Solar Now

Median solar module pricing in the United States reached $0.28 per watt as the market adjusted to intensified trade enforcement and new Foreign Entity of Concern compliance requirements, according to the Q1 2026 Quarterly Pricing & Domestic Content Report from Anza.
Image: Pexels / Gustavo Fring / CC SA 4.0
The U.S. solar market entered 2026 navigating a landscape defined by regulatory shifts and the persistent threat of supply chain disruptions. Following a year of volatility where median pricing rose by as much as 14% between January and November 2025, the first quarter of 2026 has seen prices hold at an elevated baseline.
The current stabilization at $0.28 per watt represents a shift from the $0.25 per watt levels seen in early 2025, driven by the convergence of Anti-Dumping and Countervailing Duty determinations and the tightening of domestic content eligibility.
Higher prices are driven in part by stricter Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) rules. Under the Treasury Department’s updated guidance, projects seeking to qualify for the full 10% Domestic Content Bonus under the Inflation Reduction Act must navigate requirements regarding prohibited foreign entity material assistance. For projects beginning construction in 2026, the applicable threshold percentage for non-PFE produced property stands at 40% for solar facilities and 55% for Energy Storage Technologies. These thresholds are scheduled to escalate by 5% annually, creating urgency among developers to secure compliant hardware before the 2027 step-ups. 
Anza’s data, which aggregates median pricing from more than 40 suppliers representing over 95% of the U.S. module supply, highlights a growing price delta between compliant and non-compliant hardware. FEOC-compliant modules have seen a steady price increase of approximately 4.9% as supply chains reorganize to exclude components from restricted entities. In contrast, modules that do not meet FEOC standards saw a more aggressive price spike of 9.2% during the previous safe harbor rush.
Anza noted a convergence in the pricing of mainstream cell architectures. Mono PERC saw its historic price advantage over newer technologies nearly disappear. Median pricing for Mono PERC modules stood at approximately $0.275 per watt in Q1. This represents a 4.2% increase from late 2025 levels, as buyers favored the mature supply chain of PERC to mitigate risks associated with newer technologies.
Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) technology is currently priced at a median of $0.285 per watt. While TOPCon previously commanded a more significant premium, patent litigation among Tier-1 suppliers has introduced a layer of caution for some buyers. Despite these intellectual property concerns, the efficiency gains of TOPCon continue to drive high demand in the utility-scale segment. Heterojunction (HJT) modules remain the most expensive mainstream option, holding at $0.39 per watt. The HJT market is characterized by limited U.S. availability, with pricing driven more by specific cell origin and tariff status than by broader market commoditization. 
The domestic manufacturing landscape is also showing signs of bifurcated pricing. Modules utilizing U.S.-made cells command the highest premium in the market, with prices at $0.46 per watt. The price reflects a 5.7% increase, as developers compete for a limited pool of domestically produced cells required to maximize tax credit value.
Conversely, U.S.-assembled modules that utilize imported cells have seen more volatility. Pricing for these hybrid domestic products rose to $0.36 per watt, a nearly 6% increase from the previous quarter. Many buyers are blending domestic modules with imported units or high-value domestic balance of system components like racking and inverters to hit the 40% domestic content threshold while managing overall capital expenditure, said the report.
Imported module pricing has remained relatively flat at $0.265 per watt for products not subject to the most severe trade penalties. However, the shadow of the Section 232 investigation looms over these figures. The investigation, which aims to determine if imported solar components pose a national security threat, could lead to new universal tariffs or quotas.
Furthermore, the anticipated AD/CVD determinations on imports from India, Indonesia, and Laos have begun to influence procurement strategies. Modules from Southeast Asian countries already affected by trade policy saw a 7.7% price increase late last year, and while they have eased slightly, they remain higher than pre-litigation levels. 
In the Energy Storage System sector, the pricing trajectory has diverged from that of solar modules. Battery storage pricing has continued to decline, providing a counterbalance to rising module costs for integrated solar-plus-storage projects.
For a 10 MW 4-hour distributed generation system, the AC Wrap median CAPEX price fell to $212 per kWh, representing a 6.8% decrease. Self-integrated battery systems in the same segment dropped to $173 per kWh. Utility-scale storage followed a similar downward trend, with AC Wrap pricing reaching $194 per kWh and self-integrated pricing falling to $158 per kWh, a 10.6% decline from the peak levels seen in mid-2025. This downward pressure is attributed to falling lithium carbonate costs and an expansion of battery manufacturing capacity outside of China, though Section 301 tariffs on Chinese imports scheduled to hit 25% this year remain a variable. 
Looking forward to the remainder of 2026, Anza warns that the status quo of $0.28 per watt module pricing may be short-lived. The potential for Section 232 tariffs on polysilicon and its derivatives could create a new wave of upward pressure, particularly for domestic manufacturers who still rely on imported raw materials.
Additionally, the Treasury’s Cost Percentage Safe Harbor tables, which allow taxpayers to use assigned cost percentages for domestic content calculations, will be a critical tool for developers navigating 2026 construction starts. As the industry moves toward the 40% domestic content requirement, the premium for U.S.-made cells is expected to remain high, further widening the gap between low-cost imported hardware and tax-advantaged domestic products. 
The report concludes that procurement strategies in 2026 must be increasingly granular. Buyers can no longer focus solely on the cents per watt sticker price but must instead account for the impact of tariffs, the value of the 10% domestic content bonus, and the long-term risk of supply chain audits under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) and FEOC rules.
As the market absorbs these regulatory costs, the baseline for U.S. solar pricing appears to have shifted higher, ending the era of sub-twenty-cent utility-scale modules in the American market.
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Natural Resources Council of Maine
Protecting the Nature of Maine
Posted on April 3, 2026 by NRCM
Filed Under: Clean Energy, Climate, Maine Environmental News Tagged With: News Release, renewable energy, solar
The Natural Resources Council of Maine is a nonprofit membership organization protecting, restoring, and conserving Maine’s environment, now and for future generations. Join NRCM today!
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NRCM recognizes and honors the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, Mi’kmaq Nation, Penobscot Nation, and the Passamaquoddy Tribe, collectively the Wabanaki Nations. Wabanaki translates as “People of the Dawn.” The Wabanaki Nations have stewarded Maine for generations, stretching back to before colonial settlers forcibly occupied the area. NRCM’s office in Augusta is on the unceded territory of the Penobscot Nation, and all of us in Maine are on unceded lands once overseen by Wabanaki people. Let us remember this history and move forward with a commitment to justice and alignment with Wabanaki Nations in Maine. (Read full land acknowledgement.)

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NTPC Renewable Energy has issued a tender for a BoS package for a 200 MW grid-connected solar PV project in Bikaner, Rajasthan. Bid submission ends on May 5, 2026.
April 04, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

