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Waaree Energies shifts solar module production to the US as tariffs close the export route  energynews.pro
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The 103 MW Huatacondo solar plant and its 98 MW/312 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS), located in Chile’s Tarapacá region, have remained out of service for two months following a cyberattack. The Chilean National Electricity Coordinator’s daily report for Oct. 27 lists both facilities as subject to forced disconnection, with 0% availability. The report continues to cite an incident reported on Aug. 27 under forced disconnection request SDCF 2025.1000.
The incident was recorded on Aug. 27 at 1:10 p.m., when the RNE control center requested the forced disconnection of the solar plant and its battery storage system. The reported cause was a “cyberattack on the Huatacondo facilities,” which left both installations disconnected from Chile’s National Electric System (SEN).
At the same time, RNE requested the forced disconnection of the 220/23 kV TR1 transformer at the Santa Rita substation, also citing a cyberattack, according to SDCF request 2026100746.
The same daily report records two other incidents attributed to cyberattacks. At 9:30 p.m., the Espinos (Power) control center reported that the Olivos and Espinos thermal power plants, located in Los Vilos in the Coquimbo region, were unavailable for dispatch following the loss of monitoring and remote-control capabilities.
The report does not establish whether these incidents were related to the earlier incident at Huatacondo or resulted from the same attack.
The Huatacondo solar plant, inaugurated in 2019, is owned by a consortium comprising Japan’s Sojitz Corp., with a 60% stake; Shikoku Electric Power, previously reported as holding 30%; and France’s Eiffage, with 10%.
The battery storage project, developed by AustrianSolar Chile Four SpA, began construction in 2025. Canadian Solar subsidiary e-Storage solution was selected to supply the BESS, while Tritec-Intervento was contracted to carry out the balance-of-plant works.
The battery system was still undergoing commissioning when the incident occurred and remained in that phase as of Oct. 27. Its unavailability therefore does not represent a two-month interruption of an established commercial operation.
A review of the National Electricity Coordinator’s daily reports covering Oct. 28, 2025, through Oct. 27, 2026, examined 360 of the 365 reports published during the period.
The review identified no other new incidents explicitly attributed to cyberattacks beyond those reported on Aug. 27. Subsequent references concerned the continued disconnection of the Huatacondo facilities.
The reports for Oct. 29 and Oct. 31, 2025, and March 30, Aug. 31 and Sept. 8, 2026, could not be reviewed. The findings therefore do not establish that the August incidents were the only cyberattacks during the period or the first incidents of their kind. They are limited to documented operational incidents explicitly described using those terms in the reports examined.
In October 2025, Patricio Leyton, director of the National Electricity Coordinator’s Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Unit, told Mining Report that Chile had not recorded cyberattacks with a significant impact on its electricity infrastructure, despite the millions of attempted attacks detected by the organization.
The Coordinator has a cybersecurity incident notification protocol that establishes reporting obligations for entities operating within the electricity system.
On Aug. 28, one day after the reported incidents, Chile’s National Energy Commission (CNE) opened a public consultation on a draft technical standard for cybersecurity and information security in the electricity sector.
pv magazine contacted the National Electricity Coordinator and AustrianSolar Chile Four SpA seeking information about the circumstances of the reported attack, its operational consequences and the expected timeline for restoring the facilities. Neither organization had responded by the time of publication.
No public statement was identified that clarified the origin of the incident, the computer systems affected, any potential connection between the incidents reported on Aug. 27, or the reasons for Huatacondo’s prolonged unavailability.
The Coordinator’s daily reports record the causes communicated by plant operators but do not constitute technical investigations establishing the nature or extent of the reported cyberattacks.
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Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
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Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
Thursday, November 5, 2026
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Monday, November 23, 2026
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pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.

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India’s new PM-SSY scheme aims to add 5 GW of floating solar backed by 10 GWh of storage by 2030-31. The technology is no longer the main question. Industry executives say approvals, financing, standards and execution will determine whether the country can turn its reservoirs into a globally competitive clean energy market.
October 29, 2026. By Abha Rustagi

Dhash’s Bhupendra Singh Rawat on Building India’s Solar Component Ecosystem

Kimbal Targets Australia and Southeast Asia for Global Expansion

Prassann Daphal, CEO, Recyclekaro, on Building India’s Critical Mineral Recycling Ecosystem

Evolving Climate Risks Are Reshaping RE Insurance: Amitabh Dewan, Policybazaar for Business

Power Asset Management is Shifting from Capacity to Performance: Kota Bhanu Prakash

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“Don’t want to make it complex for future buyers.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A Colorado homeowner bought 12 panels for $130 apiece and planned a DIY ground-mount setup, but uncertainty set in when the grid-tie inspection and fee came up.
The homeowner also plans to sell in about five years and wondered if a grid tie-in and net metering would make more sense than battery storage.
The dilemma appeared in a Reddit thread on r/SolarDIY, where the homeowner said 12 newly delivered 585-watt panels for a ground-mounted system left them choosing between two paths: a grid-tied setup with net metering and no battery, or a battery-based setup without net metering.
They also said the home’s quality insulation keeps the power bill around $100 a month, and they expect to sell in four to five years.
The original poster wanted to avoid the $375 interconnection charge and a utility inspection, but they also worried that a hybrid inverter and battery system could make the property feel more complicated to future buyers.
They also floated the idea of using only four panels in a plug-in solar setup on its own 20-amp circuit. But, as they put it, “That kills my idea of getting an EV though.”
Going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Solar leases, in particular, can deliver hundreds of dollars in monthly savings with little upfront cost. Readers can use EasyHome to see their potential savings from vetted installers in their area.
Much of the discussion in the comments shifted toward permits and how the system could affect a later home sale.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
One commenter focused on the holistic cost, writing, “You will need that permit when selling- might as well get it now,” highlighting the headaches unpermitted work can cause when a house changes hands.
Backup power came up as another key factor, with another commenter saying batteries are useful if you want solar to keep working during a grid outage. The original poster answered, “I’m not worried about power outages at all.” They added elsewhere in the thread that nearby residents told them outages were rare over the prior two years.
After reviewing the utility policy, the homeowner said Black Hills Energy offers 1-for-1 net metering with rollover, and they came around to the idea that the grid would be the cheaper battery.
Net metering matters because a roughly 7-kilowatt system on a home with a modest monthly electric bill could send extra daytime generation back to the grid and use that credit later. Unlike time-of-use plans, net metering makes it easier to avoid the higher upfront cost and added complexity of battery storage.
In this situation, 1-for-1 net metering with rollover made batteries less ideal because the homeowner was trying to solve for monthly cost rather than backup power in the first place.
Even if the fee and the inspection feel frustrating, getting the system permitted may still be worthwhile for someone expecting to sell in four to five years, especially since commenters repeatedly treated proper documentation as part of protecting resale value.
For homeowners weighing the complexities of solar, like time-of-use plans, net metering, and battery backup, EasyHome‘s free explorer tool can help compare local offers before making a final equipment decision. EasyHome can also help readers explore backup battery options, and pairing solar with a battery lets homeowners maximize savings and keep the lights on when the grid goes down.
Ultimately, the conversation centered on a tradeoff between resilience and an easy resale. As the original poster put it, “Yes, hybrid is best, but don’t want to make it complex for future buyers.”
These articles cover stories of other homeowners who ran into similar issues with solar costs, utility rules, and surprise fees. 
• In Colorado, a utility customer was baffled by a $195 bill after solar credits fell short.
• In California, a homeowner considered skipping a $3,000 contractor fee while pricing a 6-kilowatt system.
• In Connecticut, a homeowner said solar credits vanished despite stronger output and rising buyback worries.
• In Denver, a cheaper quote for solar came with warnings about higher prices down the line.
• After spending $41,000, one homeowner learned 13 more panels could trigger costly electrical rework.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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The European Commission has launched the T-MED Investment Platform, backed by up to €4.5 billion in EU guarantee capacity, to mobilise private investment in renewable energy and clean technologies across the Mediterranean. The platform aims to reduce investment risks and accelerate projects involving renewable electricity, green hydrogen, energy storage, electricity grids and cross-border interconnections.
Presented by Commissioner for the Mediterranean Dubravka Šuica at a stakeholder event in Brussels, the platform is part of the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean Tech Cooperation Initiative (T-MED), a flagship initiative under the Pact for the Mediterranean. The European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+) will provide the guarantee capacity to help attract private capital and connect project developers with potential sources of financing.
T-MED is supporting several projects across North Africa. In Egypt, the initiative is enabling the modernisation and expansion of the national electricity grid through investments worth €1.6 billion, including new substations and transmission lines designed to integrate solar and wind power generated in the Red Sea and Gulf of Suez regions.
The initiative has also enabled a €575 million green ammonia project in Ain Sokhna, Egypt, which uses a European electrolyser and exports its production to the EU market. In addition, an EU guarantee has supported the construction of a hybrid solar photovoltaic project in Egypt worth around €430 million. The Niat and Rasgha wind projects will add 500 MW of onshore wind capacity in the Gulf of Suez, supporting Egypt’s future hydrogen production through European wind technology.
In Tunisia, T-MED is supporting two 100 MW solar photovoltaic plants and their associated transmission infrastructure. EU support amounts to approximately €92 million for the plants and €80 million for the transmission infrastructure, with the projects intended to encourage private-sector participation in the power sector and strengthen the country’s energy security and resilience.
Beyond financing, the platform will support efforts to improve regulatory frameworks, permitting procedures, grid access and power purchase agreements (PPAs). It will also promote skills development and local clean technology value chains to help address barriers that can delay project deployment.
By 2035, T-MED aims to mobilise up to €25 billion in expected investment in renewable energy production, electricity grids, interconnections and clean technologies. The initiative also aims to train and upskill up to 100,000 workers.
The platform forms part of the EU’s broader ambition to build a connected, prosperous, resilient and secure Mediterranean region through closer cooperation with Southern Mediterranean partners.
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DartSolar LLC, a clean technology firm headquartered in Los Angeles, California, has finalized production plans for its vehicle-integrated solar array, designed to mount onto standard vehicle roof racks and truck beds without structural modifications.
The company reports that its system utilizes modular 500 W units measuring approximately 23 inches by 6 feet (58.4 cm × 182.9 cm) when contracted, which expand to a deployed length of 15 feet (457.2 cm) when stationary. The setup allows multi-unit configurations: two modules yield up to 1,000 W on standard sedan crossbars, while three to four or more modules can be joined side-by-side on light trucks, vans, trailers, and campers to generate between 1,500 W and over 2,000 W of capacity.
According to technical specifications released by the company, the expanding array is intended to supply off-grid electricity for portable power stations, jobsite tools, and auxiliary battery systems rather than serving as a primary electric vehicle (EV) charging solution. DartSolar estimates daily solar generation will add approximately 10 to 20 miles (16 to 32 km) of driving range to an EV under typical exposure conditions. 
To improve durability during transit, the array is housed under a 4 mm polycarbonate protective shell designed to mitigate impact damage from hail and road debris. High-speed stability testing was conducted at speeds up to 100 mph (160 km/h) in standard and lateral configurations, though operational guidelines recommend travel speeds under 70 mph.
The system incorporates a multi-angle quick-release locking mechanism to facilitate deployment from different access points around larger vehicles. In line with an open-hardware model, DartSolar has released 3D CAD files (STEP format) for structural plastic components under a share-alike license, enabling end users to manufacture replacement parts locally via 3D printing.
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Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026?
Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
Thursday, November 5, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 23, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.

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Cornell University researchers have launched an innovative solar grazing initiative aimed at optimizing vegetation management in solar farms. Their experiment evaluates the potential of using sheep to graze beneath solar panels, fostering a dual benefit for energy production and farming. This sustainable method enhances biodiversity and diminishes reliance on traditional vegetation management practices, presenting a promising opportunity for harmonizing agriculture with renewable energy advancements.
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Sheep graze near solar panels, showing how livestock and renewable energy production can share the same land through solar grazing (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

Solar panels installed at a working farm create space where sheep can graze beneath the array while the land continues supporting agricultural activity (Image credit: Wikimedia Commons)

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VIOLA and HAVERHILL TOWNSHIPS, Minn. — Last week’s decision by the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission to approve the site permit for the 180-megawatt Lemon Hill Solar Project means the project has cleared one of its biggest hurdles.
But there are still more steps before any dirt is moved and solar panels start sprouting up on the roughly 1,700 acres in Haverhill and Viola townships in northeastern Olmsted County.
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For Ranger Power, the Chicago-based developer behind the project, the next steps include getting construction permits from responsible government units, including Olmsted County.
In a statement after the PUC decision, Sergio Trevino, vice president at Ranger Power, said the permit represents “a significant milestone in the project’s development.”
Touting the investment in the county and potential of $33 million in property tax benefits over the life of the project, he added it was developed in partnership with private landowners.
A statement from PUC after Thursday’s decision said construction on the project is planned for 2027. The utility-scale solar project would then be operational in 2028.
“Lemon Hill Solar is poised to make a meaningful contribution to Minnesota’s clean energy goals while delivering substantial economic benefits to the surrounding community,” Trevino said. “Once operational, the project will generate clean, low-cost electricity with the capacity to power tens of thousands of Minnesota homes.”
But not all landowners are part of the Ranger Power deal, and many in the area are unhappy with PUC’s decision, especially as it disregarded the ruling from administrative law judge Ann C. O’Reilly, who recommended on Sept. 8, 2026, that PUC should deny the permit application or, if not denying the application, should require more environmental review.
O’Reilly added that further environmental review should focus on the project’s impact on human settlement — specifically paying attention to aesthetics, cultural values/character and property values — land use conflicts, loss of agricultural resources and groundwater risks associated with the karst terrain and the project’s location.
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While several landowners in the area who oppose the project were contacted by the Post Bulletin, all declined to comment at this point until a next step could be determined.
Still, their willingness to continue to fight the project is apparent on the group’s “Save Viola — Protect Viola’s Groundwater” Facebook page. Members of the group called out PUC Commissioner John Tuma and his comments in favor of the project during Thursday’s PUC hearing.
While he would not comment since the PUC decision, Clint Mulholland, a landowner whose 5-acre property is in the middle of the project, said in 2025 that he will “be surrounded on all four sides.”
Mulholland believes his property values will plummet, but more importantly, the land on which he built his dream home will become like living in the middle of an industrial site.

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Rocket Lab (RKLB) shares are headed for their best week in a month as its Neutron hardware reached its test site and Electron approached 100 launches, while even a NASA spotlight on its solar cells failed to erase valuation concerns among some retail investors.
RKLB stock rose 0.5% on Wednesday to end the session at $58.60, with shares up 11% for the week and putting it on track for its best week in over a month.
Neutron Moves Toward Testing As 2027 Debut Awaits
Neutron moved closer to its next round of testing after its second stage and thrust module arrived at Wallops Island, Virginia, following a short barge trip from Rocket Lab’s factory.
The hardware is undergoing arrival checks. “Next up: integrated fluids testing and launch mount interface checkouts for the Thrust Module, with Stage 2 to follow on the test stand beside it soon after,” Rocket Lab said on X.
The progress follows Rocket Lab’s recent announcement that Neutron’s debut would slip from late 2026 into 2027 after a manufacturing issue left air pockets in the carbon-composite layers of a first-stage tank dome.
Rocket Lab said it fixed the manufacturing process and was moving ahead with a replacement dome. The company still needs to assemble the first-stage tank and run pressure and cryogenic tests before it can provide a more specific launch date. The reusable medium-lift rocket can carry 13,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit.
Electron’s 100th Launch Comes Into View
Meanwhile, Electron is closing in on its 100th launch after its latest successful mission, “We’re Not Hawking Around,” delivered three HawkEye 360 satellites into a 520-kilometer orbit.
The mission, announced last Friday, marked Electron’s 98th flight, its 19th launch of 2026 and its third dedicated launch for HawkEye 360. The satellites collect radio-frequency signals to support maritime tracking, jamming detection and defense operations.
“Up next: Our 99th launch is scheduled next week and our 100th rocket is close behind, scheduled for delivery to Launch Complex 1 soon,” Rocket Lab said on X.
Rocket Lab’s Space Systems Take The Spotlight
Rocket Lab’s solar hardware also earned a NASA spotlight for its role in NEO Surveyor, a spacecraft designed to hunt potentially hazardous asteroids and comets. Featured in NASA’s Image of the Day, the spacecraft’s 20-foot sunshade carries panels manufactured by Rocket Lab’s Albuquerque team using its high-efficiency, quad-junction Z4J+ solar cells.
“The array delivers up to 2 kW and is the spacecraft's only power source as it hunts hazardous asteroids and comets,” Rocket Lab said.
The recognition comes after last week’s launch of Viasat’s Maxwell spacecraft, which Rocket Lab built. Maxwell supports Viasat’s two NASA communications demonstration awards totaling $81 million, with testing planned through March 2027 as the agency moves toward commercial satellite-relay services.
Rocket Lab also recently reported progress on its $515 million Space Development Agency (SDA) satellite program. “Eight of 18 spacecraft are on the floor right now, in build,” the company said of its Tranche 2 Transport Layer-Beta work.
The company builds key components internally, including solar panels, structures, star trackers, reaction wheels, radios and flight software. A separate $816 million contract covers 18 Tranche 3 Tracking Layer satellites for missile warning and tracking, bringing the two SDA awards’ potential value above $1.3 billion.
How Do Retail Traders Feel About RKLB?
On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for RKLB improved to ‘neutral’ from ‘bearish’ levels a week ago amid a 47% decline in 24-hour message volumes.
One user said, “Still waiting on $19.00. Price is baked into 2040 will not hold up on a bear market We’ll wait. Wait and wait.” Another user said, “Only news from company is going to fight the overbought situation we are in. If not, profit taking will bring us to our knees again.”
A separate user said, “dead cats bounce as always,” questioning the recovery’s staying power. Another user blamed the broader market, saying, “Markets seems nervous.”
RKLB stock has declined 16% year-to-date.
Select market data provided by ICE Data Services. Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2026 FactSet Research Systems Inc.Copyright © 2026, American Bankers Association. CUSIP Database provided by FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. SEC filings and other documents provided by Quartr.© 2026 TradingView, Inc.

