Solar Now

AIKO has announced a new collaboration with Solar Team Eindhoven, bringing its high-efficiency ABC (All Back Contact) solar cells to power Stella Juva, the world’s first solar-powered ambulance designed to operate entirely on solar energy while supporting onboard medical equipment.
Developed by students from the Eindhoven University of Technology, Stella Juva aims to enable healthcare delivery in remote or infrastructure-limited regions. Expected to hit the road in July 2026, the project represents a significant step in redefining the role of solar-powered mobility, from transport solutions to mobile energy systems supporting essential services.
David Komdeur, Solar Team Photovoltaics Engineer, commented: “Stella Juva pushes the boundaries of what solar technology can achieve in real world applications. We chose AIKO as our partner because of its industry leading efficiency and proven reliability, both critical for a vehicle that must operate independently under varying conditions. The ABC cells use a full back contact design without front side metallization, which maximizes light absorption. In addition, the silver free metallization lowers the risk of microcracks and contributes to long term durability. A low temperature coefficient, combined with strong resistance to degradation, helps maintain stable performance across a wide range of environments.”
The partnership marks a further expansion of AIKO’s engagement with leading solar mobility teams, moving beyond competition platforms toward real-world applications of zero-carbon mobility and sustainable living. By integrating ABC technology into a functional emergency vehicle, the collaboration demonstrates how advanced photovoltaic innovation can contribute to both clean transportation and critical societal needs. For AIKO, this reflects a broader commitment to enabling high-efficiency solar technology in emerging application scenarios, supporting projects that integrate energy generation directly into mobility and infrastructure and exploring how photovoltaic innovation can deliver value beyond traditional installations.

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Aneel okays first BESS linked to solar plant in Brazil  Renewables Now
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Alabama solar farm faces pivotal week: What’s next for $350 million Stockton project  al.com
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Earth’s Building Blocks Came Not From The Outer Solar System But Right Here, Challenging Long-Standing Theories  iflscience.com
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Cabilock Solar Charge Controller – Dual USB Type C PD Output For Phones & Laptops, Outdoor Solar Panel Regulator  ruhrkanal.news
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Trina Solar gets approval for 198-MW solar project with BESS in Chile  Renewables Now
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The used materials and processes are directly ready for industrial application.
A Dutch company has developed the ‘world’s first’ perovskite solar roof tile. Despite its curved shape, the solar roof tile module achieves an energy efficiency of 12.4%.

Developed by researchers at TNO, the innovative material is the world’s first electrically functioning solar roof tile concept based on flexible perovskite solar cells.’

TNO claims that this is an important step towards better integrating solar energy into the built environment, creating more room for sustainable electricity generation without additional pressure on land or infrastructure.
“This allows roofs and infrastructure to generate sustainable electricity without compromising on design or aesthetics,” said Roland Valckenborg, Senior Project Manager at TNO Solar.

“This makes it an important step in the further development of solar energy in the built environment.”

The perovskite solar module on flexible foil has been applied in collaboration with ASAT B.V. to a curved composite roof tile. Measurements show that bending the module onto the roof tile has only a limited effect on its performance. The individual modules achieved an energy efficiency of up to 13.8%. After installation on a curved roof tile, 12.4% efficiency was retained, according to a press release.

The company also claimed that by better integrating solar energy into buildings, more space is created for sustainable electricity generation without additional strain on landscape or infrastructure.
TNO also highlighted that the breakthrough is important because the used materials and processes are directly ready for industrial application: they operate under normal conditions and are suitable for large-scale roll-to-roll production of flexible solar foils.

This research line enables both customized solutions and large‑scale application of flexible solar foils. TNO has completed the full development pathway: from small test cells in the laboratory, to flexible modules measuring 10 by 10 centimeters, and ultimately to a perovskite solar roof tile that can be directly applied in practice, as per the release.
“In Brabant, we are working on solutions to the social challenges of today and tomorrow. Thanks to the collaboration within the Solar innovation coalition and the bright minds at TNO, solar cell roof tiles are the next step in the energy transition,” said Martijn van Gruijthuijsen, deputy Economy at the Province of North-Brabant.
“We aim to improve solar energy, make it more affordable and more available, while laying the foundation for increased production in Europe.”
TNO also revealed that it will continue in the coming period to improve the lifetime, reliability and scalability of the technology. This lays the foundation for a next phase in which flexible perovskite solar modules can find their way into commercial applications. On 11 March, TNO established the spin‑out Perovion Technologies to help with the realisation of this commercialization, as per the release.

Prabhat, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication, is a tech and defense journalist. While he enjoys writing on modern weapons and emerging tech, he has also reported on global politics and business. He has been previously associated with well-known media houses, including the International Business Times (Singapore Edition) and ANI.
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In a country characterized by antiquated systems for regulating how electricity is produced and transported to homes and businesses, one utility in Arizona may be the most outdated. In 1903, almost a decade before Arizona became a state, a group of landowners around Phoenix secured a federal loan for a dam on the Salt River. The dam collected water to irrigate farms and produce hydroelectric power to run irrigation pumps. The landowners created the Salt River Project Association to govern the operation of the dam, and gave each landowner a vote for every acre of land they owned.
The Salt River Project, or SRP, now serves one of the nation’s largest metro areas, not just a swath of farmland. With several hydropower dams and a fleet of power plants, it generates power for more than 2 million customers in the Phoenix area, making it the largest public power utility in the country and one of the few in which customers elect the people who run the utility itself. 

Even though Phoenix has transformed from a patch of farmland into a sprawling city, the utility still uses an acreage-based voting system. A person who holds 20 acres gets 20 votes, a person who owns a half-acre lot gets half a vote, and many condo owners get only .01 votes. Renters can’t vote at all. Only individual homeowners and trusts can vote, so a company like Target doesn’t get to vote with the acres of its shopping center. Thousands of ratepayers, then, are excluded from voting. Even taking into consideration the restricted pool of voters, turnout for these elections is usually very low, which further constrains the mandates that board members carry when making decisions about how Salt River generates electricity. 
“It’s effectively feudal,” said John Qua, a campaign director at Lead Locally. Qua has been working on clean energy advocacy in the SRP over the past six years, through three election cycles.  
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That undemocratic governance structure has kept the Salt River association stuck in its opposition to clean energy — despite the association’s location in sunny Arizona, a region that also has the benefit of flat desert expanses with steady winds. The utility relied on fossil fuels for almost two-thirds of its generation in 2024, and its carbon reduction target could allow the utility to burn more fossil fuels in 2035 than it does now. 
Next week, though, the balance of power might finally shift. On Tuesday, Salt River ratepayers will elect candidates for half of the utility’s 14 board seats. 
In recent years, a new slate of board members who want to boost clean energy have been elected, and with Tuesday’s election, their coalition stands to win a majority if it sweeps its races. Their opponents are part of a coalition of large landowners and business leaders backed by the conservative political group Turning Point USA.
The clean energy advocates say that their presence on the board has already shifted SRP toward solar and distributed energy. The district identified around 2.8 gigawatts of new solar for addition to the grid in 2024, which could power hundreds of thousands of homes. Even under its current plans, solar and renewables will make up 45 percent of its generation within a decade. It has also piloted a number of programs that can make home air-conditioning more efficient and ratchet down demand during peak periods.
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The election comes at a pivotal moment: The utility is now facing a huge spike in demand, and the two sides differ on how to meet it. In its latest long-term plan, the utility estimated that peak demand could grow by around 4 percent per year between 2023 and 2035, and that power consumption from large customers like data centers could almost triple over the same period. The adoption of electric vehicles and the sprawl of the Phoenix metro will further stress the grid.
Other big utilities around the country are struggling to meet similar demand growth, and in most cases the utilities are responding by building more natural gas to provide around-the-clock backup power, and extending the lifespans of coal plants. That’s the strategy of the pro-business slate, which argues that shunning fossil energy will lead to high prices or even shortages of energy.
The clean energy advocates, meanwhile, believe that SRP can meet peak demand with renewables. They want to build more batteries that can store solar energy for nighttime use and invest in other carbon-free baseload power such as nuclear reactors. They also want to reduce demand stress by installing rooftop solar panels and making homes more energy-efficient. 
Both sides have claimed that the data center boom is proof that their preferred source of energy should dominate. 
“A lot of the votes on resources are split, us all on one side and them all on the other,” said Casey Clowes, one of the clean energy advocates on the Salt River Project board, who is now running for vice president. “What’s holding up us being faster and adopting more and just getting more solar online is really that the board controls those decisions.”
Clowes and her allies believe that the utility’s nine existing gas plants are enough to provide round-the-clock power while the utility builds out more solar, wind, and battery storage. The conservative slate, by contrast, supports SRP’s current plan to convert retiring coal units into gas-fired power plants and to build new gas turbines across the service territory. 
“They’re chasing rainbows and unicorns,” said Barry Paceley, a construction business owner and utility council member who is running against Clowes for vice president. “If we’re sitting here static, and said nobody else can move to Arizona, no more businesses come in, no more chips, no more data centers, then maybe. But for the real world, where are you getting the power from?”
The clean energy advocates have an even harder task ahead of them this year thanks to the involvement of Turning Point USA, the conservative political group founded by the late Charlie Kirk, who was a resident of Scottsdale. The group has deployed hundreds of volunteers to turn voters out for the pro-business slate, which has also drawn $500,000 in spending from a pro-business political finance group. Turning Point’s lawn signs are widespread, says Qua of Lead Locally. The clean energy advocates are trying to run a similar ground game, but they expect the pro-business slate to outspend them by a 10-to-1 margin.
Turning Point has cast the race as a referendum on “radical change” and says it is opposed to wind and “bad solar,” but its website notes with apparent approval that the Salt River Project “supports clean energy initiatives” and “supports solar and storage.” (Turning Point didn’t respond to interview requests.)
The clean energy slate controls six of the board’s 14 seats, and the establishment controls eight seats, including the presidency and the vice presidency. Clowes and a former state utility regulator named Sandra Kennedy are running for the presidency and the vice presidency; the clean energy coalition is also running candidates in three of the seven district-level elections for the board. They will need to win all three, or flip two and the presidency, in order to take control of the utility.
The areas in question are extremely small, and represent the purplest of Maricopa County’s famously purple suburban landscape. The two seats that are most up in the air are for Districts 4 and 6, which encompass the western side of Phoenix and its immediate suburb Glendale. There are only around 7,000 acres of votable land in District 4, split across around 57,000 landowners. The largest landowners in Salt River’s service area used to own big patches of farmland, but many of them have sold their farms to developers, commercial parks, and even data centers. Because only individuals and trusts can vote, the land sales have shifted voting power toward a larger group of ordinary landowners who own much smaller lots. Even so, the big landowners still have significant sway over election outcomes. 
Most of these landowners won’t cast a vote: In a comparable election in District 8 in 2022, the clean energy candidate won by a margin of 248.33 acres to 209.01, meaning that well under 10 percent of eligible voters even showed up to the polls. 
Rebecca Egan McCarthy contributed reporting to this story.

