Solar Now

The system is expected to produce about 317,000 kilowatt-hours a year, equal to one month of the plant’s on-peak power use.
The city of Miramar, Florida, has opened a solar energy system at its wastewater reclamation facility. It is the city’s first renewable energy project.
City officials and residents marked the launch with a ribbon-cutting Sept. 1. The project also included a full replacement of the facility’s aging roof.
The facility runs around the clock and spends about $1 million a year on energy, according to the city. Miramar’s long-term goal is to reduce the facility’s reliance on the electrical grid as it puts more renewable energy strategies in place.
The solar system is expected to generate about 317,000 kilowatt-hours a year. That equals one month of the facility’s on-peak electricity use. The city says the output is equivalent to avoiding 213 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions annually.
Advanced Green Technologies, Siemens Energy and Florida Power & Light partnered with the city on the project.
One of the most significant construction challenges was routing electrical wiring from several roof areas underground to the main utility meter. The meter sits thousands of feet away in a separate building.
Ground-penetrating radar surveys were used across the facility to locate existing utilities and other buried infrastructure. Crews then dug trenches around those utilities, much of it by hand. According to the city, the approach lengthened the installation schedule, and the work was completed without damage to critical underground infrastructure.
City officials said the project is only the beginning. Miramar continues to look for renewable energy opportunities across its municipal facilities.
About the Author
Danielle Naidu is assistant editor for Security Today, Campus Security Today, Occupational Health & Safety and Environmental Protection Online.

