Solar Now

GreenIT launched two solar parks in Piedmont, Italy, with a combined capacity of approximately 19 MW the facilities will produce approximately 30 GWh of electricity per year.
The new plants are located in the provinces of Vercelli and Alessandria, their commissioning expands GreenIT renewable generation capacity in Italy and strengthens its presence in the country’s photovoltaic market.
GreenIT is a joint venture owned 51% by Plenitude, a company controlled by Eni, and 49% by CDP Equity, established in 2021, the company focuses on the development, construction, and operation of facilities for renewable energy in Italian territory.
The two parks have approximately 32,000 high-efficiency bifacial photovoltaic modules these panels are installed on structures with single-axis solar tracking systems. These systems adjust the orientation of the panels throughout the day to better utilize available radiation and optimize electricity production.
Another aspect of the projects is the use of land that was previously used for mining activities, before the plants were built, these areas were remediated and rehabilitated to accommodate the solar installations.
The project thus combines the addition of new photovoltaic capacity with the recovery of spaces previously used by other industrial activities.
The company maintains a portfolio of more than 300 MW of solar projects in an advanced stage of development with which it plans to expand its photovoltaic capacity over the next few years. In addition, it has around 30 MW under construction in Campania and Piedmont, these facilities are expected to come online between the end of 2026 and the first months of 2027.
These projects are part of the company’s strategy to increase renewable generation in Italy and contribute to the goals of the country’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan for 2030.
Paolo Bellucci, CEO of GreenIT, highlighted the role of the two new plants in the company’s expansion plans:
The commissioning of these two plants represents an important step in GreenIT’s growth trajectory and reinforces our ambition to become one of the leading Italian operators in the solar and wind energy sector.
Bellucci also reiterated the company’s commitment to the development of renewable energy generation and the advancement of Italy’s energy transition.
Source: Renews
Photo: Shutterstock
Analyst and writer of news specialized in industrial technology, with a solid background in engineering. My work focuses on curating and synthesizing complex information, transforming technical advances and regulatory changes into journalistic reports.
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A 1,000-megawatt solar farm spread across 2,100 hectares of mountainous terrain in northern Laos began commercial operation in April, marking a major step in the country's push to become a regional clean energy hub.
The project, developed by China General Nuclear Power Corporation (CGN), is the largest single-phase solar installation in Southeast Asia and the first utility-scale photovoltaic plant built on mountain slopes in Laos. It serves as the anchor power source for the 500-kilovolt China-Laos transmission interconnection, which went live alongside the plant.
On clear days during the dry season, the facility generates more than five million kilowatt-hours daily, according to Wang Yang, operations manager at CGN Laos. The annual output is projected at 1.65 billion kilowatt-hours, tantamount to preventing roughly 1.3 million tonnes of carbon emissions each year, he said.
The electricity is collected at an on-site substation and transmitted through northern Laos' grid to southern China via the cross-border high-voltage line. Lao officials say the project has significantly eased power shortages in the north and reduced the country's dependence on imported electricity.
The project has driven local green transformation and economic and social development, and at the same time enhanced power interconnection between northern Laos and southern China, said Thongphath Inthavong, former deputy minister of energy and mines of Laos.
In March, Laos and China jointly established a clean energy power standards research institute in Vientiane. The institute is working to align technical and operational standards between the two countries, a move officials say will smooth future regional grid integration.
The project's environmental footprint was a central concern from the outset. Developers pledged to avoid all residential land, rice paddies, and primary forests — a commitment they say was fully honored. Through design adjustments, including raised panel brackets and optimized foundation layouts, the actual land disturbance was reduced by 1,565 hectares from initial plans.
Construction techniques minimized soil and vegetation disruption. Workers used manual drilling instead of heavy excavation and applied careful pouring methods to prevent runoff contamination. Today, the site includes lookout points and flowering pathways that have made it a local attraction.
The project has also delivered direct social benefits. At peak construction, it employed nearly 3,000 local workers. A vocational training program — combining Chinese language instruction with technical skills — has produced nearly 100 certified Lao technicians, 31 of whom have been hired as permanent staff.
Community infrastructure has been upgraded as well. The renovated Muangxay Secondary School, part of part CGN's overseas social responsibility project, now boasts a rooftop solar system that cuts the school's electricity bills. Five roads and bridges have been repaired or reinforced, and a hospital in nearby Luang Namtha province had a new operating room and medical equipment.
Souvath Mahavongsanan, Vice Governor of northern Laos' Oudomxay province, said the collaboration has gone beyond power generation. "This is deep cooperation that improves our local economy and industrial ecosystem," he said. "Both sides are benefiting."
A wind-solar hybrid expansion is scheduled to break ground later this year, with biomass and multi-source complementary projects also under consideration as Laos moves to consolidate its role as a clean-energy supplier for Southeast Asia.
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Renters and apartment dwellers can finally have their share of the solar boon. (Supplied: Yuma Solar)
Australia's energy ministers have agreed to explore pathways for "safe deployment" of plug-in solar across the country.
Lifting a ban on plug-in solar and batteries would unlock access to the technology for millions of apartment dwellers and renters for the first time.
Campaigners for the legalisation of plug-in solar are calling on the government to provide a timeline by December detailing when the ban could be lifted.
Australia could soon follow in the footsteps of Germany and the United Kingdom as it prepares to lift a ban on plug-in solar and batteries, unlocking access to the technology for millions of apartment dwellers and renters for the first time.
The move was discussed during a meeting of the country's energy ministers, where they agreed to explore pathways to support the "safe deployment" of plug-in solar across the country.
Australia is leading the world in the adoption of batteries. But in one state, storage is fuelling some perverse and pricey outcomes.
The systems, which are also commonly referred to as 'balcony solar', were legalised in the United Kingdom last month and New Zealand has flagged plans to do the same within 12 months.
Germany is a world-leader in plug-in solar, with an estimated one in 10 households having a system installed.
It can technically be sold in Australia but not legally plugged in and used.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said a third of Australians have solar on their roof, making the technology "more popular than the backyard pool".
"Now we're taking the next step, by looking at how even more Australians can take advantage of free, abundant sunshine to cut their energy bills — even if they don't have a roof.
"All state and territory ministers are on board and will work with the Commonwealth to look at how plug-in solar and batteries can work in Australia to give apartment dwellers more control over their energy bills."
Chris Bowen says a third of Australians have solar on their roof. (ABC News: Matt Roberts)
Heidi Lee Douglas is the CEO of Solar Citizens, a community organisation that's been campaigning for plug-in solar to be legalised, and welcomed that Australia was now a step closer to that reality.
"This commitment to make plug-in solar and plug-in batteries legal in Australia is great news for more than a third of Australians who rent or live in apartments, and also for low-income households so they can access some of the bill-busting benefits that cheap clean solar home owners enjoy," she said.
"We want to see a firm timeline and deadline by December at the next energy ministers meeting for when plug-in solar and batteries will be available for use in every state and territory.
Heidi Lee Douglas is the CEO of Solar Citizens and says plug-in systems would finally bring more social equity for the technology. (Supplied: Solar Citizens)
Plug-in solar systems and batteries can be plugged into regular power points and do not require installation by an electrician.
The power generated by the panels is fed into the home network via an inverter and a standard plug and helps offset electricity used by appliances.
Overseas, they are commonly attached to apartment balconies or installed in backyards and produce between 600-800 watts of power, typically at a cost of up to $1,300.
They are a popular choice for people who live in an apartment and cannot mount rooftop solar as well as renters, many of whom have never considered the possibility of accessing renewable energy.
More than 30 per cent of Australians are renting, which equates to almost 3 million households.
Maiya Irving-Mackinnon is a renter from the Sydney suburb of Marrickville who estimates her electricity bills have increased by about 15 per cent, or $200, over the past 12 months.
Maiya Irving-Mackinnon, a renter from the Sydney suburb of Marrickville, is keen to reduce her power bills by having a plug-in solar panel. (ABC News: Patrick Thomas)
"Solar has never really been something that we can consider as a renter because we can't install anything on the roof or on a ground floor apartment," she said.
"I would really like to have the option to install solar panels and for that to be subsidised but it's not really something that's been available for a renter before.
Experts have suggested the payback period for plug-in solar systems ranges from four to ten years.
Ms Lee Douglas expects some households will save up to $1,000 a year on electricity bills.
"The average plug-in solar panel will allow you to save about $300-$400 a year, and plug-in batteries will easily double that," she said.
Importantly, renters would be able to take the panels and batteries with them when they moved.
Plug-in solar systems don't need installation; they are as easy to plug in as a kettle or toaster. (Supplied: Holger's Pictures)
The federal government will now work with the states and territories to "identify measures that enable the safe use" of plug-in solar and report back on next steps by the end of the year.
The federal government is yet to indicate whether it is considering offering subsidies or rebates for the technology.
Solar Citizens is calling on plug-in solar and batteries to become legal in Australia by July next year.
But there are still barriers to overcome ahead of then, including ensuring safety standards are up to scratch for when products begin to enter the market.
Executive director of the German Plug-In Solar Association Craig Morris said Australia could look to the safety standards that Germany has developed as a starting point.
"The risk of too many companies coming in and some of them not being serious has gone down," he said.
"If you go back just five years, I think we had a number of companies that you didn't really know too much about them and maybe they were just trying a quick buck.
Surging levels of renewable energy and better reliability from coal-fired generators are set to give consumers a break, with benchmark power prices to fall up to 10 per cent for consumers and more for small businesses.
Bringing landlords and body corporates on board to allow plug-in solar to be hung on balconies or stationed in backyards is another challenge that would need to be addressed in Australia before the technology is legalised and rolled out.
In Germany, tenants need to get permission to install plug-in solar but landlords need a good reason, such as planned facade renovations, to reject the request.
Mr Morris said ultimately, adoption of plug-in batteries would be crucial in allowing the full benefits of plug-in solar to be fully realised.
"What we're ultimately offering, which is plug-in solar with batteries, or maybe even plug-in batteries without solar, offering flexibility from households," he said.
"The batteries would charge and discharge not in order to optimise our consumption of the solar power we generate, but to optimise operation of the local grid.
"And this can save money across the board, across the country for everyone, even if you don't have a system, because we're going to optimise the usage of these public power lines."
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Our goal with The Daily Brief is to simplify the biggest stories in the Indian markets and help you understand what they mean. We won’t just tell you what happened; we’ll tell you why and how too. We do this show in both formats: video and audio. This piece curates the stories that we talk about.
You can listen to the podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts and watch the videos on YouTube. You can also watch The Daily Brief in Hindi.
In today’s edition of The Daily Brief:
1. Why is India paying more for floating solar?
Floating solar costs more than conventional solar, but India is betting that avoiding land constraints, reusing existing grid infrastructure, and conserving water could justify the premium at carefully chosen sites.
2. What’s behind India’s first tokenized bond?
India’s first tokenized corporate bonds are testing whether securities and money can move together on a shared digital ledger, potentially simplifying settlement, but questions around liquidity, regulation, and interoperability remain unresolved.
India has become remarkably good at building solar power.
As of August 2026, the country had 168 GW of solar capacity. Nearly 124 GW came from utility-scale projects, along with ~33 GW of rooftop solar. Costs have fallen, developers know how to build these projects, and solar parks have gone from ambitious experiments to a fairly standard part of India’s power system.
Now, the government now wants to put solar panels on water.
In July, the Union Cabinet approved the Pradhan Mantri Surya Sarovar Yojana (PM-SSY). It will spend ₹5,070 crore to support 5 GW of floating solar projects, each accompanied by at least two hours of energy storage. Prime Minister Modi even shared a carousel about it on Instagram.
But this is not an obvious bet.
Floating solar is harder to build, trickier to maintain and generally more expensive than solar on land. India currently has only around 0.7 GW of it. The new scheme could increase that eightfold. And according to the National Institute of Solar Energy (NISE), the country has around 102 GW of technical floating-solar potential.
Those numbers look attractive, but the economics suggest something rather less straightforward.
At first glance, floating solar may not look particularly revolutionary. After all, the solar cells do the same job as those in any other solar plant. They convert sunlight into direct-current electricity. Inverters turn that into alternating current, and transformers feed it into the grid.
The difference, though, lies in everything holding the panels up.
See, a ground-mounted project fixes its modules onto steel piles or concrete foundations. But a floating project places them on interconnected plastic floats. According to a World Bank study, 90% of floating solar projects use high-density polyethylene (HDPE), a buoyant and durable plastic commodity which is also found in pipes and shampoo bottles.
These floating islands must then be anchored to the reservoir bed or shore so they do not drift away. The anchoring system must handle waves, currents and changing water levels. Cables must be able to withstand moisture and constant movement. The panels are also kept at angles below 15°, compared to 15-35° for land solar. This reduces the wind load on the floating structure.
Construction happens partly onshore, after which the assembled sections are pushed into the water. Maintenance may require floating walkways, boats and even human divers.
NTPC’s 100 MW Ramagundam project, for instance, was divided into 40 floating blocks. Each block contained 11,200 modules, along with an inverter, transformer and high-voltage breaker mounted on a floating platform.
Floating solar places a familiar power plant on a much more difficult surface. And the complications can be serious, ranging across humidity, corrosion, electrical hazards, and the constant movement of the floating structure that makes the above much harder than usual.
So, why bother putting solar on water at all? Well, that requires thinking of a standard solar project as a land acquisition problem first.
A large solar project needs a large, uninterrupted parcel of land. Acquiring it can take time, particularly when ownership is fragmented or the land supports agriculture or local communities.
Theoretically, India is not literally running out of land for renewable energy. A CEEW assessment found that land constraints remain relatively manageable until India crosses roughly 1,500 GW of renewable capacity.
But that is not the same as easy access. CEEW also found that only 27% of India’s solar potential lies in areas with fewer than 250 people per square kilometre. Only 41% is in areas free from historical land conflicts, while just 22% is located in places that combine low land prices with low climate risk.
Beyond sidestepping land issues, floating solar’s stronger advantage may be access to the grid.
A solar park needs more than just panels and land. It also needs substations and transmission lines to carry the electricity elsewhere. Building this infrastructure can require more land and take much longer than constructing the solar plant itself.
We are already seeing the consequences of not having built this transmission infrastructure. According to Ember, India curtailed around 300 million units of renewable electricity because of transmission constraints in the first quarter of 2026. That accounted for nearly two-thirds of all electricity curtailed during the period.
This is where certain waterbodies become useful. Hydropower reservoirs, power-station reservoirs and industrial cooling ponds may already sit beside substations, transmission lines and trained staff.
Ramagundam is a good example. Its 100 MW floating project was built on NTPC’s own reservoir and connected to the plant’s existing switchyard. NTPC followed a similar playbook elsewhere. By August 2022, it had commissioned 242 MW of floating solar across reservoirs attached to its power stations. These sites do not make floating solar cheap, but they allow NTPC to reuse land, reservoirs and grid infrastructure it already controls.
Floating solar has a few other advantages, although each comes with a rather large asterisk.
The first is efficiency. Solar panels become less efficient as they heat up, and the water beneath them can keep them cooler. NISE estimated a ~7% generation gain when floating and ground-mounted panels were placed at the same shallow angle.
But once floating panels were compared with ground panels installed at their optimal angle, the gain fell to just 2.35%.
Even that is not guaranteed. The IEA found that some floating systems run cooler, while others show little improvement or can become hotter when closely packed floats block airflow beneath the panels. Cooling helps, but it is a site-specific bonus and not a reason by itself to pay more for floating solar.
The second advantage is water conservation. Floating panels shade the reservoir and reduce the wind passing over its surface, which can slow evaporation. That water may be valuable for industry, irrigation or hydropower.
Project owners have made some dramatic claims. For instance, Tata Power estimates that its 126 MW project at Omkareshwar will save 32.5 million cubic metres every year.
But these are still estimates. The actual result depends on the share of the reservoir covered, local weather and how the reservoir is operated. The value also differs by location; water saved in a drought-prone industrial reservoir may matter far more than in one that regularly spills during the monsoon.
Hydropower reservoirs offer one more possibility. Solar can generate during the day, allowing the dam operator to conserve water and run the turbines later, when solar output falls. The two plants may also share a substation or transmission connection.
But simply placing solar panels beside a hydro plant does not turn the reservoir into a battery. The operator must be able to change when it releases water, which may not be possible when irrigation, drinking water or flood control dictates the schedule.
All this can make it sound as though floating solar puts otherwise idle water to work. Except the water is rarely idle. Reservoirs can support fishing, irrigation, drinking-water supply and local ecosystems. Floating solar may sidestep land, but it does not avoid competing claims over water.
The environmental and social assessment for Omkareshwar identified livelihood effects on 312 fishermen across six villages. An on-ground report placed the wider affected community at 1,877 people. Many of these families had already lost land when the dam was built and had moved into fishing afterwards.
The ecological effects are harder to measure. Floating panels block sunlight and wind, which can change water temperature, oxygen levels, aquatic plants and fish habitat. A USGS study covering 11 reservoirs found no single ecological outcome. Floating solar consistently cooled the surface, but its effects on oxygen and fish habitat differed between reservoirs.
Even before accounting for those harder-to-measure costs, floating solar has one straightforward problem: it costs more to build.
NISE estimates that a floating project can cost around 25% more than ground-mounted solar. Floats, anchors and mooring systems accounted for much of the difference. The small efficiency gain from placing panels over water usually cannot make up for this extra cost.
But even the 25% premium is only a rough guide. There is no standard floating-solar site, and therefore no single cost that represents the industry. The price changes with the depth of the reservoir, wind and wave conditions, water-level fluctuations, anchoring requirements and access to existing grid infrastructure. A calm reservoir beside a power station can look very different from a large hydropower reservoir exposed to severe weather.
If floating solar is judged only by the cost of producing electricity, it usually loses.
The standard measure used for this comparison is the levelised cost of electricity (LCOE). It adds up the cost of building, financing and operating a power plant, and divides that by the electricity it will generate over its lifetime. LCOE works well when comparing one solar project with another, but it does not capture everything that floating solar may offer. It may save water, help a hydro operator generate more electricity in the evening or make use of infrastructure that already exists.
Some of these benefits reduce the project’s costs directly, while others go to somebody else. The irrigation department may benefit from the saved water. The hydro operator may gain more flexibility. The grid may get a smoother supply of electricity. But the company paying for the project cannot earn money from these benefits unless its contract rewards them.
In short, the floating project may be expensive even when it makes the wider power system cheaper.
The economics also change from one waterbody to another. Existing reservoirs at power plants and industrial sites are usually the easiest places to start. Hydropower reservoirs may offer more benefits, but they are also harder to build on and serve many other users. Natural lakes are the weakest option. They carry greater ecological and social risks while offering few of the advantages that can justify floating solar’s higher cost.
There are indeed merits to India building floating solar, but they have to be chosen carefully.
The 5 GW floating installation planned under PM-SSY is small beside India’s 168 GW solar fleet. That makes sense: floating solar carries too many costs to become the default alternative to solar parks. The government should begin with the obvious sites: reservoirs attached to power stations, industrial ponds, mine pits and hydropower projects where land, grid infrastructure or flexible generation already exists.
PM-SSY should be treated as a test rather than a race for megawatts. If the higher cost does not buy clear benefits elsewhere in the system, India is merely subsidising expensive solar.
On September 7, REC, the state-owned power financier, raised ₹500 crore through a bond paying 7.3% a year. An ordinary deal, except that REC calls it India’s first tokenised corporate bond. Two days later, L&T became the first private Indian firm to raise another ₹500 crore the same way.
Beyond the label of being tokenised, little about these deals is public. Tokenisation itself is still very early. About $8 billion of tokenised bonds had been issued worldwide by mid-2025, a drop in the bucket next to $80 trillion of government bonds. Nobody knows what shape it will take even two years from now.
Why write about it, then? Because regulators, central banks and researchers keep talking about it, and SEBI and the RBI are running pilots. Finance has had plenty of innovations that turned out to be gimmicks, and this may be one. But it is very much a new way to design, trade and settle securities.
To make sense of it, we’ve leaned on research from the Bank for International Settlements (BIS), often called the central bank for central banks, and the IMF.
Let’s start with the obvious objection: isn’t a bond already digital? Yes, but in a particular way.
Tokenisation leaves the bond alone and changes the plumbing around it. Even SEBI’s chairman calls it “not a new asset class”.
Today, a bond is an entry in a depository’s database. When you sell, brokers, depositories, banks and clearing corporations each update their own records, then check they match. Every trade is a chain of messages and reconciliations, and everyone has to trust whoever runs the database.
A token folds the record and the rules together. It carries information about what the asset is, who owns it, and the rules for when it can move.
Think of it as cash across a counter. Hand over a ₹500 note for your groceries, and paying and settling are the same act. With bonds, the security and the money sit in separate systems and settle one after the other. A token puts both on one ledger, so they swap in a single step, or not at all. That’s called atomic settlement.
There’s also a difference between a tokenised asset and a digital one like bitcoin. Bitcoin exists only on its ledger. A token stands for something outside it, like a bond or a bar of gold, so it’s only as good as the link between the two.
If the old system works, why bother with tokenization?
Well, in many markets, settlement can take up to two business days. India is usually quicker, but every trade still passes through several hands. Tokenization promises to cut that down.
With one shared record, nobody has to check their books against anyone else’s. Because the bond and the money move together, failed settlements go away. Interest can pay itself, and markets could run round the clock. Collateral can move almost instantly, something a US pilot has already tested. And finer slicing means smaller minimum tickets.
The boldest idea is what the BIS calls composability, which is snapping transactions together like Lego so they run as one. Sell a bond, use the cash to repay a loan, and get back the shares you’d pledged for it, all in a single step.
Early numbers are encouraging, if thin. Tokenised bonds had bid-ask spreads — or the gap between what buyers offer and sellers ask — of under 0.2 percentage points, against 0.3 for ordinary bonds from the same issuers. Issuance costs were no different, and the researchers call the evidence suggestive.
Small gains per trade add up in a busy market. India’s corporate bond market isn’t one. Of nearly 33,000 bonds outstanding, only 400 to 500 trade on a typical day.
The gains are real, if still unproven at scale. But the speed behind them creates new problems.
The catch
One such problem is cash. Say Bank A owes Bank B ₹100 crore, and Bank B owes Bank A ₹80 crore. Settle at the end of the day, and only ₹20 crore moves. Settle every trade instantly and in full, and each bank needs its whole amount ready. That’s why token systems tend to need money parked upfront, which is expensive.
Those delays also work as shock absorbers, giving banks time to raise cash and regulators time to step in. Without them, an automatic margin call — a demand for extra security when prices fall — can force a sale that moves prices and triggers the next call, quicker than regulators can respond.
The law hasn’t caught up either. In many countries, a token may be just a claim on whoever created it, not ownership of the asset behind it. If that entity goes bust, you’re one more creditor in the queue.
And the middlemen don’t vanish. Someone still has to vet borrowers, and code can’t do that alone. Tokenisation moves where we place our trust. It doesn’t remove the need for it.
What would it take to make it work?
None of this rules tokenisation out. But more than a few things have to go right.
First, the token has to be the real thing. In a native issue, the only record of the bond is on the new ledger. The easier route is a digital twin of an ordinary bond, but then two records must always agree — the very reconciliation tokenisation was meant to remove.
Second, the money has to be on the same ledger, because a bond can’t swap in one step with cash sitting elsewhere. That’s where central bank digital currency comes in. It is rupees issued by the RBI itself, just in token form, unlike crypto, which has no central bank behind it.
India has two kinds: the retail e-rupee for people and shops, and the wholesale e-rupee, used in these pilots, for institutions settling large trades. Neither is the same as bank reserves, the balances banks keep at the RBI, which most investors can’t hold. Pilot investors used a CBDC wallet linked to their bank account.
The BIS wants tokenised central bank money, bank deposits and government bonds on one shared platform, and Hong Kong is already testing it.
Third, the platforms have to talk to each other. Every operator is tempted to build its own, and a dominant one could pocket the savings, while too many rivals could leave money stranded. Fragmentation can be as dangerous as concentration.
How do REC’s bonds measure up?
Honestly, we can’t fully say. We know the bond and the money moved together, and that pay-in, allotment and listing happened on the same day. Holdings sit on a new SEBI ledger called Demat 2.0, in place of the usual depository ledger. But how the ledger works, how the roles of brokers, custodians and depositories changed, or which record counts legally, all are unclear.
Much else is untested. There’s no way to trade these bonds yet, and secondary trading is reportedly expected by December. The pilot isn’t open to retail investors. And the tokenization didn’t make much material difference to REC’s bond price.
Why bother, then? Not for faster settlement, which India mostly has. A plain bond sits at the easy end of what the BIS calls the tokenisation continuum, where gains are modest because the market already works.
The bet is on what comes next. Will Demat 2.0 entry become the legal record of ownership, as Hong Kong made it for its first tokenised bond? Will the RBI’s own Unified Markets Interface, which will also tokenise assets, connect with Demat 2.0, or will India end up with two systems that don’t talk to each other? Those are just some of the questions tokenization needs to prove a foothold in.
– This edition of the newsletter was written by Kashish & Mridula
[1] PhonePe secures first international licence in UAE
PhonePe has received its first international licence from the Central Bank of the UAE, paving the way for local operations in its first overseas market. The licence will allow it to serve merchants directly and offer payment and cross-border transaction services.
Source: Financial Express
[2] US suspends fresh green-card sponsorship filings by Cognizant
The US Department of Labor has suspended new Permanent Labor Certification, or PERM, filings by Cognizant amid an investigation into alleged immigration fraud. The move blocks a key first step in employment-based green-card sponsorship while the probe continues.
Source: The Hindu
[3] L&T secures ₹2,500–5,000 crore offshore order from ONGC
L&T’s hydrocarbon offshore business has won a ₹2,500–5,000 crore order from ONGC for projects off India’s west coast. The work includes three wellhead platforms, a riser platform, subsea pipelines and modifications to existing offshore facilities.
Source: The Economic Times
[4] Cement firms may invest up to ₹13,000 crore to expand green power capacity
Major Indian cement manufacturers are projected to invest ₹12,000–13,000 crore to expand their green power capacity to 5.8–6.0 GW by March 2028, according to rating agency ICRA. The shift is expected to yield annual cost savings of over ₹6,200 crore, with a 25% green power replacement capable of expanding operating margins by up to 160 basis points.
Source: The Economic Times
[5] Australia flags India’s sugarcane support at WTO
Australia has raised concerns at the WTO over India’s sugarcane market-price support between FY19 and FY25, claiming it far exceeded permitted limits. It estimates support at 90–95% of production value, compared with the WTO’s 10% threshold for product-specific support.
Source: Financial Express
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Data centers, subdivisions & solar farms — Laurens County Council agenda  myclintonnews.com
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ZEELAND TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Around 100 neighbors gathered Thursday at the Drenthe Grove Dozeman Center in Zeeland Township to hear a presentation on a proposed $300 million, 200-megawatt solar farm — and more than two dozen of them spoke out against it.
WATCH: RWE faces pushback at Silver Maple Solar Farm public meeting held in Zeeland Township
RWE Americas is seeking approval from the Michigan Public Service Commission for the Silver Maple Solar Farm, a project that would span 1,900 acres across agricultural-zoned land in the eastern portion of Zeeland Township and the western portion of Jamestown Township. The company says the farm would produce enough energy to power 34,000 homes.
The MPSC application is currently paused while RWE conducts additional outreach with local stakeholders. Thursday’s meeting was the first of two required public meetings within that process.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Zeeland Township approves new data center and energy facility moratorium to protect local planning
Joe Brochu, development manager with RWE, was one of several company representatives who presented the project’s details to the crowd.
“It’s effectively the same project. We’re just, we’re out here to present it one more time, or well, two more times, I should say, and have some additional conversations with the community,” Brochu said.
The presentation covered engineering and drainage, solar farm components, topsoil preservation during construction, environmental impact, the permitting process, and the project’s projected economic benefits. The company says the Silver Maple Solar Farm would bring $31.6 million in local government revenue through property taxes over the lifetime of the project in Ottawa County.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Ottawa County weighs role in paused Silver Maple solar farm case as neighbors continue opposition
The company says the site was selected because of a large 345 kV power line that runs directly through the middle of the proposed project area, as well as the land’s flat and buildable terrain and landowner interest. Brochu said construction is set to begin in fall 2027, with commercial operation planned to start in mid-2029.
The MPSC application was paused following a shift in how affected local units are defined under a recent court ruling.
“Now [Ottawa] County, as well as the townships, is considered an affected local unit,” Brochu said.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Zeeland Charter Township sues solar developer, challenges state law stripping local zoning control
Brochu said the feedback from both public meetings will be factored in as the company prepares to reapply with the MPSC.
“We’re going to take that, look at our application, compile our application, and then we plan to reapply within the next month or so, and then resume that MPSC application process,” Brochu said.
Cadence DeVree, the first neighbor to speak during public comment, set the tone for the evening.
“RWE, wow, who would have thought we would have been back here, and we would be standing here for a second round of meetings? But here we are. If there’s one thing I hope for tonight is that you will actually finally answer our questions,” DeVree said.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Zeeland Township neighbors fight to stay in solar farm approval process as legal battle takes shape
Neighbors raised concerns about the project’s potential impact on prime farmland, the environment, property values, noise levels, and the rural character of the neighborhood. Several also questioned the proximity of the proposed solar farm to Ottawa Executive Airport, which sits directly across part of the proposed site.
“I like solar. I like renewables, generally speaking. What I don’t like is the BS that’s been going on over here,” said Rich Abraham, a Democratic candidate running for the Michigan House of Representatives to represent District 85. “I know there’s a lot more going on.”
Neighbor Jim Nykamp raised concerns about the project’s effect on agricultural land and drainage.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Zeeland Township board passes resolution opposing RWE solar farm application at special meeting
“Any project that fragments farmland and disturbs the drainage tile inside or outside the project area will diminish the agricultural value of the land and create ongoing risk for surrounding farms and even homes,” Nykamp said.
Several neighbors raised concerns about a lack of transparency throughout the permitting process. Linda Walker, homeowners association president of Ottawa Executive Estates, was among them.
“Solar panels can create thermal updrafts, particularly with during landing — pilots report [up to] 30 feet uplift followed by a drop in the thermal. This issue is most significant at airports with solar installations near the runways,” Walker said. “RWE has not been honest with the details of this and many other studies. They have continuously lied to and misled both the community, MDOT, MPSC, and they cannot be trusted.”
PRIOR COVERAGE: Neighbors, Zeeland Township take steps to oppose proposed solar farm in Ottawa County
