invest in this pilot, said his initial calculations indicate that putting panels over 100 miles of Turlock’s narrow canals could save enough water for 2,700 households annually.
If the state put panels over 100 miles of the wide canals, it could save 11,000 households’ worth.
He also estimates that the narrow and the wide canal could generate 330 to 1,400 megawatts per hundred miles respectively — enough to power 77,000 to 304,000 households.
The pilot was fully completed and energized last year. Earlier this month, Harris walked alongside the solar panels that arched over a 115-foot canal. 
“These are disturbed spaces,” Harris said, pointing to the concrete ditch filled with murky water. “So why not take advantage of the fact that we’ve already done that and help them work harder, be more efficient, produce more and protect what’s around us?”
The research team also found numerous “co-benefits,” or silver linings that make the project more valuable than the sum of its water and power. 
Bales said shading the canals led to less algal growth and less fixed aquatic weed growth — reducing maintenance and improving water quality.
Preventing new solar development on natural land benefits both people and planet, Bale added, emphasizing how preserving these lands is essential for maintaining life “as we know it on the Earth.”
Acquiring permits to build on undeveloped land can be a major bottleneck for developers, too. Building on open space takes 621 days on average, compared with 110 days for projects on developed land, according to a study from The Nature Conservancy.
Given the numerous benefits, Bales said the project “just makes sense.”  
But just because something makes sense does not mean it’s easy to implement. “We often talk about the challenges of getting to the obvious,” Harris said. 
Projects touching land, water and power often involve coordinating many stakeholders. California’s canals can be managed by state or federal water agencies, as well as municipal governments and local irrigation districts. These operators often do not own the land around the canal, let alone the infrastructure to transmit the power to utilities — one of the most expensive parts of renewable energy projects, according to Harris.  
Harris and Raj found their “ideal” partner in Turlock Irrigation District, a 139-year-old irrigation district operating 250 miles of canals that provides both water and power to nearly 5,000 farmers in the Central Valley growing everything from beans to peaches. 
It is one of four irrigation districts in California providing both water and retail power, noted Josh Weimer, a spokesperson for Turlock.
Weimer said that the project received little pushback from locals, in part because, while the Irrigation District used some staff time for the project, a $20 million state grant paid for both the research and the infrastructure. 
Weimer described the project as a “proof of concept” that generates just 1.7 megawatts of energy, a tiny fraction of the 56 megawatts that they generate with a solar farm in the desert. 
But the canal site hosts more than just panels. Bales said they “have instruments out there to measure temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, incoming radiation, outgoing radiation, and a prototype instrument to measure evaporation directly.” 
When it comes to algae, the panels helped. “Last year when we drained the canal at the end of the irrigation season, there was a physical line on the sun side of the canal that had algae growth and then not algae growth from where the shade was,” Weimer said. 
Turlock’s solar panels tower above the water because the irrigation district cleans the canals on a regular basis with equipment. 
“This isn’t gonna be the only way to do it,” Weimer said — describing how they drag a massive anchor chain through the water to rip out weeds. Similar panels in India and Arizona sit low over the canals, leaving little room for the kind of cleaning that Turlock needs to do. 
Over in Contra Costa County, the urban landscape makes any kind of solar canal project unrealistic, said Jennifer Allen, a spokesperson for the county’s water district.
The Contra Costa Water District manages 48 miles of canals winding from Knightsen to Martinez. The Bureau of Reclamation built the system back in the 1930s when the region was predominantly farmland — much like Turlock. 
Today, the canal system runs through backyards and public parks.
Something like Project Nexus wouldn’t work because maintenance workers need to access the canals and have limited space to work alongside them, Allen said. 
Even though the canal is fenced in, “we have instances where we have cars go into the canal — we’ll have people go into the canal, and animals go into the canal,” Allen said, describing some of the challenges they faced as an urban water district. 
“What Turlock is doing with their projects is very impressive, but we have a different-looking canal system going through our service area,” Allen said. They are looking to put their canals into pipes to avoid evaporation, instead. 
Andrew Schwarz, a spokesperson for the state’s Department of Water Resources, said that they are waiting to see the final report before deciding to invest in more projects. “These canals vary widely — from narrow, unlined dirt channels that deliver irrigation water to individual fields, to concrete-lined channels over a hundred feet wide that transport water across California,” Schwarz said.  
The state remains focused on “evaluation, continued study, potential scaling and lessons learned.” 
“Critical infrastructure change is really hard, and if you don’t have science behind it to justify the expense and be able to quantify the benefits, then you’re not gonna scale,” Harris said. 
“We are fortunate to live in California where this is a priority and where our state agencies are open to this level of examination and exploration,” Raj said. “That can’t be taken for granted.” 
The final report comes out later this year.

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Solar farms in desert areas could reduce dust pollution in cities downwind, according to a new Chinese study. The findings reveal unexpected synergies between renewable energy development and cleaner air, suggesting that solar’s air quality benefits go beyond reduced pollution from fossil fuel burning.
During springtime in the Gobi Desert, strong winds pick up desert dust and transport it hundreds of kilometers to the east and southeast to some of China’s largest urban centers. As China cleans up its air quality by reducing fossil fuel use, dust is becoming a larger proportion of remaining air pollution, and one that is harder to address.
Solar development in the Gobi Desert—where 42 solar farms cover a total of more than 13,000 square kilometers—is already improving downwind air quality, with the potential for even greater future benefits, the new analysis suggests.
Scientists already suspected that solar farms could help dampen dust pollution, but no one had yet conducted a quantitative analysis using true-to-life assumptions incorporating all of the possible mechanisms that regulate desert dust emissions.
In the new study, a combination of satellite observations and computer modeling reveals that existing solar farms reduce springtime dust emissions from the Gobi Desert by 352,400 metric tons per month.
 
 
Several mechanisms contribute to this effect. Arrays of solar panels increase the roughness of the terrain, slowing wind speed near the ground so that the wind picks up less dust. The solar panels also stabilize the soil itself, in part by increasing vegetation cover.
Solar farms also act as windbreaks, shifting local wind patterns and resulting in less dust blown downwind—an estimated 131,400 metric tons less dust each month.
China aims to reach net-zero carbon emissions by the 2060, a target that would require increasing the area covered by solar farms in the Gobi Desert by eleven-fold. With 140,000 square kilometers of the desert covered by solar panels, dust emissions from the Gobi Desert would fall by 12% and transport downwind by 21% compared to a scenario without solar farms, the researchers calculated. That’s an order of magnitude greater benefit than today’s solar farms yield.
What’s more, climate change is likely to make dust pollution worse by increasing wind speeds.Without the additional solar farms, springtime dust emissions form the Gobi Desert are likely to increase by 13%, and downwind transport by 27%. So the dampening effect of solar farms is likely to be even more sorely needed in the future.
Less dust in the air would be especially noticeable in big cities downwind. With future solar development, average springtime concentrations of larger dust particles could fall across northern China by about 14%.
In turn, those improvements would bump most of China’s northern cities up a tier in the World Health Organization’s air quality rating system. What’s more, both today and under future solar development, solar panels would have their greatest effect on days when dust pollution is at its worst, underlining the unexpected contribution of solar energy to respiratory health, the researchers say.
Source: Hao Y. et al. “Dust Pollution Mitigation by Solar Farm Deployment in Northern China.” Geophysical Research Letters 2026.
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Billionaire wins approval for 40-acre solar farm at historic estate  SF Weekly
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Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible..
Cloudy with periods of rain. Low 59F. Winds E at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 100%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Updated: October 10, 2026 @ 11:02 pm
Men, who are part of the Arapium Indigenous group, carry boxes containing donated solar-power systems in the Nova Sociedade community near Santarem, Para state, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. 

Men, who are part of the Arapium Indigenous group, carry boxes containing donated solar-power systems in the Nova Sociedade community near Santarem, Para state, Brazil, Thursday, Sept. 3, 2026. 
SANTAREM, Brazil (AP) — For the riverine community of Nova Sociedade, deep inside a protected area of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest, the Arapiuns River is the only route to the outside world.
The Arapiuns flows into the Tapajos, one of the Amazon River’s major tributaries, across waterways so vast that navigating them can feel like crossing the open sea. Yet during a historic drought in 2024, Nova Sociedade’s residents had to walk as far as 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) in search of water.
“At daybreak, our struggle would begin,” said Tiago Silva, an Arapium Indigenous community leader in Nova Sociedade. “Children carrying water, elderly people carrying water. We all suffered.”
Two years later, the community is better prepared for this year’s El Niño, the naturally occurring climate phenomenon that raises global temperatures and can worsen drought in the Amazon.
In June, Nova Sociedade installed solar panels to power water pumps that fill storage tanks and provide clean water to all 36 families in the village. The Amazon-based nonprofit Saude e Alegria provided the system and has equipped 29 other communities with similar technology ahead of another possible severe drought.
Before solar power arrived, Nova Sociedade relied on diesel generators for basic electricity. Fuel is costly and polluting, and the generators provide limited, unreliable power.
Across the Amazon, the spread of off-grid solar power, closed systems not connected to utility companies, is helping remote communities reduce their reliance on diesel while improving access to clean water and electricity in homes, schools and health centers.
Last month, each Nova Sociedade household received its own solar-power system donated by Schneider Electric through Saude e Alegria. The easy-to-install kits include batteries to power lights at night and enough electricity to charge phones and other small devices.
“This technology uses the power of the sun and can replace other ways of generating electricity that often require clearing the forest or burning fuel, the very practices driving global warming,” Caetano Scannavino, an environmentalist and manager of Saude e Alegria, told residents as they received the solar kits. Scannavino also warned of another severe drought likely coming in October and November.
As community leaders called chiefs of households, residents rose smiling to collect their kits.
Some described the technology as a blessing. Women artisans said better lighting would allow them to continue weaving traditional jewelry and baskets after sunset, extending the hours they can spend producing an important source of income.
Most of those still without power live in the Amazon
Nova Sociedade illustrates how off-grid solar power is changing daily life in isolated Amazon communities. Beyond providing water and household electricity, the technology is increasingly supporting schools, health centers and local businesses.
According to official data, the number of off-grid systems installed in remote areas of the Amazon rose from just 105 in 2020 to more than 11,000 in 2022. By 2026, it had exceeded 100,000.
“It’s fair to say that nearly all of these are solar installations,” said Fabio Galdino dos Santos, a researcher at the Institute for Energy and Environment, or IEMA, a Brazilian nonprofit focused on sustainable energy.
More than 99% of Brazil’s 214 million residents had electricity access as of the 2022 census. Most of those still without power live in the Amazon, where isolation and high infrastructure costs have hindered electrification. About 1 million people in the region still lack access to electricity, according to IEMA.
Many off-grid communities have long relied on costly, polluting diesel generators. In Nova Sociedade, buying fuel requires a nearly three-hour boat trip to Santarem, the nearest city.
Even when fuel is available, electricity is limited. Generators typically shut down shortly after 10 p.m. and often lack enough capacity to run refrigerators. Temperatures there regularly exceed 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit).
Better healthcare and quieter schools
Across the Amazon, government-backed and philanthropic initiatives are expanding access to electricity, often prioritizing infrastructure that serves entire communities.
At a public health clinic in Ana, another riverine community along the Arapiuns River, newly installed solar panels allow staff to refrigerate vaccines, conduct telemedicine appointments and operate basic medical equipment, including nebulizers, which are essential when wildfire smoke covers the region.
In Surucua, a community along the Tapajos River, the arrival of solar power is most noticeable in the silence.
Until last year, Sao Benedito School, which serves all 116 of the community’s students, relied solely on a noisy diesel generator.
“Today, all you hear are the children and the birds,” said Rosenilce Cruz, the school principal. “We couldn’t work outdoors because the generator was so loud. Now, the children can read outside. We can carry out projects there, and you can hear both the children and the teacher perfectly.”
The limited electricity supply also left classrooms dim and prevented the school from using refrigerators. Then the Santarem city government renovated the school and installed solar panels.
“Today, our children’s meals are no longer based on canned foods but on fresh sources of protein. We now have a place to store that food because electricity is available 24 hours a day,” Cruz added.
Solar power is also beginning to support local businesses. In neighboring Amazonas state, an acai processing facility in the Bela Conquista community, a remote village along the Solimoes River, recently shifted away from diesel-generated electricity.
Diesel power constrained production and left harvested fruit to spoil. The Foundation for Amazon Sustainability installed a solar-and-battery system in partnership with the Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet and Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy. The partners plan to develop 20 pilot projects over the next two to three years, supporting sustainable fishing, agriculture and fruit-processing businesses.
The Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, is vital to the global climate. It stores vast amounts of carbon, and moisture from its trees regulates temperatures and shapes weather across South America and beyond.
Protecting Indigenous and traditional territories is one of the most effective ways to preserve the rainforest. According to MapBiomas, an organization tracking land use, more than 80% of protected areas in the Brazilian Amazon — including 330 Indigenous territories — recorded no deforestation in the first half of this year.
Strengthening such traditional communities, including those now powered by solar energy, could help keep the forest standing, said Lázaro Silva, an engineering professor and coordinator of the renewable energy laboratory at the Federal University of Western Para, in Santarem.
Silva and his students have installed 40 solar systems across 27 remote communities in the Amazon since 2022.
“These communities have demonstrated a level of organization that makes them more resilient, helping them acknowledge their leading role in protecting the forest,” he said.
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BREAKING: Big Earnings, Economic Data Due With S&P 500, Nasdaq Near Highs