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2-aminobenzothiazole improves longevity and photovoltaic conversion efficiency of lead-free quasi-two-dimensional tin perovskite solar cells
Sophia University
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Researchers from Japan used 2-aminobenzothiazole as an additive in quasi-two-dimensional SnPSCs to regulate crystal growth, passivate defects, and suppress tin oxidation and iodide migration, resulting in more efficient and longer-lasting lead-free solar cells.
Credit: Professor Yuko Takeoka from Sophia University, Japan
Metal halide perovskite solar cells (PSCs) are promising candidates for next-generation photovoltaics due to their high efficiency and low manufacturing cost. While lead-based perovskite devices achieve high power conversion efficiencies, the toxicity hinders their commercialization. Researchers are now exploring the use of tin as a lead substitute to develop eco-friendly alternatives. However, tin-halide (SnPSCs) are prone to rapid degradation through oxidation, limiting both efficiency and long-term stability.
 
To mitigate this issue, researchers from Sophia University, Japan, and the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) in Japan utilized an additive engineering approach. Their study introduces 2-aminobenzothiazole (2-ABZ) into quasi-two-dimensional (q-2D) Ruddlesden–Popper tin perovskites, creating a multifunctional passivation strategy that enhances both photovoltaic performance and device longevity. The study was led by Professor Yuko Takeoka, Faculty of Science and Technology, Department of Materials and Life Sciences, Sophia University. Dr. J. Obila, affiliated with Sophia University at the time of this research and now at North-West University, South Africa, as well as Dr. Yasuhiro Shirai and Dr. Masatoshi Yanagida from NIMS were also a part of the research team. The study findings were made available online on May 27, 2026, and published in Volume 10, Issue 11 of the Solar RRL journal on June 15, 2026.
 
“I've been researching perovskite compounds for over 25 years, and I wanted to use that knowledge to make safer solar cells, so I applied to JST ALCA-Next with the NIMS group. The acceptance of our proposal was the kick-off for this research,” mentioned Prof. Takeoka.
 
2-ABZ is a heteroatom molecule containing nitrogen, carbon, sulfur, and hydrogen. Unlike many additives that target a single degradation mechanism, 2-ABZ performed several complementary functions throughout the formation and operation of the perovskite film. The researchers propose that the additive functions as a multifunctional molecular stabilizer throughout the entire device architecture. By regulating crystallization, reducing trap formation, preventing ion migration, inhibiting tin oxidation, and improving interfacial energy alignment, 2-ABZ addresses several of the intrinsic weaknesses that have limited the efficiency of SnPSCs.
 
Prof. Takeoka explains, “The buildup of 2-ABZ at the interface is crucial for decreasing buried defects in the perovskite layer by creating densely populated nucleation sites at the base of the layer, resulting in the production of a high-quality and stable film.”
 
These molecular interactions have important consequences for device operation, translating into a substantial increase in solar cell performance. The optimized devices achieved a power conversion efficiency of 9.07%, compared with 6.60% for control devices used for the experiment. The additive also improved open-circuit voltage, photocurrent generation, and device reproducibility while reducing hysteresis during operation.
 
Besides increasing the efficiency, the molecular approach significantly enhanced the stability of the devices. Surface analysis revealed that 2-ABZ suppressed the oxidation of Sn²⁺ to Sn^4+, a major degradation pathway for tin perovskites. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy also showed a substantial reduction in oxidized iodine species, and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry confirmed that the migration of iodide was greatly inhibited.
 
The benefits were reflected in long-term performance tests. Unencapsulated solar cells containing 2-ABZ retained 84.94% of their initial efficiency after 100 days of storage, whereas untreated devices retained only 48.95%. During continuous operation under simulated sunlight, treated devices maintained nearly 89% of their original performance after 10 hours, while control devices degraded rapidly within the first hour.
 
Installing Si-based solar cells requires wide, flat land, but PSCs are lightweight, flexible, and shape-controllable, making them a promising next-generation solar cell. However, ensuring their efficiency and longevity is important to improve their commercial viability. “The findings from our research showed the way for developing safer lead-free solar cells, which could help expand the use of photovoltaic cells,” mentioned Prof. Takeoka.
 
Overall, the study highlights how carefully designed molecular additives can simultaneously improve multiple aspects of device performance. The findings provide a practical framework for engineering more stable, efficient, and environmentally friendly lead-free PSCs and may accelerate their development for the future photovoltaic applications.
 
About Professor Yuko Takeoka from Sophia University
Dr. Yuko Takeoka is a Professor in the Department of Materials and Life Sciences at Sophia University, Japan. She earned her Ph.D. in Engineering from The University of Tokyo in 2001, and leads research at the interface of polymer chemistry and advanced energy materials. Her research focuses on functional polymers, organic–inorganic hybrid materials, perovskite solar cells, fluorescent materials, biodegradable polymers, biomaterials, and biosensors. Professor Takeoka has authored more than 200 scientific publications and has received several prestigious recognitions, including being named among the Top 5% of Highly Cited Authors with RSC Journals, Royal Society of Chemistry in 2020.
 
About Sophia University
Established as a private Jesuit affiliated university in 1913, Sophia University is one of the most prestigious universities located in the heart of Tokyo, Japan.  Imparting education through 29 departments in 9 faculties and 25 majors in 10 graduate schools, Sophia hosts more than 13,000 students from around the world.
Conceived with the spirit of “For Others, With Others,” Sophia University truly values internationality and neighborliness, and believes in education and research that go beyond national, linguistic, and academic boundaries. Sophia emphasizes on the need for multidisciplinary and fusion research to find solutions for the most pressing global issues like climate change, poverty, conflict, and violence. Over the course of the last century, Sophia has made dedicated efforts to hone future-ready graduates who can contribute their talents and learnings for the benefit of others, and pave the way for a sustainable future while “Bringing the World Together.”
Website: https://www.sophia.ac.jp/eng/
Solar RRL
10.1002/solr.70388
Experimental study
Not applicable
Molecular Passivation with 2-Aminobenzothiazole Enables Efficient and Stable Ruddlesden–Popper Tin Perovskite Solar Cells
15-Jun-2026
The authors declare no conflicts of interest
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Singapore will pilot the use of photovoltaic roof tiles at state-owned heritage buildings to expand solar power generation while preserving traditional architecture.
Hanoi (VNA) – Singapore will pilot the use of photovoltaic roof tiles at state-owned heritage buildings to expand solar power generation while preserving traditional architecture.

The Energy Market Authority (EMA) said on October 27 that it will work with Switzerland’s CSEM technology innovation centre and the Singapore Land Authority to implement the project.
The new tiles are designed to resemble traditional terracotta roof tiles, allowing larger roof areas to be used to generate clean electricity while retaining the buildings’ original architectural appearance.

According to the EMA, terracotta tiles are a distinctive feature of heritage districts, restricting the installation of conventional solar panels to certain areas of rooftops.

In addition to the pilot project, the EMA has signed a memorandum of understanding with CSEM on cooperation in solar energy research and development, helping Singapore develop and adopt advanced energy solutions through public-private partnerships./.
Singapore currently imports more than 90% of its food. According to Grace Fu, increasing domestic production alone would not be enough to protect the island nation from global disruptions. Singapore needed to diversify its sources of supply, build resilient supply systems and strengthen its ability to respond to unexpected events.
The Vietnam Trade Office in Singapore attributed the growth largely to Singapore’s role as a regional transshipment and distribution hub for electronic components and equipment within regional supply chains.
With government business support information and services integrated into a single platform, BizSG uses AI to recommend support programmes tailored to each business and guide users step-by-step to the appropriate service or support. The entire Singapore government subsidy system is expected to be gradually integrated by 2027.
According to the US Department of State, Vietnam’s decision extends the US–Vietnam Comprehensive Strategic Partnership into a new frontier.
Vietnam stressed the need to respect Cuba’s independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity and political independence, and the Cuban people’s rights to self-determination and to choose their own development path, free from external interference or coercion.
Minister of Environment Eang Sophalleth approved the Investment Framework for Haze-Free Sustainable Land Management 2026-2035, which proposes 15 projects with a combined estimated investment of 690 million USD, reported The Phnom Penh Post.
It is part of the Indonesian Government’s programme to build 3 million homes, aimed at expanding access to adequate affordable housing based on buyers’ financial means.
The number of Vietnamese visitors fell 28% year-on-year to 651,486, while Chinese arrivals dropped 27.6% to 643,314. Visitors from the US decreased 5.6% to 140,276, the report showed.
Under EnterpriseSG’s Champions of AI programme, companies will obtain support to build long-term AI transformation roadmaps, tap experts and tech solutions, and reskill workers. It starts with 24 companies across sectors, targeting firms that want AI to become a core growth engine and reshape operations system-wide.
According to Indonesia’s Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), Hercules and CN-295 military transport aircraft dispersed dry ice and sodium chloride into cloud formations during a projected multi-day period of favourable atmospheric conditions.
Under the draft regulation being prepared by the Ministry of Environment and the Environmental Control Agency, producers will be responsible for waste arising from products, packaging and containers they place on the market, from product design to post-consumer management.
Cambodia is focusing on improving agricultural quality and production capacity to meet international market requirements, an agriculture official has said.
Rising consumer demand, coupled with disruptions to domestic production caused by El Niño and a series of storms, has left rice supplies insufficient to meet demand.
Running until November 1 under the theme “City of New Lights”, the event combines fashion shows, emerging talent development and cultural exchange.
The outlets also assessed that the signing of a joint statement, a five-year action plan for 2026–2030, and agreements in a range of fields will establish a solid political framework for the two countries to promote comprehensive cooperation.
Lukman F. Laisa, the ministry’s Director General of Civil Aviation, said all airports remain open, with flight schedules adjusted to weather conditions in affected areas.
Heavy overnight rain triggered flash floods across Thailand’s Phuket island on October 26, hitting all its three districts, including the Phuket City, reported the local media.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has also approved a 72-million-USD financing package to help Cambodia strengthen rural agriculture and increase women’s participation in the sector.
The initiative aims to bring together policymakers, financial institutions, payment networks and technology providers to advance the use of digital money in cross-border financial activities.
TAT will focus on families and shopping in Vietnam, while its Malaysian campaign will emphasise food, shopping and travel to secondary cities.
Vietnam holds important mineral resources used in batteries, electronic equipment and energy infrastructure, and closer cooperation could help the EU diversify its supply chains.
According to the Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), the country’s total trade rose 30.1% to 2.91 trillion MYR (713 billion USD), while imports increased 25.7% to 1.34 trillion ringgit (328 billion USD). The trade surplus reached 232.38 billion MYR (57 billion USD).
In its Asia-Pacific Climate Outlook 2026: Coastal Risks on the Rise – Actions for a Resilient Future, ADB warns that climate hazards will intensify between now and the end of the 21st century, threatening Cambodia’s port operations, fisheries, foreign trade and tourism.
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Hybrid bee–genetic algorithm tames power flow in renewable and EV grids
Engineers have unveiled a new computational framework that plans how electricity should flow through power grids crowded with wind farms, solar panels, and plug-in electric vehicles, even when the output of those resources is inherently unpredictable. The study, published on 1 September 2026 in the open-access journal Carbon Neutral Systems, was carried out by Abhishek Bajirao Katkar and Himmat Tukaram Jadhav and tackles a problem known as stochastic multi-objective optimal power flow, or MOOPF. In such problems, grid operators must simultaneously juggle conflicting goals—keeping costs low, cutting emissions, reducing transmission losses, and holding bus voltages close to their reference values—while wind speed, solar irradiance, and the charging and discharging behavior of electric vehicles fluctuate in ways no scheduler can fully control.
The core of the proposed method is a hybrid optimization algorithm that fuses two well-established search techniques. The first is the Artificial Bee Colony algorithm, which mimics honey-bee foraging: candidate solutions are treated as food sources, employed and onlooker bees refine them through stochastic neighborhood moves, and scout bees replace sources that stagnate beyond a trial limit. The researchers added a global-best-guided term that pulls each update toward the current best solution found so far, strengthening exploitation without abandoning exploration. The second component is NSGA-II, the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm, which supplies elitist selection, Pareto-dominance ranking, and crowding-distance diversity preservation. By running the bee phases to generate candidates and then applying non-dominated sorting and elitist replacement to the combined pool of parents and offspring, the hybrid gbestABC–NSGA-II algorithm aims to balance convergence toward the best trade-offs with a well-spread set of solutions.
Uncertainty is handled explicitly rather than ignored. Wind speed is modeled with a two-parameter Weibull distribution, solar irradiance with a lognormal distribution, and the charging or vehicle-to-grid discharging power of plug-in electric vehicles with a normal distribution. These probabilistic models are evaluated through Monte Carlo scenarios, with a sample size of 400 chosen after a preliminary convergence analysis: increasing the scenarios from 300 to 400 changed the expected objective values by only about 0.46 percent, and pushing from 400 to 500 changed them by less than 0.20 percent. The same scenario realization was kept identical across all test systems and all comparison algorithms, so that differences in results could be attributed to the algorithms rather than to different random samples of uncertainty.
The framework was stress-tested on modified versions of the IEEE 30-, 57-, and 118-bus benchmark networks, upgraded with a wind generator, a solar photovoltaic plant, and a plug-in electric vehicle system at designated buses. Twelve case studies spanning two, three, and four simultaneous objectives—total cost, total emissions, active power loss, and voltage-magnitude deviation—were solved under a common computational budget. Against five comparator algorithms, namely MOABC, NSGA-III, MOEA/D, standard NSGA-II, and MOPSO, the reported results show that the proposed method yields competitive Pareto solutions. Active power loss was up to approximately 27 percent lower and voltage-magnitude deviation approximately 18 to 52 percent lower than the corresponding values of selected comparators in the reported cases.
The quality of the Pareto fronts themselves was also quantified. The proposed algorithm achieved generational distance values more than 25 percent lower, indicating closer convergence toward the reference front, and spacing values up to 28.5 percent lower, indicating a more evenly distributed solution set, while its diversity metric was up to 37.3 percent higher than the stated comparator values. Wilcoxon signed-rank tests applied to the aggregated Pareto-quality observations returned p-values below 0.05 for all five pairwise comparisons, providing statistical support for the observed differences. The authors are careful to note, however, that these comparisons apply to the stated benchmark cases and parameter settings and should not be read as a universal performance guarantee across other systems or configurations.
Constraint handling received particular attention. Classical approaches such as penalty functions, superiority of feasible solutions, and the constraint-dominance principle each carry drawbacks: penalty methods require hard-to-calibrate coefficients, feasibility-first rules can discard promising infeasible candidates, and strict dominance rules risk premature convergence in fragmented feasible regions. The study instead employs an enhanced diversity-maintenance epsilon-constraint method, in which solutions with violations within a decaying tolerance are treated as feasible, and a composite fitness measure blends a Tchebycheff aggregation of objectives with the constraint violation. An adaptive weight shifts emphasis from broad exploration toward feasibility as generations progress. An external archive based on epsilon-dominance and crowding distance keeps the stored Pareto set bounded, removes redundant entries, and always preserves the extreme boundary solutions in each objective dimension.
Choosing a single dispatch from a whole front of trade-offs is handled by a transparent decision pipeline. The Analytic Hierarchy Process converts expert pairwise judgments into criterion weights, with consistency checks requiring a consistency ratio below 0.10; the reported matrix achieved a ratio of 0.0115. TOPSIS then ranks each Pareto solution by its relative closeness to an ideal operating point and distance from the worst one, and the highest-ranked alternative becomes the Best Compromise Solution. A one-at-a-time sensitivity assessment perturbs each active weight by plus or minus 10 percent and renormalizes the vector to confirm that the selected compromise is preference-robust. Every step—the pairwise matrix, the weights, and the distance scores—is meant to be reported so that operators can audit and discuss the decision before finalizing a dispatch.
The most computationally striking element is a physics-informed neural network, or PINN, that acts as a rapid screening layer for power-flow calculations. Stochastic MOOPF normally demands repeated nonlinear AC power-flow evaluations for every candidate solution and uncertainty scenario, a burden that grows quickly. The PINN predicts bus voltages, phase angles, reactive powers, and line flows while its training loss combines data-fitting error with active- and reactive-power balance residuals and operating-limit penalties, keeping its predictions physically consistent. Trained on 3,000 Newton–Raphson-verified operating samples with four hidden layers of 128 neurons, the network reduced the mean root-mean-square error by roughly 84 percent relative to a conventional backpropagation predictor for cost, emissions, and power loss. In the reported Case 3 experiment on the modified IEEE 30-bus system, screening 5,000 local candidates forwarded only 60 to the exact solver, cutting the number of exact evaluations by approximately 98.8 percent and the total computation time from 19.84 seconds to 0.325 seconds, a saving of 98.36 percent.
Crucially, the PINN never has the final word. Every candidate dispatch retained for implementation is verified with the complete Newton–Raphson AC power-flow model before acceptance, and the same power-balance equations enforced in the optimizer also appear in the PINN’s physics residuals, eliminating inconsistencies between the optimization and prediction layers. In the Case 3 refinement, all four Newton–Raphson-verified alternatives generated around the initial compromise solution dominated the pre-refinement point on cost, emissions, and power loss, so the archive was updated and a new Best Compromise Solution with a closeness coefficient of 0.817 was selected after reapplying the decision pipeline. Aggregate active-power balance audits are also reported for the cases in which power loss is explicitly listed, confirming that generation, renewable injections, vehicle power, demand, and losses sum consistently.
The authors frame the work within clear limits. The uncertainty model uses fitted marginal distributions and 400 Monte Carlo samples, so correlated forecast errors, distribution shift, and sensitivity to the realized sample remain to be validated separately. The PINN refinement is demonstrated as an offline or near-real-time screening layer and is not claimed as a substitute for energy-management-grade AC security assessment, and the IEEE benchmarks do not reproduce the protection, market, communication, and contingency constraints of a real utility network. Future work, the study says, will pursue hardware-in-the-loop evaluation with real-time digital simulators and integration with SCADA-driven energy-management systems and digital twins. For now, the framework offers a statistically validated, feasibility-checked template for planning power dispatch in grids where wind, sun, and millions of electric vehicles all refuse to sit still.
Subject of Research: Stochastic multi-objective optimal power flow optimization for power grids integrating wind, solar, and electric vehicles
Article Title: Physics-informed prediction with hybrid gbestABC–NSGA-II metaheuristics in stochastic multi-objective optimal power flow for renewable-EV grids
Article References: Katkar, A. B., & Jadhav, H. T. (2026). Physics-informed prediction with hybrid gbestABC–NSGA-II metaheuristics in stochastic multi-objective optimal power flow for renewable-EV grids. Carbon Neutral Systems, 2(1), Article 14. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44438-026-00035-1
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s44438-026-00035-1
Keywords: optimal power flow, multi-objective optimization, Artificial Bee Colony, NSGA-II, electric vehicles, vehicle-to-grid, wind power, solar photovoltaic, physics-informed neural network, Monte Carlo simulation, IEEE test systems, Pareto optimization
News Source: Juliet Wilcox. (October 29, 2026). Hybrid bee–genetic algorithm tames power flow in renewable and EV grids. Scienmag.
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Residents of Kamput Tarente on Nain Island, North Sulawesi, Indonesia have received a 2,200 W solar charging station made from repurposed solar panels delivered by Singapore-based developer Vena Energy employee volunteers.
Joining local residents, volunteers from Vena Energy’s 21 MW Minut Solar Project in Likupang, also North Sulawesi, and volunteer contractors spent three weeks completing the project and improving the community’s access to electricity.
Located approximately 1,670 kilometres north of Darwin, the remote Nain Island community has no connection to the Indonesian national grid and residents have relied on expensive diesel-powered generators to access electricity.
Initiated by a local resident who had interned with Vena Energy, the Vena team designed a 2,200 W solar charging station from repurposed solar panels in good working condition.
Kampung Tarente resident Alfaro Randaria said when he was growing up accessing electricity in the village was challenging.
“For the local fisherman, one of the key priorities is charging their flashlights, which are essential for their activities at sea,” Randaria said.
“Now fisherman and community members are able to use solar energy to charge their batteries.”
To support the installation’s long-term operation, three community members received training in basic maintenance, with Vena Energy providing ongoing remote technical support.