RWE is also facing more than one lawsuit connected to the project. The company sued multiple members of the Smallegan family in June, alleging they dishonored a lease agreement and continued to block access to property that makes up roughly 30 percent of the land where the solar farm would sit. James Smallegan addressed Brochu directly during public comment.
“Got a good neighborhood here, good people, good family, so, a lot of these people have asked a lot of the questions. I guess I’m just wondering, Joe, are you going to be in court next Friday with us, since your company’s suing us?” Smallegan said.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Developer behind proposed solar farm in Zeeland, Jamestown Twps, moves forward with state application
Zeeland Township filed a separate lawsuit against RWE Americas in July, arguing that Public Act 233 — a state law removing local oversight of energy developments — is unconstitutional. RWE filed a notice of removal from Ottawa County Circuit Court in August, transferring the case to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan. Zeeland Township Supervisor Kerri Bosma said the township has since filed to return the case to local courts.
Bosma spoke during public comment about what she said is at stake beyond the solar project itself.
PRIOR COVERAGE: Neighbors in Zeeland Township weigh in on solar farm proposal
“We are also fighting this for the rights of the local communities to have a meaningful voice in decisions that affect them, with our cases questioning the constitutionality of PA 233, because this is bigger than solar. This is about local control and decision making,” Bosma said. “For RWE, this may be business, but for us, this is home. We know our roads. We know our farms, our families, our businesses, and our community. We understand the impact these decisions have on the people who live here.”
A second public meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 11, at Patmos Library in Hudsonville.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
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Energy and industrial group Metlen Energy & Metals has reached an agreement to sell its Tamarico II solar-plus-storage project in Chile to Copec Flux, a subsidiary of the Chilean energy group Copec (Metlen press release, 10/09/2026). The project consists of a 165 MW solar photovoltaic power plant coupled with a 725 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), with the possibility of expanding its capacity to 925 MWh.
“The sale of Tamarico II reaffirms METLEN’s ability to develop, build and operate its own renewable energy projects, and ultimately monetise their value through its Asset Rotation model” said the company.
“With this transaction, Copec adds its third large-scale solar park since 2024, after Granja Solar and La Huella, and will reach 550 MWp of solar generation in its portfolio”, said Copec.
Copec Flux will acquire 100% of the company owning the project once Tamarico II reaches commercial operation
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GCL’s Battery Pivot Signals A Bigger Shift In China’s Silicon Industry Photograph: (AI)
GCL Technology is expanding beyond its traditional photovoltaic materials business, with the Chinese silicon producer ramping up lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode production and developing silicon-carbon anode materials as it seeks to build a second growth engine in the battery sector.
The company said the first phase of its 200,000-tonne-per-year LFP cathode material project in Leshan, Sichuan, commenced production in June 2026. Production is currently being ramped up, with the company expecting the facility to reach full capacity by the end of October.
GCL said its LFP products have passed validation procedures conducted by major customers and that it has secured multiple orders. Signed orders, according to the company, fully cover its total planned production capacity, with customers including industry leaders.
The company is already moving ahead with the second phase of the Leshan project, which will add another 200,000 tonnes of annual LFP capacity. The second phase is scheduled to begin production by the end of the first quarter of 2027, taking planned LFP capacity at the site to 400,000 tonnes per year.
The development marks a significant expansion of GCL’s business beyond photovoltaic polysilicon. The company said its LFP business is intended to provide additional revenue and profit while reducing its reliance on polysilicon as its primary source of growth.
GCL is also pursuing a more direct link between its existing silicon-material capabilities and the battery value chain through silicon-carbon anode technology.
The company said its 10,000-tonne-scale silicon-carbon anode and supporting porous-carbon pilot project in Xuzhou has commenced production. The pilot line uses a single-furnace process with annual capacity of 1,000 tonnes and incorporates proprietary processes and internally developed equipment.
Unlike the LFP business, however, the silicon-carbon anode operation remains at an earlier stage of commercialisation. GCL said the project is currently undergoing process optimisation and product validation, with customer sample submissions and testing expected to begin shortly.
The company is also working with the local government in Leshan on the transformation of existing granular-silicon facilities into silicon-carbon anode production facilities. GCL said reusing existing granular-silicon infrastructure could significantly reduce capital expenditure and shorten commissioning time compared with building a new production line.
This could become an important strategic advantage if the technology can be scaled commercially. GCL said its silicon-carbon anode process, based partly on its existing silicon and silane capabilities, could help optimise production costs, energy consumption and carbon emissions.
GCL has 600,000 tonnes of silane production capacity, which it describes as the world’s largest. The company believes this existing position can support the development and eventual industrialisation of silicon-carbon anode materials.
It plans to establish what it describes as the world’s largest silicon-carbon anode production base in Leshan, although the business remains subject to technology validation, capacity expansion and customer acceptance.
The move comes as GCL seeks to reposition itself from a conventional photovoltaic materials company towards a broader new-energy materials platform. The company said a greater contribution from LFP could eventually change its revenue mix and the way investors value the business.
The strategy also highlights a potential convergence between China’s solar-materials and battery-materials industries. Silicon has traditionally been central to the photovoltaic manufacturing chain, while the development of silicon-carbon anodes creates a potential route for silicon-material expertise and infrastructure to move into the battery sector.
For GCL, the strategy is built around two different levels of maturity: LFP is already in commercial production and generating operating profit, while silicon-carbon anodes remain in the pilot, validation and scale-up phase.
GCL said the Leshan LFP project has already generated operating profit and expects it to make a positive contribution to group financial performance in the second half of 2026 and subsequent years. The eventual contribution, however, will depend on production ramp-up, selling prices and raw-material costs.
The company also flagged risks surrounding LFP raw-material prices, production ramp-up, customer concentration, technical changes, customer validation, competition, regulatory approvals and the international trade environment.
The battery-materials push therefore represents more than a diversification announcement for GCL. It is an attempt to use the company’s existing silicon-related capabilities, manufacturing infrastructure and process technology to participate in a larger battery-materials market while reducing its dependence on the cyclical photovoltaic polysilicon business.
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The East African nation of Comoros has inaugurated three solar PV plants totaling around 20 MW, financed by the UAE’s Abu Dhabi Fund for Development (ADFD). Implemented by Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (Masdar), the projects are managed by Global South Utilities (GSU). The AED 84.4 million project comprises 12.86 MW on Grande Comore, 4.05 MW on Anjouan, and 3.1 MW on Mohéli. It also includes a 16 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) with 8 MW of power capacity across Grande Comore and Anjouan, along with around 30 km of medium-voltage transmission lines. The facilities are expected to generate about 33.75 GWh annually, enough to meet the electricity needs of around 17,500 households, according to Masdar. 
Tunisia’s Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy has announced the results of the sixth round of its authorization regime for solar PV projects. It has selected 309 applications totaling 455 MW of capacity, according to the ministry statement reported by local media. The selection includes 187 projects of 1 MW capacity each, 119 projects of 2 MW each, and three projects of 10 MW each. The projects were selected from applications received through June 30, 2026. Selected projects will sell their entire output to the Tunisian Electricity and Gas Company (STEG).  
US-based Odyssey Energy Solutions has raised $74 million in new financing to expand its platform across emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The funding comprises $27 million in equity and $47 million in debt. The company said the capital will support the expansion of its procurement platform and financing solutions for solar and distributed energy projects. Odyssey says its platform currently connects more than 6,000 solar installers and EPC companies across over 50 countries and facilitates access to $3.6 billion in capital. 
Equity investors for the latest financing round include Broadscale Group, FMO, and Al Mada Ventures, with continued participation from existing investors including Union Square Ventures, Equal Ventures, Abstract Ventures, Twelve Below, FJ Labs, MCJ, and Transition Ventures. Debt financiers include British International Investment, BIO, the Facility for Energy Inclusion represented by Cygnum Capital, and the Energy Entrepreneurs Growth Fund represented by TripleJump.  
Nomba, a Nigerian fintech providing payment and business solutions, has partnered with Synafare, a renewable energy company, to provide NGN 2 billion in solar financing. According to TechCabal, this will help about 300 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) acquire solar panels, inverters, and batteries. They explain that the initiative aims to help businesses adopt solar power and reduce reliance on diesel generators amid high energy costs. Synafare will identify, vet, and pre-qualify SMEs, then Nomba will independently assess them and disburse the loan directly to the merchant. 
Yellow Door Energy, an independent power producer (IPP) focused on the Middle East and Africa markets, and Nedbank Corporate and Investment Banking (Nedbank CIB) have reached financial close on a 49 MW solar project. The Lion Thorn Solar Park is located in Leeudoringstad, South Africa. With Nedbank CIB on board as the financier, the project is now moving toward construction. The solar park has secured long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with PPC and POWERX and is expected to generate about 115 GWh of electricity in its first year. Construction is scheduled to begin in September 2026, with commissioning expected in 2028. 
Namibia’s Dâures Green Fertiliser project has secured $3.6 million from SDG Namibia One, according to local media reports. The project plans to combine 60 MW of solar capacity, 10 MW of wind power, and 65 MWh of energy storage to supply a 40 MW electrolyzer. The SDG Namibia will provide the funding, supported by the European Union (EU) through its Global Gateway initiative and Invest International, to Enersense Energy Namibia. The facility is expected to produce up to 20,000 tons of green ammonia and 80,000 tons of ammonium sulfate annually, targeting the local fertilizer market. 
Nigeria’s Rural Electrification Agency (REA) recently launched the Renewable Asset Management Company (RAMCO). It will professionally manage publicly financed renewable-energy assets, including mini-grids and solar infrastructure. It will focus on maintenance, performance, metering, billing, and revenue collection. REA said the initiative is intended to preserve asset value, improve sustainability and help attract private investment into Nigeria’s power sector. RAMCO has been established in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance Incorporated (MOFI) and Infrastructure Corporation of Nigeria (InfraCorp).  
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As Australia's solar boom creates a looming waste crisis, billions of dollars worth of recoverable materials are being buried instead of harvested.
By The Long View · Edited by Mal James
Published September 11, 2026 · How we edit
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A worn-out solar panel holds silver at a concentration that would please a mining company. Inside end-of-life panels, the silver runs at about 300 to 500 parts per million, which is in some cases as rich as the ore that silver mines are built to dig up. The panels coming off Australian rooftops carry that kind of grade. And most of the silver is heading for landfill.
We are not metallurgists, materials scientists, or waste-industry engineers. What follows is our reading of one research group’s published work and the surrounding numbers, not technical advice. The recovery figures here come mostly from a single team’s demonstrations, at small and pilot scale, and should be read as promising early results rather than a settled, commercial process.
The clean-energy pitch tends to end at installation. Panels go up, they make power for a couple of decades, and the assumption baked into a lot of the conversation is that when they come down, the materials get reused. Glass, the aluminium frame, the rest. A closed loop.
The loop is real for some of the panel, but not for the most valuable part. In Australia, only about 15% of used solar panels are recycled at all. And even when a panel is processed, it’s usually the glass and the aluminium frame that get reclaimed. The silver sits inside the solar cell itself, and pulling it out has usually meant acids and chemistry that mainstream recyclers haven’t bothered with.
By 2050, Australia is expected to hold more than 1 million tonnes of retired panels. Inside that mass sits an estimated 300 to 500 tonnes of silver. Globally the figure is far larger.
Per panel, the amount is small. A single module carries about 20 grams of silver, worth roughly AUD 3.66 ($2.63) a gram. On its own, that’s not much reason to build a recycling line. But spread across a million tonnes of panels, the pile starts to look less like waste and more like an ore body sitting above ground, already mined, already shipped, already sorted into neat rectangles.
Associate Professor Mahshid Firouzi, deputy director of the University of Newcastle’s Center for Critical Minerals and Urban Mining (CRITIUM),  argues that “we’re effectively burying silver in landfill when we have the ability to recover it and return it to the economy.”
What changes the picture is a technique borrowed straight from mining. Researchers at the University of Newcastle’s Centre for Critical Minerals and Urban Mining, led by Associate Professor Firouzi, crush the panels and then run the ground material through froth flotation.
That’s a standard mining method: mix the crushed material with water and air bubbles, and the valuable bits cling to the bubbles and float off. In an 18-month study published in December 2025, the team reported recovering more than 97% of the silver in minutes, with no acid involved.
The no-acid part matters, and so does the claim of novelty. As Firouzi put it, using froth flotation this way is “to our knowledge, the first demonstration of froth flotation for recovery of metallic silver from recycled, ground solar panels, something many in the field believed was not feasible.” The appeal is speed and simplicity.
Then came the scale-up. In August 2026 the team ran a continuous pilot trial, processing about 22 kg of cell material from roughly 460 kg of panels, the equivalent of 23 home rooftop modules. Firouzi described the result as moving the earlier lab work toward something that could actually be built: “this latest work demonstrates that the process can operate continuously at a much larger scale with nearly 100% silver recovery, bringing us closer to commercial implementation.” That near-100% figure comes from a single pilot run, not a running commercial plant. A strong signal, but not proof that the economics work at industrial scale.
A working recovery method doesn’t fix the recycling gap on its own. For the silver to actually be reclaimed, the panels first have to reach a facility that can process them. That means collection, transport, and a recycling operation set up to do more than strip glass and frames.
What flotation changes is the economics at the far end of that chain. The pilot concentrated the silver into a product that was just 1.25% of the original cell material, rich enough to be worth selling rather than storing. Firouzi frames the whole effort as reuse rather than reinvention, applying “proven mineral-processing technology to one of the fastest-growing waste streams in the renewable energy sector.”
The technology is proven in mining. The open question is whether the solar-recycling version of it pays.
Our read is that the silver alone probably won’t push Australia’s recycling rate past 15% on price alone, at least not while a panel’s worth of metal sells for the price of a few coffees. What it does is shift the case for policy. If collection and transport were required or subsidised, and panels arrived at facilities in bulk, a fast acid-free process at the end of the line would turn a landfill cost into a saleable concentrate. The metal has been above ground and sorted the whole time. Whether it gets recovered comes down to who pays to move the panels, not whether anyone can get the silver out. That part looks close to solved.
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The proposal from the Central Electricity Authority mandates that new ground-mounted solar projects and onshore wind farms install energy storage equivalent to at least 10% of their capacity starting in July 2027. By 2029, the minimum duration would increase from two to four hours, as the country aims to prevent excess clean energy from being wasted.
India is preparing a significant change in how new renewable energy plants will be constructed. The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has proposed that ground-mounted solar and onshore wind projects commissioned after July 1, 2027 must have storage systems installed alongside the plants.
Under the proposal, the storage must have a capacity equivalent to at least 10% of the renewable project’s installed capacity and operate for a minimum of two hours. Thus, a 100 MW solar plant, for instance, would need to incorporate at least 10 MW of storage that can function for two hours.
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The measure aims to address a problem that has grown alongside India’s renewable expansion: at certain times of the day, the country produces more solar electricity than its grid can absorb or transport. As a result, operators are forced to reduce generation even when the panels could keep producing.
The proposal sets a clear date for the first phase.
New projects for ground-mounted solar power and onshore wind energy commissioned after July 1, 2027, would need to include storage systems.
The minimum capacity would be equivalent to 10% of the plant’s capacity, while the initial required duration would be two hours.
In practical terms, this means:
These numbers are mathematical examples of how the proposed rule would apply, not specific projects that have already been announced.
The CEA also aims to progressively tighten the requirement.
For projects commissioned starting July 1, 2029, the minimum capacity would remain at 10% of the renewable capacity.
However, the minimum storage duration would increase from two to four hours.
Thus, the same 100 MW solar project would still need at least 10 MW of storage capacity, but its minimum energy capacity requirement would shift from 20 MWh to 40 MWh.
Therefore, the second phase does not necessarily double the battery power. It doubles the minimum amount of energy that the system needs to store and deliver over time.
The reason for the change is evident in the numbers from the electrical system.
Between April and June 2026, India had to curtail nearly 14% of its potential solar generation, according to data cited by Reuters.
The problem arose due to an excess of clean electricity during certain times of the day, while the existing infrastructure was unable to transport or absorb all that production.
As a result, panels capable of generating energy saw their output reduced.
This process is known as curtailment.
It occurs when a power plant could generate electricity, but the operator requests that it reduce or temporarily halt production because the system cannot accommodate all that energy at that moment.
Another report shows an even larger scale.
In the 15 months leading up to the beginning of September, India curtailed approximately 11 TWh of solar generation, according to government data and research from Ember published by the Associated Press.
This amount would be enough, according to the report, to power approximately 10 million homes.
The paradox is noteworthy because it occurred precisely while demand for electricity in India was rising.
During periods of intense heat, air conditioning units increase consumption. At the same time, demand remains high after the sun goes down and photovoltaic output plummets.
It is precisely this difference between generation times and consumption times that emphasizes the importance of batteries.
The mechanism is relatively simple.
During hours of strong sunlight, a power plant can generate more electricity than the grid needs at that moment.
Without sufficient storage, part of that surplus needs to be curtailed.
With a battery installed alongside the project, some of the electricity can be stored.
Later, when the sun sets and photovoltaic generation decreases, the system can discharge the stored energy.
This way, storage shifts electricity over time.
Instead of being forced to consume electricity at the same moment it is produced, the system can store some of it for times of greater necessity.
The challenge has grown because India’s renewable expansion has gained enormous scale.
The country already has more than 300 GW of installed clean energy capacity, accounting for more than half of its total electrical capacity.
Additionally, India has set a goal of reaching 500 GW of capacity based on non-fossil sources by 2030.
Solar and wind will play an important role in this expansion.
However, both are variable sources.
Solar panels depend on available radiation, while wind turbines depend on wind speed.
Therefore, increasing only the number of plants without expanding storage, transmission, and operational flexibility may create new bottlenecks.
This international dimension makes the proposal even more relevant.
India is already the third largest producer of solar energy in the world.
This means that regulatory changes adopted by the country could influence a massive supply chain of batteries, inverters, control systems, power electronics, and auxiliary equipment.
Each new renewable project falling under the regulation would need to consider storage from its design phase.
As a result, batteries would no longer be merely optional equipment for certain enterprises and would begin to be integrated into the basic design of new installations affected by the regulation.
Although the electrical systems differ, the problem of excess renewable generation has also gained significance in Brazil.
Brazil’s Northeast region has rapidly expanded its solar and wind farms. However, transmission limitations and operational needs have led to increasing generation cutbacks.
Consequently, energy storage has begun to play a crucial role in Brazil’s energy planning.
The CPG revealed that Brazil is preparing its first large-scale battery auction to store excess solar and wind energy and release electricity when the system requires it.
The difference lies in the regulatory strategy. While Brazil is preparing for specific capacity contracts, India is now proposing to incorporate storage directly into the new renewable projects affected by the regulation.
The current proposal did not emerge from thin air.
In February 2025, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) had issued a guideline recommending that solar projects incorporate storage equivalent to at least 10% of the installed capacity for two hours.
At that time, it was merely a recommendation.
Now, the authority aims to transform this technical reference into a requirement for new projects under the regulation starting in July 2027.
Therefore, the significant change lies precisely in the shift from a guideline to a proposed regulatory requirement.
The Indian government has already estimated that renewable expansion will require storage on a much larger scale.
According to official information released by the Ministry of Energy, the National Electricity Plan projected a need for approximately 47.24 GW / 236 GWh of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) by 2031-32.
The estimated investment associated with this demand reaches about 3.49 lakh crore rupees.
In addition to batteries, the country also projects strong growth in pumped storage hydropower plants.
By 2031-32, the estimated need for this technology reaches 26.69 GW / 175 GWh.
Thus, India is not betting on a single solution. The planning combines electrochemical batteries, hydraulic storage, transmission expansion, and operational changes in the grid.
One of the largest demonstrations of this strategy is located in Andhra Pradesh.
The Pinnapuram Integrated Renewable Energy Project combines solar, wind, and pumped hydro storage generation.
The facility was designed with 4,000 MW of solar power, 1,000 MW of wind power, and 1,680 MW of pumped storage.
Instead of electrochemical cells, the system utilizes two artificial reservoirs.
When there is renewable surplus, pumps transfer water to the upper reservoir. Later, when the grid needs electricity, the water flows down through turbines to generate power again.
The CPG detailed how the Pinnapuram project utilizes two artificial reservoirs and 1,680 MW of storage to convert excess solar and wind power into dispatchable electricity.
The new proposal from the CEA complements this strategy by extending storage to new solar and wind farms as well.
Another official projection illustrates the expected speed of this transformation.
In March 2026, the government reported that the National Electricity Plan anticipated approximately 208 GWh of BESS systems needed by 2030 to integrate renewable expansion.
At that time, 35.8 GWh of BESS capacity was already under construction.
In addition, the government is implementing financial support programs to expedite approximately 43 GWh of new storage systems.
These figures indicate that the mandatory proposal is part of a much larger policy framework.
The country is simultaneously creating demand, financing projects, encouraging manufacturing, and modifying the technical rules of the grid.
The strategy also reaches the industry.
The government has a program to incentivize the production of advanced chemistry cells with a budget of ₹18,100 crore.
The overall goal involves 50 GWh of manufacturing capacity.
Of that total, 10 GWh is reserved for grid-scale stationary storage.
Thus, the expansion of the battery market does not rely solely on imports.
India is also attempting to develop a domestic supply chain capable of meeting part of the demand created by the energy transition.
Batteries represent only part of the proposal.
The CEA also aims to require technology known as grid-forming in inverters.
Renewable projects commissioned after July 2027 would need to have at least 15% of inverters equipped with grid-forming controls.
In addition, the power conversion systems associated with BESS would also need to possess this capability.
This function is significant because traditional power grids were built around large synchronous generators, such as those used in thermal and hydroelectric plants.
As solar, wind, and batteries gain market share, power electronics need to assume part of the functions required to keep the system stable.
An electrical grid needs to maintain technical parameters within strict limits.
Two of these are particularly important: frequency and voltage.
When generation and consumption become unbalanced rapidly, these parameters can fluctuate.
Grid-forming technologies allow inverters to participate more actively in system stabilization.
Consequently, the Indian proposal aims not only to store excess energy.
It also prepares renewable infrastructure to perform functions that become increasingly important as inverter-based sources take up a larger share of the energy mix.
Despite renewable energy expansion, coal remains central to India’s electricity system.
The country has immense solar and wind capacity, but thermal plants still provide a significant share of effective generation.
This occurs, among other reasons, because they can produce electricity in a controllable manner at different times.
Batteries could gradually change this relationship.
By storing solar electricity during the day and delivering it during evening peak hours, the system diminishes one of the key limitations of photovoltaic sources.
However, storage alone does not eliminate the need for other sources, transmission, and operational flexibility.
The proposed solution has its limits.
When a region produces a large amount of energy but lacks sufficient lines to transport that electricity to consumer centers, batteries can help alleviate some of the pressure.
However, they do not completely replace the need for new transmission lines.
If the problem is structural and persistent, the stored energy will still need to reach consumers at some point.
For this reason, experts advocate a combination of solutions: storage, transmission, geographical distribution of renewables, and greater flexibility of conventional plants.
India is attempting to advance on all these fronts simultaneously.
This discussion is particularly significant as Brazil faces its own renewable generation cuts.
With increased solar and wind energy connected to the National Interconnected System, storing excess energy may allow for electricity that is currently restricted to be utilized hours later.
CPG has already highlighted how megabatteries are entering the Brazilian planning to store solar and wind energy and enhance the stability of the electricity system.
Thus, the Indian experience may serve as an international reference for a stricter regulatory alternative: requiring that the renewable project itself is accompanied by minimum storage capacity.
This is the main editorial caution of the topic.
India has not yet definitively enforced the requirement.
The document released by the Central Electricity Authority is a proposal for regulatory change.
Therefore, titles claiming that “India has already mandated all renewable plants to install batteries” would be inaccurate.
Furthermore, the proposal does not indiscriminately cover all existing renewable installations.
The focus is on new solar projects on land and onshore wind projects framed within the rules and commissioned after the established dates.
The expected progression indicates how the government aims to gradually increase flexibility.
Consider again a solar plant with 100 MW.
Starting from July 2027, it would require, under the proposal, at least 10 MW of storage for two hours, equating to 20 MWh.
By July 2029, the minimum capacity would remain at 10 MW, but the system would need to operate for four hours.
In this case, the energy capacity would increase to 40 MWh.
Thus, India is creating an adaptation period before doubling the minimum duration.
The change marks a new stage in the energy transition.
For years, the main challenge was to install enough solar panels and wind turbines to reduce costs and increase clean generation.
Now, countries with significant renewable volumes face another issue: what to do when all this energy reaches the grid at the same time.
In India, the solution proposed by the CEA is to begin building storage alongside generation itself.
The rule would start with 10% of capacity for two hours in July 2027 and advance to four hours in July 2029.
At the same time, grid-forming technologies would help new projects participate more actively in electrical stability.
After restricting nearly 14% of potential solar generation between April and June, the country signals that simply installing more panels is no longer sufficient.
The next phase will require the ability to store electricity during excess and deliver it exactly when the system needs it most.
And what do you think? Should Brazil follow a similar strategy and require storage alongside new solar and wind farms, or would it be better to leave batteries for auctions and independent projects?
Author for the Click Petróleo e Gás portal since 2019, responsible for publishing over 8,000 articles that have garnered millions of views, combining technical expertise, clarity, and engagement to inform and connect readers. A Petroleum Engineer with a postgraduate degree in Industrial Unit Commissioning, I also bring practical experience and background in the agribusiness sector, which broadens my perspective and versatility in producing specialized content. I develop content topics, disseminate job opportunities, and create advertising materials tailored for the industry audience. For content suggestions, job vacancy promotion, or advertising proposals, please contact via email: santizatagpc@gmail.com. We do not accept resumes
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Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), Government of India enterprise, has issued a tender (SECI000278) for 700 MW ISTS-connected solar PV projects. The projects will be located in Special Economic Zones (SEZ’s) or Export Oriented Units (EOU’s) across India. Developers will be selected through tariff-based competitive bidding with an e-reverse auction. The tender was published on September 3, 2026. The RfS document costs 59,000 INR. The tender fee, EMD, and PBG are specified in the RfS document. A pre-bid meeting is scheduled for September 14, 2026. Online bid submissions close on October 5, 2026. Offline bid submissions close on October 7, 2026. Bids will open on October 8, 2026.
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Kaynes To Waaree: Jefferies’ Buy And Sell Calls On 36 Stocks Mapping India’s Industrial Boom  NDTV Profit
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Lineage filed suit in Los Angeles Superior Court against Altus Power and Pearce Services, alleging negligence caused a June 17 fire that destroyed a 500,000-square-foot temperature-controlled warehouse in Boyle Heights. Los Palos Street Operating, an Altus subsidiary, leased the roof from Lineage to operate a solar-panel array. Lineage claims the fire started while Pearce employees performed maintenance on the panels. Millions of pounds of fresh and frozen food rotted after the blaze, triggering neighborhood complaints, citations and lawsuits over odors and pests.
Lineage seeks more than $1 billion in damages, including property and reputational losses, cleanup costs and settlements from resident lawsuits alleging health concerns. Altus and Pearce both dispute the claims. Altus called Lineage’s allegations misinformation and said the cold-storage operator bears legal responsibility for site remediation. Pearce said investigation into the fire’s cause remains ongoing and it plans to defend itself in court.
Lineage’s suit alleges the rooftop solar array sparked a smaller fire in August 2024. Many warehouse operators have installed rooftop solar panels over the past decade to cut energy costs and reduce emissions. Walmart sued Tesla in 2019 over solar panels that allegedly sparked fires on store roofs, a case the companies settled months later.
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Denmark-based European Energy will build an AC-coupled battery energy storage system alongside its operational 58 MW Mokoan Solar Farm near Wangaratta in northern Victoria after reaching financial close on the 80 MWh project.
European Energy said German lender Deutsche Bank has provided a non-recourse package to refinance the existing debt on the solar farm, and to support construction and operation of the co-located battery energy storage system.
European Energy Australia Managing Director Catriona McLeod said reaching financial close on Mokoan provides a strong foundation for the next phase of the project and is a significant milestone for the company’s Australian portfolio.
“This is our second battery to reach this important milestone and it will be our first battery to come online,” she said, adding that European Energy is planning to add battery storage to most of its Australian projects.
European Energy Australia currently has a renewable energy pipeline of about 10 GW, with projects at various stages from early investigation through to fully operational.
“Batteries are a huge part of our strategy,” McLeod said. “They have the potential to maximise our renewable assets while providing more renewable energy when it’s needed most, and we’re planning to add them to most of our sites over the coming years.”
European Energy Deputy Chief Executive Jens Peter Zink said assets like Mokoan, that combine solar and storage to provide stable production and operational flexibility, are becoming increasingly attractive to institutional investors.
“Our battery portfolio is expanding across markets, and securing financing for this co-located storage system in Australia is an important milestone,” he said.
The 58 MW Mokoan Solar Farm, which is supported by the federal government’s revenue underwriting Capacity Investment Scheme, has been fully operational since June 2025 and generates approximately 113 GWh of electricity annually.
McLeod said construction of the battery will commence soon with commissioning expected about the middle of next year. Once operational, the two-hour AC-coupled battery energy storage system is expected to support grid stability and greater integration of renewable energy into the Victorian grid.
The Mokoan financial close follows European Energy’s recent announcement of financial close for the Winton North solar farm and battery project being constructed in Victoria’s northeast.
Winton North, which combines 130 MW of solar and a 100 MW / 220 MWh battery energy storage system, is under construction with operations expected to commence in 2027. Once operational, the facility is expected to generate 227 GWh of clean energy annually.
Both the Winton North and Mokoan solar farms are backed by a power purchase agreement (PPA) with global technology provider Amazon Web Services.
The developer last year signed a deal to supply Amazon’s Australian division with more than 170 MW of capacity. The agreement also includes the 97 MW Bullyard PV project being developed near Bundaberg on the central Queensland coast.