Maria Telkes (1900-1995) made solar-energy science her life’s work. (Album/Library of Congress/Newscom)
Maria Telkes showed a flair for chemistry at age 11 doing experiments in a lab in her parents’ garden house. Those early days inspired her to build a nearly 50-year career as a scientist and pioneer in solar energy. Well before the concept of “sustainable energy,” Telkes (1900-1995), a biophysicist and chemical engineer, developed groundbreaking devices by tapping the sun…
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Meta’s AI glasses are grappling with privacy worries and concerns about nonconsensual filming and surveillance, the same pushback that derailed category pioneer Google Glass. (© Jon Krause)
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From ESS News
utdoor and home backup storage maker Jackery has announced it is entering the smart electric trailer market, partnering with California-based Pebble, which makes travel trailers.
Jackery will deliver new custom solar panels and connections that add power to the new 2027 Pebble Flow as an optional extra for buyers who want to add self-reliance through solar power. Together it’s dubbed an “all-new category of mobile off-grid energy”, while noting mobility freedom and power independence.
As for definitions, an RV is a recreational vehicle, a broad term for any motor vehicle or trailer equipped with a place to stay, cook, and live, usually for travel and camping. Defining it further, a trailer can be an RV, though not all RVs are trailers!
In the new Pebble Flow, when parked and deployed, the system delivers approximately 2 kW of additional solar input. The panels connect directly to Pebble Flow’s all-electric microgrid, which pairs a 45 kWh LFP battery with up to 4 kW of combined solar input and up to 12 kW of power export to a home, another RV or an electric tow vehicle.
In response to questions, Jackery confirmed to ESS News that it doesn’t supply the 45 kWh battery, but the new solar add-on setup.
“We didn’t want to just put two logos on a product,” said Bingrui Yang, CEO and founder of Pebble. “Jackery has spent years building portable power that people count on, both at home and outdoors. Their solar panels connect straight into Pebble Flow’s own energy system, so travelers get the same steady, easy-to-use power on the road that they have at home. That’s the idea behind Jackery’s ‘Home on the Road, Power on the Go.’”
Specs and options
In terms of the new Pebble, the Jackery-based add-in is a $4,000 extra for the 2027 Pebble Flow’s ‘Founder Edition’ of the trailer, and goes on top of a list price of $189,000.
The setup includes four high-efficiency 500W solar panels, four matching 3-meter solar extension cables and a four-in-one solar connection junction.
Other configurations are available.
Self-Powered Package hardware is expected to begin shipping in December 2026.
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Monday, October 12, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.
pv magazine Session returns to NetZero Milan as Knowledge Partner, organizing and moderating a two-hour conference on the evolving global solar supply chain.
Get your ticket at a discounted rate with pv magazine.
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Second federal judge overturns $7B Solar for All cancellation  Utility Dive
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By Canary Media
Canary Media
7 October 2026
Connecticut is trying to clean up its grid with more solar energy. But a major utility’s reluctance to commit to buying power from some projects is raising questions about the prospects for success.
Connecticut last month announced plans to secure 63.4 megawatts of new solar capacity from arrays to be built in New Hampshire and Maine, a move that the state says will help meet growing energy demand while lowering both greenhouse gas emissions and prices. First though, the developers have to negotiate with utilities and finalize the deal.
And that finalization isn’t always a sure thing: This latest procurement announcement comes as Eversource, the largest electric utility in Connecticut, continues to put off signing contracts for 54 MW of solar projects selected in a previous procurement in December 2025. In March, the utility sent a letter to state regulators saying that it would not enter into these agreements at that time, citing ​“over-market” prices and pointing to ​“unresolved decisions” in the state’s energy policy. Essentially, Eversource argued that it doesn’t want to pass too much cost on to customers when it feels the future of the state’s renewable energy plans is unclear.
With those deals still pending and Eversource’s concerns on the record, it remains unclear whether the utility will come to terms with the newly selected solar projects.
“There’s definitely still some concern about the willingness of the counterparties to sign the contract,” said Francis Pullaro, president of clean-energy industry association RENEW Northeast.
United Illuminating is the other Connecticut utility expected to negotiate solar contracts, albeit for much less capacity than the larger Eversource. Negotiations between United Illuminating and the project developers selected last year are still underway.
Like most of its Northeastern neighbors, Connecticut has ambitious emissions-reduction goals, with a target of achieving 100% clean energy by 2040. Solar is expected to be a major part of the strategy.
The state has had a hard time making inroads with large-scale solar purchases. Since 2022, 71 MW of solar capacity selected in procurement processes have come online. However, a planned procurement of 518 MW of solar capacity from projects in Connecticut and Maine announced in 2024 fizzled when developers and utilities failed to reach a deal.
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Eversource says it is still in discussions with the developers it rejected in March, though the utility has not committed to striking an agreement.
“We have made steady progress,” said Eversource spokesperson Tricia Modifica. ​“We’ll move forward with the two outstanding solar [power purchase agreements] and, if successfully finalized, will file” them with state regulators.
As outlined in Eversource’s letter, the utility is concerned about committing to the cost of the solar projects at a time when energy affordability is top of mind for many customers. It also claims that Connecticut has failed to create long-term clean energy strategies comparable to those in neighboring states, like Massachusetts. Without such plans as a ​“solid foundation” for renewable energy policy, Eversource and its customers would be too exposed to the volatile fluctuations of the wholesale energy markets, the utility argues.
As the utility attempts to resolve its concerns with the state and developers, the company behind at least one of the projects is strategizing how to adapt its plan given the unsure outcome.
“We are actively developing a new path forward for the project, which is currently under review by the Connecticut Siting Council,” said Jenna Dobbins, spokesperson for Verogy, the company behind Husky Solar, a project in eastern Connecticut that was selected to provide 12.5 MW for Connecticut. ​“We anticipate a decision in the first quarter of 2027.” Connecticut was never intended to be the only customer for Husky Solar; it is also slated to provide a total of 37.5 MW of power to Maine and Massachusetts as part of a multistate procurement.
At the same time, Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has floated the idea of skipping over utility contracts entirely in future procurements, suggesting that ​“another entity” could be named as the buyer or that projects could be paid by an alternative contractual mechanism rather than a power purchase agreement.
There is some reason for optimism. Connecticut’s energy department works closely with utility regulators and utilities themselves to develop requests for proposals for renewable energy and to evaluate the bids. The state is ​“closely aligned” with utilities on their next steps, said state energy department spokesperson Bill Flood.
It seems unlikely the process on the latest round would have gotten to the selection stage if Eversource was being intransigent behind the scenes, Pullaro said. He also takes heart in the broader trend of multistate cooperation on renewable energy in New England. The 2025 procurement included four states agreeing to buy 173 MW of power from five different projects. The selection announced last month involved three states signing on for 102 MW. These collaborative efforts can send a message to investors that the region is worth spending their money on.
That same signaling ability, however, is precisely why it is important for Connecticut to make successful procurements happen, Pullaro said. 
“Developers want to go to the markets where they think they’ll be the most successful,” he said. ​“That’s why this one is so important.”

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State Rep. Jed Davis is again raising concerns about staffing at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Davis alleges the agency is facing shortages among frontline staff and that audits have produced inconsistent results regarding vacancies.
In DeKalb County, Davis says the agency lists 13 workers, with 14 needed, but three of those workers are interns.
Davis says the concern is not whether the interns are receiving proper training or supervision, but whether they are independently leading investigations and being counted toward staffing levels as if they were filling investigator positions.
Davis was scheduled to meet with the state’s auditor general this week to discuss the issue.
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In Jamaica, one used solar panel shows 0 watts, and the closest replacement doesn’t quite match  Yahoo Tech
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Some of the fake storefronts are using AI-generated product listings to appear more credible.
Photo Credit: iStock
Elaborate phishing scams on social media are driving shoppers to fake online stores for discounted Legos, Calvin Kleins, and more, only to steal credit card details in real time.
According to Group-IB, the group it calls Milk Dragon has run its scam campaign for at least a year, creating lookalike e-commerce sites for familiar brands and retailers. Their bait is deep discounts on major brands, placed where deal hunters are likely to click, as TechRadar reports.
As email providers get better at detecting spam and phishing emails, scammers are now using social platforms to lure victims in, especially Facebook and TikTok groups and pages focused on bargains.
Shoppers who click through can land on spoofed stores that carry malware called BytePress, which sends checkout-form entries back to attackers. Group-IB said some fake storefronts use AI-generated product listings to look more credible.
What makes this scam unique is that submitting the purchase isn’t necessary for the theft to happen. BytePress can stream keystrokes in real time, so card details and other personal information may be exposed before the form is ever sent, if at all.
The tactic itself is familiar, but the losses remain enormous. TechRadar cited FTC Consumer Sentinel data showing 376,830 complaints in the “online shopping and negative reviews” category in 2023, totaling nearly $400 million in reported losses.
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The typical reported loss was $126, and most reports involved financial losses.
Scammers appear to exploit familiar shopping habits, targeting people who join Facebook deal groups or scroll TikTok for steep discounts.
They can also bypass protections shoppers often assume will keep them safe. Once submitted details pass through attacker-controlled systems to a legitimate website, attackers can also intercept prompts for one-time passwords or other multi-factor authentication checks sent back to the victim.
A one-time password prompt after clicking a social media deal does not mean the purchase is safe. In the Milk Dragon setup, attackers may route the transaction through real retailer infrastructure, so that extra code may not protect the purchase as shoppers expect.
Because BytePress can collect information as you type, recognizing a suspicious page before you enter anything is crucial.
Online shopping scams are showing up everywhere in many forms. These stories cover counterfeit marketplace goods, fake checkout experiences, relentless discount ads, and shady AI-using sellers.
• Amazon shoppers say counterfeit or mislabeled products can slip through routine purchases unnoticed.
• In South Korea, fake stores are hooking Gen Z shoppers with checkouts that never deliver.
• Parents say discount-saturated Temu ads can follow casual browsing long after interest fades.
• Shady online sellers sent shoppers AI-generated sweater listings that looked better than reality.
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Ibom Ignite Opens Applications for 2026 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Grant
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Call For Applications: Kaduna Agritech Bootcamp, Hackathon & Pitchathon 2026  
Call For Applications: WomanKind Creative Grant 2027 for Women’s Health Startups | US$15,000 in Design Support
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The Enugu State Government has backed a proposed $220 million solar power project aimed at delivering 100 megawatts of electricity to households, businesses and communities across the state.
The project, known as Solar Hybrid Interconnected Networks for Enugu (SHINE), is being developed by Eauxwell Nigeria Limited and is expected to be implemented in phases over three years.
Governor Peter Mbah endorsed the proposal during a meeting with the company at the Government House in Enugu on October 5, 2026, while calling for affordable electricity tariffs and faster project delivery.
The initiative is the first major investment opportunity being pursued through the state’s Climate and Development Investment Platform (CDIP), which was established to connect investors with government institutions and accelerate climate-related development projects.
Under the proposal, Eauxwell plans to develop solar hybrid plants across the state, beginning with clusters in peri-urban areas connected to the existing electricity distribution network.

The first phase will focus on the Eha-Amufu and Owo cluster, where the company plans to construct a 10-megawatt solar plant equipped with battery storage. The facility is expected to supply electricity to about 30 communities along the two electricity feeders.
Eauxwell said the first plant had reached the pre-construction design stage and would require an estimated $22 million, equivalent to about ₦31 billion, to develop.
The financing model for each plant is expected to combine equity, loans and grant funding through the Rural Electrification Agency (REA).
Speaking during the meeting, Mbah said the state was committed to attracting private investment in the electricity sector but insisted that projects must provide reliable power at rates households and businesses could afford.
He added that the government would support efforts to resolve challenges that could delay implementation, while ensuring that investors could recover their costs within a competitive electricity market.

Affordability and tariff structures featured prominently in discussions, with the governor examining the company’s proposed pricing assumptions and financial model.
Eauxwell said final electricity tariffs would be determined in consultation with the relevant regulatory authorities.
The Head of the Nigeria Electrification Programme at the REA, Olufemi Akinyelure, also joined the meeting virtually to explain the structure and implementation process of the Distributed Access through Renewable Energy Scale-up (DARES) programme.
Discussions further covered regulatory approvals, commercial agreements, land requirements, financing arrangements and other conditions that must be met before construction can begin.
The proposed project is expected to use battery storage to improve the reliability of solar power supply and support electricity access for households, shops, agricultural processing businesses and other productive enterprises.

If implemented as planned, the 100MW programme could expand electricity supply across participating communities and create opportunities for businesses that depend on reliable power for production and daily operations.
The meeting also considered the separate Aninri electrification project, which the state government said it was working to advance towards construction.
The next stage of SHINE will involve concluding financing and commercial agreements, securing regulatory approvals and finalising land arrangements ahead of construction.

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Ibom Ignite Opens Applications for 2026 Entrepreneurship and Innovation Grant
FCCPC Proposes ₦100m Fine for Businesses Using AI in Marketing Breaches
Access Holdings Onboards 78,438 MSMEs, Provides ₦34.2bn to Women-Owned Businesses
FG Empowers 700 Oyo Youths With Business Tools, Targets 5m Nigerians for Poverty Reduction
Dangote Cement Empowers 40 Farmers, Market Women With Business Support, Awards Grants to 80 Students in Kogi
NSDC’s ₦2.2bn Investment in Oyo Sugar Factory Opens Opportunities for Small Businesses
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Applications have opened for the 2026 Ibom Ignite Entrepreneurship and Innovation Grant, an initiative aimed at supporting young entrepreneurs, startups and innovators seeking funding to develop or expand their ventures.
 
The grant is part of the 2026 Ibom Ignite Conference, themed “Reinvent: Rethink. Reimagine. Redesign. Become.” It is designed to support innovative business ideas and ventures with the potential for growth and scalability.
The opportunity targets young entrepreneurs with existing startups, innovators developing new business ideas and business owners seeking support to expand their operations.
However, the available programme information does not specify the grant amount, application deadline, age limit or detailed eligibility criteria. Interested applicants are advised to consult the official application portal for further requirements.

Applicants can apply by visiting the official Ibom Ignite Entrepreneurship and Innovation Grant 2026 application portal and completing the online form. They are encouraged to provide accurate information and review the application requirements before submission.
The initiative comes amid ongoing efforts to improve access to funding for entrepreneurs and startups, particularly those seeking to transform innovative ideas into sustainable businesses.
By supporting entrepreneurship and innovation, the grant aims to create opportunities for business development, expansion and potential job creation.
 

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The Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) has proposed fines of up to ₦100 million for businesses that breach new rules governing the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in marketing and sales promotions.
The proposal is contained in the draft Sales Promotion Regulations, 2026, released by the commission on September 30, 2026.
Under the draft regulations, businesses using AI, machine learning or other automated technologies for sales promotions, marketing communications and consumer engagement targeting Nigerians would be required to register such use with the commission.
The proposed rules introduce a section on “Artificial Intelligence and Automated Marketing”, requiring businesses to clearly identify AI-generated content and ensure transparency in the use of AI chatbots, virtual influencers and automated messaging systems.
The draft also prohibits manipulative practices, misinformation and the exploitation of consumers’ personal data or behavioural tendencies. Businesses would be required to provide consumers with the option to opt out of automated or AI-driven marketing messages.

Under the proposed sanctions, a corporate body that violates the regulations could face an administrative penalty of up to ₦100 million or one per cent of its previous year’s turnover, whichever is higher. Individuals could face fines of up to ₦50 million.
The draft further provides for possible legal action against directors of companies that breach the regulations, including disqualification from serving as directors for up to five years.
Separate penalties of up to ₦10 million are proposed for specific offences, including failure to award a promised prize, non-compliance with promotion terms and making false statements in applications or undertakings.
The commission’s proposal also places responsibility on businesses for messages, claims and representations generated by the AI systems they deploy. Companies could therefore be held liable for misleading, discriminatory or harmful promotional outcomes produced by automated tools.
The proposed framework would require businesses to take responsibility for their AI-driven marketing activities rather than attribute misleading promotions to the technology they use.