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Corning’s solar sales rise 37% year-on-year to US$436 million in Q3 2026  PV Tech
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Table of Contents
British naval architecture studio Dixon Yacht Design has revealed OXO, a 48.27-metre solar-powered superyacht concept designed to combine luxury cruising with significantly improved energy efficiency. Developed in collaboration with interior design studio Design Unlimited, the project integrates more than 100 square metres of solar panels into the yacht’s architecture.
According to its designers, the solar installation could generate between 70 and 90 kilowatt-hours of electricity per day in Mediterranean conditions, supplying approximately 20% of the vessel’s hotel load. That includes electricity used for onboard accommodation and guest facilities rather than propulsion.
Unlike conventional superyachts that add renewable-energy equipment after the initial design stage, OXO has been developed around a broader efficiency strategy. Its slender hull, carefully engineered stern, integrated solar panels and advanced propulsion options are intended to work together to reduce energy consumption without sacrificing luxury or comfort.
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OXO’s solar array is one of the project’s defining features. More than 100 square metres of photovoltaic panels are integrated into the yacht’s exterior design rather than mounted as a separate addition.
The designers estimate that the panels could produce 70–90 kWh of electricity daily under favorable Mediterranean conditions, covering approximately one-fifth of the vessel’s hotel energy requirements.
This would help reduce reliance on onboard generators for everyday electricity consumption, although actual output would depend on sunlight, weather, operating patterns and equipment demand.
The concept also includes a substantial battery system, with a proposed capacity of 1.5–2.0 megawatt-hours.
OXO measures 48.27 metres in overall length, with a waterline length of 44.59 metres and a beam of 8.93 metres.
Its relatively long, slender hull is designed to reduce wave-making resistance, one of the forces that increases energy consumption as a vessel moves through water.
Dixon Yacht Design has also used computational fluid dynamics to optimize the stern sections, reducing transom immersion and associated drag.
These refinements are intended to improve efficiency during cruising, complementing the energy generated by the yacht’s solar panels.
The proposed propulsion system features twin MAN engines rated at approximately 1,050 horsepower each, connected to controllable-pitch Hundested propellers.
A hybrid propulsion arrangement is available as an option, giving a prospective owner flexibility when selecting the final machinery configuration.
The yacht is designed to achieve a maximum speed of approximately 16 knots.
Its aluminium hull and superstructure contribute to the project’s weight-conscious engineering approach.
British studio Design Unlimited has created a contemporary interior concept emphasizing natural light, understated luxury and comfortable living at sea.
The accommodation is designed for 10 guests in five staterooms, with spacious communal areas and a layout intended to support extended voyages.
Organic shapes, bespoke details and natural materials create a warm atmosphere, while large windows provide expansive views of the surrounding water.
The owner’s suite features a restrained palette of neutral tones, contemporary furnishings and carefully integrated lighting.
Outdoor areas include a spacious aft deck, foredeck lounging spaces and areas designed for alfresco relaxation and entertaining.
Despite its length of more than 48 metres, OXO has been designed with an internal volume of 499 gross tonnes.
The yacht’s principal dimensions include a hull length of 45.60 metres, a waterline length of 44.59 metres and a beam of 8.93 metres.
Keeping the project below 500 GT is a significant design consideration because some maritime regulatory requirements vary according to a vessel’s gross tonnage, flag and operating status.
OXO is currently presented as a ready-to-build design concept rather than a completed superyacht.
Dixon Yacht Design introduced the project around the 2026 Monaco Yacht Show, providing prospective owners with an opportunity to examine the design and its proposed engineering systems.
The final specification, shipyard selection, construction schedule and delivery date would depend on a future commission.
The project illustrates a growing direction in superyacht design: integrating energy efficiency into the hull, propulsion system and onboard architecture from the earliest planning stages.
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NEPI Rockcastle marks another milestone in its energy transition strategy with the inauguration of the second photovoltaic park in its portfolio, located in Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea), Prahova County. The project is part of NEPI Rockcastle’s green energy investment programme, with a budget of over 100 million euros, dedicated to the development of photovoltaic capacity across the region.
Located on an area of 75.5 hectares, the Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea) photovoltaic park has an installed capacity of 56.2 MW. The project incorporates more than 90,000 bifacial solar panels.
With an estimated annual output of approximately 73,000 MWh, the park will generate enough renewable electricity to cover the equivalent annual consumption of more than 40,000 households in Romania.
”The Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea) photovoltaic park is a concrete example of how we turn sustainability into investments with long-term impact. Green energy investments help us increase the efficiency and resilience of our portfolio while, at the same time, generating sustainable value for tenants, communities and the entire ecosystem surrounding our shopping centres,”, said Andrei Radu, Group Development Director, NEPI Rockcastle.
With the commissioning of the Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea) project, alongside the Group’s first photovoltaic park inaugurated last year in Chișineu-Criș (Arad County) and the systems installed on the rooftops of its shopping centres, NEPI Rockcastle will increase the share of its total electricity consumption covered by its own renewable energy sources to 31% by the end of 2026. This represents a significant increase from the 6% level recorded two years ago.
The Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea) photovoltaic park was built on a former mineral aggregate extraction site, giving a new economic purpose to previously degraded and unproductive land. Currently, the land between the rows of solar panels is used as pasture for sheep belonging to local farmers, an environmentally friendly vegetation management solution that directly supports the rural economy in the area.
The project was designed with a long-term vision, with the existing infrastructure, which includes its own transformer station, allowing for future expansion through the integration of battery energy storage systems (BESS).
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OMV Petrom and Renovatio have commissioned three photovoltaic parks that supply energy and can power more than 110,000 households  Informat.ro
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The project is part of NEPI Rockcastle’s green energy investment programme, with a budget of over EUR 100 million, dedicated to the development of photovoltaic capacity across the region.
Implemented together with Global Technical Systems (GTS), the new park is one of the largest solar energy production facilities in Prahova County and reaffirms NEPI Rockcastle’s position as a leader in renewable energy in the commercial retail real estate sector.

Located on an area of 75.5 hectares, the Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea) photovoltaic park has an installed capacity of 56.2 MW. The project incorporates more than 90,000 state-of-the-art bifacial solar panels, equipped with N-type i-TOPCon technology, ensuring efficiency of up to 23% and a 30-year production guarantee.
With an estimated annual output of approximately 73,000 MWh, the park will generate enough renewable electricity to cover the equivalent annual consumption of more than 40,000 households in Romania. In addition, the project makes a direct contribution to environmental protection by avoiding the emission of approximately 17,000 tonnes of CO₂ every year.

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MetaWealth reaches first financial close in its EUR 160 million Romanian BESS program, with financing from CEC Bank

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”The Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea) photovoltaic park is a concrete example of how we turn sustainability into investments with long-term impact. Green energy investments help us increase the efficiency and resilience of our portfolio while, at the same time, generating sustainable value for tenants, communities and the entire ecosystem surrounding our shopping centres,”, said Andrei Radu, Group Development Director, NEPI Rockcastle.
With the commissioning of the Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea) project, alongside the Group’s first photovoltaic park inaugurated last year in Chișineu-Criș (Arad County) and the systems installed on the rooftops of its shopping centres, NEPI Rockcastle will increase the share of its total electricity consumption covered by its own renewable energy sources to 31% by the end of 2026. This represents a significant increase from the 6% level recorded two years ago.

”The partnership with NEPI Rockcastle reflects Global Technical Systems’ expertise in managing complex energy projects, from concept to implementation, as well as the company’s experience in providing MEP services. The collaboration confirms our team’s ability to deliver integrated EPC solutions and to meet the requirements of a large-scale investor across both areas of expertise,” said Răzvan Enache, CEO Global Technical Systems.
An investment with economic and environmental impact for the local community