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Friday, September 11, 2026
Balcony solar is now officially legal in the UK, with plug-in panels and batteries up for sale as of Thursday, including through one of Britain’s biggest retailers, Argo, where single panel units start at £599, including through buy-now-pay-later deals, or for just over £24 a month through a payment plan.
The UK joins Spain and Germany in embracing plug-in solar, Germany being the originator of the term balkonkraftwerk – balcony power plant – due to the huge number of apartment dwellers that have used the technology to generate power from sun-drenched terraces and slash their bills.
The UK has made plug-in solar happen relatively quickly, having announced in March that paving the way for the technology would be prioritised as part of a suite of measures designed to bolster national energy security in the midst of another fuel crisis.
This has not gone unnoticed in Australia, where groups like Solar Citizens are taking the opportunity to remind the federal and state governments and relevant regulatory authorities that they, too, could make balcony solar happen – within the space of a year.
Pressure is also mounting from across the proverbial ditch, where New Zealand is threatening to beat Australia to the punch after a major government review said legalising plug-in solar could be achieved within nine to 12 months given work has already started on determining the approach to developing or modifying standards.
To make plug-in solar happen in Australia requires making it legal – and safe – to plug in and use. But as Smart Energy Lab general manager Glenn Morris puts it, “none of the concerns raised about plug-in solar needs new technology, they need a rule that says what is acceptable.”
“The path to safe plug-in solar is not complicated,” adds Morris, in a statement released alongside Solar Citizens on Thursday. 
“Germany has had over a million of these systems plugged in for years and the UK has just written the rules into its wiring regulations. We do not need to invent anything. 
“We need a product standard so the inverter shuts down instantly when unplugged, a cap of around 800 watts (W) so it cannot overload a normal power circuit, and a simple registration with the network so they know it is there.
“That is a job for the Energy Ministers to hand to the regulators with a deadline.”
And, in fact, the work being done in New Zealand could serve to make the job for Australia even easier, given the two countries share many of the key electrical and safety standards that need massaging to allow plug-in solar.
Solar Citizens CEO Heidi Lee Douglas notes that while it’s not currently legal to use plug-in solar and batteries in Australia, people can quite readily buy the gear – making it more urgent than even to develop clear, nationally consistent rules.
“Solar Citizens has written to all Australian governments urging them to lay out a plan for the regulation of plug-in solar,” says Douglas.
“It’s unfair that more than three million Aussies who could benefit from portable plug-in solar panels are missing out because our regulations aren’t up to date with the latest technology.
“We see the UK, Germany, and our neighbour New Zealand making plug-in solar available – so it’s time for Australian politicians and regulators to work it out here. If it’s good enough for the Kiwis and the Brits, it’s good enough for us.”
As Solar Citizens explains it, plug-in solar refers to portable modules (and batteries) that can “literally be plugged into power points” to help offset the cost of energy hungry home appliances. In Australia, modules would likely range from 600-800 W of power and cost between $A650 – $A1300.
Portable plug-in solar panels can be attached to apartment balconies or installed in back yards and can be taken by renters when they move – and they don’t need selfie-taking electricians to install them.
“An 800 watt plug-in system on a balcony or in a backyard with reasonable sun will produce around 1,000 kilowatt-hours a year in most of Australia,” says Morris.
“It can be used to run the fridge, the router, the TV and whatever else is on during the day, that is worth $300 to $400 a year off the bill at current tariffs. 
“A kit that costs about $1,000 pays for itself in three years and keeps working for 20. For most renters it is the only form of solar they can own, and they take it with them when they move.”
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Mint Renewables has referred the Magpie Hill Solar Farm, a hybrid solar-plus-storage development with a capacity of up to 375MW paired with a 375MW/3,000MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), to Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
The project would be built on a 1,221.78-hectare site of freehold farmland 6km southwest of Tarago and 17km northeast of Bungendore, New South Wales, split by the Mulwaree River into northern and southern sections across the Goulburn Mulwaree and Queanbeyan-Palerang council areas.
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Mint Renewables initially scoped the project at up to 450MW with a matching 450MW/3,600MWh BESS to allow for future changes in battery technology, before revising the solar generation capacity down to 375MW following further design review.
The project would connect to an existing 330kV overhead transmission line at the southwest corner of the site, which the proponent says has sufficient capacity to connect Magpie Hill to the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Construction is anticipated to begin in mid-2028 and take around 24 months, with operations expected to commence in mid-2030 and continue for 30 to 35 years. Peak construction is expected to employ around 328 full-time equivalent workers, with roughly 10 required for ongoing operations and maintenance.
In its referral, Mint Renewables described an “urgent need to develop and connect new sources of dispatchable renewable energy in NSW” as the state’s grid continues to shift away from coal-fired generation, positioning solar-plus storage hybrids as well-suited to storing daytime generation for release during evening and morning demand peaks.
The referral’s ecological assessment found no EPBC-listed threatened fauna species and only one threatened flora species, Black Gum, recorded within the project area, with the design avoiding all eight identified Black Gum trees through a 30-metre buffer.
A separate planted population of Paddy’s River Box, a tree species that is also EPBC-listed, will be avoided entirely, with the proponent noting that these individuals sit outside the species’ natural range and are unlikely to represent an important population.
Potential habitat remains for the Striped Legless Lizard, with additional targeted surveys planned for spring/summer 2026 to confirm the species’ absence, though expert consultation to date suggests a significant impact is unlikely.
Mint Renewables’ design has already shifted in response to environmental and community feedback, removing around 15 hectares of habitat correlating with a critically endangered ecological community in the project’s northeast and relocating the proposed BESS location north after preliminary noise assessment found compliance could not be achieved at its original site near the grid connection point.
The proponent has committed to a 100-metre exclusion buffer around the Mulwaree River and will proceed with only one of two possible river crossings to link the site’s northern and southern sections.
Magpie Hill is not Mint Renewables’ first project to draw regulatory and community attention in the current storage build-out.
The company’s 200MW/400MWh Dederang BESS in northeast Victoria was fast-tracked by the Victorian government’s Development Facilitation Program in 2025, despite opposition from the local Alpine Shire Council, and sits within the Ovens Murray Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) alongside Trina Solar’s proposed 500MW/1,000MWh Kiewa Valley BESS.
Last month, Windlab and Squadron Energy referred the Bungaban Solar Project to the EPBC Act, a 500MW solar facility paired with a 500MW BESS in Queensland’s Western Downs region, anchored by an offtake agreement supplying around 80% of output to Rio Tinto.
That project forms part of Windlab’s broader South Queensland Renewable Generation Hub, developed in partnership with Squadron Energy following the latter’s completion of an AU$2.7 billion (US$1.93 billion) portfolio refinancing designed to support expansion into battery storage and hybrid assets.
The volume of large-scale renewable energy and storage projects entering the EPBC process has drawn scrutiny from industry bodies over implementation speed.
The Clean Energy Investor Group recently called for faster, more consistent decisions under the reformed Act, representing developers and investors with more than 16GW of installed capacity and a project pipeline exceeding 46GW nationally, warning that ongoing gaps in National Environmental Standards, an offsets calculator and a formal definition of “net gain” risk slowing the pipeline of projects, including hybrids like Magpie Hill, that Australia needs to replace retiring coal generation.