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The American-Made Solar Prize is a multimillion dollar competition designed to spur innovations in U.S. solar hardware and software technologies and address challenges to rapid, equitable solar energy deployment. This challenge requires competitors to make progress quickly, form private-sector partnerships, and engage customers to bring their ideas to life over the course of three escalating challenges. Competitors have the opportunity in each stage to also compete in the Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) Contest. Should they opt in, at each stage, the competitors will describe how their solution addresses solar market barriers faced by underserved communities and work to substantially advance their approach towards JEDI goals.
On June 12, 2023, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) opened applications for the American-Made Solar Prize Round 7. For Round 7, DOE added a new Power Up Contest to support and advance new and diverse teams that have compelling applications but are not selected as Ready! Contest winners. 
On January 11, 2024, DOE selected 20 teams to receive $50,000 each and advance to the next stage of the competition. Four teams were also selected to win the Ready! JEDI Contest and receive an additional $25,000. DOE awarded $10,000 prizes to 10 teams through the Power Up Contest. On May 29, 2024, DOE hosted a pitch competition where they selected one winning team.
On May 1, 2024, DOE announced the 10 finalist teams to receive $100,000 each and advance to the next stage of the competition. Three teams also split a $50,000 prize in the Set! JEDI Contest.
On September 10, 2024, DOE announced two winning teams at a live event at the RE+ conference. Each team received $500,000 in cash and $75,000 in vouchers to use at the national laboratories and other qualified fabrication facilities. Two other teams won the Go! JEDI Contest, splitting the $50,000 prize.
Fram Energy (Newburgh, NY) – This team is developing a platform to incentivize landlords to install solar by enabling both the renter and landlord to capture savings from a solar installation. This software helps the landlord select the best solar system for their property and distributes the benefits of solar to both the tenant and property owner, expanding renters’ access to solar energy. Set! JEDI Winner
Gritt Robotics (Belmont, CA) – This team is developing a solution combining robotics and artificial intelligence for automated construction of utility-scale solar. By converting off-the-shelf construction equipment into intelligent robots, this innovation will accelerate solar construction and improve worker health and safety.
Gridwave (Finalist) (Austin, TX) – This team, formerly known as PowerMe, is developing a pre-assembled, modular solar carport for the commercial market to decrease costs and safety risks associated with current carports and expand solar electric vehicle (EV) charging. They will reduce costs compared to common solar carports by using offsite construction, a wind-load reducing design, and concrete precasting.
Vatio (Palo Alto, CA) – This team is developing a plug-in solar kit that can be used in a regular home outlet to save residential homeowners money on their energy bills. This system will make residential solar affordable and accessible to customers locked out of the current solar market.  
Pavilion Solar (Finalist) (Miami, FL) – This team is developing a hurricane-resistant, accessible, and cost-effective ground-mounted solar canopy. This innovation will increase residential solar adoption in hurricane-prone areas by providing a product that can endure storms and growing electricity needs.
Couillard Solar Foundation Team (Deerfield, WI) – This team is developing an aesthetically pleasing, weatherproof, wooden solar canopy for residential and public spaces to broaden solar adoption. Sales of this product will fund charitable solar programs to benefit underrepresented populations. Ready! JEDI Winner
Addicted 2 Impact (Ladera Ranch, CA) – This team is developing modular plug-and-play, low-voltage direct current (DC) microgrids for rural and indigenous communities in the United States. By adding solar and storage, this system can quickly and affordably power homes without access to traditional grid and interconnection infrastructure. Ready! JEDI Winner
Buck Boost (Apex, NC) – This team is developing a two-stage, low-cost PV system architecture that combines wide-bandgap semiconductor-based compact DC-DC nanoconverters, at the panel level, with an optimized central inverter, also based on wide-bandgap devices. This new system design will achieve higher efficiencies, help prevent shading issues, and extend the lifetime of PV systems.
NC Solar Inverters (Finalist) (Cary, NC) – This team is developing a novel inverter design that leverages the high performance of silicon carbide technology but uses 40% less material, slashing inverter costs. This innovation will enable cost-effective, high-performance inverter technology to be manufactured in the United States.
ICoN Energy (Ithaca, NY) – This team is developing a compact power converter for trucks to utilize solar power for auxiliary systems, such as heating and cooling. This vehicle-integrated photovoltaics innovation will allow trucks to harness solar power from a solar panel installed on the truck roof and reduce truck emissions.
VL Offshore (Houston, TX) – This team is developing a rapidly deployable, floating offshore solar system that can move with the ocean’s waves, rather than a rigid structure resisting wave motion. This system, which is designed to withstand high waves and wind speeds, will supply energy to coastal and remote communities. 
Voltic Shipping (Whitney, TX) – This team is developing foldable, rotatable, and retractable solar panel systems to power canal, lake, and marine cargo vessels. This innovation will enable zero-emission, solar-powered cargo ships and help decarbonize the shipping industry.
EmpowerSun Solutions (Finalist) (Denver, CO) – This team is developing a platform for underserved communities that provides customized solar planning resources and connects landowners with pre-certified project partners. This innovation will help underserved communities, farmers, and tribal entities to effectively leverage their land for the development of solar energy. Ready! JEDI Winner, Set! JEDI Winner, and Go! JEDI Winner
1Climate (Finalist) (New York City, NY) – This team is developing a solar regulatory platform for faster permitting and interconnection by automating regulatory, permitting, contracting, and incentive filing processes. This will streamline the solar project development process, increase the ease of securing project financing, and monetize tax credits more reliably and efficiently.
Wildgrid, Inc. (New York City, NY) – This team is developing a free solar financing education and planning tool to help users interested in going solar easily understand, personalize, and streamline their solar project and financing. This financial planning tool will make solar adoption a financial reality for users by finding available tax incentives and helping consumers apply for zero- to low-interest green loans.
Electra (Finalist) (Bellingham, WA) – This team is developing a smart digital network for solar panel recycling to reroute retired solar panels from landfills to reuse locations or recycling facilities. This platform will optimize the collection, logistics, and matchmaking of solar panel recycling, leading to less waste and increased second-life opportunities.
Solar Unsoiled (Finalist) (Durham, NC) – This team is developing a software for large scale solar farms that provides optimized solar panel cleaning schedules based on a model that predicts daily soiling. This solution will increase system energy yield and reduce panel maintenance costs.
Reliable Autonomy (Basking Ridge, NJ) – This team is developing a software solution for homeowners with solar and second-life battery systems. This software integrates probabilistic solar forecasting and battery secondary life health diagnostics to maximize system integration efficiency and reduce costs for homeowners to adopt solar energy.
Keeping Solar Power Plants Green (Xenia, OH) – This team is developing a robotic arm to kill unwanted vegetation growing around mounting posts on solar farms with light that disrupts photosynthesis. This non-chemical treatment eliminates the need for expensive and hazardous herbicides, reducing operations and maintenance costs and increasing the safety and sustainability of solar farms.
Illumination Solar Training (Finalist) (Jefferson, WI) – This team, formerly known as Midwest Renewable Energy Association, is developing portable, interactive solar training carts that provide affordable, hands-on solar training for communities and colleges. This solution offers relevant equipment, comprehensive concepts, and easy transport for real-world solar training to bridge the solar skills gap. Ready! JEDI Winner, Set! JEDI Winner, and Go! JEDI Winner
Fundusol (Stanford, CA) –This team is developing a software solution that assists farmers in adopting solar energy. The platform will help to design the best system for their farm by modeling multiple factors to predict the performance of the agrivoltaic system on each farm’s crop and/or livestock. 
First Principle Energy (Sunnyvale, CA) – This team is developing a high-strength cable wire rope to mount solar panels, leading to lower levelized costs of electricity, installation costs, and foundation costs. The structure will adapt to uneven terrain due to its light weight, making field assembly easy and less time-consuming.
Recode Energy (Denver, CO) – This team is developing a software platform to help buyers navigate solar policies and incentives by developing personalization roadmaps and implementation tools for buildings. The platform will assess your portfolio for climate incentives, decode what those mean from a financial perspective, and guide you to a marketplace of resources, developers, and legal experts. Pitch Competition Winner
Soltheos (Denver, CO) – This team is developing a low-cost thermal battery for residential customers. This system will be able to provide heat when solar power is unavailable or when electricity prices are higher, producing savings for the owner.  
Ark Power Systems (Lake Linden, MI) – This solution is a modular, scalable, ground-mount solar racking system that enables the low-cost, fast installation of complete residential and commercial PV systems at scale. This can greatly reduce the soft costs of solar installations.  
NAS-LIION (South Orange, NJ) – This team is developing a quick swab test to detect leakage from lithium batteries in nanogrid applications that will increase quality control and failure analysis. This technology can improve quality control standards in second-life batteries in solar applications.   
Exergi (Buffalo, NY) – This team is developing a residential Solar Turbine System to provide homeowners with another option to adopt solar for those who can’t install on their roofs. It features a low space requirement, placement versatility, and easy installation and uninstallation.
Modular Microgrids (Mount Joy, PA) – This team is developing a solar-plus-battery microgrid for construction sites and modular homes and offices. It is aimed at replacing diesel generators often used at construction projects, improving the air quality around sites.   
Full Charge Solar (Mesquite, TX) – This team is developing a fully collapsible, emission-free, cart-based solar array with a battery and inverter that requires little to no maintenance, and provides electricity throughout the day while charging the battery to provide electricity at night. It can serve emergency situations when power is not available and has a grid-tie capability for non-emergency situations to offset electricity costs.
Amaterra Tech (Austin, TX) – This team is developing a distributed control system for microgrids that can integrate seamlessly with existing infrastructure. This solution will allow microgrids to expand quickly, reducing costs of adding new storage and generation to the systems.
The American-Made Solar Prize is a part of the American-Made Challenges and is administered by DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory.
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Japanese researchers developed a molybdenum-based spin-flip emitter that efficiently harvests triplet excitons from singlet-fission tetracene dimers, producing strong near-infrared emission. This approach could boost solar cell efficiency and enable new quantum technologies by converting otherwise “dark” excitons into usable light.
Researchers successfully capture singlet-fission–amplified excitons with a molybdenum-based emitter, achieving 130% quantum yield and opening a path beyond solar cell efficiency limits.
Image: Kyushu University
A research team at Kyushu University in Japan has reported a breakthrough that could steer photovoltaic technology past long‑standing efficiency barriers by harnessing a quantum process known as singlet fission (SF).
Singlet exciton fission is an effect seen in certain materials whereby a single photon can generate two electron-hole pairs as it is absorbed into a solar cell rather than the usual one. The effect has been observed by scientists as far back as the 1970s and though it has become an important area of research for some of the world’s leading institutes over the past decade; translating the effect into a viable solar cell has proved complex.
Singlet fission solar cells can produce two electrons from one photon, making the cell more efficient. This happens through a quantum mechanical process where one singlet exciton (an electron-hole pair) is split into two triplet excitons. By pairing SF with a specially designed spin‑flip molybdenum‑based complex, the scientists demonstrated energy conversion and harvesting in solution with an effective quantum yield of around 130%.
“The applications of this work in solar cells will require integrating singlet-fission (SF) materials with spin-flip emitters in solid-state systems,” Nobuo Kimizuka, lead author of the study, told pv magazine. “As fundamental research, our first step is to develop high-efficiency SF and spin-flip emitters with well-controlled energy levels and luminescence quantum yields in solid-state environments, and then evaluate the performance of these integrated systems.”
“We are actively working on building a higher-performance solid-state system,” he added. “Achieving robust performance in solid-state solar cells remains a challenge, but we expect the efficiency to surpass that of conventional SF technology alone. This approach, which multiplies photons and converts otherwise ‘dark’ triplet excitons into light, could open the door to new quantum technologies such as quantum sensors and exciton circuits, while also contributing to the design of next-generation quantum materials.”
The team developed a molybdenum-based spin-flip emitter that selectively captures the energy of triplet excitons before they dissipate. Its molecular design allows electron spin to flip during near-infrared (NIR) light absorption or emission, enabling more efficient harvesting of the multiple excitons generated by singlet fission.
Further analysis showed that sensitization efficiency depends heavily on the structure of the linker connecting tetracene units. The linker dictates not only the spatial arrangement and electronic coupling of the chromophores but also the exchange interaction within the correlated triplet pair. Variations in linker length, rigidity, and conjugation can significantly affect the rate and yield of triplet energy transfer to the spin-flip emitter, influencing both efficiency and the dynamics of the singlet fission process.
“The methodology we developed for assessing doublet yields provides a practical way to estimate triplet yields of SF dimers, even in systems with complex energy-transfer pathways involving both correlated and free triplets,” Kimizuka explained. “Reducing losses from correlated triplet-pair recombination requires either rapid separation into long-lived multiexcitons or faster triplet transfer to an acceptor molecule, achievable through careful energy-level design in oligomers or solid-state structures.”
“With a versatile selection of central metals, including chromium, molybdenum, and vanadium, and tunable ligands informed by Tanabe–Sugano diagrams and ligand-field theory, spin-flip emitters show strong potential as NIR-emitting materials for efficient triplet extraction, especially with recent advances in air-stable designs,” he added.
The interface design will be critical for converting triplet excitons generated by tetracene singlet fission into charge carriers on the silicon solar cell surface. “In SF-sensitized silicon cells, one major source of energy loss is transfer from the SF molecule to silicon via its excited singlet state,” Kimizuka noted. “Our proof-of-concept method blocks these loss pathways, enabling selective extraction of the excited triplet states originating from singlet fission.”
The research findings are available in the study “Exploring Spin-State Selective Harvesting Pathways from Singlet Fission Dimers to a Near-Infrared-Emissive Spin-Flip Emitter,” published in the Journal of the Chemical American Society.
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The Japanese government on Friday adopted a bill that requires operators of mega solar power plants to submit plans on how they will dispose of used panels, Jiji Press reports. 
The bill is aimed at getting mega solar farm operators to cooperate on recycling used panels, in order to reduce the volume of those that go to landfill.
The country is expected to see the amount of dumped used solar panels reach up to 500,000 tons around 2040, about six times the current volume.
The bill stipulates that operators set out in their plans the volume of panels to be disposed of, along with when and how they will be dumped, among other aspects.
Operators will be asked to dispose of used panels in ways that allow them to be recycled into materials.
Previously, it was reported renewables account for 85.6% of global expansion in 2025. 
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…To take effect April 1
Nigeria’s fast-growing solar power sector is facing a new constraint as China moves to dismantle the export subsidies that once made renewable hardware historically cheap.
For years, developers and households across Africa’s most populous country benefited from a flood of low-cost Chinese solar modules, which underpinned everything from rooftop installations in Lagos to mini-grid projects in the country’s underserved north. Now, that pricing dynamic is shifting.
BusinessDay’s findings showed Beijing will end value-added tax rebates on solar panel exports from April 1, 2026 and gradually phase out incentives for battery manufacturing, a move that analysts say will lift costs across Nigeria and other African countries, where most equipment is imported.
Read also: Data centre boom overtakes oil, solar investments as capex hits $770bn
The consequences matter most in Nigeria, where millions suffer some of the world’s most acute power shortages, with several households and businesses running diesel generators at a cost that has long made solar an attractive alternative.
“We are likely to see solar panel prices increase in Africa because most of the inputs come from China,” Wangari Muchiri, an energy analyst focused on the continent’s clean energy sector, told AP news. “Removing the rebate will add to existing costs, especially when you consider shipping, logistics, and other import fees.”
Fierce competition among Chinese manufacturers sent module prices crashing from roughly $0.25 per watt in 2022 to as little as $0.07 per watt in 2025, a collapse that made solar the cheapest source of energy across much of the world but left many producers nursing heavy losses.
Beijing, now trying to drain industrial overcapacity and pivot toward more sophisticated technologies, has pulled back the subsidies that enabled that pricing.
John van Zuylen, chief executive of the Africa Solar Industry Association, said the “entire recent solar boom was built on artificially cheap Chinese pricing.
“That era is now ending,” van Zuylen said.
For Nigerian buyers, the most likely outcome is a slow upward drift in what they pay, not a single dramatic spike that would freeze projects overnight.
“When a structural rebate is removed, exporters typically either absorb the cost, raise prices, or reduce discounting,” van Zuylen said. “African countries will likely feel this as a gradual upward shift in pricing rather than a single dramatic spike.”
Even so, the ripple effects through Africa’s project pipeline could be meaningful. “It will increase project costs slightly and might delay the project construction pipeline due to supply chain shortages and contractual changes, stockpiling rush, congestion in shipment for countries heavily reliant on Chinese imports,” said Sonia Dunlop, chief executive of the Global Solar Council.
Developers who had locked in earlier pricing assumptions may find their numbers no longer add up.
Read also: Yobe gets $5m World Bank grant to power critical institutions with solar
Batteries Present the Harder Problem
If higher panel prices are a manageable headache, the phaseout of battery storage incentives may prove to be a more serious complication.
Storage is what transforms solar from a daytime supplement into something approaching reliable electricity, a distinction that matters enormously across a continent where power demand runs around the clock and grid infrastructure is thin.
“Batteries matter more than panels for Africa because storage is what makes solar reliable for off-grid and backup users,” van Zuylen said.
For most of the history of solar adoption in Nigeria, battery storage was simply too expensive to include in most installations. Systems were built to push power during daylight hours and go dark after sunset. Only recently have the economics of pairing solar with storage started to shift.
“Batteries have historically been expensive, and many solar installations in Africa were built without them,” said Basil Abia, co-founder of Truva Intelligence, a Nigerian energy research firm. “Only recently have we started seeing more systems combining solar with battery storage.”
Implications for Nigeria’s households
For ordinary Nigerians and the small business owners who have quietly built their own workarounds to an unreliable national grid, the China price reset lands at a particularly delicate moment.
Over the past half-decade, the slide in panel prices unlocked solar for a class of Nigerians who had previously been priced out entirely.
Middle-income families in cities like Lagos, Abuja, and Port Harcourt who could not afford the N3 million to N5 million that a decent solar system once cost began to find the numbers workable as prices fell.
Micro-businesses, the hair salon running clippers, the roadside welder, the phone repair shop that needs a screen on all day, made the switch in large numbers, calculating that the upfront cost would pay itself back within two to three years against what they had been spending on generators and petrol.
If battery prices rise as Chinese incentives are withdrawn, the full solar-plus-storage package becomes harder to justify for the household on a tight budget.
Fewer will buy panels and batteries together. The result is a slower transition away from generators, and from the noise, the fumes, and the fuel bills that go with them, a daily reality that Nigerians in every income bracket know with an intimacy that no energy statistic quite captures.
For businesses, the stakes are somewhat different but no less concrete. A manufacturing outfit or cold-storage operator that invested in solar to stabilise its cost base has already locked in its gains.
But the medium-sized enterprise that was building a case to its board for a solar retrofit, pointing to falling prices and short payback periods, now has to update those projections. Approvals that looked straightforward six months ago require a fresh look today.
Read also: Blackouts drive more Nigerians off-grid as solar demand booms
The policy shift in Beijing is also forcing a longer-term conversation about Africa’s industrial strategy. Nearly all of the solar equipment installed across the continent is imported, almost entirely from China, a dependence that leaves African energy projects exposed to decisions made in Beijing’s ministries and boardrooms.
Despite significant aspirations, local solar manufacturing capacity across Africa remains thin. The combination of weak domestic demand signals, limited access to capital, and the inability to compete with Chinese prices has made it difficult to build industries from the ground up. The removal of Chinese subsidies narrows the pricing gap, but doesn’t close it.
Abia argued that the moment contains an opportunity, even if it arrives with costs attached.
“The VAT removal will slow, but not reverse Africa’s clean energy transition,” he said. “Countries that use this moment to accelerate local manufacturing will emerge stronger. Those that do not will remain exposed to Beijing’s next industrial policy adjustment.”
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Business Day, established in 2001, is a daily business newspaper based in Lagos. It is the only Nigerian newspaper with a bureau in Accra, Ghana. It has both daily and Sunday titles. It circulates in Nigeria and Ghana.
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Mainers may soon be able to install small-scale, portable solar energy systems in their homes, under a bill backed by the Legislature on Thursday.
If signed into law, the measure, LD 1730, would allow electricity customers to use certain small solar generation and battery systems, which plug directly into wall sockets, similar to gas generators. Since they attach to a home’s electrical system like any other appliance, these panels are also portable, meaning homeowners and renters can take them along when moving — unlike traditional solar systems, which are generally permanent.
The proposal comes as Mainers face steep electricity prices, driven largely by the cost of natural gas. It also comes as the American and Israeli conflict with Iran shakes global oil markets.
Proponents argue that these small generators could offset a household’s electricity usage and lower their monthly utility bills, all for a significantly lower upfront cost than larger-scale, more traditional solar systems.
Lawmakers have offered different estimations on exactly how much one of these systems could save a typical Maine household, but it could be hundreds of dollars per year.
Rep. Gerry Runte, D-York, said last month that an 800-watt system could reduce an average Central Maine Power Co. customer more than 750 kilowatt hours each year, reducing their annual electricity costs by more than $250.
The Senate approved the measure without debate Thursday, sending it to Gov. Janet Mills.
The bill’s movement comes as plug-in solar systems see expanded interest and implementation globally. Twenty-eight states — including nearly all of New England — are currently considering similar bills, according to an analysis by Canary Media.
The United Kingdom announced last month that plug-in solar panels would “be in shops within months,” noting that they have already been adopted elsewhere in Europe. In Germany, more than one million panels have been installed since 2022, the local outlet DW reported late last year.
The new measure is expected to create a “minor cost increase” for the Public Utilities Commission, which could likely be absorbed by the commission’s existing budget, according to the bill’s fiscal note.
The measure would permit electricity customers to install systems with outputs up to 420 watts by themselves.
Larger systems, up to 1,200 watts, are also permitted, but they must be installed by a licensed electrician and attached to a dedicated circuit. Though they do not need to seek permission, residents who install larger systems are also required to notify their electric utility within 30 days of installation.
The bill prohibits electrical utilities from demanding applications, charging fees or requiring additional equipment, and it exempts utilities from any liability if the new systems cause damage or injuries.
None of these smaller systems can be used to earn net energy billing credits, according to the bill’s latest language.
In remarks ahead of the bill’s first vote last month, Rep. Gary Friedmann, D-Bar Harbor, said the bill “promotes the frugal self sufficiency that has kept us strong.”
But opponents in the Legislature have derided the measure as overregulation and argued that it could create safety concerns and lead to conflicts between renters and their landlords.
In a debate last month on the House floor, Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport, said the bill “erodes property rights” by allowing renters to make changes to their living spaces without the property owner’s consent. She added that Maine’s old housing stock could create additional safety issues if, for example, someone runs an extension cord out their window because their home does not have exterior outlets.
Rep. Sophie Warren, D-Scarborough, argued that Mainers can already purchase appliances that would have a greater effect on a home’s electrical system than these solar and battery systems.
“This is about equity in our clean energy transition,” Warren said.
Staff Writer Rachel Ohm contributed to this report.
Daniel Kool is the Portland Press Herald's cost of living reporter, covering wages, bills and the infrastructure that drives them — from roads, to the state's electric grid to the global supply chains… More by Daniel Kool
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The first bid window of Zambia’s new Carbon Feed In Premium Program plans to develop 300 MW of solar across projects that are connected to on-site battery energy storage systems. The deadline to submit expressions of interest is May 31.
Image: Oskar Kadaksoo, Unsplash
The Zambian government is inviting applications to its Carbon Feed In Premium Program (CFIP), a new results-based financing mechanism geared towards large-scale, grid-connected solar installations.
The program, implemented by the country’s Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and Ministry of Energy, is open to both national and international independent power producers, national power utility ZESCO and its subsidiaries.
A call for proposals states that the first CFIP window will focus on procuring 300 MW of new solar projects.
Participation criteria adds that only solar projects with planned installed capacities between 30 MW and 100 MW are eligible. Projects should also encompass a battery energy storage system located on site with a capacity of at least half an hour.
Projects supported by the program must be connected to the national grid, with ZESCO acting as the primary offtaker via a power purchase agreement.
An online CFIP information event will take place on April 14, ahead of a deadline for applicants to submit their expressions of interest by May 31.
Funding for the CFIP has been made available through a bilateral agreement between Zambia and Norway, with Norway set to pay for the verified emissions reductions generated by the projects delivered under the program.
The Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) has identified 912.4 MW of operational solar in Zambia across 142 projects, according to its project database.
Last May, ZESCO completed the 100 MW Chisamba solar farm in southern Zambia, the country’s largest operational project to date. At the time, the company said it plans to add a second 100 MW at the site. Work is also underway on a separate 100 MW solar project towards the east of the country.
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Renalfa, RGreen JV plans huge solar-storage cluster in West Romania  Renewables Now
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California just hit an inflection point for batteries  Fast Company
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Plug-in solar panels: What are they, how much will they cost, why are Labour keen and should people with north-facing homes even bother?  thisismoney.co.uk
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Old solar panels can power new future  Adelaide University
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Renalfa Power Clusters acquires PV plant, BESS in Romania  SeeNews
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Maine renters may soon be able to access solar power after passage of plug-in bill  Maine Morning Star
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Mainers may soon be able to install small-scale, portable solar energy systems in their homes, under a bill backed by the Legislature on Thursday.
If signed into law, the measure, LD 1730, would allow electricity customers to use certain small solar generation and battery systems, which plug directly into wall sockets, similar to gas generators. Since they attach to a home’s electrical system like any other appliance, these panels are also portable, meaning homeowners and renters can take them along when moving — unlike traditional solar systems, which are generally permanent.
The proposal comes as Mainers face steep electricity prices, driven largely by the cost of natural gas. It also comes as the American and Israeli conflict with Iran shakes global oil markets.
Proponents argue that these small generators could offset a household’s electricity usage and lower their monthly utility bills, all for a significantly lower upfront cost than larger-scale, more traditional solar systems.
Lawmakers have offered different estimations on exactly how much one of these systems could save a typical Maine household, but it could be hundreds of dollars per year.
Rep. Gerry Runte, D-York, said last month that an 800-watt system could reduce an average Central Maine Power Co. customer more than 750 kilowatt hours each year, reducing their annual electricity costs by more than $250.
The Senate approved the measure without debate Thursday, sending it to Gov. Janet Mills.
The bill’s movement comes as plug-in solar systems see expanded interest and implementation globally. Twenty-eight states — including nearly all of New England — are currently considering similar bills, according to an analysis by Canary Media.
The United Kingdom announced last month that plug-in solar panels would “be in shops within months,” noting that they have already been adopted elsewhere in Europe. In Germany, more than one million panels have been installed since 2022, the local outlet DW reported late last year.
The new measure is expected to create a “minor cost increase” for the Public Utilities Commission, which could likely be absorbed by the commission’s existing budget, according to the bill’s fiscal note.
The measure would permit electricity customers to install systems with outputs up to 420 watts by themselves.
Larger systems, up to 1,200 watts, are also permitted, but they must be installed by a licensed electrician and attached to a dedicated circuit. Though they do not need to seek permission, residents who install larger systems are also required to notify their electric utility within 30 days of installation.
The bill prohibits electrical utilities from demanding applications, charging fees or requiring additional equipment, and it exempts utilities from any liability if the new systems cause damage or injuries.
None of these smaller systems can be used to earn net energy billing credits, according to the bill’s latest language.
In remarks ahead of the bill’s first vote last month, Rep. Gary Friedmann, D-Bar Harbor, said the bill “promotes the frugal self sufficiency that has kept us strong.”
But opponents in the Legislature have derided the measure as overregulation and argued that it could create safety concerns and lead to conflicts between renters and their landlords.
In a debate last month on the House floor, Rep. Reagan Paul, R-Winterport, said the bill “erodes property rights” by allowing renters to make changes to their living spaces without the property owner’s consent. She added that Maine’s old housing stock could create additional safety issues if, for example, someone runs an extension cord out their window because their home does not have exterior outlets.
Rep. Sophie Warren, D-Scarborough, argued that Mainers can already purchase appliances that would have a greater effect on a home’s electrical system than these solar and battery systems.
“This is about equity in our clean energy transition,” Warren said.
Staff Writer Rachel Ohm contributed to this report.
Daniel Kool is the Portland Press Herald's cost of living reporter, covering wages, bills and the infrastructure that drives them — from roads, to the state's electric grid to the global supply chains… More by Daniel Kool
We invite you to add your comments. We encourage a thoughtful exchange of ideas and information on this website. By joining the conversation, you are agreeing to our commenting policy and terms of use. More information is found on our FAQs. You can update your screen name on the member’s center.
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The German manufacturer said its new back-contact solar panel has a power conversion efficiency of up to 23.52%.
Image: Bauer Solar
From pv magazine Germany
German module manufacturer Bauer Solar is expanding its product portfolio with a new back-contact panel.
Initially, it will launch a full-black glass-glass version with an output of 480 W. It is built on 108 bifacial half-cells and measure 1,800 mm × 1,134 mm × 30 mm, with a listed weight of 24.8 kg. The module power conversion efficiency is 23.52%.
The company said that both the front and rear glass panes are 2 mm thick and feature anti-reflective coatings. The frame is made of anodized black aluminum alloy. The modules are rated for operating temperatures from –40 C to 85 C and a maximum system voltage of 1,500 V. They can reportedly withstand static loads up to 5,400 Pa and carry a hail resistance rating of HW3. Certifications include fire protection class A.
Bauer Solar is offering a 30-year product and performance warranty on the new modules. The linear performance warranty guarantees a minimum output of 88.85 % of the original capacity after 30 years. The company also plans to increase the output of its back-contact modules to 500 W later this year with the “Pure” and “Performance” variants.
Alongside back-contact modules, Bauer Solar will continue to focus on its TOPCon technology. This portfolio will be expanded this summer with the “Pure” and “Black” variants, which will reach an output of 465 W. While the company did not disclose pricing, it emphasized that the modules are aimed at the residential rooftop solar market as “an economical solution with an optimal price-performance ratio.”
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The photovoltaic park at Thessaloniki Airport “Makedonia”. Photo source: Fraport Greece
Thessaloniki Airport “Makedonia” has launched the first photovoltaic park at a regional airport in Greece, marking a step forward in efforts to reduce aviation-related environmental impact, Fraport Greece announced.
The company, which operates 14 regional airports across Greece, said the project forms part of its broader sustainability strategy to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions across its airport portfolio. Construction began in March 2025 and was completed in December 2025, with all systems installed in line with European standards.
The installation has a capacity of approximately 3 megawatt-peak (MWp) and is expected to generate around 4.5 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually, covering a significant share of the airport’s energy needs. The output is equivalent to the yearly electricity consumption of about 1,100 households.
Sergio Ocampo, Chief Technical Officer at Fraport Greece. Photo source: Fraport Greece
“The implementation of the first photovoltaic park at a regional airport in Greece marks an important milestone in our sustainability strategy,” said Sergio Ocampo, Chief Technical Officer of Fraport Greece.
The photovoltaic park spans 35,000 square meters and includes 4,877 solar panels and eight inverters. The investment, totaling approximately 3.4 million euros, was fully funded by Fraport Greece.
George Varsamis, Head of Cluster A at Fraport Greece; Κostas Nikoloudis, Head of Design and Construction at Fraport Greece; Savvas Karagiannis, Head of Corporate Communications Department at Fraport Greece; Sergio Ocampo, Chief Technical Officer at Fraport Greece; and Vicky Hatzivassiliou, Deputy Governor of Tourism. Photo source: Fraport Greece
According to the company, the project is expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by roughly 3,000 tons annually, contributing to an overall 30 percent decrease in the airport’s carbon footprint.
“Through targeted investments, we aim to strengthen the energy independence of the airports we manage while contributing to environmental protection and regional sustainable development,” Ocampo added.
The project contractor was Damco, while engineering and design studies were carried out by Redex.
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Global clean energy major EDP Renewables plans to accelerate the development of more than 1.7 GW of solar and battery storage in Australia after securing support under the federal government’s Capacity Investment Scheme.
Image: EDP Renewables APAC
From pv magazine Australia
EDP Renewables (EDPR), the clean energy arm of Portuguese company EDP, announced it will fast-track the development of its Punchs Creek Renewable Energy Project in Queensland and Merino Hybrid Project in New South Wales, aiming to bring them online before 2030 in line with government targets.
The Punchs Creek project, being developed near Toowoomba in Queensland’s south, comprises 400 MW of solar co-located with a 400 MW / 1,600 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). The Merino hybrid project, planned for near Goulburn in southern New South Wales (NSW), comprises 450 MW of solar co-located with a 450 MW / 1,800 MWh battery.
EDPR said the Punchs Creek project is expected to reach financial close next year with commissioning expected for early 2029. The Merino project is expected to reach ready-to-build status in the second half of 2026.
The projects are among 20 awarded revenue underwriting agreements in the federal government’s latest Capacity Investment Scheme (CIS) tender. These agreements will underwrite revenues by offering support if market revenues fall below a set floor, and sharing upside if they exceed a cap.
EDPR Australia Country Director Simon Franklin said this “vital support” will accelerate the addition of new renewable capacity into the National Electricity Market.
“Securing generation revenue schemes under the CIS strengthens and affirms our ambition to accelerate Australia’s energy transition through high-quality, sustainable growth,” he said.
Once operational, the Punchs Creek and Merino projects will collectively feature 1.5 million solar panels across 1,600 hectares, generating approximately 2.2 TWh of clean and renewable energy annually. At times of peak demand, the projects will be capable of supplying clean energy to about 380,000 Australian households.
EDPR said the projects will also deliver tangible benefits to local communities with construction expected to generate more than 1,600 jobs, with increased economic activity for retailers and service providers in the surrounding areas.
The projects form part of EDPR Australia’s estimated 4 GW development pipeline that includes more than 30 town-scale and large-scale projects across the country.
In a statement, the company said it views Australia as “a key market with strong fundamentals for renewables” and is focusing on scaling hybrid projects, with the aim of deploying more than 2 GW of solar, wind and storage across the country by 2030.
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Indian solar firm strengthens global standing with integrated expansion strategy, advanced technologies and Mission 2028 roadmap.
April 02, 2026. By News Bureau
Premier Energies, an integrated solar manufacturer in India, has been ranked among the top 15 global PV manufacturers in the inaugural Terawatt PV 100, released by Terawatt PV Research. The ranking evaluates production volumes, financial strength and corporate transparency across the global solar PV ecosystem.
Premier Energies is also the second-highest ranked Indian manufacturer, part of the 21 India-headquartered firms in the global top 100, highlighting India’s growing influence in solar manufacturing.
The company’s rapid growth is fueled by its Mission 2028 roadmap, aiming for over 10 GW of integrated capacity and expanding upstream into ingot and wafer production. Its backward integration strategy strengthens competitiveness through lower costs, resilient supply chains and operational efficiency.
On the technology front, Premier Energies is advancing N-type TOPCon cells and Zero Busbar (0BB) modules for higher power output, reduced silver usage and enhanced durability. The newly commissioned Seetharampur facility adds 5.6 GW of automated module capacity, with AI-driven quality control and traceable, efficient processes.
Since going public, Premier Energies has strengthened governance, transparency and investor engagement. Inclusion in the Terawatt PV 100 underscores its global relevance and reinforces India’s role in shaping the future of solar energy.