The system is expected to produce about 317,000 kilowatt-hours a year, equal to one month of the plant’s on-peak power use.
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From 2027, the feed-in tariff for new solar installations is set to be abolished. This is provided for in the draft amendment to the Renewable Energy Sources Act. The debate surrounding this raises the question of under what conditions tenant electricity schemes can continue to be run profitably by landlords.
Julius Pahmeier, founder and managing director of VREY, a Berlin-based company specialising in communal building services, says:
“The current debate on the cost-effectiveness of photovoltaic systems on blocks of flats raises an important point: installing solar power in this sector is still significantly more complex than in detached houses, and the removal or reduction of feed-in tariffs certainly does not improve the overall conditions. However, I believe it is too simplistic to conclude from this that photovoltaics on smaller blocks of flats are, in principle, hardly ever cost-effective any more.”
The key factor is the assumptions on which such a cost-benefit analysis is based. For a building with up to 15 residential units, our calculations show that the loss of income resulting from a lower feed-in tariff for electricity fed into the grid is often in the region of around 120 to 400 euros per year. Whilst this is economically significant, it does not fundamentally call into question the profitability of a PV system. Factors such as the actual installation and operating costs – and, in particular, the level of self-consumption – carry much greater weight.
In my view, this is precisely where the key lever lies. The aim of such energy supply concepts must be to use as much of the electricity generated as possible directly within the building, rather than feeding it into the public grid. If, for example, the self-consumption rate rises from 40 to 70 per cent – perhaps through a suitably sized storage system, a heat pump or other controllable loads within the building – the economic analysis changes significantly. At the same time, the level of the feed-in tariff becomes less important.
Even with smaller blocks of flats, annual cash flows of 5,000 to 6,000 euros or more can be achieved in this way. If, for example, a system costs around 60,000 euros, this can result in a payback period of around ten years – whilst the technical service life is significantly longer and may well reach 30 years. Under such conditions, we are not looking at returns of two or three per cent, but – depending on investment costs, self-consumption and performance over the entire term – returns can also be in the high single-digit or low double-digit range.
“In my view, the crucial question is therefore not whether installing a photovoltaic system on a block of flats is generally worthwhile. What matters is how the system and the energy supply plan are designed.”
After proving fairly resilient in 2024, we look at what the remainder of 2025 may have in store for digital infrastructure – including the potential impact of DeepSeek's* R1 model release.
Following the successful start of construction of the neighbouring Marina B office project, LBBW Immobilien is now also building 66 high-quality apartments and three townhouses with a total of around 6,200 m² of living space on Hafeninsel 1. Completion is scheduled for mid-2027.
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An Australian company focused on landfill gas and renewable energy, LGI, has reached an agreement to purchase two operational solar PV facilities in Queensland. The deal covers 42MW of export capacity and carries a price tag of AU$22 million, or US$15.3 million.
The ASX-listed firm also intends to increase its medium-term pipeline goal beyond 120MW, raising it from the 80MW figure it had disclosed earlier.
LGI captures biogas from landfill sites to produce electricity and carbon credits, and it runs battery storage as well. Its assets are dispatched via proprietary software called the Dynamic Asset Control System (DACS), which is designed to maximise returns across both energy and carbon markets.
The two solar PV plants are being acquired in full from IIG Solar Assets Pty Ltd, acting as trustee for the IIG Solar Asset Trust, and come with no debt attached. Settlement is anticipated on 9 October, shareholder approval is not needed, and the acquisition will be paid for using cash alongside LGI’s current debt facility.
Located near Baking Board, the Chinchilla solar PV facility has 19.9MWp of installed capacity and 14.7MW of export capacity. Operations began in 2019, and its land lease still has 31 years remaining.
The Brigalow solar PV plant at Yarranlea carries 34.5MWp installed and 27.3MW of export capacity. It started operating in 2021 and has 33 years left on its lease.
Combined, the generation facilities total 54MW installed versus 42MW of export capacity. In 2025 they produced 20,981MWh and 33,229MWh respectively, with all output sold at spot prices.
The acquisition price equates to roughly AU$0.5 million for each MW of export capacity, which LGI states is cheaper than building comparable assets from the ground up. The company noted it reviewed numerous solar assets over the past year as valuations declined in step with energy prices.
LGI projects the plants will contribute annual EBITDA of between AU$2.1 million and AU$4.0 million at prevailing electricity prices.
That range hinges on the pace at which it converts revenue and rolls out DACS, and the company anticipates roughly AU$1.6 million during the 2027 financial year, based on a nine-month contribution.
LGI intends to internalise operations and maintenance. Chief executive Jarryd Doran called the plants proven, operational assets acquired well below replacement cost.
Since installed capacity is greater than export capacity, LGI says the excess could be directed toward charging battery storage systems at either location. Early-stage studies into adding battery storage have commenced at both projects.
The revised target merges the 80MW pipeline with the 42MW of solar. LGI’s investor presentation breaks the total down as 26MW of biogas, 42MW of solar and 57MW of battery energy storage.
According to LGI, electricity demand in the National Electricity Market (NEM) is rising because of electric vehicles, industrial electrification and data centres, even as ageing thermal generation nears retirement. The company adds that distribution-connected projects sidestep transmission bottlenecks.
Solar output is already encountering grid constraints. Utility-scale solar curtailment dropped to approximately 22% in September from 26% the prior year, while Queensland recorded a September high of about 645GWh in utility solar output. Across all NEM states, spot prices averaged under AU$65/MWh during the month.
Data centre demand policy is still unresolved. In July, Queensland and the Northern Territory rejected a national agreement that would have obligated large new data centres to finance extra renewable generation.
Investor sentiment remains divided. A survey conducted for the Clean Energy Investor Group revealed that 65% of respondents believe Australia will fall short of its 82% renewable energy target for 2030, while 77% reported that the investment environment had deteriorated. Transmission delays were identified as the leading obstacle.
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Europe’s solar and battery storage industries together accounted for 982,000 jobs in 2025, as detailed in the EU Solar Jobs Report 2026 published by SolarPower Europe. Released on 7 October 2026, the study covers employment in both sectors and represents the first occasion that battery storage has been included alongside solar in this assessment.
Within the EU, solar alone was responsible for 874,000 positions in 2025, while battery storage provided an additional 108,000 roles. Combined, the two industries constitute a workforce approaching one million, highlighting the employment scale underpinning Europe’s shift to renewable energy.
In 2025, solar employment rose by 1%, double the 0.5% growth recorded for overall EU employment. This expansion occurred despite difficult market conditions and surpassed earlier projections, following EU solar installations reaching 69 GW in 2025, which beat previous market expectations.
The report’s broader scope now features a specific evaluation of battery storage employment, identifying 108,000 jobs spanning manufacturing, deployment, operations and maintenance, and end-of-life activities. Over the past four years, the EU’s battery storage capacity expanded twelve-fold to roughly 80 GWh, mirroring the swift growth of Europe’s battery sector. With batteries playing an ever-greater role in flexibility, resilience, and renewable energy integration, storage is becoming a significant source of renewable-energy employment alongside solar.
Deployment activities represented about 85% of all solar jobs in 2025, continuing as the core of Europe’s solar workforce. Operations and maintenance employment grew as the installed solar fleet expanded, whereas manufacturing endured another difficult year marked by factory closures, global overcapacity, and fierce international competition.
For the first time since the report series started, utility-scale solar employment marginally overtook rooftop solar employment, making up 50.2% of all solar jobs in 2025. This change signals the increasing importance of large-scale solar projects in Europe’s energy transition.
Germany stayed the EU’s top solar employer in 2025 with roughly 165,000 jobs, just ahead of Spain, which supported a comparable total overall. Italy came third with about 85,000 jobs. Combined, these three nations represented nearly half of Europe’s solar workforce. France, Romania and Poland also featured among the EU’s largest solar employment markets.
Although solar employment is still growing, the decelerating rate serves as a caution. Under the present market trajectory, solar employment is expected to fall by 2030 as deployment growth flattens, productivity improvements lower labour demand, and difficult investment conditions burden new projects. The report pinpoints rising curtailment, growing negative electricity prices, and inadequate deployment of flexibility solutions as escalating challenges for deployment, with direct consequences for Europe’s solar workforce.
Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe, remarked that approximately one million people now work in Europe’s solar and storage sectors, spanning rooftops, construction sites, engineering teams, control rooms, and the supply chain. She called this something to celebrate but not to take for granted, cautioning that if deployment slows and flexibility challenges stay unresolved, Europe risks undermining a key source of energy security and resilience as well as solar’s potential for job creation.
Christophe Lits, report author and Senior Market Analyst at SolarPower Europe, observed that this year’s report represents a milestone by evaluating solar and battery storage employment together for the first time. He suggested that as solar and storage become increasingly integrated technologies, more workers are anticipated to design, install and operate them side by side, reflecting the growing role of flexibility in Europe’s energy system. He added that this will not occur on its own, emphasizing that people need routes into these jobs, accessible training, and projects to work on, and that policymakers must convert Europe’s skills and electrification ambitions into action.
To tackle the risks, SolarPower Europe urges policymakers to put solar skills at the centre of Europe’s competitiveness and industrial agenda. The priority now is implementation: transforming the Union of Skills, Renewable Energy Directive III and the Electrification Action Plan into practical support for workers, training providers and employers. Europe must also speed up electrification and flexibility deployment, while broadening training, apprenticeships and reskilling pathways to secure the workforce required for the renewable energy transition.
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Largest solar cell & module producer globally.
World's largest monocrystalline wafer & module maker.
Major integrated solar manufacturer.
Leading producer of high-performance PV products.
Global manufacturer with production in Americas & Asia.
Major cell/module maker with US & Asian production.
Top-tier PV module and cell manufacturer.
Largest thin-film solar manufacturer globally.
Major LED chip & packaging for displays/lighting.
Pioneer and leading supplier of LED phosphors & chips.
Historically leading innovator in LED chips.
Major European LED & opto-semiconductor producer.
Producer of high-efficiency IBC solar cells.
World's largest producer of solar cell wafers.
Leading ABC cell (N-type) technology producer.
Rapidly growing solar cell and module manufacturer.
Integrated PV manufacturer under Chint Group.
Major global LED packaging and component supplier.
Leading supplier of LED components for automotive/lighting.
One of world's largest LED epitaxial wafer & chip makers.
Innovator in LED packaging (WICOP) and chip technology.
Major LED component supplier, part of LG Group.
Key LED epitaxy and chip manufacturer.
Historically significant in both PV and LED production.
Major PV manufacturer part of GCL Group.
Specialist in N-type TOPCon solar cells and modules.
Historic PV leader, continues manufacturing.
Leading LED chip manufacturer, part of Ennostar.
Major LED packaging company for lighting & display.
Leading Chinese LED packaging and component supplier.
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TOYO TOYO used its Solar Analyst Day in Humble, Texas, to outline its U.S. manufacturing expansion, discuss first-half financial results and describe plans for a proposed heterojunction, or HJT, solar-cell facility.
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Takahiko Onozuka said the company has completed its second module line at its Houston-area site, bringing module capacity at the facility to 2 gigawatts. TOYO acquired the VSUN brand in September 2025, began operating its first Houston module line a month later and has now completed the second line, he said.
“We are not stopping at the modules here in Humble,” Onozuka said. TOYO plans a $357 million HJT cell facility at the site, with design work completed and permitting applications underway. The company is targeting ramp-up and pilot production during the first quarter of 2028, though executives said the timeline could change based on permitting and financing.
Focus shifts upstream in U.S. supply chain
Onozuka said the company sees a gap in the U.S. solar supply chain beyond module assembly. While the United States has about 75 GW of module capacity against annual solar installations of approximately 43 GW, he said domestic cell capacity is about 3 GW and wafer capacity is roughly 5 GW.
TOYO currently has 6 GW of cell capacity, including 4 GW in Ethiopia and 2 GW in Vietnam, according to Onozuka. The company manufactures cells in Ethiopia using non-Chinese polysilicon and wafers sourced from Indonesia, executives said. TOYO’s Vietnam production does not enter the U.S. market because of antidumping and countervailing-duty considerations, according to Chief Strategy Officer Rhone Resch.
Resch said the company’s strategy is to build a non-FEOC, or Foreign Entity of Concern, supply chain and ultimately increase U.S. content. He said TOYO currently sources 70% of its polysilicon for Ethiopian production from U.S. manufacturers and aims to increase that percentage to 100% over time.
The company’s longer-term vision includes expanding U.S. HJT capacity beyond the initially proposed 1.5 GW cell facility, potentially to 3 GW and eventually 8 GW. Resch also discussed a vision for 6 GW of U.S. ingot and wafer capacity, while emphasizing that the broader expansion plans were not public commitments and would depend on financing and other factors.
First-half revenue nearly doubles
Chief Financial Officer Yasunari Harada reported first-half revenue of $261 million, up 87.6% year over year. The company delivered 2.61 GW of solar cells and 191.85 megawatts of modules during the six-month period.
Cash stood at $103.5 million as of June 30, compared with $51.6 million at year-end, Harada said. Including restricted cash, total cash was $123.4 million. Shareholders’ equity increased to $209.8 million from $111.3 million, while total liabilities declined slightly to $327.8 million.
During the first half, TOYO raised approximately $52.6 million in net proceeds. That included about $47.1 million in net proceeds from a June registered direct offering and approximately $5.5 million from its at-the-market program through June 30.
Financing and trade-policy discussions continue
Harada said the proposed HJT facility is expected to be funded through a combination of Section 45X manufacturing tax credits, debt financing, operating cash flow and other non-dilutive financing sources. He said the plan remains preliminary and that no definitive debt-financing documents have been signed.
In response to an analyst question, Harada said TOYO has begun early-stage discussions with financial institutions in Japan and the U.S. regarding potential project financing.
Resch also discussed the company’s engagement with the Department of Commerce regarding the Section 232 program and a potential offset structure intended to encourage U.S. manufacturing. He said TOYO has submitted a draft term sheet describing its planned manufacturing investments and is seeking additional guidance from Commerce.
Regarding trade enforcement, Resch said four shipments of Ethiopian solar cells had been detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection for admissibility reviews. He said the company submitted requested supply-chain documentation and hosted CBP personnel at its Texas facility. Ana Hinojosa, a former CBP executive now working with TOYO, said the company was optimistic about a resolution but noted that timing remained under government control.
HJT technology central to strategy
Executives positioned HJT technology as a central part of TOYO’s long-term growth strategy. Resch said HJT cells offer higher efficiency, improved performance in hot conditions, better bifaciality and lower degradation than conventional TOPCon cells, according to the company’s presentation.
TOYO also plans to develop research and development capabilities in Texas and sees future potential in combining HJT with perovskite technology. Resch said commercial perovskite applications are likely still two-and-a-half to three years away, though the company is in discussions with potential partners.
The existing 567,000-square-foot Humble manufacturing facility employs about 600 people across three shifts, Resch said. The planned cell expansion would add roughly 400 jobs, according to the company.
About TOYO TOYO
TOYO Co, Ltd. TOYO is a solar technology and renewable-energy company focused on the manufacture and supply of photovoltaic products. Through its operating subsidiaries, the company develops and produces solar cells and modules used in utility-scale, commercial, and residential solar-power systems.
TOYO's product portfolio includes high-efficiency solar cells and photovoltaic modules, with an emphasis on advanced technologies such as N-type TOPCon cells. The company has also pursued international manufacturing and expansion opportunities as it works to serve the growing global demand for solar-energy equipment.
TOYO is headquartered in Japan and has reported operations and development activities connected with solar manufacturing in international markets, including Vietnam and Ethiopia.
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Exploring solar can unlock savings and get you started on a quick payback period.
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A Central New Jersey homeowner said a garage-mounted solar array with 30 panels recovered five-eighths of its upfront cost.
They happily reported to the r/solar subreddit that their electric bills had stayed in the single or double digits, with some statements even showing a negative balance.
Writing on Reddit, the homeowner said the garage was built and later outfitted with the system on a standing-seam roof. 
They paid cash, skipped battery storage, and used Exact Solar of Newtown, Pennsylvania, for the job at their home near Trenton.
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“I estimate I am at 5/8 of being paid back for the install price,” they said.
They shared a screenshot of a bill that showed a balance of minus-$51.32.
Going solar is one of the best ways to save, or even make, money on home energy. Using EnergySage can help homeowners get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes before committing.
The post drew a couple of upbeat responses, including, “Looks like it’s working!” and a joke from another commenter: “Your bill seems higher than usual this month.” 
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The original poster said the garage was built five years ago and the panels installed three years ago.
“It’s a shame what has happened to Exact after they sold out,” the first commenter wrote. “Seems like most good companies seem to go that way.”
Exploring solar can unlock savings and get you started on a quick payback period.
EnergySage can also add value before any contract is signed. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on a solar purchase and installation as well as make it easy to compare multiple offers.
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Shopping carefully can make a major difference in whether those numbers work out. With EnergySage’s solar map, homeowners can see the average cost of a home solar panel system by state along with solar incentives available 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. While the OP said they did not have a battery, shoppers who want that added resilience can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
This homeowner’s payoff timeline is one example of how solar can work out. 
• A homeowner snagged $10,000 in incentives for new panels and now saves $1,500 yearly.
• In Australia, a 20kW rooftop setup made blackouts invisible and delivered a $545 credit.
• EnergySage’s former COO broke down the mystery of solar costs and the factors driving quotes.
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China has secured a leading position in most mature green technologies, from solar photovoltaic (PV) modules to wind turbines, batteries and new energy vehicles (NEVs),¹ thanks to long-term policy support, scale across the value chain and innovations in these sectors. Yet these sectors also face a paradox: although they feature some of China’s most successful industries in global markets, they are mired by low profitability and a high number of loss-making firms. Many of the sector’s most innovative companies are unable to capitalize financially on the technological advances they have made.
This dynamic is part of a bigger problem: excessive domestic competition drives firms to prioritize holding onto or winning market share above all else. In China, this phenomenon affects a variety of critical sectors and is dubbed “involution”.² This term is used to describe fruitless competition in society as well as in industries. It represents a race to the bottom where all participants in a system work harder and spend more resources, but for no more gain. Chinese firms can pursue such a strategy for an extended period as public actors are incentivized to provide financing or subsidies regardless of their profitability, in the same way that structural overcapacity is made possible in China.³ 
Since 2024, Beijing has made combating this cutthroat competition and its negative impact on state finances and corporate profits a strategic priority. Green tech sectors, particularly the solar and NEV industries, are major targets in this campaign. This report investigates the factors that have caused hyper-competition in these two sectors, alongside the wind turbine sector, which has also experienced a degree of involution. It analyzes therestrained government response so far and the impact on corporate strategies, primarily in terms of cutting costs and expanding into foreign markets.
The results show that fostering a degree of excessive competition has become part and parcel of China’s industrial policy playbook in green tech sectors. The downward pressure on prices further enhances the competitiveness of Chinese firms vis-à-vis foreign companies. This means China’s dominance in green technologies is growing even stronger. In some ways, Europe could benefit from this process, as cheaper green technologies sourced from China would lower the costs for its energy transition. But it also risks increasing established and emerging dependencies, hindering Europe’s own industrial ambitions in green tech sectors, and by extension ceding the EU’s autonomy in its energy security and green transition.
When it comes to the production and installation of green technologies, China is in a league of its own. In 2025, Chinese firms supplied at least three-quarters of the solar modules, wind turbines, and electric vehicles sold worldwide, and China accounted for at least 57 percent of global demand for these products. The remarkable growth in both domestic sales as well as exports of green tech products since 2020 has been very significant not only for China’s decarbonization agenda, but also for economic growth, as other parts of the economy, such as the real estate sector, have floundered.
These industries are dominated by private firms, and their dynamism, coupled with the competitive pressure to innovate, has played a key role in their success. Yet fierce competition in recent years has also led to falling prices, profits, and in some cases falling revenue for the top firms in these sectors. Since 2022 or 2023, each sector has experienced a sustained period of price declines, triggered by a mix of regulatory changes and aggressive firm behavior. Exhibit 1 displays an overview of the varying degrees of involution over time for each sector (the details are explored in the second chapter):
While general traits of involution, such as deflation, an increased share of loss-making firms and lavish state support for industrial firms have been visible across the Chinese economy in recent years, the reasons why and to what degree an industry gets entangled in involution are specific to each sector. The mix of private and state-owned firms, fluctuations in domestic and foreign demand, changes in sectoral policies, the level of technical complexity, the degree of vertical integration and diversification of business portfolios, or the state of industrial development – be it an emerging industry or more mature – all play a role.
Depending on their prevalence or absence, these factors can either spur or hinder involution. For instance, more technologically advanced or design intensive products, such as wind turbines, have a higher barrier to entry than simpler products such as solar modules. This makes more sophisticated products less susceptible to competition based only on cost-cutting. The enforcement of higher technical standards can have the same effect, forcing producers of outdated technology to exit the market and thus limiting the ability of firms to compete primarily on cost.
The government’s efforts to combat involution in green tech sectors show that despite recognition of the negative impact of destructive competition, Beijing is not willing to tackle its root causes. Beginning in mid-2024, China’s leaders have repeatedly called for preventing vicious “involution-style” competition and curbing “low-price and disorderly competition” across the economy.⁴ Top-level government documents state that this will require managing the setting of prices in certain sectors, phasing out outdated and inefficient production capacity, eliminating local protectionism, as well as corporate self-regulation. New and forthcoming legislation, regulations, and closer scrutiny of corporate behavior have followed.⁵
Most of the measures implemented to date in China’s green tech sectors have been carried out via sector-specific regulations or actions taken by industry associations or individual firms themselves (see second chapter for details). Each sector has followed different pathways to managing destructive competition, from raising standards and reducing financial support in solar, to revising tender practices in wind, to publicly scolding the major players in NEVs. These measures have led to moderate improvements in the NEV and wind sectors but have failed to change the course of the solar industry.
Prolonged price wars in green tech and other sectors are still a risk because the political and economic system that makes them possible remains intact. Local officials are strongly incentivized to support firms in their province or city – particularly those in sectors deemed strategic by Beijing – even if they operate at a loss, since they contribute to GDP growth, jobs and tax revenue. These are important KPIs for officials and more likely to be prioritized than general directives from Beijing to limit protectionist policies.⁶ In addition, bankruptcy laws are often not enforced and allow firms to continue operating even if they default on payments.⁷
In many sectors, the intense competition generated by China’s decentralized system of industrial support has proven to be highly effective in building up capacity and has delivered rapid gains in efficiency, scale and quality. Green technologies are highly strategically relevant for both their economic importance and contribution to enhancing China’s energy security. Consequently, even as President Xi publicly laments the uncoordinated behavior of local officials, he has shown no sign of changing the system which pushes them to act in this way.⁸
So long as ruthless competition helps Chinese firms to acquire global market share and secure China’s position at the center of key industries, Beijing will view this policy approach as a success overall. That is despite the numerous costs involved. Persistent involution will hurt the fiscal position of local governments as they fuel their continued support for firms with additional debt. The money spent on industrial support also means less funds are available for social welfare and other public goods. Employment opportunities are made more precarious by the impulses of firms to expand aggressively and then cut their workforce when prices fall. 
The examples of the solar, NEV and wind sectors show that Beijing does not want to eliminate involution altogether but rather contain it. By extension, some degree of destructive competition could also emerge in the industries that the government has outlined as priority areas for the next five years and beyond, such as robots, legacy semiconductors and hydrogen technologies. 
The following case studies look at the different drivers of involution in the solar PV, NEV and wind turbine sectors in China. Differences in technical complexity, commoditization, production capacity and market structure determine the degree to which these green technologies are affected and their ability to extricate themselves from destructive competition. 
For Europe, each technology represents either an established dependence (solar), an emerging challenge (NEVs) or a future challenge (wind turbines). Understanding the domestic dynamics affecting each technology helps explain their technological competitivity and cost-effectiveness.
Long plagued by structural overcapacity, China’s solar sector has been ravaged by cutthroat competition since 2023, leading to heavy losses for its leading firms even as domestic and global demand for solar has grown strongly. Since 2020, manufacturing capacity utilization has not exceeded 56 percent and in 2025 China could have met global demand while leaving 40 percent of its available production capacity idle.¹⁰
Following China’s 2020 dual-carbon pledge, investment poured into the sector. Local governments offered varied financial incentives as they sought to align themselves with the central government priorities.¹¹ Producers further ramped up production following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, anticipating a spike in demand.¹² While exports in volume terms grew by 38 percent in 2023, the value of exports in CNY terms remained stable. Prices for solar products both within China and abroad (via exports) fell by over 50 percent between 2022 and 2025. Since 2024, over 150 solar firms have filed for bankruptcy or liquidation.¹³
Low technical barriers to entry make the solar sector more susceptible to overcapacity and hyper-competition. In the lower and mid-tier segments, solar panels are relatively simple and commoditized products that are easily scalable, so long as sufficient capital is available. Technology upgrades generally occur every two to three years, with old equipment often sold, allowing other players to continue producing less advanced products.¹⁴ Years of government support for the sector has led to an overcrowded market and manufacturing capacity far overshooting current demand levels. In addition, project developers usually favor the cheapest offer in their tenders, pressuring companies to compete on cost rather than quality.¹⁵
Government and corporate-led efforts to streamline capacity in the sector have so far not yielded any clear results. Corporate initiatives to reduce production and set price floors have failed, either due to a major player ignoring the price floor, or to regulatory intervention to prevent monopolistic behavior.¹⁶ Regulators have also removed export tax rebates for PV products and raised the threshold for financial strength, technology level and energy efficiency for PV manufacturing projects. In addition, recent change to the pricing for renewable energy projects could slow long-term demand for solar PV installations.¹⁷ This could prompt more market exits, help streamline some capacity, and eventually lead to a recovery.
At the start of 2023, larger NEV manufacturers in China initiated a price war to revive sales and expand market share following the removal of purchase subsidies in 2022. The smaller players followed in a race-to-the-bottom.¹⁸ While NEV sales have grown strongly in recent years – up 80 percent in 2023, 27 percent in 2024 and 23 percent in 2025 – prices have continued to trend downwards. Smaller NEV manufacturers, who are less capable of taking advantage of efficiencies of scale, and suppliers, facing intense pressures to reduce prices from OEMs, appear to have been most impacted by cost-cutting measures. 
The attractiveness of the auto sector to local officials, as well as China’s strengths in technologies related to electric vehicles, have all fueled the large number of players in the market and tendency towards excessive competition. For local governments, NEVs are a prestige product and potential creator of many jobs. Companies in the traditional auto sectors as well as in consumer electronics have used existing competencies to expand into the NEV sector. Technically speaking, electric vehicles are far simpler than internal combustion engine vehicles, making a successful foray into the market possible for more firms, but not guaranteed. By one estimate, as many as 500 NEV companies were active in 2018, and around 100 still existed in 2025.¹⁹
Regulators have intervened to prevent the worst cost-cutting excesses by major players, such as delayed supplier payments,²⁰ as well as the growing trade of barely driven vehicles sold abroad as second-hand cars to inflate sales figures and dodge export tariffs.²¹ Yet beyond this, regulators have taken few concrete measures. New regulatory scrutiny on safety and battery standards for NEVs, announced in mid-2026, could help limit the number of players in the market.²² On the corporate side, an appeal from the industry association appears to have been sufficient to temper the behavior of the market leader – BYD – and restore a degree of moderation to the competition in the industry.²³ But there have been no significant efforts to self-regulate.
Unpredictable demand cycles have fueled involution in the wind sector. The phasing out of feed-in tariff subsidies in 2021 led to surges in installations as developers rushed to complete projects. This front-loaded demand and fueled investment and manufacturing capacity.²⁴ When new wind installations then fell in 2022, producers were pushed to compete more aggressively on price to not cede market share. In 2023, prices for onshore wind turbines only stabilized, and those for offshore wind turbines continued to fall, even as installations doubled.²⁵
The combination of a limited number of suppliers and disciplined state buyers was crucial in coordinating action to restrain destructive competition in the wind sector. China’s twelve leading wind turbine firms – together accounting for 99 percent of the domestic market – pledged to cease below-cost pricing in a self-discipline pact signed in October 2024.²⁶ Wind project developers then began using a benchmark price for their tenders, to avoid bidders focusing excessively on price competition.²⁷ These measures led to a recovery of prices and slowed down falling profitability.²⁸
The technological characteristics of wind turbines primarily explain why the sector is not as contested and overcrowded as other green tech areas. Wind turbines are design-intensive and less commoditized than solar panels or NEVs. This limits the rapidity at which turbine production can be scaled and capacity can expand. The supply chain for a wind turbine also requires longer lead times and greater coordination with suppliers for each component. Consolidation has gradually occurred in the sector, with the number of manufacturers decreasing from nearly 80 in 2010 to only 10 by 2025.²⁹ 
While the profit margins of China’s leading wind turbine manufacturers are yet to return to their previous levels, they have avoided running at a loss. Companies are now looking to increase offshore wind turbine production and expand their overseas market sales to shore up margins.³⁰ In addition, changes to energy pricing regulations is expected by industry insiders to create more domestic demand for wind compared to solar in the years to come.³¹ This could shore up profitability for the sector.
As involution has heated up in China’s green tech sectors, firms have adopted numerous strategies to streamline their operations. Leading solar firms reduced their headcount by almost a third on average in 2024, as profits turned negative in that year, while in the NEV and broader auto sector, some firms also cut staff to reduce the burden of salary payments.³²
They have put pressure on suppliers to reduce their prices and delayed payments, causing involution to spread up the supply chain. State media in China has also reported some firms are cutting costs “covertly” by changing materials and production methods to cheaper alternatives, thus sacrificing product quality.³³
The shrinking of margins in China creates a strong incentive for firms to seek higher returns in foreign markets.³⁴ For instance, the price charged for the same NEV model exported to and sold in Europe is as much as twice as high as the price in China.³⁵ For larger firms that can afford to fund such an internationalization strategy, it may be considered a necessity, rather than an option. The slogan “If you don’t go abroad, you will exit the market” has gained traction among Chinese business leaders since 2024.³⁶
For instance, BYD – China’s leading NEV manufacturer – has made its expansion into Europe a priority. In 2025, over a fifth of BYD’s car sales were made overseas, while almost a third of the revenue from its automotive business was derived from overseas markets.³⁷ The company’s chairman and president, Wang Chuanfu, has highlighted that prices in overseas markets are relatively stable and significantly contribute to the company’s profitability.³⁸ Mingyang – a leading wind turbine maker – is another example of a Chinese clean tech firm with an explicit interest in expanding its business in Europe. While Chinese turbines account for a negligible share of those installed in Europe to date, Mingyang has been looking to invest in a local production facility to serve the market.³⁹
The increased pressure on Chinese green tech firms to tap foreign markets will be most felt in Europe. The continent has been the most important destination for Chinese green tech exports in recent years. In 2021, it surpassed Asia (excluding China), in particular for NEV exports. In the first half of 2026, China’s domestic installations and sales of solar, wind and NEV products slowed, while exports continued to grow apace.⁴⁰ European firms should expect competition with Chinese firms in third markets as well as in the EU to increase further.
The price gap between the offerings of European firms versus their Chinese competitors for products of comparable quality continues to grow. Today, it ranges from 30 percent to as much as 50 percent cheaper, depending on the technology in question. For many foreign firms, the only viable strategy appears to be to shift more of their own production to China, to tap into the same cost advantages as their competitors. This shows that China’s dominance in green tech sectors is growing ever stronger.
All of these issues related to involution directly challenge Europe’s ambitions in green tech. They threaten the viability of policies such as the Net Zero Industry Act, which seeks to ensure the EU’s position as a supplier of green technologies in the future. The lower the cost of sourcing directly from China, the higher the premium necessary to develop alternative supply chains, either in Europe or elsewhere.
China’s dominant position throughout the supply chain makes it very difficult for Europe to adopt clean technologies without sourcing a significant share of inputs or final products from China, leading to critical dependencies in some areas.⁴¹ Reversing these trends will require a ramping up of efforts to support local industries and protect them from Chinese competitors.
While the EU is currently working on related measures, like the Industrial Accelerator Act, their implementation will take years, and their impact will likely be moderate at best.
Policymakers face difficult choices regarding how to best balance the advantages of accelerating the energy transition via cheap imported products, against the risks of long-term dependencies and the security of critical infrastructure.
For European governments and companies, formulating strategies on how to engage with and manage pressures emanating from China now requires a clear understanding of the involution phenomenon, and the long-term consequence of current trends. Much like in China, governments and business will need to work together to achieve results.
Without coordination, any actions are likely to prove ineffective. A comprehensive response ought to:
1 | New energy vehicles (NEV, 新能源汽车) is the umbrella term for battery electric vehicles (BEVs), plugin hybrid vehicles (PHEVs), fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) and range-extended electric vehicles (REEVs). The dominant technology is the BEV, however Chinese policies usually address the entirety of NEVs, which is why this report uses the term NEV.
2 | This report uses destructive competition, excessive competition, cutthroat competition, fruitless competition and hyper-competition interchangeably to refer to involution.
3 | Structural overcapacity refers to firms in a sector maintaining or growing unused production capacity over several years, without concern for the impact on profits, due to the lack of pressure to operate efficiently. It is prevalent in China due to the ample state support afforded to firms. This report considers structural overcapacity and involution as related, but distinct phenomena.
4 | Xinhua, Central Economic Work Conference Held in Beijing; Xi Jinping Delivers Important Speech 中央经济工作会议在北京举行 习近平发表重要讲话, December 12, 2024, https://www.news.cn/politics/leaders/20241212/f47e778630ec4ff6b51c99d55cef6f43/c.html; Xinhua, The Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee Convened a Meeting to Analyze and Examine the Current Economic Situation and Economic Work, and to Review the ‘Provisions on Rectifying Formalism and Reducing the Burden on Grassroots Levels’ 中共中央政治局召开会议 分析研究当前经济形势和经济工作 审议《整治形式主义为基层减负若干规定》中共中央总书记习近平主持会议, July 30, 2024, https://www.news.cn/politics/leaders/20240730/4c72f-3d27e54447f9793c20d1d577ec2/c.html. Xinhua, Government Work Report 2025 两会受权发布丨政府工作报告 (2025), https://www.news.cn/politics/20250312/a71e63d66967404e8e644f9753c65fc9/c.html; Xinhua, Government Work Report 2026 两会受权发布丨政府工作报告 (2026), https://www.news.cn/politics/20260313/9e24773bf14649f59afe2d62550e48ce/c.html; Xinhua, The Fifteenth Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People’s Republic of China 两会受权发布丨中华人民共和国国民经济和社会发展第十五个五年规划纲要 (2026), https://www.news.cn/politics/20260313/085af5de5a4b4268aa7d87d90817df2f/c.html.
5 | In 2025, revisions to the Anti-Unfair Competition Law and Pricing Law were initiated, with the aim to prohibit below cost pricing to drive out competitors or monopolize the market. NPC, Anti-Unfair Competition Law (Revised in 2025) 中华人民共和国反不正当竞争法（2025年修订）(2026), https://www.cnipa.gov.cn/art/2026/5/20/art_104_206437.html; Xinhua, Draft Amendments to the Pricing Law Open for Public Consultation: Regulating Market Price Order and Tackling ‘Involutionary’ Competition 价格法修正草案公开征求意见 规范市场价格秩序、治理“内卷式”竞争, July 24, 2025, https://www.xinhuanet.com/20250724/1c7a0a14d3124ad5b63f8ec3a0f5f116/c.html; NDRC, Notice on Matters Relating to the Cost Accounting for Unregulated Low-Price Competition in Key Industrial Products (National Development and Reform Commission Price [2026] No. 1303) 关于重要工业品低价无序竞争成本核算有关事项的通知(发改价格〔2026〕1303号) (2026), https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/tz/202609/t20260910_1407524.html.
6 | China’s leadership is aware of the problem and promotes the development of “new productive forces according to local conditions”. This slogan advocates for each region to specialize in certain strategic sectors and avoid duplication of efforts. However, no clear mechanism has been implemented to facilitate coordination between local governments. Xi Jinping, Developing New Quality Productive Forces in Line with Local Conditions 因地制宜发展新质生产力 (Qiushi, 2025), https://www.qstheory.cn/20251114/1eaed05f562144a3948dd858f25bbcf7/c.html.
7 | Yi Xiong, Understanding China’s “Anti-Involution” Drive (Deutsche Bank Research Institute, 2025), https://www.dbresearch.com/PROD/IE-PROD/PDFVIEWER.calias?pdfViewerPdfUrl=PROD0000000000603307&rwnode=REPORT.
8 | Xinhua, Industrial Development: The General Secretary Stresses That We Must Not Favor the New at the Expense of the Old 产业发展，总书记强调不能喜新厌旧, January 28, 2026, https://www.news.cn/politics/xxjxs/20260128/b55cbf2864fc4138b9ffeb6e6908f649/c.html; Genyuan Zhang, Finding a Path to High-Quality Development Suited to Our Own Circumstances (Ideological Perspectives) 找准切合自身实际的高质量发展路子（思想纵横）, December 24, 2025, http://opinion.people.com.cn/n1/2025/1224/c1003-40630703.html.
9 | The solar sector data covers LONGi, Jinko Solar, JA Solar, Trina Solar and Tongwei Solar. In 2025, these five firms accounted for 54.9 percent of the global PV module market, based on data collected by Enerdata. The wind sector data covers Goldwind, Mingyang, Windey, Sany and SEWPG. In 2025, these five firms accounted for 64.8 percent of the Chinese market for wind turbines, based on data published by CWEA. The NEV sector data covers BYD, mixed NEV and thermal engine car manufacturers labelled “NEV + ICE” (Geely, Chery, Great Wall, SAIC, Changan and Dongfeng) and a selection of smaller pure NEV car manufacturers labelled “NEV ex. BYD” (Leapmotor, Seres, Li Auto, Xpeng, and Nio). In 2025, BYD accounted for 27 percent of NEV passenger car sales in China (including both domestic sales and exports), based on data provided by the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). The “NEV + ICE” companies and “NEV ex. BYD” companies accounted for 33 percent and 13 percent, respectively.
10 | Capacity utilization rate calculated based on historic data on production capacity and output. Chinese Photovoltaic Industry Association. 
China Photovoltaic Industry Association, China’s PV Module Production Continued to Expand in 2024, but the Growth Rate Slowed Significantly 2024 年我国光伏组件产量进一步扩大，但增速显著放缓, July 7, 2025, https://www.chinapv.org.cn/StaticPage/Association/content_1655.html; China Photovoltaic Industry Association, In 2023, China’s Photovoltaic Module Production Exceeded 500 GW, Representing a Year-over-Year Increase of More than 75%! 2023 年我国光伏组件产量超过500GW 同比增长超过75%！, July 1, 2024, https://www.ne21.com/news/show-196910.html; China Photovoltaic Industry Association, In 2025, PV Module Production Declined Year-over-Year for the First Time, and the Industry’s Supply-Demand Restructuring Entered a Critical Phase. 2025 年，光伏组件产量首次同比下降，行业供需结构调整进入攻坚期, July 13, 2026, https://www.chinapv.org.cn/StaticPage/Association/content_1852.html; Shizhan Wang, In 2022, China’s Photovoltaic Module Exports Totaled $42.36 Billion, a 72.1% Increase from the Previous Year! 2022 年我国光伏组件出口额为423.6亿美元，同比增长72.1%！, June 25, 2023, https://www.shifair.com/wap/article_details/index/id/146555.html; Xueqiu, Forecast of China’s PV Module Production Capacity and Output for 2025, and Analysis of Leading Companies’ Shipment Rankings 2025 年中国光伏组件产能产量预测及重点企业出货量排名情况分析, September 19, 2025, https://xueqiu.com/2294082574/353547417.
11 | Michael Davidson and Sandy Qian, China’s Solar Industry Is in Upheaval—The Effects Will Be Global, March 12, 2026, https://www.csis.org/analysis/chinas-solar-industry-upheaval-effects-will-be-global. 
12 | Kohei Fujimura, China’s Solar Panel Production Cuts Fail to Reverse Price Slump, August 13, 2026, https://asia.nikkei.com/business/energy/china-s-solar-panel-production-cuts-fail-to-reverse-priceslump.
13 | Zitong Dong, Amid a Mix of Delistings and M&A, Listed Solar Companies Are Seeing Accelerated Polarization
退市与并购交织，光伏上市企业加速分化, July 20, 2026, https://paper.people.com.cn/zgnyb/pc/content/202607/20/content_30170405.html.
14 | Dazhong Daily, On the Eve of the Tax Rebate Phase-out: Shandong’s Solar Industry’s “Head Start” and Polarization 退税归零前夜：山东光伏的“抢跑”与分化, April 1, 2026, http://www.sd.xinhuanet.com/20260401/8929c64230824226b02c0085de87add9/c.html.
15 | Ye Lei and Deshangyu Li, The Solar Industry Continues to Crack Down on Unregulated Competition; the Phase-Out of Outdated Production Capacity May Be Postponed Until 2026 光伏行业持续整治无序竞争 落后产能出清或延至2026年, August 14, 2025, https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/3091228.html.
16 | A landmark agreement reached in December 2024 by 33 firms accounting for 90 percent of manufacturing capacity set production quotas and a recommended price floor. This was then undermined by a project developer. Efforts to coordinate production cuts and raise prices for polysilicon – a key raw material for solar modules – were struck down by the State Administration for Market Regulation on the grounds of anti-competitive behavior and attempted price manipulation. Gantanhao Keji, Industry Self-Regulatory Measures Promoted by the China Photovoltaic Association—Including Price Caps—Have Been Completely Suspended! 中国光伏协会推动的限价等行业自律，被全面叫停！, January 8, 2026, https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/pvhuJ_2GTE-aEf5cfTPgMw?mc_cid=2c53a5dc38&mc_eid=f9634e5ef5; Howe Colleen, China’s Polysilicon Giants Set up Acquisition Firm to Tackle Oversupply, December 10, 2025, https://archive.is/vZ6lK; Yujie Xue, Storm Brewing in China’s Solar-Panel Sector Threatens to Spiral out of Control, January 11, 2025, https://archive.is/0yxoW#selection-873.0-873.78.
17 | Document 136, released in February 2025, has shifted the pricing of renewable energy to a more market-based mechanism and slowed demand for solar PV installations in 2026. NDRC, Notice on Deepening Market-Oriented Reform of Feed-in Tariffs for New Energy and Promoting High-Quality Development of New Energy (National Development and Reform Commission Price 2025 No. 136) 关于深化新能源上网电价市场化改革 促进新能源高质量发展的通知(发改价格〔2025〕136号) (2025), https://www.ndrc.gov.cn/xxgk/zcfb/tz/202502/t20250209_1396066.html; Anika Patel, Chart: Why China’s Solar Boom Is Slowing Down, May 6, 2026, https://www.carbonbrief.org/chart-why-chinas-solarboom-is-slowing-down.
18 | Raffaele Huang, China’s ‘Tesla Killer’ Stumbles as EV Price War Takes Toll, June 26, 2023, https://www.wsj.com/business/chinas-tesla-killer-stumbles-as-ev-price-war-takes-toll-beadc04c; Ziyue Wu and Suwan Li, More than 40 Automakers Are Engaged in a Price War, yet the Conversion Rate of in-Store Traffic in the Auto Market Remains Low. 超40个汽车品牌参与价格战，车市终端客流转化率却不高, March 22, 2023,
https://www.yicai.com/news/101709099.html.
19 | EVBoosters, 400 Chinese EV Companies Ceased Operations between 2018 – 2025, Only a Few Will Dominate towards 2030, April 29, 2025, https://evboosters.com/ev-charging-news/400-chinese-ev-companies-ceased-operations-between-2018-2025-only-a-few-will-dominate-towards-2030/.
20 | Xinhua, Two Government Agencies Issue Guidelines to Encourage Automakers to Standardize Payments to Suppliers and Optimize Payment Term Management 两部门发文推动车企规范供应商账款支付优化账期管理, September 7, 2026, https://www.xinhuanet.com/20260907/7cfde746ba7a44c89d4bf7f-30c764514/c.html; State Council Information Office, Li Qiang Signs State Council Decree to Promulgate the Revised “Regulations on the Payment of Funds Owed to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises” 李强签署国务院令 公布修订后的《保障中小企业款项支付条例》 (2025), http://www.scio.gov.cn/yw/lq_/202503/t20250324_888459.html; MEE, Regulations on the Payment of Amounts Owed to Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (Decree No. 802 of the State Council of the People’s Republic of China)保障中小企业款项支付条例（中华人民共和国国务院令　第802号） (2025), https://www.mee.gov.cn/zcwj/gwywj/202503/t20250325_1104643.shtml; Jeff Pao, Price War Sparks EV Financial Crisis Concerns in China, June 14, 2025, https://asiatimes.com/2025/06/price-war-sparks-ev-financial-crisis-concerns-in-china/.
21 | Zhao Liu, Cutting Off the Gray-Market Profit Chain of “Zero-Kilometer Used Cars” and Maintaining Market Order from Multiple Perspectives 切断“零公里二手车”灰色利益链 多维度维护好市场秩序, May 30, 2025, https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/1851416.html; 21st Century Business Herald, “Zero-Kilometer Used Cars” Phenomenon Sparks Controversy; Industry Calls for Stricter Regulation to Standardize the Market “零公里二手车”现象惹争议 业内呼吁加强监管规范流通, June 4, 2025, https://www.21jingji.com/article/20250604/herald/601d1688207a8c6f7128f315b19c6221.html; China Auto Dealers Chamber of Commerce, Policy Interpretation | “Notice on Further Strengthening the Management of Used Car Exports” 政策解读 | 《关于进一步加强二手车出口管理工作的通知》, November 17, 2025, https://www.cadcc.com.cn/article/2908.html; Mark Rainford, China Tightens Regulations on Used Car Exports to Close
Zero-Kilometre Loophole, July 6, 2025, https://insidechinaauto.com/2025/07/06/china-tightens-regulations-on-used-car-exports-to-close-zero-kilometre-loophole/.
22 | Automotive World, China Sets New Accuracy Rules for EV Battery Health Data, August 3, 2026, https://www.automotiveworld.com/news/china-sets-new-accuracy-rules-for-ev-battery-health-data/; Yingying Cao, Tougher Road Tests to Raise NEV Quality Control, August 10, 2026, https://www.chinadaily.com.
23 | BYD and other major manufacturers reportedly started cutting prices again in March 2026. Bloomberg, BYD Discounts Show China’s EV Price War Is Worsening, April 24, 2024, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-04-23/byd-s-car-discounts-show-china-s-ev-price-war-is-getting-worse.
24 | Yujia Han et al., China’s Solar and Onshore Wind Capacity Reaches New Heights, While Offshore Wind Shows Promise, July 2025, https://globalenergymonitor.org/research/chinas-solar-and-onshore-windcapacity-reaches-new-heights-while-offshore-wind-shows.
25 | Some evidence points to onshore wind turbine prices in 2024 falling below 1,300 yuan per kilowatt, lower than the cost line of most enterprises. Mengjiao Wang, “Qin Haiyan, Secretary-General of the China Wind Energy Association, Published Two Articles in Half a Month to Warn That the Price War Is Dragging the Industry to the Edge of Danger. Can Trust Be Rebuilt?,” 36Kr, July 1, 2026, https://eu.36kr.com/en/p/3876353711635072.
26 | Jiying Guo, “Chinese Wind Turbine Makers Sign Truce to End Price War,” Yicai, October 17, 2024, https://www.yicaiglobal.com/news/leading-chinese-wind-turbine-makers-sign-self-discipline-pact-toend-price-wars.
27 | Canbang Liu, “Self-Regulation in the Wind Power Industry Drives a Rebound in Bidding Prices, Onshore and Offshore Market Expansion Enters a Period of Reaping Rewards 风电行业自律推动招标价格回升 ‘两海’市场布局进入收获期,” Securities Times, June 19, 2025, https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/2125796.html.
28 | Shenglu Yin and Nuo Chen, Riding the Wind to Expand into the Ocean: Energy Independence Resonates with Industrial Trends. 2026 Mid-Year Investment Strategy for the Wind Power and Hydrogen Energy Sectors. 乘风拓海，能源自主与产业趋势共振 风电氢能行业2026年度中期投资策略 (Kaiyuan Securities, 2026), https://pdf.dfcfw.com/pdf/H3_AP202605291822993191_1.pdf?1780046826000.pdf.
29 | Yuan Talks, China’s Wind Power Industry Breaks Free from Involution–Style Competition, Prices Stabilize for Over Half a Year, July 18, 2025, https://www.yuantalks.com/chinas-wind-power-industry-breaksfree-from-involution-style-competition-prices-stabilize-for-over-half-a-year/; Jiying Guo, “New Installed Wind Power Capacity in China Reached a Record High Last Year, Exports to Overseas Markets Performed
Exceptionally Well 去年国内风电新增吊装容量创历史新高，海外出口表现亮眼,” Yicai, February 14, 2026, https://www.yicai.com/news/103053245.html.
30 | Bloomberg, “Major Chinese Wind Turbine Maker Sees Domestic Price Recovery,” Bloomberg, March 26, 2025, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-03-26/major-chinese-wind-turbine-maker-sees-domestic-price-recovery. 
31 | Ye Lei, “After the Breakthrough of Document No. 136, Several Provinces Have Unveiled Their New Renewable Energy Pricing Mechanisms ‘136号’文破局之后，多省新能源电价机制出炉,” Securities Times, January 6, 2026, https://www.stcn.com/article/detail/3572476.html.
32 | Colleen Howe, “China’s Solar Giants Quietly Shed a Third of Their Workforces Last Year,” Reuters, August 4, 2025, https://www.reuters.com/business/world-at-work/chinas-solar-giants-quietly-shed-third-theirworkforces-last-year-2025-08-01/; Reuters, “Chinese EV Upstart Nio Plans to Cut Workforce by a Tenth,”Reuters, November 3, 2023, https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/chinese-evupstart-nio-plans-eliminate-10-its-positions-2023-11-03/; Reuters, “China’s SAIC Aims to Slash Jobs at GM, VW Ventures and EV Unit, Sources Say,” Reuters, April 1, 2024, https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/chinas-saic-aims-slash-jobs-gm-vw-ventures-ev-unit-sources-say-2024-03-31/.
33 | Wen Luo, “Thoroughly Address ‘Involution-Style’ Competition to Foster a Healthy Market Environment 深入整治‘内卷式’竞争 营造良好市场环境,” People’s Daily, July 17, 2026, https://paper.people.com.cn/rmrb/pc/content/202607/17/content_30169218.html.
34 | IEA, Global EV Outlook 2026 (IEA, 2026), https://www.iea.org/reports/global-ev-outlook-2026/manufacturing-and-trade.
35 | Jianguang Shen, “‘Go Global or Go Home’, the New Wave of Chinese Companies Expanding Overseas ‘不出海，就出局’，中国企业出海新浪潮,” Caijing, December 3, 2024, https://www.mycaijing.com/article/detail/535762?source_id=40&open_tag=0.
36 | The saying in Chinese is “不出海，就出局”.Jianguang Shen, “‘Go Global or Go Home’, the New Wave of Chinese Companies Expanding Overseas ‘不出海，就出局’，中国企业出海新浪潮”; Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, “Li Haitao—Misconceptions and the Right Mindset for Going Global 李海涛——关于出海的误区和正念,” Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business, November 18, 2024, https://www.ckgsb.edu.cn/faculty/article/detail/157/7317; Jin Li, “‘Go Global or Go Under’? Chinese Companies Face Survival Challenges 不‘出海’便‘出局’？中国企业遭遇生存挑战,” ESM China, January 21, 2025, https://www.esmchina.com/news/12684.html.
37 | | BYD Company Limited, 2025 Annual Report (BYD Company Limited, 2025), 14, 284, https://www1.hkexnews.hk/listedco/listconews/sehk/2026/0327/2026032703008.pdf. 
38 | Phate Zhang, “BYD Changsha Sets Sail, as BYD’s 6th Car Carrier Joins Fleet,” CnEVPost, June 24, 2025, https://cnevpost.com/2025/06/24/byd-changsha-sets-sail/.
39 | Alexander Brown, “Knocking on the Door: Ming Yang Sets Its Sights on European Expansion,” MERICS, December 4, 2025, https://merics.org/en/comment/knocking-door-ming-yang-sets-its-sights-europeanexpansion; Sladjana Djunisic, “Shunned by UK, Mingyang Eyes Other Europe Sites for Turbine Factory – Report,” Renewables Now, May 15, 2026, https://renewablesnow.com/news/shunned-by-uk-mingyangeyes-other-europe-sites-for-turbine-factory-report-1294804/.
40 | National Energy Administration, National Energy Administration Press Conference on Renewable Energy Grid Connection in the First Half of the Year 国家能源局举行新闻发布会 介绍上半年可再生能源并网运行情况 (National Energy Administration, 2025), https://www.nea.gov.cn/20250731/36b5b3b74d344325bb-67f38b8e943c18/c.html; National Energy Administration, National Energy Administration Press Conference on Renewable Energy Grid Connection in H1 2026 国家能源局举行新闻发布会 介绍2026年上半年可再生
能源并网运行情况 (National Energy Administration, 2026), https://www.nea.gov.cn/20260730/bb571bc20d7445e5ae7d9dc51c3f700d/c.html; China Automobile Dealers Association, National Passenger Car Market June 2026 Analysis 2026年6月份全国乘用车市场分析 (China Automobile Dealers Association, 2026), https://www.cada.cn/Trends/info_91_10533.html.
41 | Romain Zissler, Progress in Diversifying the Global Solar PV Supply Chain (Renewable Energy Institute, 2024), https://www.renewable-ei.org/pdfdownload/activities/REI_SolarPVsupplychain2024_en.pdf.
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MNRE Approves Gopin Semicon as Solar PV Cell Manufacturer  SolarQuarter
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Bukhara. ©ACWA
A $20 million solar-panel program in Uzbekistan has so far provided 1,580 homes and 334 public institutions with free electricity-generating systems. A further 1,197 households are expected to receive the equipment by May 2027.
The program, known as Yorqin Xonadon (“Bright Home”), is being implemented by Uzbekistan’s Ministry of Energy, Saudi energy company Acwa, and China Southern Power Grid International. According to information provided to The Times of Central Asia by Acwa, the initiative was launched in April 2023. About 65% of the new installations are intended for Karakalpakstan, an autonomous republic in northwestern Uzbekistan that has been severely affected by the drying of the Aral Sea.
Each home receives solar panels with a capacity of approximately 3 kilowatts (kW) and a battery with a storage capacity of 4.8 kilowatt-hours (kWh). During the day, the system generates electricity, while stored energy can be used in the evening or when sunlight is insufficient. How well this setup meets a particular family’s needs depends on its electricity consumption and the season.
Program participants can reduce their electricity bills and receive payments for surplus power supplied to the grid. According to the Ministry of Energy, more than 45,000 people received a total of 209.2 billion soums (approximately $17.8 million) for electricity supplied to the grid in 2025.
While the initiative could help recipients reduce their electricity bills, its contribution to the country’s overall energy needs will be small.
The 2,777 household installations planned under the program would together provide about 8.3 megawatts (MW) of generating capacity. Based on the country’s solar potential, these systems could generate approximately 12–13 million kWh annually, less than 0.02% of the 86.7 billion kWh produced nationwide in 2025. The estimate excludes installations at public institutions, for which capacity figures have not been provided.
Uzbekistan’s electricity consumption is rising, while natural gas remains the country’s main source of power. Large solar and wind farms generated 10.5 billion kWh of electricity in 2025. Although Yorqin Xonadon will make only a small contribution to national electricity generation, it could help thousands of low-income households reduce their energy bills.
Sadokat Jalolova
Jalolova has worked as a reporter for some time in local newspapers and websites in Uzbekistan, and has enriched her knowledge in the field of journalism through courses at the University of Michigan, Johns Hopkins University, and the University of Amsterdam on the Coursera platform.
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The Times of Central Asia © 2023