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Data centers, subdivisions & solar farms — Laurens County Council agenda  The Clinton Chronicle
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As solar penetration rises, project developers are facing tighter grid availability, curtailment, and pressure on project economics, making flexibility and smarter plant design increasingly important. The TaiyangNews Virtual Conference on Solar & Storage Power Plant Developments will bring together developers, EPCs, procurement managers, and technology suppliers to discuss how battery storage, advanced trackers, high-power modules, hybrid generation, and other plant-level technologies are shaping the next generation of utility-scale solar projects.
Dimitris Pantoulas, Technical Director, Utility Projects Europe at GoodWe, will be speaking on the topic From Power Conversion to Grid Forming: Enabling the Next Generation of Utility-Scale Solar & Storage Plants at the TaiyangNews Solar & Storage Power Plant Developments Virtual Conference.
The conference is scheduled from 09:30 to 13:00 CEST on Thursday, September 17, 2026. Register for free here.
Jinko ESS, the energy storage subsidiary of JinkoSolar, announced that its factory in Haining, Zhejiang, passed zero-carbon factory verification by TÜV Rheinland and received a Type I Three-Star rating under the T/CECA-G 0171-2025 standard. The facility achieved 100% renewable electricity consumption during the reporting period through on-site solar generation, green power trading, and green certificates.
The factory has installed a 12 MW distributed rooftop PV system covering 66.44% of its total roof area. In 2025, self-generated solar power supplied 18.97% of the factory’s total electricity consumption. Its Scope 1 and Scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions totaled 26,133.63 metric tons of CO₂ equivalent during the year, of which 13,068 metric tons, or 50%, were offset.
Jinko ESS recently deployed nine units of its SunGiga G2 261 kWh C&I ESS at Changzhou International Enterprise Port in Jiangsu Province (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
PV and ESS manufacturer Risen Energy has expanded into integrated computing and power solutions, launching a new business targeting green computing services. The company has introduced an integrated solution covering power generation, energy storage, intelligent dispatch, and project delivery, designed to address the high energy consumption of intelligent computing centers and mismatches between intermittent renewable generation and computing loads.
Risen Energy said its HJT Hyper-ion modules provide renewable electricity, while its fully liquid-cooled silicon carbide (SiC) energy storage system helps smooth load fluctuations. At the dispatch level, the Risen Cloud platform and Energy OS use AI to coordinate solar generation, energy storage, and computing resources. For project delivery, the company provides full-cycle EPC and O&M services covering solar and storage facilities and data-center power distribution systems. It is also expanding into computing-capacity leasing and equipment for integrated computing-power applications.
Perovskite PV developer RenShine Solar has achieved a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.4% for a large-area all-perovskite tandem module. TÜV SÜD certified the result over an aperture area of 809 cm², which the company said sets a new world record for tandem modules of this size.
The result was achieved using RenShine Solar’s first 10 MW all-perovskite tandem pilot line. The company previously achieved a certified efficiency of 26.2% on a 65 cm² module, while its 30 cm × 40 cm module with an efficiency of 22.8% was included in NREL’s Champion Module Efficiencies chart. RenShine Solar is now advancing industrial application validation of the technology for space PV and high-efficiency terrestrial energy systems.
Last month, RenShine announced achieving a certified efficiency of 22.0% on a 1.2 × 0.6 m commercial-scale perovskite module with a total area of 0.72 m² (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
Integrated PV manufacturer Tongwei Co., Ltd. has secured antitrust clearance for its planned acquisition of 100% of Qinghai Lihao Clean Energy Co., Ltd., along with associated fundraising. The company said it has completed preliminary audit and valuation work, and China’s State Administration for Market Regulation has issued a decision not to prohibit the transaction.
Significant changes in PV market conditions since the transaction plan was announced have left the parties divided over specific deal terms. Tongwei expects it will be unable to issue notice of a shareholders’ meeting within 6 months of the initial board resolution, or by September 10, 2026. The company said it will continue pursuing the acquisition and, once it reaches an agreement on the transaction plan, will reconvene its board to review the plan and re-determine the share issuance price. Lihao Clean Energy remained loss-making in both 2024 and 2025 amid continued supply-demand imbalances in the PV industry.
PV laser equipment manufacturer DR Laser reported revenue of RMB 1.029 billion for the first half of 2026, down 12.02% year-on-year, including RMB 950 million from laser equipment for PV cells and modules. Net profit attributable to shareholders fell 6.38% to RMB 306 million, while net profit excluding non-recurring items declined 14.16% to RMB 271 million. DR Laser attributed the weaker results mainly to near-term volatility in the PV industry, customer capital expenditure, and the timing of equipment deliveries and revenue recognition.
The company said in a July investor briefing that its PV laser equipment orders in 2026 were mainly for BC and TOPCon cell technologies. It is advancing BC laser micro-etching and electroplating patterning equipment, as well as laser selective thinning and laser sintering equipment for TOPCon. On the module side, DR Laser is developing LIB (Laser Integration Bonding) technology for one-step full-area metallization welding and integrated MBI (Metal Backsheet Interconnection) equipment for BC modules used in distributed PV applications.
TaiyangNews 2024