The Ariceștii Rahtivani (Nedelea) photovoltaic park was built on a former mineral aggregate extraction site, giving a new economic purpose to previously degraded and unproductive land. Currently, the land between the rows of solar panels is used as pasture for sheep belonging to local farmers, an environmentally friendly vegetation management solution that directly supports the rural economy in the area.
The project was designed with a long-term vision, with the existing infrastructure, which includes its own transformer station, allowing for future expansion through the integration of battery energy storage systems (BESS).
The business line dedicated to renewable energy integrates ESG priorities directly into NEPI Rockcastle’s operating model, contributing to increased energy independence, providing stability and predictability for tenants in its shopping centres and strengthening the long-term value of the portfolio.
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Industry
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Media
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Updated On Oct 13, 2026
By Sudip Saha
250 pages
Cite this Report
Solar Cells and Module Market
https://www.futuremarketinsights.com/reports/solar-cells-and-module-market
The solar cells and module market is projected to expand at a CAGR of 7.7% between 2026 and 2036. Market value rises from USD 191.6 billion in 2025 to USD 206.4 billion in 2026 and USD 433.4 billion by 2036. [1]
The solar cells and module market is forecast to expand at 7.7% CAGR from 2026 to 2036. Cells convert sunlight into electricity; modules package interconnected cells into a product that can be transported, installed and operated outdoors. Demand comes from power plants, business premises and homes, but the hardware purchase sits within a wider project. A cheaper panel has limited value if the site cannot connect to the grid or the selected format makes installation difficult. [1]
The deployment base continues to grow. IEA PVPS reports that global photovoltaic capacity approached 3 TW in 2025, with an estimated 698 GW of new systems installed. That scale creates a substantial recurring requirement for modules while increasing the importance of grid integration and predictable operating performance. Manufacturers must serve both new construction and the replacement of equipment within the installed fleet. These routes have different delivery schedules and product requirements. [2]
Table 1: Market Size and Forecast for the Solar Cells and Module Market (USD billion and percentage), 2025 to 2036
Installed capacity, manufacturing investment and cell development provide context for the solar product offer.
Table 2: Industry Indicators for the Solar Cells and Module Market, 2025 to 2026
The purchase price is visible when a project is awarded; the consequences of module selection continue throughout operation. Suppliers have a stronger proposition when they connect their product’s power rating, field behavior and warranty terms with the actual site. An efficiency improvement earns a premium when it improves the project within its available roof or land area.
– Sudip Saha, Principal Consultant, Future Market Insights
Technology comprises Crystalline Silicon, Thin Film and Others. Applications comprise Industrial, Residential and Commercial; end users comprise Utility, C&I and Residential. [1]
By Technology: Crystalline Silicon, Thin Film, Others.
By Application: Industrial, Residential, Commercial.
By End User: Utility, Commercial and Industrial (C&I), Residential.
By Region: North America, Latin America, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, East Asia, South Asia and Pacific, Middle East and Africa.
Crystalline Silicon holds 78.0% of technology revenue in 2026. TOPCon and heterojunction portfolios provide different performance characteristics and formats within the established silicon supply ecosystem. [1, 3, 4]
Manufacturers can improve a silicon product without abandoning the full installed supply and service ecosystem. Trinasolar’s Vertex N portfolio uses n-type TOPCon cells, and Canadian Solar offers TOPCon as well as heterojunction products. These ranges show how the same broad technology category can contain different performance characteristics and module formats. For buyers, the comparison needs to reach the individual product: dimensions, electrical parameters and degradation terms can matter as much as the technology label. [3, 4]
Industrial applications account for 57.0% of application revenue in 2026. Module selection needs to fit the premises, handling requirements and operating conditions, including the solar resource and module temperature. [1, 5]
A factory or warehouse can use its premises to produce electricity close to demand. The practical opportunity depends on the roof’s structure, shading and remaining service life, as well as the operating schedule below it. Module selection must fit those conditions. A large panel can reduce the number of units needed, but handling and mounting requirements still need to match the site. DOE performance guidance explains why temperature and the solar resource affect actual output; a rated wattage alone does not describe what the facility will receive. [5]
A tandem cell combines absorbers that use different parts of the solar spectrum. LONGi announced a 34.85% research-cell efficiency result in April 2025, certified by NREL. Oxford PV has also begun commercial distribution of perovskite tandem modules. Research-cell results and commercial module output describe different stages of development. Buyers adopting a new architecture need evidence on the complete product, including outdoor stability, packaging and repeatable manufacturing. Higher conversion efficiency creates an opportunity where the usable installation area is constrained. [8, 9]
New photovoltaic installations support demand; manufacturer pricing pressure and project constraints affect growth; efficient, durable products create opportunities within limited installation space.
Driver. New generation capacity creates hardware orders across a wide range of locations and project sizes. IEA PVPS’s 2026 snapshot documents growth in the installed base and annual additions. Suppliers benefit when projects reach a stage where delivery dates and product requirements are firm. An announced development pipeline can indicate potential demand, but purchases depend on the buyer securing the site, financing and necessary access to the electricity network. [2]
Restraint. High shipment volume does not guarantee higher revenue. JinkoSolar reported that its annual module shipments increased 18.3% in 2024 while total revenues declined 22.3%. That experience illustrates the effect of price pressure on producers operating at large scale. Buyers may obtain cheaper hardware, but manufacturers still need to fund production, product development and warranty support. The commercial assessment therefore extends beyond capacity announcements to the economics of continuing operation. [10]
Opportunity. Reliability improvements can support the economics of an installation over decades. DOE’s reliability program connects longer service life with lower maintenance requirements and more predictable output. For a manufacturer, better packaging and product consistency can complement an improvement in cell efficiency. A developer purchasing a new architecture still needs appropriate testing and a clear service arrangement; the value of the product rests on electricity delivered under the conditions in which it will operate. [11]
The country forecasts cover 2026 to 2036. [1]
The five profiled growth rates are close, ranging from 7.5% to 8.0%, but their purchasing conditions differ. Korea and Japan combine a domestic technology base with varied building and generation uses. The United States has an expanding manufacturing footprint. Germany has substantial rooftop deployment, while the United Kingdom’s solar roadmap connects new installations with planning and network reforms. The same module design can therefore face different routes to market and different project constraints. [7, 12, 13, 14, 15]
South Korea: Domestic cell development supports the offer of efficient modules. United States: Manufacturing expansion creates additional sourcing options for developers. Japan: Policy supports next-generation solar cells and their production ecosystem. Germany: Rooftops and buildings account for a large part of new deployment. United Kingdom: Deployment goals require progress on planning, connections and project delivery.
Qcells’ Korean product material traces its transition from p-type cell designs to the n-type Q.ANTUM NEO platform. This gives the country’s solar industry a concrete technology-development route within the broader silicon market. Korea’s forecast CAGR is 8.0% from 2026 to 2036. Suppliers serving the market need to match module specifications with the intended installation and local service requirements. Higher power density can improve the use of a constrained site, but the buyer also needs appropriate dimensions, electrical compatibility and a workable delivery schedule. [1, 12]
First Solar's Louisiana facility, which began production in July 2025, adds a local production route within the U.S. market. It illustrates how manufacturing investment can change the options available to project buyers, including the timing and origin of supply. The country forecast is 7.9% CAGR through 2036. Manufacturers and developers need to coordinate product qualification with construction requirements. A sourcing decision should account for the actual module, its contractual delivery and the support behind it; expanding domestic capacity alone does not settle the performance and commercial comparison. [1, 7]
Japan’s 2025 energy white paper describes a next-generation solar-cell strategy targeting approximately 20 GW of deployment by 2040, alongside the establishment of gigawatt-scale production before 2030. This policy connects product development with manufacturing and prospective demand. Japan is forecast at 7.8% CAGR over 2026 to 2036. Lightweight and flexible formats could widen the range of usable surfaces, while conventional modules continue to serve established installations. Commercial adoption of newer materials depends on producing durable products that fit the building or site where they are proposed. [1, 13]
Buildings are a substantial part of Germany’s module demand. The Bundesnetzagentur’s January 2025 release reported 16.2 GW of solar capacity additions in 2024, with two thirds installed on rooftops or buildings and one third on larger areas. This mix creates a market for different panel sizes and installation methods. Germany’s forecast CAGR is 7.7% through 2036. Suppliers need to serve the rooftop channel’s practical requirements as well as large-project procurement. Roof geometry and handling conditions can make a technically powerful module unsuitable for a particular building. [1, 14]
The June 2025 Solar Roadmap sets out government and industry actions around the United Kingdom’s ambition of 45–47 GW of solar by 2030. Planning, grid connections and rooftop deployment are part of the delivery agenda. Against that background, the market is forecast at 7.5% CAGR from 2026 to 2036. Module orders depend on projects progressing through those stages. Suppliers can support customers through clear technical information and dependable logistics, while installers and developers translate national deployment ambitions into site-specific equipment purchases. [1, 15]
JinkoSolar, LONGi Green Energy, Trina Solar, JA Solar, Tongwei, Astronergy, Canadian Solar, Risen Energy, First Solar, Hanwha Qcells, Oxford PV, Heliene and Swift Solar participate in the market.
Large silicon manufacturers supply a broad market, while thin-film producers and tandem specialists follow different technology and production routes. JinkoSolar’s financial disclosure shows the scale and price exposure of module manufacturing. Trinasolar and Canadian Solar document multiple n-type products. First Solar provides a vertically integrated thin-film manufacturing example, and Oxford PV is commercializing tandem technology. Buyers should compare the product and supply arrangement relevant to their project rather than treat every company as serving the same procurement need. [3, 4, 7, 9, 10]
The market is valued at USD 206.4 billion in 2026. [1]
The market is forecast to reach USD 433.4 billion by 2036 at 7.7% CAGR. [1]
Crystalline Silicon holds 78.0% of technology revenue. [1]
Industrial applications account for 57.0% of application revenue. [1]
South Korea leads at 8.0% CAGR over 2026 to 2036. [1]
The market covers photovoltaic cells and assembled modules for utility, commercial, industrial and residential uses.
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By Colleen Howe
BEIJING, Oct 29 (Reuters) – China’s clean technology exports this year will cut carbon emissions outside its borders by an amount equivalent to Brazil’s annual emissions from consuming fossil fuels, an analysis finds, ahead of next ​month’s COP31 climate summit.
China’s exports of solar panels, wind turbines, electric vehicles ‌and batteries will help the world to avoid 450 million metric tons of planet-warming carbon dioxide emissions, according to the analysis by the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The avoided emissions are equivalent to 2% of the world’s annual emissions outside China, which dominates clean energy supply ‌chains ​from electric vehicles to lithium batteries.
China is the world’s ⁠largest emitter of carbon dioxide overall, ⁠but the US is the biggest per capita emitter and also the biggest historical producer of greenhouse gases. Brazil is a top-10 emitter.
China’s clean technology exports are helping the world to avoid emissions especially in the Global South, where they ​are decarbonising fossil-heavy grids, the analysis found.
The impact of those exports is growing — avoided emissions are up from 370 million tons of CO2 last year, more than the ⁠UK emitted from fossil fuel consumption.
The bulk of ⁠the avoided emissions came from countries in the Global South, as ​they have increased imports from China and cleaned up dirty power grids, the analysis found. ​Many are in sunny regions with rich potential for solar power, by ‌far the biggest source of avoided emissions among China’s exports.
The climate savings outweighed the carbon dioxide emitted in manufacturing the solar panels, turbines and other equipment, the report said, estimating it took around six months for clean tech imports to “pay back” the manufacturing emissions.
The ⁠amount of avoided emissions over the lifetime of the equipment exported from China in 2026, which in the case of wind and solar farms can be used for decades, ⁠is forecast at 8,400 million ‌tons of CO2 — as much as the US and India ⁠together emit in a year from fossil fuels, the report said.
Despite ​global ‌concerns about China’s industrial overcapacity and its impact on manufacturers ​in other countries, ⁠the analysis found that China’s clean tech exports have, in the aggregate, created new markets rather than displacing existing producers.
However, the surge in green exports drove down per-unit prices and cut into the revenues of incumbent producers.
China has labeled clean tech tariffs the new problem for climate action and vowed to push back against them at COP31.
(Reporting by Colleen Howe; ​Editing by Christian Schmollinger)
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The energy company EDP ​​and JTC Corporation will develop the first facility of solar panels suspended between buildings in Singapore. The pilot project will have a capacity of up to 455 kilowatts peak (kWp) and will utilize approximately 4,300 square meters of available space between industrial buildings to generate electricity.
The initiative seeks to find new ways to harness solar energy in Singapore, where land availability is one of the main challenges to expanding renewable capacity. Instead of occupying new land, the panels will be installed on an elevated structure between existing buildings.
EDP it will be in charge of the design, construction, operation and testing of the photovoltaic system, which will be installed in an industrial complex managed by JTC Corporation, a public body dependent on the Ministry of Trade and Industry of Singapore.
The project proposes a different configuration to conventional solar installations, in this case, the photovoltaic modules will be supported by a structure suspended between buildings, taking advantage of a space that until now has not been used to produce energy.
The installation will have a maximum planned capacity of 455 kWp, corresponding to the nominal power of the panels under standardized test conditions. The amount of electricity generated will depend on factors such as solar radiation, environmental conditions, and system performance.
According to the established schedule, the facility will begin operating during the first half of 2028, from its commissioning, the electricity produced will be delivered to Singapore’s national grid for ten years.
As this is a new installation in Singapore, one of the main objectives will be to test how this technology works in an existing industrial environment.
During the project’s development, EDP will evaluate the conditions necessary for installing and operating a suspended photovoltaic structure. Technical aspects will include integration with buildings, the structure’s performance, and maintenance requirements.
The tests will provide a better understanding of the potential for using these systems in other industrial settings. They will also provide information on the conditions that must be met to ensure safe and efficient operation.
One of the most interesting features of this proposal is that it takes advantage of areas that are normally left out of the solar projects. In cities with high building density, the spaces between buildings represent an opportunity to complement photovoltaic generation installed on rooftops and other surfaces.
At present, the companies have not released an estimate of the annual electricity production or the emissions that would be avoided with the system. These results will depend on the system’s performance once it becomes operational.
The project is part of Singapore efforts to increase its renewable energy generation, the country aims to reach 3 gigawatts peak (GWp) of installed solar capacity by 2030, a goal that requires making better use of available space.
The scarcity of land has led to exploring different alternatives for installing photovoltaic systems, in addition to building rooftops, Singapore it has promoted projects on aquatic surfaces and industrial areas that allow electricity to be produced without occupying large areas of land.
In this scenario, suspended solar panels offer a new possibility, their design seeks to convert open spaces between buildings into surfaces intended for electricity generation, without modifying the main use of the land.
However, before extending this solution to other facilities, it will be necessary to verify its technical and operational feasibility. The results of the pilot project will help determine under what conditions it could be used in other industrial complexes.
The installation also represents a new stage in the collaboration between EDP and JTC Corporation, who have already worked together on photovoltaic generation projects.
In 2020, EDP was awarded the third phase of the SolarLand program, an initiative that has 51.2 MWp of solar capacity in operation, according to information provided by the organizations.
Singapore occupies an important place within EDP operations in Asia-Pacific, currently, it is its largest distributed solar energy market in the region and also houses the center from which it coordinates its regional activities.
For JTC, the new project will allow them to explore other ways of incorporating renewable technologies into the industrial developments under their management. The experience gained during the trials will serve as a benchmark for evaluating future installations with similar characteristics.
With a planned capacity of 455 kWp, the suspended solar system will allow us to test whether the spaces between buildings represent a viable alternative for generating electricity in industrial environments.
If the tests yield favorable results, this configuration could open up new opportunities to utilize surfaces that currently remain unused for energy and contribute to the development of solar energy in Singapore.
Source and photo: EDP
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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Between 2005 and 2012, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District sold roughly 1 MW of used and salvaged modules, and the winning bids ranged from $0.04 to $1.26 per watt, according to a U.S. Department of Energy review of PV salvage values. That is a spread of more than 30 times for something most people would describe as one product, which is a used solar panel.
Prices overall are far lower today than they were in that period, but the spread has not gone away. If you are holding a few hundred or a few thousand retired modules, the question of what they are worth does not have a single answer. It has a set of factors, and some of those factors matter a great deal more than others.
This article goes through them in the order of how much each one tends to move a buyer’s offer. The ranking is our judgment from how secondary-market lots are quoted, not a dataset, and a lot with an unusual problem can reorder it.
Sellers tend to call everything “used panels.” Buyers do not, and the label on a lot changes how it is priced.
Surplus panels: new modules that were never installed, usually left over from canceled or delayed projects, overstock, or a distributor liquidation.
Used panels: modules that were installed and operated, then removed, and that still produce usable power.
Decommissioned panels: modules removed as part of the planned retirement or repowering of a whole array. A decommissioned lot can contain both used panels and end-of-life panels.
End-of-life panels: modules that are broken, unsafe, or degraded to the point that no buyer will reinstall them, so any value is in the materials and not in the power output.
Watt-peak (Wp): the nameplate output of a module under standard test conditions. Because used panels are priced per watt, the watt figure a buyer accepts is the number every offer is multiplied by.
Flash test: a lab measurement that hits the module with a calibrated pulse of light and records its actual output, so it can be compared with the nameplate rating.
Condition grade: many resellers sort modules into grades such as A, B, and C. There is no industry-wide standard for what each grade means, so it is worth asking any buyer to define its grades in writing.
If a panel fails a visual inspection, no installer will put it back on a roof or a rack, so its value as a working panel drops to close to zero. The DOE review cited above found that browning of the EVA encapsulant reduced resale value dramatically, and that glass breakage, delamination, burn marks, and damaged backsheets led to modules being discarded. In one 2011 salvage job described in the same review, about 15% of the modules were thrown out.
The following conditions usually take a panel out of the resale pool entirely:
Cracked or shattered glass, including small corner cracks that let moisture in.
A cracked, chalking, or peeling backsheet, which buyers treat as a fire and shock risk.
Burn marks or melted spots around cells or the junction box.
Visible delamination, where layers of the module have separated.
Sellers tend to quote the share of panels that “still work.” Buyers look at the share that will fail inspection, because every failed panel in the lot has to be recycled or disposed of, and that costs money instead of earning it.
A used module competes directly with new surplus modules that carry full warranties, and new surplus is not in short supply. According to Solar Builder’s report on the 2024 secondary-market price index, 95% of the roughly 1.7 million modules listed for resale on one large exchange in 2024 were new excess stock, and the average secondary prices for the second half of that year came in below the $0.33 per watt national average that NREL reported at the end of the third quarter of 2024. The same report notes that legacy polycrystalline modules do not hold their resale value well.
The practical meaning of this is simple, if a little uncomfortable for sellers. A buyer will only pay for a used panel at a discount to what a new surplus panel costs that same week, and when new-module prices fall, used values fall with them, and usually further. If you are waiting for prices to recover before you sell, it is worth knowing that the ceiling is set by a market you have no control over.
This is the factor that sellers most often leave out of their own math, and it is the one that most often decides whether a sale is worth doing at all. The arithmetic works like this: a used panel’s gross value is its accepted wattage multiplied by the per-watt price. As an illustration (not a quote), a 300 W panel at 10 cents per watt is worth $30 before any costs. Removal, packing, palletizing, loading, and freight are then taken out of that figure, and most of those costs are charged per truck or per job rather than per panel, so they do not shrink when the lot gets smaller. The DOE review makes the same point from the salvage side, noting that transport, warehousing, cleaning, sorting, and inventory all reduce the net value of a salvage operation.
Commercial buyers build this directly into how they quote. https://solarrecycling.com/, one of the buyers that has organized its model around this problem, purchases used and excess new panels from commercial and utility-scale decommissioning projects so owners can sell used solar panels by the lot, generally with a typical minimum of about 100 panels, and it prices them per watt (its published range for used panels is $0.05 to $0.60 per watt).
The company states plainly that shipping and handling is usually the biggest expense offsetting a panel’s value, which is the reason for the volume floor, and for panels in the same lot that cannot be resold it offers downstream recycling (about $20 to $50 per panel plus shipping, on its own published figures), so a mixed lot from a commercial decommission can be settled in one quote instead of being split between a buyer and a separate recycler.
If you want the per-panel freight cost to stay low, the following steps help:
Keep modules of the same make and model together, ideally on their original pallets.
Prepare a count by model, with clear photos of a sample of labels.
Separate visibly damaged modules before the buyer arrives, so they are not priced into the good stock.
Confirm loading access (a dock or a forklift on site) before the truck is booked.
Once a panel passes inspection and the freight math works, age and measured output decide where it sits within the resale band. Degradation is slower than many sellers assume. NREL’s PV lifetime research reports a degradation rate of 0.5% per year when only high-quality data for crystalline silicon modules is used, and it notes that a long tail of lower-reliability products raised the average in an earlier review to 0.8% per year.
On a simple straight-line basis, a 300 W module that is 10 years old would be producing roughly 285 W at 0.5% per year, or roughly 276 W at 0.8% per year. The difference sounds small, but buyers price on the watts they believe they are getting and not on the nameplate, so with test data showing the lower degradation rate is easier to price at the top of the band.
A common trade rule of thumb is that buyers want at least 10 years of useful production left in a module, and panels that are clearly older than that are usually treated as recycling stock regardless of how they look.
Not every working module is equally easy to resell. The DOE review found that amorphous silicon modules on breakable float glass sold for considerably less than single-crystal and polycrystalline modules with tempered glass, and that modules with junction boxes still attached sold for more than modules without them.
The same logic applies today with different technologies:
Older, lower-wattage modules are harder to match into new designs, because buyers usually need enough identical units to fill complete strings.
Polycrystalline modules are discounted against monocrystalline modules, as noted in the Solar Builder report above.
Thin-film modules have a smaller pool of buyers, which tends to lengthen the time it takes to sell a lot.
Modules with cut leads or missing connectors take extra labor before reinstallation, and buyers price that labor in.
Paperwork rarely adds much to an offer, but missing paperwork can reduce one or slow a sale down. A legible label (model, Wp, open-circuit voltage, and short-circuit current), the original datasheet, the install and removal dates, and any flash test or electroluminescence (EL) images make it easier for a buyer to commit to a price without discounting for uncertainty.
Warranties are where sellers tend to overestimate value. Many manufacturer warranties are written for the original purchaser or the original installation, and a transfer may require the manufacturer’s approval or may not be permitted at all, so you should read the actual warranty terms before you count on them.
In practice, secondary-market buyers generally price used modules as if no manufacturer warranty applies, which means a warranty that does transfer is treated as a small extra on top of the price.