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Access Holdings Plc onboarded 78,438 micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) onto its financing platforms in 2025, while women-owned businesses received ₦34.2 billion in financing during the year.
The financial services group said its MSME strategy combines banking, digital payments, app-based lending and business advisory services to improve access to finance and support business growth across its operating markets.
Through its MSME Toolkit and related programmes, Access Holdings also provides training and advisory support to strengthen entrepreneurs’ financial management, cash flow planning and business operations.
The group delivers these services through its subsidiaries and business units. Access Bank provides banking, trade services and working capital financing, while Hydrogen Payment Services offers digital payment infrastructure for merchants.
Oxygen X Finance provides app-based credit to entrepreneurs, helping extend financing opportunities to businesses that may have limited access to traditional bank lending.

The integration of digital payments, credit and advisory services is designed to help businesses access financial tools while generating transaction records that could support future credit assessments.
Access Holdings’ approach also seeks to address longstanding barriers to MSME financing, including limited collateral, inadequate credit histories and the high cost of serving small businesses.
However, the long-term impact of the strategy will depend on loan repayment performance, sustained financing growth and the ability of supported businesses to expand and remain viable.
MSMEs remain important to employment generation and economic activity across Africa, but many continue to face challenges accessing formal credit and financial services.
By expanding digital financing channels, Access Holdings aims to reach more small businesses while supporting financial inclusion and diversifying its lending portfolio.

 

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“Simply switching to a top-three provider will save you money.”
Photo Credit: iStock
After a month without air conditioning, a Reddit user living in a townhouse was stunned to receive a $225.62 electricity bill for 448 kilowatt-hours. 
“I’m finding it quite expensive…or is electric just expensive as with everything else currently? I would like to know if I should be switching providers or if this is pretty normal,” they wrote in r/AusFinance. 
The original poster said they were one of two people living in the townhouse and that they had a simple routine: evening TV, a work computer running during the day, lights kept to a minimum, a few loads of laundry each week, and a daily dishwasher cycle outside peak hours. 
They used a ceiling fan for a handful of nights, and when they ran their HVAC in November, December, and January, their monthly bill climbed to 380-450 Australian dollars. They had no solar panels. 
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
To put that bill in context, other users shared what they were paying. “448 kilowatt-hours would cost me $87” before a 90-cent daily supply charge, one person said. Another wrote that Lumo in Victoria had offered 21 cents per kWh with a $1 daily service charge.
“Simply switching to a top-three provider will save you money,” a third advised.  
For homeowners exploring energy providers, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. If rooftop panels are an option, EnergySage can help you get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
Switching retailers made a major difference for one Reddit user, who said they had been paying $600-$650 per quarter with AGL and got down to $129 per month with Kogan.
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
“In my case it definitely paid to switch,” they said. 
However, others questioned whether something in the townhome was using more electricity than expected. One pointed out that the OP didn’t list heating and cooling, which are typically major energy expenses for households. Another wrote, “How long do both of you spend in the shower with hot water cranking? Could only be that.” 
As a first step, commenters recommended comparing plans. “You’ll notice that there is a pretty big spread of daily service costs and per kilowatt of charges,” one said.
They also suggested looking closely at the bill itself, including the daily supply charge, the per-kWh rate, and whether the plan offers better value for usage moved outside peak hours. 
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
One person noted that “switching gives you $200 credit with many providers,” while another said many plans do not have lock-in terms, making it easy to leave an expensive deal.
Another solution could be generating electricity at home.
With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on a solar purchase and installation. EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar system by state along with the incentives available in each state, which together can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels.
“Get a battery and join Globird. Say goodbye to high bills,” one commenter added.
Pairing battery storage with a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Homeowners can also explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
For anyone comparing plans or trying to figure out why an electricity bill is so high, these stories break down a few practical ways households are lowering costs. 
• With WattBuy, households can shop electricity rates faster than many utilities make possible.
• In Australia, homeowners can cut about $4,000 a year by sealing drafts and ditching gas.
• One homeowner said their bill was cut in half after they changed AC settings.
• Unplugging energy vampires can trim wasted power and lower fire risk.
• Across the U.S., community solar savings could lower bills for millions of households.
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The homeowner said an infrared thermometer was on the way.
Photo Credit: Reddit
A southern Colorado homeowner says a south-facing wall in a brand-new house is getting hot enough to overheat two bedrooms, even though the home is “very well insulated.”
They had been considering a removable awning, but the sloped area and strong winds around the house made that idea hard to execute.
The homeowner posted on Reddit‘s r/buildingscience forum, asking for advice. The homeowner described the root of the issue: “My south wall is cooking two bedrooms.”
One commenter explained the source of the indoor heat: “The heat you are getting is the sun shining directly on the wall, not really ambient heat, which is what the insulation mostly helps with.”
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Commenters pointed to simple fixes first: “Paint the wall white. Or at least a lighter color.” People also suggested trees, vines, trellises, and sun shade fabric that could be removed in winter if needed.
Others focused on the wall finish itself, saying high-reflectance exterior paints and coatings can reflect more solar energy away from the surface, so less heat is absorbed.
One person who said they “wire” swimming pools recalled working next to “a black wall” on a new house and noticing heat “just radiating” from it by about 11 a.m.
For homeowners dealing with sun-exposed walls and rising utility bills, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Try EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
The homeowner said an infrared thermometer was on the way, but added that the wall already felt hot to the touch.
A few commenters also brought up more involved building-science solutions. One solution was to build a rain screen with rigid insulation beneath furring strips to break the thermal bridge and create a vented outer layer.
Across the thread, the main theme was shade. They suggested whatever form of shade makes the most sense for the property. In this case, that included a fascia-mounted awning, a decorative pergola, a trellis, grapevines, and shade trees.
People also suggested making the wall absorb less heat. A lighter exterior color or a coating with higher solar reflectance could help, and one commenter said a tinted version that gives up some performance might still reflect infrared heat.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Some commenters suggested making the sunny wall useful instead of just trying to deflect the sunlight. One commenter proposed mounting solar panels there, while another wrote, “Solar panels + window unit heat pumps? 🙂 Your meter is right there and south is the best direction.” If homeowners want to compare that route, EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, along with solar incentives for each state. Together, those tools can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Homeowners considering that option can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
One commenter summed up the core of the solution: “you just need shade of some sort. however you achieve that depends on what you want.”
For more ideas on handling heat, these stories look at how shade, airflow, and reflective surfaces can help. 
• During a U.K. heatwave, homes stay 6 degrees cooler when windows remain shut.
• In traditional buildings, natural ventilation cooling tricks kept indoor temperatures lower than expected.
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They said a receipt appeared in their online account, but it did not include the price they had negotiated.
Photo Credit: iStock
A Pennsylvania AmeriGas customer says they paid in advance to lock in a propane price over the phone, only to have their first delivery billed 25% higher. After 47 years with the company, they said customer service told them the agreement wasn’t on record.
In a Reddit post, the customer said it took weeks to reach the company before an agent called back and offered a supervisor-approved pre-buy over the phone.
According to the poster, they were then routed to a payment line and sent the money by ACH. They said a receipt appeared in their online account, but it didn’t include the price they negotiated.
They said the problem surfaced when the first delivery of the season arrived at a higher rate than expected. The poster wrote that the company said the deal wasn’t in its system and that they would have to pay “25% more than I had agreed to.”
A commenter said such pre-buy arrangements “generally requires you to sign an actual contract for pre buy,” often through email, suggesting the absence of written paperwork could be a key part of the dispute.
The OP said this was not how the process had worked for them. They wrote that for years they negotiated a propane price, paid upfront, and then saw that rate reflected in their account even without a signed contract.
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Describing that change, they said, “For years I signed a contract after negotiating a price.” They added, “I negotiated and the price appeared in my online account. No signed contract. Seemed flakey but it worked until this year.”
Several commenters said switching propane companies can be difficult once fuel is already in the tank. One warned that, unless state law says otherwise, companies often “WILL NOT refund a drop of propane” and may also bill customers for the labor required to pump it out.
Another user asked whether the transfer itself sounded suspicious, but the poster said it “did not seem phishy” because the money showed up right away in their online account.
The most concrete advice in the thread was to contact the company’s local office rather than end the effort with customer service.
One commenter suggested asking the delivery driver for help, saying local managers or office staff may have access to billing information that customer service couldn’t resolve.
That same commenter said local staff “can even pull up the previous phone conversations you had because they’re recorded.” The poster replied: “Good idea. The delivery drivers have always been great. And helpful.”
Commenters also stressed that any pre-buy arrangement’s full terms should be in writing before money is sent. They added that if the customer switches suppliers, it may be safer to wait until the current tank is nearly empty, since unused propane may not be refundable.
These articles provide a wider look at trust, billing, and customer-treatment disputes in the propane and utility industries.
• Leaked propane industry calls showed how some companies tried to soften messaging and avoid coal comparisons.
• Across the U.S., utilities used customer-funded profits to fight clean-energy rules and protect fossil assets.
• In Oregon, a gas utility was accused of deceiving lawmakers and residents about renewable natural gas.
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Several commenters treated the issue mainly as a cash-flow decision.
Photo Credit: iStock
A U.K. homeowner hoping to lock in lower utility bills before retirement turned to Reddit with a familiar question: Is it smarter to install solar panels, battery storage, and a heat pump in one project, or add those upgrades over time as an aging boiler and older petrol cars near replacement?
Because the boiler is about 10 years old and still working, when to replace it became a major part of the discussion based around the homeowner’s Reddit post. The homeowner said the house has an east/west-facing roof, uses 3,549 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 8,364 kWh of gas per year, and they expect to remain in the home for at least another 15 years.
Several replies focused on timing. Commenters said replacing a boiler that still works with a heat pump may not offer the best value, with one arguing that when replacement time does come, “it’s the difference you should be looking at, not the whole £7k,” since a new boiler would cost money anyway.
Another theme was that battery storage becomes far more attractive once more of the home’s energy demand runs on electricity and can be shifted onto off-peak rates. One commenter wrote, “At this rate even a poorly performing heatpump is 4x cheaper than gas and the payback can be as soon as 4-5 years,” though that estimate depended on access to a 7 pence overnight tariff.
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
If you’re weighing similar decisions, tools like EnergySage can help you get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes before signing a contract.
Several commenters treated the issue mainly as a cash-flow decision. In that framing, a functioning boiler may still be worth keeping, but grants and tariff savings also matter if the numbers favor switching sooner.
The thread also included firsthand examples from people who said battery-focused setups had already lowered their bills. One commenter estimated a payback of roughly eight to 10 years after installing solar with a 16-kWh battery and said electricity costs fell from about £150 (about $200) per month to £40 (over $50) per month. Another said charging battery storage overnight cut a monthly bill from roughly £100 (around $132) to £25 (around $33), plus around £25 per month from axle VPP.
Commenters praised the east/west orientation because it can spread electricity generation across more hours of the day.
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
The poster pointed to an Energy Saving Trust article and said they took it to mean that, in some cases, a heat pump-and-battery pairing can beat a solar-and-battery setup on cost-benefit timing.
The most common recommendation was to begin with solar and battery storage while making sure the battery is either large enough now — or expandable enough later — to support a future air-source heat pump. The homeowner appeared to be leaning that way, along with waiting to replace a car with an EV until that replacement becomes necessary.
For people comparing options, EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state, along with solar incentives for each state. Together, those resources can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
EnergySage is also worth a look when it comes time to gather bids. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. That kind of savings can make a major difference for anyone trying to lower fixed expenses before retirement.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save on energy costs, and go off-grid. Homeowners can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
The homeowner wrote: “But the replies have made me see that once heating is electrified, the whole house becomes one electricity system that can be optimised with cheap tariffs, battery and solar.”
For a closer look at the trade-offs homeowners are weighing, these articles break down how solar, batteries, heat pumps, and upgrade timing can affect long-term energy costs.
• Energy experts say smart retirement investment strategies can slash retirees’ monthly power bills.
• Across Europe, heat pumps plus EVs and rooftop solar could blunt energy shocks.
• Analysts say lasting financial relief starts when rooftop solar tames future electricity costs.
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At the federal, state, and local levels, SEIA works to advocate for an equitable transition to a clean energy economy.
SEIA produces variety of research and supporting resources for the solar industry, ranging from full reports to short factsheets.
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The Energy Storage Market Outlook (ESMO) is a quarterly publication produced by the Solar Energy Industries Association and Benchmark Mineral Intelligence. ESMO draws on Benchmark’s proprietary grid and behind the meter data on…
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Solar energy is an American success story. Since the creation of the first silicon solar cell 70 years ago, solar leaders have been innovating, improving efficiency, lowering costs, and growing this American-born technology…
Following statement on California legislative updates is attributable to Stephanie Doyle, California state affairs director for the Solar Energy Industries Association: “The solar and storage industry is pleased to see Governor Newsom sign…
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The Solar Energy Industries Association® (SEIA) is leading the transformation to a clean energy economy. SEIA works with its 1,200 member companies and other strategic partners to fight for policies that create jobs in every community and shape fair market rules that promote competition and the growth of reliable, low-cost solar power. Founded in 1974, SEIA is the national trade association for the solar and solar + storage industries, building a comprehensive vision for the Solar+ Decade through research, education and advocacy.
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Updated September 2026
 
Solar and storage in the United States is booming. Along with our partners at Wood Mackenzie Power & Renewables, SEIA tracks trends and trajectories in the solar industry that demonstrate the diverse and sustained growth of solar across the country. SEIA also collaborates with Benchmark Mineral Intelligence to follow the latest developments in the storage industry, showing storage’s rapid growth in recent years.
Below you will find charts and information summarizing the state of solar and storage in the U.S. If you’re looking for more data, explore our resources page. In addition, SEIA Members have access to presentation slide decks that contain this data and much more. Not a SEIA Member? Join today!

Solar has seen massive growth since 2010. There are now nearly 299 gigawatts direct-current of solar capacity installed nationwide, enough to power over 50 million homes. In the last decade, solar deployments have experienced an average annual growth rate of 26%. Strong federal policies like the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), rapidly declining installation costs, and increasing demand for clean electricity across the private and public sector have driven this growth.


The U.S. added a record 30 GWh of energy storage in the first half of 2026, largely due to an all time high 20.2 GWh added in Q2. This is a 23% year-over-year increase, demonstrating the strength of the storage market. Now, the U.S. has installed 195 GWh of energy storage, a 207% increase since the end of 2023. This is enough to power 5.9 million American homes for an entire day on a single charge. Falling costs for battery energy storage systems (BESS), increased demand for reliable electricity, and federal and state policy incentives have driven the increase.
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council (IREC) has reported that 280,000 Americans work in solar, as of 2023. Over 10,000 solar companies across U.S. states are responsible for this employment, with workers with a wide variety of backgrounds and job functions supporting the solar industry. In addition, the industry generated over $70 billion of private investment in the American economy in 2024. As solar deployment grows and advanced manufacturing facilities ramp up, more solar jobs will emerge across the U.S.