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Zaragoza City Council Commissions 220 kW Solar Plant, Awards Rooftop PV Contract to Iberdrola Clientes  solarquarter.com
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Japan government adopts bill mandating solar panel disposal plans  Azərtac
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Gov. Ned Lamont criticized the loss of farmland and other open space for the construction of Connecticut’s largest solar array on Tuesday. But he stopped short of expressing support for a moratorium on further solar development in towns at the epicenter of the state’s solar industry.
Lamont’s visit to East Windsor — home to the 120-megawatt Gravel Pit Solar project and several smaller arrays — was arranged by local critics of the developments. They say their community has been inundated with solar panels, which have taken over farms, made noise and caused other quality-of-life problems that alter the town’s rural character.
Last month, the Connecticut Siting Council signed off on a 30-megawatt expansion that would add an additional 150 acres to Gravel Pit’s footprint in East Windsor. The town has already pledged to appeal the ruling.
“I love clean renewable power that’s also affordable, but I also love open space, protecting open space,” Lamont said after being driven on a tour around the sprawling facility. “I don’t think we have that balance right, right now.”
The tour highlighted a tricky political question facing Lamont and other Democrats who are supportive of the state’s long-term climate goals: how to build clean, renewable sources of electricity without angering the people living alongside those projects.
Residents in East Windsor and surrounding river valley towns, such as Enfield and Ellington, say they’ve already done their part playing host to large solar arrays. Together, the six-town region produces nearly a third of the state’s grid-scale solar output.
“Too much of a good thing can become very bad,” said state Sen. Saud Anwar, D-South Windsor. “We’re seeing that something that started with a good concept is overwhelming our community.”
Anwar and the principal organizer of the tour, state Rep. Jaime Foster, D-Ellington, have sponsored House Bill 5551, which would allow officials in any town that’s home to or abutting a solar facility larger than 100 megawatts to veto new projects within their borders. (Under those parameters, the bill would only apply to East Windsor and neighboring towns.)
Asked after his tour whether he would support such a policy, Lamont hedged.
“I’d like to do something broader than that, so we’re not just taking care of one or two towns. But what I can do statewide is to make sure that this doesn’t happen again, and make sure that any of these things that aren’t yet developed we can preserve,” Lamont said.
The governor also expressed dismay at the name the developers chose for Gravel Pit Solar, which came from an old quarry on which a portion of the array was built. “I saw a beautiful open space, beautiful fields, and this ought to be the last place you want to develop,” Lamont said.
A spokesperson for Gravel Pit’s owner, DESRI Holdings, declined to comment on Lamont’s visit.
Decisions on where to place large solar arrays and other power projects fall to the Connecticut Siting Council, which was formed in the 1970s take over a process that had previously been subject to the use of eminent domain by utility companies.
State law allows the Siting Council to consider a variety of factors in its decisions, including a project’s impact on agriculture, forests and scenic areas, as well as its potential impact on air and water quality. Other local concerns, such as the effect on property values or municipal tax tolls, are not part of the council’s evaluation criteria.
Melanie Bachman, executive director of the Siting Council, said in an email that none of the land used by Gravel Pit Solar had been set aside for protection under Connecticut’s open space and farmland preservation programs. In addition, she noted that the developers had pledged to allow sheep grazing and beekeeping on parts of the property, while also donating 70 acres of land to East Windsor for conservation.
Bachman declined to comment specifically on the governor’s remarks on the project.
In 2023, Lamont vetoed legislation that would have allowed municipalities to appoint a nonvoting member to weigh in on projects before the Siting Council. In his veto message, the governor explained that the bill could give opponents within a town access to sensitive information about applicants, while also eroding the council’s authority to approve “climate-positive projects,” such as transmission lines and solar facilities.
Still, lawmakers have put forward a similar bill this session to give towns a greater role in Siting Council decisions.
Lamont declined to say Tuesday whether he would veto that legislation, Senate Bill 144, if it reaches his desk. Supporters say they’ve added language requiring nonvoting members to abide by the council’s confidentiality rules, in order to ease some of the governor’s concerns.
Foster and her allies have proposed several ways to alter the structure of the Siting Council to give towns a greater voice, while still preserving its ability to preempt local control. Those ideas include having a permanent member with experience in municipal government, or seat for a representative of the regional council of governments in the area where a project is proposed.
“I have long held the assumption that the current membership of the Siting Council… have a sort of myopic view on what holds weight in their consideration, and I think that’s pretty clearly demonstrated in their approvals,” Foster said. “To diversify the membership and perspective on the board would be helpful.”
In testimony submitted to lawmakers last month, Bachman argued that the Siting Council has already undergone legislative changes in recent years to alter the makeup of its members and provide for greater input by local officials.
She warned that further changes, such as those proposed in H.B. 5551 and S.B. 144, would threaten the independence of the council to act on behalf of all Connecticut residents, as well as the environment.
In East Windsor, however, residents expressed frustration with the Siting Council’s repeated approvals of new solar projects. At one stop along his tour Tuesday, Lamont was met with a large, hand-painted sign affixed to a trailer urging him to “stop solar saturation.”
The sign was the work of Amanda Berube, who lives across the street from a smaller solar array owned by NextEra that has faced persistent complaints from neighbors who say it emits a loud buzzing noise during the day. In addition, the array experienced a brush fire last year that was attributed to nearby utility equipment.
Berube and her neighbors are also alarmed over the latest proposal from Gravel Pit’s owners to develop another, 100-megawatt array known as Saltbox Solar on farmland within East Windsor and Ellington.
While the developers have yet to submit Saltbox Solar to the Siting Council for approval, online plans show it would leave Berube’s subdivision surrounded by solar panels on three sides.
“It would just be devastating to our neighborhood, it would be devastating to the neighborhood in Ellington,” and to local dairy farmers who use the land to grow corn to feed their cows, she said. “So I just really hope that something can be done, that the legislation can pass, so that we can finally put an end to this.”
John Moritz is a reporter for the Connecticut Mirror. Copyright 2026 @ CT Mirror (ctmirror.org). 
Copyright 2026 Hartford Courant. All rights reserved. The use of any content on this website for the purpose of training artificial intelligence systems, algorithms, machine learning models, text and data mining, or similar use is strictly prohibited without explicit written consent.

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German module manufacturer Bauer Solar has introduced a new back-contact solar panel to its product lineup, according to a report from pv magazine Germany. The initial offering is a full-black glass-glass version with a power output of 480 watts.
The panel is constructed using 108 bifacial half-cells and has dimensions of 1,800 by 1,134 by 30 millimeters, with a weight of 24.8 kilograms. The company states the module achieves a power conversion efficiency of 23.52 percent.
Specifications include front and rear glass panes that are each 2 millimeters thick and feature anti-reflective coatings. The module frame is constructed from anodized black aluminum alloy. The product is rated for operation in temperatures ranging from -40 to 85 degrees Celsius and can handle a maximum system voltage of 1,500 volts. It is designed to withstand static loads up to 5,400 pascals and carries an HW3 hail resistance rating, alongside fire protection class A certification.
Bauer Solar is providing a 30-year product and performance warranty for the new module. The linear performance guarantee ensures a minimum of 88.85 percent of the original output after three decades. The manufacturer indicated plans to increase the output of its back-contact modules to 500 watts later this year with additional variants.
Alongside the new back-contact technology, the company will continue its focus on TOPCon products, with an expansion of that portfolio planned for the coming summer. The new TOPCon variants are expected to reach an output of 465 watts. Bauer Solar targets the residential rooftop market with these modules, positioning them as an economical solution, though specific pricing was not disclosed.
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Rooftop solar generating capacity in Puerto Rico totaled 1,456 megawatts (MW) at the end of 2025, 20% of the overall capacity mix. Rooftop solar capacity has increased faster than other sources over the past decade. Between 2016 and 2025 rooftop solar installations accounted for 81% of the new generating capacity in Puerto Rico, according to data from our Electric Power Monthly and Puerto Rico Energy Bureau’s (PREB) Quarterly Report on System Data. In 2025, rooftop solar became the second-largest capacity source, after petroleum liquids capacity (3,671 MW), and surpassed natural gas capacity (1,391 MW).
Distributed generation resources, particularly rooftop solar coupled with battery systems, have grown as Puerto Rico has grappled with electricity reliability and frequent power outages. On average, 3,850 rooftop solar panel systems were installed in homes and businesses per month in 2025, with a cumulative 191,929 systems in place at the end of the year.
In addition to rooftop solar capacity, distributed battery storage has also increased in Puerto Rico. According to data from PREB, 171,372 households and businesses had a distributed battery storage system at the end of 2025, with a total energy capacity of 2,864 megawatt-hours.
Puerto Rico established net metering policies in August 2007 allowing rooftop solar owners to sell excess electricity to the grid. Last summer, Puerto Rico’s grid operator, LUMA, expanded the Customer Battery Energy Sharing program, allowing power stored in distributed battery storage units to supply power to the grid when the operator forecasts electricity supply shortages. Thousands of these batteries form systems known as virtual power plants (VPP). VPPs are an aggregation of geographically dispersed distributed energy resources, like batteries that can dispatch power to the grid as one singular power plant. Companies like Sunrun, Tesla, and others work with LUMA and manage these VPPs. Participating battery owners are financially compensated for exporting excess electricity to the grid.
Article from Today in Energy. Principal contributor: Lindsay Aramayo
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Solar energy led global renewable power growth in 2025, with Africa recording its highest expansion on record, according to a new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA).
In its ‘Renewable Capacity Statistics 2026’ report released on Tuesday, IRENA said solar accounted for about 75 percent of new renewable energy capacity added last year.
The report said global renewable capacity rose to 5,149 gigawatts (GW) in 2025 after adding 692 GW — a 15.5 percent increase.
It added that off-grid solar solutions also continued to expand, particularly in regions with limited electricity access, including parts of Africa.
Wind energy followed solar growth, while other sources such as hydropower and bioenergy contributed smaller shares.
“Approximately three-quarters of the capacity expansion was in the form of solar energy, which increased by 511 GW (+27.2%); this was followed by wind energy, with additions of 159 GW (+14.0%). Renewable hydropower capacity increased by 18.4 GW (+1.4%); bioenergy by 3.4 GW (+2.3%); and geothermal energy by 0.3 GW (+1.7%),” the report reads.
“Solar and wind energy continued to dominate renewable capacity expansion in 2025, jointly accounting for 96.8% of all net renewable additions.
“2025 marks the highest annual increase in renewable generation capacity to date and the highest growth on record in percentage terms.”
Despite the global surge, the agency said Africa’s growth, though the highest on record, remained modest compared to other regions.
The continent added 11.3 GW of renewable capacity in 2025, representing a 15.9 percent increase, driven largely by projects in Ethiopia, South Africa, and Egypt.
“The Middle East recorded its largest growth rate, at 28.9% (+12.7 GW) in 2025, with Saudi Arabia accounting for the majority of this expansion,” IRENA said.
“By the end of 2025, the Group of Seven (G7) countries (excluding the European Union) accounted for 22.1% of the global capacity share, totalling 1140 GW.
“The Group of Twenty (G20) countries (excluding the European Union and African Union) accounted for 81.8% of the global share, with a total capacity of 4210 GW.
“The G7 and G20 countries accounted for 12.0% and 88.5% of new capacity, respectively, in 2025.”
IRENA said the figures highlight a widening gap in clean energy deployment between regions, with Asia accounting for more than 70 percent of global additions.
The report noted that countries with lower renewable capacity, including many in Africa, remain more vulnerable to energy shocks and rising fuel costs.
Commenting on the findings, Francesco La Camera, IRENA director-general, said renewable energy is becoming increasingly important for energy security.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” he said.
“A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.
“Countries that invested in the energy transition are weathering the Middle East crisis with less economic damage, as they boost energy security, resilience and competitiveness.”
IRENA said the global shift towards renewables is being driven in part by concerns over fossil fuel price volatility and geopolitical tensions, which have exposed the risks of relying on imported energy.
The report called for increased investments in regions with low renewable capacity to improve energy access and strengthen resilience.