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Suniva raises $835m to build new solar cell plant in South Carolina, US  Yahoo Finance
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Tech Made Simple
Hot Topics: IFA 2026 | All Roku Players Compared | Best iPad Keyboard Cases | The Best Open Ear Earbuds of 2026
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by Josh Kirschner on September 10, 2026
BLUETTI is bringing its battery technology to a job site near you. At IFA 2026 in Berlin, the company introduced the Pioneer 5000 E-Generator, a battery-powered replacement for the fuel generators that have run construction sites, event productions and emergency response operations for decades. It’s the anchor of a broader lineup that also includes a balcony solar-plus-storage system called the Balco 500, plus a new line of compact portable power stations.
BLUETTI is calling the Pioneer 5000 the first product in a new "E-Generator" category. Rather than a scaled-up version of the portable power stations BLUETTI sells to campers, it’s built around the output and durability needs of a contractor: 5 kW of continuous AC power at 120 or 240 volts, with an 18 kW surge for a fraction of a second to start equipment like air compressors, water pumps and motors that draw a heavy jolt of power the instant they switch on. The generator can sustain overloads of 5,250 to 6,250 W for up to 2 minutes, 6,250 to 7,500 W for up to 10 seconds, and 7,500 to 11,000 W for up to 3 seconds.

With the Pioneer 5000, there’s no fuel to haul, no exhaust to vent and no engine to maintain, since the power comes from a 5.12 kWh lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery, which is durable and resistant to overheating. That battery pack can be expanded to 35 kWh using BLUETTI’s existing battery and solar accessories.
At about 164 pounds with its roll cage, the Pioneer 5000 E-Generator is built for the abuse a construction site dishes out. It carries an IP65 rating for dust and water resistance and an IK10 rating for impact protection. All-terrain wheels and a steel frame round out the design, and BLUETTI rates it for operation from -4°F to 131°F (-20°C to 55°C) while staying under 50 decibels, quiet enough to run without hearing protection.
BLUETTI says the Pioneer 5000 E-Generator can recharge from 5% to 80% charge in about an hour using the optional high-power AC charging accessory capable of accepting up to 5,000 W. However, this requires a 240V outlet or a dedicated high-current circuit. When plugged into a standard 120V household outlet (as is common in North America), AC input tops out at 1,440 W (120V × 12A).
Combined AC and solar charging can reach up to 6.2 kW, with solar input routed through the unit’s dual MPPT charge controllers—which accommodate both high‑voltage and low‑voltage PV inputs via standard MC4 connectors. An optional 4G connection with GPS lets crews track the generator’s location, get fault alerts and pull remote diagnostics through BLUETTI’s app, cutting down on site visits just to check on equipment.
The Balco 500 takes BLUETTI’s battery expertise indoors, or rather, onto the balcony. It’s a 2-in-1 system: a 5,024 Wh LFP battery paired with up to 4,600 W of high-voltage solar input (70V-470V), plus grid-tied and off-grid backup modes built into one 139 lb (63 kg) unit. Output to the grid can be set anywhere from 800 W up to a maximum of 3,680 W depending on the installation, with 3,680 W of backup power available when the grid goes down.

BLUETTI rates the battery for 8,000 charge cycles before it drops to 70% of its original capacity, backed by a 10-year warranty, and the unit carries the same IP65 dust and water resistance as the Pioneer 5000 E-Generator. It connects through standard wall Schuko outlets, through Wieland outlets and the home’s distribution panel, and it can network with up to six other Balco units and integrate with BLUETTI, Shelly and Everhome Smart Meters, and several smart home systems.
Two intelligent systems are incorporated into the Balco 500. BlueBot, powered by what BLUETTI calls AI-HEMS, builds what the company describes as a "home energy model" from a household’s actual usage data, learning routines over time and using that history to forecast solar generation, electricity prices and demand spikes. Through a feature BLUETTI calls the AI Decision Ledger, the system explains in plain language to homeowners what action it’s taking and why. The second built-in system, Plug & Play Phase-Match, solves a wiring quirk specific to European homes, most of which run on three-phase electrical service, meaning three separate power lines feed the house rather than the single line typical in the US. Phase-Match automatically detects which phase a connected BLUETTI system sits on and coordinates power delivery across all three, so solar power gets used on-site instead of exported back to the grid unnecessarily.
A third system, EnergyFlex, works through a separate accessory called the Balco Transfer Hub. It lets a compatible BLUETTI portable power station, including models like the AC180, AC200Max and several Elite and Premium series units, plug into a home’s electrical system for solar charging and backup power, then detach and go back to acting as a standalone battery for camping or off-grid use. The Transfer Hub supports one primary unit and up to five secondary units and tops out at 800 W of grid-tied output.

Rounding out the announcement, BLUETTI previewed its Elite mini Series, a lineup of compact portable power stations designed to deliver practical power in a smaller, easier-to-carry form. The Elite 100 mini packs 1kWh of energy storage into the smallest footprint among leading 1kWh-class portable power stations. It delivers 1,004.8Wh capacity and 700W output, suitable for low-to-moderate power needs – whether camping, road-tripping, or keeping as a backup at home. Weighing 23.6 lbs (10.7 kg), it is roughly 45% smaller by volume and about one-third lighter than the AC180—all while retaining the 1kWh capacity and 6,000+ charge cycles, making it much easier to carry, store, and stow away.

The Elite 30 mini (288Wh, 300W) brings lightweight, portable power for on-the-go charging of personal electronics, while the Elite 200 mini (2,010Wh, 1,500W) offers higher-capacity power for backup and RV use.
As for availability, the Balco 500 and Elite 100 Mini are scheduled to launch in November 2026, followed by the Elite 30 Mini and Elite 200 Mini in January 2027. The Pioneer 5000 E-Generator is expected to go on sale in Q1 2027.
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Rocket Lab Corporation has announced the production release of its inverted metamorphic (IMM) Apex solar cell, a high-efficiency space power solution designed to eliminate reliance on germanium substrates and avoid critical-mineral supply chain bottlenecks.
An inverted metamorphic architecture is a specialized semiconductor engineering approach primarily used to produce ultra-high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells and thermophotovoltaic devices. Rather than relying on conventional upright crystal growth, the technique reverses the manufacturing sequence, enabling the development of lighter, more efficient solar cells with fewer defects.
In an IMM structure, the semiconductor layers are grown in reverse order, beginning with layers that are closely matched to the crystal structure of the growth substrate. Additional junctions with different lattice constants are then deposited using carefully engineered metamorphic buffer layers, which help manage strain and limit the propagation of crystal defects.
Once the semiconductor stack is complete, it is bonded to a lightweight supporting material and the original growth substrate is removed. The finished device is then flipped into its operating orientation, allowing each junction to absorb a different portion of the light spectrum while maintaining high material quality and conversion efficiency.
By adopting an inverted metamorphic architecture, the IMM Apex cell completely eliminates the need for expensive and scarce germanium while delivering a beginning-of-life solar conversion efficiency of 31.5%, according to Rocket Lab.
Beyond mitigating critical-material supply risks, the design provides a 40% reduction in cell mass compared with legacy triple-junction space solar products, according to the manufacturer. The lower mass translates into a higher power-to-weight ratio, allowing satellite manufacturers to reduce spacecraft mass or increase the amount of power generated for a given solar-array weight.
Rocket Lab said it engineered the cell as a drop-in replacement for heritage germanium-based cells. This compatibility enables spacecraft integrators and constellation developers to adopt the germanium-free technology without redesigning existing solar-array configurations or making major capital investments to retool assembly lines.
“IMM Apex delivers exceptional performance while addressing real-world challenges like rising material costs and supply chain constraints,” said Brad Clevenger, president of Space Systems at Rocket Lab USA. “With IMM Apex, customers gain access to a high-efficiency, lightweight, germanium-free product that combines proven reliability with faster production times.”
The IMM Apex platform builds on Rocket Lab’s underlying inverted metamorphic technology, which previously powered NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter during its flight campaign on Mars and currently provides power to satellite fleets in orbit.
Rocket Lab is scaling production of IMM Apex at its space power manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Targeted capital investments and manufacturing optimizations at the site are expected to support “multi-hundred-kilowatt” annual production volumes to meet rising power demand from commercial megaconstellations, civil space exploration missions, and national security space programs.
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Martedì, 22 Settembre 2026
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Rocket Lab unveils lighter, germanium-free solar cell to ease supply constraints (RKLB:NASDAQ)  Seeking Alpha
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The U.S. solar industry installed 19.2 GW of PV capacity in the first half of 2026, according to the latest US Solar Market Insight report from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) and Wood Mackenzie. This compares with around 18.7 GW deployed in the same period of 2025.
The new additions brought the country’s cumulative installed solar PV capacity to approximately 298 GW at the end of the first half of 2026.
In the second quarter alone, the United States added 11.4 GW of solar capacity, up 45% from the same quarter a year earlier.
Texas again led total capacity additions, with 3.44 GW, followed by Arizona at 1.76 GW and Florida with 1.61 GW.
While installations in the residential and community solar segments declined year-over-year, the nation saw an 11% increase in commercial solar installations and a whopping 61% increase in utility-scale volume over Q2 2025.
The report indicates that strength in the utility-scale segment was largely due to the build-out of projects in developers’ safe-harbored pipelines, which is expected to continue through the end of through 2030 as developers race to energize projects that were safe-harbored by the July 4, 2026 deadline to begin construction.
The SEIA/WoodMac analysts expect those pipelines to sustain roughly 44 GW of annual capacity additions through that time, but note that permitting and interconnection bottlenecks will constrain growth as the industry awaits the appeal of the July 2025 Department of Interior memo that forced projects on public lands (and those requiring federal agency consultations) to get direct approval from Interior Secretary Doug Burgum’s office. An appeal of that directive is ongoing.
While solar installation volumes remain high, the total share of installed generation capacity represented by the sector fell from 51% in 2025 to 45% in the first half of 2026, driven by a major increase in the installed capacity of wind projects. The most notable of these wind projects is the 3.65 MW SunZia Wind project in New Mexico, which came online in June.
By the end of 2026, the capacity numbers are expected to return to near 2025 levels, with the U.S. Energy Information Administration predicting a 51% share for solar, alongside a mix of 28% battery storage, 14% wind and 7% natural gas capacity.
Over the long term, the analysts raised their capacity projections modestly, anticipating a doubling in the total installed solar capacity over the next 5 years, without much effect from the recently enacted module tariffs under Section 232. However, the experts caution that the post-2030 outlook remains uncertain, with project economics becoming challenging after the so-called “tax credit cliff” set for the end of 2030.