Used panels are priced per watt, so the starting point is the verified wattage multiplied by the per-watt offer, and the offer depends on the six factors above. Most current quotes from commercial buyers come in at a fraction of the price of new surplus modules, and a lot with damaged panels or a long haul to the buyer can net close to zero.
For large lots, testing a sample of modules is usually worth the cost, because it gives the buyer a measured output figure instead of an assumption. For a small lot the testing cost can be larger than the price difference it produces, so it is often better to ask the buyer how it intends to test.
Yes, but the warranty may not go with them. Check whether the warranty terms allow a transfer to a new owner or a new site, and expect most secondary-market buyers to price the panels without relying on the warranty either way.
Inventory tends to collect where large fleets are being repowered or decommissioned and where distributors liquidate excess stock after projects are canceled or delayed. In the US this generally means the states with the largest installed commercial and utility-scale capacity, although the price you receive still depends on how far the lot has to travel to reach a buyer.
If you want the best number for a lot of retired panels, the order of work matters. Sort out the damaged modules first, check the current price of new surplus so your expectations are realistic, then make the lot as  easy and cheap to ship as you can, and only after that spend time on test reports and warranty paperwork. 
The lots that tend to sell well, whatever their age, are usually the lots that were sorted, counted, and documented before anyone asked for a price.
Daniel Hall is an experienced digital marketer, author and world traveller. He spends a lot of his free time flipping through books and learning about a plethora of topics.
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What happens to old rooftop solar panels in Melbourne’s east?  The Eastern Melburnian
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The Togolese government is asking industry players to comment on the procurement structure for the Nangbéto Solar PV Project before it launches the official competitive tender. Power purchase and concession agreements commit the state to financial and operational obligations lasting decades, and the Ministry wants the framework to reflect market realities.
The Ministry is running the consultation with RELP, a clean energy nonprofit headquartered in Belgium. The draft documents open for review are the Concession Agreement, the Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), the Tender Dossier and the Technical Requirements. Eligible stakeholders can submit legal, financial and technical comments directly through the RELP Togo online tendering platform.
The Ministry says the exercise serves several purposes. Feedback on tariff structures and risk allocation is intended to protect the state budget from overpaying over the 25 year life of the contracts. Input from financiers and IPPs should help align the concession terms with international lending standards, which the Ministry expects to result in stronger bids. Contractors and suppliers are asked to confirm whether the technical requirements are realistic given supply chain conditions and regional grid constraints.
The consultation is also meant to give institutional developers and lenders greater confidence in Togo’s wider 400 MW clean power programme. By testing the market early, the Ministry aims to set a transparent framework that extends across several years.
The first tranche will be built on a 203 hectare site near the existing Nangbéto hydroelectric dam, about 200 km northeast of Lomé. The tender is anticipated by the end of the year, once the Ministry has reviewed the comments received.
Link to the tender documents HERE
Author: Bryan Groenendaal






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Rough Draft®
Local news for Atlanta and beyond
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Community members gathered on the morning of Oct. 24 for a solar barn raising at Micah’s Creek, an affordable housing neighborhood currently under development in Athens. Volunteers lined up to pass three solar panels from one person to the next, before lifting the panels toward construction workers on the roof for installation.
Athens Area Habitat for Humanity hosted the event to celebrate the installation of solar panels and the progress of the neighborhood’s development. 
Once completed, Micah’s Creek will feature 42 single-family homes, 11 tiny homes, and 15 two-bedroom homes for eligible families, veterans, artists, and young adults experiencing housing insecurity in the Athens area. The first 15 bungalows are designated for community members supported by Lydia’s Place.

Based in Watkinsville, Lydia’s Place is a nonprofit supporting young adults ages 17 to 24 who were in foster care or experienced housing insecurity. The organization helps them find stable housing, including 15 bungalows at Micah’s Creek, while they continue their education and work toward independence.
“For some of our students, the Lydia’s Place staff is all that they have to call when something goes awry,” said Executive Director Diane Brantley. “We’re giving these kids a hand up. We’re giving them the tools they need for them to be able to do it on their own instead of just doing it for them.”
The project also aims to lower residents’ energy costs. Through the Bright Homes Energy Initiative, Habitat and its partners are working to install solar panels and battery storage at 63 of the 68 homes planned for Micah’s Creek. 
The systems are intended to lower electricity bills, store energy for later use and provide backup power during outages.
“This project demonstrates the value of solar energy, solar and batteries, and how they can offset a good portion of your energy consumption and lower your bills,” said Peter Hubbard, a Georgia public service commissioner.
Battery storage can also help residents maintain access to electricity during outages, extending the benefits beyond monthly savings.
“And if you pair them with batteries, then you can have power when the grid goes out and actually be a resource for your community,” said Hubbard. “People can come, recharge their phones or whatever if the power’s out.”
Attendees at the Oct. 24 event learned about solar energy and the Bright Homes Energy Initiative through educational displays and a tour of a nearly completed home.
Spencer Frye, executive director of Athens Area Habitat for Humanity and a Georgia state representative, said the organization uses energy-efficient construction to help reduce expenses for homeowners. 
The single-family homes are being built with insulated concrete forms, which Frye said are about 60% more energy-efficient than traditional construction. The material helps keep electricity bills lower. And the fire-resistant walls can also reduce insurance costs. 
Combined with solar panels and battery storage, the energy-efficient construction is designed to make the homes more affordable to maintain over time.
“Every step, we’re putting more money back into the pockets of the families that are trying to live their lives and raise their kids,” Frye said.
Future homeowner John Swain said lower costs could leave residents with more money for other needs.
“It’s going to be affordable. It’s going to be helpful. It cuts down on the cost of everything,” Swain said. “So the money you save, you can possibly put into a community with your kids, something that’s going to help and benefit you.”
Swain attends Saturday work days to help build the homes, as part of the homeownership process. The work days have allowed him to learn from people with different backgrounds, while helping build his future neighborhood.
“It’s one group, one team,” Swain said.
The solar barn raising reflected that same spirit of people coming together to support a shared goal. Members of the Classic City and Athens Rotary clubs, along with local leaders, volunteers, and project partners, gathered that day to celebrate the neighborhood’s progress.
Construction began just 14 weeks before the event, according to Frye. By Oct. 24, work was underway on 14 homes at Micah’s Creek, with Habitat continuing construction as it works toward completing the neighborhood.
He sees projects like this as a way to give young people a clearer path to home ownership, with the goal of lowering the median age of first-time homebuyers in Georgia from the 40s to the mid-20s.
Frye hopes Micah’s Creek will demonstrate how stable housing can improve educational and economic outcomes by making homeownership more accessible to younger generations. 
“If you focus on a stable place for an individual to grow and thrive, those problems will take care of themselves automatically, and I really firmly believe that,” Frye said.
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Enicon, a solar panel manufacturer, has showcased two N-type TOPCon solar PV modules, rated at 720 Wp and 600 Wp, at REI Expo 2026 at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida. The 720 Wp G12 module features a 132-cell configuration, while the 600 Wp G2X module uses 144 cells. Both products are presented with enhanced crack-tolerance features, PID resistance and improved performance under low-light conditions. The 720 Wp module is advertised with a 30-year performance warranty, while the 600 Wp module also carries a 30-year performance warranty. According to the displayed specifications, the 600 Wp G2X module is designed to withstand snow loads of 5,400 Pa and wind loads of 2,400 Pa. The modules have been presented as part of Enicon’s N-type TOPCon product range.The stand is in Hall 9, at Booth 157.
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© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.
Key details are the projected annual output, the household’s yearly electricity use, and the rate assumptions built into the payback calculation.
Photo Credit: iStock
A Reddit discussion began with a Connecticut homeowner asking whether a pricey solar proposal sounded reasonable. At $51,000 for a 17-kilowatt array of 40 panels on a flat roof, the consensus was yes.
Once batteries entered the picture, the estimate climbed to $91,000, and the focus shifted from the sticker price alone to how homeowners should evaluate a quote like this.
On Reddit, the homeowner wrote that a Connecticut installer provided the quote and projected a 15-year payback. In follow-up comments, they said batteries would raise the total by $40,000 and explained that the solar project is part of a larger renovation that already includes a new roof.
At that price, the system comes in at roughly $3 per watt. Commenters said that is not unusual for Connecticut. One person cited paying $27,000 for a 9-kilowatt setup in the Northeast, and another confirmed $3 per watt is “about market for CT” while suggesting the 15-year return estimate deserved more attention than the headline price.
Going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy, and solar leases in particular can deliver hundreds of dollars in monthly savings without any upfront costs. Readers who want to compare offers can use EasyHome‘s free explorer tool to see their potential savings from vetted installers in their area.
Several commenters focused less on the quoted cost than on why the payoff looked so slow. Because Connecticut power prices are among the nation’s highest, a 15-year payback at about $3 per watt could reflect low production estimates, a system sized above the home’s needs, or RRES export credits that fall short of the retail electric rate.
The battery add-on also was not being treated purely as a money play. The homeowner said batteries would take the place of a generator, and another commenter said their own decision had likewise been influenced by repeated outages and a desire for backup power.
The planned roof work matters too. Since a replacement is already part of the renovation, the homeowner could avoid the later cost of taking panels off and putting them back on, a job that a commenter suggested can run about $300 per panel when solar goes up before the roof is redone.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
For homeowners reviewing proposals, commenters said the key details are the projected annual output, the household’s yearly electricity use, and the rate assumptions built into the payback calculation. 
The homeowner shared that the installer already assumed electricity prices would rise 3% a year, but commenters still urged a closer look at production inputs, noting that tilt and orientation on a flat roof can substantially change output.
Commenters also pointed to Connecticut’s Connected Solutions battery program as another piece of the equation, saying it can raise upfront costs while potentially improving returns, particularly under time-of-use pricing.
“You’re not getting fleeced on price,” a commenter reassured the original poster.
That is also where EasyHome‘s free explorer tool can be especially useful. EasyHome can help readers compare local solar options and explore backup battery storage, and pairing solar with a battery can help homeowners maximize savings while also powering the home with solar when the grid goes down.
Other households have looked at the same tradeoffs this Connecticut homeowner ran into when battery backup sent a solar quote higher. 
• In California and Texas, adding a third battery pushed some backup quotes past $16,000.
• A New Mexico homeowner got a four-battery backup bid that commenters said was oversized.
• A Northeast family on a flat roof learned battery backup costs climb fast alongside solar.
• One solar buyer found the battery might not keep the house running all night.
• A Southern rural homeowner discovered the battery math stings when planning for long outages.
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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By Randy Pierce • Subsequent to a decision being postponed from the previous month, a special-use permit authorizing the development of a solar energy project near Troy was approved by the Madison County Board at its regular monthly meeting held on Wednesday, Oct. 21, with a number of specific conditions being added to the resolution related to this matter.
The permit request submitted by Grandview Wittman 2, a limited liability corporation formed in October of last year and based in Dover, Delaware, asked for authorization for the construction of a 4.99-megawatt solar facility on a tract measuring about 41 acres in a district zoned by the county as agricultural at 1471 Springvalley Road in Jarvis Township, west of the corporate limits of the City of Troy. 
Earlier during last week’s county board meeting, during the segment designated for public comment, one of those approved conditions, involving the maintenance of Springvalley Road, was addressed by Ann Byrd, building and zoning director for the City of Troy.
Byrd stated she and others had learned the day prior to this meeting that the project developers have contracted with Jarvis Township to take over maintenance of a part of the road under that government unit’s jurisdiction but she wanted to make sure the county board had also included the section of Springvalley Road belonging to the City of Troy for a similar obligation to be handled by the Grandview Wittman team.
Using illustrations to point out the division of the road between the city and township, Byrd explained that tax dollars otherwise set aside for the maintenance expenses could be used to install curb and gutter along Springvalley once Grandview Wittman takes over the responsibility as she discussed it.
Her statement was followed by comments from an attorney representing the developers, Sean Pluta, who has addressed the county board and its two other pertinent subgroups, the zoning board of appeals and building and zoning committee, numerous times previously on behalf of this project and others.  
Pluta, as he has done before, reviewed aspects of the project such as how its proximity of 300-plus feet from the nearest residential property is “well beyond the minimum setbacks required” under the county’s applicable ordinance while also explaining suggested conditions of approval that were added as a result of concerns expressed by residents about the project.
These “additional steps we had taken to benefit the community” through the adoption of those conditions, according to Pluta, include a pledge of $50,000 to support local educational facilities.
Other conditions, he continued, “reflect a meaningful effort” to satisfy objections that had been brought forward while adding the road maintenance agreement referred to by Byrd would need to be included in the legislation and offering no stated objection to doing so. 
Incorporated into the amended resolution passed by the county board is the addition of landscape screening along the southeastern fence line after it was initially to be included just along the southern line, provisions concerning the “decommissioning” of the facility if it is abandoned or the developer fails to perform that act of closure of it when the appropriate time comes for it to cease to exist and that any possible future transfer of the property does not relieve new ownership of the requirement to adhere to the agreed upon conditions.
The developers have additionally agreed to a much more specific and detailed set of requirements concerning the landscaping and vegetative screening to minimize visibility of the project on a year-round basis from neighboring properties including the planting and maintenance of evergreen trees, all of which is subject to inspection by the county.
There is also a section devoted to how the developers are to address stormwater drainage and another calling for them to conduct a study regarding the impact on property values around the site then provide the results to the county.
Any changes to the project, such as to the inverters used in the solar energy generation process, that create more noise are expressly prohibited with this too being a target of county inspection as necessary. 
Unanimous opposition to the special use permit issuance for the site had been expressed by members of the Madison County Zoning Board of Appeals in late August before it advanced to the county board building and zoning committee.
County Board Chairman Chris Slusser said the representatives of the project have agreed to an increase of the “decommissioning” bond related to what will happen when the life of the solar farm ceases and the property is scheduled for restoration to its original condition.
One of them, Chase Wittich, a project manager/developer representing Summit Ridge Energy, which bills itself as “the nation’s leading commercial solar power company,” after stating his company has invested over $950 million in 159 individual solar facilities in 39 counties throughout Illinois, said, “This project represents a long-term investment in Madison County backed by meaningful commitments to the community.”
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Britain’s solar energy trade association has called for further clarification on the upcoming eighth round of the UK’s Contract for Difference scheme detailed in today’s budget announcement.
“Though we are seeking clarification”, Solar Energy UK (SEUK) wrote in a statement, “the Chancellor’s statement today indicates that the forthcoming eighth round of the Contracts for Difference (CfD) scheme will be open only to projects that can connect to the grid and start generating at the earliest opportunity.
“Previous rounds have applied to projects set to commission over a series of years ahead.”
SEUK said that while the tweak to the scheme should not pose an immediate impediment to the sector, “there may be cause for concern over the medium term, as developers may be less confident of securing support for projects set to be delivered later.”
Gemma Grimes, Director of Policy and Delivery at SEUK said: “The devil will be in the detail of this scheme.
“While it reflects understandable pressure to lower bills, it could ultimately prove damaging to that objective by harming confidence in investing in cheap, clean, homegrown power.”
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Greenvolt Next, a Greenvolt Group company specialised in decentralised renewable energy solutions for the commercial and industrial sectors, has signed an agreement with Carrefour Property to deploy photovoltaic carport installations across retail store car parks fully owned by Carrefour in France.