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Solarworld has secured a 200 MW balance-of-system (BOS) package for a grid-connected solar PV project in Bikaner, Rajasthan. It has also won EPC contracts for battery energy storage systems totaling 182 MW/364 MWh at thermal power stations operated by NTPC.
NTPC Green Energy
Solarworld has been awarded the balance-of-system package for 200 MW AC solar capacity by NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd (an arm of NTPC Green Energy Ltd). The capacity is part of a broader 1 GW (2×300 MW + 2×200 MW) grid-connected solar PV project at Bikaner, Rajasthan.
Solarworld’s scope of work also includes three years of operation and maintenance (O&M) services for the solar plant. The contract value is around INR 267.53 crore, including taxes.
Separately, Solarworld has also secured two battery energy storage system (BESS) EPC contracts at thermal power stations operated by NTPC.
The first project involves a 50 MW/100 MWh BESS installation at NTPC’s Feroze Gandhi Unchahar Thermal Power Station, with an order value of around INR 108.22 crore, excluding taxes. The project completion period is 15 months.
The second EPC contract is for the development of a 132 MW/264 MWh BESS project at the Solapur Super Thermal Power Station. This order, valued at around INR 314.26 crore, excluding taxes, is also scheduled for completion within 15 months.
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California-based Terabase Energy is scaling up its automated solar construction platform and expanding its engineering software ecosystem to improve project delivery and performance modeling.
Image: Terabase Energy
From pv magazine USA
California-based engineering and construction technology firm Terabase Energy says its new Terafab V2 automated solar array construction system has completed field testing and is ready for commercial service. The Terafab process solar panel and tracker torque tube assemblies onsite and deploys them on prepositioned tracker mounts using AI-assisted robotics.
In addition, Terafab has established a partnership with California-based energy consulting firm PowerUQ to integrate the latter’s uncertainty analysis software with the former’s PlantPredict solar modeling tools. The developments represent significant investments in solar plant technology at a time when new large-capacity power projects face shifting economic incentives.
The core of the upgraded Terafab factory system is an outdoor assembly and inspection center that is erected on active construction sites. The current version of the factory is optimized for First Solar Series 7 panels and Nextpower trackers.
Palleted panels are paired with steel tubes and in the field and run through an automated inspection line that performs quality control. Defects are caught in real time. Robotic arms load approved assemblies from the line onto unmanned rovers that drive them out to their appointed locations in the array field for manual placement.
Matt Campbell, CEO and co-founder of Terabase Energy told pv magazine USA that he has been working for ways to streamline solar construction since his days at SunPower a decade and a half ago. Earlier efforts involved prefabricating tracking module assemblies in the factory and shipping them to the site, but the weight and dimension limits imposed too many compromises on the process.
“We decided, ‘Hey, let’s do prefab, but we’re going to do it on-site because of the shipping density problem.’ But then we inherit these other problems,” Campbell said. “It’s hard to do outdoor robotics. Plus, we essentially take a factory assembly operation and set it up on site, where we have to fight through rain, hail, wind, tornadoes, dust, ants, bees, snakes, badgers, rats. Literally.”
Terabase’s research and development efforts have resulted in factory line that is hardened against the elements and nature’s creatures. Palleted modules and tracker frame components are shipped to the construction site. One robot unpacks them and moves module and torque tube assemblies through the inspection and loading point. Campbell says Terafab V2 has a two-minute cycle time that could ideally place 20 MW per week per line if running continuously. Campbell says there are two deployable factories available now with a third to be ready by the end of the year. He expects 10 factories to be available in the second quarter of 2027.