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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
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Martedì, 22 Settembre 2026
11:00 – 12:00 CEST, Roma
Monday, October 26, 2026
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Tuesday, September 15, 2026
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Saudi Arabia is accelerating its clean energy transition—join the SunRise Arabia Clean Energy Conference 2026 in Riyadh to explore how solar PV and energy storage are powering its digital economy.
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Renewables Now is a leading business news source for renewable energy professionals globally. Trust us for comprehensive coverage of major deals, projects and industry trends. We’ve done this since 2009.
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From ESS News
Econergy has launched commercial operations for the fully merchant 70 MW / 141 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) at its Părău 1 project in Brașov, Romania. The battery joins a 92 MW solar array that has been active since early 2024, bringing the site’s combined capacity to 162 MW across a 113-hectare footprint.
The €85 million ($98.8 million) project is fully owned by the developer and operates entirely on a merchant basis. The BESS features dedicated grid-import capacity, enabling the battery to charge directly from the grid during periods of low or negative pricing, as well as to capture clipped generation from the adjacent solar plant.
Operating a large battery on a purely merchant basis in Romania means little protection on revenues. But with the nation recently surpassing 1 GW of utility-scale battery capacity, charging from the grid to capitalize on negative pricing windows provides additional revenue that standalone solar doesn’t offer, hedging the asset.
Econergy, as a public company informing investors, provided a somewhat rare breakdown of the costs and revenues it expects for its UK firm that will indirectly 100% own the site.
It reported €21,343,000 ($24.836.528) in costs, it expects €9,742,000 in revenue from the storage, with Ebidta profit at €7,981,00, and Funds From Operations (FFO) at €6,320,000.
This implies, based on projects, just over a three-year return on capital outlay investment from FFO.
Wider BESS uptake
Econergy views Parau 1 as the technical and commercial template for its broader hybridization strategy. CEO Eyal Podhorzer noted that layering storage revenues onto an existing generation asset demonstrates the firm’s deliberate transition from developing renewables to operating them as an independent power producer.
The company currently has over 1 GWh of storage capacity under construction or ready for grid connection in Romania. The pipeline includes a planned 120 MW BESS at its flagship 155 MW Rătești solar project, and a 49 MW addition for its 87 MW Oradea project, which connected to the grid in August 2025. Further storage is earmarked for the 60 MW Ovidiu solar site, currently under construction.
Econergy is a key part of Romania’s storage boom, and last month, secured €229 million in EBRD-backed financing for its nearby Părău 2 project, pairing a 342 MW solar plant with a 150 MW battery system.
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Martedì, 22 Settembre 2026
11:00 – 12:00 CEST, Roma
Monday, October 26, 2026
10:30 am – 11:30 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
Saudi Arabia is accelerating its clean energy transition—join the SunRise Arabia Clean Energy Conference 2026 in Riyadh to explore how solar PV and energy storage are powering its digital economy.
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.

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Hamburg-based solar PV construction firm Pvwerk has filed for reconstruction just days after its sister company, Enerparc, announced it had entered insolvency proceedings.
According to Pluta, the law firm representing Pvwerk, the company’s move is directly tied to Enerparc’s filing with the Hamburg District Court earlier this week.
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The same court ordered Pvwerk’s self-administered reconstruction yesterday, with instructions for lawyers to oversee the company’s restructuring in the interests of shareholders.
The firm said that Pvwerk’s business operations will continue, with the goal of completing construction of the solar and storage projects it is currently building. Lawyers said that there are currently around 100 Enerparc projects under construction by Pvwerk. The company claims to have built over 500 PV plants with a cumulative 5.5GW of generation capacity since its foundation in 2011.
Pluta added that the purpose of the insolvency proceedings is to preserve the company, and the salaries of its roughly 60 employees will be guaranteed for three months.
“We want to complete the solar parks already under construction as quickly as possible to enable a timely grid connection,” said Pvwerk managing director Florian Gösch. “Therefore, in close coordination with our client, Enerparc AG, we will prioritise the projects currently under construction and assess the value of their completion. We also want to lay the foundations for the long-term continuation of Pvwerk GmbH, because we are convinced that we have a competitive business model.”
Bernd Richter, general representative for Pvwerk, said the company “possesses a number of unique selling points” and that completing the projects currently under construction alongside Enerparc would “create a long-term future for Pvwerk… which should also be attractive to investors.”
The available information does not give a reason for Pvwerk’s reconstruction proceedings beyond Enerparc’s insolvency. Earlier this year, Enerparc secured a €1 billion (US$1.16 billion) financing package from a consortium of three global asset managers and a German state bank to fund its continued expansion. PV Tech has contacted the companies for details of their precise relationship.

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All 200,172 solar panels have now been mounted at European Energy Australia’s Winton North solar farm in Victoria’s northeast, with testing in progress prior to grid connection.
The Danish company verified that panel deployment was finished even after a rain-heavy winter season, and testing remains necessary before the site can start supplying renewable electricity to Victoria’s network.
The Winton North site sits roughly 22km southwest of Wangaratta, positioned between Glenrowan and Benalla, and spans 256 hectares.
Delivery of the project will occur in two stages. The solar component has a capacity of 131MW, with a 100MW/200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) to follow.
When the combined facility reaches full operation in 2027, it is projected to produce 227GWh of clean energy each year.
All Energy Contracting, headquartered in Melbourne, won the construction contract for Winton North in late 2025, providing a comprehensive electrical and trenching package. Ingeteam, a Spanish power electronics expert, was selected to provide inverters and control systems for the project, encompassing plug-and-play medium-voltage power stations and a hybrid power plant controller intended to assist with performance and power quality management at the grid interconnection point.
Connection to AusNet’s current transmission network at Glenrowan Terminal Station will be achieved through about 5km of electrical line, installed both above ground and below ground.
Winton North formed part of the solar developments underpinning Amazon‘s AU$20 billion (US$14.48 billion) pledge to grow data centre infrastructure throughout Australia using utility-scale solar power.
This panel installation achievement comes after a series of project advancements across European Energy’s wider Australian portfolio.
In March 2026, the company opened its 108MW Lancaster Solar Farm in northern Victoria, its first operational utility-scale project in the nation. Constructed across 172 hectares with roughly 170,000 solar modules, that facility delivers renewable energy to technology company Apple through a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).
The opening took place alongside the Danish royal couple’s state visit to Australia, where European Energy additionally signed a memorandum of understanding with the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation addressing workforce involvement and Indigenous business participation on upcoming renewable energy projects across Yorta Yorta territory in Victoria.
Construction has also been completed on European Energy’s 31MW Mulwala Solar Farm in adjacent New South Wales, which has now entered commissioning, with energisation anticipated shortly.
Registration of the project in the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Market Management System occurred in April 2026, and it is expected to produce about 66GWh per year under a long-term PPA with Zen Energy.
Lancaster and Mulwala both lie within 90 minutes of the Winton North location, and in June 2025 European Energy obtained a portfolio financing package surpassing AU$130 million from Westpac Banking Corporation and DZ Bank to fund construction of the two assets.
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India’s Solar Capacity Crosses 168 GW As 2026 Installations Near 34.45 GW By August 2026  SolarQuarter
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The work offers a clearer view of how local governments across the state are approaching grid-scale solar.
Photo Credit: Penn State
Penn State has launched a new tool that could make it easier for communities across Pennsylvania to navigate the local rules surrounding large solar projects.
The database brings thousands of ordinance provisions together in one place, offering a clearer view of how local governments across the state are approaching grid-scale solar.
Roughly 4,900 ordinance records from 300 local governments in 57 Pennsylvania counties are now collected in Penn State’s Pennsylvania Solar Ordinance Database, according to PA Environment Digest. The tool also lets users filter the material by several categories of local rules related to grid-scale solar.
Penn State says the platform is meant to be user-friendly, outlining the newly updated Pennsylvania guide for municipal officials on grid-scale solar development to help local leaders address common questions about solar projects and find additional information sources.
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The project was led by Professor Mohamed Rali Badissy, affiliate faculty at Penn State Dickinson Law; Michael Helbing, executive director of the Center for Energy Law and Policy; and Professor Hannah Wiseman of Penn State Dickinson Law and the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and co-director of the Center for Energy Law and Policy, according to PA Environment Digest. Finn Burns and Sakshi Jain helped build and organize the database, along with a team of researchers who located and entered the ordinance data.
Local solar rules are often scattered across municipal codes, making them difficult to compare and even harder for smaller communities to evaluate when new projects are proposed.
The effort was financed by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the center, and an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant titled “Just Energy Transitions and Place,” according to PA Environment Digest. The work was supported by DOE’s Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation through the R-STEP program. R-STEP is administered with support from a Partnership Intermediary Agreement established between the U.S. Department of Energy and ENERGYWERX.
Penn State says it plans to keep updating and broadening the database and is inviting users to share comments, suggestions, and corrections.
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To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Going solar is also one of the best ways for households to save money on home energy over time. If you’re considering rooftop panels, you can explore EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
EnergySage’s free services can help homeowners compare options with more confidence, and with EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. Tools such as EnergySage’s solar map show the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, as well as details on solar panel incentives for each state. Together, those resources can help readers 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. Readers interested in backup power and added energy independence can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
As Pennsylvania communities weigh more solar proposals, centralized tools like this database could help cut through red tape and make cleaner, lower-cost energy decisions easier for everyone involved.
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Calendar Week 36 saw a sharp shift in the upstream trend for the TaiyangNews PV Price Index, while downstream prices were largely unchanged.
After five consecutive weeks of stability, the polysilicon segment saw a massive jump in CW36, ranging from 26.7% to 32.3%.
The n-type 182 mm and 210R wafer variants declined by 1.8% week-on-week (WoW), but remain up by at least 18.6% month-on-month (MoM).
Cell prices were unchanged WoW.
In the modules category, prices for two listed products declined: TOPCon bifacial n-type 210R, 60 Cell (610–635W) fell by 0.7%, while China Project Price (≥595W) declined by 2.9% WoW.
The two solar glass variants have seen no price changes since CW17.
After sharp movements across wafers, cells, and now polysilicon in recent weeks, the TaiyangNews PV Price Index appears to be moving into a more stable phase overall. Year-to-date (YtD), price declines across segments have now been limited to a maximum of 22.6%, while the module category remains positive overall.
The data refers to average product prices in China. The data was collected by Chinese market research firm Gessey PV Consulting.
Disclaimer: TaiyangNews does not guarantee reliability, accuracy or completeness of this price index’ content. TaiyangNews does not accept responsibility or liability for any errors in this work.
TaiyangNews 2024

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GCL’s Battery Pivot Signals A Bigger Shift In China’s Silicon Industry Photograph: (AI)
GCL Technology is expanding beyond its traditional photovoltaic materials business, with the Chinese silicon producer ramping up lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode production and developing silicon-carbon anode materials as it seeks to build a second growth engine in the battery sector.
The company said the first phase of its 200,000-tonne-per-year LFP cathode material project in Leshan, Sichuan, commenced production in June 2026. Production is currently being ramped up, with the company expecting the facility to reach full capacity by the end of October.
GCL said its LFP products have passed validation procedures conducted by major customers and that it has secured multiple orders. Signed orders, according to the company, fully cover its total planned production capacity, with customers including industry leaders.
The company is already moving ahead with the second phase of the Leshan project, which will add another 200,000 tonnes of annual LFP capacity. The second phase is scheduled to begin production by the end of the first quarter of 2027, taking planned LFP capacity at the site to 400,000 tonnes per year.
The development marks a significant expansion of GCL’s business beyond photovoltaic polysilicon. The company said its LFP business is intended to provide additional revenue and profit while reducing its reliance on polysilicon as its primary source of growth.
GCL is also pursuing a more direct link between its existing silicon-material capabilities and the battery value chain through silicon-carbon anode technology.
The company said its 10,000-tonne-scale silicon-carbon anode and supporting porous-carbon pilot project in Xuzhou has commenced production. The pilot line uses a single-furnace process with annual capacity of 1,000 tonnes and incorporates proprietary processes and internally developed equipment.
Unlike the LFP business, however, the silicon-carbon anode operation remains at an earlier stage of commercialisation. GCL said the project is currently undergoing process optimisation and product validation, with customer sample submissions and testing expected to begin shortly.
The company is also working with the local government in Leshan on the transformation of existing granular-silicon facilities into silicon-carbon anode production facilities. GCL said reusing existing granular-silicon infrastructure could significantly reduce capital expenditure and shorten commissioning time compared with building a new production line.
This could become an important strategic advantage if the technology can be scaled commercially. GCL said its silicon-carbon anode process, based partly on its existing silicon and silane capabilities, could help optimise production costs, energy consumption and carbon emissions.
GCL has 600,000 tonnes of silane production capacity, which it describes as the world’s largest. The company believes this existing position can support the development and eventual industrialisation of silicon-carbon anode materials.
It plans to establish what it describes as the world’s largest silicon-carbon anode production base in Leshan, although the business remains subject to technology validation, capacity expansion and customer acceptance.
The move comes as GCL seeks to reposition itself from a conventional photovoltaic materials company towards a broader new-energy materials platform. The company said a greater contribution from LFP could eventually change its revenue mix and the way investors value the business.
The strategy also highlights a potential convergence between China’s solar-materials and battery-materials industries. Silicon has traditionally been central to the photovoltaic manufacturing chain, while the development of silicon-carbon anodes creates a potential route for silicon-material expertise and infrastructure to move into the battery sector.
For GCL, the strategy is built around two different levels of maturity: LFP is already in commercial production and generating operating profit, while silicon-carbon anodes remain in the pilot, validation and scale-up phase.
GCL said the Leshan LFP project has already generated operating profit and expects it to make a positive contribution to group financial performance in the second half of 2026 and subsequent years. The eventual contribution, however, will depend on production ramp-up, selling prices and raw-material costs.
The company also flagged risks surrounding LFP raw-material prices, production ramp-up, customer concentration, technical changes, customer validation, competition, regulatory approvals and the international trade environment.
The battery-materials push therefore represents more than a diversification announcement for GCL. It is an attempt to use the company’s existing silicon-related capabilities, manufacturing infrastructure and process technology to participate in a larger battery-materials market while reducing its dependence on the cyclical photovoltaic polysilicon business.
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New Zealand’s solar generation rose 56.2% year-on-year to a record 242GWh in Q2 2026, according to the latest New Zealand Energy Quarterly from the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE).
According to the government, the country generated more electricity from solar than coal over a rolling 12-month period for the first time on record.
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The Q2 2026 quarter, covering April to June and released on 10 September, was marked by renewable energy sources supplying 92% of New Zealand’s electricity, the third consecutive quarter above 90% and the highest share recorded for a Q2 period.
Total electricity generation rose 1.9% (207GWh) year-on-year to 11,163GWh, while renewable energy generation as a whole increased 11.4% (1,052GWh).
Favourable hydro conditions drove much of that growth, with hydro generation up 14.7% (804GWh) to 6,283GWh following strong rainfall, while geothermal output reached a record 2,621GWh as new capacity came online. Wind generation held near record levels at 964GWh.
That renewable energy has sharply squeezed fossil generation. Gas-fired generation fell 37.2% year-on-year, and coal-fired generation fell 74.3%, contributing to a 95% reduction in coal use for electricity generation specifically.
Coal imports fell by 94% to their lowest level since December 2011, while coal consumption reached a record low, aided by continued fuel switching to biomass in the food processing sector.
Wholesale electricity prices fell by 66% compared with the same quarter last year, though residential electricity costs rose by 10%, driven mainly by higher network charges to support infrastructure investment.
Electricity consumption itself increased 3.0% (301GWh) to 10,211GWh, driven by higher irrigation demand during dry conditions and stronger industrial use.
Solar’s record quarter and its milestone crossover with coal reflect a utility-scale pipeline that has accelerated markedly over the past two years.
In July 2026, Harmony Energy New Zealand and Igneo Infrastructure Partners energised the 202MWp Tauhei solar plant near Te Aroha in the Waikato region, becoming the country’s largest operational solar installation.
The agrivoltaics site, which incorporates sheep grazing beneath its modules across 182 hectares of former dairy farmland, has contracted all output from its first ten years of operation to gentailer Meridian Energy.
Tauhei’s position as the country’s largest plant is expected to be short-lived. Nova Energy and Meridian Energy are jointly developing the 400MW Te Rahui Solar Farm near Taupō, where construction crews installed the project’s first modules in May 2026, with the 200MW first phase due to reach full capacity by mid-2027.
Elsewhere, Lightsource bp and Contact Energy reached financial close in June 2026 on the 171MWdc Glorit solar plant north of Auckland, following resource consent that survived a High Court challenge from conservation group Forest and Bird over impacts on the endangered tara iti.
The same joint venture is separately nearing completion of the 168MWdc Kōwhai Park plant at Christchurch Airport, after completing solar module installation there ahead of commercial operations expected later this year.
That project activity traces back to New Zealand’s 2024 dry-year energy crisis, when depleted hydro storage and declining gas supply drove wholesale prices sharply higher and exposed the risks of a generation mix historically dependent on weather-sensitive hydropower.
MBIE’s own quarterly chart data shows coal-fired generation had climbed steadily between 2016 and 2021 before beginning a sustained decline, while solar and wind have both risen steadily over the same period, a shift Q2 2026’s figures now show crossing a symbolic threshold.
Utility-scale progress has not been matched at the residential level, where uptake remains comparatively low.
New Zealand’s Ministry for Regulation published a review in July 2026 finding that only 3-4% of New Zealand households have solar installed, compared with more than 30% in Australia, attributing part of that gap to a fragmented approval process spanning up to eight layers of sign-off and five site visits from four different entities.
The review recommended 15 changes it estimated could deliver between NZ$28 million (US$16.4 million) and NZ$50 million in net benefits over a decade, including faster distributor approval timeframes and the legalisation of small plug-in solar units.