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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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Turkish solar technology manufacturer Kalyon PV said Thursday it plans to establish a new production facility in the United States as part of its global expansion strategy, targeting direct sales to the U.S. market and seeking to benefit from incentives supporting domestic manufacturing.
The company announced the investment at an investor meeting held Wednesday at its integrated manufacturing complex in Ankara, where it outlined its domestic and international growth strategy, production and technological capabilities, financial outlook and future targets.

The meeting was hosted by Kalyon PV Chair Murathan Kalyoncu and attended by investors and analysts, who also toured the factory to observe the production process, from ingots and wafers to solar cells and panels.
Under the planned investment, Kalyon PV intends to establish a new manufacturing facility through a U.S.-based partnership in which it holds a majority stake. The company has completed the establishment of the U.S. entity, according to its statement.

The facility is expected to manufacture solar panels and other products for the solar energy industry in compliance with relevant U.S. regulations and domestic-content requirements. The company also plans to establish a sales and marketing operation in the country to serve the market directly.
The United States has become a key market in Kalyon PV's international growth strategy amid accelerating solar energy investment, rising demand and incentive mechanisms designed to support domestic production.
U.S. targets to substantially expand installed solar capacity by 2035, alongside advantages offered to local manufacturers, provide the strategic basis for the investment, the company said.