Solar and storage have become the backbone of new electricity infrastructure in the U.S. Combined, these technologies represented over 71% of new capacity added in H1 2026. Solar and storage’s increasing competitiveness against other technologies has allowed them to quickly increase its share of total U.S. electrical generation.
In addition to the direct employment of the industry, solar is responsible for additional employment in other industries as well. The University of Louisiana, Lafayette found that, in 2023, solar supported over 600,000 total jobs, when accounting for indirect jobs (created by business to business transactions with other industries) and induced jobs (created when workers spend their earnings).


Solar’s share of U.S. electricity generation has risen from less than 0.1% in 2010 to Over 8% in 2025. Solar has grown to play an increasing role in many states, now making up more than 20% of electricity production in four states. As electricity prices continue to rise and electricity demand continues to grow, states and utilities have turned to solar as the lowest cost option for meeting incremental demand quickly and affordably.
The majority of BESS on the grid can discharge at full power for two to four hours, but there has been a surge in batteries that are built to discharge for four or more hours. States like California and Arizona target longer duration storage for evening renewable energy shifting, while states like Texas prefer shorter duration batteries for energy arbitrage and responding to quick price spikes. Since Texas has rapidly increased its deployment of these shorter batteries since 2025, average duration of batteries deployed dropped slightly in the first half of 2026.


Solar’s growth has been enabled by the technology’s rapid cost declines since the early 2010s. Module prices are a fraction of what they once cost, but as the technology has matured, prices have now begun to fluctuate. Rapidly changing trade policy, the global pandemic, and inflation have impacted solar prices. While prices fluctuate quarter to quarter, solar remains a cost effective solution for all types of customers.
The residential solar market has gone through significant changes in recent years, and policy changes will force the market to continue to adapt. Changes to California’s net metering rules drove a spike and subsequent decline in deployment, high interest rates have hampered demand, and the repeal of the 25D tax credit is likely to hamper deployment through 2031. Still, increasing electricity bills and power outages have led to sustained interest in residential solar, and companies are expected to pursue new state markets and adapt their business models to offer solar leasing options, driving growth in later years.


The commercial solar market, which consists of on-site solar installations for businesses, non-profits and governments, has historically been dominated by a handful of markets: California, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York. However, new state markets are emerging, with Pennsylvania and Illinois both overtaking Massachusetts and New Jersey. C&I installations reached a record high in 2025, and businesses are continuing to turn to solar to offset rising electricity costs.
While early growth for community solar installations was led primarily by three key markets – New York, Minnesota, and Massachusetts – a growing list of states with community solar programs have helped diversify the market. In Q1, Illinois and New York accounted for 31% and 25% of installations respectively. While the development of new markets has stalled, many states have proposed enabling legislation (states with yellow border) that could provide access to solar and savings for a wider segment of residential and commercial customers.


The passage of HR1 will negatively impact the utility scale segment, but developers have safe harbored 200+ GW of project volume before the July 2026 deadline passed. In H1 2026, 15.7 GW direct-current was installed signaling continued momentum despite some contraction of the interconnection queue. Over 200 GW of new utility solar capacity is expected to be installed through 2031, but uncertainty from federal tax and permitting policy present significant risk.
Lithium ion chemistry is and is likely to remain the dominant battery chemistry on the market. At the beginning of the 2020s, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) and nickel manganese cobalt (NMC) had a nearly even market share. Since then, LFP has taken the lion’s share of the market, with 77% of the storage currently deployed and 90% deployed so far in 2026. LFP will have a similar market share through 2030, but non lithium chemistries, such as sodium ion and flow batteries are expected to deploy at scale towards the end of the decade thanks in part to data centers signing offtake agreements with long duration energy storage (LDES) batteries that use these non-lithium ion chemistries.


Solar is expected to deploy significant volumes to the grid over the next five years, but policy changes have already hindered future deployment, and additional actions from the Trump administration pose a further threat to the industry. Deployments will average 40 GW annually over the next five years, but the risk posed by attacks on the permitting of solar projects, further treasury guidance, and uncertainty in the solar supply chain could further reduce deployment by over 20%.
While forecasts from early 2025 projected up to330 GW of new solar to be installed from 2025-2030, actions by the Trump administration threaten to cut that volume by up to 38%. Wood Mackenzie’s base case forecast for the industry fell in the immediate aftermath of OBBBA, but the past two quarters have seen significant upward revisions thanks to demand for cheap, reliable electricity generation.


Energy storage is expected to continue its exponential growth through the end of the decade and beyond. Storage will set new deployment records every year over the next five years, adding an additional 486 GWh by 2030. Increased demand from data centers and homeowners looking for reliable power could raise projections, while trade action and treasury guidance could lower them.
After years of flat electricity demand, forecasters project electricity demand will surge in the near future. Spurred by electrification of homes and businesses, the rapid growth of data centers, and increased buildout of U.S. manufacturing, rising electricity demand is the central challenge to the electricity sector, and solar will play a key role in meeting this demand. Without the benefits of solar’s speed and affordability, U.S. electricity customers will be forced to pay higher prices and face power outages.


The United States now has 75 gigawatts of operating PV module capacity, a 700% increase compared to August 2023. However, upstream PV manufacturing is taking longer to materialize. The first solar cell factories have begun to come online, and ingot and wafer manufacturing was reshored for the first time in 10 years in 2025, meaning all the main components of a c-Si module can now be made in the United States.
Prior to 2025, there was no battery cell capacity online. The first 22 GWh have come online, with another 133 GWh under active construction. Battery pack manufacturing has also grown, with over 60 GWh already online. If all factories proceed as planned, the United States will have enough battery cell and pack capacity to serve the whole market by the end of 2026.


Storage deployments since the beginning of 2025 have focused on improving grid reliability and firming renewable energy generation. By storing excess solar electricity produced during the day and discharging it in the evening, batteries help meet demand more efficiently while reducing reliance on expensive, high-emitting peaker plants.
The rise in storage deployment coincides with increases in solar deployment. Just over 48% of the storage on the grid today is paired with solar, allowing utility scale solar arrays to charge the onsite storage when there is excess capacity on the grid, preventing curtailment. Recent years have also seen a boom in standalone storage, as storage brings flexibility, reliability, and savings to electricity providers and can be deployed quickly anywhere, allowing storage to help serve growing electricity demand.

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The mayor of South Yorkshire has said he wants more power over major planning applications instead of Whitehall deciding on behalf of local residents.
Labour's Oliver Coppard has been answering questions on BBC Radio Sheffield's phone-in Call Coppard.
He also spoke about food banks, free bus passes, the budget and Sheffield FC.
Read our takeaways from the hour below or listen to the full interview here.
"Do I feel like Whitehall are letting go of power? Yes, bit by bit but I don't think it's completely even across government, there are certainly some departments where it's more difficult and can be more tricky.
"I think we are definitely getting to a point where the expectation is we are given the power, the responsibility and the control over issues rather than it being held on to by Whitehall.
"There's an argument we can now make with a department to say, you have to justify to me why you are holding on to that power rather than us making that decision here in South Yorkshire.
"A good example would be Whitestone Solar Farm which is huge, it would be 2,000 football pitches wide. I'm against it, it is prime farming territory in the green belt but the decision whether or not to let it go ahead will be made by the secretary of state for climate and net zero.
"I think that is the wrong way round – the bigger it is, the more important it is that local people have a say. I know the local community are against it on the whole and therefore I think it should come to us.
"I'm making that case to the secretary of state – why do you get to take that decision? And increasingly that's the argument I can make backed up by the prime minister."
"We have sent in a submission to government asking for a bunch of different things such as investment in high-growth areas around Doncaster Sheffield Airport and through the Don Valley corridor.
"There are some massive investments already but we want to do more, not least through Northern Powerhouse Rail where South Yorkshire is right at the front of the queue.
"We're about half the size of our peers in West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester so that needs to change.
"I speak to the Chancellor John Healey on the phone fairly frequently so it's good to have a local MP in that role. He used to be my boss so I know John fairly well and I have no doubt he's got his head in the books as we speak.
"I'm sure South Yorkshire will get a huge amount of attention from this government because we have three secretaries of state. I would very much like to think people will see this place matters to the government."
"In 2015 I was invited to St Thomas' Church in Crookes and went to see a food bank in the back room of the church. It was relatively small and was essentially running out of a cupboard.
"When I was running for mayor in 2022, I was invited back. I went to see the team running that food bank and this time it was in a warehouse.
"They told me a story about a young lad who had come in with his parents on his sixth birthday and his parents had brought him to the food bank because it was the closest they could get to a day out.
"If that doesn't make you stop and think about the challenges that some people face, the lives some people have in South Yorkshire, and what our priorities should be, I don't know what does.
"Food security has to be right up there in terms of how this government responds to the challenge. The very least anyone should expect is support to keep food on the table. The very basics of life should be there and I'll do everything I can to make sure of that."
"One of the ways government can help people is £2 bus fairs and we are bringing in free bus travel for kids right across South Yorkshire.
"We've already got it in Barnsley and we think it saves families about £500-£600 if they have two children which is a lot of money, that matters massively to families.
"Young people won't have the same time restrictions as senior citizens with free bus travel because it is to support kids who are going to school.
"There was a member of the public who said I shouldn't be funding free fares for young people as they could walk and I should instead take off the restrictions for older people.
"I want to do everything I can for older people but I also want to make sure families get the support that they need as well. Young people have had an incredibly tough time over the last few years and I want to do everything I can to support young people to thrive in South Yorkshire and if that means supporting them with free bus fares, I'm going to make that choice."
"I'm going to India, flying with all the other northern mayors and three secretaries of state.
"We're doing a trade mission as we have a free trade agreement with India and the Yorkshire mayors are going en masse to try and bring home jobs, growth, investment and to make sure we are taking advantage of that agreement.
"Sheffield FC will be coming with me on that trade mission as we want them to get that exposure – I've got my Sheffield FC shirt in the suitcase.
"I will also be talking to the prime minister as he is a big football fan and the club has massive ambitions.
"I doubt the new stadium will be Meadowhead as it doesn't work for that site. It's a traffic blackspot, there's a load of covenants on the land, it's not the right spot. There are other options on the table but that is for the club to announce."
The man was reported to have entered the tiger enclosure before he was attacked, police say.
A wedding album found dumped in Wakefield sparks an extraordinary family reunion.
Poet Ian McMillan talks Barnlsey, fat rascals and social media ahead of Ilkley Literature Festival.
This week's stories include a knighthood for Sir Kevin Sinfield and a dog's chance at a new life.
The attraction near Doncaster says emergency response procedures were "immediately activated".
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nm.news
Because local democracy demands great local journalism.
By Rodd Cayton
Those interested in the straight dope about big happenings in the East Mountains might want to be in Sandia Park on Oct. 19. The East Mountains Protection Action Coalition (EMPAC) will host its second Community Gathering, with residents, community leaders and elected officials joining to discuss issues shaping the region’s future.
Organizers are promising updates concerning Campbell Ranch and the Diamond Tail Solar Project, as well as “a significant discussion about new opportunities for protecting the land, water and character of the East Mountains.”
Campbell Ranch is a controversial master plan near Edgewood that became the subject of a lawsuit after town commissioners denied the developer’s subdivision applications. Reboot Edgewood, a group seeking to disincorporate the town, cites the annexation of Campbell Ranch as one of the ways town leaders have failed residents. The Diamond Tail Solar Project is a proposed 220-megawatt installation that would go on about 1,830 acres east of State Route 14. Sandoval County Commissioner Commissioners in 2025 approved a zoning change that would allow the project to go forward, but it too is in court, as opponents have appealed that decision.
EMPAC has been involved in debates concerning both projects. “There are moments when a community has an opportunity not simply to react to change, but to help shape what comes next,” EMPAC Board President Dennis Kellogg said in a news release. “October 19 is about bringing our neighbors together, sharing where things stand, and talking about some very promising possibilities for the future of the East Mountains.” State Sen. Anthony Thornton, State Rep. Stefani Lord and Bernalillo County Commissioner Eric Olivas are expected to speak at the event, which takes place at 6 p.m. at Lantern Ridge Farm Market and Nursery, 12540 State Route 14 in Sandia Park.
“The strength of our East Mountains community has always been its people,” EMPAC Community Outreach leader Charlene Smith said. “When our neighbors become informed and work together, remarkable things can happen. There is a lot happening right now, and this is one evening you’re going to want to be in the room for.” 
Those wishing to attend are encouraged to RSVP by Oct. 12 by email to at info@TheEMPAC.org.
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Rodd Cayton is a senior reporter with nm.news covering local news and government as a local reporting fellow with NM Reports. More by Rodd Cayton
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Solar Power World
By Billy Ludt | October 8, 2026
Three phases of Doral Renewables‘ Mammoth Solar Project will soon start commercial operation in Pulaski County, Indiana. Mammoth South, Mammoth Central I and Mammoth Central II represent a combined capacity of 900 MWAC, and with the completion of the entire 1.3-GW Mammoth Solar complex one of the largest operational solar projects in the country.
Credit: Doral Renewables
“Today is the culmination of true partnership between the Pulaski County community and Doral”, said Nick Cohen, president and CEO of Doral Renewables. “We started this project as a vision to bring a major economic development project to the county and an energy project to the state, and it grew beyond our wildest dreams. We are hoping to make this one of the leading dual-use sites in the country and further grow the partnership between Doral and local farmers.”
These three phases were constructed over 18 months, employing approximately 1,800 workers at peak activity. At one point, 20,000 panels were installed in a single day. During operations, Doral Renewables is exploring integrating agrivoltaic practices on the site, such as specialty crops and sheep and cattle grazing.
“Mammoth Solar is a powerful example of what happens when we connect American manufacturing directly to American energy infrastructure — Indiana steel, made by Indiana local workers, built into an Indiana power plant and generating electricity for Indiana communities,” said Robert Vinje, COO of Nextpower. “We’re proud to partner with Doral and Bechtel on a project that delivers reliable, high-performance solar generation while creating lasting economic and agricultural value for the farmers, families, and communities that call Indiana home.”
News item from Doral Renewables
Billy Ludt is managing editor of Solar Power World and currently covers topics on mounting, inverters, installation and operations.