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Author | Qiao Yujie
Editor | Yuan Silai
This article has 2600 words, with an estimated reading time of 5 minutes
36Kr learned that Shanghai Starwing Core Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Starwing”), an enterprise focused on space photovoltaic cells and certified materials, has recently completed its Pre-A round of strategic financing. This round of financing was jointly invested by Junda Co., Ltd., Shanghai Future Industry Fund, Lingang Blue Bay Capital, Nanxun Luyao, and industry investors related to the co-founders of Xinyang Semiconductor, while the old shareholder Zhongke Shenguang continued to increase its stake. The funds will be mainly used for technical iteration, space environment tests and on-orbit satellite verification, to accelerate the commercial implementation of space perovskite photovoltaic cells and space-grade CPI flexible packaging substrate materials.

(Source/Enterprise)
Shanghai Starwing Core Energy Technology Co., Ltd. was founded in January 2026. Its core R&D and founding team originates from the scientific research system of Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. The team members cover multiple directions such as aerospace optoelectronic materials, perovskite optoelectronic devices, CPI functional films, and aerospace-grade reliability verification, with full capabilities ranging from underlying material and device process R&D, space environment adaptation, to on-orbit measurement verification and commercial aerospace engineering implementation.
Industry forecasts that by 2031, the global scale of low-orbit on-orbit satellites is expected to exceed 300,000. With the continuous mass launch of spacecraft such as low-orbit broadband communication, high-resolution remote sensing, and space computing platforms, the areal density of traditional rigid solar wings generally reaches 20 to 30 kg/kW, accounting for 35% to 40% of the total satellite weight, which is increasingly difficult to adapt to the requirements of the new generation of satellites for light weight, miniaturization and high payload ratio.
Against this background, flexible retractable solar wings are developing rapidly. Under the same power generation area, the storage volume of flexible solar wings can be reduced by more than 60% compared with rigid solutions, and the specific power-to-mass ratio can also be greatly improved.
At present, space photovoltaic technology mainly evolves along two routes. One is the packaging material upgrading route, that is, using CPI flexible polyimide packaging film to replace the traditional cerium glass cover plate. Compared with glass packaging, CPI can further reduce weight by more than 40%, and the bending radius can be ≤5mm, which can significantly reduce the areal density of solar wings, reduce the storage volume, be more suitable for retractable flexible structures, and be compatible with various cell technology routes such as perovskite and crystalline silicon.

Starwing SCPI packaging materials (Source/Enterprise)
The other is the battery material iteration route. The theoretical efficiency of single-junction perovskite cells can reach 33.7%, which is expected to break through the efficiency upper limit of traditional silicon-based cells. At the same time, it has good low-light response characteristics, and the specific power-to-mass ratio of the module can reach several times that of traditional silicon-based solutions, with natural advantages in light weight and thin profile.

Starwing lightweight single-junction perovskite cell module (Source/Enterprise)
Starwing further integrates the two technical routes, adopts space-grade CPI (SCPI) flexible substrates, develops perovskite cells for space scenarios, and builds the next-generation flexible solar wing solution.
At the perovskite cell end, the space environment faces extreme conditions such as thermal shock, proton radiation, atomic oxygen, and vacuum ultraviolet, which requires special adaptation for material formula, cell structure and preparation process. Starwing has carried out intrinsic stability modifications such as component optimization of perovskite absorption layer, interface defect passivation, and ion migration inhibition for space applications, and advanced the aerospace-grade environment simulation assessment to the R&D stage. Simulation data shows that after the product completes 4000 thermal shock cycles in the range of -120°C to 120°C, the cell efficiency retention rate can remain above 90%.

Starwing laser scribing operation console (Source/Enterprise)
At the CPI material end, Starwing is one of the few domestic enterprises that have mastered space-grade CPI material technology. According to the company, its relevant technical level can match similar products in the United States, and it has mastered the complete process flow from material formula to preparation. Compared with the traditional cerium glass packaging system, Starwing’s CPI solution can reduce the areal density of solar wings by 40% to 55%; under the low-orbit orbital working condition, it can help reduce the comprehensive launch cost of a single satellite by about 15% to 20%.
At present, Starwing has completed multiple rounds of sample development and ground space environment simulation tests, and completed the on-orbit verification of CPI thin films with Jietai Aerospace, a joint venture of Junda Co., Ltd., and the relevant on-orbit data verification project has been approved.
In October this year, Starwing plans to carry the perovskite flexible photovoltaic space on-orbit verification on the Ziwei spacecraft to further verify the adaptability and stability of the product in the complex space environment.

Aerospace-grade CPI production line planning of Jietai Aerospace, a joint venture between Starwing and Junda Co., Ltd. (Source/Enterprise)
In terms of commercialization, as an important space photovoltaic member unit of Shanghai’s “Star Hub Plan” computing constellation, Starwing is currently continuously improving its sample delivery capability, providing standardized flexible photovoltaic modules and integrated solar wing solutions for commercial satellite manufacturers and satellite platform enterprises, and simultaneously promoting global layout.
The following is an excerpt of the communication between 36Kr and Wu Zhengyu, CEO of Starwing:
36Kr: What are the technical difficulties for perovskite to enter space? Will the common large-area yield problem in the ground stage also affect its application in space?
Wu Zhengyu: The space environment is completely different from the ground environment. Perovskite needs to face various extreme conditions such as thermal shock, proton irradiation, vacuum ultraviolet, and atomic oxygen during on-orbit operation. Therefore, before it can be truly applied in space, it must first complete space environment simulation and adaptation on the ground, including formula optimization, redesign of cell structure and adjustment of production process.
On this basis, further real on-orbit carrying verification is required. The verification is mainly divided into two levels: one is to check whether the material itself can withstand the space environment, and the other is to verify from an engineering perspective whether it can really be integrated into the satellite power supply system, and evaluate the actual power generation benefit and life performance.
Under the conditions of high temperature and high voltage in space, the system tends to adopt the design idea of high voltage and low current. In order to reduce the series current, we will actively control the area of the perovskite cell to avoid the current rise caused by too large size. For example, the cell size is set to 5cm × 5cm instead of square meter level. This size selection enables us to adopt some equipment and processes that are too costly to afford in large-scale ground production, so as to significantly improve the yield. High-end preparation methods that were not cost-effective in commercial terms in the past may instead have feasibility and obvious advantages in high-value space application scenarios.
36Kr: What technical problems are faced when CPI is used for perovskite cell protection? How does Starwing solve them?
Wu Zhengyu: We are one of the earlier enterprises in the world to explore the preparation and protection development of perovskite cells on CPI flexible substrates. The reason why we chose this route is that we judge that light, thin, flexible and large-area solar wings will become an important form of space photovoltaics in the future. Compared with the traditional rigid small solar wing with aluminum honeycomb panel structure, if we want to further expand the area of the solar wing in the future, we must rely on more lightweight and rollable cell materials.
CPI itself is a very huge material system, with thousands of formula combinations. The team needs to systematically screen and conduct in-depth research on these candidate materials, and even carry out independent innovation, to finally find or develop CPI products that are truly suitable for the space environment. It needs to focus on meeting the requirements of UV radiation resistance, atomic oxygen erosion resistance, proton irradiation resistance and thermal shock resistance.
At the same time, the supporting coating, adhesive, stretching film-forming process of CPI, as well as the interface adaptation between CPI and the perovskite layer, are also key links. These problems need to be continuously optimized in the process of process development and actual on-orbit verification. At present, there is no mature on-orbit application scheme for CPI-based perovskite cells in the industry, so we also need to promote technical iteration through continuous on-orbit verification.
36Kr: What is the planned on-orbit verification schedule of CPI combined with perovskite?
Wu Zhengyu: Our strategy is “small steps, fast progress”, promoting it in stages. The first phase of verification has been completed through the “Tianyan 27” mission in May this year, focusing on investigating the tolerance and protection characteristics of CPI films in the space environment alone. At present, we have obtained stable data for up to three months and released it through public channels. This is also a systematic verification we carried out for the independent space service performance of CPI materials.
In the second stage, we will further verify the actual protection effect of CPI films on the perovskite light absorption layer. The relevant carrying plan is arranged on the Ziwei B300 spacecraft, and we are currently waiting for the launch window.
The third phase plans to carry out comprehensive on-orbit verification of the overall structure of CPI perovskite cells and flexible solar wings before the end of the year, and gradually realize the full-chain space verification from materials, devices to systems.
 
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Lineage Logistics has filed a lawsuit against three companies responsible for operating and working on their rooftop solar system.
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European Energy Australia has completed the installation of all 200,172 solar modules at its Winton North solar plant in northeast Victoria, with testing now underway ahead of the project’s connection to the grid.
The Danish developer confirmed the completion of the module rollout despite a wet winter, with testing still required before the plant begins feeding renewable energy into Victoria’s grid.
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Winton North is located approximately 22km southwest of Wangaratta, between the townships of Glenrowan and Benalla, on a 256-hectare site.
The project will be delivered in two phases. The solar plant itself is sized at 131MW, to be followed by a 100MW/200MWh battery energy storage system (BESS).
Once fully operational in 2027, the combined facility is expected to generate 227GWh of clean energy annually.
Melbourne-based contractor All Energy Contracting was awarded the construction contract for Winton North in late 2025, delivering an end-to-end electrical and trenching package, while Spanish power electronics specialist Ingeteam secured the contract to supply inverters and control systems for the project, including plug-and-play medium-voltage power stations and a hybrid power plant controller designed to help manage performance and power quality at the grid interconnection point.
The project will connect to AusNet’s existing transmission network at Glenrowan Terminal Station via approximately 5km of electrical line, running both overhead and underground.
Winton North was included among the solar developments supporting Amazon’s AU$20 billion (US$14.48 billion) commitment to expand data centre infrastructure across Australia using utility-scale solar power.
The module installation milestone follows a run of project progress across European Energy’s broader Australian portfolio.
In March 2026, the company inaugurated its 108MW Lancaster Solar Farm in northern Victoria, marking its first operational utility-scale project in the country. That facility, built on 172 hectares and equipped with around 170,000 solar modules, supplies the technology company Apple with renewable energy under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).
The inauguration coincided with the Danish royal couple’s state visit to Australia, during which European Energy also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation covering workforce participation and Indigenous business engagement on future renewable energy projects across Yorta Yorta land in Victoria.
European Energy’s 31MW Mulwala Solar Farm in neighbouring New South Wales has also completed construction and entered commissioning, with energisation expected imminently.
The project was registered in the Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Market Management System in April 2026 and is expected to generate approximately 66GWh annually under a long-term PPA with Zen Energy.
Both Lancaster and Mulwala are located within 90 minutes of the Winton North site, and European Energy secured a portfolio financing package exceeding AU$130 million in June 2025, provided by Westpac Banking Corporation and DZ Bank, to support construction of both assets.