Kalyon PV is working with a U.S.-based consultancy on tax, legal and investment matters. It expects to pursue federal tax incentives as well as economic development incentives offered at state and local levels.
Kalyoncu said the company aimed to take the manufacturing experience and capabilities it had developed in Türkiye into international markets.

“Since our establishment, we have manufactured panels to meet the needs of our industry, particularly for the Kalyon Karapınar Solar Power Plant, one of Europe's largest and among the world's leading solar power plants,” he said.
Kalyon PV had continuously invested in research and development, technology and human resources, Kalyoncu said, adding that these efforts had helped the company achieve a series of milestones.
“Today, we are entering a new era in which we will take the experience and manufacturing strength we have built in Türkiye to global markets,” he said. “The company we have established in the United States is an important step in our international growth strategy.”
Each new investment strengthens the company's production capabilities, while each new market supports its global expansion strategy, Kalyoncu said.

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A 450-megawatt (MW) solar farm with a massive battery system is now under construction in Arizona – and Tesla has already lined up about 90% of its expected electricity output.
ContourGlobal held a groundbreaking ceremony on October 6 for Project Sterling, around 20 miles north of Lake Havasu City in Mohave County. The project will cover more than 2,000 acres in the Mojave Desert, and it’s expected to come online in 2028.
Sterling will pair more than 760,000 solar panels with over 300 battery storage containers. Its solar panels will have a combined capacity of 509 MW DC, with 450 MW of AC capacity after conversion for the grid.
The batteries will deliver up to 360 MW and store around 1.4 gigawatt-hours of electricity – enough to discharge at full power for about four hours. ContourGlobal says the solar and storage will enable Sterling to deliver clean electricity for up to 16 hours a day.
The system uses lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries with liquid cooling and integrated fire protection.
Once it’s online, Sterling is expected to generate more than 1.1 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity annually. Tesla’s long-term power purchase agreement covers around 1 TWh per year, plus the associated renewable energy certificates, which is 90% of the Arizona solar and battery storage plant’s expected annual output. Sterling will become ContourGlobal’s largest renewable energy asset worldwide.
The electricity also has a route into California. Sterling will connect to the Western Area Power Administration’s grid and has secured transmission rights into the California Independent System Operator’s electricity market.
ContourGlobal expects construction to employ around 400 workers through 2028. Local crews will handle civil works, roads, and site logistics, including a new 5.2-mile (8.4-km) access road connecting the project to historic Route 66.
The privately financed project has also secured an equity bridge loan from a group of international banks to help fund ContourGlobal’s investment during construction.
Read more: California gives the green light to balcony solar
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By Dakota Antelman — [email protected]
A long-awaited solar panel overhaul is underway at the former town landfill. 
In Concord’s broader push for green energy, a rooftop panel project at the middle school has hit delays. Other possible projects remain on the shelf. 
“Solar is popular,” Select Board member Dean Banfield said earlier this year. 
When it comes to turning that popularity into actual installations, supporters see room for improvement. 
Banfield, who chaired Concord’s Solar Implementation Task Force, has said that the town could miss a goal to have 20 megawatts of solar capacity on municipal land by 2030. 
The School Committee discussed middle school solar panels on October 7 but made no decision on the matter and didn’t take a vote.
For Climate Action Committee Chair Brad Dye, the process has been a lesson in what pitfalls to avoid.
“We just need to learn from this experience and not make the same blunder a second time,” Dye said. 
Tale of two sites
The landfill solar site powered up in 2014. 
Crews finished removing panels in recent weeks and plan to replace them with a larger, approximately 4.5 mW setup capable of powering nearly 780 homes, according to estimates from the Solar Energy Industries Association.
The project is set to more than double the site’s capacity. New panels should be ready by the end of January 2027, Town Manager Kerry Lafleur said. 
The site will include a battery system to store excess electricity during the day and release it as needed.
Select Board members celebrated landfill progress as the project moved through town permitting.
On middle school solar, Light Board members voiced frustration as installation lagged. Member Brian Foulds said last fall that the schools weren’t being “a faithful partner.” 
The Ellen Garrison Building at Concord Middle School opened in February 2025. Although panels have remained a consistent part of the CMS conversation, they weren’t officially part of the main construction project.
Rooftop solar came back before the School Committee on September 23. Administrators and committee members say they want panels. They also wanted to “dot our i’s [and] cross our t’s,” as K-8 committee Chair Sandeep Pisharody put it. He did not respond to follow-up questions before press time. 
Officials’ concerns included protecting the roof warranty. 
Schools Superintendent Laurie Hunter told The Bridge ahead of the School Committee’s latest meeting that officials “are pleased to continue to work with” the Concord Municipal Light Plant, which is part of the rooftop solar initiative.
“We remain committed to seeing the installation occur and are working to finalize an agreement that would facilitate our shared goal,” she said through a spokesperson.
Pisharody didn’t answer follow-up questions before press time. 
Other measures
Town Meeting has approved articles related to solar expansion and other sustainability topics over the years. 
“Every time we have the opportunity to vote for the environment, we do,” Dye said. 
The Solar Implementation Task Force issued its findings in 2024 with over a dozen recommendations to boost solar energy.
Banfield led the latest charge as a private citizen this spring. He won nearly unanimous support at Town Meeting for a resolution asking the Select Board to adopt a rooftop solar requirement for new town and K-8 school buildings.
Installing panels can be pricey, developer Dan Gainsboro told The Bridge. He supports requiring them on municipal buildings anyway.
“If you make it a requirement, people figure out how to get past it,” he said.
Others have pushed back, with Select Board member Cameron McKennitt calling the proposal “unnecessary” and “bureaucratic” ahead of 2026 Town Meeting.
Public Works Commission member Sven Weber said he’s glad Banfield modified his request from a town bylaw to a policy, which can be more flexible. “The big question” is who would maintain solar panels on new town roofs, he told The Bridge this month. 
Banfield, now a Select Board member, brought a draft policy to the board’s October 5 meeting.
The policy automatically excludes certain small buildings, and the Select Board can grant additional exceptions. The board approved the new measure.
‘Thoreau would want solar’
Concord is considering possible new public safety and public works facilities that could support solar panels.
Banfield recently highlighted an array at the former W.R. Grace Superfund site near the Acton border. Equipment there is failing, he told The Bridge, and the site is due for an overhaul that could mirror the landfill revamp. 
Resident Edie Lipinski has been interested in green home technology and guesses one famous Concordian might appreciate what’s happening at the landfill. 
“Henry David Thoreau would want solar panels,” she said. 
Trace Salzbrenner contributed reporting.
Rows of solar panels could be coming to a field off Old Bedford Road near Hanscom Field.
Massport, which operates Hanscom, has proposed the project as part of a larger “net-zero” push. This site and another off Virginia Road in Lincoln, near the Concord border, could provide up to 4.5 megawatts of capacity. 
Officials brought plans to the Hanscom Field Advisory Commission this summer. Asked about safety concerns with panels near runways, consultant Rob Hoeg said planners will also work closely with federal regulators.
“Massachusetts definitely needs more green energy,” HFAC’s Christopher Eliot said. 
Panels either installed or under construction at Hanscom combine to provide roughly 0.5 mW of capacity, consultant Jenna Ide said. 
The proposed project could connect either to Concord Municipal Light Plant or to Eversource equipment and send power directly into the grid. 
Officials could start design and permitting work at Hanscom in December, Ide said. Systems would have to come online by the end of 2029 to take advantage of sunsetting tax credits, she said. 
Hanscom discussions come as Concord manages a series of solar projects on municipal land. 
A public trail cuts across the Massport land off Old Bedford Road that’s being eyed for solar development. 
Massport spokesperson Jennifer Mehigan didn’t respond by press time to Bridge questions seeking an update on solar planning. 
— Dakota Antelman
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Shariqua A. – 258 words
For millions of people living in remote villages across Bangladesh, electricity is still hard to get. These communities are far from existing power lines, making it difficult to bring electricity to their homes. Some residents use their own solar panels. However, many low-income families cannot afford the high cost of buying and installing them. To solve this problem, a startup called SOLshare has come up with an innovative solution. The company has built a system that allows neighbors to sell their extra solar power to nearby homes.
The idea of selling excess solar power came from the residents themselves. Homes with solar panels often made more electricity than they needed, especially on sunny afternoons. Instead of letting the extra power go to waste, some villagers ran extension cords to nearby homes without electricity. They kept track of how much electricity their neighbors used and collected payment the next morning.
To make this system easier and more reliable, SOLshare developed a smart meter. The device is installed in each participating home. It helps record how much electricity is shared and the amount each neighbor needs to pay.
SOLshare also provides other clean energy solutions. The company installs rooftop solar systems for businesses and has developed rechargeable battery systems for electric rickshaws. These three-wheeled vehicles are widely used to carry passengers and goods across Bangladesh.
Looking ahead, SOLshare plans to help more communities across Asia and Africa build clean energy networks. The company hopes its technology will make it easier for people to share and access reliable electricity.
Resources: Fastcompany.com, solshare.com
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New Trump rules will make it harder for farmers to access US funds for energy projects  Yahoo
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Molecular Chaos Becomes a Strength in Record-Breaking Perovskite Solar Cells
Perovskite solar cells have spent the past decade smashing efficiency records while simultaneously frustrating engineers with their tendency to fall apart. Now a team led by researchers at City University of Hong Kong, together with collaborators at Jilin University and Sun Yat-sen University, has reported a deceptively simple fix that draws on an idea borrowed from metallurgy: embrace disorder. By blending three structurally similar self-assembled molecules into a single hole-selective contact, the group created what they call a high-entropy molecular contact, and the resulting inverted perovskite solar cells reached a champion power conversion efficiency of 27.50 percent, with a certified steady-state efficiency of 27.31 percent. More striking still, the devices showed negligible efficiency loss after 1,300 hours of continuous operation at maximum power point tracking at 85 degrees Celsius in ambient air. The work, published in Nature Photonics, suggests that the road to durable perovskite photovoltaics may run not through ever-more-perfect molecular order, but through carefully engineered molecular chaos.
To understand why the result matters, it helps to look closely at the architecture of an inverted perovskite solar cell. In this configuration, light enters through a transparent electrode and first encounters a hole-selective layer that extracts positive charge carriers from the perovskite absorber. In state-of-the-art devices, that layer is typically a self-assembled monolayer: a single molecular layer in which each molecule anchors to the oxide substrate through a phosphonic acid group and presents an energy-aligned frontier orbital to the perovskite above. These monolayers use vanishingly small amounts of material, coat rough surfaces uniformly, and have been central to the efficiency surge of recent years. But they carry a structural vulnerability. A monolayer built from a single molecular species tends to pack into one dominant motif, and when that motif is stressed, by heat, by mechanical strain, or by the chemical pressure of the perovskite crystallizing on top of it, the packing can collapse. When the packing collapses, the pathways that holes use to hop from the perovskite into the electrode are disrupted, and the device begins to degrade.
The Hong Kong-led team, including co-first authors Deng Wang, Mingqian Chen and Jiacong Feng, attacked this vulnerability by mixing three carbazole-naphthalene self-assembled molecules that share similar chemical skeletons but differ in their intermolecular interactions and packing preferences. The strategy mirrors the high-entropy concept that transformed alloy design, where mixing multiple elements in near-equimolar ratios stabilizes materials through configurational entropy rather than through a single dominant crystal structure. Here, the entropy is not in atomic positions but in packing modes. Because each of the three molecules prefers a slightly different way of stacking against its neighbors, the blended film cannot settle into one brittle, long-range-ordered arrangement. Instead, it forms a dense mosaic of coexisting packing motifs, a high-entropy system in which no single failure mode can propagate easily. The result is a contact that extracts holes efficiently while remaining remarkably resilient under external stress.
Proving that such a high-entropy molecular contact actually forms, rather than simply producing a phase-separated mess, required a battery of complementary techniques. Single-crystal analysis of the individual molecules revealed the distinct intermolecular interactions, hydrogen bonding patterns and π-stacking geometries that each species brings to the blend. Molecular dynamics simulations, run on the blended films, showed how the three components interpenetrate and how the resulting diversity of local environments suppresses the large-scale structural rearrangements that plague single-component monolayers. Interfacial characterizations of the actual devices then confirmed that the mixed contact maintains intimate, robust contact with the perovskite layer. Together, these measurements painted a consistent picture: the ternary blend does not segregate or compete, it cooperates, producing an interface whose structural heterogeneity is precisely the source of its mechanical and thermal toughness.
The charge-transport consequences of that heterogeneity are subtle but favorable. In an idealized, perfectly ordered monolayer, holes move through well-defined electronic coupling pathways between adjacent molecules. Disorder might seem like the enemy of such transport, and in amorphous organic semiconductors it often is. But the high-entropy contact occupies a sweet spot: the three molecules are chemically similar enough that their energy levels remain aligned, so no deep traps are introduced, while their diverse packing modes create multiple, redundant percolation pathways for hole extraction. Transient absorption spectroscopy measurements on the devices supported this picture, showing efficient hole transfer at the contact. In effect, the team traded a single elegant highway for a dense network of smaller roads, and the network proved far harder to knock out. The approach also echoes recent work on high-entropy hybrid perovskites, in which disordered organic moieties within the perovskite lattice itself have been shown to enhance stability, suggesting a broader design principle spreading across the field.
The photovoltaic numbers place the devices at the very front of the inverted perovskite pack. The champion cell delivered a power conversion efficiency of 27.50 percent, and an independent certified steady-state efficiency of 27.31 percent was recorded, a figure that stands among the highest reported for single-junction perovskite devices and compares favorably with entries on established efficiency charts. Efficiency alone, however, has never been the bottleneck for perovskite commercialization; stability has. Here the high-entropy contact earned its keep. Under maximum power point tracking at 85 degrees Celsius in ambient air, a punishing accelerated-ageing protocol that combines thermal stress, continuous illumination and electrical bias, the devices retained essentially all of their initial efficiency after 1,300 hours. The team also reported extended stability under a range of other accelerated ageing tests, consistent with the consensus ISOS procedures that the perovskite community uses to standardize stability reporting.
That combination of certified efficiency and heat tolerance addresses the two criteria that investors and module manufacturers scrutinize most closely. Perovskite modules must survive decades of outdoor service, during which rooftop temperatures can exceed 70 degrees Celsius in summer and internal junctions run hotter still. A contact layer that structurally collapses under such thermal load becomes a device-wide liability, initiating delamination and accelerating the decomposition of the perovskite itself. By hardening the molecular interface at its weakest scale, the single molecular layer, the high-entropy strategy protects the entire stack. The fact that the improvement required no exotic materials, only a ternary blend of closely related carbazole-based molecules that can be deposited from solution, makes the approach attractive for scalable manufacturing, where process simplicity and material cost weigh as heavily as laboratory performance.
The authors emphasize that the framework is broadly applicable beyond the specific molecules they synthesized. The underlying principle, that blending species with similar electronic structures but distinct packing motifs generates entropy-stabilized interfaces, could in principle be applied to electron-selective contacts, to the buried interfaces of tandem devices, and to other solution-processed thin-film technologies that rely on self-assembled monolayers, including organic electronics and emerging tandem architectures that pair perovskites with silicon. Recent parallel reports of ternary self-assembled molecular contacts for perovskite-silicon tandems and of entropy-regulating molecular locks that stabilize the perovskite lattice indicate that high-entropy thinking is rapidly spreading through molecular-level photovoltaic engineering. The present work adds a rigorous structural and mechanistic foundation to that trend, linking single-crystal chemistry, molecular simulation and device-level certification in a single coherent study.
Challenges remain before high-entropy contacts reach the factory floor. The long-term behavior of ternary blends over years rather than months, their behavior in full-size modules with large areas and interconnects, and the reproducibility of blend stoichiometry in industrial coating processes will all need to be demonstrated. Yet the conceptual shift is hard to overstate. For years, interfacial engineering in perovskite solar cells has pursued purity and order, one molecule, one packing mode, one optimized monolayer. This study demonstrates that controlled multiplicity can outperform perfection, converting the very disorder that engineers once feared into a shield against degradation. If the high-entropy design rule generalizes as broadly as the authors suggest, the molecular interfaces of future solar cells may look less like crystalline lattices and more like entropy-toughened mosaics, quietly extracting charge under a blazing sun for decades without complaint.
Subject of Research: High-entropy molecular hole-selective contacts for efficient and stable inverted perovskite solar cells
Article Title: High-entropy molecular contacts enable high-efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells
Article References: Wang, D., Chen, M., Feng, J., Li, Q., Wong, C.-T., Lei, G., Jiang, Q., Wang, T., Jiang, W., & Jen, A. K.-Y. (2026). High-entropy molecular contacts enable high-efficiency and stable perovskite solar cells. Nature Photonics. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-026-02028-5
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1038/s41566-026-02028-5
Keywords: perovskite solar cells, self-assembled monolayers, high-entropy materials, hole-selective contacts, power conversion efficiency, operational stability, molecular packing, inverted architecture, charge transport, molecular dynamics simulations, thermal ageing, Nature Photonics
News Source: Denise Maddox. (October 9, 2026). Molecular Chaos Becomes a Strength in Record-Breaking Perovskite Solar Cells. Scienmag.
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US independent power producer (IPP) Pivot Energy has closed a US$173 million loan to fund 51 community-scale solar projects intended to produce 135MW across six US states.
The company’s first term loan financing deal was provided by First Citizens Bank, Huntington Bank and BankUnited, and is to support continued construction of its renewable energy solar projects.
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Pivot Energy’s vice president of policy and market strategy, John Bernhardt, recently spoke with PV Tech Premium regarding the merger between trade bodies the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and the Coalition for Community Solar Access (CCSA) saying that: “We’ve independently seen their value, and what I think is interesting about this merger is these organisations bring a lot of nice complements.”
In the US Northeast, investor and power infrastructure operator Generate Capital has closed a US$154.5 million investment from SOLCAP, the solar tax equity platform launched by KeyState in 2019. The funds will support 10 community solar projects to be sited in New York and Illinois, which combined will produce 43 MWac.
The latest funding round is Generate Capital’s sixth tax equity fund with KeyState, following a business relationship that began in 2021. The new commitment follows the US$85 million Fund X announced by Generate Capital and KeyState in October 2025.
Generate has built US$1.6 billion in operating funds to date in 2026, and more than US$10 billion since its founding in 2014.
“Our sixth fund with KeyState reflects both the strength of our longstanding partnership and continued interest from institutional capital providers in investing alongside Generate. Together, we’re putting capital to work in projects that expand access to reliable, cost-effective clean power for communities across the country,” said Peggy Flannery, managing director and head of distributed generation at Generate Capital.
KeyState’s chief investment officer, Allan Riska confirmed the two companies’ commitment to bring institutional capital to create community solar projects at scale.