Greenvolt Next signs an agreement with Carrefour Property to deploy solar carports across up to 120 retail stores in France

The agreement follows a national tender launched by Carrefour Property for the development, financing, construction, operation and maintenance of photovoltaic carports across its nationwide portfolio. This partnership involves approximately 25 MWp of installed capacity and is expected to comprise around 45,000 photovoltaic panels.
The project is expected to be deployed across 120 Carrefour sites primarily located throughout central France. Each installation will be adapted to the operational and technical specificities of each store to ensure all generated energy is consumed locally by the store, including car park layouts, underground utilities, customer traffic, continuity of store operations, grid connection and permitting requirements.
During this partnership, Greenvolt Next will provide a turnkey solution covering the financing, studies, development, construction, operation and maintenance of the photovoltaic installations.
The estimated annual production will cover a significant share of the electricity consumption of the relevant stores, contributing to the decarbonisation of Carrefour Property’s real estate assets and to achieving the target of consuming 100% renewable energy at Group level by the end of 2030.
'This partnership with Carrefour Property reflects the strength of Greenvolt Next's pan-European platform. Our direct experience across similar projects with other major retail players gives us a proven model that we bring to each market as we support large-scale players in their energy transition', said João Manso Neto. CEO of Greenvolt Group.
'This agreement allows us to accelerate the integration of photovoltaic production across our real estate portfolio in France, while improving the experience of our customers and supporting the energy transition of our stores. Beyond the environmental impact, this partnership provides long-term financial predictability, helping protect us from electricity price volatility while reinforcing our broader sustainability commitments', said Evan Linker, Global Energy Director at Carrefour.
”Our fully integrated approach and our capability to deliver a turnkey solution, combining financing, development, construction and long-term operation, allowed Greenvolt Next to support Carrefour Property in accelerating its energy transition with solutions that are both technically robust and economically efficient', said Gino Gauthier, CEO of Distributed Generation Business at Greenvolt Next.
Original announcement link
Source: Greenvolt Next

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Japan’s UACJ combines recycled aluminium and solar power in 7.43 MW project  AL Circle
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Energies Media
Just before 10 a.m. on a clear morning in March, air traffic controllers closed a runway.
Not for snow or fog, but for sunshine.
The glare came from the ground.
Below the approach path sat a field of glass the size of hundreds of soccer pitches.
Pilots lining up to land said the reflected light was blinding them at the worst possible moment.
So what in that field actually bent sunlight into a cockpit?
The physics is simple enough to explain in a sentence: a flat sheet of glass angled toward a low sun behaves like a mirror, and when that mirror sits directly beneath a landing flight path, the reflected beam travels straight into a cockpit. Ordinary solar glass is built to be lightly textured, which maximizes how much light the cells absorb for power.
But that same smoothness throws a sharp, concentrated reflection rather than scattering it harmlessly across the sky. So the problem was never the presence of panels near a runway. It was the specific glass coating chosen for this one.
A Dutch court found that cost considerations had taken precedence over safety when lightly textured glass panels were installed instead of the deeply textured type recommended for sites near flight paths, concluding the developer bore responsibility for that choice. Deeply textured glass scatters sunlight in many directions instead of bouncing it in one beam, the same reason frosted glass does not throw a reflection the way a clean window does.
The farm sits beside the A9 motorway near the village of Zwanenburg, built across roughly 247 acres of former farmland that used to grow crops, not electrons. That places it squarely beneath the final approach to two runways, the Polderbaan and the Zwanenburgbaan.
Spread across that ground are close to 230,000 individual panels, wired to produce a serious amount of power. The installation produces up to 130 gigawatt hours of electricity per year, enough to power around 40,000 homes.
That is not a token community array. It is a utility scale plant that happened to land in the one place on the map where a mirror effect carries real consequences, with no buffer zone to absorb the mistake once the reflection problem surfaced.
The airport did not act on a hunch. Pilots had been filing reports since the previous autumn, and the pattern was precise enough to track by the calendar.
At certain times of the year, sunlight reflecting off the panels is so intense that pilots are temporarily unable to see, prompting runway closures at the airport. That pattern escalated months before the lawsuit, and the airport authority and airline KLM took the case to court in a bid to have some of the panels dismantled.
With no fix agreed among the farm’s owner, the municipality and national regulators, the airport operator pressed its case before a judge in Haarlem. As DutchNews reported, the dispute reached court only after warnings about the farm’s glare risk went unresolved.
The court ordered the removal of 78,000 panels, citing a serious safety risk from glare. The operator must remove half by September 1 and the rest by October 15, or face penalties of up to 50 million euros, roughly 54 million dollars. The panels had already forced repeated runway closures, including 13 in March alone.
The court did not order the whole farm demolished. The airport wanted all 230,000 panels gone, but the judge found the other two fields had not been proven to be the main source of the glare, and left them standing.
So two of the farm’s four fields kept generating power while the other two came down panel by panel. The developer warned the financial hit could sink the company entirely, since dismantling even a third of the array strips out revenue already borrowed against to build it.
It is the same tension running through solar project acquisitions everywhere, where land, permits and physical risk rarely line up the way a spreadsheet assumes. Meanwhile the fix chosen for the remaining panels was not removal but disguise, as they will be covered with an anti reflective film and reinstalled, letting the park keep operating.
The case also exposed how temporary any fix tied to the sun’s position really is. The original restriction was withdrawn after a few weeks because the sun’s position no longer caused glare that impeded air traffic, but it was already evident that the sun’s angle later in the year would cause glare again.
A solar farm’s worst flaw can vanish for months and return on schedule as the seasons turn, the same blind spot that makes forecasting solar output across a calendar year so difficult for grid planners. Regulators have since moved to stop the next version of this problem before it reaches a runway, announcing a national glare standard for solar farms near airports built on a prudence criterion stricter than the aviation guidance this farm was originally checked against.
The Netherlands had no glare rules of its own when the farm was approved, only borrowed guidance never built for Dutch sun angles and runway geometry. None of that undoes the months of disrupted landings or the costs still being argued over.
But the fix that emerged, a coating of anti glare film rather than a wrecking ball, suggests that even a mistake this visible from a cockpit window can still be solved without losing the clean power the panels were built to deliver.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.

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President Trump gives remarks at a midterm rally in Chillicothe, Ohio.
by Kimberly King
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Western North Carolina is seeing its share of solar energy projects.
The mountainous topography is a challenge for solar farms, which are happening on flat farmland in other parts of North Carolina.
Asheville farmers and homeowners are making the big up-front investment that can start at $40,000 for the future monthly constant savings on electric bills that can save several hundred dollars a month, experts say.
“We do a lease product where people actually make a monthly payment to a third-party company that owns the system. They can actually lower their monthly payment,” Sugar Hollow Solar CEO Doug Ager said.
GOING GREEN IN SPACE: UNC ASHEVILLE DEVELOPS LIGHTWEIGHT SOLAR PANELS FOR GREENHOUSES

Solar panels implemented in a western North Carolina region. (Photo courtesy: Sugar Hollow Solar)

FAMILIES SINK THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS INTO SOLAR PANELS THEY SAY DON'T WORK
Farmers in other parts of North Carolina are also generating income by leasing portions of their land for solar projects according to Brownie Newman. For 15 years, Newman has worked in the solar industry and is the former chair of Buncombe County’s commission.
“A lot of farmers lease out a portion of their land for solar projects, and they get lease incomes from that,” Newman said.
In northern Buncombe County, a retired landfill has been repurposed for solar energy production.
The county partnered with Duke Energy on the project, which is estimated to provide enough electricity to power up to 600 homes. Completed a few years before Hurricane Helene, the project offers an example of how public land can be put to work.
2026 Sinclair, Inc.

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IQNA – A project to install and implement solar energy systems in Palestinian mosques is currently underway as part of the “Energy Security Plan (2025–2027)”.

 
Palestinian mosques are working to enhance their services and utilize alternative energy sources through the installation and implementation of solar energy systems, within the framework of the “Energy Security Plan (2025–2027)”, Al-Watan reported.
In this regard, the Tulkarm Governorate’s Department of Awqaf (Endowments)—aligning with the Palestinian Council of Ministers’ vision to rationalize government spending and the Ministry’s policy to transition mosques toward alternative energy sources—has continued its efforts to improve services provided to mosques and enhance energy efficiency.
This has been achieved through the installation and deployment of solar energy systems at the Salah al-Din Mosque in the town of Deir al-Ghusun and the new mosque in the Irtah area.
Consequently, the number of mosques equipped with these systems has reached five this month, bringing the total to 44 since the beginning of the year.
Sheikh Ibrahim Wasef, Director of the Tulkarm Department of Endowments, expressed his gratitude to benefactors, financial donors, mosque affairs committees, as well as municipalities and local councils, for their support in strengthening the mosques and upgrading their facilities.
He noted that preparations are currently underway to connect several additional mosques to solar energy systems. Meanwhile, within the framework of the Energy Security Plan (2025–2027), the Palestinian Energy and Natural Resources Authority has implemented a series of measures aimed at increasing domestic energy production, developing electricity infrastructure, and preparing for the reconstruction of the power sector in the Gaza Strip.
Read More:

The objective of this plan is to increase the share of renewable energy sources to approximately 30 percent of Palestine’s energy mix by 2030—a move that will reduce reliance on external sources and strengthen the sustainability and security of energy supply.
 
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PUBLISHED : 29 Oct 2026 at 06:04
NEWSPAPER SECTION: Business
WRITER: Yuthana Praiwan
The Thai Photovoltaic Industries Association (TPVA) is preparing to submit an objection letter to government agencies, strongly opposing stringent regulations tied to the recent rooftop solar panel scheme approved by the cabinet.
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Enphase Energy's latest earnings revealed a residential solar market under serious pressure, but the company's bet on AI data centers could change everything. The question is whether investors can afford to wait that long.
Market Movers desk. Editor: David Moadel.

A quarter and outlook showing U.S. rooftop solar demand still sliding are sending Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH | ENPH Price Prediction) sharply lower, and residential-focused peers are falling with it. Enphase stock recently traded at $24, down 20%.
Following Enphase Energy’s report, SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG) stock is at $29, down 10%. Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) stock is at $7, down 5%.
After the close on October 27, Enphase reported Q3 2026 results that missed on both the top and bottom lines. The company reported revenue of $293.3 million, short of the $306.1 million S&P consensus, with the year over year (YoY) decline at 28.5%.
Enphase Energy posted adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.41, trailing the $0.50 S&P consensus. Moreover, Enphase Energy said global sell-through, a measure of how much product distributors and installers move to end customers, rose 1% sequentially against its expectation of 10% growth.
In the U.S., Enphase Energy said that its sell-through rose 5% from the prior quarter but fell 35% YoY, and the company’s Europe revenue declined 11% sequentially. Badri Kothandaraman, the company’s CEO, stated, “Our core U.S. residential solar market continues to face headwinds from higher interest rates and the expiration of the Section 25D federal tax credit.” Safe harbor sales, made to lock in tax credit eligibility, contributed $85 million to Enphase’s Q3 revenue, so underlying demand was weaker than the headline suggests.
The guidance did greater damage. Enphase’s Q4 2026 revenue guidance midpoint of $240 million sits well below the $298.6 million S&P consensus. Behind that outlook, Enphase Energy assumes sell-through falls another 10% sequentially and plans to ship below sell-through to drain channel inventory. Within the range, Enphase counts $51.2 million of safe harbor revenue.
During the quarter, Enphase Energy more than doubled its IQ Solid-State Transformer (IQ SST) customer and partner pipeline to over 50, including a leading hyperscaler and a global AI computing leader (the broader set of power, cooling, and networking suppliers behind the AI data-center expansion is something we broke down in a free report on AI infrastructure stocks). Pilots with customers are scheduled for 2027, with commercial shipments to follow in 2028. Kothandaraman offered his forecast: “By 2030, we believe IQ SST has the potential to become a billion-dollar annual revenue business for Enphase in the data center market alone.”
Those revenue dates sit years out, so Enphase stock is trading on residential demand for now. SolarEdge and Sunrun are falling alongside Enphase’s read on rooftop demand. Europe and U.S. commercial rooftops carry more weight at SolarEdge, while Sunrun sells home systems through no-upfront-cost subscriptions. Year to date (YTD), SolarEdge stock is up 0.9% and Sunrun stock is down 61%, while Enphase stock is down 26%.
First Solar (NASDAQ:FSLR) stock is at $174, down 1%. Selling thin-film panels to utility-scale developers, backed by a contracted backlog through 2030, keeps First Solar further from the residential tax credit and rate story. Measured YTD, First Solar shares are down 34%, so the panel maker hasn’t escaped this year’s broader solar selling.
The central bank’s policy decision is due at 2 p.m. Eastern, and financing costs drive much of the demand for Enphase’s rooftop products. With the upper bound of the federal funds target range at 4%, lower rates could ease customer financing, while a firmer stance could keep installers under pressure.
Kothandaraman said channel inventory ended Q3 “a little above normal,” and Enphase plans to ship $20 million below sell-through in Q4 to work it down. The next test for Enphase is whether that adjustment clears before a seasonally slow Q1 2027. Clearing the channel could set up cleaner comparisons, while another guidance cut would signal a deeper slump.
Shareholders tracking the data center story can watch for Enphase’s 34.5-kilovolt validation and megawatt-scale system demonstration, both scheduled for the end of 2026. Hitting those marks could support the longer-term case, while missing them could weaken it. A conservative approach could make sense until Enphase’s channel inventory adjustment completes.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
David Moadel is financial writer specializing in stocks, ETFs, options, precious metals, and Bitcoin. David has written well over 1,000 articles for leading online publications, helping investors understand markets, income strategies, and risk.His work has appeared in The Motley Fool, InvestorPlace, U.S. News & World Report, TipRanks, ValueWalk, Benzinga, Market Realist, TalkMarkets, Finmasters, 24/7 Wall St., and others.With a master’s degree in education, David has taught at the elementary, high school, and college levels. That teaching background shapes his writing style: clear, educational, and practical. David has also built a loyal social-media audience by providing trustworthy financial content on YouTube, X/Twitter, and StockTwits.
Earnings season is drawing a sharp line between AI infrastructure winners and clean energy losers, and the gap between them widened dramatically before the opening bell this morning.
Three of solar's biggest names traded in completely different directions in 2026, and the one posting the worst losses also happens to be the most profitable of the group. Find out what policy shocks…
Solar stocks are splitting on Thursday. Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH | ENPH Price Prediction) is up 15% to $48.13 and SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG) is up 17% to $50.04, while Canadian Solar (NASDAQ:CSIQ) is down 11%…
Solar names bounced hard on Thursday, but that relief trade collapsed by Friday morning, and now one question hangs over the sector: whether the rate path has already decided where these stocks go next.
SolarEdge Technologies (NASDAQ:SEDG | SEDG Price Prediction) stock is surging 10% on Tuesday, rallying to $38 intraday. Solar-industry peers Enphase Energy (NASDAQ:ENPH) and Sunrun (NASDAQ:RUN) are joining the party, with the shares of both…
Solar stocks are staging a sharp reversal after a brutal selloff, with the sector's most battered name surging far ahead of its peers. Whether this bounce signals a true turning point or just a…
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Haridwar-based Luno Solar has begun a major manufacturing expansion in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh, marking the groundbreaking of its proposed Luno Renewable Park on October 12, 2026 at the Mohasa-Babai Industrial Area. The planned 45-acre facility will combine solar cell and module manufacturing with inverter and battery storage production.
The company expects module manufacturing to begin within three months of the groundbreaking and the first batch of cells within nine months, subject to project execution.
Planned capacities
The park includes 2.4 GW of solar cell capacity using TOPCon technology and 2.4 GW of solar module capacity. It also provides for 1.2 GW of inverter capacity and 1.2 GW of battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity.
The company estimates that the module line could produce approximately 3,500 modules per day, or 12.6 lakh modules annually, during the first phase. The module facility will operate alongside the cell line, giving Luno planned capabilities across two important stages of solar manufacturing.
Storage focus
Battery storage has emerged as a critical catalyst for solar growth, helping address curtailment and enabling solar energy to power non-solar hours. Luno’s proposed BESS manufacturing line is intended to complement its solar production plans.
Market backdrop
India’s expanding solar sector has created demand not only for new installations but also for a dependable supply of the equipment and components that make them possible. The country is targeting roughly 330 GW of solar capacity by 2030, almost double its existing 168 GW over the next four years. Many in the industry believe the target will be achieved comfortably and exceeded significantly with the right policy backing.
Luno’s proposed park is intended to contribute to the manufacturing side of this transition.
Investor backing
Luno Solar has the backing of Dr. Vivek Bindra, investor and entrepreneur of Bada Business’s Idea to IPO initiative. The company’s proposed investment in cell, module, inverter and battery storage manufacturing highlights how the emergence of solar has catalysed the growth of individual enterprises looking to contribute to the wider development of the domestic clean-energy supply chain.
Dr. Vivek Bindra, entrepreneur and investor, said: “India’s solar ambitions require a strong manufacturing ecosystem behind the installations. Domestic production of cells, modules and supporting equipment, alongside storage capabilities, can contribute to a more dependable clean-energy supply chain.”
The featured photograph is for representation only.
Vietnam will invest $136.3 billion in its power sector by 2030 to expand capacity and reduce coal use. Installed capacity is set to grow from over 80 GW in 2023 to between 183 GW and 236 GW. Coal’s share will fall to 13.1%–16.9%. Solar will rise to 25.3%–31.1%, wind to 14.2%–16.1%, and LNG to 9.5%–12.3%….
Read More Vietnam plans $136.3bn shift to renewables and nuclear by 2030
The U.S. Department of Commerce has issued preliminary affirmative determinations in its anti-dumping (AD) duty investigations on solar cell and module imports from India, Indonesia, and Laos. The decision introduces high provisional duty rates and expands trade actions affecting a supply chain that delivered $4.5 billion in solar products to the United States in 2025….
Read More US sets preliminary anti-dumping duties on solar imports
JSW Energy Limited (JSWEL) has signed a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) with West Bengal State Electricity Distribution Company Limited (WBSEDCL) for a 1,600 MW supercritical/ultra-supercritical thermal power plant. The agreement was finalised on March 13, 2025. The plant will be a greenfield project with a capacity of 1,600 MW (2×800 MW) and will be developed…
Read More JSW Energy signs PPA for 1,600 MW project in West Bengal, revives Odisha plant
The Delhi Electricity Regulatory Commission (DERC) has granted in-principle approval to BSES Rajdhani Power Limited (BRPL) for the installation of a 97.5 MW/195 MWh Battery Energy Storage System (BESS) across five grid stations in South and West Delhi. The project is expected to serve around 266,000 consumers. In its order, the Commission permitted BRPL to…
Read More Why BRPL chose 2-hour BESS over 4-hour systems for its Delhi grid stations
Central Transmission Utility of India Limited (CTUIL) has issued a final procedural advisory setting out the standard operating procedure for processing force majeure (FM) and change in law (CIL) events. The advisory takes effect immediately and applies to Transmission Service Providers (TSPs) seeking relief under their Transmission Service Agreements (TSAs). Under the advisory, TSPs must…
Read More CTUIL issues SOP for force majeure and change in law claims
KP Group, through its subsidiary KPI Green Hydrogen and Ammonia, has signed agreements with Jeonbuk Province, GH2 Solar Limited, and AHES Co. Limited to advance water-based hydrogen production.  The collaboration will focus on sharing technology expertise, developing large-scale green hydrogen projects, and promoting the clean fuel sector in India and abroad. Last month, KP Group…
Read More KP Group partners on green hydrogen and ammonia projects
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Sheep will soon be sharing a paddock with rows of solar panels on one Mid Canterbury farm.
Bruce Wild has farmed in Somerton, just north of Ashburton, for 30 years and has decided it's time to diversify his income by leasing land to ANZA Power, an Australian and New Zealand energy developer and operator, to establish a solar farm.
The development marks the first time ANZA, which is part of global infrastructure investor I Squared Capital, will establish a solar farm on New Zealand soil.
Wild's decision to lease land for a solar farm was driven by “the way arable farming is going”.
Wild said he was no longer able to grow peas for Watties, and grass seed “being shut down to limited areas” were examples of a need to diversify.
“We needed to look at other ways of farming.
“I’m not a dairy farmer, and I think there is enough of them in the area.”
A rural property agent informed him there was some interest in establishing a solar farm in the area.
“I knew nothing about solar farms, but when I learnt you could still run stock underneath them, I was totally on board.
“We can carry on farming and use this good ground, but get two incomes.”
ANZA chief executive Carlo Frigerio said it was exciting to herald the start of the company's first New Zealand solar project at a groundbreaking ceremony on Tuesday.
Frigerio said the farm will deliver 42 megawatts of solar generation capacity, and the site has been designed to accommodate a future battery storage system without a major rework.
The plan is for the farm to be operational and connected to EA Network’s grid by early 2028.
Ashburton Mayor Liz McMillan attended the ceremony and supports the development of renewable energy generation in the district.
“Speaking to the people from ANZA, Canterbury is an ideal spot due to our long daylight hours and being pretty flat.
“I just like the fact that you are able to graze underneath and is a way to help diversify the local economy.”
Te Rūnanga o Arowhenua upoko Tewera King performed the karakia, concluding with a waiata that “talks about when it’s the right time to plant food like the kumara”.
“This is the right time to plant the solar farm”.
ANZA has signed a power purchase agreement with Fonterra for the dairy co-op to take 80 per cent of the generation from Somerton, located between Fonterra’s Darfield and Clandeboye manufacturing sites.
ANZA is also advancing two sites in the Selwyn District, the 100 MW Norwood Solar Farm and the 70 MW Highfield Solar Farm at Charing Cross.
Fonterra also holds a separate agreement with NZ Clean Energy (NZCE) and is supporting the development of a 129-megawatt Darfield Solar and Energy Storage Project next to its factory off Homebush Road.
The 148-hectare site has been used for sheep grazing, which will continue post-construction.
Somerton is the fourth major solar farm in Ashburton District.
Mid Canterbury's first large-scale solar farm in Lauriston – a joint venture between Genesis Energy and FRV Australia
Lightyears Solar, in partnership with Ecotricity and RCR Green, built an 8-hectare solar farm just south of Ashburton.
The third is in the works, with Lodestone Energy building a solar farm near Mount Somers where Duncan Humm has leased part of his family's 150ha dryland farm for a 35ha solar farm.
 