Terabase has used the first version of the Terafab system to install 40 MW of tracking solar over across multiple commercial projects in the U.S. With the addition of AI-assisted management software and automated robotics, the company expects to install hundreds more megawatts of solar in 2026.
“The new version is more compact than the original, so you can you can move it in four hours,” he said. “It’s pretty nimble and has a higher level of automation. The factory is twice as fast, and you can run multiple lines per site. My goal is to install a gigawatt in 10 weeks. The way you could do that is if we send four or five Terafabs to a site and run them 24 hours. We could do that.”
With the current version of the system, workers manually unload the panel-tube assemblies from the rovers and install them onto mounts, which have been pre-placed. Terabase says a future version of the system, due in 2027, will automate the process of fitting assemblies onto tracker mounts. Campbell said versions of Terafab capable of handling panels using silicon modules and other tracker components are forthcoming.
Terafab V2 was financed largely through a $130 million series C investment round led by Softbank last year. Campbell said the investment has enabled the company to pursue research and development on a number of initiatives designed to bring down the cost and time required to install large-scale solar.
“Well, the original goal of the company is in the name, ‘Terawatt Baseload Energy,’” Campbell said. “When we started the company, I asked, ‘What do we need for solar to be a terawatt-scale source of baseload energy?’ And the conclusion was, we need to be able to build it 10 times faster for half the cost.”
Another example of this investment in new technology can be found on the company’s engineering and analysis side of the business, with PlantPredict’s integration agreement with PowerUQ. The integration enables a solar productivity analysis in PlantPredict to be loaded into PowerUQ for an uncertainty quantification analysis to forecast plant performance over time taking additional factors into account.

David Spieldenner, director of PlantPredict sales at Terabase, told pv magazine USA that his company’s software represents an expansion of desktop photovoltaic analysis tools such as PVSyst by using cloud computing to enable more extensive analyses. Access to high-end computing enables PlantPredict to use parallel processing across many data centers to produce very granular results.
“We unlock the power of the cloud to do very advanced 3-D sub-hourly simulations,” he said.
Chetan Chaudhari, co-founder and CEO of PowerUQ, told pv magazine USA that while PlanPredict is a very high-fidelity, accurate physics model with its shading engine and different model chains that it considers while calculating energy production, its focus has mainly been on first year energy generation. Historically this has been worked, he added, because most of the plant value came from project’s tax credits and the high power purchase agreement rates it could command.
“But now that that’s kind of going away” Chaudhari said. “There are a lot more market pressures. We are seeing more news about the underperformance of these solar assets over their lifespans. This is the time for the industry to move away from just looking at the first-year generation and basing all the financial calculations on that. We need to be able to think about the project as a 20-year, 30-year asset that you’re investing billions of dollars in.”
The function of PowerUQ is to analyze factors that introduce variability into plant output models and evaluate the risks these impose on the project. Examples of such uncertainty are the performance of components over time, curtailment policies of utilities that dampen production, and the impact of El Niño weather events. A PowerUQ analysis of a PlantPredict model could show a range of probabilities for output scenarios and the risk levels associated with them.
“As we’re moving forward, we want to make sure people don’t get results that they don’t trust,” Spieldenner said. “PowerUQ is going to help people better understand the implications of the deeper results they are getting out of PlantPredict.”
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“Effectively hitting the kill switch on an entire industry overnight.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Two bills written by Alabama Senator Greg Albritton and Representative Matt Simpson could soon upend the solar industry in the southern state. 
According to the Alabama Daily News, the bills would put all new solar farms in the state on hold for one year with the goal of giving more authority to county governments over solar developments. 
Albritton said in a statement to the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee that he has heard public concerns surrounding the ecological impacts of the multiple large-scale solar farm proposals in his district. 
“The public is very concerned with what the reclamation requirements are, if any,” Albritton said. “They’re concerned about any ecological matters that come into play.”
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While some local residents may be concerned about how the farms will impact their local environments, studies have shown that large-scale solar farms, when implemented with the local ecology in mind, can benefit native plant life and pollinators. 
That’s not to mention the environmental benefits of clean energy compared to the harmful alternatives, such as burning coal, gas, and oil. 
On the residential scale, solar panels have long been known as one of the best ways to save money on home energy. In fact, TCD partner EnergySage has free tools that can show you just how much you can reduce your electricity bills by upgrading. 
While some are concerned about the environmental impacts of solar, others are questioning how this bill will impact the local industry. 
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
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“[The bill] is not targeted oversight — that’s effectively hitting the kill switch on an entire industry overnight,” John Dodd from Energy Alabama said, per Alabama Daily News. “In a state that prides itself on being pro-business and welcoming to investment, that sends a troubling signal.” 
Although many homeowners may think panels are just for residential rooftops, solar farms can benefit both small and large communities. While this bill would pause large-scale projects in Alabama, other states are already using them to stabilize entire grids. 
Which of these savings plans for rooftop solar panels would be most appealing for you?
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Click your choice to see results and earn rewards to spend on home upgrades.