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The Inner Mongolia autonomous region is a flowing epic stretching across China’s northern frontier, a romantic land woven by wind and grass, where a thousand years of nomadic culture continue to flow through the depths of its vast grasslands. The deserts of the north, once traversed only by solitary geese soaring overhead, are now covered by vast fields of photovoltaic panels that shimmer in the sunlight.
From small beginnings to large-scale development, and from a fledgling industry to a powerful new sector, the rapidly growing photovoltaic industry has become a “golden sun” for Inner Mongolia — making its skies bluer, its grasslands greener and its people more prosperous, while striking root in new industries and helping traditional industries transform and upgrade.
Today, when people think of Inner Mongolia, they may picture not only its vast grasslands, delicious beef and mutton, and seemingly endless deserts, but also the “photovoltaic great wall” built along the desert, the streams of data powered by solar and wind power, and the green computing centers scattered across the region.
By the end of 2025, solar power generation in Inner Mongolia had reached 62.40 billion kilowatt-hours, accounting for 7.17 percent of the region’s total electricity generation and 5.32 percent of China’s total grid-connected solar power generation, ranking sixth nationwide.
Electricity generated from solar power and delivered to the grid reached 57.08 billion kilowatt-hours, equivalent to 10.41 percent of the region’s total social electricity consumption, up 3.19 percent year-on-year.
Inner Mongolia is rich in solar resources. Its annual total solar radiation ranges from 1,342 to 1,948 kWh per square meter, while annual sunshine duration ranges from 2,600 to 3,400 hours, making it one of the country’s regions with richest solar resources. The solar resources increase as we travel from east to west, with the deserts, barren lands and Gobi areas in the west enjoying particularly abundant solar radiation. All Inner Mongolia cities and leagues stretching from east to west have very rich solar resources.
Inner Mongolia plans to add 30 million kilowatts of installed power capacity every year during the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) period. The vast majority of the new capacity is expected to come from green power sources such as the sun and the wind. By 2030, the region’s installed renewable energy capacity is expected to reach 325 million kW.
As one of China’s major energy bases, Inner Mongolia has long relied on coal, coal-fired power generation, coal chemicals and other coal- and electricity-intensive industries as major pillars of its economy. With China implementing its new energy security strategy; with its ecological conservation taking place in Northeast China, North China and Northwest China; and with the country’s advancing of its twin goals of peaking carbon emissions by 2030 and achieving carbon neutrality by 2060, Inner Mongolia has embarked on a new model of energy-driven economic development.
Since the last decade, clean energy industries such as solar and wind power have risen rapidly in Inner Mongolia. They have become new engines of high-quality regional economic growth, while also contributing significantly to improvements in energy consumption and supply structures across the region and the country.
More importantly, the development of clean energy has created new pilot projects and application scenarios for transforming the way energy is produced and consumed, as well as for technological and institutional innovation. It has also helped the region increase its supply of green electricity to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and China’s southeastern coastal areas.
Breakthrough development of photovoltaic industry
Inner Mongolia began exploring the development and use of new energy as early as the late 1950s and continued those efforts through the late 1970s. During this period, Inner Mongolia University conducted research on solar cell materials. At that time, new energy development was limited in scale and scattered across different locations.
In the early 1980s, the autonomous region established a group to provide unified leadership and coordination for the development and utilization of renewable energy across the region. It also formulated development goals suited to Inner Mongolia’s specific conditions.
In 1986, the regional government issued regulations and formulated measures to provide financial support for the promotion of small wind turbines and solar cells. These measures became the first local government support policies for new energy development in China.
A major breakthrough came in 2012, when the central government issued the plan for solar power development during the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-15). From that point onward, Inner Mongolia’s new-energy sector shifted from primarily meeting basic household energy needs toward a combination of household and productive uses, and from reliance on individual energy sources toward an integrated approach based on complementary energy sources.
During the 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-20) period, Inner Mongolia made new energy a major focus of its energy transition and vigorously developed renewable energy led by wind and solar power.
With more than 2,800 hours of sunshine a year on average and vast areas of desertified land, Inner Mongolia was among the first regions in the country to develop photovoltaic projects in areas such as Ordos and Alshaa. Innovative models such as “photovoltaics+desertification control” and “photovoltaics+pastoralism” have created a win-win outcome for ecological restoration and energy production.
In 2022, the National Development and Reform Commission and the National Energy Administration officially launched large-scale wind and photovoltaic bases focusing on the deserts, Gobi areas and other arid areas.
Some projects were in Inner Mongolia or involved the region. The first batch of large-scale wind and photovoltaic bases were not only energy projects , but also the ones with integrated initiatives combining ecological restoration with the energy revolution, designed to concentrate development in these areas. By 2030, the total installed capacity of large-scale wind and solar power bases, with a focus on desert, Gobi, and barren land areas, will reach 455 million kW.
The first project is the Kubuqi Desert Central and Northern Ordos Base in Inner Mongolia. It is the world’s largest photovoltaic project in a desert, with total installed capacity exceeding 16 million kW. Its defining feature is the integration of photovoltaic generation with desertification control.
The second project in Inner Mongolia is the Kubuqi Desert Southern Ordos Base. Together with the northern base, it forms a coordinated development pattern covering large parts of the Kubuqi Desert. The project adopts a model in which electricity is generated above the panels while crops and vegetation are cultivated underneath, highlighting the ecological benefits of combining photovoltaic generation with desertification control.
The third project is the southeastern Tengger Desert Base, located in an area spanning the Ningxia Hui autonomous region and Inner Mongolia. With a total planned capacity of about 12 million kW, it serves as a test case for cross-provincial and cross-regional cooperation in both renewable energy development and ecological governance.
The fourth project is the Ulan Buh Desert Base, with a capacity exceeding 10 million kW. Located in Bayannuur and Alshaa, it lies close to the Yellow River’s distinctive U-shaped bend, and has major ecological significance. One of its key objectives is to contain the sources of sand that threaten surrounding pastoral areas and towns.
The fifth project is the Badain Jaran Desert Base, which spans Inner Mongolia and Gansu province. The Badain Jaran is China’s second-largest shifting desert and has exceptionally rich wind and solar resources. The project combines wind and photovoltaic power generation and is supported by ultra-high-voltage transmission infrastructure.
Application drives manufacturing. In recent years, Inner Mongolia has leveraged a combination of advantages, including relatively low electricity costs from renewable energy and national policies accelerating the development of large-scale wind and solar bases in western China. Cities including Baotou, Ordos, Hohhot and Tongliao have become major centers for the development of a distinctive photovoltaic manufacturing industry.
The region has established a relatively complete photovoltaic manufacturing chain covering polysilicon, silicon wafers, solar cells, modules and photovoltaic mounting systems. At the same time, Inner Mongolia has developed a rational industrial layout on the basis of local resources, manufacturing foundations, supporting capabilities and market conditions. This has attracted many leading companies from across China’s solar industry to invest and build factories in the region.
Baotou, for example, focuses on core manufacturing segments in the upstream and midstream parts of the industry. It has attracted leading photovoltaic manufacturers and developed major production bases for polysilicon and monocrystalline silicon rods.
Hohhot and Ordos focus mainly on photovoltaic cells and module manufacturing; Tongliao and surrounding areas focus on photovoltaic mounting systems.
A profound transformation from old growth drivers to new ones
For decades, Inner Mongolia, one of the regions with the richest coal reserves in China, played an indispensable role in supplying coal and electricity to the country. Coal mining, thermal power generation and coal chemicals once dominated the economies of the region as a whole and of areas such as Ordos and Wuhai. These industries were also major sources of employment and local fiscal revenue.
But this relatively single-track energy-based economic model has proven unsustainable in practice. At various stages, it placed considerable pressure on resources and caused environmental problems.
The first major issue was ecological degradation. Poorly planned large-scale open-pit coal mining contributed to grassland degradation, desertification and excessive groundwater extraction, affecting both local ecosystems and the broader grassland environment.
The second was environmental pollution. Coal-fired power plants and coal chemical facilities operating under relatively low emissions-control standards released large amounts of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, worsening air pollution.
The third was the risk of resource depletion. Excessive short-term reliance on coal and traditional industries caused mineral resources in some areas to decline and posed serious challenges to sustainable economic development.
Although this stage of Inner Mongolia’s economic development was relatively brief and has largely become a thing of the past, remnants of the old development model can still be seen in some areas.
Therefore, as China moves toward modernization and the building of a Beautiful China, the question of what kind of energy-based economy Inner Mongolia should develop is about far more than optimizing its energy supply and consumption structure or adjusting its industrial structure. At its core, it represents a fundamental shift in the development philosophy itself.
Guided by national policies, Inner Mongolia has, since 2018, promoted the clean and efficient use of coal and the green and low-carbon transformation of traditional industries. It has also worked to develop non-coal energy sources and non-coal industries while promoting the green and low-carbon transformation of coal-fired power generation and coal chemical industries.
At the same time, the region established a 20-billion-yuan ($2.98 billion) green development fund to support renewable energy projects and accelerate the formation of a diversified energy supply system driven by coal, oil, natural gas, new energy and other renewable energy sources. In terms of technological innovation, Inner Mongolia has also made significant progress in both traditional and renewable energy.
Today, Inner Mongolia’s economic and industrial structures have changed dramatically. The value added of strategic emerging industries has maintained an average annual growth rate of more than 12 percent for several consecutive years.
The large-scale development of solar and wind power and the rise of renewable energy equipment manufacturing have not only reshaped Inner Mongolia’s energy economy, but also given the region’s role as a major national energy security base a distinctly new character.
Inner Mongolia can still supply more than 1 billion metric tons of coal to the country each year and provide substantial amounts of electricity for transmission to other regions. But increasingly, it can also supply green electricity and clean fuels such as green hydrogen, ammonia and methanol, providing new sources of energy and momentum for green and low-carbon development across China.
Inner Mongolia’s experience demonstrates the development philosophy that “lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets”. By developing photovoltaic desertification-control models, the region has found more effective ways to combine ecological restoration with the expansion of clean energy.
By innovating models that integrate energy development with industrial development, Inner Mongolia has fostered a number of green-power industrial parks and green data centers. These initiatives have opened new pathways for the green and low-carbon transformation of traditional industries while creating room for emerging industries to grow.
From a “sea of coal” to a national leader in wind and solar power, Inner Mongolia has seen its renewable energy equipment industries — covering wind, solar, hydrogen and energy storage — continue to expand. This transformation has not only reshaped the region’s energy and industrial landscape, but also demonstrated a viable path for resource-rich regions to achieve green transformation.
The green transformation represents a shift from a traditional development model to a new development philosophy. It also offers valuable experience for renewable energy resource-rich regions around the world seeking sustainable development.
Against the backdrop of the global transition toward carbon neutrality, Inner Mongolia’s story of green transformation is entering a new chapter.
The author is former director of the Energy Research Institute of the National Development and Reform Commission.
The views don’t necessarily represent those of China Daily.
If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.
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ContourGlobal broke ground on Project Sterling, a 509 MWp / 450 MWac solar facility paired with 360 MW / 1.4 GWh of battery energy storage in Mohave County, Arizona.
The developer will deliver approximately 90% of the hybrid facility’s expected output to Tesla under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA). Covering more than 1 TWh of clean electricity per year, the deal represents one of the largest corporate solar-plus-storage PPAs ever signed for a single hybrid renewable plant in the U.S., and stands as ContourGlobal’s largest PPA to date.
The project utilizes an Equity Bridge Loan secured with a syndicate of leading international banks to support its financing structure during the construction phase.
“Our teams engineered the project around the specific needs of our customer, enabling it to deliver reliable clean power for up to 16 hours a day,” said Antonio Cammisecra, President & CEO of ContourGlobal. “Today’s ceremony marks the visible beginning of our partnership with Mohave County, the State of Arizona and our customer, Tesla.”
The solar-plus-storage array will allow ContourGlobal to expand its U.S. clean energy footprint, bringing its domestic portfolio to 2.4 GW of thermal, renewable, and storage capacity operating or under construction. Project Sterling represents the company’s largest renewable asset worldwide.
ContourGlobal will develop, own, and operate the project, which is scheduled for completion in 2028. Once active, the project is expected to produce more than 1.1 TWh of clean electricity annually, equivalent to meeting the yearly residential electricity demand of a city of 100,000 to 120,000 people. Laid out across the Mojave Desert, the project’s footprint spans more than 2,000 acres, utilizing more than 760,000 solar modules and over 300 battery storage containers.
The hybrid project will feature advanced lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology equipped with liquid cooling and integrated fire protection. To access the site, located off a historic stretch of Route 66 between Topock and Kingman, the company is constructing Polaris Road, a new 5.2-mile corridor. Construction will create an average of approximately 400 local jobs.
The partnership reinforces Arizona’s role in regional grid reliability, benefiting from the Western States power interconnection with support from the Western Area Power Administration (WAPA) and the California Independent System Operator (CAISO).
Arizona has established itself as a premier destination for solar development, with 13,198 MWdc installed across the state. According to data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), solar accounts for 18.23% of the state’s total electricity generation, which is enough to power close to 2 million homes, while supporting 9,768 clean energy jobs and over $24.2 billion in total capital investments. Driven by massive hybrid facilities like Project Sterling, the market is poised to accelerate rapidly, with SEIA projecting another 18,435 MW of solar capacity expansion over the next five years
Learn more about the latest utility-scale project development, register and join us for a free pv magazine USA webinar on October 22.
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Solar developers Clearway and Pivot Energy have each announced new financing arrangements in recent days, announcing major funding for both new projects and existing portfolios across the country. 
The announcements began in San Francisco, where Clearway Energy Group revealed the closing of financing for the 650 MW Swan Energy Center, located in northwestern Bates County, Missouri on land that was once strip-mined for coal.
Concurrent with the funding announcement, the company revealed it had begun construction on the site. The company says it expects the construction to continue through the middle of 2028, with as many as 500 workers on site during that time.
“The Swan Energy Center represents a significant investment in Bates County, delivering reliable clean energy and economic benefits to the region,” said John Woody, Chief Development Officer at Clearway. “We’re grateful to our local partners for their trust in welcoming Clearway to the community.”
$1.5 billion in financing for the project was secured by a bank consortium led by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, DNB Bank ASA, and National Australia Bank Limited. Energy from the facility is contracted under a 20-year power purchase agreement with an undisclosed tech company.
The Clearway announcement follows news of another recent project on former coal land. Global developer and IPP Zelestra recently announced $350 million in green financing credit facilities provided by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), BBVA and Societe Generale for the 203 MW Reclamation Solar project in Gibson County, Indiana. 
The Zelestra project, named as a nod to the land’s former use, is also under construction. The funding pushed the company past $1 billion in financing for its U.S. projects in 2026
Pivot Energy takeout loan facility
Denver-based developer and independent power producer (IPP) Pivot Energy also made a recent announcement, celebrating the closing of $173 million in takeout financing for its portfolio of 51 community-scale solar projects totaling 135 Megawatts (MWdc) across six states.
In project finance, takeout term loans are executed once assets achieve commercial operation (or substantial completion) to retire higher-risk construction debt. In a release announcing the financing, Pivot says the loan “frees up capacity in Pivot’s revolving construction facility to support continued construction of additional projects.” The financing was provided by First Citizens Bank, Huntington Bank, and BankUnited.
“Closing our first term loan across a consolidated portfolio is an important step for Pivot,” said Pivot CFO Bret Labadie, in a statement. “We’re grateful to First Citizens, Huntington, and BankUnited, who have supported Pivot from the start. This financing gives us the flexibility to grow faster and deliver lasting value where our projects are built, from community investment and agrivoltaics to local jobs and economic development.”
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Energies Media
The ride queues were still running when the electricians made the final connection.
Overhead, 36 long-span steel canopies stretched the full length of the parking lot, carrying nearly 23,000 solar modules across a footprint most utility developers would be glad to have in a wheat field.
The site is a theme park in Los Angeles County, roller coasters on one side, 14 acres of bifacial glass on the other.
And on October 2, 2026, California’s largest solar carport sent its first electrons to the grid.
The question the installation immediately raises is not whether it works, but what a parking lot does to a 12 MW system that flat desert ground simply cannot.
A conventional ground-mounted solar field sits on grade, which means rain washes dust off at an angle, mowing crews can reach every row and the only thing below the panels is soil. A carport array is mounted eight to twelve feet in the air above asphalt, and that single fact changes almost everything about how heat, soiling and maintenance behave. Asphalt absorbs heat aggressively through the day and releases it after sunset, which means the air column directly beneath a carport panel stays warmer longer than the air beneath a field-mounted row at the same latitude.
Warmer air means higher module temperatures, and higher module temperatures cost yield. Silicon panels lose roughly 0.3 to 0.5 percent of their rated output for every degree Celsius above their test temperature, so a parking lot that runs ten degrees hotter than open ground can quietly shave four or five percent off a system’s production before a single cloud appears. The designers here used bifacial modules rated at 540 watts each, which capture reflected light from the pale asphalt below, and that rear-side gain is one direct way the site’s surface fights back against its own heat penalty.
So the parking lot gives with one hand and takes with the other, and the net result depends on how well the canopy structures manage airflow beneath the array.
The completed system is rated at 12.37 MW and spans approximately 637,000 square feet of solar canopy carried on 36 long-span carport structures, using 22,908 bifacial solar modules. That footprint works out to roughly 14.6 acres, which is a meaningful piece of land for a solar array inside any city boundary, let alone one that was already occupied and generating revenue as a parking lot.
Behind the panels sit a 2 MW, 8 MWh battery energy storage system and 109 electric vehicle charging connectors spread across guest and team member spaces, covering approximately 4,315 parking spaces in total. The battery is small relative to the array’s daily production, but its role is smoothing the sharp demand spikes that a park full of electric rides and refrigeration can throw at a grid connection in the first minutes after gates open.
The system is linked to the Southern California Edison grid, so any surplus above the park’s instantaneous need flows out rather than being curtailed. Annual generation is projected at approximately 20.8 million kWh of clean electricity, enough to supply around 2,874 average California homes for a year, or, put another way, enough to recharge roughly 38 million typical electric vehicle batteries.
The project is the largest solar carport installation in California and one of the largest single-site commercial solar carport projects in the United States, designed to offset 100 percent of the annual electricity consumption of both the amusement park and its adjacent water park. That double-park ambition is what drove the scale: a single theme park in southern California draws enough power to justify a utility-grade installation, and adding a second site on the same grid connection pushed the module count past 22,000.
The park president, Brian Oerding, put it plainly in the project announcement: “This is a transformative moment for Six Flags Magic Mountain and our sustainability journey. By investing in renewable energy, we’re taking meaningful action to reduce our environmental impact while helping build a more sustainable future for our guests, team members and community.”
The figures were confirmed in a verified project release published on October 2, 2026, and the announcement coincided with the start of National Energy Awareness Month, with the installation developed in partnership with Solar Optimum as well as local community and government officials. For solar developers watching commercial carport economics, the project is now the clearest California benchmark available.
A theme park is not a warehouse roof or a flat commercial lot and the differences compound over time. Roller coasters throw vibration through the ground continuously during operating hours, and that cyclic stress travels into the steel columns that carry 637,000 square feet of racking. Standard commercial carport structures are engineered for static loads and occasional wind events, not for the sustained, repetitive shake of a ride running 400 feet overhead hundreds of times a day.
Soiling is also unusual here. A standard parking lot accumulates tire rubber, brake dust and road grime on any horizontal surface. Bifacial modules with a rear glass face pointing down at asphalt collect that soiling on their underside too, and rear-face soiling is harder to clean than a top face because the modules are mounted tight to the carport rail and automated wash systems cannot reach beneath them. Just as panel orientation changes how much energy reaches the grid at peak hours, panel position above a reflective surface changes how much soiling matters.
And then there is the crowd itself. Guest vehicles, food trucks and maintenance equipment park under the canopy every single day, which makes the kind of ground-level access that a field crew takes for granted nearly impossible on a busy weekend. The 109 EV chargers wired into the same structure mean electrical maintenance work must be coordinated around a live charging network that guests depend on.
The more consequential implication of the Magic Mountain project is how many similar surfaces exist across the United States. Theme parks, stadium lots, airport aprons, big-box retail and casino complexes all share the same profile: vast sealed surfaces under full southern exposure, existing grid connections, and a building or attraction next door that runs a very large electrical load. Most of those surfaces are currently doing nothing for the energy system except absorbing heat and sending runoff into storm drains.
The carport model also sidesteps the land-use tension that follows utility-scale solar into agricultural or desert settings. Floating arrays on mine reservoirs solve a similar problem, finding a surface that is already committed to something else and adding generation on top of it, and the engineering tradeoffs of that choice are real in both cases.
Even so, the heat penalty, the soiling complexity and the structural vibration risk are genuine limits. Twenty-two thousand modules above asphalt in Los Angeles County will face summer temperatures that challenge any silicon cell’s rated output, and the first few years of metered production data will tell investors whether the bifacial rear-gain is fully compensating for the thermal drag. If it is, the thrill park carport stops being a curiosity and becomes a template. If it falls short, the gap will clarify exactly how much rear-side gain commercial developers can count on when the surface below them is dark asphalt rather than pale desert soil.
The roller coasters will keep running either way, and the answer should arrive in the next annual generation report.
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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Invalid signatures halt Swiss vote to ease solar power plant rules  SWI swissinfo.ch
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The transaction is coherent with the Enel Group’s strategy, which envisages accelerating growth of its generation capacity from renewable sources, including through the acquisition of assets already in operation in Tier 1 countries (Brownfield).
Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global power and renewables markets, present in 27 countries worldwide. At global level, it is the largest renewable player, the foremost electricity distribution network player by number of grid customers served and the biggest retail operator by customer base.
Enel generates electricity with more than 92 GW of total capacity. Enel Green Power, the Group’s renewables arm, has a total capacity of 67 GW and a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power, as well as energy storage facilities, installed in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
Enel Grids, the Group’s global business line dedicated to the management of the electricity distribution service worldwide, delivers electricity through a network of 1.9 million kilometres with more than 69 million end users connected to its distribution grids.
Enel Commercial is the Group’s arm dedicated to customers around the world with the aim of effectively providing products and services based on their energy needs and encouraging them towards a more conscious and sustainable use of energy. It provides electricity, gas and integrated services to around 54 million customers globally including households, enterprises, industries and public administrations. In addition, it offers flexibility services aggregating over 11 GW and has approximately more than 35,000 owned public charging points for electric mobility.
For additional information:
Enel