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Energies Media
Under a grassy hill outside Charlottesville, Virginia, sits decades of buried household trash that nobody is allowed to disturb.
On top of it now stand more than seven thousand solar panels.
None of them are bolted into the ground.
Every steel panel frame is held down by loose rock instead.
Driving a post into the cap below would be a federal violation.
So why can nothing touch the dirt underneath, and what does that mean for how this array has to work?
A closed landfill is sealed under a federally regulated cap, a layered barrier of clay, plastic sheeting and soil designed to keep rainwater out and decades of buried waste from leaching into groundwater or venting gas. Puncturing that cap, even with a single steel pile, risks opening a path for both.
That is why the old Ivy Landfill could not host a conventional array. A spokesperson for the site’s developer said the company builds solar facilities on previously disturbed land, including mining sites or closed landfills, and at the Ivy site nothing can be built into the ground.
So engineers flipped the usual foundation entirely. Instead of driving anchors down, they built weight up, racking the panels onto steel frames anchored with rocks on top of the covered waste below.
The array simply rests there, held in place by gravity and ballast rather than by anything fastened to the earth.
The result is a solar farm that reads, from a distance, like any other sloped array catching the sun above Albemarle County. Closer up, the difference shows at the base of every row, where fist sized stone sits packed against the frame feet instead of the usual concrete footing or driven steel pile.
Locally, the project marked a milestone. More than 7,000 solar panels sit at the old Ivy Landfill, converting sunlight into electricity, in what a company spokesperson called the utility’s first solar farm of this kind in Virginia.
That phrase, of this kind, is doing real work. It signals a build type the utility had not deployed in the state before, one designed specifically for ground that cannot be touched, and the grassed hill gives no outward sign of the landfill it caps except for the rock at every panel’s feet.
Reporting from the site confirmed the scale of the build and its purpose. A former landfill in Albemarle County is now generating clean energy, with more than 7,000 solar panels converting sunlight into electricity at the old Ivy site. Local coverage of the opening quoted the utility calling the location “a really exciting trend.”
The company frames the approach as part of a broader strategy, treating ground too compromised for farming or housing as exactly the ground worth covering in panels instead.
That strategy echoes projects elsewhere on the East Coast. In New Haven, more than 1,900 solar panels were installed atop a capped landfill, using a similar logic of ballast and surface loading rather than ground penetration.
A rock anchored array is not free of tradeoffs. Ballast only works within strict weight limits set by the cap’s engineering, which caps how dense or tall a given array can be, forcing designers to spread panels wider rather than stack them for maximum output per acre.
Wind loading is the other complication. A panel row held down by stacked rock has to be engineered against uplift in storms differently than one with a driven pile, since the whole row’s stability depends on friction and mass rather than embedded steel.
Even so, the same constraint that makes the build harder is what makes the land available at all. The site was identified as the strongest performer in a brownfield solar evaluation, a pattern holding wherever a capped landfill meets a developer willing to work around its cap. A similar logic has pushed panels onto unconventional wiring layouts elsewhere to squeeze more output from constrained sites.
Albemarle County’s old landfill is not a one off anymore. Utilities across the country are running out of easy greenfield sites near substations, and capped landfills offer exactly what open farmland does not: land already zoned for industrial use, already fenced, and already unsuitable for anything else.
That shift is visible in nearly every recent landfill solar project, from Connecticut to Ohio to Virginia, each adapting the same basic workaround to local geology and cap design. Some pair the panels with battery storage, borrowing a model already proven at sites built for storing power underground rather than generating it fresh.
The caveat is scale. A seven thousand panel array on rock ballast will never match a conventional utility scale farm panel for panel, but for a hillside that spent decades as a liability, even a constrained array counts as the first productive use the land has had in a generation.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.

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The Conversation is fact-checking claims made on Q&A, broadcast Mondays on the ABC at 9:35pm. Thank you to everyone who sent us quotes for checking via Twitter using hashtags #FactCheck and #QandA, on Facebook or by email.
It might also surprise you to know that nearly 15% of Australian households have solar panels on their roofs. That’s the highest number of solar panels on people’s roofs per capita anywhere in the world. – Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg, speaking on Q&A on March 22, 2106.
Solar photovoltaics (PV) technology produces electricity directly from solar energy. When you see a solar panel on a household roof, it’s most likely solar PV technology at work within those shiny blue or black, silver-framed plates. (If not, they’re likely to be solar hot water system panels.)
Solar PV has made a valuable contribution towards reducing Australia’s very high per-capita greenhouse emissions from electricity generation.
Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg’s told Q&A viewers that Australia has more household solar panels, per head of population, than anywhere in the world.
Let’s check the claim against the available evidence.
When asked for a source to support his assertion, a spokesman for the minister clarified he was talking about solar PV systems only (not solar hot water).
He referred The Conversation to a document produced by the Energy Supply Association of Australia (which has since been folded into the new Australian Energy Council). The document said that:
Australia clearly leads the world in the installation of household scale distributed solar PV. Australia has double the residential solar PV penetration rates of the next country (Belgium), and more than three times the penetration of Germany and the UK … By 2015, more than one in seven Australian households had installed solar PV. This is a 15% penetration rate across all Australian households.
We can check this assertion independently using a combination of data from:
Note that the kilowatt (kW) capacity here refers to the size of the PV system, and represents the maximum power (Watts) the system generates in the middle of a sunny day.
A typical PV panel is rated at around 250 Watts (0.25kW). A typical residential PV system in Australia is sized somewhere between 1.5-5kW, or 6 to 20 panels. As a basis for comparison, a typical air-conditioner typically consumes around 1-2kW when running.
For our calculation, we assumed that all systems less than 10kW are installed on household premises (although, in fact, a few are installed on small businesses and community buildings such as surf clubs and schools).
Here’s what the data show:
So Frydenberg has actually likely slightly underestimated the proportion of Australian households with a PV system. It’s not 15% – it’s more like 16.5%, according to the latest data.
PV systems are not evenly distributed across Australia’s residential sector, as the Australian PV Institute’s live PV map shows:
Yes. Australia does likely have the highest proportion of households with PV systems on their roof of any country in the world.
But to be clear, Australia does not have the most PV rooftop capacity installed per person. By that we mean there are a number of other countries that currently generate a higher proportion of their total electricity from PV than Australia.
Those countries may also have larger commercial and industrial PV systems (often tens to hundreds of kilowatts in size) or utility PV plants (which can be a megawatt – 1,000 kilowatts – to tens of megawatts in size).
Australia is unusual in that some 85% of its installed PV capacity is small systems less than 10kW.
Indeed, the latest International Energy Agency (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme Task 1 trends report ranks Australia fourth or fifth for overall PV capacity, based on 2014 data:
Note, however, that not all countries with high PV penetrations are included in the IEA report. Greece, for example, gets around the same proportion of its electricity from solar PV as Germany.
There are also a number of small island developing states with a high percentage of households with stand-alone solar home systems. For example, around 17% of households in Kiribati have a solar home system (based on 2013 data).
However, this isn’t really comparable with Australia because these PV systems in Kiribati are so tiny they can only power lighting and small appliances. Also, Kiribati’s population is only just over 100,000 people and many people on remote islands have no access to an electricity grid.
In 2014, Germany had more than nine times the installed PV capacity of Australia, yet around the same number of household PV systems spread over more than three times the population.
Italy had more than four times the PV capacity of Australia, yet less than half the number of household PV systems. Japan had around 15% more residential PV systems, but more than five times the population of Australia. Belgium has a population around half that of Australia, but only around one fifth the number of PV systems. Greece has less than a tenth of Australia’s PV capacity of small (<10kW) PV systems.
Therefore, all of these countries have a significantly lower proportion of households with PV systems than Australia. They do better than Australia when it comes to total energy produced from solar; they do worse than Australia when it comes to household rooftop solar only.
So Frydenberg was right to say Australia has the highest proportion of households with PV systems on their roof in the world (well, that is if we don’t consider tiny countries like Kiribati).
Australia’s unique PV market focus on households has come about through a combination of factors:
Policy support from federal and state governments has historically focused particularly on PV systems less than 10kW, including the Solar Credit Multiplier available over 2009-2012 through the former Labor government’s revised Renewable Energy Target. There were also the various state-based feed-in tariffs over the same time period, which were generally restricted to small PV systems.
A large proportion of Australian housing comprises stand-alone dwellings with relatively large roof spaces suitable for PV systems.
Most of Australia has an excellent climate for PV systems with plenty of sunshine.
Australian households have to pay very high residential electricity prices compared to many other countries. PV systems can be a very cost effective way to reduce household electricity bills.
Australia’s relatively high rates of owner-occupier home ownership allows the benefits of the PV system investment to be captured by the home owner, who also pays the electricity bills.
One final note: Australia may be at risk of losing the top ranking when it comes to household solar PV systems.
A growing number of countries are setting ambitious PV targets.
In Australia, some key electricity industry stakeholders here in Australia – including the distribution network utilities that own and operate the wires that run to your house – are looking to restrict future household PV connections in some areas, or reduce the money that households can save by installing PV systems.
Household PV does raise a number of technical challenges for these businesses, and their revenue under current electricity tariffs.
Josh Frydenberg was correct. Australia almost certainly has the highest proportion of households with PV systems on their roof of any country in the world (again, not including tiny nations like Kiribati). His assertion that nearly 15% of Australian households have solar panels on their roofs was, indeed, perhaps a slight underestimate.
However, there are a number of other countries that currently generate a higher proportion of their overall electricity from PV than Australia.
Unlike these other PV markets, the great majority of PV systems in Australia are small-scale installations on household rooftops. If Australian governments are keen to see Australia retain its world leading position, greater policy, retail market and regulatory efforts will be required. – Anna Bruce and Iain MacGill
This is a sound analysis. The author has provided evidence that clearly demonstrates that over 15% of Australian households have photovoltaic solar power, and that, excepting tiny island nations, that this is the highest percentage in the world.
The author’s conclusion that there are also other countries with a much higher capacity (in terms of power per person) and higher fraction of their electricity from photovoltaics is also accurate and justified.
The high proportion of households with PV power on their roofs is due to our high electricity prices and sunny climate, making PV especially attractive to consumers in Australia.
As the author notes, the market where Australia is currently missing out is large–scale solar.
As photovoltaic power prices continue to fall, solar farms will become more and more economically attractive, especially in regional areas. Nevertheless, the countries that are leading the way in large-scale solar – China, the US and the UK – all have supportive policy frameworks. – Kylie Catchpole
Lecturer in the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering, UNSW
Co-director, Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets, UNSW
Associate Professor of Solar Engineering, Australian National University
Anna Bruce received funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) to develop the Australian PV Institute (APVI)’s Solar Mapping Project, and continues to lead development of the project on behalf of APVI.
Iain MacGill is a Joint Director of UNSW Australia's Centre for Energy and Environmental Markets. The Centre has received funding from a range of government sources including the Australian Research Council and ARENA. Iain is a member of the ARENA Advisory Panel which provides advice to support the development and selection of projects and initiatives for funding by ARENA. He contributes unpaid expert advice to a number of government organisations, industry associations and not-for-profit groups in the clean energy area within Australia and internationally. His share portfolio includes AGL.
Kylie Catchpole receives funding from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Australian Research Council.