Regardless of where your community is on its clean-energy journey, you can get ahead of the trend and take matters into your own hands by installing solar panels on your home. 
To get started, consider taking advantage of EnergySage’s resources, which can save the average homeowner up to $10,000 on solar panel installation costs. 
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
EnergySage even has a helpful mapping tool that compares the average cost of home solar on a state-by-state level. It even offers details on local incentives to make sure you get the best price and deals based on your home and budget. 
To fully maximize your savings, consider pairing solar panels with a whole-home battery backup. Home batteries can help you store solar energy during the day to power your lights at night when electricity rates are often at their most expensive. 
Luckily, EnergySage also has all of the information you need to deal with frustrating power outages or even go completely off-grid with a battery backup.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices — and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD’s exclusive Rewards Club.
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$20M in funding available for research and development projects that reuse and recycle solar energy technologies.
Integrated Energy Systems Office
— DOE announced selected projects for the MORE PV funding program on Sept. 12, 2024. —
Office: Solar Energy Technologies Office 
FOA Number: DE-FOA-0002985 
Link to Apply: Apply on EERE Exchange
FOA Amount: $20 million 
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) announced the FY23 Materials, Operation, and Recycling of Photovoltaics (MORE PV) funding opportunity, which will provide up to $20 million over three years for research and development projects to create innovative and practical approaches to increase the reuse and recycling of solar energy technologies. These research activities will strengthen a circular economy for solar energy systems in the United States, aligning with the Biden-Harris Administration’s goals to build a clean and equitable energy economy. 
This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is designed to address challenges associated with the rapid deployment of PV systems in the United States, including the increasing demands on PV materials, system operation and maintenance, and recycling. The focus of this FOA is to support technology improvements to reduce these challenges with a holistic view of all stages of the PV lifecycle—from the material needs and installation to operation and end of life (EOL). This opportunity also supports DOE’s Photovoltaics End-of-Life Action Plan which aims to halve the cost of recycling by 2030 and reduce the environmental impact of solar energy modules at end-of-life.
DOE anticipates making approximately four to seven awards under this FOA ranging from $2 million to $8 million. Teams from institutions of higher education, for-profit entities, non-profit entities, state and local government, and Tribal entities are encouraged to apply.  
Prior to submitting a full application for this opportunity, applicants must submit a letter of intent by September 6 at 5 p.m. ET and a concept paper by September 13 at 5 p.m. ET. 
Projects in this topic area will support collaborations of stakeholders who can bring expertise from all four stages of the PV system lifecycle to reduce cost and improve performance of a PV system and its components, including co-located storage. Projects will develop technology and design solutions to optimize the interconnected energy, economic, and environmental impact metrics in pursuit of rapid and sustainable scale up of PV technologies. 
This topic area will support one partnership to improve materials recovery efficiency and develop safe end-of-life practices for PV system components, including modules, inverters, and other components. This project will focus on technologies and methods to enable low-cost reuse, refurbishing, repair, and recycling of PV materials, and best practices for safe disposal of these materials, including data collection, analysis, and working groups to enable effective collaborations and technology transfer. 
DOE is compiling a “Teaming Partner List” to facilitate the formation of project teams for this FOA. The Teaming Partner List allows organizations that may wish to participate on a project to express their interest to other applicants and explore potential partnerships.
The Teaming Partner List will be available on the EERE eXCHANGE website and will be regularly updated to reflect new teaming partners who provide their organization’s information.
SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS: View the Teaming Partner List by visiting the EERE eXCHANGE homepage and clicking on “Teaming Partners” within the left-hand navigation pane. This page allows users to view published Teaming Partner Lists. To join the Teaming Partner List, submit a request within eXCHANGE. Select the appropriate Teaming Partner List from the drop-down menu, and fill in the following information: Investigator Name, Organization Name, Organization Type, Topic Area, Background and Capabilities, Website, Contact Address, Contact Email, and Contact Phone.
DISCLAIMER: By submitting a request to be included on the Teaming Partner List, the requesting organization consents to the publication of the above-referenced information. By facilitating the Teaming Partner List, DOE is not endorsing, sponsoring, or otherwise evaluating the qualifications of the individuals and organizations that are identifying themselves for placement on this Teaming Partner List. DOE will not pay for the provision of any information, nor will it compensate any applicants or requesting organizations for the development of such information.
SETO hosted an informational webinar on July 26 to discuss the funding opportunity and the areas of focus. Watch a recording of the webinar.
FOA Issue Date:  
07/21/2023  
Informational Webinar:  
07/26/2023 1 p.m. ET
Submission Deadline for Letter of Intent:  
09/06/2023 5 p.m. ET 
Submission Deadline for Concept Papers:  
09/13/2023 5 p.m. ET 
Submission Deadline for Full Applications:  
11/30/2023 5 p.m. ET 
Expected Submission Deadline for Replies to Reviewer Comments:  
1/16/2024 5 p.m. ET 
Expected Date for DOE Selection Notifications:  
April 2024   
Expected Timeframe for Award Negotiations:  
April – August 2024 
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(April 3, 2026) A solar farm on the outskirts of Berlin that drew opposition from the Worcester County Commissioners is advancing anyway under state authority that overrides local zoning.
Arizona-based developer TurningPoint Solar is scheduled to meet next Wednesday with the county’s Technical Review Committee for a major site plan review. If approved, the proposal would next be heard by the county’s planning commission for a favorable or unfavorable vote, followed by a public hearing.
Worcester County’s zoning does not allow utility-scale solar farms like this one within residential areas. But Maryland’s high court in 2019 ruled that the state’s Public Service Commission has final say over placement of solar farms and may preempt local zoning. The best a county or municipality can do is write a strongly worded letter in opposition.
That’s what happened a year and a half ago. Before TurningPoint had even filed the project paperwork with the state, the developer came before the commissioners for a courtesy consultation. The commissioners were skeptical of the plan and unanimously voted to oppose the proposal.
Commissioner Eric Fiori (District 3, West Ocean City) expressed serious concern about building a renewable energy project in a spot already designated for future residential development.
“It’s really kind of affecting the way we’ve planned the growth of Berlin and growth of Worcester County. I think there’s a lot of better sites than this particular one,” he said at the Oct. 1, 2024, meeting.
A month after that meeting, TurningPoint filed an application with the Public Service Commission. Following two public comment hearings last year, the commission on Jan. 13 gave its approval for the project to move forward, a regulatory order known as a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity.
That state certification typically hinges on local site plan review to address technical details like screening, stormwater, and road access, which is why the project is headed to the county’s Technical Review Committee.
The 5-megawatt project would be constructed on a triangular parcel of agricultural land off Old Ocean City Boulevard. Its 13,780 solar panels would take up 35.5 acres of the 137-acre site. It would be enclosed by a 7-foot security fence and buffered by 35 feet of landscaping.
Power generated by the facility would be delivered through Delmarva Power’s electric distribution grid to Maryland subscribers, rather than sold directly to a single utility buyer.
TurningPoint spokeswoman Christy Scott said the proposed project would serve more than 800 residential subscribers, with a minimum of 40% of the capacity of the project set aside for low-income customers.
She also said the company scouted the site for a solar farm based on its proximity to a nearby substation, the landowner’s interest, and interconnection viability with the utility, among other factors.
TurningPoint says the project would generate $3.5 million in tax revenue from its land lease and employ about 50 people during construction. The company has been developing solar projects in Maryland since 2016.
By 2030, renewable energy sources must account for 50% of the electricity sold by suppliers in Maryland, including a 14.5% requirement for solar power, according to state law. That mandate was set by the 2019 Clean Energy Jobs Act, which expanded the state’s original 2004 renewable energy law.
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Lafayette, IN

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The second of three meetings to discuss a new ordinance for large scale solar projects features discussion on maximum project acreage, county wide acre limits and more.
With the year-long moratorium on large scale solar projects ending in June, the Tippecanoe County Area Plan Commission is working on a new ordinance.
This was the second of three meetings the commission will have to discuss the newly proposed 12 page ordinance before it reaches the county commissioners in May.
The highly discussed features of the new ordinance include a 400 acre cap on individual solar projects, a 6000 acre county maximum for solar projects and what distance solar farms need to be from property lines of non-participating property owners.
“You get on the plat-books and you start trying to look at them and see potentially where these could go, 6,000 max sounds perfect. I also totally agree at 400 max on a single project,” Tippecanoe County commissioner David Byres said. 
“Setbacks are a huge issue, too, and I think what I heard earlier was the suggestion that setbacks be moved to 1000 feet and some instances. We really want to protect the property owner who is going to have their property, maybe for the rest of their lives, or give it to their children,” commissioner Tracy Brown said.
Many community members shared their thoughts on the restrictions for new large-scale solar farms in the county.
“Solar ordinances to make sure that future solar projects do comply with zoning regulations, on site setbacks and decommissioning. But also, as you make these decisions, please consider solar is the fastest growing energy source in the U.S. So, let’s not get left behind,” Barb Brown said.
“You cannot build utility scale projects with these setbacks and these acreages and have it be economical, just due to the size and cost of building and substation that’s associated with it. I think there needs to be more consideration,” Brendan Miller said.
Another public hearing for the ordinance would be April 15 at 4:45 p.m. in the County Commissioners Building.
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The Australian government has approved the 141MW Forbes Solar Farm Project in New South Wales in just 19 days, marking one of the fastest environmental approvals on record in the country.
Australia’s environment minister, Murray Watt, confirmed the project received approval under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act on 4 October, making it the 106th renewable energy project approved by the Albanese government.
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The solar PV power plant, being developed jointly by ACE Power and Osaka Gas Australia, will include a 120MW/480MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) on a 270-hectare site approximately 11km north of Forbes.
According to minister Watt, the rapid approval timeline stems from the developers’ decision to locate the facility on degraded agricultural land with minimal native vegetation.
“By choosing to build this facility on disturbed agricultural land with little native vegetation, the proponent set themselves up for success,” Watt stated in the government media release.
“Their planning has paid off with this rapid approval, which unlocks investment and jobs for the community in and around Forbes.”
When the project was submitted to Australia’s EPBC Act for environmental assessment, the developers emphasised the site’s suitability for solar development due to its existing transmission infrastructure and limited environmental constraints.
When operational, the Forbes solar PV power plant will feature more than 196,000 solar modules connecting to the National Electricity Market (NEM) via an onsite substation.
The facility will utilise Transgrid’s existing 132kV high-voltage transmission line that traverses the project site, eliminating the need for new transmission infrastructure and reducing both costs and approval complexity.
ACE Power’s website for the Forbes Solar Farm project indicates that the BESS is being designed as a 120MW system with an 8-hour duration. This configuration would provide a total capacity of 960MWh. However, the project’s BESS is defined as a 4-hour system in the application submitted to the EPBC Act.
They note in this application that an upgrade to the BESS could be undertaken, which would require the project to either request an extension or submit a new development application.
Construction of the Forbes project is expected to create nearly 100 jobs, with three permanent positions during the operational phase. The developers have also committed to maintaining agricultural use through agrivoltaics, with sheep grazing planned to continue during the operational phase.
The 19-day approval timeline contrasts with typical EPBC Act assessment periods, which can extend several months depending on project complexity and environmental considerations. The Forbes project’s success provides a template for future solar developments seeking to minimise regulatory delays through strategic site selection and early stakeholder engagement.
The project’s construction phase is expected to take 12-18 months, with site establishment requiring approximately 1.5 months, solar PV power plant installation taking nine to 11 months and commissioning requiring three to four months. At peak construction, the project will employ approximately 100 workers.
It is worth noting that the project still requires planning approval from the New South Wales state government before construction can commence, with commercial operation targeted for 2026.
ACE Power was acquired by renewables developer and independent power producer (IPP) TagEnergy in late August 2025. The integration of ACE Power’s portfolio creates a combined portfolio exceeding 10GW across Australia.

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“Effectively hitting the kill switch on an entire industry overnight.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Two bills written by Alabama Senator Greg Albritton and Representative Matt Simpson could soon upend the solar industry in the southern state. 
According to the Alabama Daily News, the bills would put all new solar farms in the state on hold for one year with the goal of giving more authority to county governments over solar developments. 
Albritton said in a statement to the Senate Transportation and Energy Committee that he has heard public concerns surrounding the ecological impacts of the multiple large-scale solar farm proposals in his district. 
“The public is very concerned with what the reclamation requirements are, if any,” Albritton said. “They’re concerned about any ecological matters that come into play.”
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
While some local residents may be concerned about how the farms will impact their local environments, studies have shown that large-scale solar farms, when implemented with the local ecology in mind, can benefit native plant life and pollinators. 
That’s not to mention the environmental benefits of clean energy compared to the harmful alternatives, such as burning coal, gas, and oil. 
On the residential scale, solar panels have long been known as one of the best ways to save money on home energy. In fact, TCD partner EnergySage has free tools that can show you just how much you can reduce your electricity bills by upgrading. 
While some are concerned about the environmental impacts of solar, others are questioning how this bill will impact the local industry. 
FROM OUR PARTNER
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
“[The bill] is not targeted oversight — that’s effectively hitting the kill switch on an entire industry overnight,” John Dodd from Energy Alabama said, per Alabama Daily News. “In a state that prides itself on being pro-business and welcoming to investment, that sends a troubling signal.” 
Although many homeowners may think panels are just for residential rooftops, solar farms can benefit both small and large communities. While this bill would pause large-scale projects in Alabama, other states are already using them to stabilize entire grids. 
Which of these savings plans for rooftop solar panels would be most appealing for you?
Save $1,000 this year 💸
Save less this year but $20k in 10 years 💰
Save less in 10 years but $80k in 20 years 🤑
Couldn’t pay me to go solar 😒
Click your choice to see results and earn rewards to spend on home upgrades.