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© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.
“Basically enough to ensure I got through the peak cost period.”
Photo Credit: iStock
With a 3 to 7 p.m. peak-rate window approaching, one Tesla Powerwall owner in Tucson, Arizona, saw the battery change tactics on a rainy afternoon. After relying on whatever sunlight was available, it began charging from the grid around 2:30 p.m.
That kind of behavior can make a major difference on cloudy or stormy days, when a system has to balance low solar output with high evening electricity costs.
According to a post in Reddit’s r/Powerwall forum, the homeowner had set the battery to Saving mode, entered the time for the peak period, and turned off Stormwatch. “Basically the Powerwall charged off solar when it could,” the original poster wrote. “Then around 2:30 it started grid charging.”
The sun came back briefly and contributed a little more power before the high-rate period began. The homeowner said it was “basically enough to ensure I got through the peak cost period.”
Battery storage can help homeowners protect their homes during outages, save money on electricity, and gain energy independence. Homeowners who want to compare battery options and competitive installation estimates can explore EnergySage.
EnergySage has teamed up with electrification brand Qmerit to help homeowners get the best price on home battery storage solutions. In a setup such as this one, storage can do more than hold excess solar energy — it can actively help a household avoid the most expensive hours on a utility’s time-of-use plan.
Because Stormwatch was off, the charging pattern did not seem to be about emergency backup preparation. Instead, it suggested the Powerwall may have been responding to economics rather than simply getting ready for a possible outage.
The homeowner said the batteries usually “drain by 10-12 p.m. depending on home energy usage” after being fully charged and that the system produced 135 kilowatt-hours on “a normal hot summer day.”
FROM OUR PARTNER
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To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Solar panels can save you more than $50k over their 25-year lifespan, and EnergySage can help you save as much as $10k on installation. Which begs the question — isn’t that worth an email or two?
On a day with poor weather, however, the battery showed it can prioritize getting through the peak-price window.
Battery storage can help households deal with extreme heat, stormy afternoons, or variable utility pricing by building resilience and maintaining control over energy bills. A system that can shift between solar charging and grid charging may make home energy use easy to manage even when the weather does not cooperate.
By choosing Saving mode and marking the pricey period, the homeowner gave the Powerwall clear signals about when stored energy would matter most.
Utility pricing throughout the day is important for homeowners considering backup batteries, not just outage protection. Comparing systems through EnergySage and using the company’s Qmerit partnership can help shoppers evaluate which setups best match their rate plans, solar production, and household energy use.
For people who are not ready for a whole-home installation, Pila offers options. Pila’s plug-and-play batteries are priced at a fraction of what whole-home backup systems cost.
• In California, a Tesla owner saw a new Powerwall draw grid power before learning the system’s logic.
• An energy specialist found Tesla’s system could save your family from blackouts during worsening outages.
• Tesla’s home battery could make blackouts a thing of the past for some households.
• A California Tesla owner used a virtual power plant and earned $600 from the grid.
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.
© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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WSB-TV

As free and abundant as sunlight may be, harnessing its power remains stubbornly difficult for homeowners. While the cost of solar energy has plummeted more than 90 percent in the last decade, panels remain a significant investment. And it’s not as easy as just slapping panels on a roof, as your home may need electrical upgrades too.
It doesn’t have to be this way, Grist reports. Countries like Germany have encouraged the proliferation of balcony solar, also known as plug-in solar: smaller, cheaper arrays that hook into a home’s electrical outlets. This offsets some of a residence’s energy use, saving users hundreds of dollars a year, and opens up solar energy to renters with balconies or backyards. As a bonus, the less power homes have to draw from the grid, the less stress they put on the system, especially during heat waves when everyone is running energy-hungry air conditioners.
On Sept. 30, California officially got in on the balcony-solar action as Governor Gavin Newsom signed a bill allowing residents of the nation’s most populous state to adopt the technology. It joins a handful of states, like Utah and Maine, in seeing the potential of the technology to generate clean electricity and save residents money as energy costs rise.
“This technology is very important and very powerful,” state Senator Scott Wiener, who authored the legislation, said during a press conference Oct. 1. “And what this bill does is eliminate the massive barrier to people using plug-in solar, which is that you’d have to go and negotiate an interconnection agreement with PG&E [Pacific Gas and Electric Company] or the other utility.”
The proliferation of plug-in solar marks a fundamental shift in how the electrical grid operates. Historically, utilities have generated electricity by burning fossil fuels like coal and natural gas. When demand rose, like when people returned home at the end of the day and switched on appliances, they’d just ramp up production. This kept the system in a sort of equilibrium, a constant balance of supply and demand.
That, though, doesn’t quite work the same with renewables like wind and solar. If demand is holding steady and the sun is setting, a utility isn’t generating as much electricity with its panels. Same with wind, if the skies suddenly calm. So in addition to building out wind and solar farms, utilities are deploying huge batteries to save that energy for later use. This creates a more flexible grid that can still hum with electricity when things are dark or calm.
This transformation is turning you, the consumer, into a more active participant in the grid. For years now, homes with solar have sent excess energy back to the grid. While plug-in solar might generate a fraction of what you’d get from a roof covered in panels, it can still help make the grid more flexible. Instead of feeding the system, it reduces the amount of electricity drawn from the grid. Scaled across a whole city, these small reductions can add up, offsetting some of the growth in demand from things like AI data centers and electrification. (Think induction stoves needing electricity instead of natural gas, and EVs charging instead of burning fuel.)
“This is one of the most immediate, concrete, tangible, real, and affordable things that we can do to start to get control of our high energy costs, but also save our planet,” Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president for California at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, said during the press conference. “So it’s really a twofer.”
Basically, plug-in solar could help reduce congestion in the system at peak times — when it’s hot out and everyone’s running their AC, there’s also plenty of sun to strike the panels. It’s turning homes and apartments into a distributed network of tiny power plants. “It’s really ideal to use renewable electricity exactly where it’s generated,” said Amanda Smith, a senior scientist focusing on the built environment at Project Drawdown, a climate solutions nonprofit.
This increased interactivity in the grid comes as utility bills continue to skyrocket. Basic plug-in solar systems will set you back a few hundred dollars, and you can potentially make back that money with energy savings in around four years. (The higher the energy costs in your state, the quicker you’d get that return on your investment.) Still, for a lot of households, that’s a major investment, so ideally a state also provides rebates for people to adopt the technology.
With California now aboard the plug-in solar train, your state may well follow. “The big reason this is a big deal really is because it’s the most affordable way for people to actually participate with solar PV,” Smith said. “Whatever happens in California is going to influence, I think, a lot of other future state markets. So it’s going to be a key one to watch.”
This story was produced by Grist and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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For decades, the success of India’s renewable energy transition has largely been measured in gigawatts. That indicator remains relevant, but it is no longer sufficient. The more important question today is how effectively the electricity system can accommodate, coordinate, and derive value from the renewable capacity being added.
The scale is significant. As of Sept. 30, 2026 data, India had 299 GW of renewable energy generation capacity, including 171 GW from solar and 59 GW wind. Total non-fossil capacity stood at 308 GW, according to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). These numbers demonstrate the scale India has achieved. They also point to the operational challenge ahead.
Solar and wind cannot provide electricity on demand. Solar generation peaks during the day while electricity consumption can remain high in the evening. Wind generation varies with weather conditions and location. As variable renewable energy grows, the challenge is no longer only about expanding generation. It is about coordinating generation with consumption and making the power system increasingly responsive.
This challenge will become even more pronounced. The International Energy Agency sees India’s electricity demand increasing at an annual rate of 6.4% up to 2030, adding more than 570 TWh to annual electricity consumption. The agency also sees variable renewable energy accounting for 24% of India’s electricity generation in 2030, compared with 14% in 2025.
With demand growing alongside variable generation, flexibility becomes an imperative for India’s power grid, not just an option.
This is where Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) become critical. Yet conversations around BESS often begin and end with capacity. While capacity matters, it is far from the sole determinant of system value.
Consider a battery supporting a solar plant. Charging whenever excess solar is available may appear sensible. But what if a demand surge is anticipated later? What if the battery needs to maintain a minimum state of charge for ancillary services? What if committed schedules, market opportunities, or grid requirements change during the same operating period? What if aggressive cycling creates value today but reduces the battery’s useful life?
The value of storage therefore depends not only on how much energy a battery can store, but on the continuous decisions made around that stored energy.
This is where storage becomes an intelligence problem.
The magnitude of the requirement is evident in India’s planning documents. According to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), integrating 364 GW of solar and 121 GW of wind up to 2031-32 would require 73.93 GW/411.4 GWh of energy storage capacity. Of this, 47.24 GW/236.22 GWh would be BESS. As per end-of-2024 figures, India’s energy storage capacity stood at just 4.86 GW, of which 0.11 GW was BESS.
This shifts the purpose of the Energy Management System
An EMS can no longer be treated merely as a tool for monitoring assets or following pre-programmed schedules. In a renewable dominated environment, it has to become the decision-making system connecting generation, storage and grid requirements.
This requires bringing together multiple real time inputs: forecasted generation, demand, state of charge, committed schedules, grid conditions, deviation risk, market signals, charging and discharging limitations, and battery degradation.
The objective is not simply to ensure that the battery is charged and ready. It is to continuously determine when that stored energy will be most valuable and how it should be deployed without compromising technical, operational, or economic requirements.
In other words, the system must be able to sense, predict, decide, and execute.
That intelligence cannot exist through EMS alone. As renewable plants become more complex, SCADA, Power Plant Controllers, forecasting, optimisation and Energy Management Systems increasingly need to operate as parts of a coordinated control architecture.
A renewable or hybrid plant may contain multiple assets and systems, but the grid ultimately needs the plant to behave as one coordinated, predictable, and responsive entity.
That requires reliable visibility into what is happening, the ability to anticipate what is likely to happen, intelligence to determine the appropriate response and control systems capable of executing it.
The February 2025 Advisory issued by the CEA demonstrates this change in system requirements. It recognised the significance of storage for grid stability, reliability and effective utilisation of energy and recommended that future solar tenders include at least two hours of storage located alongside the solar farm, equal to 10% of solar capacity.
This takes the conversation beyond batteries and into the technology that manages and coordinates them.
India’s cleantech opportunity, therefore, is not only about the mass production of solar panels, wind turbines and batteries. It is also about building the intelligence and control systems required to make these components work together.
Indigenous EMS, SCADA, PPC, forecasting and optimisation systems can acquire strategic significance as the grid becomes increasingly dynamic and storage assets are expected to perform multiple functions.
At Smart Grid Analytics, this is how we have approached the renewable energy control problem: not as a collection of isolated software systems, but as an intelligence layer connecting renewable generation, storage and the grid.
The underlying requirement is straightforward. The system needs to know what is happening across the plant, anticipate changing conditions, decide what should happen next, and translate that decision into coordinated action.
This becomes increasingly important as the number of assets, operating conditions, and decisions increases. Monitoring alone is no longer enough. A dashboard may show the state of charge, generation or grid condition, but creating value requires determining what action should follow from that information.
The opportunity for India is therefore larger than developing indigenous individual technologies. It is to build indigenous expertise in making sense of an increasingly complex flow of data about generation, storage and grid conditions, and turning that data into coordinated decisions.
This also indicates that the next wave of energy metrics needs to go beyond installed capacity numbers.
Gigawatts and gigawatt hours will continue to be important indicators of physical size, but they should increasingly be supplemented by utilisation, responsiveness, renewable energy accommodation, availability, provision of grid services and the value created from installed capacity.
India has proven that it can create renewable capacity at large volumes. The challenge ahead is determining whether that capacity can become increasingly responsive, coordinated, and efficient.
The next phase of the energy transition will therefore require more than generation and storage assets. It will require the intelligence layer that connects them.
The battery creates flexibility. The intelligence behind it determines how much of that flexibility the grid can harness.
The next clean energy benchmark for India, therefore, might not just be a new number of gigawatts.
It might be the ability to get the maximum out of every gigawatt.
Author: Kumar M.
The author is the Founder of Smart Grid Analytics

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].
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Environmental groups argue USDA's changes to the Rural Energy for America Program largely exclude solar energy
Environmental groups are suing the Trump administration over a decision to largely exclude solar technology from a federal program that helps fund rural energy projects.
The nonprofits Environmental Law & Policy Center and Earthjustice filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, or USDA, late last month on behalf of farmers, solar project developers and clean energy groups. 
One of those groups is RENEW Wisconsin, a nonprofit that promotes the renewable energy sector. Many of its members work in the industry installing solar power systems.
WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter.
The suit challenges the legality of changes made to the Renewable Energy for America Program, or REAP. Environmental groups say the changes have saddled farmers and small businesses with tens of thousands of dollars in unexpected expenses.
The program was created in 2002 to help farmers and rural business owners invest in renewable energy. Between 2011 and the early 2025, court documents say 68 percent of the program’s grant and loan awards went to solar projects.
From 2021 through 2024, the USDA estimated that more than $66.7 million was awarded to Wisconsin through the REAP program, helping rural businesses install renewable energy systems or become more energy efficient.
According to the lawsuit, the USDA changed the program in August 2025 to make “almost all solar projects ineligible for REAP funding.” The federal agency allegedly “immediately applied” that policy to loan applications and, in March 2026, indicated it would do the same for solar grant applications.
The Trump administration has framed the changes to the REAP program as being aimed at keeping more prime farmland engaged in food production.
“During the last administration we saw solar farms consume fertile farmland that should be feeding America,” a spokesperson for the USDA said in a statement. “Those days are over.  USDA will not actively participate in repurposing farmland historically used to sustain this country’s abundant food supply.”
The lawsuit states that the federal agency stopped processing REAP grant applications, including ones filed before the rule change, and required all applicants reapply under the new rules before funding would be released.
Because the program reimburses applicants for qualifying expenses after projects are constructed, the complaint says the refusal to process grant applications “has had especially stark consequences on program participants.”
For example, a farm in Illinois was selected to receive $446,000 in REAP funding in 2023 and 2024 for two solar arrays, but that funding was effectively canceled with the changes to the program, the lawsuit says.
Sherif Halaweish, an attorney for RENEW Wisconsin, said there are many rural farmers and businesses facing similar situations.
“There were many applicants to this grant that were given approval,” he said. “They went ahead and started construction, and then in the middle of that, the USDA announced that they were changing the criteria on eligibility and pausing processing of applications — even ones that were already approved.”
In Wisconsin, the lawsuit states one of RENEW’s members lost out on a solar installation contract worth $101,000 because the contract was contingent on REAP grant funds being awarded.
Other solar installers had to cancel, pare back or indefinitely delay solar installation contracts as a result of the anti-solar changes, according to the lawsuit.
“For our members who install those systems, that is a good chunk of several of our members’ revenue,” Halaweish said. “It is one of multiple things that have happened in the solar industry — in addition to tax credits being removed — that have severely impacted renewable energy installers and developers, and that is a huge industry in Wisconsin.”
The lawsuit asks the court to invalidate the USDA’s new solar policy and order the agency to process REAP applications under the rules that were in place when it received them.
Wisconsin Public Radio, © Copyright 2026, Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System and Wisconsin Educational Communications Board.
© 2026 by Wisconsin Public Radio, a service of the Wisconsin Educational Communications Board and the University of Wisconsin-Madison

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Construction has started on the planned $1.5-billion, 650-MW Swan Energy Center in Bates County, Mo. Completion is expected in 2028. 
Construction has started on the $1.5-billion, 650-MW Swan Energy Center in Bates County, in west-central Missouri for developer Clearway Energy Group, while giant NextEra Energy is planning a separate solar project on at least 3,000 acres in nearby Amsterdam, Mo. 
Avon, Minn.-based Blattner Energy is contractor for the Swan Energy Center, expected to be built on portions of a former strip mine in Bates County to generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 200,000 homes annually. The firm is a unit of Quanta Services, acquired for $2.7-billion in 2021.
The project, being developed by San Francisco-based Clearway, is the company’s first solar facility in Missouri. It is backed by a 20-year power purchase agreement and is part of a 1.2-GW portfolio of projects the developer announced earlier this year.
A banking consortium led by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, DNB Bank ASA and National Australia Bank Ltd. Clearway Energy Inc. is investing in the project, which would begin commercial operation in 2028.
Construction is expected to create up to 500 jobs at peak activity, the company says.
Clearway says Swan Energy Center will use domestically manufacturer solar panels and other equipment, and it plans to maintain native grasses and flowering plants to support pollinators while improving soil drainage and soil health on the site. The company says the facility is expected to help meet the region’s growing electricity demand while providing a new source of carbon-free energy. 