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A team at Kyushu University has developed a method that may guide photovoltaic technology past persistent efficiency limits. According to a report in pv magazine, the work centers on a quantum process called singlet fission, where a single photon can create two electron-hole pairs.
The researchers paired singlet-fission materials with a specially designed molybdenum-based spin-flip emitter. This combination demonstrated energy conversion in a solution with an effective quantum yield of approximately 130%. The emitter is designed to capture triplet excitons, which are often non-emissive, and convert them into near-infrared light.
The molecular design of the emitter allows for an electron spin flip during light absorption or emission. This enables more efficient harvesting of the multiple excitons generated by singlet fission. The structure of the molecular linker connecting the light-absorbing units is a critical factor, heavily influencing the efficiency and dynamics of the energy transfer process.
Applications in solar cells will require integrating these materials into solid-state systems, a step the researchers note they are actively pursuing. The approach could block certain energy loss pathways in silicon solar cells, allowing for selective extraction of energy from triplet states. Beyond photovoltaics, the method may also enable new quantum technologies and contribute to next-generation quantum material design.
The findings were published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
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Greenskies Clean Energy filed a petition last year to build a 1.2-megawatt solar facility on mostly vacant land along Lake Street in Manchester, as pictured on Jan. 15, 2026.
Greenskies Clean Energy filed a petition last year to build a 1.2-megawatt solar facility on mostly vacant land along Lake Street in Manchester, as pictured on Jan. 15, 2026.
Greenskies Clean Energy filed a petition last year to build a 1.2-megawatt solar facility on mostly vacant land along Lake Street in Manchester, as pictured on Jan. 15, 2026.
MANCHESTER — State officials have approved a Lake Street solar facility that has proved controversial among some neighbors.
The Connecticut Siting Council approved a petition from North Haven-based solar developer Greenskies Clean Energy to build a 1.2-megawatt solar photovoltaic electric generating facility at 81 and 93 Lake St., two largely vacant agricultural properties totaling close to 30 acres.
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The project consists of two separate but connected solar arrays, with a 750-kilowatt facility on 93 Lake St. and a 450-kilowatt facility on 81 Lake St. taking up a total footprint of 6.3 acres with a combined 2,136 modules.
The original petition filed by Greenskies in August billed the facility as providing "multiple benefits" to the town, state, and region through production of renewable energy, and the Siting Council's decision echoes that sentiment.
The draft decision and order, dated March 27, states that the Siting Council finds there is a "public benefit" for the construction of the facility and that it would not have a "substantial adverse environmental effect," and that the council will therefore issue a declaratory ruling for the proposed facility.
The Siting Council's draft opinion, dated March 27, states that pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes, the council has "exclusive jurisdiction" over the facility proposed by Greenskies and shall approve by declaratory ruling any such project as long as it "meets the air and water quality standards of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection and the Council does not find a substantial adverse environmental effect."
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The opinion states that the proposed facilities would be remotely monitored on a 24/7 basis and comply with relevant building, electrical, and fire protection codes, and Greenskies would work with local emergency responders and file an emergency response plan. Noise generation and air quality would comply with state standards, and DEEP would need to issue a stormwater permit prior to construction.
The opinion further states that Greenskies has expressed a willingness to install landscape plantings and implement best management practices for stormwater in response to neighborhood concerns about visibility of the facility and water quality.
Members of the Siting Council approved approved the plan in a 7-0 vote Thursday, with one member recusing themselves. Few spoke about the project in detail during the meeting, though one member briefly discussed his issues with the plan.
Bill Syme said the proposal from Greenskies was not "one of (his) favorites" due to prime farmland being taken out of production, but that he could foresee minimal impact to neighbors and the environment.
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Khristine Hall said she was happy that a condition for a post-construction noise study was included, though noted it is typical for the Siting Council to do so.
"Even though the host parcel owner was not concerned about the noise, which may be above the noise limits, I think it's important to have that study and see what the compliance is once the facility is started," Hall said.
Chance Carter thanked staff members for working on the documents, and said he was pleased to see that the approval requires Greenskies to work with the town's fire department to ensure emergency services can reach the site.
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Joseph Villanova is a reporter with the Journal Inquirer and CT Insider, primarily covering Manchester and East Hartford. He joined the newsroom in July 2021.
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Cost, complexity and confidence gaps are the main barriers to the uptake of rooftop solar in Australia according to new federal government research.
Image: CER
A new survey shows that the upfront cost of purchasing and installing rooftop solar is the most common barrier to its uptake while the complexity of choice is also a major pain point for consumers.
The Behavioural Economics Team of the Australian government (BETA) has surveyed nearly 4,900 people for its Towards Net Zero study, examining how households decide on home energy upgrades, with a focus on rooftop solar.
Of the respondents with solar panels, the most common reason for installing solar was financial with 67% of solar owners citing bill savings as their main motivation, but almost half of those said upfront expenses had made the decision to get solar difficult. Those without solar were even more likely to view cost as the primary barrier with nearly half of respondents citing cost as the main reason the choice to get rooftop solar was difficult.
Cost was also the most common reason people with solar panels had not purchased batteries.
Behind cost, the second most common friction to installing solar is the complexity of choice with half of respondents who were planning to install solar finding it difficult to choose the right type and size of system, choose an installer, work out how much to spend, and learn the technical jargon.
Image: BETA
The survey shows that respondents who were planning to install solar within the next five years perceived many associated tasks to be difficult.
“More than 50% of this group found it difficult to choose the system that was right for them, choose an installer, work out how much money to spend, learn the technical jargon and work out how big the system would be,” BETA said.
“Such complexity can create enough friction to grind the process to a halt.”
BETA said confidence emerged as a critical enabler with clear information from salespeople and installers helping to reduce complexity and enable action.
“Confidence may be the key ingredient to help people follow through on their intention to make home upgrades,” the researchers said. “A combination of easy-to-access and easy-to-understand general advice, paired with customised recommendations from trustworthy retailers or tradespeople … can help overcome the frictions introduced by the complexity or difficulty of tasks.”
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© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.
“I don’t want to lose the house.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A nervous homebuyer recently sparked a discussion on Reddit’s r/solar after entering a contract on a California home with a 20-year solar lease attached. 
In their post, the potential buyer shared detailed calculations on energy rates in the area (which, as the home is in California, are higher than the national average), the lease cost, and the long-term savings of the deal, seeking honest feedback and advice. 
Solar panels are one of the most reliable ways to reduce your energy costs — but whether you’re considering leasing, buying them outright, or financing, it’s important to understand your options before installing them. 
If you have questions about which panels are right for your situation and home, TCD partner EnergySage offers free tools to help you save up to $10,000 on new solar panel installations. 
Based on this poster’s calculations, including predicted year-by-year electricity rate increases in their area, buying the home and keeping the leased solar panels would likely save them big on energy costs. 
Still, they asked Reddit to weigh in before making a final commitment. 
“I put my calculations in the Google sheet below, and it seems like I would save a few thousand over PGE every year,” the original poster wrote. “Am I seeing this wrong?”
Commenters quickly chimed in to discuss the pros and cons of solar panel leases. 
FROM OUR PARTNER
Whatever your solar budget, Palmetto can help you save.
If you want to buy your own panels, Palmetto’s advisors can help you save up to $10,000 on installation through a network of preferred installers. And if you’d rather get solar savings without upfront costs, Palmetto’s revolutionary LightReach subscription program can deliver — including an exclusive $1,000 cashback offer for TCD readers.
LightReach lets you lease solar panels with no money down, making it painless to lock in long-term savings of up to 33% off your current power bill. Palmetto covers a 25-year warranty for the panels, which means you’ll get reliable performance without unforeseen costs.
To get started, just book a short meeting with Palmetto’s experts to explore your options and find the solution that’s right for you.
Although buying solar panels outright offers the largest savings on electric bills, a solar lease with monthly payments can still be a worthwhile investment to keep utility costs down.
“A good lease will be better than PG&E, but not as good as a purchase,” one user observed.
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.