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Review platforms wield significant influence over everyday spending decisions.
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Online reviews can make or break a business, but a working paper out of Virginia suggests companies that try to game the system may be setting themselves up for a different kind of loss.
Researchers found that fake praise on sites such as Yelp and Amazon can erode something money cannot easily replace: public trust, according to Phys.org.
A George Mason University study found that businesses that tamper with customer feedback may end up reducing their own reputational capital.
In the study’s framework, business capital is not just made up of priced assets like land and cash — it also includes a separate, intangible form of value in the form of reputation.
That second category can determine whether customers trust a business, recommend it to others, or avoid it altogether.
Rather than helping a company, fake reviews may harm the very brand image they were meant to strengthen, the working paper indicates.
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Multiple reviews in a short period of time that give a fairly flawless take may be less a sign of quality than a clue that a company is prepared to mislead customers before they even buy, especially if the company is not well-established and doesn’t have any professional reviews to back it up. Before putting stock into the value of these scores, consider the length of time the item has been for sale or the business has been open for others to have submitted reviews.
Review platforms wield significant influence over everyday spending decisions.
When that system is flooded with fake praise, consumers can be misled to waste money, time, and energy on products or businesses that don’t deserve the hype.
Companies can lose business when competitors use fabricated reviews to climb rankings or appear more trustworthy than they really are, which can push more businesses to cut corners just to keep up.
As disputes and lawsuits over reviews become more common, the George Mason finding stands out even more.
Misleading business practices can harm more than the public — they can also rebound on the companies behind them by destroying goodwill that no larger ad budget can simply buy back.
Businesses can stop relying on deceptive marketing tactics and earn reviews honestly. They can also invest in better products, responsive customer service, and transparency to help build trust. 
Stronger moderation, better verification systems, and clearer enforcement on platforms can make it harder for fake reviews to gain traction and easier for shoppers to spot suspicious patterns.
Consumers, meanwhile, can protect themselves by looking beyond the star rating and looking for red flags like vague language or repeated phrases. Comparing feedback across multiple platforms and paying attention to detailed negative reviews can also help.
Fake reviews are just one way companies can lose trust from consumers. The following articles illustrate how deceptive Amazon listings, eco-friendly labels, and other claims from brands can leave shoppers second-guessing what they’re really being sold.
• On Amazon, shoppers said a mysterious upcharge on a Fisher-Price potty made packaging claims appear suspect.
• A branding expert showed how companies fool consumers through greenwashing with labels that overpromise.
• At Target, a TikToker highlighted how to spot greenwashing before vague in-store claims can sway buyers.
• In produce aisles, misleading fruit labels can hide weak standards.
• Inditex, Zara’s parent, faced backlash after making concerning operational changes amid shipping delays.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
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As solar waste threatens to become a massive problem, one discovery reveals the difference between disposal and profit.
By Lab Report · Edited by Mal James
Published September 11, 2026 · How we edit
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Solar panels do not last forever. Most are built to run for two or three decades, so the ones going up now are setting up a disposal problem for later. A decade ago, IRENA and the IEA put a number on it: retired solar panels, most of them glass, could pile up to as much as 78 million tonnes by 2050.
A South Korean team recently took the silicon out of a single dead panel, cleaned it up, and turned it into a hard ceramic worth far more than the shredded glass most panels become. The interesting part is not the tonnage. It is the choice between two very different things you can do with the same waste.
When a solar panel reaches the end of its life today, the easy parts come off first. The aluminum frame unbolts, the junction box detaches, and the wiring is simple to strip. What is left is a laminated sandwich of glass, plastic and a thin layer of silicon dotted with a little silver.
Much of that leftover gets shredded and sold as low-value glass, which critics call downcycling rather than genuine recycling. The materials people actually want back, the silver and the pure silicon, are the hardest and most expensive to reclaim cleanly. A 2024 review of solar recycling notes that these technical and cost hurdles keep panels flowing toward stockpiles, landfill and downcycling.
The economics are the sticking point. The same review puts the cost of recycling silicon panels at roughly $600 to $1,000 per tonne before any revenue from the recovered materials, and estimates the price would need to drop to around $300 to $400 per tonne for the numbers to work.
Arizona State’s Meng Tao put the gap plainly, telling MIT Climate that a panel costs about $20 to recycle while the recovered materials fetch maybe $10 to $12. When it costs more to recover something than it is worth, most of it ends up as cheap filler or in the ground.
The team from the Korea Institute of Energy Research and Chungnam National University tried a different angle. Instead of chasing every gram of silver or trying to feed silicon back into new solar cells, they set out to make the recovered silicon clean enough for a completely different use. Their study in Materials Today Sustainability describes recovering silicon from a real retired panel and purifying it to 99.95 percent.
Getting there took a sequence of unglamorous steps: grinding the material down, treating it in stages with acids to strip out impurities, and a simple water-settling step to float off a stubborn titanium impurity. One useful finding was that grinding harder made things worse, not better. Milling at 800 rpm left far more residual aluminum after the acid step than a gentler 400 rpm did. As corresponding author Jin-Seok Lee put it, “This clearly showed that optimization of a recycling process cannot be based simply on more intensive milling.” That reads as a lesson from one panel rather than a universal law, but it is a sensible warning against assuming more force means more purity.
The settling step only sounds trivial. Five minutes of settling removed 71.4 percent of the titanium impurity while keeping 92.3 percent of the silicon. Cheap, fast, and it held onto most of the material they actually wanted.
Purity was the setup, not the payoff. The team then reacted the recovered silicon to form silicon nitride, a hard, wear-resistant ceramic used in ball and roller bearings, cutting tools, and parts for aerospace and car engines. Its appeal there comes from its hardness and its ability to hold up under heat.
The cleaning step mattered a lot. Silicon cleaned to 99.95 percent yielded 93.1 percent of the useful form of the ceramic, compared with 54.7 percent when the extra cleaning was skipped. Leftover impurities do not just sit there; they change what the material becomes when it is cooked. Lee describes what the team says is likely a first: “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first demonstration of converting silicon recovered from actual EoL PV modules into Si₃N₄.” (EoL means end-of-life; Si₃N₄ is silicon nitride.)
Shredding a panel into glass recovers something, but the least valuable version of it.
The team says that avoiding this kind of downcycling was exactly the point Lee frames it this way: “Rather than simply recovering silicon as a secondary raw material, we aimed to demonstrate a practical pathway for giving recycled silicon a new, higher-value application.”
The logic is straightforward. If recycling only ever produces cheap filler, the numbers never work and panels keep heading to landfill. If the output is a ceramic worth real money, the cost of pulling the silicon out cleanly has a chance of paying for itself.
There is a useful twist in the choice, too. Silicon nitride does not need to be as flawless as solar-grade silicon. Feeding recycled silicon back into new solar cells demands extreme purity; a ceramic bearing tolerates more. Aiming at a market that forgives some imperfection may be a smarter target for material that started life as scrap.
A clean result on one panel is a long way from an industry. The study rests on a single retired Suntech panel, so it is best read as a proof of concept, a clue about what is possible, not evidence that it works at scale. Real waste streams are messier than one well-studied panel, and panels from different makers and different years will not all behave the same way under the same recipe.
Then there is the market. The world does not need 78 million tonnes of silicon nitride bearings, so even a wildly successful version of this process would only ever soak up a slice of the retired-panel mountain. Upcycling a fraction into something valuable and handling the rest more responsibly are not competing ideas; the ceramic route is one tool, not the whole answer.
The team is already thinking about logistics, which is often where recycling schemes quietly die. Lee says they are “currently working with Wonkwang S&T, a Korean PV recycling company, to develop mobile PV recycling technology that can process end-of-life PV modules closer to where they are generated.” Processing panels near where they retire, rather than trucking heavy glass across a country, is where the team hopes to cut transport costs by roughly 30 percent and emissions by more than 10 percent. Those are stated targets, not results in hand.
What we keep coming back to is the framing more than the chemistry. For years the default question about dead solar panels has been how to dispose of them cheaply. The more interesting question, and the one this work puts on the table, is whether the silicon inside them is worth treating as a raw material rather than a nuisance. A single purified panel cooked into a ceramic does not settle that but it does make the question harder to wave away.
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Australia’s utility-scale solar PV and wind assets generated a combined 4.73TWh in June 2026, an 11% increase from 4.25TWh in June 2025, according to Rystad Energy senior analyst David Dixon.
The result extends a run of year-on-year growth in combined utility-scale output that has persisted throughout 2026.
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As PV Tech reported for May 2026, the fleet generated 4.6TWh that month, up 10% from May 2025. April delivered 4.7TWh, a 24% year-on-year increase and March also reached 4.7TWh.
The year-to-date peak remains February’s 5TWh, driven by strong summer solar irradiance across multiple states.
Victoria led all states in June for combined utility solar and wind output at 1,369GWh, comprising 114GWh from utility solar PV and 1,255GWh from wind.
For utility solar PV, the top performers were all in Queensland, where winter irradiance conditions favour lower-latitude assets.
Pacific Blue Australia’s 100MW Haughton Stage 1 led with an AC capacity factor of 23.1%, ahead of METKA’s Moura at 22.5% and the Sojitz/ENEOS Group Edenvale project at 22.4%.
Of the top 20 utility PV assets ranked by capacity factor in June, 19 were in Queensland, with the sole exception being the Gunnedah Solar Farm in New South Wales.
The dominance of Queensland in the winter solar rankings reflects both the state’s lower latitude and the concentration of recent large-scale project commissioning in the state’s Central West and Darling Downs regions.
The most forward-looking data point in June’s figures is on the construction side. June 2026 marked the first time Australia has surpassed 3GWdc of utility-scale solar construction starts in a single calendar year, with more than six months still remaining.
Lightsource bp broke ground on the 380MWdc Lower Wonga solar-plus-storage project in Queensland during the month, pushing the year-to-date total past the milestone.
Dixon noted that approximately 43% of the 3GWdc started in 2026 so far, around 1.3GWdc, is at remote mine sites, highlighting the growing appetite for behind-the-meter renewable energy generation in the resources sector alongside the grid-connected pipeline.
The Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) Tender 8 results were also announced during June, with the federal government awarding contracts to 15 battery storage projects totalling 4.2GW and 16.1GWh across the National Electricity Market (NEM).
Queensland received the largest single-state allocation and Ampyr Energy secured four of the fifteen contracts, reinforcing the state’s position as the primary destination for both solar construction and new storage procurement in the current investment cycle.
Spot electricity prices remained low across most of the NEM during June, with all states except South Australia recording spot prices below AU$90/MWh (US$62/MWh).
South Australia’s monthly average was pushed above AU$125/MWh by a period of low wind generation toward the end of the month, though the state set a June wind generation record overall.
Average operational demand across every hour of the day in June 2026 was materially lower than in June 2025, with peak evening demand in NSW reaching around 10GW compared to over 11GW in the same month last year.
Dixon attributed the reduction primarily to warmer-than-typical winter weather, which reduced heating demand, though the scale of the shift across both morning and evening peaks also reflects the cumulative effect of rooftop solar self-consumption, improved building energy efficiency, and the growing household battery fleet absorbing load that would otherwise appear as grid demand.

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Suniva has raised $835 million in debt and equity financing to fund its solar cell manufacturing expansion 
Its planned South Carolina facility is expected to add 4.5 GW of capacity and begin operations in late 2027 
The expansion would take Suniva’s planned US solar cell manufacturing capacity from 1 GW to 5.5 GW 
US-based solar cell manufacturer Suniva says it has raised $835 million to finance a new solar cell manufacturing facility in South Carolina. This will expand its planned US production capacity to 5.5 GW.  
Suniva raised $835 million as debt and equity from several financial partners, including Lion Point Capital, Goldman Sachs Alternatives, I Squared Capital, JBA Asset Management, Electron Capital Partners, Orion Infrastructure Capital, and Rubric Capital Management. 
Its upcoming 4.5 GW facility is currently under development in Laurens County, South Carolina. It will have 4.5 GW of annual high-efficiency monocrystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing capacity (see Suniva To Build New 4.5 GW Solar Cell Factory). 
The shell of the 621,468-square-foot building is already complete. Suniva said the project represents an investment of about $600 million and is expected to create 564 advanced manufacturing jobs. 
It expects the facility to be completed in late 2027, with production ramp-up expected to reach full capacity in 2028. 
The South Carolina plant will add to Suniva’s existing 1 GW solar cell manufacturing facility in Norcross, Georgia, which is already operational. Together, the two facilities will expand its total US solar cell production capacity to 5.5 GW. 
Management said an existing domestic supply chain and long-term product offtake agreements de-risk the expansion and cover most of its planned future production. Suniva did not disclose the customers or the volume covered by the agreements.  
“U.S. energy independence and meeting the needs of increasing energy usage in the United States requires domestic production of U.S. solar cells,” said Suniva CEO Tony Etnyre. He added that the company expects its second facility to help meet demand for a US-based source of solar cells. 
The financing comes as Suniva advances its proposed reverse merger with SUNation Energy. Announced in June 2026, the agreement entails Suniva to merge with a wholly owned subsidiary of SUNation. The combined company will operate under the Suniva name and remain listed on Nasdaq as SUNation (see Suniva To Acquire SUNation Energy In A Reverse Merger Deal). 
TaiyangNews 2024

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PV module manufacturer and EPC firm Solarworld Energy has entered into a joint venture with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) company and solar developer Rays Power Infra to develop a 2.4GW solar PV cell manufacturing facility in Madhya Pradesh, India.
With a total expected investment of INR5.2 billion (US$55 million), the joint venture, Rays Green Energy Manufacturing, will be owned in 50:50 partnership. The partners will establish, develop, construct, commission and operate the solar cell manufacturing facility on a 41.3-acre site at Mohasa, Babai, in Narmadapuram district.
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The facility is planned to manufacture and sell solar PV cells, alongside related and ancillary activities. Rays Green is currently developing the 2.4GW tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cell manufacturing project at the site.
The facility is targeting commercial production by June 2027.
Solarworld Energy Solutions initially proposed investing in its subsidiary, Kartik Solarworld, to part-finance a 1.2GW TOPCon solar PV cell manufacturing facility at Pandhurana, Madhya Pradesh.
However, it decided to invest in Rays Green for the development of the larger 2.4GW project at Mohasa, subject to applicable requirements under India’s Companies Act, 2013, and Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) regulations.
Rays Green was incorporated in 2022, and is engaged in the manufacture, design, development, trading, import, export, assembly, operation and maintenance of renewable energy products. The company reported turnover of INR4.36 billion (US$46 million) in FY2025-26.
Noida, Uttar Pradesh-headquartered Solarworld Energy has completed more than 500MW of solar capacity and has an active pipeline exceeding 900MW, with the company targeting 5GW of operational capacity by 2028.
It also operates a solar module manufacturing facility in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, with annual production capacity of 1.8GW.

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Sembcorp Ends $105 Million Puente Al Sol Deal in the Philippines  energynews.pro
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Independent power producer (IPP) Sonnedix has secured a US$1.3 billion refinancing in Chile, covering 1GW of operational solar PV and wind capacity and financing 117MW of battery energy storage systems (BESS) that are currently under construction.
The transaction is the company’s largest refinancing in Chile to date and will support the expansion of its renewable energy and storage pipeline.
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The refinancing covers assets across Chile and is backed by a combination of investment-grade private power purchase agreements (PPAs) and regulated revenues.
Axel Thiemann, CEO of Sonnedix, said: “This record refinancing demonstrates the ongoing confidence our partners have in our ability to execute at scale, and in our commitment to driving sustainable, long-term solutions that support the energy transition. This milestone is a testament to the hard work and exceptional commitment of our Chilean teams, our partners and our global network.”
Sonnedix said the financing will support further development of renewable energy, storage and hybrid projects in the country, as well as the expansion of its power marketing activities.
Recently, the IPP secured €730 million (US$841 million) to refinance, optimise and construct renewable energy assets across Southern Europe. The financing covers 540MW of solar PV capacity and two BESS projects across France, Italy, Portugal and Spain.
Sonnedix has a gigawatt-scale solar portfolio in Chile, including the 170MW Sonnedix Atacama and 160MW Meseta de los Andes projects. Its 2023 acquisition of 416MW of Enel Chile solar assets further expanded its position in the market, while the company is now adding large-scale storage to its solar portfolio.
In the region, Sonnedix has also signed PPAs for 644MWh of BESS and agreed a 643.8MWh supply deal with Sungrow.
Apart from Chile, the company has a 12GW global portfolio, comprising more than 4GW in operation, over 1GW under construction and a 6GW development pipeline, with operations spanning France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Spain and the UK.

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The International Convention Centre (ICC) Sydney is set to host the largest rooftop solar installation of any central business district (CBD) in the Southern Hemisphere, the New South Wales government has announced.
ICC Sydney, government-owned and operating across the Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Centres, will expand its existing rooftop solar network to more than 18,400 square metres, generating an estimated 2.6GWh annually.
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When combined with renewable energy procurement, the expanded array will enable ICC Sydney to run on 100% renewable energy.
NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said the project showed how greater renewable energy generation could be unlocked in urban areas by using existing building rooftops.
“Hosting the largest solar farm of any CBD in the Southern Hemisphere will help the ICC to reduce emissions and energy costs while also strengthening Sydney’s competitiveness in attracting major international conventions and events,” Scully said.
Based on annual generation, the NSW government said the expansion would make ICC Sydney the fourth-largest solar-powered convention centre in the world, and the largest outside the United States.
The ICC Sydney project is a modest addition in absolute terms compared with the potential scale of rooftop solar across Sydney more broadly.
A 2025 report from engineering consultancy Arcadis, produced with the Committee for Sydney, Endeavour Energy, Ausgrid and Arup, found that a coordinated Sydney Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) could see rooftop solar PV across the metropolitan area generate up to 21GW, enough to meet up to 75% of the city’s annual energy demand if installed across every residential, commercial and industrial roof.
Metropolitan Sydney currently hosts around 3GW of rooftop solar capacity, meeting only 10-12% of total electricity demand. The report identifies industrial warehouses as particularly underused, given their high roof area relative to energy consumption, sometimes capable of generating up to 500% of a building’s own needs.
That gap between commercial and industrial rooftop potential and actual uptake extends well beyond Sydney.
Analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has separately found that Australian businesses have installed only a fraction of their available rooftop solar potential despite favourable underlying economics, describing the segment as a “missing middle” between household and utility-scale solar deployment.
The ICC Sydney project, while positioned as a leader among global convention venues, illustrates the kind of individual commercial rooftop investment that the report argues remains underexploited at scale across the country, where large single buildings with high energy demand and substantial roof area are precisely the customer profile the missing middle analysis identifies as underserved.

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Indian renewable energy developer Torrent Green Energy has commissioned 322MWp of ground-mounted, decentralised solar projects across Nashik district, Maharashtra.
The portfolio spans 50 locations across 14 talukas in Nashik district, making it one of the largest geographically distributed agricultural feeder solarisation projects developed under the MSKVY framework, according to Torrent Green Energy. The company is the project development subsidiary of Torrent Power.,
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Electricity generated by the projects will be supplied to Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (MSEDCL) under 25-year power purchase agreements.
The projects were developed under the Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Vahini Yojana (MSKVY) 2.0, a Maharashtra state programme that supports the solarisation of agricultural electricity feeders under Component C of the Indian government’s Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM) scheme.
Component C specifically focuses on solarising grid-connected agricultural feeders, allowing decentralised solar plants to supply electricity directly to rural distribution networks serving farms. PM-KUSUM was launched in 2019 to expand solar power in agriculture, reduce farmers’ reliance on conventional electricity and support higher farm incomes.
The projects are designed to bring solar generation closer to agricultural demand centres, with local plants supplying rural electricity feeders. Torrent said this will support daytime power supply for farmers, improve grid efficiency and reduce distribution losses.
The company said project execution involved land development, grid connectivity, local approvals and concurrent construction activities across multiple sites.
Torrent Power has 6.66GW of operational generation capacity, including 2.2GW of renewable capacity, with a further 4.56GW of renewable projects under construction across India.
The company also operates electricity distribution businesses in Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and the Union territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, serving around 4.3 million customers.

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