Regardless of where your community is on its clean-energy journey, you can get ahead of the trend and take matters into your own hands by installing solar panels on your home. 
To get started, consider taking advantage of EnergySage’s resources, which can save the average homeowner up to $10,000 on solar panel installation costs. 
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
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Nearly 40,000 poor and working-class people in Puerto Rico were promised accessible solar panels and battery storage from the U.S. government following massive blackouts after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and Hurricane Fiona in 2022. Within a year of Donald Trump winning his second term as president, his administration eliminated the programs.
On Thursday, Grist reported that the Trump administration has diverted a large chunk of funding away from the Energy Resilience Fund, a $1 billion program Congress formed in 2022, and handed over what’s left of it to the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA—a government-owned energy company with a history of corruption and incompetence. On top of that, in January, Trump’s Department of Energy eliminated $350 million in grants to low-income households on the island to set up their own solar systems.
“Why would you cancel something that is working as intended and being executed, to give it to someone that has a bad history?” a former Energy Department official told Grist, referring to PREPA. “Why are we risking these funds?”
The ailing state of Puerto Rico’s power grid was exacerbated by Hurricane Fiona in 2022 and Hurricane Maria in 2017. Both resulted in blackouts across the island, and the infrastructure failure caused by the former—not by the storm itself—killed around 3,000 people in Puerto Rico. Now Trump has placed the power grid, and the safety of thousands of Puerto Ricans, in flux as hurricane season approaches once again.
Only 6,000 solar battery units were placed before the ERF’s funding was cut. Read the full report here.
The National Capital Planning Commission, or NCPC, issued final approval for Donald Trump’s White House ballroom Thursday, a key goalpost for the enormous development.
The decision arrived two days after U.S. District Judge Richard Leon ordered construction on the site to cease until Trump obtained congressional approval. It is not clear yet if the agency’s approval will bear any weight with regard to the halted timeline, which Trump has tried to expedite in an attempt to complete the project before he is out of office.
Leon argued in a 35-page opinion Tuesday that while the president serves as the “steward of the White House for future generations of First Families,” he does not own it, emphasizing that “no statute comes close to giving the President the authority he claims to have” with regard to reimagining the White House grounds.
Trump has repeatedly rejected the fact that he needs Congress’s approval to build upon or demolish the publicly owned mansion.
The 12-person NCPC was originally set to vote on the ballroom in March, but was delayed until Thursday due to the number of individuals wishing to comment on the development at the committee meeting. Most of those who spoke were opposed, reported the Associated Press.
Trump’s idea to build a 90,000-square-foot ballroom on the executive estate has been riddled with problems and colored by lies since he first announced the project in July. Initially, Trump pledged that the development would “be near but not touching” the White House East Wing.
Months later, his construction teams completely razed the FDR-era extension, plowing forward without prerequisite approval from the NCPC or the express permission of Congress, both of which were conveniently unavailable at the time due to the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.
The ballroom’s estimated price tag has been similarly difficult to nail down. Trump originally claimed that the project would cost $200 million, but a decision to tack on extra construction to the site doubled its cost to $400 million. The new building will have 40-foot ceilings, be able to accommodate up to 1,000 seated guests, and would constitute 22,000 square feet of the 90,000-square-foot development, according to projections offered by East Wing ballroom architect Shalom Baranes in January.
The ballroom is the biggest and most expensive reform Trump has proposed to the White House, but it’s far from his only attempt to remake the “People’s House” in his image. Trump also renovated Jackie Kennedy’s famous Rose Garden, mowing down flowers in order to literally pave paradise. He gutted the Lincoln bathroom, transforming it from Lyndon B. Johnson’s “favorite office” into a marble-slathered eyesore, and swapped the historic Palm Room’s lush green tones and tall ferns for white paint and framed photos of plants.
Donald Trump is preparing to release a budget plan that sets aside more than $1 trillion for defense spending in 2027, a sum that will be at least partially paid for by cuts to programs that actually help Americans.
Trump is reportedly looking to boost defense spending to $1.5 trillion in 2027, up from the nearly $1 trillion spent in 2026, Bloomberg reported Thursday. The demand for more defense funding comes amid Trump’s increasingly unpopular war in Iran, and its ever-rising price tag, unknown death toll, and vacillating objectives.
All of this comes at the cost of cutting federal programs—a tool that Democrats could use to their advantage come the midterm elections. Trump’s drastic cuts to the federal workforce and reduction on health care spending should play nicely for the Democrats who hope to highlight affordability.
Trump spoke frankly Wednesday about prioritizing paying for a war over programs such as universal daycare, Medicaid, and Medicare. So frankly, in fact, that the White House removed a recording of his speech after posting it.
Trump’s 2027 budget proposal is also expected to update 10-year deficit projections, which are currently placed at around $16 trillion. During his first term, Trump promised to erase the nation’s debt, but instead added $7.8 trillion to it. Given that the Supreme Court struck down his disastrous reciprocal tariff policy that he promised would help balance the deficit, it’s not clear how he’d make good on that promise now.
The U.S. government is staring down a projected $1.9 trillion deficit for this fiscal year, with the total national debt now pushing $39 trillion.
Pam Bondi is out of the Trump administration—and some insiders believe the underlying reason is due to an odd connection to California Representative Eric Swalwell.
Donald Trump fired Bondi Thursday, thrusting her out of government altogether and into the private sector. Her dismissal was reportedly supposed to occur Friday, but was rushed due to rampant speculation about her replacement that consumed Washington Wednesday night.
An unidentified senior administration source that spoke with the Daily Mail Thursday claimed that Bondi begged Trump to reconsider, pleading to give her more time in the role, but Trump was adamant about her departure.
“She was unhappy and tried to change his mind,” the Mail’s source said.
It was widely believed that one of Trump’s chief complaints with Bondi was her handling of the Epstein files, which remains one of the president’s most enduring scandals. But the source that spoke with Mail pointed in a different direction, positing that the sudden dismissal was in no small part because Trump believed Bondi had previously tipped Swalwell off over the FBI’s efforts to publicize decades-old files related to the lawmaker’s former relationship with a suspected Chinese spy, Christine Fang.
“She’s intervening in those matters. The White House wasn’t pleased she was intervening due to her personal friendship with Swalwell,” the source told the Mail.
Sources that spoke with Semafor also reported the Swalwell detail.
Swalwell issued a cease and desist letter to FBI Director Kash Patel on Monday, urging the intelligence chief to commit by Wednesday not to release the files on him and Fang. Swalwell is a leading Democratic candidate in the California gubernatorial race.
“The Congressman has never been accused of wrongdoing in that matter and your attempt to release the file is a transparent attempt to smear him and undermine his campaign for Governor of California,” attorneys Norm Eisen and Sean Hecker wrote on Swalwell’s behalf. “Your actions threaten to expose you, others at the FBI, and the FBI itself to significant legal liability.”
It is not clear why Bondi would have intervened in the situation. Swalwell has been a vocal critic of the president, and has publicly chastised Bondi for failing to prosecute multiple death threats against him and his family. Nonetheless, the Mail reported that Bondi and Swalwell have a “friendly” relationship.
MS NOW reported that Trump was also frustrated with Bondi’s repeated failures in prosecuting his perceived enemies.
President Trump has fired Attorney General Pam Bondi after more than a chaotic year marked by her indignant congressional hearings and woeful mishandling of the Epstein files.
Trump announced on Thursday that Bondi will be replaced by Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, and she will not remain in the administration at all.
“Pam Bondi is a Great American Patriot and a loyal friend, who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. Pam did a tremendous job overseeing a massive crackdown in Crime across our Country, with Murders plummeting to their lowest level since 1900,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We love Pam, and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector, to be announced at a date in the near future, and our Deputy Attorney General, and a very talented and respected Legal Mind, Todd Blanche, will step in to serve as Acting Attorney General.”
This is a surprising development given that other fired Trump officials received another role in the administration. Former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who was fired last month, is now special envoy to the “Shield of the Americas.” Former National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, fired last year over Signalgate, became the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Bondi became attorney general after former congressman Matt Gaetz’s nomination was derailed thanks to a House Ethics investigation that found “substantial evidence” he had sex with an underage girl. Bondi was confirmed in a 54–46 Senate vote, with John Fetterman being the only Democrat to vote yes.
“Over the next month I will be working tirelessly to transition the office of Attorney General to the amazing Todd Blanche before moving to an important private sector role I am thrilled about, and where I will continue fighting for President Trump and this Administration,” Bondi wrote Thursday on X. “Leading President Trump’s historic and highly successful efforts to make America safer and more secure has been the honor of a lifetime, and easily the most consequential first year of the Department of Justice in American history.”
Bondi’s ouster is the culmination of Trump’s growing frustrations around the intense, inadvertent scrutiny that she brought upon the administration, as she went from saying the Epstein client list was on her desk, to claiming it didn’t exist, to handing out big dramatic white binders for a photo op with MAGA influencers that contained no new information. She continuously tried and failed to declare the case closed, while exposing Epstein’s victims to more abuse by identifying them in the files. Eventually, even Republicans on the House Oversight Committee agreed to subpoena Bondi over her “possible mismanagement” of the files.
This story has been updated.
Despite Speaker Mike Johnson claiming on Wednesday that he’d accept the Senate’s bipartisan deal to end the government shutdown, House Republicans adjourned the next day without putting any such bill to a vote, dragging out the shutdown for even longer.
House Republicans refuse to pass a Senate-backed bill to fund TSA and the Coast Guard, adjourning session through Easter weekend and extending the shutdown pic.twitter.com/XFPxJvrrth
It’s not clear why exactly the House punted on the bill, but Easter recess in Congress means that the shutdown will continue on for at least four more days.
As a result, TSA workers still won’t be paid even as Americans travel for Easter this weekend, meaning that long security lines will continue at airports. On Wednesday, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune released a joint statement saying that the House would support the Senate’s plan to fund DHS without more money for ICE and Border Patrol, and instead pursue that funding through budget reconciliation to get around a Democratic filibuster.
But it appears that Johnson, or at least his party’s caucus, are still taking their time. Democrats have held strong on the shutdown, which primarily affects agencies like the TSA, FEMA, and the Coast Guard, because ICE and Border Patrol have violently carried out President Trump’s mass deportation agenda without regard for the law, the safety of U.S. citizens, or the court orders rebuking them.
While Republicans have claimed that partially shutting down DHS makes Americans less safe, there appears to be little urgency in getting the agency running again, which Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer pointed out in a statement Thursday.
“The deep division and dysfunction among House Republicans is needlessly extending the DHS shutdown and hurting federal workers who are missing another paycheck,” Schumer said, adding that they should “get to work and end the longest Republican shutdown in history.”
Trump has demanded Republicans send him a bill to fund DHS by June 1. Do Johnson and his party plan to drag out the shutdown, and the problems with ICE and Border Patrol, until then?
A combative line of questioning from Justice Amy Coney Barrett could have been the death knell for Donald Trump’s scheme to undo birthright citizenship.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued Wednesday on behalf of the Trump administration that children should not receive citizenship if their parents lack “domicile” in the U.S.—an attempt to strip citizenship from people born in the U.S. to foreign, noncitizen parents.
Evan Bernick, a professor at Northern Illinois University College of Law, explained on Slate’s Amicus podcast later that day that Barrett’s decision to home in on the issue of slavery—and the presence of people who were forced by external powers to live in the U.S.—could have torn an irreparable hole in the government’s case.
“She made very clear that she viewed the children of slaves through the lens of unlawful immigration,” said Bernick. “She thought that the situation of enslaved people’s children was not something that could be settled on the basis of any domicile requirement. Because if we think about domicile as ‘presence with intent to remain.’”
“Well, enslaved people didn’t intend to remain anywhere!” Bernick continued. “They were taken. They were forced into a place. So domicile can’t be the rule, because then you can’t unproblematically grant citizenship to the children of formerly enslaved people.”
Birthright citizenship was enshrined in 1866 by way of the Fourteenth Amendment, which reads: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.”
Sauer was similarly flustered by a query from Justice Neil Gorsuch, who asked if the government considered Native Americans as birthright citizens. Despite the fact that native people lived on the land long before European colonizers arrived, Sauer could only point to the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 as evidence of their deserved U.S. citizenship.
“Do you think they’re birthright citizens?” Gorsuch pressed.
“No, I think the clear understanding that everybody agrees in the congressional debates is that the children of tribal Indians are not birthright citizens,” Sauer said.
Gorsuch asked Sauer to clarify based on the domicile of the parents.
“I think so, on our test. They’re lawfully domiciled here. I have to think that through, but that’s my reaction,” Sauer said.
Trump tried and failed multiple times over the last year to strip the constitutionally enshrined right. Mere hours after he was sworn into office, Trump signed an executive order stating that children born to immigrants on temporary visas or who are in the country illegally are not entitled to birthright status. That order was unanimously blocked by several judges in different court circuits over the last year. The Supreme Court had a chance to consider the executive order but opted to roll back nationwide injunctions instead.
This case stems from a challenge out of New Hampshire, finally bringing a birthright legal challenge to the nation’s highest judiciary. The nine-justice bench, stacked with three Trump appointees, who include Gorsuch and Barrett, heard the merits of the case with Trump in the room, making him the first sitting U.S. president ever to attend Supreme Court arguments.
The Pentagon appears to be engaged in a “casualty cover-up” of U.S. soldiers killed as a result of Donald Trump’s military onslaught in Iran, a U.S. defense official told The Intercept.
An analysis by The Intercept found that the Department of Defense has used outdated numbers in statements on casualties, resulting in undercounts of how many troops have been wounded or killed.
In a statement sent Monday, CENTCOM said that “approximately 303 U.S. service members have been wounded” since the launch of Operation Epic Fury. But that number was three days old, and excluded the at least 15 troops wounded in a strike at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia last week.
CENTCOM would not provide any information about the number of U.S. troops who have been killed since the start of the war, but The Intercept placed the number at around 15. Six soldiers were killed in a strike on a makeshift operations center in Kuwait, and another six died serving aboard a KC-135 refueling aircraft that crashed in Iraq. Another soldier was killed on March 1, during an enemy attack on the base in Saudi Arabia.
“This is, quite obviously, a subject that [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth and the White House want to keep under major wraps,” said the defense official, who spoke to The Intercept on the condition of anonymity.
CENTCOM did not deign to reply to close to a dozen requests for clarification on the casualty count. CENTCOM also refused to provide information on which U.S. bases had been struck by retaliatory attacks from Iran.
“We have nothing for you,” a spokesperson told The Intercept.
Two weeks ago, U.S. CENTCOM spokesperson Captain Tim Hawkins confirmed that 200 U.S. service members had been injured since the beginning of the joint U.S.-Israeli attacks. But that number did not appear to include the more than 200 sailors aboard the USS Gerald R. Ford who were treated for smoke inhalation after a fire on March 12. One sailor had to be medically evacuated from the ship, and two others were treated for lacerations.
Iran’s retaliatory strikes have reportedly rendered many of 13 U.S. military bases in the Gulf region all but uninhabitable, forcing American military service members to work remotely from hotels and office spaces. Iran’s attacks on U.S. military bases caused an estimated $800 million in damage, according to a report by the Center for Strategic & International Studies and a BBC analysis.
Donald Trump’s spiritual adviser Paula White-Cain compared the president to Jesus Christ during an Easter lunch at the White House Wednesday afternoon.
“Jesus taught so many lessons through his death, burial, and resurrection. He showed us great leadership, great transformation requires great sacrifice. And Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price. It almost cost you your life,” White-Cain said with the president standing behind her. “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our lord and savior showed us. But it didn’t end there for him, and it didn’t end there for you.”
White-Cain, who has claimed in the past that the White House is “holy ground” and that “to say no to President Trump would be saying no to God,” went on to connect Trump with the Easter holiday.
“God always had a plan: On the third day, he rose, he defeated evil, he conquered death, hell, and the grave. And because he rose, we all know that we can rise. And sir, because of his resurrection, you rose up,” White-Cain continued. “Because he was victorious, you are victorious. And I believe that the Lord said to tell you this: Because of his victory, you will be victorious in all you put your hands to.”
Trump silently said “thank you” as White-Cain concluded her speech to applause from the room.
Paula White compares Trump to Jesus during event with faith leaders: “You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us. Because of His resurrection, you rose up.” pic.twitter.com/Ddc8hflU34
The comparison was not well received on social media. Catholic theologian Rich Raho called the remarks “blasphemous.”
“It’s stunning to see a US Bishop standing right there on the stage while Paula White compares Trump to Jesus Christ,” Raho said, pointing out that the Catholic bishop of the Diocese of Winona-Rochester, Robert Barron, was standing onstage not far from Trump.
The Reverend Benjamin Cremer also called the comments “blasphemy,” saying, “This is what it sounds like to take Jesus’ name in vain.” Jesuit priest James Martin said that White-Cain crossed a big line.
“Asking God, in a public prayer, to help a political leader make wise decisions, care for the poor, seek peace, foster harmony, and try to include all those who feel excluded? Yes. Comparing a political leader, in a public prayer, to the sinless Son of God during Holy Week? No,” Martin posted on X.
The event was supposed to be closed to the press, but the White House mistakenly uploaded the video to YouTube before removing it Wednesday evening. Do Trump and Republicans agree with Trump being fêted and deified like this?
On Wednesday, representatives for Kristi Noem said that the former homeland security secretary was “devastated” and “blindsided” by the news that her husband Bryon liked to dress in drag as a large-breasted “bimbo” woman in his spare time. On Thursday, one of the models who said Bryon was her client told The Daily Beast there was “no way in hell” his wife didn’t know.
“There is no way in hell that she did not know for that long. He didn’t just wake up two years ago and start talking to cam girls about wanting to be a woman,” webcam performer Lydia Love said. “A lot of the wives know—and either they’re in denial or they have a really secretive partner.”
Love claims that she knew Bryon was married but was unaware of his political status, and he would only show his face momentarily during their sessions. “I’m not saying that he gave me any information like his name or exact location but him showing his face was part of the arousal of ‘getting exposed’—it’s super common,” Love said.
Love said she would instruct Bryon to wear leggings, bend over, and spank himself while he donned a T-shirt stuffed with either balloons or a silicone chest plate.
The news of Bryon’s bimbo fetish, first reported by The Daily Mail, was shocking given his conservative values and proximity to Trump. The strong, God-fearing husband of ICE Barbie telling online models “You turn me into a girl,” wearing leggings, and stuffing massive balloons into his shirt transcends the ironic. And if The Daily Mail
could find this out so easily, how could Noem really just not know for that long?  
“Where my problem is, is that this is a conservative family who publicly shares values that are entirely opposite to what’s happening behind closed doors,” Love continued. “They’re building careers by pushing beliefs that they themselves don’t follow, and it’s extremely common in these circles. I hate the hypocrisy of it all. I like when people stand in what they believe in.”
The British tabloid also reported that Bryon’s messages contained a confession that he knew about the alleged affair between his wife and her former DHS aide Corey Lewandowski, raising even more questions about his fetishes—and Noem’s knowledge of it. When requested for comment, Bryon told The New York Times, “I will at some point. Today is not the day. I appreciate your heart.”