While some commenters advised the buyer to insist that the owner buy out the panels, the original poster said that the housing market was extremely competitive in their area. 
“I’ll likely lose the house if I ask the seller to pay,” they explained. 
“I don’t want to lose the house. So, as long as I am even or saving money over no solar, then I am fine,” the user added.
It can be complicated to navigate all your options for installing solar panels, but TCD has partners to help you understand your options and find the best system for your situation. 
If you’re ready to start your bill-slashing journey, there are several free resources. 
• EnergySage can help you save up to $10,000 on installations by curating competitive bids from local installers 
• Not ready to spend up front? Palmetto’s $0-down LightReach solar leasing program can lower your utility rate by up to 20%
• TCD’s Solar Explorer makes it easy to access exclusive offers from preferred partners 
Pairing solar panels with energy-efficient electric appliances, such as heat pumps, can further lower your utility bills. 
TCD partner Mitsubishi can help you cut energy costs by finding you a highly efficient heating and cooling system that’s perfect for your home and budget. 
While you’re at it, consider installing the free Palmetto Home app. 
By completing in-app challenges and cutting down your home energy use, you can unlock up to $5,000 in rewards to upgrade your home.  
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.
© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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Silicon Ranch to host community meeting on proposed Stockton solar project  Gulf Coast Media
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Apr 3, 2026
Howard Williams of Muncy gives testimony during the conditional use hearing by the Muncy Creek Township Supervisors in Muncy. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
A Muncy Creek Township lay witness at a conditional use hearing where Sunny Side Up Farms frequently clashed in testimony with the applicant’s counsel.
Howard Williams continued with testimony Wednesday in front of the packed house at the township building.
Sunny Side Up Farms wants to site five barns, each with 70,000 free-range chickens on land it owns bordered by Clarkstown Road, Fogelman Road and Muncy Exchange Road. It’s called a concentrated animal feeding operation. It also is a site proposed for 55,000-plus solar panels by Bollinger Solar LLC, making it agrivoltaic. The property is zoned for agricultural conservation and residential use.
Among the data in the report by Williams, a township resident, presented is fact-based and academic research on CAFOs, including their air emissions that can impact people living near such animal farms.
“Isn’t it true that the U.S. EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has not adopted a model for monitoring emissions from animal feeding operations?” Attorney Samuel E. Wiser Jr., counsel for the applicant, asked Williams.
Howard Williams of Muncy gives testimony during the conditional use hearing by the Muncy Creek Township Supervisors in Muncy. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
“The EPA has for over 25 years dithered on this matter, and they haven’t decided much at all,” Williams said in response to Wiser’s question. “They do, however, recommend the Screen3 is used,” Williams said. “It is credible, it is appropriate and it identifies this.”
Screen3 is a widely used screening-level air dispersion model. It is a single-source plume model designed to provide quick, conservative estimates of maximum ground-level concentrations of air pollutants, and it was used as part of the data presented to the board.
Williams has also testified that an AERMOD also be done in this animal farm proposal. That is the EPA’s preferred, state-of-the-art atmospheric dispersion modeling system used to predict ground-level pollutant concentrations from industrial sources.
Williams, who is not considered to be or wanted to be thought of as an expert, also used Penn State Extension AI as part of his presentation to Supervisors Eric Newcomer, chair, and Harley Fry II.
As part of his cross examination, Wiser produced a document from the EPA Office of Inspector General in a publication in 2017 and asked Williams to agree if what was written on the report was in it. It read: “A lack of reliable methods for estimating these emissions prevented the EPA and state and local agencies from determining whether these operations are subject to statutory requirements.”
Howard Williams of Muncy prepares to give testimony during the conditional use hearing by the Muncy Creek Township Supervisors in Muncy. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
“You have handed me one page of what is likely a larger document,” Williams said. He noted there are other reports showing the Screen3 is sufficient for the purpose of showing emissions, concentration and how that (land) fall into the air, the homes, the people in the neighborhood of a CAFO, he noted.
“Are you aware that the EPA is still in the process of refining their modeling for measuring emissions from animal feeding operations?” Wiser asked Williams.
“I did not present my testimony on the basis of dealing with a regulator that is not doing what a regulator should be doing,” Williams said. “I presented my testimony on the basis of how do we describe and submit to the board, so that they can really look at it . . . how do we describe the areas of endangerment for residents relative to human health, safety, general welfare and greater harm?”
Wiser interrupted him. “Mr. Williams, I am curious,” he said, continuing, “if the EPA hasn’t even adopted a reliable model for measuring emissions for animal feeding operations, why does a model that you developed, using technology that was replaced 15 years ago by the EPA have any credibility whatsoever?”
“The model is still used in the trade,” Williams said. “The EPA has not withdrawn it, to my knowledge, and it is still a good and useful model, and, as I have recommended, what the board is going to need to do is deal with this ‘he said’ ‘she said.’”
“You are not producing evidence of no harm, you are making an argument against the design and use of a Screen3 that has been supported in other areas by the EPA,” Williams said. “That’s your only argument.”
Williams, furthermore, testified that the only way the emissions question will get settled, is if the township board is able to contract with an environmental engineering firm that fully understands what the integrator is going to do in the farm. After that is done, then the AERMOD engineer can look at the wind patterns at Muncy, which can be totally different from those at Williamsport, where they are registered.
Williams said his data strongly corresponds to an AERMOD study done in Poland, and it will be up to these gentlemen (township board) to consider contracting with the environmental engineer.
Williams, who is a township resident who has testified about hazardous materials emissions before Congress, has also in testimony shared his dislike of the term “receptors,” in his battle against this proposed farm, which also has a proposed solar array aspect.
Receptors is a static term used by environmental regulators, risk assessors, and impact specialists to identify, map, and mitigate risks from pollution, construction, or hazardous materials. The people, plants, animals and other things in the environment that could be affected” are considered to be receptors.
Wiser also earlier in the night asked Williams to present in the township zoning ordinance where screening is required to be done.
“I do not presume to present zoning information,” Williams said, adding his presentation is to present evidence of harm to human health, safety, general welfare and greater harm than normal.
“I presented that because none of your witnesses have established that there was no harm,” Williams said. He then made a reference to the former testimony by Cody Snyder, who will be the manager with AgVentures, who formerly testified that he lives near two large turkey CAFOS, and has an 18-month-old daughter.
“He’s cool with that,” Williams said, but I don’t think the residents aren’t “cool with breathing in the emissions.” “I wasn’t talking about regulation,” he said. “Regulators aren’t going to save us.”
Wiser asked Williams to point to any section of the zoning ordinance that requires screening for this use. Williams said he could point to the Municipal Planning Code that says objector testimony must establish the evidence that harm to human health, safety, general welfare and greater harm aren’t going to occur.
“So the question was – It is simply your opinion that screening should be a part of this process?”
“No it is not an opinion,” Williams responded. “It is based on fact that the EPA created Screen3 for this explicit purpose,” he said. The purpose, he explained, is to give a review of the hazard of the air emissions … to look at … like a preview of a movie … to look at a preview of hazardous chemicals, the concentration, and the deposition — how far out is this going to reach, who is this going to impact, and it is used to identify — receptors.
A federal judge is reviewing a proposed draft order that the Center for Independent Living be able to recover from …
Average U.S. households using natural gas for heating this winter (2025–2026) paid roughly $700 to $868 for the …

Copyright © 2026 Sun-Gazette, LLC | https://www.sungazette.com | 252 W. Fourth Street, Williamsport, PA 17703 | 570-326-1551

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Apartments, a solar farm and school upgrades are among projects planned in central Pa.  PennLive
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India emerges as third-largest renewable energy market in 2025: IRENA  business-standard.com
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Credits: Red Zeppelin, Manny Becerra, Internal edition
The impact of energy production on the environment has mostly been a negative one.
However, a recent study has found that not all of our energy projects damage the planet. In fact, some enable plant life to grow in what could only be described as “perfect conditions”, enabling a specific rare plant to multiply at an astonishing rate.
How can solar panels in the desert create these near-perfect conditions?
The climate disruption that has emerged over the past few decades can be directly attributed to our collective energy needs.
Fossil fuel-based energy generation is the primary contributor to climate change in modern-day society. We have learnt that it accounts for approximately 68% of global greenhouse gas emissions and roughly 90% of all CO2 emissions.
The conventional energy generation methods that we have relied on for generations have devastated wildlife and the very planet we live on.
Recent studies have found that traditional energy production releases toxic by-products into the atmosphere, such as mercury. This essentially poisons the wonderful world of wildlife that is essential to our ecosystem.
The overwhelming consensus among the international community is that the green energy transition needs to be accelerated to avert a global climate catastrophe.
We know that the ocean holds most of the excess heat that the planet produces, meaning that marine wildlife faces the risk of being boiled alive as the seas warm to unprecedented temperatures.
However, as the renewable energy subsector gains momentum, we are allowing the planet time to heal from decades of abuse from us as a society.
New revelations in energy technology have seen scientists creating innovative devices that are thinner than a strand of human hair. These flexible films can be applied to several energy-generating technologies or processes to increase efficiency and improve overall output capacity.
Solar power has become the dominant force in the renewable energy subsector as more of us turn to it to power our homes and reduce our carbon footprint.
We know that solar panel farms create exceedingly hot temperatures in their immediate surroundings. However, a recent study has found that these hotter-than-normal conditions are perfect for a rare plant to thrive and multiply.
Millions of people have turned to the solar panel industry to facilitate a reduction in their monthly electric bills; however, recent findings by a study led by Tiffany Pereira of the Desert Research Institute have found an unexpected and positive effect that the Gemini Solar Project has had on a specific plant.
The solar power sector has been developing a shift away from the traditional “blade-and-grade” method of constructing solar panel arrays.
The older method damages the soil underneath the solar arrays, potentially allowing invasive species of plant life to proliferate. The answer? Constructing what has been dubbed “ecovoltaic” solar panels.
Evidence found by the Desert Research Institute has noted that the huge solar array in the Mojave Desert helped to preserve the three-corner milkvetch plant.
The plant has grown by significant numbers in recent years. And what’s more amazing is that it has grown far taller and wider than normal specimens. Even producing more fruit than it normally would.
The solar panels also provide shade that slows down soil moisture evaporation.
So while some search for the next “new gold rush” in their backyards that will provide free energy, this study has found the “bright side” of solar power generation and how it can positively affect life, albeit plant life.
© 2026 by Ecoportal
© 2026 by Ecoportal