NextEra, based in Juno Beach, Fla., aims to build a solar and battery storage project in Amsterdam, Mo., also in Bates County, but did not disclose the project’s final size, construction schedule, contractor, expected generation capacity or estimated cost.

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The company proposed a 510-MW solar facility but is considering expanding the development, according to minutes of a Sept. 21 Bates County Commission meeting. The company has approximately 3,000 acres available for the project and is looking at acquiring rights to additional land.
The development also would include battery energy storage and require construction of a new electrical substation, separate from infrastructure associated with Clearway Energy Group’s project.
County officials indicated that previously discussed tax-abatement agreements with NextEra would need to be renegotiated because of changes to the proposed development.
A Change.org online petition with 414 signatures as of Oct. 9 opposes construction of solar farms in the county, saying the facilities “will occupy vast acres of productive farmland, which will forever change the agricultural heritage of our region.”
It adds that industrial solar arrays threaten the livelihoods and legacies of farmers and have the potential to impact local food supplies and economic stability.
“Studies indicate that large-scale solar farms can lead to soil degradation and habitat disruption, affecting the local flora and fauna and reducing biodiversity. Bates County’s identities are deeply tied to its agricultural roots, and altering this could mean a loss of culture and heritage that cannot be measured,” the petition says.
No data centers are currently proposed in Bates County, county officials say. 
NextEra announced an estimated $67-million merger with Virginia utility Dominion in May, now under review by that state’s regulator with a decision set for January and final deal close by mid-2027.
Annemarie Mannion is editor of ENR Midwest, which covers 13 states. She joined ENR in 2022 and reports from Chicago.

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As the sun moves westward across the sky in Murcia, Spain, solar panels capture its rays while sheltering diverse crops, from bell peppers to wine grapes and dragon fruit.
Known for its agriculture and abundant sunshine, this southeastern region is exploring whether, rather than competing for land, farming and solar energy can coexist peacefully.
“Agrivoltaics is the integration of food production with renewable energy production,” explains Silvia Tomasi, Senior Researcher at Eurac Research. This entails installing photovoltaic panels above, in between or at the margins of agricultural production, she adds.
A 2023 study estimated that Europe has the potential to generate 25 times its current electricity demand via agrivoltaics, also known as agri-PV.
Yet solar power is fraught with its own environmental and social costs. Requiring more land than other energy sources to generate the same amount of electricity, it has sparked conflicts over land use, especially in rural areas.
“Agrivoltaics has great potential: both economic benefits and environmental ones,” Tomasi says. “But then it’s always a matter of how the technology is implemented and who really benefits.”
The idea of turning southern Europe into a solar powerhouse received a high-profile endorsement in January, when Elon Musk said sparsely populated areas of Spain and Sicily could theoretically generate enough solar power for all of Europe.
Big Tech has already caught on. In southern Italy, Amazon and Apple have signed contracts to purchase power from large-scale agrivoltaic projects with a combined capacity of over 150 megawatts – enough to meet the yearly needs of roughly 100,000 Italian households.
Europe is also funding the shift. The EU-funded AGRISOL project intends to invest €1.9 million in agrivoltaics projects, including in Italy and Spain, while Italy alone has secured €1.7 billion in state aid for the initiative.
“For now, [agrivoltaics] is just a minimal contribution,” says Angelo Gentili, national secretary of Legambiente, Italy’s largest environmental organisation. “But if it expands, it will represent a big impulse for decarbonisation goals.”
EU and national rules increasingly require agriculture to remain a meaningful part of land where solar panels are installed. In France, projects must maintain at least 90 per cent of crop production compared to locally determined reference yields. In Italy, at least 70 per cent of the area must remain dedicated to agriculture.
Experts say not just any combination of solar and agriculture should qualify. “More than a definition, what we really need is a classification,” says Pilar Flores, who coordinates an EU-funded agrivoltaics project at the Murcian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research and Development (IMIDA). She says protecting agriculture should drive all classifications: “The key is to ensure there’s minimal loss [of arable land].”
Why use farmland rather than empty or abandoned land in the first place? Flores says the requirements are similar: relatively flat and near the grid. Unused land may also hold ecological value. “It’s not just a simple calculation of how much free land is left,” she says.
In some cases, agrivoltaics have been found to improve water-use efficiency, protect crops from extreme weather and increase the productivity of land. Solar installations can also help farmers face climate change. “Excessive rainfall and heat have heavily damaged agricultural fields, pushing farmers to abandon farmland,” says Gentili. “Agrivoltaics represent a great instrument to avoid land abandonment and profit gaps for farmers.”
Panels cast shade that can reduce evaporation, help soil retain moisture and offer relief to farmworkers and grazing animals. They can also protect crops from hail. Farmers can use the energy to power their own operations and sell any excess to the grid, or rent the space above their fields to energy producers.
But the benefits are not guaranteed, Flores warns. “All these opportunities are sometimes discussed as if they always happened, but it depends on the agrivoltaic system used and the specific characteristics of the site.” In Murcia, her team found that water-stressed peppers grew better under solar panels than well-watered ones. “You have to analyse each case and each location,” she says.
Not all farmers are convinced. To Fabrizio Garbarino, president of the Italian farmers’ union Associazione Rurale Italiana, agrivoltaics fail to address the root problems farmers face. “Agrivoltaics are taking advantage of the farming sector crisis in Italy while we should actually focus on real solutions for preventing farmland abandonment,” he says. “To me, this just sounds like a shortcut.”
Startups representing larger companies, including data centre developers, are hounding farmers for their land, he says. “Even if the energy produced is good, we’re taking away [farmers’] land to support businesses that require a lot of energy.”
Big Tech firms say agrivoltaic power-purchase agreements help them reach net-zero targets. But a PPA does not necessarily mean that the electricity from a particular solar farm physically supplies a particular company facility, and the exact carbon footprints of AI data centres remain opaque.
A 2025 study co-authored by Tomasi, based on expert interviews across four European regions, found that the benefits of agrivoltaics can favour large-scale farmers, landowners and investors over smaller farmers and local communities. It also found that excluding residents and ecosystems from decision-making can deepen existing power imbalances.
High upfront costs and grid connection queues mean large projects backed by multinationals tend to dominate the sector. A 2025 review by the Italian newspaper Today.it found that about 86 per cent of the roughly €775 million in government funds for agrivoltaic projects went to large-scale projects, including ones owned by foreign multinationals.
In September, a new agrivoltaics project financed by an Israeli company in Tuscany sparked widespread outrage and raised concerns over who gets to profit.
Tomasi says local communities must have a voice to ensure a just transition. “Big investors going into places they really don’t know anything about, with a top-down approach… and getting the economic benefits from the renewable energy generation side of agrivoltaics… shouldn’t be labelled as agrivoltaics, from my point of view.”
Flores says administrations can help by offering farmers funding and giving agrivoltaic systems priority access to the grid.
There is also the question of what kind of agriculture the income supports. To live up to the environmental promise, one study has noted, “the type of agriculture funded by the rental income from agrivoltaics should not be a secondary concern”. Instead, the author argues, this rent could subsidise agroecological practices or help farmers transition away from industrial farming.
Agrivoltaics has the potential to be mutually beneficial to farmers and the renewable energy sector. It can help protect farmland, support farmers facing climate change and contribute to Europe’s decarbonisation goals. But it also risks becoming a greenwashing opportunity, a crutch for unsustainable farming practices, or a way of meeting growing corporate energy demand on arable land. On its own, it is not a silver bullet. Much depends on how the systems are designed, who owns them and, ultimately, who benefits.
“The goal of agrivoltaics is to protect farmland and the entire ecosystem; that’s the philosophy,” says Flores. “We have to be able to distinguish that from other interests.”
Reporting for this story was made possible by the Magma Environmental Reporting Fellowship.


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Plug-in PV is making solar accessible to households that have traditionally had limited access to rooftop systems, including apartment residents, tenants and urban households. Combined with compact battery storage, these systems can offer a relatively simple way for more consumers to generate and use their own solar electricity.
But as the market develops, so do the questions around electrical and fire safety, product quality, certification, installation and consumer protection. And the answers vary considerably between countries.
To compare these approaches and share practical experience, IEA PVPS is hosting a two-part public online seminar series in October 2026: “Plug-in PV and Battery Storage: International Perspectives on Electrical and Fire Safety.”
Plug-in PV occupies an interesting space between conventional rooftop PV and consumer electrical products. Its appeal lies partly in its simplicity: smaller systems can reduce some of the practical barriers associated with conventional rooftop installations.
The addition of compact battery storage creates further opportunities, allowing households to store solar electricity and use it later. At the same time, integrating PV generation, power electronics and storage into household electrical systems introduces additional technical and safety considerations.
Regulatory responses differ between markets. Requirements can vary in terms of electrical connection, product certification, protection, registration, installation and building or fire safety. These differences can create uncertainty for consumers and present challenges for manufacturers developing products for multiple markets.
International exchange can therefore help identify where approaches share common principles, where national circumstances require different solutions and where greater alignment may be useful.
The IEA PVPS seminars on 19 and 28 October will bring together experts involved in standards development, regulation, certification, research and practical implementation.
Rather than promoting a single regulatory model, the discussions will compare how different jurisdictions are responding to plug-in PV and battery storage.
Topics will include standards and approval pathways, product certification and quality assurance, electrical connection and protection requirements, installation practices and consumer considerations. The seminars will also explore how regulatory frameworks can provide appropriate safeguards while allowing technically sound products and new business models to develop.
The discussions will contribute to future IEA PVPS activities and to the preparation of guidance on the safe deployment of plug-in PV and battery storage systems.
The seminars are open to industry, policymakers, regulators, utilities, manufacturers, installers, certification bodies, researchers, safety authorities and other stakeholders interested in distributed PV and storage.
Session 1: Monday, 19 October 2026 | 12:00–14:00 CEST
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Both sessions will be held online and are free to attend.
As plug-in PV and compact battery storage become a more established part of distributed energy systems, sharing experience across markets can help ensure that regulatory frameworks develop alongside the technology.
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Oakland, Calif. – Californians who live in apartments and condos will soon be able to add solar power to their homes without a rooftop, thanks to a new law that takes effect in January.
The non-profit Environmental Working Group supported the bill allowing renters to set up pop-up solar panels. It goes into effect in January. A single, $270 panel is expected to off-set a tenant’s energy costs by $150 per year.
The Plug and Play Solar Act, SB 868 by Sen. Scott Weiner of San Francisco, was signed last month. It allows renters to buy lightweight solar panels, set them up on a balcony and plug them into a regular outlet to offset some of their energy costs.
"It’s really easy to use and you can just plug it in to any regular electrical outlet and it’ll immediately start to lower your utility bill," Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president at the Environmental Working Group, told KTVU. The nonprofit was one of the bill’s sponsors.
A small inverter converts the direct current the panel produces into alternating current, the kind homes use. That power flows to whatever is running, from an air conditioner to a modem, which reduces how much electricity a household draws from PG&E.
Del Chiaro said the technology is the same as on rooftops, and do-it-yourselfers have used it for years. What is new is that the panels are portable and come with a simple plug-in inverter.
Until now, she said, California utilities stood in the way. She said they were "putting up a lot of red tape and barriers for people to be able to just do it legally without their permission." Applying for utility approval cost $150 up front, Del Chiaro said, and the interconnection agreements were hard to follow. The new law removes the requirement.
Starting in January, all of the devices, whether sold on Amazon, at Home Depot or at Ikea, must be "certified to the strictest safety standards," Del Chiaro said. That is meant to ease consumer concerns about fire risk.
California is the 10th state to legalize the technology, according to Del Chiaro. She said Germany has four million of the systems, and Great Britain is legalizing them.
One company currently sells a panel for about $270, Del Chiaro said. She expects prices to fall by about 50% within a couple of years as more people buy them. She said the panel would save the average California ratepayer $100 to $150 a year, roughly what a small window air conditioner costs to run. She said it would pay for itself in a year or two and is guaranteed to last at least 10 years.
The law expires in 2030. Del Chiaro said an amendment added late in the process puts the program on pause after a couple of years so lawmakers can review how it is working. She said the state’s utilities were the lone opponent.
"They were the one opponent," she said. Del Chiaro said she is not worried about the sunset. "I think this is gonna spread like, you know, hotcakes," she said, adding that by the time lawmakers revisit the law, "people are gonna be used to it."
The Source: KTVU interview with Bernadette Del Chiaro, senior vice president, Environmental Working Group.
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Veteran solar project sparks concern from residents  WETM
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Sunday
October 11, 2026
Energy and food on limited land
Bangladesh’s electricity demand is rising alongside its economy, while the country must feed about 175.7 million people (World Bank, 2025) with limited land. Per capita electricity consumption is only about 680 kWh, despite near-universal access, indicating considerable scope for demand growth.
The Renewable Energy Policy 2025 targets 20% renewable electricity by 2030 and 30% by 2040.
Solar power is central to this transition, but it raises a critical question: Where will the land come from? Energy and agriculture are increasingly interconnected. Boro rice, which is predominantly irrigated, accounts for about 55% of annual rice production, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Agrivoltaics involves installing solar panels at a suitable height above crops to explore whether electricity generation and farming can share the same land.
 