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A nuclear power plant beside a solar farm in California. Global investment in nuclear energy has already doubled since 2019, with capital flowing into reactors, fuel, enrichment, and startups at a scale few have noticed. (Shutterstock/Wirestock Creators)
We’ve all heard stories about an investment boom in the nuclear energy industry. But most think it’s something that’s still on the horizon, when in reality it’s already here.
For years, the nuclear energy sector was ignored by private investors, who saw the sector as too slow, too expensive, and too reliant on government support. 
That narrative is more than a bit outdated. It’s now fundamentally wrong.
The rapid growth of power needs for data centers and other applications has significantly increased demand for nuclear energy. So, it’s perhaps no wonder that nuclear energy’s growth trajectory has skyrocketed. 
Nearly 40 countries have signed a pledge to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050. Some critics say the 2050 goal is unattainable, but what most overlook is that investment has already doubled since 2019. 
The latest report from the International Energy Agency (IEA) showed investment in nuclear energy has surpassed $80 billion, with nearly 80 gigawatts of new plant capacity under construction, but there’s still a long way to go.
Recently, the World Nuclear Association (WNA) published an investment guide on how to achieve the 2050 goal, which it estimates to be worth $6 trillion. This means investment levels need to triple from where they are now to about $250 billion per year, according to WNA.
Recent weeks have seen not just one, but two, major investment moves in the nuclear sector, with Newcleo raising almost $250 million and launching on the Nasdaq, while industry giant Westinghouse moves closer to an initial public offering (IPO) valued at more than $50 billion. 
The $80 billion figure for 2026 is significant because it represents the real nuclear industry, not simply venture capital flowing into startups. It includes investment both in building new reactors and in modernizing existing nuclear plants.
And even that number doesn’t tell the whole story.
A separate pool of capital is pouring into companies developing next-generation technology. Global venture investment in nuclear fission startups hit $3.5 billion in 2025, more than double the previous high in 2022, according to PitchBook. And estimates for 2026 show that investment this year is on track to far surpass last year’s record.
This $3.5 billion is not included in the IEA’s $80 billion figure as a simple add-on. The two numbers measure different things. But together they reveal something easy to miss when looking at conventional energy-investment statistics: capital is flowing into nuclear at multiple levels simultaneously.
And advanced fission is attracting a significant amount of it.
Consider other developments this year. X-energy raised approximately $1 billion in its IPO. Valar Atomics raised $1 billion in August, Antares Nuclear has raised $470 million so far this year, and Standard Nuclear has raised $290 million. Other nuclear startups have raised smaller amounts. And there’s doubtless more to come.
These companies aren’t just making promises. They are using the funds for licensing, manufacturing, fuel production, demonstration reactors, and other vital steps toward commercial deployment.
Funding is also moving to businesses beyond just reactor companies.
The US government has committed $900 million each to Centrus Energy, General Matter, and Orano to expand domestic uranium enrichment capacity. That is $2.7 billion directed toward a low-profile but critical part of the nuclear fuel cycle.
Fuel cycle companies are attracting private capital, too. Standard Nuclear’s financing is aimed at expanding production of TRISO fuel for advanced reactors. Uranium mining companies are raising capital for projects in Canada, Australia, Africa, and the United States. And governments around the world are investing in fuel fabrication, reactor components, and other vital parts of the nuclear manufacturing base.
Ultimately, a successful nuclear renaissance requires much more than reactors.
We are moving from just “let’s build nuclear plants” to “let’s rebuild an industrial ecosystem.”
That ecosystem includes uranium mines, conversion facilities, enrichment, advanced fuels, components, EPC, and of course the reactors themselves.
This is part of the reason why the current investment boom has almost gone unnoticed.
Much of the money is hidden in categories that financial analysts don’t necessarily label “nuclear.” But if we view them in aggregate, a very different picture emerges.
The IEA’s more than $80 billion a year in nuclear investment is already substantial. The billions flowing into advanced-fission companies and the wider nuclear fuel cycle show an industry attracting major investment of capital from multiple diverse sources.
And the runway is enormous.
The IEA estimates that global nuclear investment could reach $120 billion annually by 2030—and could exceed $150 billion annually under its net-zero scenario. The IEA also expects annual investment in small modular reactors (SMRs) to rise from about $5 billion today to more than $25 billion by 2030. That’s right—an increase by a factor of five in just four years. 
Even these astonishing projections may prove modest based on recent trends. The upshot is that nuclear isn’t just becoming an investable growth industry. It’s already there.
Of course, there will be bumps in the road. Global uncertainty around energy markets as a whole means timing of projects may shift, and not everything will be smooth sailing. 
But the fundamental evidence is clearly visible in the numbers: more than $80 billion a year in overall nuclear investment; billions flowing into advanced-fission startups; record levels of uranium and fuel-cycle investment; governments rebuilding domestic supply chains; and big technology companies—with deep pockets and long-term investment plans—looking to invest in nuclear to power artificial intelligence (AI).
The real surprise is not how much money is going into nuclear energy. It is how little of that investment is earning the recognition it deserves.
Jarret Adams is founder and CEO of Full On Communications, a strategy and communications consultancy focused on nuclear energy. With more than 25 years of international experience in communications, he created Full On to help the nuclear energy sector achieve its tremendous potential. Previously, Jarret worked in communications at AREVA (now Framatome and Orano) and the US Nuclear Energy Institute. He started his career as a business journalist.
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European Energy secures financing for major UK solar project  EnergyWatch
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As the solar industry pushes for higher output and leaner manufacturing, pushing performance limits requires more than cutting costs. True market success depends on ensuring that next-generation designs can endure decades of field operations without unexpected degradation.
The TaiyangNews Reliable PV Module Design Online Conference, taking place on Thursday, October 15, 2026, from 09:30 to 13:00 CEST, will bring together leading module manufacturers, material and component suppliers, testing organizations, and other industry experts to discuss the latest module products and design concepts, material choices, quality considerations, and reliability challenges, from cells, glass, encapsulants, backsheets, and interconnection technologies to complete module architectures.
At the conference, Ling Zhuang, Product Manager at Trinasolar, will speak on Trinasolar’s approach to building reliability into TOPCon 3.0.
Register for free here.
Vertically integrated PV manufacturer LONGi and Chinese electric vehicle brand NIO have launched an off-grid solar-plus-storage battery-swapping station on the G30 Lianhuo Expressway at Xingxingxia. LONGi describes it as the world’s first zero-carbon off-grid solar-plus-storage battery-swapping station. Located in a grid-free section of the Gobi Desert, the facility relies entirely on its PV and energy storage systems for power.
The project uses LONGi BLOCK mobile energy stations and the OneNexus H2D off-grid microgrid energy storage system (ESS). The BLOCK units integrate PV modules, mounting structures, inverters, and power distribution equipment in standard prefabricated enclosures, allowing deployment without civil works and enabling power generation within hours. The H2D ESS stores surplus daytime electricity for use at night.
LONGi said the project serves as a model for similar applications at mines, on islands, and at remote telecommunications base stations.
Recently, LONGi signed an agreement to supply a LONGiBank liquid-cooled ESS to Shanxi Dingxin Logistics for its heavy-truck charging station in Yuncheng, Shanxi province (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
Inner Mongolia’s energy regulator has published an implementation list covering five PV desertification-control projects in Alxa League, with a combined capacity of 5.5 GW and sand-control measures spanning approximately 14,667 hectares. CGN has two 1 GW projects on the list, while POWERCHINA and China Huaneng each have a 1 GW project. The remaining project, developed by China Huadian, has a capacity of 1.5 GW.
Alxa League selected and submitted the projects, the autonomous region’s authorities reviewed them, and they were included in the implementation list. They form part of a broader national initiative integrating PV development with desertification control. In 2024, the National Energy Administration and National Forestry and Grassland Administration issued requirements calling for PV projects to incorporate conventional desertification-control measures.
PV cleaning robot manufacturer Virtue World Robot has begun volume production of its third-generation intelligent rail-mounted cleaning robot, with the first 300 units rolling off the production line.
The company said the robots feature a lightweight, corrosion-resistant structure with a non-metallic body and crossbeam, plus a wide-temperature battery designed to operate from -20°C to 45°C. The roller brush offers three height settings to accommodate different module specifications and sloped terrain. A dual-terminal control system enables fleet scheduling via smartphones and PCs.
Virtue World Robot recently started mass production of its second-generation handheld intelligent PV cleaning robots at its Honghu Industrial Park in Hubei province (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
Relay manufacturer Sanyou Corporation Limited plans to raise up to RMB 660 million through a six-year convertible bond offering, according to its issuance proposal. Of the proceeds, RMB 140 million will fund a relay capacity expansion project serving the PV, energy storage, and computing-power sectors. The project has a total investment of approximately RMB 163 million.
The remaining proceeds will support relay expansion and industrialization projects for other applications, the construction of a production base in Vietnam, and working capital. Sanyou said the investment is intended to meet growing demand for relay components from downstream markets, including PV and energy storage.
TaiyangNews 2024

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TADF-assisted layer-by-layer processing enables 20.18% efficiency in polymer solar cells.
Newswise — Polymer solar cells (PSCs) promise lightweight, flexible, and scalable solar energy, yet their efficiency still lags behind inorganic counterparts due to high exciton binding energy, low ambipolar carrier mobility, and substantial non-radiative recombination losses. While bulk heterojunction (BHJ) structures have pushed efficiencies beyond 20%, they require precise nanoscale phase separation, and non-radiative charge recombination continues to limit the open-circuit voltage (V_OC). Layer-by-layer (LBL) processing offers better morphological control than blend-casting, but integrating thermally activated delayed fluorescence (TADF) materials with layer-by-layer (LBL) has rarely been explored. Due to these challenges, there is a need for in-depth investigation into combining TADF additives with LBL processing to address both morphological and optoelectronic limitations.

In a study published (DOI: 10.1007/s10118-026-3653-2) in Chinese Journal of Polymer Science in 2026, researchers from Zhejiang University and the Zhejiang University-Hangzhou Global Scientific and Technological Innovation Center introduced a TADF-additive-assisted LBL strategy for high-performance PSCs. By blending the TADF molecule 4CzIPN into the acceptor layer solution, the team fabricated devices with a conventional structure of ITO/2PACz/active layer/PDINN/Ag. The optimized device achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 20.18%, placing it among the highest reported for binary LBL-processed PSCs.

The study reveals that 4CzIPN, a prototypical TADF material with a small singlet-triplet energy gap (ΔE_ST) of 0.083 eV, forms a favorable “Type I” energy alignment with the acceptor L8-BO. In situ UV-Vis and photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy showed that 4CzIPN accelerates acceptor crystallization and suppresses fluorescence quenching during film formation. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) confirmed a smoother, more uniform nanofibrillar network with reduced root-mean-square (RMS) roughness (2.086 nm vs. 2.494 nm). Space-charge-limited current (SCLC) measurements demonstrated higher and more balanced hole and electron mobilities (6.52×10-4 and 7.08×10-4cm²/(V·s), respectively). Time-resolved PL revealed extended exciton lifetime (1.36 ns vs. 1.23 ns), while light-intensity-dependent measurements showed suppressed bimolecular and trap-assisted recombination. The photoluminescence quantum yield (PLQY) increased from 9.46% to 11.09% for acceptor films and from 0.20% to 0.33% for blend films, confirming reduced non-radiative losses.

The authors said that the key advance lies in the dual role of the TADF additive. “By incorporating 4CzIPN into the acceptor layer during LBL processing, we simultaneously refined the donor-acceptor interpenetrating network and tapped into TADF photophysics to reduce non-radiative voltage losses,” they said. “The small singlet-triplet gap promotes reverse intersystem crossing (RISC), extending exciton lifetimes and improving charge generation. This synergistic approach yielded a PCE of 20.18% with enhanced V_OC, short-circuit current density (J_SC), and fill factor (FF), demonstrating that TADF additives can address longstanding optoelectronic limitations in organic photovoltaics.”

This TADF-assisted LBL strategy offers a repeatable and scalable fabrication route for high-performance PSCs. The improved morphology and suppressed non-radiative recombination translate directly into higher V_OCand PCE, addressing a critical barrier to commercialization. Beyond binary systems, the approach could be extended to ternary or tandem architectures, and the use of non-volatile solid additives is compatible with large-area coating techniques. By simultaneously tackling morphological and photophysical bottlenecks, this work provides a promising pathway toward commercially viable organic solar cells with enhanced efficiency and stability.
###
References
DOI
10.1007/s10118-026-3653-2
Original Source URL
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10118-026-3653-2
Funding information
National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2022YFB4200600); National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 52461160300, 52321165650, 52127806); Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. LR25E030003, LD25E030001); Xiaoshan County Key Research and Development Plan (No. 2024104); “Pioneering” R&D Program of Zhejiang (No. 2025C01141); Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (No. 226-2022-00209).
About Chinese Journal of Polymer Science
Chinese Journal of Polymer Science (CJPS) is a monthly journal published in English and sponsored by the Chinese Chemical Society and the Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences. CJPS is edited by a distinguished Editorial Board headed by Professor Qi-Feng Zhou and supported by an International Advisory Board in which many famous active polymer scientists all over the world are included. Manuscript types include Editorials, Rapid Communications, Perspectives, Tutorials, Feature Articles, Reviews and Research Articles. According to the Journal Citation Reports, 2025 Impact Factor (IF) of CJPS is 4.6.
 
Journal Link: Chinese Journal of Polymer Science
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China’s wafer market activity remained subdued as the country entered the early-October Golden Week holiday.
Free-On-Board (FOB) China N-type M10 and 210R wafer prices remained unchanged week on week at $0.149/pc and $0.153/pc respectively, according to the OPIS Global Solar Markets Report released on Oct. 6.
Ahead of the holiday, market participants said prices for orders signed before the break were largely unchanged. Nevertheless, downstream buyers increased procurement to some extent to stock production material, supporting further inventory destocking. Wafer inventories are currently estimated at around 25 GW.
Entering the fourth quarter, wafer producers continue to show divergent production plans, with no broad consensus on production cuts comparable to that emerging in the polysilicon market. Some manufacturers are reportedly planning to increase output in October, partly in anticipation of stronger downstream installation demand toward the end of the year.
Upstream, meanwhile, the polysilicon supply outlook is beginning to shift after several months of rising production. According to the Silicon Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, China’s monthly polysilicon output rose from 92,900 metric tons (MT) in June to an estimated 120,400 MT in September. The association expects the trend to reverse in October, with output forecast to fall approximately 12.9% month on month to around 105,000 MT as planned production cuts outweigh restarts.
At the same time, one polysilicon manufacturer showed a strong willingness to support prices, saying new regulatory requirements require producers to maintain offers at no less than full production costs. Combined with the anticipated production cuts, the manufacturer expects polysilicon prices to move toward production-cost levels, although the adjustment is likely to be gradual.

The dynamics shaping global PV supply chains – including solar modules, inverters, and battery energy storage systems – will be discussed during the “Decoding solar supply chains” session at the NetZero event in Milan on Oct. 21.
The session will examine the forces reshaping clean energy supply chains, from manufacturing and sourcing strategies to shifting trade and regulatory requirements. It will also explore what these developments mean for companies procuring solar and energy storage equipment in an increasingly complex global market.
Join us in Milan to hear from industry experts and take part in the discussion on the future of solar supply chains.
Expectations that polysilicon prices will return to more rational, cost-supported levels are prompting some wafer manufacturers to accelerate production using polysilicon purchased at lower prices, according to one industry source. The source expects wafer output to increase gradually month on month by about 1-2 GW through December before manufacturers begin bringing forward Lunar New Year production holidays in January 2027.
While China’s domestic demand could provide some support to the wafer market in the fourth quarter, overseas demand is expected to remain slow and cautious. This pressure has intensified following a temporary final rule issued in late September by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security. The rule restricts the stockpiling of polysilicon and polysilicon derivatives ahead of the Section 232 import adjustments taking effect on Dec. 4, 2026. It covers imports during the transition period from Sept. 22 to Dec. 3.
One source said solar imports into the U.S. before Dec. 4 largely consisted of China-origin wafers, cells and modules entering through circumvention channels involving smaller traders and companies. The source expects the rule to significantly curb such imports, thereby reducing demand for China-origin wafers.
Against this backdrop, market participants expect demand for smaller-format M10 wafers, one of the dominant specifications in supply chains serving the U.S. market, to face greater pressure. Larger-format products, by contrast, could benefit from demand from large-scale utility projects in China, supporting prices and accelerating inventory reductions in the fourth quarter.
OPIS is a specialist business within Dow Jones Energy, a global energy intelligence business that brings together trusted price reporting, research and market intelligence across the energy value chain. OPIS publishes the OPIS Global Solar Markets Service, which includes pricing data for solar panels and components across Asia, Europe and the U.S., manufacturing capacity data, module forward curves, and a global solar policy tracker. 