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FRV gets consent for 183.6 MW solar projects in Spain  Renewables Now
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Reviewing the top ten states for solar generation and capacity, energy storage buildout, and more.
Image: Michael Pointer, Unsplash
This report provides a comprehensive breakdown of the current U.S. solar and battery storage landscape based on the latest data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). We examine state-level performance across four key metrics: generation share, cumulative capacity, future installation pipelines, and operational battery storage.
Solar share of total generation 
This metric tracks the percentage of a state’s total in-state electricity generation sourced from solar (utility-scale and estimated small-scale). 
Cumulative solar capacity 
Ranked by total installed megawatts (MW) of utility-scale solar capacity currently in operation. 
3-year installation forecast (2026–2028) 
Based on the EIA’s Preliminary Monthly Electric Generator Inventory, these states have the largest volume of utility-scale solar projects currently in the active three-year development queue. 
Percentage capacity growth forecast (2025–2026)  
While established markets lead in volume, these “emerging” states are seeing the largest relative surge in their existing solar footprint, often doubling or tripling their capacity from a small baseline. 
Operational battery storage capacity 
The U.S. utility-scale battery fleet has now surpassed 40 GW of power capacity. The following states lead in operational nameplate capacity (MW). 
Methodology 
All data is sourced from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). Readers should note the following parameters regarding these figures: 
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.
More articles from Ryan Kennedy
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Lessons Learned From Establishing a Rooftop Photovoltaic System Crowdsourced by Students and Employees at Aarhus University  onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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Long‐Term Photovoltaic System Performance in Cold, Snowy Climates  onlinelibrary.wiley.com
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Hildisrieden, LU – November 29, 2025 – PRESSADVANTAGE –
Oekoboiler Swiss AG, a Swiss manufacturer specializing in energy-efficient heat pump boilers, continues to advance sustainable hot water solutions through enhanced integration capabilities with photovoltaic systems across Switzerland. The company’s dual-energy technology combines heat pump efficiency with solar power compatibility, addressing growing demand for carbon-reduced heating solutions in residential and commercial buildings.
The company’s systems utilize a combination of ambient air and electricity to generate hot water, achieving up to 80 percent energy reduction compared to traditional heating methods. By extracting approximately 75 percent of required energy from ambient air and combining it with 25 percent electrical input, the technology produces complete hot water solutions while significantly reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

Oekoboiler Swiss AG designs and manufactures its products entirely in Switzerland, ensuring quality control throughout the development and production process. The systems feature smart control technology that enables seamless integration with existing photovoltaic installations, allowing property owners to utilize surplus solar energy for water heating purposes. This capability becomes particularly relevant as Switzerland continues its transition toward renewable energy sources and stricter building efficiency standards.
The heat pump boilers offer multiple configuration options, with storage capacities ranging from 150 to 450 liters to accommodate various building sizes and usage requirements. Each system operates independently from central heating installations, providing flexibility for both new construction projects and retrofitting existing buildings. The technology also provides additional benefits such as basement dehumidification, eliminating the need for separate moisture control equipment.
The company maintains a presence at https://oekoboiler-swiss-ag.localo.site for detailed product specifications and service information.
As Switzerland prepares for the implementation of EnEV 2025 energy efficiency regulations, Oekoboiler Swiss AG has positioned its products to meet and exceed upcoming standards. The company’s commitment to sustainable innovation extends beyond product development to include comprehensive planning, installation, and maintenance services throughout Switzerland.
The integration capabilities with photovoltaic systems represent a significant advancement in residential energy management. Property owners can program the systems to automatically utilize excess solar production during peak generation periods, optimizing energy consumption patterns and reducing reliance on grid electricity during high-demand periods.
Oekoboiler Swiss AG maintains its commitment to accessibility and customer engagement through multiple platforms. Additional information about the company’s sustainable hot water solutions can be found at https://pressadvantage.com/organization/oekoboiler-swiss-ag.

Based in Switzerland, Oekoboiler Swiss AG has established itself as a leading provider of energy-efficient water heating solutions since its founding. The company specializes in developing and manufacturing smart heat pump boilers that combine advanced technology with sustainable design principles. With a focus on quality, efficiency, and environmental responsibility, Oekoboiler Swiss AG serves residential and commercial clients throughout Switzerland. The company’s comprehensive approach includes consultation, system design, professional installation, and ongoing maintenance support. Customer location and service area information is available at https://maps.app.goo.gl/zBNNxGdCCBV7ZZ3C8.