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DTE opens new solar park in mid-Michigan  WOODTV.com
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Four solar panels fold outward from the FEELLE 50000mAh Solar Power Bank, priced at $62.99 today (was $70), spreading across a wider surface than the single flat sheets found on most packs in the same size range. Each panel sits on a hinge that locks into place once opened, so the whole array can face the sun while the main body stays flat on the ground or hangs from a pack.


The panels are covered in monocrystalline solar cells, with lithium polymer batteries inside that the manufacturer claims have a capacity of 50,000 mAh. After accounting for all of the conversion losses and heat generated by the device, the real-world output will be approximately four or five full phone charges. That should be plenty to keep a small group going for the weekend, or to get through a few days of power outages. On top of the unit is a magnetic pad that can deliver up to 15W of wireless power to any phone that supports the standard, such as iPhones. It’s a great feature for anyone interested in wireless power. If you prefer the traditional method, there is a cable slot available.

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Four cables pop out of the side: one USB-C, one Lightning, one micro-USB, and one USB-A. You also get three other slots for extra cords, allowing you to power six devices at once, which is useful if no one in your company remembers to bring a charger. The USB-C connector, in particular, supports fancy fast-charging protocols like PD and QC 3.0, and can charge a phone from zero to 60 percent in half an hour when the battery is full.

In case the sun decides to disappear on you, there is a hand crank on the side that you can use to generate a small bit of electricity, as steady rotations at a reasonable pace will keep a light going or provide enough power to make an emergency call. The light itself is on the front, with a little button that allows you to cycle between steady, SOS, and strobe modes with a long press.

One of the nice touches is a small compass on one end, which allows you to find your bearings even after you’ve removed the bank from your pack. The ports are sealed with silicone covers to keep dust and light rain out, and the corners have these small rubber bumpers to keep it from becoming too scuffed up. When folded, it measures approximately 7.24 by 3.54 by 1.97 inches and weighs about half a kilogram, making it tiny enough to fit in a vehicle trunk or daypack while remaining strong enough to resist some harsh handling.

People have noted that the panels charge up on a bright day, but don’t expect to fill them up in a few hours. In fact, it’s usually a good idea to just use the wall charger that comes with the USB-C cable because it’s the quickest method to have it fully charged before heading out. Once you’re out there, the combination of solar input, hand crank, magnetic pad, and cable options ensures you don’t have to bring a different charger for each phone or tablet in the group. The three-year warranty is also a welcome addition.
A technology, gadget and video game enthusiast that loves covering the latest industry news. Favorite trade show? Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.
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Emmvee Photovoltaic Power’s planned ₹5,500-crore expansion puts a sharper number on one of India’s most important solar-sector constraints: the country may have substantially less effectively usable solar-cell manufacturing capacity than the headline capacity figures suggest. The company’s chairman and managing director, D.V. Manjunatha Donthi, estimates that India needs around 100 GW of usable cell-making capacity, compared with roughly 41 GW currently cited by the industry.
The difference is not simply a matter of adding more factories to a capacity list. It raises questions about whether announced plants are operational, whether equipment has been installed and qualified, whether output can meet project specifications, and whether domestic manufacturers can supply the different segments of India’s solar market at the required pace. Emmvee’s expansion is therefore significant not only for the company but also as a case study in how domestic manufacturing is attempting to catch up with demand.
Emmvee said its integrated expansion has entered the equipment-installation phase, with most critical machinery orders placed and deliveries expected by November. The company is targeting commissioning of a 6 GW module plant by December and an additional 6 GW of solar-cell capacity by next March. If completed, its annual module capacity would rise to 16.3 GW and its cell capacity to 8.9 GW.
These numbers indicate the scale of the company’s planned shift. Emmvee is not limiting its expansion to module assembly, the downstream part of the solar manufacturing chain. It also plans phased backward integration into ingot and wafer production, with ₹5,000-5,500 crore earmarked for the effort. The company is targeting 5 GW of such capacity by FY29 and another 4 GW by FY30.
Backward integration matters because the availability of modules depends on more than final assembly lines. Cells, wafers and ingots sit at successive stages of the manufacturing chain, and gaps at any stage can constrain domestic supply. Emmvee’s stated plan suggests that the company sees supply-chain depth as a long-term competitive requirement rather than a short-term capacity addition.
The company expects to fund the backward-integration programme largely through internal accruals, subject to regulatory clarity and market conditions. That qualification is important. The expansion timetable depends not only on machinery deliveries and construction progress but also on the company’s cash generation, regulatory conditions and the pace at which the market absorbs additional domestic output.
Emmvee’s financial position provides some support for the expansion plan. Its order book stood at 10.4 GW at the end of the second quarter of FY27, after approximately 1.5 GW of new order inflows during the quarter. About 70 per cent of the order book comprised orders linked to the Domestic Content Requirement, indicating that a substantial portion of contracted demand is tied to domestically manufactured solar equipment.
The company reported revenue from operations of ₹3,131.9 crore in the first half of FY27, a 45 per cent year-on-year increase. EBITDA rose 47 per cent to ₹1,105 crore, while net profit increased 79 per cent to ₹762 crore. Cash generated from operating activities reached ₹410 crore during the period, compared with ₹121 crore in the year-earlier period. Net debt-to-equity stood at 0.12 times at the end of September.
Those figures do not establish that the planned capacity will be commissioned on schedule, but they explain why Emmvee is presenting internal accruals as a principal source of funding. They also show the relationship between order visibility, operating cash flow and manufacturing expansion. A large order book can support investment, but converting that demand into production requires equipment installation, supply-chain coordination and compliance with applicable procurement rules.
The company’s expansion is unfolding as India’s solar demand comes from several distinct project categories. Manjunatha said utility-scale plants, rooftop systems, commercial and industrial projects, and hybrid power projects could widen the gap between announced capacity and actual domestic supply. These segments have different procurement patterns and operating requirements, making aggregate capacity an incomplete measure of whether manufacturers can meet market demand.
A factory counted in an industry estimate may not immediately provide usable supply to every category of buyer. Capacity can be under installation, awaiting equipment, undergoing qualification or directed towards specific product configurations. The distinction drawn by Emmvee between roughly 41 GW of cited capacity and around 100 GW of required effectively usable capacity therefore shifts attention from nominal potential to production that can be delivered on time and under the relevant procurement conditions.
The regulatory framework is also influencing the market. Emmvee said the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers, or ALMM, List-II is already in effect. The company expects a further extension of the December transition deadline for specified open-access and net-metering projects to be unlikely. It has also secured inclusion of its G12R TOPCon cells in ALMM List-II.
ALMM-linked eligibility can affect which manufacturers and products are available for projects covered by the applicable rules. For domestic manufacturers, inclusion can strengthen access to compliant demand. For project developers and electricity consumers, the timing of regulatory transitions can affect procurement decisions and project execution. The supplied information does not establish the impact on project costs or deployment schedules, but it does show that manufacturing capacity is being built within a policy environment that links market access to approved suppliers and models.
The Domestic Content Requirement provides another demand signal. With 70 per cent of Emmvee’s order book linked to DCR requirements, the company’s expansion is being supported by a segment of the market that specifically seeks domestic equipment. At the same time, the company’s own comments suggest that demand alone is not enough. Timely capacity expansion is necessary if the gap between project requirements and available domestic supply is to narrow.
This is the central institutional issue in the capacity debate. Government policy can create demand for domestic equipment through eligibility rules and procurement requirements, while manufacturers must build and operate the physical capacity needed to satisfy that demand. If the two move at different speeds, the result can be a mismatch between policy ambition, listed capacity and equipment that is actually available to projects.
Emmvee’s planned module and cell additions offer a measurable near-term test. The company is targeting a 6 GW module plant by December and 6 GW of additional cell capacity by next March. The subsequent ingot and wafer targets extend the test into FY29 and FY30. Each milestone will indicate whether the expansion is progressing from financial commitment to installed and operational manufacturing capability.
The company’s order book and first-half financial results also provide indicators of market traction, but they should not be confused with national capacity. Emmvee’s projected annual capacity of 16.3 GW for modules and 8.9 GW for cells would be substantial at the company level, yet the wider requirement identified by its CMD is around 100 GW of effectively usable cell capacity across India. The scale comparison shows why a single company’s expansion cannot close the national gap on its own.
What the available evidence confirms is a growing alignment between domestic demand, policy-linked procurement and private investment in integrated manufacturing. It also confirms that the industry’s headline capacity figure is being challenged by a more demanding measure: capacity that is operational, compliant and capable of serving different project categories when required.
What remains unestablished is how much of the cited 41 GW is currently operational, how quickly the wider industry can add capacity, and whether all planned projects will meet their announced schedules. Those questions will become clearer through equipment installation, commissioning, ALMM eligibility, order execution and the next stages of Emmvee’s backward-integration programme. For India’s solar build-out, the decisive issue is no longer only how much capacity has been announced, but how much can reliably enter the domestic supply chain.

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Venture capital investment in solar startups is stabilising in 2026 after dropping to a decade low last year, according to analysis by Avnet Silica.
A recent study by the electronics distributor found equity funding into the European solar sector reached €82 million ($91.2 million) by the end of August, compared to €24 million across the whole of 2025.
Harvey Wilson, Senior Manager Industrial Vertical Markets EMEA at Avnet Silica, told pv magazine that with a few additional deals closing in the last two months, total funding in 2026 could fall between €90-100 million by the year’s end.
While this year’s investments represent an upward trend, they remain off the pace of 2023, which recorded an all-time high of €285 million.
Wilson explained the surge in investment in European solar tech startups across 2022 and 2023 was most likely driven by energy security concerns, swiftly followed by a market correction through 2024 and 2025.
“The stabilisation we’re seeing in 2026 isn’t an indicator of a full market recovery just yet,” he said. “But it does show that while investors are being selective in a period of more expensive capital, they remain willing to invest when presented with the right opportunities.”
Additional analysis shared with pv magazine reveals PV recycling is the most funded market segment in 2026 so far, receiving €35 million, followed by lightweight PV modules (€16 million), residential PV systems with energy storage (€15 million), solar thermal technologies (€10.3 million) and space-based solar (€5 million).
Avnet Silica’s analysis adds 93% of the €82 million invested by the end of August went to early-stage companies. There were five deals over €10 million in the first eight months of the year, which represented the joint highest year on record for large early-stage transactions.
The median funding round across all stages of European solar startups this year stands at €15 million, which Avnet Silica says is the highest its been in over 15 years. The company’s research says this is a result of venture capitalists focusing on a small number of substantial investments rather than spreading their bets across the sector.
Avnet Silica explains that investors have “largely retreated from the extremes of the investment spectrum”, avoiding both unproven seed concepts and heavy capital demands of late-stage growth, and are instead focusing their capital on “select early-stage opportunities that offer a balance of validated technology and upside potential”.
Wilson told pv magazine the most significant driver of investment in European startups today remains energy security, but also pointed towards ensuring the security and privacy of the hardware, supply chain and the data being transmitted.
He said technology providers in Europe need to be actively adapting to regulations including the EU Cyber Resilience Act and Net-Zero Industry Act if they want to remain viable within the regulated supply chain.
“If European startups can position themselves as a solution to these security and compliance challenges, investors have shown they’re willing to back the right opportunity, and this new regulatory landscape could help close the deal,” Wilson added.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2026
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
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Monday, November 23, 2026
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More than 300 more council homes in the Goole area are to be fitted with solar panels in a bid to cut tenants' energy bills and reduce carbon emissions.
As part of an investment programme by East Riding of Yorkshire Council during the 2026-27 financial year, solar panels, energy-efficient LED lighting and improved loft insulation will be installed.
Once the work is completed, around March 2027, more than 400 council homes in the town will have solar panels, almost a third of the council-owned properties in the area.
The solar panels will also allow tenants to use renewable electricity generated at their home, with surplus electricity able to be exported to the National Grid.
Michael Lee, council cabinet member for housing and infrastructure, said: "We're proud to invest in our council housing stock, to create warmer and more energy-efficient homes that help both tenants and the environment."
Listen to highlights from Hull and East Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North.
Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices
Twelve per cent of Woking Borough Council's homes do not meet minimum standards, a report finds.
West Northamptonshire Council is fighting the government over a plan for up to 47,300 homes.
The Eden Project's partner organisation also proposes an increase in power generation capacity.
The leaders of Hull and East Riding councils claim a lack of vision by elected mayor Luke Campbell.
A nine-year-old girl campaigns to save a orchard that is under threat of being bulldozed.
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Researchers in China have developed an acid-free method to recover silver wires from end-of-life aluminum back-surface-field solar cells using a molten mixture of sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide (NaOH-KOH).
The molten salt etches the cell’s silicon nitride (SiNx) passivation layer and weakens the bond between the silver and the SiNx, allowing the silver wires to detach and be recovered directly as metal, rather than being dissolved into silver ions and recovered later.
At 230 C for 150 seconds, the process recovered 94.34% of the silver and effectively removed the SiNx layer, the researchers said. Maximum silver recovery reached 97.11%.
Silicon substrate loss was limited to 2.62% at 230 C for 100 seconds. The researchers found that once the SiNx layer is removed, the exposed silicon is attacked by hydroxide ions in the molten salt, causing pitting and converting silicon into soluble sodium and potassium silicates.
The work builds on an earlier NaOH-KOH molten salt recycling approach reported in 2024. The researchers said existing molten salt methods avoid acids but do not effectively control silicon substrate loss, and that the new study clarifies the mechanisms behind both silver recovery and silicon loss.
Most silver recovery from end-of-life modules still relies on acid leaching with nitric acid and other strong acids, which converts silver into ions and generates nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions and acidic wastewater, according to the researchers. They noted that silver accounts for less than 0.03% of the weight of an end-of-life module but nearly half of its total value, and that the first generation of commercial PV modules is now reaching the end of its 25- to 30-year life.
The work was carried out at laboratory scale.
The findings appear in “Sustainable recovery of silver wires from crystalline silicon solar cells,” which was recently published in the Journal of Cleaner Production.
Researchers from Australia’s University of Newcastle, CSIRO Energy and PV Industries recently recovered an average of 93% of silver electrochemically from a simulated nitric acid leaching solution using stainless steel cathodes. Separately, researchers from the University of New South Wales, Gdansk University of Technology and the Polish Academy of Sciences found that silver can make up to 47% of a module’s recoverable value, though falling silver content in newer panels will lower future recycling revenue.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].
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Wednesday, October 28, 2026
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026?
Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
Thursday, November 5, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 23, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.

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Fact check: Is Australia the world leader in household solar power?  UNSW Sydney
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Solar Power World
By Billy Ludt | October 28, 2026
Autonomous technology developer Mach is launching a platform for adapting commercial lawn mowers for autonomous deployment on solar project sites. This technology factory integrates with major commercial mowers.
Credit: Mach
“Utility-scale solar sites present one of the most demanding operational environments in off-road autonomy: narrow clearances, dense panel shadows, GPS-degraded zones and zero tolerance for infrastructure strikes,” said Colin Hurd, CEO of Mach. “By delivering our full-stack autonomy as a Tier-1 partner to commercial equipment OEMs, we provide solar asset owners with the rugged, dealer-supported machinery they already trust, supercharged with driverless capability. This ecosystem approach enables solar developers to scale vegetation management across gigawatts while giving equipment manufacturers an immediate, turnkey path to lead the autonomous solar market.”
Using Mach’s proprietary RTK-GNSS automation infrastructure, mowers are designed to work automatically in conditions with dusty, tall grass and sun glare while avoiding structural and electrical elements on solar arrays. These mowers can be deployed on multiple sites and managed by a single operator.
Maintenance is still available through the mower’s original manufacturer, since Mach’s platform integrates with existing machines. Mach will showcase its autonomous solar mowing platform at RE+ 26, from Nov. 16 to 19 at the Las Vegas Convention Center at Booth W16676
News item from Mach
Billy Ludt is managing editor of Solar Power World and currently covers topics on mounting, inverters, installation and operations.

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