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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Porous ZnO Films Boost Solar Cell Efficiency with a Simple Polymer Trick
Every solar panel loses a surprising fraction of its potential power before a single electron is generated, and the culprit is something as mundane as glare. When sunlight strikes the cover glass of a photovoltaic cell, a portion of it bounces straight back into the sky instead of passing through to the silicon below. That reflected light represents pure waste, and for decades engineers have fought it with antireflection coatings that coax photons across the air-glass boundary. Now a research team from Kirsehir Ahi Evran University and Ankara University in Turkey has reported a deceptively simple way to make such coatings work better: stir a common acrylic polymer into a zinc oxide solution and let the polymer burn away to leave behind a sponge-like film. The result, published in the Journal of Nanoparticle Research, is a coating that transmits more light and lifts solar cell efficiency by roughly six percent.
The physics behind the problem is straightforward but stubborn. Light traveling from air, with a refractive index of about 1.0, into glass, with an index near 1.5, encounters an abrupt change in the speed at which electromagnetic waves propagate. Part of the wave is always reflected at such an interface, a phenomenon familiar to anyone who has seen their own face staring back from a window at night. For a solar module, that reflection can swallow several percent of the incoming solar energy. Antireflection coatings mitigate the loss by inserting an intermediate layer whose refractive index sits between that of air and glass, and whose thickness is tuned so that reflections from the top and bottom of the film destructively interfere, canceling each other out. The catch is that most dense, solid materials have refractive indices far higher than the ideal value needed for glass, so researchers increasingly turn to porous films, where tiny air pockets effectively dilute the material and drag its average refractive index downward.
Zinc oxide has long been an attractive candidate for such coatings. It is cheap, chemically stable, transparent across the visible spectrum, and easy to deposit from solution at low temperatures, making it compatible with large-area and low-cost manufacturing. In the new study, Hafize Nagehan Koysuren and Ozcan Koysuren prepared ZnO films using the sol-gel dip-coating technique, a method in which a substrate is immersed in a chemical precursor solution and withdrawn at a controlled speed, leaving behind a thin liquid film that gels and is then heat-treated to form the final oxide. Sol-gel processing is prized for its simplicity and scalability, but dense sol-gel ZnO still carries a refractive index too high for optimal antireflection performance. The Turkish team’s solution was to add polymethyl methacrylate, or PMMA, the acrylic best known as plexiglass, into the dip-coating solution as a porogen, a sacrificial ingredient whose job is to vanish.
The porogen strategy exploits a neat piece of thermal chemistry. When the coated films are heated, the PMMA decomposes and escapes as gas, leaving behind the voids it once occupied. The more PMMA in the starting solution, the more pores riddle the finished ZnO film, and the more air is trapped within the coating. Because air has an extremely low refractive index of almost exactly 1.0, each pocket of air lowers the effective optical density of the film. The researchers varied the PMMA concentration in the dip-coating solution and tracked how the pore structure, crystal structure, and optical behavior of the films changed in response, coating glass slides that served as stand-ins for the cover glass of a solar cell.
Characterization confirmed that the chemistry behaved as intended. X-ray diffraction showed the characteristic crystalline signature of zinc oxide both in pure films and in films prepared with PMMA present, indicating that the polymer did not disrupt the formation of the oxide. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy backed this up, verifying the chemical identity of the ZnO phase. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy then provided the visual payoff: as the PMMA content of the film increased, the number of pores on the surface visibly multiplied, exactly as the porogen mechanism predicts. The films were, in effect, being sculpted from the inside out by a template that destroyed itself on cue.
The optical measurements told the story that matters for photovoltaics. Glass slides coated with the porous ZnO/PMMA films transmitted more visible light and reflected less than slides coated with dense, pure ZnO. The best performer was the film containing 3 weight percent PMMA, which achieved a maximum transmittance of 92.50 percent, a minimum reflectance of 6.35 percent, and a refractive index of 1.64, all measured at a wavelength of 650 nanometers in the heart of the visible spectrum where silicon solar cells harvest much of their current. A refractive index of 1.64 is a substantial drop from that of dense ZnO and moves the film much closer to the ideal intermediate value for matching air to glass, which is precisely what a well-designed single-layer antireflection coating requires.
Crucially, the optical gains translated into electrical gains. When the coated cover glass was applied to solar cells, the device with the 3 weight percent PMMA film showed the most favorable combination of optical and photovoltaic properties among all the samples tested, and the PMMA-containing ZnO coating produced an efficiency improvement of approximately six percent compared with the uncoated reference. In an industry where module efficiencies are measured to the decimal point and incremental gains are fiercely contested, a six percent relative boost from a solution-based dip-coating step applied to the glass is a striking return on such a modest modification. The authors attribute the improvement directly to the pore formation mechanism of PMMA, which enhances light transmittance through the cover glass and thereby increases the photovoltaic conversion efficiency of the cell beneath.
The work fits into a broader and increasingly active research landscape on porous antireflection coatings. Previous studies have used polyethylene glycol as a template to create porous ZnO films, employed phase separation to make porous polymer surfaces, and built porous silica and titania coatings with various sacrificial additives. Others have explored ZnO nanorods, ZnO-silica composites, and double-layer stacks combining ZnO with porous silicon to cut reflection losses on silicon cells. What distinguishes the new study is its systematic focus on how the concentration of the porogen tunes the optical constants and the device-level outcome, and its demonstration that a widely available, inexpensive polymer can serve as the pore-forming agent in a ZnO matrix deposited on ordinary cover glass.
The practical appeal of the approach lies in its low barrier to adoption. Sol-gel dip-coating requires no vacuum equipment, no high-temperature processing of the completed cell, and no exotic precursors, and the technique is already used industrially for applying coatings to flat glass. Because the coating is applied to the cover glass rather than to the delicate semiconductor surface, it does not interfere with the electrical engineering of the cell itself and could in principle be retrofitted into existing module manufacturing lines. The authors suggest that ZnO/PMMA coatings represent a promising alternative approach for antireflection applications in silicon solar cells, and the simplicity of the route means that tuning the PMMA loading offers a single dial for adjusting porosity, refractive index, and transmittance together.
Challenges remain before such coatings reach the factory floor. Real modules must survive decades of ultraviolet exposure, humidity cycling, thermal stress, and abrasion, and sol-gel films can be prone to cracking if stresses build up during drying and heat treatment. The long-term durability of a porous film, with its high internal surface area, will need to be validated under accelerated aging conditions. Still, the underlying idea is elegant in its economy: let a polymer do the work of building air into a transparent oxide, then let heat erase the scaffold. If the durability questions can be answered, the humble acrylic sheet’s chemistry may find a second career quietly squeezing a few more watts of sunlight out of every panel on every rooftop.
Subject of Research: Porous ZnO/PMMA antireflection coatings for improving silicon solar cell efficiency
Article Title: Enhancing solar cell efficiency through ZnO antireflection films
Article References: Enhancing solar cell efficiency through ZnO antireflection films. (n.d.). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-026-06786-9
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s11051-026-06786-9
Keywords: solar cells, antireflection coating, zinc oxide, PMMA, porous films, sol-gel, dip-coating, photovoltaic efficiency, refractive index, optical transmittance, nanoparticles, photovoltaics
News Source: Neil Sanderson. (October 9, 2026). Porous ZnO Films Boost Solar Cell Efficiency with a Simple Polymer Trick. Scienmag.
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RES has secured planning permission for the 450MW Steeple solar farm in Nottinghamshire, England.
Energy department DESNZ approved a Development Consent Order for the project today (9 October).
The scheme near Sturton-le-Steeple will also feature a 150MW battery energy storage system.
It will be built close to the decommissioned West Burton Power Station, utilising spare grid capacity released by the facility’s closure.
RES solar development director Karl O’Mullan said: “This area in Nottinghamshire has a proud energy history and Steeple Renewables Project will build on that legacy by connecting the new technologies supporting the country’s clean energy future.
“Today’s decision puts the county back at the centre of power generation in Britain alongside economic benefits that come with it.
“We thank everyone who has engaged with us and helped shape the project over the past few years, including local residents, landowners, parish councils, and statutory bodies.
“We look forward to building the project with the support of local businesses and supply chain.”
A planning application was submitted to the UK Planning Inspectorate for examination in May 2025.
The planning authority sent its recommendation to DESNZ for determination in July 2026.
Steeple is the second large-scale UK solar project to receive a DCO permit this week, following on from Island Green Power’s 500MW Green Hill array.
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PyroDelta Energy, a subsidiary of First Tellurium, is working on a tellurium-based thermoelectric film designed to extend electricity generation from solar panels after dark. The film is intended to attach to the back of standard photovoltaic panels without changing their design or supporting infrastructure. It would generate electricity from temperature differences between the panel surface and its surroundings, including heat radiated from the ground. PyroDelta estimates the film’s efficiency at 11% to 12%, compared with 20% to 22% for conventional solar panels. The company said the technology is meant to complement, not replace, photovoltaic generation. The film remains in the early stages of development, and its estimated performance has not yet been commercially demonstrated.
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RES has secured a development consent order (DCO) for its Steeple Renewables Project, comprising 450MW solar energy generation and a 150MW battery energy storage system (BESS).
October 9, 2026
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh has granted consent for a second large scale solar PV plant in as many days.
RES has secured a development consent order (DCO) for its Steeple Renewables Project, comprising 450MW solar energy generation and a 150MW battery energy storage system (BESS). The generation capacity of the solar element makes it a Nationally Significant Infrastructure Project (NSIP).
The news comes just a day after Island Green Power received a DCO for its 500MW Green Hill Solar Farm, which also features a BESS component.
Steeple Renewables Project is the third solar NSIP that Fahnbulleh has consented since taking the seat of energy secretary. The DCO application was accepted by the Planning Inspectorate in summer last year.
Due to be constructed in Nottinghamshire, the Steeple Renewables Project is located near the decommissioned West Burton Power Station and will use existing grid capacity and infrastructure in the area.
Related:PACE wins appeal for 49.5MW solar plant in Gloucestershire
The grid capacity around the disused power station means that Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire are key areas for solar development—much to the chagrin of some locals. According to Solar Media Market Research’s database, there are 14 solar plants across all stages of development that will connect at West Burton, with combined capacity of 1,586MWp.
Read more about:
Molly Green
Section Editor, Informa
Molly joined the team in 2024 and has led coverage on the UK sites. Now shifting to a more global view, Molly is interested in how legislation shapes market dynamics, covering the intersection of policy design, investment patterns, and energy transition pathways.
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If that rule is dropped, households would get smaller payments for excess electricity they feed into the grid.
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Some homeowners in Canada’s Northwest Territories who spent as much as $20,000 on rooftop solar could soon face a much longer road to earning that money back if a utility policy change under review takes effect.
In fact, according to the Yellowknifer, leaders in the Town of Inuvik warned that the rule could stretch the payback period for some systems by about three times. 
The issue carries extra weight in northern communities such as Inuvik, where winter darkness sharply limits solar production.
The Northwest Territories’ Public Utilities Board is reviewing a policy that allows homeowners to carry forward credits from extra solar power for later use. If that rule is dropped, households would get smaller payments for excess electricity they feed into the grid.
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Inuvik Mayor Peter Clarkson said the proposal would make solar much less worthwhile even as the Department of Environment and Climate Change is encouraging residents to look into it, per the Yellowknifer. He added that incentive programs helped nearly 30 Inuvik homeowners install solar, with the arrangement putting the payback period at about 10 years. 
Even if a policy change extends a payback period, going solar is still one of the best ways to save money on home energy over time. If you’re weighing the numbers for your own home, EnergySage can help you get free installation estimates and compare quotes.
A spokesperson for Yellowknife-based Arc Electric and Solar Installations told the Yellowknifer that utilities say solar users across the Northwest Territories are costing them about $300,000. The PUB expects that amount to climb to $3 million in 10 years if more homes adopt the energy systems.
However, Arc argued that $300,000 is a drop in the bucket compared to increasing diesel costs and the expense of expanding the Taltson hydro system. The company also said utilities may be able to sell excess solar power from the grid back to customers at a higher rate.
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“It is not fair to have people buy into a program then change the rules,” Clarkson said, per the Yellowknifer.
Inuvik plans to take part in PUB hearings, and Arc Electric said it also plans to intervene, according to the Yellowknifer. The company is also urging residents with a stake in solar to reach out to the board, their members of the Legislative Assembly, and relevant ministers.
PUB Chair Gordon Van Tighem said the review is meant to safeguard infrastructure residents have already paid for. He added that the hearings will likely last for months, while Yellowknife Centre MLA Robert Hawkins is planning a town hall meeting on the issue this month.
For homeowners trying to make smart solar decisions, the right tools can make a difference. 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 along with details on solar panel incentives in each state. 
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
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 also one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. 
Homeowners interested in backup power can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
These stories cover how tax credits, installation costs, and long-term savings can affect payoff timelines.
• Homeowners are still finding solar worth the investment even without the federal tax credit.
• In Virginia, federal incentives covered over $11,000 of a home’s solar cost.
• EnergySage says various factors shape what homeowners pay for rooftop solar.
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Tata Power and Norway’s Ocean Sun will undertake a 300 kWp floating solar pilot at Mulshi reservoir in Maharashtra
Ocean Sun’s design supports PV modules on a thin membrane floating directly on water, replacing conventional pontoon structures
The pilot will compare generation, installation, reliability, maintenance, and costs to assess suitability for wider deployment in India
Tata Power has partnered with Norway-based Ocean Sun to undertake a roughly 300 kWp floating solar pilot at its Mulshi reservoir in Maharashtra, India. The project will evaluate Ocean Sun’s membrane-based technology for performance, reliability, cost, and potential large-scale deployment under Indian conditions.
Conventional floating solar systems generally use linked pontoons to keep PV modules afloat. Ocean Sun mounts the modules on a thin, hydro-elastic membrane – a flexible sheet that floats directly on the water surface (see Membrane Based Solution For Floating PV Systems).
According to the companies, this lighter design could simplify transport and installation and reduce the amount of supporting structure needed. Placing the modules close to the water may also help cool them, potentially improving electricity generation. The pilot will assess these benefits in operation.
Tata Power will compare the system with conventional floating PV across electricity generation, capacity utilization factor (CUF), installation methods and time, reliability, and operation & maintenance (O&M) requirements. Capital costs and overall commercial viability will also form part of the assessment. The findings will help determine whether the technology is suitable for wider use in India.
Floating solar allows PV development on suitable water bodies, reducing land requirements. National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE) estimates that India has more than 102 GWp of floating solar potential.
The pilot project will provide operating data to assess whether the technology can supply electricity reliably and cost-effectively at a larger scale. The collaboration was announced on October 7, 2026, and the agreement was signed on the sidelines of the 2^nd India-EFTA Prosperity Summit.
TaiyangNews 2024

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COUNCIL planners have ruled that two applications to build a solar farm across 210 hectares in Limerick are incomplete.
Energy firm Harmony Solar East is planning the project on lands to the west and south of Hospital and the north-west of Knocklong.
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It’s proposed to be split into eight different parcels of land, and should it get permission, it’s envisioned the solar farm will be operational for a total of 40 years.
The physical infrastructure would see 843,000 square metres of solar panels on ground mounted steel frames.

However, the firm has now been told the application it has submitted twice to council was on both occasions deemed incomplete.
It’s unclear why this is in this instance, but incomplete applications are normally so because of pieces of information missing from the developer.
Harmony Solar East’s initial application was deemed incomplete on August 10 last, with its second application meeting the same fate on September 22.
Its second application had already attracted three submissions from people opposed to the plans across nine townlands in rural Limerick.
Harmony Solar East has said its proposed development contributes to both national and regional renewable energy targets, including the delivery of solar capacity in line with both the Climate Action Plan and National Planning Framework.
The company stressed the solar farm would not not adversely impact any protected site.
The decision on whether to lodge a third application now rests with Harmony Solar East.
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Imagine a laser-like beam of light — the one found in barcode scanners and laser printers, brilliant and extraordinarily precise. Its light particles move step by step with each other, producing what physicists call coherent light: a beam that can cut steel, transmit information and stimulate the generation of new skin cells. Traditionally, producing coherent light involves using other lasers, which is expensive and energy-demanding; however, Trinity researchers suggest we can create high-tech lasers using any kind of light — including sunlight!
To grasp the idea behind their theory, let’s delve into the physics of light first. The light itself is made of tiny particles called photons. Usually, photons resemble billiard balls that continuously bump into each other and ricochet in random directions. Each particle has a unique movement trajectory, so we can think of them as individuals spreading out freely across space. However, to make a bright and precise beam of laser light, the photons’ movement must become more coordinated. This means photons would need to lose their ‘individuality’, becoming one collective power in which every particle moves synchronously and in one direction relative to the other ones.
Here is the moment when things get interesting. Photons belong to a class called bosons, which, by their quantum nature, prefer to occupy the same state as particles around them. Under normal conditions, warmer temperatures disrupt this tendency because it leads to more chaotic movement; however, when photons are cooled enough, they lose energy and settle into a lower energy state. When this happens, photons have less opportunity to be disorganised, which allows them to start acting as a whole, united collective, merging into a synchronous march of light particles. Eventually, they become a super-photon — the most organised form of light ever encountered.
This phenomenon is known as Bose-Einstein condensation, and it lies at the very core of the theory proposed by Luísa Toledo Tude, Emily Haughton and Paul Eastham. Put simply, their theoretical analysis suggests we can organise messy photons by trapping them into optical devices and cooling the light particles down until they become a super-photon. The device used is elegantly simple: a dye-filled microcavity, which consists of two mirrors facing each other and a tiny drop of organic dye between them. When photons enter the cavity, they start bouncing back and forth between the mirrors, repeatedly interacting with the dye molecules. With each interaction, they lose small amounts of energy, which ultimately leads to a super-photon conversion.
By modelling the behaviour of devices that trap light in a small region of space, the researchers noticed something truly interesting: it shares the same general properties as heat engines. In other words, the process is similar to generating energy using a steam engine, with disorganised light entering as input, coherent light exiting as output, and heat from the light acting as the hot source that powers the conversion process. This system would also need a cold reservoir to dump sacrificed energy that is not turned into coherent light.
Importantly, this engine does not ‘ignite’ with just any amount of heat from the hot source. It requires a specific temperature gradient to overcome internal losses, which is dictated by the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This threshold temperature would need to be higher when photon condensate is created from messy light rather than a laser, but the difference is insignificant. 
“The thing I’m interested in is making coherent light sources driven by sunlight or LEDs,” senior author of the study, Dr Paul Eastham, shared. “We can couple them with solar cells to improve energy efficiency.” Their idea lies in sticking a solar cell on the back of the optical device, resulting in a machine that would convert sun rays into coherent light first and then use it to generate electricity. However, Dr Eastham cautioned there is a long way until we see optical devices working in tandem with solar panels. “We need to do the actual experiment to show it could be done in the lab; we’re not even at this stage.”
Anyway, the goal of their future experiments goes well beyond “let’s make a better solar cell”. Rather, it’s about exploring “how energy could be extracted from sunlight” at a more fundamental level. Who knows, maybe we can harness free light from the Sun in entirely new ways?