A foundation in decentralised solar
Bangladesh has extensive experience adapting solar technology to local conditions. In 1996, Dipal C Barua, then Founding Managing Director of Grameen Shakti, helped introduce the Solar Home System with instalment-based financing. About 6.5 million systems have since been installed nationwide.
Bright Green Energy Foundation (BGEF), an Infrastructure Development Company Limited (Idcol) partner since 2010, has installed more than 325,000 systems through over 300 rural branch offices.
Solar irrigation followed. Bangladesh now has 3,454 solar irrigation pumps with a combined capacity of about 59.22 MWp. BGEF began installing the pumps in 2015 and has installed 23. Each pump delivers roughly 1.6–2.2 million litres of water daily, covering 120–150 bighas.
Rooftop solar installations have reached about 463 MWp across more than 5,550 units, including 5,087 net-metered systems with a combined capacity of about 367.8 MWp. BGEF has installed roughly 3,000 small rooftop systems.
Under the Net Metering Guidelines 2025, single-phase consumers can participate, and system capacity can reach 100% of the sanctioned load, up from 70%.
The tax rate on eligible solar equipment has fallen to 1% from 17%. A scheme announced in September 2026 will pay Tk10.50 per kWh for surplus electricity from qualifying battery-backed rooftop systems installed by 28 February 2027. The scheme will remain valid until 28 February 2030.
Barua’s philosophy, “I will produce my own electricity”, runs through this progression from household systems to farms, rooftops and the grid. Agrivoltaics is the next step.
 
In Ghior, Manikganj, BGEF is implementing an agrivoltaics (AgriPV) project with the BRAC Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD), supported by the H&M Foundation.
The solar panels are mounted 8 feet above the ground, with sufficient gaps between them to allow sunlight to reach the crops below.
The first phase comprised 37.5 kWp of AgriPV and 9.375 kWp of conventional solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity. The second phase added 41.25 kWp of AgriPV, bringing the installed capacity to 88.125 kWp. A further 9.375 kWp, including a new training facility, is scheduled for completion by November 2026, taking the total capacity to about 97.5 kWp.
The system already powers two 18.5 kW irrigation pumps serving local farmers, as well as the project office. The Rural Electrification Board is involved in grid integration.
The project brings together electricity generation, irrigation, farming, research, local facilities and potential grid connectivity in a single system. Surplus electricity could also support cold storage, food processing, electric cooking and other rural uses, helping reduce post-harvest losses and increase farmers’ incomes.
 
The crops best suited to Bangladesh’s climate under solar panels must be identified through local research. At Manikganj, a team led by Dr Rohini Kamal grows crops in two settings: beneath the solar structures and in nearby open plots. Comparing the two helps establish the effects of shade on crop growth.
Trials so far have included red spinach, coriander and BRRI dhan96 rice. The team is also growing 11K, a rice variety developed with the help of Dr Abed Chowdhury.
Dr Imran Matin of BIGD visited the site and offered valuable advice that has helped refine the research.
Early results are encouraging, but several growing seasons will be needed before firm conclusions can be drawn about yields, water requirements, crop quality and economic viability.
System design must be tailored to the crop, climate and farming practices, with adjustments to panel height, spacing, orientation and shading. Farmers must be central to the design process and share in the returns.
The project has organised, and will continue to organise, workshops and training sessions on cultivating rice varieties and other crops beneath solar arrays.
Success should be measured not by installed capacity alone, but also by crop yields, farmer participation, economic viability and local impact.
 
A roughly 1 MWp AgriPV project is planned at the Manikganj site, with the initiative being pursued by Japan’s Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), TERRA Japan, BRAC University and BGEF.
A key innovation is the use of screw-pile mounting, which can reduce concrete use and ground disturbance while allowing easier installation, removal and modification.
The design will also test higher-mounted panels and optimised spacing to allow more sunlight to reach the crops while maintaining efficient electricity generation.
Scaling up should be guided by evidence, taking into account agricultural productivity, crop suitability, water availability, farmer participation, grid capacity and financial sustainability.
 
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Bangladesh has about 41.25 lakh hectares of land that produces two crops a year and about 21.10 lakh hectares that produces one crop a year.
Assuming a land requirement of 1.5 hectares per MW, using 1% of the land that produces two crops annually—about 41,250 hectares—could support roughly 27,500 MW (27.5 GW) of agrivoltaic capacity. Using 1.5% of this land, or about 61,875 hectares, could support approximately 41,250 MW (41.25 GW).
Similarly, using 1% of the land that produces one crop annually—about 21,100 hectares—could support roughly 14,070 MW (14.07 GW).
These figures are indicative estimates based on the stated land-use and capacity assumptions. Actual potential would depend on crop suitability, panel spacing, shading requirements, land availability, grid infrastructure and project economics.
Agrivoltaics therefore deserves consideration as part of Bangladesh’s broader renewable energy strategy. It offers a pathway towards more efficient land use, stronger links between clean energy and agriculture, better support for irrigation and rural development, and a more integrated approach to meeting the country’s growing demand for both food and electricity.
Agrivoltaics could also contribute to Bangladesh’s nationally determined contributions (NDCs) under the Paris Agreement.
 
Dipal C Barua is the Founder & Chairman of Bright Green Energy Foundation (BGEF). He is also the pioneer of Renewable Energy in Bangladesh. 
 
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of The Business Standard.
 