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With electricity prices soaring, here’s why solar makes more sense than ever  Moneyweb
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Cloudy this morning with thunderstorms developing this afternoon. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. High 74F. Winds WSW at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 60%..
Thunderstorms. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. Low 63F. Winds SSE at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 70%.
Updated: April 3, 2026 @ 4:21 am
Community members line up to discuss the solar ordinance which was on the agenda during Wednesday’s Area Plan Commission meeting.

Kenny McCleary, a member of the study committee, says he is not satisfied with the changes made to the draft on the solar ordinance during the Area Plan Commission meeting on Wednesday.
A 6,000-acre limit and significant setback distance requirements were just two policies discussed during the second Tippecanoe County solar ordinance review meeting Wednesday evening.
The saga over large-scale solar development has reached a new step with the latest proposal of changes to the county’s unified zoning ordinance. Since the one-year moratorium on solar development was enacted by the Tippecanoe County Commissioners last June, a group of experts and community members have met several times to craft a new ordinance.
The Area Plan Commission Ordinance Committee has held a pair of public meetings to review the proposal, first on March 4 and again on Wednesday. The study committee reportedly could not come to a consensus on certain regulations regarding caps on construction size and distance from properties.
The current proposal would set a 6,000-acre limit on total large-scale solar energy development for the whole county. Commissioner Dave Byers offered support for another restriction: a 400-acre limit per each individual solar project, which some community members debated would serve as a deterrent for commercial solar investors.
“They’re not putting a cap on home building, and they’re not putting a cap on factory building,” said Mark Bennett, a local farmer who stated he had 300 acres of solar panels on his land. “They just need to let the free market decide how big solar is going to be.”
Bennett argued that both the 6,000-acre total cap and 400-acre individual project limit would be too restrictive. Six-thousand acres would be about equivalent to 9.5 square miles, which he saw as a tiny fraction of Tippecanoe County’s 503 square miles.
Community members line up to discuss the solar ordinance which was on the agenda during Wednesday’s Area Plan Commission meeting.
A significant topic of debate was over setback distance, or how far away the solar panels could be from nearby properties. The committee discussed whether the setback distance should be set from property lines or from an “occupied structure” — any kind of home, trailer, or other structure that can house people.
The resolution, by-and-large, was to set it at the property line, which is less likely to change from owner to owner rather than if someone wants to build another structure on their land.
The setback distance varies depending on how many non-participating property lines — or land on which the owner has not signed a lease or agreement with the solar farm operator — the solar development comes near.
Additionally, a standard would have to be met requiring either a bufferyard of planted vegetation or a 1,000-foot setback from non-participating property lines. The minimum distance, ranging from 100 to 400 feet based on how many property lines the development is nearby, would still have to be met if the operator chooses to construct the vegetation buffer. The lack of a bufferyard would dramatically increase how far away the solar panels could be.
Members of the public audibly approved of the distance requirements, as many of them had voiced concerns over noise, ground damage, or property devaluement from having solar projects near them.
Another change to the drafted ordinance came from Commissioner Tom Murtaugh, who said he had been advised to tweak the battery energy system requirement.
The original draft suggested that solar developments should not have battery energy storage systems with a capacity over 100 megawatt-hours, but the committee agreed to change the requirement to not allow battery energy solar systems at all.
Even with progress made on the ordinance ahead of the upcoming April 15 full Area Plan Commission meeting, one member of the study committee was unsatisfied with the section on decommissioning regulations.
“What you see in front of you is a piece of Swiss cheese,” Kenny McCleary said to the committee. “I propose you rip it out and replace it with the original submission that was put together by three very hard working members of this community to try to put a thorough and complete document together that not only protects the county, but draws upon the painful experiences and concerns that many other counties have.”
McCleary, an engineer who has been outspoken throughout the entire solar saga and was placed on the study committee, was primarily concerned with the process of when a solar farm is shut down and needs to be demolished. In recent weeks, he said he had worked with fellow study committee members Zacaria Martinez and West Lafayette City Councilor Rabita Rajkarnikar to suggest strict regulations to hold solar companies accountable in restoring the land the developments used to sit on.
“I’m discouraged and very much frustrated that the decommissioning document … is a hollow shell of what the community team put together,” McCleary said. “It’s a very thorough and comprehensive whole life cycle effort to ensure that the county, property owners, adjacent property owners, the environment, and our county infrastructure are not put at risk by this type of project throughout its entire life cycle and through the restoration and recovery.”
A final resolution for large-scale solar energy development is still in the works after the various amendments and suggestions at the ordinance review meeting. The April 15 APC meeting will serve as the next major landmark before an official proposal can be sent to the county commissioners.
The complete draft as presented at Wednesday’s meeting can be found here.
Every Exponent article goes through checks for accuracy before publication. If you have a concern or questions about this article, please email editor@purdueexponent.org.
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Nine years after Hurricane Maria devastated the small Puerto Rican island of Vieques, residents are still dealing with unreliable power from the main island – not so much blackouts but “brownouts,” dips in power that can destroy appliances and electrical infrastructure.
“We’re kind of at the end of the supply line, so anytime there are big power issues on the main island, we end up running into problems,” said Vieques resident Edgar Oscar Ruiz, executive director of Community Through Colors, a local nonprofit focused on emergency relief and long-term resilience. “We have tons of stories of people having issues with their equipment. We hear especially from restaurants that are fed up trying to store food, and then there are the stories of residents, the elderly with medical problems dealing with this – it can be a lot.”
Eight miles east of the main island of Puerto Rico, Vieques suffered a near-direct hit from Hurricane Maria in 2017, the worst hurricane in the territory’s history.
Late last year, Ruiz and a Cornell team took a significant step towards a solution with the delivery of a large, mobile, solar-powered battery that operates independently of the main island’s grid. Housed at Ruiz’s farm and resilience center, La Finca de Hamberto, the battery now powers two refrigerated semi-trailer trucks full of local food – food that will stay cold even when the power fades, or in the event of another catastrophic storm.
It’s the first installment of a larger project, led by Héctor Abruña, the Emile M. Chamot Professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with the community, to give the island’s 8,000 permanent U.S. citizens reliable power and complete independence from the main island’s grid. Another battery will arrive in early summer, and plans are underway for the 2027 installation of a green-hydrogen fuel cell system – a research focus of Abruña’s – that will provide sustained, on-demand power for all.
“The hydrogen fuel cell and larger battery storage will make the whole farm completely independent of any grid connection. Once that’s done, then we can say: Let’s electrify the whole island of Vieques,” Abruña said. “It’s eminently scalable and will demonstrate how you can electrify isolated, and often forgotten, communities and make them more resilient to catastrophic events like Maria.”
The project is one in a portfolio run by Cornell’s Abruña Energy Initiative (AEI), established with funding from Volkswagon’s 2019 class-action settlement; the initiative’s mission, carried out by a small team including director of operations Danielle Hanes and adviser Paul Mutolo ’94, is to accelerate the adoption of clean-energy infrastructure.
“When you look at images of the devastation that Maria brought – it’s heartbreaking,” said Abruña, an award-winning electrochemist who has received some of the nation’s highest honors for his research. “Personally, because I am from Puerto Rico, this will probably be the most important thing I will do in my life.”
Immediate impact
Eight miles off the eastern coast of the main island, Vieques suffered a near-direct hit from Hurricane Maria in 2017, the most devastating storm in Puerto Rico’s history. The storm destroyed infrastructure, including the hospital and a small power plant, neither of which have reopened. Ferries to the island were down for two weeks, cutting off supplies of food and drinking water. The community lacked grid power from the main island for 18 months, the second-longest blackout in world history, and had to depend on small batteries and diesel-powered generators for electricity.
“It was just an insane number of days,” Ruiz said.
Eventually power started to flow again through the underwater cable – which Abruña described as a “glorified extension cord” – that connects the islands. But the high cost and inconsistency of the power have delayed rebuilding. Businesses that rely on consistent power for operations or cold storage are quick to turnover; one restaurant owner who works closely with the farm recently left the island after a brownout ruined his newly purchased freezers.
“He just said, ‘we’re done as a restaurant, this is too much,’” said Beth Straight ’22, operations manager for Community Through Colors. Straight volunteered at La Finca de Hamberto as a Cornell undergraduate and returned after graduation to live and work. She said the frequent power issues have saddled island residents, many of whom can’t afford to leave, with rising costs to replace appliances, spoiled food and medications.
Héctor Abruña (center), the Emile M. Chamot Professor of chemistry and chemical biology in the College of Arts and Sciences, inspects food frozen with power from a mobile, solar-powered battery. Also pictured: Vice Mayor of Vieques Adolfo Rosa Miranda (left of Abruña) and Beth Straight ’22 (right).
The impact of the new battery was immediate, Straight said. Manufactured by Buffalo-based energy storage company Viridi – and shepherded to Vieques with help from another Cornell alumna, Tess M. Williams ’15 – the battery holds enough charge to power a small home for three days and is designed to prevent overheating. The farm can now store medications, build a backup food supply for the island and provide storage for the community kitchen, which often feeds residents who can’t prepare their own meals due to medical or power issues.
In March, the farm added capacity with more solar panels, this time on scaffolding so chickens can be housed in the shade underneath. Once the second battery arrives in May, the farm can always have one battery charging and one deployed – to critical infrastructure such as the fire station, local clinic or the community center, where residents might gather after a storm or power outage to charge their phones or stay cool.
With an expected installation in early 2027, the green-hydrogen fuel cell system will use a solar-powered electrolyzer to extract hydrogen from water. The hydrogen can then be stored and used as fuel and will allow the community to generate power as needed. 
“Hydrogen is much more versatile and flexible than batteries,” Abruña said. “If you need more power, you can add more tanks for the hydrogen or add another fuel cell.”
The overall energy system will be community-owned, and Abruña estimates that it will slash the cost of electricity for residents roughly in half – from 30 to 33 cents a kilowatt hour currently to around 15 cents.
Already, the first phase of the project is providing relief and a sense of agency.
“Hopefully nothing as catastrophic as Maria happens again, but we’re also trying to create resiliency,” Ruiz said.
A community voice
Ruiz and Straight connected with the Cornell team through an earlier funding proposal – which fell through.
Manufactured by Buffalo-based energy storage company Viridi, the mobile battery is charged with solar panels and holds enough energy to power a small home for three days.
“We could have all moved on,” Ruiz said. “But we just looked at each other and said: Let’s find a way to figure this out.”
That commitment bonded the group, Straight said.
“Just the Cornell team’s willingness to operate with boots on the ground and to see what everyone can contribute – what resources the university can contribute but also taking the community in mind – it made a huge difference and is probably why we’re still going today,” she said.
Abruña said an early challenge was earning trust. “This is a community that has experienced disappointment time and time again, where people have made promises and asked for things from them and delivered very little,” he said. “All we asked for was their support, and once we had that buy-in, it’s no longer just our voice, it’s a community voice.”
Soon after the battery was connected to solar for its first full charging, local government officials joined Abruña’s team and the farm staff and volunteers to celebrate.
“Seeing it come to reality was a big deal,” Ruiz said.
“It was like a child being born,” Abruña said. “You take the same kind of care, there’s this little creature that’s emerging, and you have to sustain it until it gets a life of its own,” Abruña said. “Now, I think it has a life of its own.”
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KUALA LUMPUR (April 3): Cypark Resources Bhd (KL:CYPARK) is expected to undertake a new floating solar farm project at Tasik Kenyir worth RM2 billion in partnership with Tenaga Nasional Bhd (KL:TENAGA), according to sources.
The project is part of the 2.5GW Hybrid Hydro-Floating Solar (HHFS) photovoltaic (PV) project at Genco Hydro reservoirs spearheaded by TNB.
“Cypark is expected to sign an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) contract with Tenaga to build a floating solar at the HHFS project,” a source told The Edge.
Looking at the size of the contract, the project is a large scale solar farm project.
Another source said the contract is estimated to be completed between 18 and 24 months.
Cypark declined to comment when contacted.
In December 2024, Cypark announced that it was partnering with the Terengganu state government to develop a 500 megawatt (MW) HHFS plant at Tasik Kenyir.
The 500MW HHFS project is the first of its kind in Malaysia, harnessing Tasik Kenyir’s water for clean energy generation.
“It will be the single largest site in Malaysia that will combine solar energy production, battery storage, as well as unlocking the potential of Malaysia’s extensive bodies of water,” Cypark said at that time.
The joint venture, it said, is to be led by TNB Power Generation Sdn Bhd (TNB Genco), which would design, build and operate the plant. Design for the project was set to begin in 2025.
According to TNB’s website, the HHFS project is expected to have a potential to generate 2.5GW power. The utility giant said that the project has the potential to participate under the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS) framework, which was officially open for application by the Energy Commission in September 2024.
The HHFS project combines solar PV systems with existing hydroelectric power infrastructure. This integration aims to maximise the use of hydro reservoirs for solar energy production.
“The primary objectives of this project are to harness the synergy between solar and hydroelectric power, optimise resource utilisation and contribute to Malaysia’s renewable energy targets.
“The HHFS system involves installing solar panels on floating platforms over hydro reservoirs. These panels generate electricity during the day while the hydroelectric power plants continue to operate, providing a continuous energy supply even during periods of low sunlight,” TNB said.
Cypark is an integrated RE and environmental solutions provider, with pioneering projects in solar, biogas and waste-to-energy (WtE). These include the country’s first SMART WtE facility in Port Dickson, Negeri Sembilan. Presently, the group has 400MW of installed RE capacity.
For the third quarter ended Jan 31, 2026, Cypark slipped into the red with a RM17 million net loss, compared to a net profit of RM8.76 million a year ago.
Revenue increased nearly 9% to RM43.2 million in the quarter from RM39.7 million previously. No dividend was declared for the quarter under review.
In an interview with The Edge last December, Cypark chairman Tan Sri Abdul Wahid Omar said that the group is moving from turnaround mode to growth mode. This includes pivoting to a partnership-led model. In August last year, the group formalised a strategic collaboration with MBSB Bank Bhd (KL:MBSB) to support the funding, development and scaling of renewable energy projects.
Under the collaboration, MBSB Bank will provide RM1.3 billion in Islamic financing facilities to refinance Cypark’s established renewable energy assets in solar and WtE.
“Our partnership with MBSB marked a turning point because it repositioned Cypark from a turnaround story into a national growth catalyst for clean energy. Working with institutional investors and technology partners enables us to undertake larger projects, integrate innovation and maintain financial agility. Ultimately, this model supports higher margins, faster cash conversion and more sustainable earnings visibility across the group. For shareholders, the question is what success looks like if Cypark can execute its plans and if policy support for WtE and renewables continues to firm up.
“Investors can expect consistency with transparent governance, disciplined capital management and steady performance,” said Wahid when asked to define success over the medium term.