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An expert group advising the European Commission has recommended restricting components and software from high-risk suppliers in every segment of the European Union’s PV market, from plug-in systems to utility-scale plants.
The report, “Recommendations to address cybersecurity risk in photovoltaic generation,” was prepared by the cybersecurity working group of the European Commission’s Smart Energy Expert Group (SEEG). It reflects a consensus among the group’s experts and “does not represent the opinion of the European Commission,” according to the document.
An 11-member subgroup carried out the analysis. It included representatives of SolarPower Europe, ENTSO-E, Eurelectric, Germany’s Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) and the Council of European Energy Regulators (CEER), as well as two members from the European Solar Manufacturing Council (ESMC).
The experts said the European Union’s installed PV capacity grew from 86 GW in 2015 to 406 GW in 2025. They said the risk has become more urgent because of serious vulnerabilities found in inverters, rising geopolitical tensions and “the EU’s heavy dependence on PV equipment of Chinese origin.” The report does not designate any country or company as a high-risk supplier.
Threat scenarios
The report assessed risks across four segments: plug-in residential, residential, commercial and industrial (C&I), and utility-scale. It measured impact by the amount of generation an attacker could control, compared with the continental European grid’s 3,000 MW of frequency containment reserves.
It identified three high risks: attacks on manufacturer cloud platforms connected to large numbers of inverters; backdoors introduced by manufacturers on behalf of a nation-state, which it said applies to all segments; and attacks on utility-scale plants through local networks.
The experts said a manufacturer backdoor attack has not yet occurred in practice, but must be taken seriously because of its potential impact.
The report also flagged a “split operational architecture” in which monitoring dashboards are hosted in the European Union, while firmware updates, signing and remote control functions are operated from countries identified as posing significant cybersecurity risks.
Supplier restrictions
The experts recommended restricting components and software from suppliers subject to the jurisdiction of third countries posing significant cybersecurity risks, drawing on criteria in the European Commission’s proposed revision of the Cybersecurity Act (CSA2). That covers suppliers of components and software to inverter makers, as well as inverter makers themselves.
They added a caveat. “Restricting the use of high-risk suppliers can seriously impact the market if there is not sufficient alternative supply. So, it should only be done based on a thorough risk assessment,” the report said. The experts said they did not carry out such an assessment.
Under the CSA2 proposal, which the European Commission published in January and which has yet to be adopted, the commission could designate third countries as posing cybersecurity concerns and then prohibit components from suppliers established in or controlled by them. Those measures would apply only to entities covered by the NIS2 directive, so the experts said a prohibition should also extend to sales of inverters from high-risk suppliers to consumers.
The report also cites the European Commission’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act. Its recitals say high-risk suppliers identified under CSA2 should be prevented from supplying critical components to bidders in renewable energy auctions, to public procurement tenderers and to products supported by government intervention.
Other measures
For utility-scale plants, the experts recommended documenting, encrypting and authenticating all inverter internet traffic, limiting outbound connections to approved servers in the European Union or equivalent jurisdictions, and blocking inbound communications from outside the local network.
For C&I and utility-scale installations, they said manufacturer-triggered automatic firmware updates should be replaced with controlled manual updates by qualified maintenance providers, in part to reduce risks at installations already using equipment from high-risk suppliers.
The report also calls for PV inverters to be classified as Class II important products under the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA), which would require independent conformity assessment by a notified body, and for a harmonized cybersecurity standard for inverters. Inverters currently fall into the CRA’s default category, which allows manufacturers to self-assess.
The report noted that CRA product requirements apply only to products placed on the market from Dec. 11, 2027, and not to the installed base.
Other recommendations include enforceable patching deadlines for manufacturer platforms, minimum security qualifications for installers under the Requirements for Generators network code, and a common 1 MW threshold for applying the NIS2 directive and the electricity cybersecurity network code to solar plants.
Manufacturer view
ESMC, which promotes European-made solar manufacturing and represents about 70 companies and research organizations, was represented in the subgroup by policy director Jens Holm and Thomas Rührlinger, head of public and regulatory affairs at Austrian inverter maker Fronius.
“The report is an important step forward towards stronger cybersecurity standards for solar PV in Europe,” said ESMC Secretary General Christoph Podewils. “We now expect its recommendations to be reflected in EU and Member State policymaking – not least in the ongoing revision of the Cybersecurity Act (CSA2).”
The report’s recommendation that web and SSH services on inverters should not be directly exposed to the internet follows research published this week by Dutch firm Modat and the Dutch National Cyber Security Centre, which found 7,942 internet-facing systems at solar parks in 34 European countries that should not have been reachable online.
In April, the European Commission issued guidance restricting EU funding for PV projects using inverters from high-risk suppliers, with a transition period for projects already in the pipeline. Lithuania banned remote access by Chinese companies to solar, wind and storage installations above 100 kW in November 2024, and Czechia’s cybersecurity agency warned in September 2025 that Chinese inverters in small solar plants pose a potential security threat.
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RWE, Smallegans testify during trial over solar farm Oct. 8  The Holland Sentinel
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Pan-African renewables developer Axian Energy has signed a power purchase agreement (PPA) with energy aggregator and trader Africa GreenCo in Zambia.
The offtake agreement will cover the 240MW Kudu solar PV plant, which has been financially backed by African bank Standard Bank and its Zambia subsidiary, Stanbic Bank Zambia, as the project moves towards financial close and the construction phase.
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Axian Energy entered into Zambia’s energy market last year with the acquisition of a 85.6% stake in a 54.3MWp PV project. Located in the southern Lusaka Province in the Kafue District, the Bangweulu Solar plant was the first utility-scale solar PV project to begin commercial operations in Zambia and was developed by French independent power producer (IPP) Neoen.
Axian Energy aims to reach 2GW of installed renewable energy by 2030 across Africa.
“Africa’s borderless power market is already being built, by the companies trading across it today. The Energy Forum for Africa (EFFA) Conference asked what a borderless energy future looks like. We signed one,” said Ana Hajduka, founder and group CEO, Africa GreenCo.
Solar PV activity in Zambia has been on the rise this year, with several projects starting commercial operation and the announcement of the country’s largest hybrid solar-plus-storage project to date. The latter is a project from IPP Globeleq and combines 250MW of solar PV with a 150MW/600MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
Other PV developments in the country include the commissioning of a 100MW solar plant from Indian energy company Nava last month and the 136MW Itimpi Phase II plant from Zambian power company Copperbelt Energy Corporation earlier this year, for which Chinese inverter and BESS provider Sungrow supplied the PV inverters.
Moreover, the Zambian government signed contracts with five contractor groups to develop 312MW of solar capacity through a 2MW constituency solar programme.
With still three months before the end of the year, the country has already surpassed the 139MW of solar PV installed in 2025. Zambia was one of eight African countries to add more than 100MW PV in 2025, according to data from the Global Solar Council.

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Periods of rain. Rain becoming heavy at times overnight. Low 59F. Winds E at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible..
Periods of rain. Rain becoming heavy at times overnight. Low 59F. Winds E at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible.
Updated: October 9, 2026 @ 3:25 pm

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Periods of rain. Rain becoming heavy at times overnight. Low 59F. Winds E at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible.
Periods of rain. Rain becoming heavy at times overnight. Low 59F. Winds E at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible.
Periods of rain. High 69F. Winds E at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 90%. Rainfall around a half an inch. Locally heavy rainfall possible.
Chance of Rain: 100%
Sunrise: 06:43:43 AM
Sunset: 06:16:02 PM
Humidity: 72%
Wind: E @ 18 mph
UV Index: 0 Low
Periods of rain. Rain becoming heavy at times overnight. Low 59F. Winds E at 15 to 25 mph. Chance of rain 100%. 1 to 2 inches of rain expected. Localized flooding is possible.
Chance of Rain: 91%
Sunrise: 06:44:30 AM
Sunset: 06:14:42 PM
Humidity: 94%
Wind: E @ 18 mph
UV Index: 3 Moderate
Considerable cloudiness with occasional rain showers. Low 59F. Winds S at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Chance of Rain: 40%
Sunrise: 06:45:17 AM
Sunset: 06:13:23 PM
Humidity: 89%
Wind: W @ 12 mph
UV Index: 4 Moderate
Mostly clear. Low 56F. Winds light and variable.
Chance of Rain: 7%
Sunrise: 06:46:04 AM
Sunset: 06:12:05 PM
Humidity: 65%
Wind: NW @ 8 mph
UV Index: 6 High
Clear. Low 58F. Winds light and variable.
Chance of Rain: 7%
Sunrise: 06:46:52 AM
Sunset: 06:10:47 PM
Humidity: 62%
Wind: WNW @ 8 mph
UV Index: 6 High
Clear skies. Low 61F. Winds light and variable.
Chance of Rain: 6%
Sunrise: 06:47:40 AM
Sunset: 06:09:30 PM
Humidity: 64%
Wind: NW @ 6 mph
UV Index: 6 High
Clear skies. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
Chance of Rain: 12%
Sunrise: 06:48:28 AM
Sunset: 06:08:14 PM
Humidity: 67%
Wind: SSE @ 7 mph
UV Index: 6 High
Mostly clear skies. Low 64F. Winds light and variable.
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We know we need to build low-carbon power projects. And while finding the funding may seem daunting, the answer may be more local than we think.

A solar array outside Kingston, Ontario, that can power 100 homes, Wintergreen is run by Canada’s leading renewable-energy cooperative, SolarShare.

ZooShare* turns organic animal waste and food waste into electricity for Ontario’s grid, with financial backing from 800 cooperative members who purchased community bonds.
* Following a 2023 member vote, ZooShare stopped interest payments and will repay bonds when cash permits.

EcoCharge is the first EV-charging community bond campaign of its kind. Through it, its members own roughly 100 charging stations across Quebec and New Brunswick.

Propolis raised $1 million in community bonds from about 100 investors to build a 53-unit affordable and net-zero apartment building in Kamloops, B.C.

The Faithfully Green Fund helps faith communities fund green retrofits by selling community bonds and lending the money to temples, churches and mosques on a revolving basis.

This Regina, Saskatchewan, cooperative is responsible for installing 400 solar panels in the city. Its installations are collectively owned by about 100 members, typically apartment-dwellers who can’t install solar themselves.

The cooperative runs a wind turbine co-owned by 825 Toronto residents and Toronto Hydro. WindShare was the first Canadian example of local residents owning a clean energy project.

Founded in 2010, this cooperative partly owns two Lake Huron wind turbines that generate roughly 3.3 million kWh annually, enough electricity for more than 400 homes each year.
Yashvi Shah is a writer and editor in Toronto. 
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Plug-in solar systems are the new sustainable technology that promises to generate electricity. This technology allows families to generate some of their own power without having to install a traditional solar panel on the roof.
There are more than five States that have already legalized balcony solar and similar legislation. These are Utah, the first to implement this technology, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, Virginia, and now, California.
These systems use small solar panels to generate electricity from sunlight and connect to a household’s electrical system through a compatible outlet. They can be installed on balconies, patios, or other suitable spaces, depending on local regulations.
As National Geographic explains, most systems are designed to supplement the home’s electricity supply rather than replace it entirely.
As of October 2026, 10 states had approved laws addressing plug-in solar systems: Utah, Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Vermont, Virginia, and California.
California’s Senate Bill 868, signed on September 30, 2026, establishes a framework for qualifying portable solar devices. The law is scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2027. Requirements vary by state, so residents should check local rules before installing a system.
These systems can reduce the amount of electricity households purchase from the grid by generating power during daylight hours. However, potential savings depend on sunlight exposure, electricity rates, system capacity, and household consumption.
Plug-in solar panels are not designed to replace a home’s entire electricity supply. Consumers should also verify applicable electrical safety standards and utility requirements before connecting a system.

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The transaction is coherent with the Enel Group’s strategy, which envisages accelerating growth of its generation capacity from renewable sources, including through the acquisition of assets already in operation in Tier 1 countries (Brownfield).
Enel is a multinational power company and a leading integrated player in the global power and renewables markets, present in 27 countries worldwide. At global level, it is the largest renewable player, the foremost electricity distribution network player by number of grid customers served and the biggest retail operator by customer base.
Enel generates electricity with more than 92 GW of total capacity. Enel Green Power, the Group’s renewables arm, has a total capacity of 67 GW and a generation mix that includes wind, solar, geothermal, and hydroelectric power, as well as energy storage facilities, installed in Europe, the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.
Enel Grids, the Group’s global business line dedicated to the management of the electricity distribution service worldwide, delivers electricity through a network of 1.9 million kilometres with more than 69 million end users connected to its distribution grids.
Enel Commercial is the Group’s arm dedicated to customers around the world with the aim of effectively providing products and services based on their energy needs and encouraging them towards a more conscious and sustainable use of energy. It provides electricity, gas and integrated services to around 54 million customers globally including households, enterprises, industries and public administrations. In addition, it offers flexibility services aggregating over 11 GW and has approximately more than 35,000 owned public charging points for electric mobility.
For additional information:
Enel

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Giant solar farm approval is ‘wanton vandalism’, say locals  Yahoo
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Lawsuit says rule changes to Bush-era program made most solar projects ineligible and stuck farmers with big bills.
An Oregon dairy farm with solar panels installed. USDA (CC-BY)
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.
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.
Environmentalists sue Trump administration over changes to rural energy program was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
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Industry checks in the United States indicate that a rise in US minimum import prices under the polysilicon Section 232 framework may be postponed until after Dec. 4, according to pv magazine. Implementation of any such increase could slip into early 2027, the checks suggest.
The apparent delay is seen as reflecting the Department of Commerce’s interest in first observing how the initial Section 232 proclamation plays out. No further details on the scope or timing of any price adjustment were provided in the source material.
The source also lists a series of upcoming pv magazine events. A new issue of pv magazine Global is available in print and digital. A multi-day virtual event hosted by pv magazine USA will cover domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the role of solar-plus-storage in meeting power demand. A separate four-day virtual event hosted by pv magazine will examine European solar and energy storage, including market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality and cybersecurity.
Additional sessions include a pv magazine Session at NetZero Milan, where the publication serves as Knowledge Partner and organizes and moderates a two-hour conference on the global solar supply chain, and an expert session on quality, technology and the challenges of scaling India’s solar industry. Discounted tickets are available through pv magazine.
Scheduled dates listed in the source include Monday, October 12, 2026; Monday, October 19, 2026; Friday, October 23, 2026; and Monday, October 26, 2026.
Interactive table based on the Store Companies dataset for this report.
This report is an independent strategic market study that provides a structured, commercially grounded analysis of the market for Polysilicon in the United States. It is designed for component manufacturers, system suppliers, OEM and ODM teams, distributors, investors, and strategic entrants that need a clear view of end-use demand, design-in dynamics, manufacturing exposure, qualification burden, pricing architecture, and competitive positioning.
The analytical framework is designed to work both for a single specialized component class and for a broader electronic materials / semiconductor feedstock, where market structure is shaped by product architecture, performance requirements, standards compliance, design-in cycles, component dependencies, lead times, and channel control rather than by one narrow customs heading alone. It defines Polysilicon as High-purity polycrystalline silicon, a foundational raw material for manufacturing semiconductor wafers and photovoltaic cells and examines the market through end-use demand, BOM and subsystem logic, fabrication and assembly stages, qualification and reliability requirements, procurement pathways, pricing layers, and country capability differences. Historical analysis typically covers 2012 to 2025, with forward-looking scenarios through 2035.
This report is designed to answer the questions that matter most to decision-makers evaluating an electronics, electrical, component, interconnect, or power-system market.
At its core, this report explains how the market for Polysilicon actually functions. It identifies where demand originates, how supply is organized, which technological and regulatory barriers influence adoption, and how value is distributed across the value chain. Rather than describing the market only in broad terms, the study breaks it into analytically meaningful layers: product scope, segmentation, end uses, customer types, production economics, outsourcing structure, country roles, and company archetypes.
The report is particularly useful in markets where buyers are highly specialized, suppliers differ significantly in technical depth and regulatory readiness, and the commercial landscape cannot be understood only through top-line market size figures. In this context, the study is designed not only to estimate the size of the market, but to explain why the market has that size, what drives its growth, which subsegments are the most attractive, and what it takes to compete successfully within it.
The report is based on an independent analytical methodology that combines deep secondary research, structured evidence review, market reconstruction, and multi-level triangulation. The methodology is designed to support products for which there is no single clean official dataset capturing the full market in a directly usable form.
The study typically uses the following evidence hierarchy:
The analytical framework is built around several linked layers.
First, a scope model defines what is included in the market and what is excluded, ensuring that adjacent products, downstream finished goods, unrelated instruments, or broader chemical categories do not distort the market boundary.
Second, a demand model reconstructs the market from the perspective of consuming sectors, workflow stages, and applications. Depending on the product, this may include Semiconductor wafer substrate, Photovoltaic cell absorber layer, and Power electronics substrate across Semiconductor & IC Manufacturing, Solar PV Module Manufacturing, Consumer Electronics, Automotive (EV/Power), and Industrial Electronics and Feedstock Sourcing & Qualification, Crystal Growth (CZ/FZ) Ingot, Wafer Slicing & Polishing, and Cell/Device Fabrication. Demand is then allocated across end users, development stages, and geographic markets.
Third, a supply model evaluates how the market is served. This includes Metallurgical Grade Silicon (MG-Si), Trichlorosilane (TCS) / Silane, High-purity graphite components, Significant electrical power, and Specialty chemical gases, manufacturing technologies such as Siemens Process (TCS-based), Fluidized Bed Reactor (FBR) Process, Upgraded Metallurgical Silicon (UMG) refining, and Monocrystalline vs. Multicrystalline growth, quality control requirements, outsourcing and contract-manufacturing participation, distribution structure, and supply-chain concentration risks.
Fourth, a country capability model maps where the market is consumed, where production is materially feasible, where manufacturing capability is limited or emerging, and which countries function primarily as innovation hubs, supply nodes, demand centers, or import-reliant markets.
Fifth, a pricing and economics layer evaluates price corridors, cost drivers, complexity premiums, outsourcing logic, margin structure, and switching barriers. This is especially relevant in markets where product grade, purity, customization, regulatory burden, or service model materially influence economics.
Finally, a competitive intelligence layer profiles the leading company types active in the market and explains how strategic roles differ across upstream material and component suppliers, OEM and ODM partners, contract manufacturers, integrated platform players, distributors, and engineering-support providers.
This report covers the market for Polysilicon in its commercially relevant and technologically meaningful form. The scope typically includes the product itself, its major product configurations or variants, the critical technologies used to produce or deliver it, the core input categories required for manufacturing, and the services directly associated with its commercial supply, quality control, or integration into end-user workflows.
Included within scope are the product forms, use cases, inputs, and services that are necessary to understand the actual addressable market around Polysilicon. This usually includes:
Excluded from scope are categories that may be technologically adjacent but do not belong to the core economic market being measured. These usually include:
The exact inclusion and exclusion logic is always a critical part of the study, because the quality of the market estimate depends directly on disciplined scope boundaries.
The report provides focused coverage of the United States market and positions United States within the wider global electronics and electrical industry structure.
The geographic analysis explains local demand conditions, domestic capability, import dependence, standards burden, distributor reach, and the country’s strategic role in the wider market.
This study is designed for strategic, commercial, operations, and investment users, including:
In many high-technology, electronics, electrical, industrial, and component-driven markets, official trade and production statistics are not sufficient on their own to describe the true market. Product boundaries may cut across multiple tariff codes, several product categories may be bundled into the same official classification, and a meaningful share of activity may take place through customized services, captive supply, platform relationships, or technically specialized channels that are not directly visible in standard statistical datasets.
For this reason, the report is designed as a modeled strategic market study. It uses official and public evidence wherever it is reliable and scope-compatible, but it does not force the market into a purely statistical framework when doing so would reduce analytical quality. Instead, it reconstructs the market through the logic of demand, supply, technology, country roles, and company behavior.
This makes the report particularly well suited to products that are innovation-intensive, technically differentiated, capacity-constrained, platform-dependent, or commercially structured around specialized buyer-supplier relationships rather than standardized commodity trade.
The report typically includes:
The result is a structured, publication-grade market intelligence document that combines quantitative modeling with commercial, technical, and strategic interpretation.
Electronics-Market Structure and Company Archetypes
Major U.S. producer, joint venture of Dow Corning
Operates one of the largest U.S. polysilicon plants
Subsidiary of Wacker Chemie, U.S. headquarters
U.S. subsidiary of Mitsubishi Materials
Bankrupt but legacy U.S. producer, still relevant in market history
Norwegian parent, but U.S. HQ for North American ops
Parent of Hemlock Semiconductor
Equipment supplier, not direct producer
Niche processor in U.S. market
Produces silicon feedstock for polysilicon
Separate entity from Hemlock Semiconductor, same location
Subsidiary of REC Silicon
U.S. subsidiary of South Korean OCI
U.S. office of Chinese GCL-Poly
U.S. subsidiary of Chinese LDK
U.S. trading arm of Chinese company
U.S. subsidiary of Trina Solar
U.S. office of Chinese manufacturer
U.S. subsidiary of Canadian Solar
Major U.S. solar manufacturer, uses polysilicon indirectly
U.S. solar company, significant polysilicon demand
Indirectly involved via solar supply chain
U.S. subsidiary of German SolarWorld, now defunct
U.S. division of Japanese conglomerate
U.S. subsidiary of Sharp Corporation
U.S. division of Panasonic
U.S. subsidiary of LG
U.S. subsidiary of Hanwha Group
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