###
For more information about Oekoboiler Swiss AG, contact the company here:
Oekoboiler Swiss AG
R. Heller
+41 41 511 21 77
info@oekoboiler.com
Mülacher 6
6024 Hildisrieden
Switzerland
Information contained on this page is provided by an independent third-party content provider. XPRMedia and this Site make no warranties or representations in connection therewith. If you are affiliated with this page and would like it removed please contact pressreleases@xpr.media
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Laura Klivans, KQED Laura Klivans, KQED
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For years, solar power at home was mostly limited to people who owned their rooftops and could afford the steep upfront costs. But now, a new generation of small, affordable systems — often called “plug-in” solar — are making clean energy more accessible. Already widespread in Germany, the movement is gaining momentum in the United States. Laura Klivans of PBS member station KQED reports.
Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors.
John Yang:
For years, solar power at home was mostly limited to people who owned their rooftops and could afford the steep upfront costs. But that's changing. A new generation of small, affordable systems, often called plug in solar, are making clean energy more accessible. The technology is already widespread in Germany and the movement is gaining momentum in the United States. Our report is from Laura Klivans of PBS member station KQED in San Francisco.
Laura Klivans:
Agnes Chan is a retired teacher in Berkeley, California. She wanted to install solar panels on her home construction, but was limited by her fixed income budget.
Agnes Chan, Plug-in Solar User:
I've lived for a long time and even consulted my roofer, but there's no way that I can afford that.
Laura Klivans:
So she found a cheaper workaround and is one of the newest adopters of plug-in solar. She hopes to rein in bills that run into the hundreds, even with a thermostat set to 60.
Agnes Chan:
It's a great house that I have lived in for over 35 years, but there's no way to insulate it. So I'm shivering in my own house.
Laura Klivans:
Instead of tens of thousands of dollars for rooftop solar, Jan's setup costs $400 and took less than an hour to install.
Agnes Chan:
This is the app which will show me how much the panel is generating.
Laura Klivans:
And rather than taking a decade or so to pay it back, it will likely take her two to three years.
Cora Stryker, Co-Founder, Bright Saver:
We are systematically removing the barriers.
Laura Klivans:
Cora Stryker Co leads the nonprofit that provided Chan with her panels. They bring plug in solar to renters, plus people in multifamily housing and other Americans shut out of rooftop systems.
Cora Stryker:
These things are modular. They're tiny. You can put them just about anywhere. You can add on as time goes on so it's less big. Upfront investment all at once.
Woman:
Introducing Gizmo Power's patented mobile electricity generator.
Laura Klivans:
From plug in carports to balconies, entrepreneurs are investing in this emerging market.
Man:
Now that you've seen the possibilities for installations in various scenarios.
Laura Klivans:
But there's a major hurdle to widespread adoption. In most of the U.S. it's not legal to just set up these systems and plug them in as envisioned.
Man:
Our next topic on the agenda so called plug in Solar.
Laura Klivans:
At a recent online forum hosted by California's utility regulator, Eamon Hoffman, who works for the state's largest utility, PG&E, said customers must comply with regulations and pay fees as if they were setting up a rooftop system.
Utilities say that helps them manage energy supply and demand. But plug in solar advocates say their systems should have a simpler registration process.
Bill Brooks, Brooks Engineering:
This is the world headquarters of Brooks Engineering.
Laura Klivans:
We asked an independent expert to weigh in.
Bill Brooks:
These panels were from early 1980s.
Laura Klivans:
Bill Brooks is an electrical engineer who specialized in Solar for 37 years. He helped write California's code that governs how solar connects to the grid.
Bill Brooks:
There are 78 solar panels. I call it my solar garden.
Laura Klivans:
He says there are risks to plug in solar.
Bill Brooks:
If the product didn't have the proper certifications, then there would be the possibility that somebody could energize a downed power line that could injure linemen.
Laura Klivans:
But Brooks says the barriers can be overcome by updating existing tools.
Bill Brooks:
This is a microinverter used in things like plug in Solar and it has a certification and we have the National Electrical Code.
Laura Klivans:
When these safeguards are in place, Brooks doesn't see a need for a lengthy or costly registration. And he says independent organizations are working on a safety standard for the technology.
Man:
We dropship this to our customers, but.
Laura Klivans:
Plug in solar companies and their customers aren't waiting for regulators.
Man:
Here's the instructions.
Laura Klivans:
Bay Area resident Joe Tenenbaum considered rooftop solar when his electricity bills started rising.
Joe Tenenbaum, Plug-in Solar User:
A good amount of sun even from the morning on, and then it's going to move.
Laura Klivans:
But it would require replacing the roof too. And costs quickly ballooned.
Joe Tenenbaum:
And we don't own this house. This is my parents' home. My wife and kids and I moved in with them when my mom got sick. It's not feasible for them to make $100,000 investment in a rooftop system and it isn't either for us.
Laura Klivans:
Tenenbaum liked the idea that they'd be able to take their panels with them if they moved. For $1,600, he bought an 800 watt DIY kit from Craftstrom.
Joe Tenenbaum:
All right, should we build it?
Man:
Yep.
Laura Klivans:
He liked how they built safety measures into their technology. The company also advises customers to register their systems. The panels won't power the whole house, but will keep Tenenbaum's refrigerator humming and small appliances charged. He expects to save five to on his monthly utility bill.
Man:
So it can grow with your energy.
Laura Klivans:
Craftstrom co-founders and brothers Michael and Steven Scherer say demand for plug-in solar is growing.
Michael Scherer, COO, Craftstrom:
Especially here in California. People are telling us about the time of use rates that double as they come home and actually use power.
Michael Scherer:
And then the second motivation is becoming part of the Green Revolution.
Woman:
House Bill 340 —
Laura Klivans:
Legislators across the country are taking note.
Raymond Ward (R) Utah State Representative: We know there are safe just because they've been doing this for three or four years now and it's worked out well in Europe.
Laura Klivans:
Earlier this year, Utah passed the first legislation nationwide that will allow plug-in solar with no registration when certain safety standards and codes are set. Similar legislation is in the works in several other states, including New York, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Vermont.
Agnes Chan:
My panel is producing 645 watts per hour.
Laura Klivans:
As for Agnes Chan in California, she's hoping to stay warmer this winter.
Agnes Chan:
I expect to be comfortable instead of shivering in my own house wearing a down jacket and a blanket to watch TV.
Laura Klivans:
Even if everyone in the U.S. had these panels, plug-in solar could only cover a slice of national energy demand. But experts say every bit of renewable energy counts.
Joe Tenenbaum:
Big moment here. I'm very excited about this new system. Just unboxing it felt like opening up a gift. We have solar.
Michael Scherer:
That's all there is to it.
Laura Klivans:
For PBS News Weekend, I'm Laura Klivans in Northern California.
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Search across reports, market insights, and blog stories.
Solar manufacturer Qcells is establishing a new division focused on integrated home energy systems for the residential construction sector in the United States. The new unit, named Qcells New Homes, will collaborate with homebuilders to include solar generation and battery storage in newly constructed properties.
The company stated that this initiative responds to increasing electricity costs for households and worries about the dependability of the power grid. A central feature of the platform is a leasing model aimed at making adoption easier. This structure is intended to decrease initial expenses for builders and allow homeowners to obtain the systems without impacting their debt-to-income ratios, which can influence mortgage approvals. Monthly lease payments are described as being lower than average utility rates and are fixed, which protects customers from potential future increases in energy prices.
The platform will function as a direct provider of solar and storage solutions from the manufacturer. It will supply solar modules manufactured at its facility in Georgia alongside battery systems produced domestically. The offering also encompasses financing, installation, and ongoing monitoring services.
The president of Qcells New Homes, Phil Narodick, noted that the approach removes intermediaries to deliver American-assembled solar panels directly to new housing developments. He added that the team has extensive experience working with the homebuilding industry and provides an integrated solution meant to optimize system performance and homeowner value, particularly as net metering policies change, while managing energy solutions throughout a project’s duration.
Integrated battery storage is part of the offering, allowing households to store solar energy and, in certain areas, send electricity back to the grid. This feature corresponds with policy structures like California’s Net Energy Metering 3.0, which encourage self-consumption and grid support. The systems also provide backup power during outages.
This report provides a comprehensive view of the ac/dc motor industry in the United States, tracking demand, supply, and trade flows across the national value chain. It explains how demand across key channels and end-use segments shapes consumption patterns, while also mapping the role of input availability, production efficiency, and regulatory standards on supply.
Beyond headline metrics, the study benchmarks prices, margins, and trade routes so you can see where value is created and how it moves between domestic suppliers and international partners. The analysis is designed to support strategic planning, market entry, portfolio prioritization, and risk management in the ac/dc motor landscape in the United States.
The report combines market sizing with trade intelligence and price analytics for the United States. It covers both historical performance and the forward outlook to 2035, allowing you to compare cycles, structural shifts, and policy impacts.
This report provides a consistent view of market size, trade balance, prices, and per-capita indicators for the United States. The profile highlights demand structure and trade position, enabling benchmarking against regional and global peers.
The analysis is built on a multi-source framework that combines official statistics, trade records, company disclosures, and expert validation. Data are standardized, reconciled, and cross-checked to ensure consistency across time series.
All data are normalized to a common product definition and mapped to a consistent set of codes. This ensures that comparisons across time are aligned and actionable.
The forecast horizon extends to 2035 and is based on a structured model that links ac/dc motor demand and supply to macroeconomic indicators, trade patterns, and sector-specific drivers. The model captures both cyclical and structural factors and reflects known policy and technology shifts in the United States.
Each projection is built from national historical patterns and the broader regional context, allowing the report to show where growth is concentrated and where risks are elevated.
Prices are analyzed in detail, including export and import unit values, regional spreads, and changes in trade costs. The report highlights how seasonality, freight rates, exchange rates, and supply disruptions influence pricing and margins.
Key producers, exporters, and distributors are profiled with a focus on their operational scale, geographic footprint, product mix, and market positioning. This helps identify competitive pressure points, partnership opportunities, and routes to differentiation.
This report is designed for manufacturers, distributors, importers, wholesalers, investors, and advisors who need a clear, data-driven picture of ac/dc motor dynamics in the United States.
The market size aggregates consumption and trade data, presented in both value and volume terms.
The projections combine historical trends with macroeconomic indicators, trade dynamics, and sector-specific drivers.
Yes, it includes export and import unit values, regional spreads, and a pricing outlook to 2035.
The report benchmarks market size, trade balance, prices, and per-capita indicators for the United States.
Yes, it highlights demand hotspots, trade routes, pricing trends, and competitive context.
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The export tax rebate adjustment for photovoltaic and battery products, which took effect on Apr. 1, will support sustainable growth of the industry, despite some short-term fluctuations, experts told China.org.cn.

A partial view of the Shichengzi photovoltaic power station in Hami, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, Jan. 6, 2025. [Photo by Xinhua]
China's Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration announced on Jan. 9 that the export tax rebates for value-added tax on photovoltaic products would be canceled starting from Apr. 1.
Meanwhile, the rebate rate for battery products would be reduced from 9% to 6% and eliminated entirely starting Jan. 1, 2027.
"This adjustment responds to the international community's concern about our photovoltaic products, as many countries have imposed tariffs," said Bai Ming, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation. "Canceling export tax rebates helps ease the situation we face in the international market."
Luo Weijie, associate professor of economics at Beijing International Studies University, pointed out that the change will reduce fiscal burden, demonstrating China's confidence in its photovoltaic and battery companies.
"It shows that they can compete independently in the market, considering their significant global share," Luo explained.
The export tax rebate adjustment for photovoltaic and battery products has caused some fluctuations in the industry. According to InfoLink Consulting's latest photovoltaic industry chain price report, policy expectations have pushed up module prices in multiple regions.
Following the January announcement, leading Chinese solar module manufacturers, including Trina Solar and Jinko Solar, have raised their product prices.
"This represents a structural impact," Bai said. "We will phase out unviable enterprises that rely solely on export tax rebates for survival, while supporting competitive firms that can boost added value through innovation."
Luo added that the policy will compress margins for Chinese new energy exporters in the short term, with larger firms able to share costs while smaller companies will bear the full burden.
At a seminar hosted by the China Photovoltaic Industry Association (CPIA) on Feb. 5, consultant Wang Bohua stated that the industry is moving from export tax rebates to a market-driven phase, from involution-style competition to high-quality competition.
While this shift may pose short-term challenges, Wang believes it will ultimately encourage technological innovation and improve the competitive landscape in the long run, enhancing the sustainability of China's photovoltaic sector in the global market.
"We should strive for mutually beneficial interactions that lead to win-win results in the global market," Bai added.
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Chinese panels still have edge on tech and reputation despite end of export rebate
Workers check the quality of a solar panel at a ReNew manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur in India.  © AP
BENGALURU — India's solar industry is struggling to find new export markets — a pressing need amid growing overcapacity issues and punishing U.S. tariffs — even as it narrows the price gap with Chinese panels.