 
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Australia’s NSW trials property-level and community battery models to extend solar benefits  Energy-Storage.News
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“Maybe I don’t understand but I’d take that deal.”
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A California homeowner turned to Reddit after getting an air-conditioning replacement quote that seemed expensive at first glance, only to hear from other users that the price might be unusually good for the state. 
The issue involved a 2014 HVAC system with a compressor that began whining and drawing 25 to 35 amps despite the condenser being rated for 14.1, leading to a $6,200 quote for a new condenser and coil.
In a Reddit post, the homeowner said a fuse replacement briefly got the compressor running again before the system shut off about 10 minutes later. A technician the poster knew then suggested they could either pay $6,200 to replace the condenser and coil, or $9,600 for a full installation that would also include the furnace.
Replies to the post suggested those prices were lower than many people would expect in California.
“Maybe I don’t understand but I’d take that deal. My furnace replacement quote alone is $7,300,” one commenter wrote. 
Another Reddit user said: “$9,600 for complete system swap in California is abnormally low.”
Another commenter said people on the Reddit forum had reported complete-replacement quotes of $10,000 to $15,000.
Palmetto can help homeowners understand their HVAC options and reduce their energy bills with newer, more efficient HVACs and heat pumps, and its Comfort Plan network can connect readers with vetted installers and efficient heating and cooling solutions for their homes.
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To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Solar panels can save you more than $50k over their 25-year lifespan, and EnergySage can help you save as much as $10k on installation. Which begs the question — isn’t that worth an email or two?
The part of the quote the homeowner seemed most focused on was the labor. In a reply, they said a similar condenser-and-coil setup appeared to sell online for about $2,550 to $2,880, which would leave roughly $3,300 of the total estimate tied to installation.
A commenter noted that HVAC companies typically mark up both equipment and labor and said it “might be hard to find a company willing to install” equipment bought online. That same commenter said they had received “like 5 quotes, and they were all around the $7,300-$8,000 range,” suggesting the California homeowner’s estimate may have been competitive even before accounting for regional price differences.
One suggestion from the thread was to seek out a couple of additional estimates if there was no immediate rush.
“If you’re not pressed for time, maybe try two other companies to compare pricing,” one commenter told the homeowner, while also suggesting that each company be allowed to diagnose the issue on its own.
For homeowners facing a major HVAC expense and not ready to pay everything upfront, Palmetto’s Comfort Plan includes $0-down options that can lower heating and cooling costs by up to 50%. Palmetto Comfort Plans also include 12 years of free maintenance, which can make a replacement easier to manage over time.
Homeowners can also pair solar panels with electric appliances, including efficient HVACs, to bring utility costs down further. EnergySage makes it easy to compare solar options and find the best solar system and installer for a home and budget, and the service can help homeowners save up to $10,000 on solar installations.
The homeowner ultimately decided to move forward and later shared a direct update: “Update: moving forward with the quote and getting a 3 ton 16 seer2 Lennox condenser and coil only.”
If you’re comparing HVAC quotes, these stories offer a broader look at how much AC and system-replacement prices can vary. They follow homeowners in places such as Texas and Florida as they sort through steep estimates, line-item surprises, and pushy sales tactics.
• In Houston, a homeowner got a $16,000 AC quote for a basic repair.
• In South Florida, quotes from $7,400 to $13,100 showed how much line items matter.
• One homeowner was shocked by a $25,000 quote for a basic AC replacement.
• Some homeowners said HVAC companies used “trust me” sales tactics to push costly systems.
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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State Rep. Jed Davis is again raising concerns about staffing at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
Davis alleges the agency is facing shortages among frontline staff and that audits have produced inconsistent results regarding vacancies.
In DeKalb County, Davis says the agency lists 13 workers, with 14 needed, but three of those workers are interns.
Davis says the concern is not whether the interns are receiving proper training or supervision, but whether they are independently leading investigations and being counted toward staffing levels as if they were filling investigator positions.
Davis was scheduled to meet with the state’s auditor general this week to discuss the issue.
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“Put the calculator aside, it’s time for a spreadsheet.”
Photo Credit: iStock
One California solar owner expected a clear answer when comparing utility plans to maximize the value of their panels’ ability to avoid drawing power during most plans’ peak hours. Instead, they found 29 residential San Diego Gas & Electric rate plans compatible with NEM solar — and said the best option would have changed their bill by only “maybe 1 or 2%.”
That mismatch between effort and payoff shows how hard it can be for homeowners to predict solar savings when electricity rates keep changing.
An SDG&E customer on Reddit’s r/solar described the rate-comparison process as increasingly difficult. Their complaint centered on several moving parts at once: seasonal prices, multiple time-of-use periods, and four separate rate updates in the same year, after Jan. 1 figures were revised again starting April 1, June 1, and Aug. 1.
That leaves some homeowners sorting through 16 to 32 per-kilowatt-hour prices across a single year before they even get to plan eligibility. The OP said, “Put the calculator aside, it’s time for a spreadsheet.”
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
One user suggested the complexity feels intentional: “Hard not to believe that the purpose of ‘rate design’ is to confuse customers to the point of giving up.”
Even with the rate-plan headaches to maximize the value, going solar is still one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Homeowners who want to compare installation offers can try EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
After setting aside plans tied to electric vehicles, medical baseline status, or CARE low-income eligibility, the OP said a household could still be left with six choices. Based on their own usage history, they said the difference among those options was only “maybe 1 or 2%.”
For that homeowner, the effort of comparing them all may have outweighed any money they could save by switching.
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
The OP also flagged the baseline discount as another complication. They said a lower rate applies below 130% of a home’s baseline usage, but that baseline varies by season, location — Coastal, Inland, Mountain, or Desert — and whether the household has gas-and-electric service or electricity only.
Another user added that the issue is not limited to SDG&E, saying PG&E and SCE customers deal with the same types of issues and adding that additional fees and CCAs can make the calculations even harder to follow.
A user argued that when the spread between plans is only 1% to 2%, it may be more practical to “pick the least annoying one and reclaim the spreadsheet time for something more enjoyable.”
That same user also said expensive peak power does not automatically mean batteries or extra solar panels will pay for themselves. 
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
They said, “If your existing solar production and consumption already line up reasonably well, there may simply not be enough arbitrage available to justify the battery cost.” 
They also noted that extra generation may offer little benefit if most of it is exported.
For households still shopping for solar, EnergySage can help cut through some of that complexity. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state, along with solar panel incentives for each state, and together these tools help homeowners get the best price on rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Homeowners can also explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
For more on the dollars-and-cents side of rooftop solar, these articles cover California bill-relief efforts, long-term savings estimates, and incentives that can still affect the payoff.
• In one California city, officials are turning rooftop solar into relief for low-income households.
• Nationwide, families still save $50,000 by going solar even as tax breaks wobble.
• Homeowners are finding solar is worth the investment even without the federal tax credit.
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One listing may omit batteries, another may skip mounting hardware.
Photo Credit: iStock
A Reddit newcomer trying to make sense of DIY solar pricing flagged a detail that could easily catch first-time shoppers off guard: In the OP’s comparison, one Bright Saver Kit setup was listed at $285.30 for 180 watts, but only with a $30 monthly membership.
The same comparison also highlighted two 800-watt kits from CraftStrom Solar Kit and PluggedSolar Kit at about $1,500 each, alongside prices with different terms.
After comparing DIY solar options, the Reddit user sorted the market into two buckets: vendor kits and systems assembled from separate components. They also asked the community, “I wonder if I am missing key aspects of this marketplace?”
They treated kits as the simpler path, covering the main hardware and app while leaving out mounting gear and batteries. In their shorthand, “DIY = setup and plug in.”
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
The list put two products at the same headline price: both the CraftStrom Solar Kit and the PluggedSolar Kit were shown at $1,500 for 800W, while the Bright Saver Kit’s non-member price was $499 for 180W. Going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy, and homeowners considering a larger permanent system can try EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
The other category in the Reddit post was a build-it-yourself route using individual parts instead of a bundled package. The OP listed BigBlue, Apsystems, EcoFlow, and Victron in that category, and said that side of the market covers a much wider range of wattage setups.
Unlike the kit examples, the components bucket included batteries. That approach may offer more flexibility, but it also leaves the buyer responsible for integrating the system.
Because the examples weren’t uniform—180W from the Bright Saver Kit on one end and 800W kits from the CraftStrom Solar Kit and PluggedSolar Kit on the other—direct price comparisons can get messy. One listing may omit batteries, another may skip mounting hardware, and another may introduce a monthly membership.
FROM OUR PARTNER
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Wattage, equipment lists, and financing or subscription terms all influence the true cost of getting a system up and running.
By breaking out panels, inverters, AC cables, apps, batteries, and mounting systems, the OP underscored that a quoted price such as $1,500 for 800W or $285.30 for 180W may not describe the same kind of package.
One user asked, “Really depends on what you want it for. Like, do you want to power a shed, backup power, mobile power or just to learn how to make a power station? A camping setup could be a 12v battery 30amp (360 watts) with a 500 watt inverter with a 100 watts panel; what use.”
For homeowners considering something larger than an 800W starter kit, EnergySage can be especially useful. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map also shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state, along with details on solar panel incentives for each state; together, these resources can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Battery storage was another dividing line in the comparison, since it appeared with the component options, not the kits. Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid.
Anyone exploring a battery-backed path like the BigBlue, EcoFlow, or Victron component route can also check EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
For a closer look at how solar pricing can get complicated, the articles below break down installation costs, surprise bills, falling panel prices, homeowner savings, and how experts help people compare quotes.
• At EnergySage, Charlie Hadlow breaks down the mystery of solar costs for homeowners.
• One new homeowner got a first bill of $420 even with rooftop solar already installed.
• Across the US, installers say solar panel prices are at all-time lows.
• EnergySage experts have helped 60,000 homeowners slash solar prices by $9,000.
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Going solar is one of the best ways to save money in the long run, but only when the math makes sense.
Photo Credit: iStock
An Indiana homeowner who pays up to $650 a month for electricity expected solar quotes to offer relief. Instead, three installers returned estimates ranging from $70,000 to $90,000.
In a Reddit post, the homeowner said three installers had each produced estimates in nearly the same price band, even though they asked for versions with and without battery storage. According to the post, the house is about 2,100 square feet in northwest Indiana, and every quote landed between $70,000 and $90,000.
They also said the electric portion of the home’s combined utility bill is usually about $400 to $650 a month. Using the quote figures, the homeowner calculated that financing the panels and installation alone would cost “about $400 a month” for “15+ years” — and that estimate still did not include a battery.
When commenters asked for more information, the OP described a setup more in line with a $27,000 to $35,000 install cost (without the battery) than something anywhere near $70,000 according to EnergySage data for Indiana specifically: “They are quoting me 29 panels of LR4-60HPB-355M on a consumption average of 8852 KW a year. 29 inverters from solar edge.”
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Installing 29 of that brand of panels should total to about 10.3 kilowatts, and EnergySage pins the average 10-kilowatt solar system in the state to a cost of about $27,000, including the cost of inverters and all other equipment. There could be other factors related to upgrading the electrical panels or complicated roofing challenges, but with just that 29-panel array and no battery, the install cost shouldn’t push too much further beyond.
Electricity prices are not as bad in Indiana as some other states, but EnergySage still expects those in the state to see a solar installation fully pay for itself and then save nearly an additional $17,000 on average over 25 years. In some states with electricity prices north of 30 cents per kWh, like New York, the average savings go past $50,000 (on top of paying for themselves).
Several replies argued that the companies seemed to price the systems based on the family’s current power bill rather than the actual cost of the work and equipment, and that the cost was out of line with what’s normal — barring a very unusual roof situation or some other factor. One of the best ways to check on prices, beyond getting multiple quotes the old-fashioned way, is to try a service like EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes in a centralized, transparent hub.
They said they requested both storage-backed proposals and panel-only proposals, but still concluded, “I just don’t see how it makes sense at that price.” Because adding a battery would push the total even higher, much of the discussion focused on panel pricing before storage entered the equation.
FROM OUR PARTNER
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
After the OP detailed their power usage, helping to explain some of the temptation to get a lot of panels, the user said, “Unless you’re also charging one or more EVs, those numbers are extraordinarily high for a 2,100 sq foot home.”
Another suggested, “Get an energy audit for the home. Then do the things they list as being the most impact.”
Ultimately, the consensus was that the homeowner should take a combined approach of reducing usage, perhaps improving insulation and evaluating HVAC efficiency, and getting more solar quotes from reputable installers, even if that means trying ones from farther away in the area who are still licensed in the state.  
Going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy, but only when the math makes sense.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
That is also where quote-comparison tools can make a difference. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state, along with details on solar panel incentives for each state. Together, those resources can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. It can also change a project’s economics, which is why it is worth comparing storage options separately from panel-only proposals. Homeowners can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
Homeowners dealing with steep solar quotes and high utility bills can find more context in these stories. They show how incentives can lower upfront costs, what drives installation pricing, and how much savings solar can deliver.
• Near Chicago, a homeowner saw Illinois incentives cut net costs on a $37,000 solar quote.
• EnergySage COO Charlie Hadlow broke down what really drives solar pricing for homeowners.
• A new homeowner learned the first bill still hit $420 despite rooftop panels.
• Across the U.S., homeowners can save $50,000 with rooftop solar while incentives last.
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Solar power is essential in a sustainable and fossil-free energy system.
Solar power already plays an important role in the energy system, from small household installations to large-scale projects. In recent years, the cost of large-scale solar has dropped significantly, making it one of the most cost-competitive electricity generation technologies in many markets. Due to decreasing costs and low CO₂ emissions, volumes of solar panels will continue to grow in our core markets and around the world; contributing to an increasing proportion of future electrification. Solar panels can also be called photovoltaic panels or PV panels.
Agri-PV park Symbizon in the Netherlands.
Large-scale solar farms with co-located battery storage will play a pivotal role in transforming Europe’s energy system. Vattenfall’s portfolio is growing, particularly in Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, where large solar farms can be operated.
Vattenfall has developed and commissioned the 76 MW Tützpatz solar park in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. Spanning 93 hectares, the project combines different module types and mounting systems with suitable agricultural use, providing valuable practical experience for future commercial projects of this kind.
Another example of smart use of technology is hybrid renewable parks, such as Haringvliet hybrid renewable park in the Netherlands, where six wind turbines, PV capacity, and a battery were co-developed and are connected to the grid via the same connection. This hybrid renewable park was commissioned in 2022.
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We are increasing the value of our core business technologies wind power and solar power by co-developing and co-locating integrated battery solutions where feasible. More about hybrid parks in this video:
The shift to renewable energy requires efficient land use that balances energy production and agriculture. Photovoltaics is a widely accepted technology, but there are concerns about its impact on farmland. Agri-PV addresses this by integrating solar power with active farming, ensuring agricultural productivity while expanding renewable energy generation.
Vattenfall is developing agri-PV on a commercial scale in cooperation with partners, exploring different applications such as arable farming, animal husbandry, and permanent grassland use. Vattenfall’s Symbizon project focuses on integrating solar panels with arable farming, while the Tützpatz project examines how solar installations can be combined with livestock farming. Other initiatives explore the potential of solar energy in areas with permanent grassland.
Find out more about Vattenfall’s power plants and facts about how much electricity and heat we are producing.
Vattenfall will build a large battery storage facility at its Brunsbüttel site. With an output of 254 MW and a storage capacity of around 1,000 MWh, it is one of Germany’s largest battery st…
The Way Out West festival in Gothenburg is one of the biggest in Northern Europe. This year the music festival it is powered by fossil-free electricity and battery storages from Vattenfall.
While millions of Europeans watch the solar eclipse on Wednesday evening, energy experts are keeping an eye on a different spectacle: a temporary drop in solar power generation across large …
When building the large-scale solar park Juliusburg/Krukow in Germany, Vattenfall is reducing CO₂ emissions in the construction and supply chain by 67 percent by using low-emission steel fro…
Hybrid park Hommerdingen-Biesdorf is Vattenfall’s first combination of wind and PV in Germany and sets standards for modern, cost-efficient, and grid-friendly energy generation.
Europe’s battery boom is accelerating fast, delivering the long‑awaited flexibility renewables need. As wind and solar surge, large‑scale storage is finally stepping into its crucial r…
Renewable energy, like wind power, is the key to reducing global CO2 emissions.
Hydropower is economically attractive and has low levels of CO2 emissions.
Biomass is a renewable energy source and can be used to produce both heat and electricity.
We are driving the transition towards a fossil-free energy system.
We have a responsibility for our environmental and social impacts.
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Energies Media
The last of the 330,000 solar panels dropped into its tracker frame sometime in May, and within two months the whole 450-acre field near Hamilton was alive on the national grid.
No extended testing window.
No schedule slip.
Just 15 months from first steel in the ground to first electrons exported, four months ahead of where the project was supposed to be.
New Zealand had never seen a solar farm at this scale before, and the question the numbers immediately raise is what, exactly, a 150-megawatt field does to a grid that had almost none of this a few years ago.
A solar farm at this scale does not simply plug in. The Tauhei site near Hamilton, on the North Island’s northeast, connects through a high-voltage substation that steps the panels’ output up to transmission voltage before it joins the national grid. Each tracker row holds its panels on a horizontal axis, rotating slowly through the day to follow the sun’s arc, and the combined output of roughly 330,000 panels feeds into inverters that convert the direct current to the alternating current the grid requires. The tracker system is what separates a project of this size from a fixed-tilt landfill installation: because the racks are anchored into open farmland, the mechanism can move, and moving panels gather meaningfully more energy over a year than stationary ones.
The 182-hectare site sits in some of the North Island’s better solar resource country, far enough inland that the coastal cloud patterns that dog parts of the coast are less persistent. That combination of good irradiance and single-axis tracking underlies the project’s estimated 280 GWh annual output, enough, on paper, to cover the electricity needs of roughly 35,000 homes.
Until Tauhei came online in July, the benchmark for utility-scale solar in New Zealand was a 47 MW farm near Christchurch on the South Island. Tauhei triples that number in a single project, which tells a story about how abruptly the country’s solar sector has shifted gears.
New Zealand’s electricity system has historically leaned on hydro, with gas and geothermal filling the gaps. Large-scale solar was essentially absent until a handful of projects broke ground in the early part of this decade. The pace since then has been fast enough that the country went from its first utility-scale farm to a 150 MW benchmark project in a window measured in years rather than decades.
That speed is partly a function of geography. The North Island has flat agricultural land that suits large tracker arrays, good grid infrastructure built for hydro exports, and a power purchase market willing to contract long-term renewable supply. Those conditions made Tauhei possible; they also mean similar projects are already in planning.
Construction began in April 2025, and the last panel was installed roughly 13 months later. The energization milestone came “well ahead of schedule,” just two months after the final module was set, according to Garth Elmes, managing director of Harmony Energy New Zealand. That pace is not routine at this panel count: coordinating the delivery, installation and electrical termination of 330,000 modules across 450 acres requires a logistics chain that most markets have only recently developed the contractor base to support.
Commercial operations are expected by October 2026, about four months ahead of schedule, and once fully operational the farm will generate an estimated 280 GWh of renewable electricity per year. The gap between energization and commercial operations is the commissioning window, during which the grid operator runs the plant through a series of tests to verify that its protection systems and output controls respond correctly under real network conditions.
The facility is backed by a power purchase arrangement with a national electricity retailer, which has agreed to purchase the full output. That kind of offtake agreement is what allows a developer to secure construction financing at scale, and without it a project of 150 MW would struggle to reach financial close.
The project’s speed is real, but the broader context complicates a straight read of it. The 150 MW Tauhei project is built across a 182-hectare site near Hamilton and overtakes the 47 MW Lauriston Solar Farm as New Zealand’s largest grid-connected solar installation. But “largest” changes quickly in a sector growing this fast, and at least two projects now in development would exceed Tauhei’s nameplate capacity before the end of the decade.
The fixed-price power purchase deal insulates the project’s revenue against the spot market volatility that has troubled some solar developers in markets with high midday generation. That protection matters more as New Zealand adds capacity: more panels mean more midday supply, and sustained oversupply at noon can push the wholesale price toward zero during the hours when a solar farm is generating hardest. Projects like this one, with long-term contracted prices, are sheltered from that dynamic in a way that merchant plants are not. The challenge lands instead on the grid operator, which must manage a system increasingly shaped by the solar production curve.
Those grid management questions are becoming familiar wherever utility-scale solar has scaled quickly, and the engineering responses, from elastic mooring systems on floating arrays to the ballasted racking designs used on sealed sites, each carry their own set of trade-offs between yield, cost and site constraint.
For a country that ran on hydro for most of a century, a 150 MW solar farm energizing two months after its last panel was installed is a genuine inflection point. The grid was not designed around a solar production profile, and the engineering work of integrating large variable generators into a hydro-dominated system is still being refined. Hydro, at least, has a natural complement to offer: reservoir storage can absorb excess midday solar by reducing generation, then release it in the evening when solar output falls and demand stays high.
That complementarity is one reason developers keep choosing the North Island’s grid connection points. Tracker-equipped farms in a hydro system can, under the right market rules, behave almost like a dispatchable pair, the solar generating freely through daylight hours while the reservoir holds water for the peak. Whether the market rules evolve quickly enough to reward that pairing is a policy question the regulator has not fully answered.
Meanwhile, the construction model that delivered Tauhei in 15 months, prefabricated tracker rows, large installation crews and a pre-contracted grid connection, is already being replicated on the next generation of sites. Automated installation techniques, including the robotic module placement systems now operating on Australian farms a short sea crossing away, are the likely next step for projects at this scale. The North Island has the land and the grid capacity. What Tauhei demonstrated, more than its nameplate rating, is that the supply chain to fill that capacity now exists.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.

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60MW solar power added against 4,000MW target by Feb: Hasnat  New Age BD
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“Nothing else in the 24v system failed or burned, just this one MPPT turned off.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A Reddit post about a dead Victron charge controller is turning into a useful warning for anyone sizing solar equipment too tightly. One owner said their MPPT 100/30 worked for a year before shutting off for good.
For homeowners counting on solar and batteries to cut utility bills and ride through outages, a small miscalculation in panel specs can quickly become an expensive replacement problem.
In a Reddit post, the owner described a controller failure after about a year. They wrote, “Nothing else in the 24v system failed or burned, just this one MPPT turned off.”
The discussion focused on panel open-circuit voltage, or Voc. Commenters said that because Voc is published under standard conditions, a controller running close to its voltage ceiling may have less buffer than it appears to on paper.
Adding battery storage is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and move closer to going off-grid. It may be worth exploring EnergySage for home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
EnergySage has also teamed up with the electrification brand Qmerit to guarantee you get the best price on home battery storage solutions. Another option is Pila, which offers plug-and-play batteries at a fraction of the cost of a whole-home backup system.
The owner questioned whether the unit had been overloaded despite “a 16A breaker on the PV array side,” and pointed to another possible sign of trouble: “I did notice they overheat under high charging hours.”
Battery storage can help households keep essential devices running during blackouts, reduce reliance on expensive grid power, and support a more self-sufficient setup. But those savings can disappear quickly if a controller needs replacing after only a year.
FROM OUR PARTNER
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Solar panels can save you more than $50k over their 25-year lifespan, and EnergySage can help you save as much as $10k on installation. Which begs the question — isn’t that worth an email or two?
Serviceability also came up, with the owner saying they had read there was “no way to replace the fuse … without literally sawing the case open.”
For anyone replacing or shopping for a controller, the takeaway is to base sizing on real-world Voc rather than relying only on the standard-test figure on a spec sheet. Leaving extra headroom instead of running at a controller’s limit may help prevent the kind of failure described here.
They also said the unit seemed to run hot “under high charging hours.”
With the controller apparently unusable, the owner said their plan was simple: “I am planning to scrap the controller on Craigslist, maybe someone can recycle it.”
Heat and other real-world conditions can greatly affect how long solar equipment lasts. These stories look at extreme weather, durability advances, and new solar-cell materials.
• In lab testing, researchers found temperature swings can crack next-generation perovskite solar cells.
• Researchers found adding FA improved durability in perovskite cells without sacrificing performance.
• Scientists found rubidium could stabilize futuristic perovskite cells and reduce persistent flaws.
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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