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Earth’s Building Blocks Came Not From The Outer Solar System But Right Here, Challenging Long-Standing Theories  IFLScience
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New research from the University of New South Wales shows that PV module degradation varies widely with system design and location, driven by UV exposure, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric conditions. Tropical and desert regions face the highest stress, highlighting the need for climate-specific testing and system design.
Image: pv magazine/AI generated
Utraviolet (UV) radiation has been long recognized as a key driver of PV module degradation. This factor, however, is significantly underestimated in current testing standards, particularly for modern system designs and high-irradiance regions.
With this in mind, a group of researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia has developed a high-precision global UV irradiance model on tilted surfaces, capturing the impact of system design, climate, and atmospheric conditions.
“Our new model demonstrates that identical module technologies degrade differently depending on deployment location, highlighting the need for climate-specific reliability assessment,” corresponding author Bram Hoex told pv magazine. “It also offers a pathway to move beyond generic accelerated testing toward regionally relevant degradation modeling and qualification protocols.”
The researchers highlighted that global UV irradiance can range from below 30 W/m² in high-latitude regions to over 80 W/m² in deserts and dry climates. In some locations, the UV dose specified in the IEC 61215 standard, which is just 15 kWh/m², can be reached in less than two months. By contrast, real-world exposure over a module’s lifetime is orders of magnitude higher.
“Current testing thresholds are simply too low to replicate long-term field conditions,” the authors noted, adding that even enhanced protocols fall short of simulating 25–30 years of operation.
One of the most striking findings of the study relates to system design. The researchers compared fixed-tilt installations with single-axis tracking (SAT) systems and found that trackers receive significantly more UV radiation due to their orientation toward the sun throughout the day.

In high-irradiance regions, such as deserts, single-axis tracking (SAT) systems can be exposed to up to 1.5 times more UV radiation than fixed-tilt systems, leading to degradation rates that are nearly twice as high. This results in annual UV-driven degradation rates of up to 0.35% per year for SAT systems, compared with approximately 0.25% per year for fixed-tilt installations.
Over the course of a typical project lifetime, this difference can accumulate to several percentage points of additional power loss, directly impacting the economics and long-term performance of the PV system.
The study also showed that identical PV modules can degrade at markedly different rates depending on their installation location. The key factors driving this variability include UV irradiance, temperature, humidity, and atmospheric conditions such as ozone levels, aerosols, and cloud cover. Among the most challenging environments are tropical and desert regions, where high UV exposure combines with intense thermal and environmental stress, accelerating module degradation.
“Current standards significantly underestimate real-world UV exposure, in some cases by orders of magnitude relative to lifetime conditions,” Hoex stressed. “UV exposure varies significantly with location and system configuration, with tracking systems experiencing up to around two times higher degradation rates in high-irradiance regions. In arid and tropical climates, UV-induced degradation can reach about 0.25–0.35%/year, contributing substantially to long-term performance loss.”
The novel high-precision model to estimate UV radiation in PV systems was presented in the paper “Closing the UV-Induced Photodegradation Gap Through Global Scale Modeling of Fixed Tilt and Tracking Photovoltaic Systems,” pubished in the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.
“This work forms part of our group’s broader effort to connect fundamental degradation mechanisms with system-level impacts in the field, combining targeted accelerated testing—such as UV, damp heat, and contamination—with physics-based and data-driven modeling at the system scale to quantify how both established and emerging failure modes translate into real-world energy yield losses across diverse climates and system designs,” Hoex concluded.
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: editors@pv-magazine.com.
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Fire heavily damages La Pine home, no injuries; cause may be tied to bank of solar power batteries  dailydispatch.com
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Sunview Consortium Secures RM1.96 Billion Contract for 595 MW Floating Solar Project in Malaysia  SolarQuarter
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MANTON, Calif. – A 25-acre solar project in Manton is moving forward despite strong opposition from neighbors who say it doesn’t belong in their community.
The Shasta County Board of Supervisors recently voted 4 to 1 to approve the project, which will feature 15-foot-tall solar panels along Battle Creek Bottom Road.
Action News Now visited the site where the panels are set to be built. Neighbors living close to the proposed location are pushing back against the development.
“Go put it on top of a parking garage or something like that, not in somebody’s backyard, not in a rural area,” said Frank Paltza, a Manton resident.
Paltza said the panels will be visible from his property. “35 feet from my fence to their 7-foot-tall chain link fence and it’s going to be 15 feet of panels visible from every window of the back of my house,” Paltza said.
Locals who spoke with Action News Now worry the panels will negatively impact wildlife living in the area, pose a wildfire risk and are simply not a pretty sight to see. Marily Woodhouse, director of the local opposition group called Battle Creek Alliance, said she is worried about long-term impacts.
“I’ve been here for almost 40 years and I’ve seen it change a lot from all the different impacts that have already happened to it and I just love the land and I just want it to be healthy and I want it to be healthy for the future. I’m not going to be here probably a lot longer, I’m kind of old, but I want it to be here for everybody who lives here and that includes non-humans as well,” Woodhouse said.
Board Chair Chris Kelstrom was the only supervisor who voted no. He said while he supports the project, he understands the concerns of the locals.
“Bottom line is the people of Manton just want it to stay like Manton and they just assume not have solar panels out there. It’s understandable, I mean I don’t know if I’d want a giant solar farm next to me necessarily, but I don’t think it’s going to be nearly as bad as some of their concerns are,” Kelstrom said.
Renewable Properties is the company behind the Battle Creek Bottom Solar Project.
Permitting Associate Anne Maytubby gave Action News Now a statement that read: “It’s a low-impact use—compatible across multiple land uses, doesn’t generate traffic (once completed), and doesn’t impact groundwater—and it helps improve local grid reliability at a time when the region needs it most following recent hydro dam closures.”
Construction is now expected to start by the end of the year at the earliest.

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Mulilo Secures Commercial Close for 76 MW BESS and 337 MW Solar PV Projects, Strengthening South Africa’s Grid and Clean Energy Pipeline  SolarQuarter
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Home > About ARENA > Strategic priorities > Strategic priorities: ultra low-cost solar
New demand for renewable electricity from sectors such as green metals, transport, fuel production and data centres is expected to increase significantly as Australia moves towards net zero. Ultra low-cost solar photovoltaics (PV) is a critical, scalable source of cheap electricity to meet this demand and will be a crucial enabler of the energy transition.
ARENA is currently focused on supporting projects that unlock ultra low-cost solar (ULCS) to help decarbonise our electricity system and improve the competitiveness of potential future, clean industries such as renewable hydrogen and low emissions metals.
ARENA’s 30-30-30 ambition is to achieve the following in large-scale solar: 30 per cent module efficiency at an installed cost of 30 cents per watt by 2030. If delivered, we could reach a Levelised Cost of Electricity (LCOE) of <$20 per megawatt hour, which represents approximately one third of the cost of today’s solar PV. ARENA is also looking beyond 2030, through research and development activities that can drive further cost reductions through to 2040.
ULCS will also help us achieve our goal of accelerating deployment to reach 1 terawatt of installed solar PV in Australia by 2050.
Demonstrate solutions that can increase module efficiency to 30 per cent and beyond, including increased bifaciality, tandem cells and extended lifetimes. 
Improve cell & module efficiency  
R&D and commercialisation projects to improve the performance of various cell technologies such as silicon, perovskite and tandem cells. This may include increasing the efficiency of existing technologies or improving the performance of higher efficiency, earlier stage technologies (e.g. reducing degradation rates). Projects to improve module efficiency are also of interest.
Other cell & module innovations 
Pilots and demonstrations of other innovations that can reduce cell and module costs or improve yield. For example, projects to improve bifaciality factor (e.g. novel ground covers to improve albedo) or improve the lifetime of cells and modules, reduce input costs and materials requirements, and improve module design for a circular economy.
Demonstrate solutions that can reduce installed costs towards 30 cents per watt such as simplified mounting, racking and tracking designs, prefabrication, improved installation methods (e.g. robotics, automation, advanced analytics and artificial intelligence) and other design innovations for Australian conditions. 
Demonstrate solutions that reduce O&M costs, such as panel cleaning, vegetation management and fault detection.  
Projects could include hardware or software solutions such as intelligent fault monitoring, detection and correction systems, automated vegetation clearing and automated solar panel cleaning.
Demonstrate other solutions that can reduce the LCOE of solar PV through levers such as longer asset lifetimes, end-of-life management and lower soft costs. 
Improve end-of-life management 
While a more limited focus, ARENA will consider innovative pilots and technology trials across any stage of the solar PV value chain that can ultimately improve materials recovery, lower input costs and reduce overall supply chain emissions.
Address other costs and barriers to deployment  
While a more limited focus, ARENA will consider innovative solutions that could reduce other costs or address barriers to deployment. These might include reducing inverter costs, lowering soft costs (such as permitting, inspections and project financing) or helping to secure social licence for new projects.
Drive capex optimisation
ARENA is open to working on novel approaches to capex optimisation and innovation sandboxes. For example, we will seek to work with an ecosystem of partners to collectively test innovations across multiple projects, share risk, increase productivity and reduce deployment costs over time. 
Funding is also available through Solar Sunshot, a Government Budget Measure program, where we are looking at supporting projects that increase the manufacturing capacity and commercialisation of Australian solar PV innovations and enhance resilience in the domestic solar PV supply chain.
ARENA commissioned NERA Economic Consulting and Energy Synapse to model the potential value of flexible demand in the electricity transition.
As Australia continues to grow its share of renewable electricity generation, ARENA is looking at innovative ways to maintain system security and reliability.
Demand flexibility shifts energy use to save money and reduce strain on the grid.
DR is the voluntary reduction or shift of electricity use by customers, which can help to keep a power grid stable by balancing its supply and demand of electricity.
Our Investment Plan has identified flexible demand as a key focus area under our strategic priority to optimise the transition to renewable electricity. To accelerate the opportunities offered by demand flexibility, we are seeking projects that can provide new flexible demand capacity.
We welcome proposals for projects that:
Australia’s electricity system is changing fast. 
It’s adding more renewable energy, more batteries, and new types of electricity use like electric vehicles and large data centres. Making good decisions in this environment depends on one simple thing: having the right information in the right hands without fuss, when you need it.
International Women’s Day (IWD) is an opportunity to move beyond celebration and reflect on what progress looks like in practice. Across Australia’s renewable energy sector, women are shaping ideas, leading delivery, and building the systems that will carry the transition forward.
To mark IWD, we’re highlighting what shapes women’s leadership in renewable energy. When the call to change is a cumulative one – such as it is when tackling climate change – it requires minds and talent willing to build through curiosity, persistence, collaboration and a determination to stay involved, even when the path is not linear.
Decarbonising Australia’s heavy industry is one of the most significant challenges of the energy transition. Sectors such as iron, steel and alumina are essential to the economy and everyday life, yet they remain among the hardest to abate. Their large emissions footprint, technical complexity and high capital requirements means progress cannot come from isolated efforts.
We present knowledge sharing from experts in energy technology, innovation and business.
Stay up to date with this valuable knowledge by following us on social, or by signing up to ARENAWIRE or the ARENA Insights newsletter.

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