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Slash Your PSE&G Bill: Hackensack Introduces No-Cost Solar Program  TAPinto
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Save water, produce green energy, think big: These guiding principles have led Siemens’ KACO new energy GmbH and local partner Altitude to supply Israel’s largest floating solar park with power equipment. The Virtual Central system solution provides an ideal fit.
The Habonim water reservoir is in the coastal region south of Haifa, Israel. The reservoir contains 3.3 million cubic meters of water, covering an area of 112,50 acres. The water is used for regional agriculture activities. During hot days, some of the water evaporates from the reservoir and cannot be used for agriculture anymore.
Fortunately, Israel has committed to a high use of renewable energy. This goal comes with new challenges. Israel is facing space constrains, for example. Solar energy competes with other important infrastructure projects.
Since September 2021, the Habonim water reservoir has been covered by 51,500 solar modules, with a total power of 23 MW. This floating PV plant generates clean energy for 3,000 households. The system was constructed using the innovative Virtual Central design.
The solar module strings are collected in dc-combiner boxes, which also manage the string monitoring. The dc-combiner boxes are located on the floating structure on the reservoir. From there, dc cables transport the energy to the designated inverter hubs, which are land-based next to the reservoir. This eases the operation and maintenance activities on the 120 blueplanet 150 TL3 string inverters from Siemens’ German production facility, which are available in Israel through distribution partner Altitude.
The Virtual Central design offers a host of other advantages for floating solar systems. Because the inverters can be installed next to the reservoir, there is no need for extensive cabling. Only single-MPPT inverters by Siemens can be deployed in this fashion. Furthermore, power losses stay on the dc side and a highly efficient energy transport from the reservoir to land at 1500 Vdc can occur. Thanks to this, and due to the efficiency of up to 99.2%, the single-MPPT inverters can provide higher yields than conventional system designs with multi-MPPT inverters.
This has been confirmed recently by independent research institutes. Because fewer cables are required for this design, the investment costs for the balance of system can be reduced by up to 10%. This leads to overall reduced investment costs.
In summary, the Virtual Central approach reduces investment costs, ensures higher yields and is advantageous for operating and maintenance activities, especially on floating photovoltaic (PV) systems. Other floating PV systems that rely on the Virtual Central approach are in development and will be deployed soon.
Read "A study on the possible yield gain by inverters with multi-mppt compared to single-mmpt inverters for different solar system configurations and locations."

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Homeowner reveals clever off-grid solution that saved her family during 48-hour power outage  Yahoo
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Let’s start with the bit most solar websites leave out: Not everyone should get solar.
Here are some signs it might not be worth it — or at least not yet:
If one or more of those apply to you, fair enough. Solar might not be a smart move right now.
But For Everyone Else…
Most of your solar savings will depend on three factors:
If all three line up, your payback can be as low as 2.5 to 3 years. In the worst case, it might stretch to 7–9 years.
The good news: in 30 seconds you can get a good, honest estimate of YOUR savings with our Solar Calculator and decide if it’s worth it.
Obviously this depends, but here’s a real-time graph of what 1239 Aussies have paid for 10 kW of solar panels since 2023 (as reported to this site). The average is about $10,000 per installation.
Price varies based on:
Our Price Explorer lets you filter these variables to see typical pricing.
One of the biggest variables is the quality of the installation company. You will pay more for a better installation.
A very general rule of thumb: expect around $1,000 per kW for a solid system (~$6,000 for 6 kW, $10,000 for 10 kW).
You will see really cheap solar advertised as low as $500 per kW and a high-end solution for as much as $1,200 per kW.
So, when comparing quotes for a standard 10 kW system, here are some things to consider:
Prices are based on the cost per Watt of each brand multiplied by an average 440W panel size. Actual panel size may vary.
Here’s an example. If a budget panel like Jinko costs around $130 and a premium one like REC costs over $290, the brand choice alone adds up to around $3,700 difference on a 23-panel system. That doesn’t include inverter, installation, or other hardware — just the panels themselves.
But what do you get for that extra spend?
Of course, you don’t always need to go top-shelf. If you’re on a budget, there are some excellent value-for-money options from brands like Jinko, Trina, and LONGi. These panels are still high-quality, CEC-approved, and widely used by reputable installers.
The key takeaway: panel brand can shift your quote by thousands, but that premium may be worth it for the right home, especially if you value efficiency, longevity, and peace of mind.
We asked installers in the SolarQuotes network for their recommendations – what they would install on their own rooftops? Discover what they voted the best solar panels in 2025. You’ll notice that these brands also appear on my recommended brand chart above.
You can find reviews from Australian owners of all these brands (and others) in my solar panel reviews section.
Australia’s solar rebate, officially called the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES), takes a significant chunk off the cost of installing solar. How much? Around $300 per kilowatt of solar capacity. For a typical 6.6 kW system, that’s about a $2K discount—and the best part? It’s applied upfront by your installer. No paperwork nightmares for you.
The rebate works by generating Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs), which depend on your system size and location. Once you have determined those, you can calculate how many STCs you are eligible for with our solar rebate calculator. These certificates have a market value that fluctuates, and the scheme itself is set to gradually phase out by 2031, so it’s worth getting in sooner rather than later.
Still curious? We’ve broken it all down in plain English in our solar rebates page—check it out.
Even with falling feed-in tariffs, solar without a battery still makes sense. But adding a battery can drive your bills even lower, and thanks to the federal battery rebate, it’s now more affordable than ever. Prices for reliable solar batteries range from about $4,000 to $13,000 after the rebate, depending on how much storage you want.
The rebate is a once-off, which means you can only claim it for one battery per home. It’s also scaled to the battery’s capacity, so the more kilowatt-hours (kWh) of storage you get, the bigger the rebate. That’s why many households are going big from the start, to maximise the upfront subsidy and future-proof their system as electricity prices and usage patterns shift.
Changes to the federal battery rebate in mid-2026 will introduce a tiered structure, reducing the rebate after 14 kWh of storage and again after 28 kWh, leading to widespread false advertising about “the battery rebate being over”.
That said, batteries are still a significant investment. Even with the rebate, most solar and battery systems will take over 10 years to pay for themselves through bill savings, longer than solar panels alone. Battery economics are improving, but it’s not yet a no-brainer purely on payback. It depends on your situation.
So, should you get one?
Start with solar, always. Then consider a battery if you:
The easiest way to decide? Use our Solar & Battery Calculator. It’ll show your estimated savings from just solar, then from solar + battery — so you can weigh up the extra cost.
With more systems bundling batteries and rebates now available, the market is shifting. If you’re getting quotes, compare both options (solar alone, and solar with a battery) so you can make an informed decision.
Solar panels have dozens of specifications. You can compare them on my solar panel comparison table. But as a consumer, I’d argue there are only three you need to know about:
Solar panel efficiency measures the percentage of sunlight energy hitting a panel’s surface that is converted into electrical energy. The higher, the better. Today’s solar panels typically achieve efficiencies from 21% to 23%.
Why is high efficiency good? Well, the higher it is, the more watts of electricity you’ll get per square metre of panel, allowing a system to generate more energy from the same amount of roof space. 
So, if roof space is at a premium or you just want super-duper PV technology, look into higher-efficiency panels. The good news is that, in 2026, good budget solar panels are as efficient as premium ones. A budget option like Jinko achieves an efficiency of 22.53%, which is comparable to premium brands like Winaico (23%), SunPower (22.80%) and REC (22.70%).
All solar panels become less efficient over time, but the degradation rate varies. A budget panel may degrade at 0.5% per year, while premium panels like REC or SunPower degrade at about 0.25% per year. Over 20 years, this translates to:
While “double the degradation” sounds bad. However, the difference in energy yield is only around 5% over 20 years.
If you value longevity and top performance, premium brands like REC and SunPower with lower degradation rates might be worth the investment.
Solar panels love light but hate heat because high temperatures reduce their efficiency. 
Temperature Coefficient of Pmax — or just Pmax — tells you by how much. This will be around -0.35%/ºC for a average panel. The smaller this is, the better. For every degree over 25ºC a panel’s output will be reduced by this percentage.
REC panels provide the best Pmax at -0.24%/ºC. If you live in a hot climate and want maximum energy on hot days, Pmax is worth considering. 

Most panels should have at least a 25-year manufacturer’s warranty (also called product warranty) on the solar panels, which covers defects in workmanship and materials.
Pay close attention to the fine print of warranty docs. Ideally, you’ll want a warranty that will replace defective panels and cover labour costs. But the majority of warranties don’t promise this. Avoid any that say you have to send the panels away to make a claim. Also, consider the history and experience of both the panel manufacturer and the company installing them. Are they likely to still be around in 10 or 20 years if something goes wrong?
Finally, ensure the warranty isn’t tied to an expensive service contract. You don’t want to feel compelled to shell out $500 a year for a bloke to hose down your solar panels just to keep your warranty. By the way, this sort of warranty stipulation is likely unenforceable under Australian Consumer Law!
While Australian consumer law is strong and can require companies to provide support they don’t include in their warranties, it’s always good to have a warranty that promises comprehensive support, as you are less likely to have to fight to get it.

Some people insist the best solar panels are made in Germany, and all Chinese solar panels are crap. Follow that previous link for a deeper discussion on this, but I find that talk borderline xenophobic.
You may have Pauline Hanson-style reasons for not buying Chinese products. However, as far as quality is concerned, many Chinese brands are world-class. Some are crap, but if you think “Chinese” is synonymous with “low quality”, what do you think about your iPhone, Macbook Pro, or Tesla Model 3? Yep, made in China …and they’re all high-quality, sophisticated devices.
Here are the brands I currently recommend. On the left side you can see the budget options, on the right the more premium brands. You can find reviews from Australian owners of all these brands (and others) in my solar panel reviews section.

Most Aussie homes are solar-ready, but not all rooftops are created equal. Here’s what matters:
North-facing roofs get the most sun, but east, west, and even flat roofs can still work well. South-facing? Still viable, but with reduced output. Read all about it on our solar panel direction guide.
Trees, chimneys, neighbouring buildings or roof clutter (like whirlybirds and vents) can reduce output — sometimes dramatically. Good installers will model this using shade analysis tools.
Remember: Shading changes throughout the year as well. As the days grow short, the shadows grow long. Make sure you know where the shade will fall.
A standard 6.6 kW system usually needs about 30 m² of usable space. Big open areas are easiest, but even complex roofs can often fit a decent system using multiple arrays.
If your roof is old or due for repair in the next few years, fix it before installing solar. Removing and reinstalling panels later is expensive.
Metal, tile, Colorbond — all fine for solar. That said, tiled roofs take a bit more effort, and brittle tiles break easily which slows down the install (and causes some installers to whinge).
Still unsure? A good installer will assess all of the above and design a system that makes the most of the sun your roof gets — without pushing a sale if your site’s just not up to it.

There’s no magic number. Asking how many panels you need is a bit like asking how many bricks it takes to build a house — it depends on what you’re trying to build.
The average Australian home uses about 16–20 kilowatt-hours per day. Since a 1 kW solar array typically produces around 4 kWh/day, simple maths says a 4–5 kW system would cover average usage — but dealing in averages is only for dim door-to-door salespeople. Instead, you should size your system for the cloudiest winter day.
Modern systems are rarely smaller than 6.6 kW. Why? Because:
The best system is usually the biggest one your roof (and budget) allows. Extra panels offer great bang for buck, and export limits or low feed-in tariffs can often be managed smartly with batteries or load shifting.
As of 2025, most solar panels are rated around 440 W each. That means a typical 6.6 kW system uses about 15 panels, covering roughly 30 m² of roof space.
For context: in 2008, you’d need 110 panels to get 6.6 kW using the thin-film tech available back then. We’ve come a long way.
So don’t get too hung up on panel count. Focus on the total system size (kW), and let your installer tailor it to your roof, budget, and energy habits.
Some people prefer the look of certain types of solar panels to others — this is just down to personal preference. For standard panels, the main choices are:
Because they get a little hotter, all black panels have slightly worse performance than otherwise identical ones. But the difference is very minor. 
Some suppliers can integrate the panels into your roof; others can supply solar roof tiles. And if you’ve got a whacky, curved roof, you can even get flexible solar panels! However, the sleek aesthetics of building-integrated solar power (BIPV) come at a price, of course.
Generally, choosing a more “utilitarian” look will be cheaper. But first, check how visible your solar panels will be from the ground. Unless you want to look good for helicopters flying over, there’s no point in paying for ones that look good if no one ever sees them.

A well-made solar panel will typically last at least 25 to 30 years, but that doesn’t mean it suddenly stops working after that time. Solar panels don’t have moving parts, so they’re highly durable and rarely fail outright.
Instead, what happens is that solar panels slowly produce a bit less power each year—a process known as degradation. A good panel only loses around 0.5% of its original output annually. That means after 25 years, it will still generate approximately 85–90% of the electricity it did when brand new.
The warranty period offered by reputable brands typically matches or exceeds 25 years, providing reassurance that your panels are designed to last. But remember, warranty length alone doesn’t guarantee reliability—it also matters that the manufacturer and installer have good reputations and histories of honouring warranty claims.
Realistically, you can expect quality solar panels to continue working well beyond their warranty periods—sometimes 30 years or more. To maximise your system’s lifespan:
Bottom line: solar is a long-term investment, and with good choices upfront, it will reliably power your home for decades.
Solar panels provide a huge environmental benefit over burning fossil fuels by generating energy from sunlight. But do some provide more benefit than others? The answer is yes. But, provided they are reliable, the difference is very small compared to the drawback of not having solar.
If your goal is the lowest greenhouse gas emissions possible from your solar, I recommend looking at the following:

Yes, solar panels are recyclable, but Australia is still building the infrastructure to make this economically practical nationwide.
Currently, recycling a solar panel in Australia costs around $28 per panel, significantly more than sending it to landfill (approximately $4.50 per panel). Because of this, many old panels unfortunately still end up as waste. However, the federal government is developing a solar panel product stewardship model to shift the financial burden of recycling from end-users to producers and importers.
The Victorian, South Australian and the ACT governments have banned the disposal of solar panels in landfills. If you want your panels recycled responsibly, you typically need to arrange this through specialist solar recycling companies and pay them directly.
If sustainability is important to you, consider purchasing lead-free solar panels, which are easier and safer to recycle. Currently, REC is one of the few manufacturers offering these, although more brands are expected to follow.
As recycling processes improve and facilities expand, these costs should come down, making responsible solar recycling the norm rather than the exception.

Solar panels are impressively low-maintenance. They have no moving parts and are designed to withstand the harshest Aussie weather — from hailstorms to heatwaves.
In most cases, rainfall is enough to keep panels clean. But if you live in a dry, dusty area, an occasional clean can help maintain peak performance, especially during long dry spells when dirt and grime accumulate.
How often? For most homes, a quick clean every year or two is plenty. You can DIY if it’s safe to access your roof, or hire a professional if not. Just be sure to avoid high-pressure hoses and harsh chemicals — a soft brush, hose, and soapy water are usually all you need.
We go into more detail in our full guide here: Solar Panel Cleaning: Why, When and How To Do It.
Note: if someone tries to sell you an annual $500 solar cleaning contract in order to maintain your warranty — walk away. That’s usually marketing BS. Warranties can’t require unnecessary servicing under Australian Consumer Law.

No.

While there is some chance the people doing the installation work might cause minor damage simply from foot traffic, properly installed solar arrays pose no risk to the roof.

Care must be taken during the install to make sure there’s no leaks created (such as cracked tiles) but the only damage we’ve seen “created” by a solar array is when a severe infestation of pigeons, and their nests, causes corrosion and water leaks.
In order to claim STC incentives, solar installers are obliged under the rules to provide an estimate of yield broken down over 12 individual months.

They make assumptions about shade on your premises and drop that information into a quoting program that accounts for panel model, tilt, orientation, electrical losses & inverter efficiency. 
Effectively, they promise the system will deliver XX kWh for each month and you can check this via the monitoring app that comes with all solar power systems.

If the system doesn’t perform to specification, you have documented grounds for a warranty claim.
Standard grid-connected solar does not work in a blackout.
However, if you have a solar power system equipped with a battery, it can store energy for use after sundown or during a blackout.

This type of setup is often referred to as a “hybrid” solar system because it uses energy from the power grid, from the solar array and from the battery depending on the time of day and the electrical demand in the home.

There are some exceptions like the Fronius Gen24 which offers a limited power supply without a battery, when it’s sunny. Other hybrid systems will only function to store energy when mains power is available. Despite having a battery, they may not offer blackout protection without specifying extra hardware.
If you require back up you must document exactly what you need to function during an outage, as most systems don’t have enough capacity to back up the entire house.
No. The only time you get roof leaks from solar power is when you use cheap, shoddy installers, or have a massive buildup of bird nests under the array. Both situations are easily avoided.
No. There’s a good reason that doorknockers are already banned from incentives provided by Solar Victoria.
Ideally you should make any repairs needed to your roof before solar goes on.
While solar arrays aren’t impossible to remove and replace, the labour involved to rework an array can cost as much as a whole new system.

If, perhaps, you have a 5-year horizon for demolishing a roof and building an extension, it can still be worth installling solar.

For owners of tile roofs, it can be beneficial to plan for solar & have mounting brackets installed first. Then have roof repairs made with hips & ridges repointed as necessary, followed by the install of racking and solar panels.
Not really.
Solar panels need bright light to convert into electricity.
While they don’t respond well to direct radiant heat, sufficient sunshine is essential to get any meaningful yield.
While some panels are marketed as “shade tolerant”, the degree to which they’ll work with different amounts of shade, in diffuse or hard-line patterns, is open to many marketing claims.
For very shady roofs solar can still be well worthwhile but many installers recommend micro inverters or optimisers. 
While solar cells’ basic efficiency at turning light into electricity has improved incrementally, much of the improvement has simply been better packaging.

Silicon wafers have grown bigger, cell sizes have increased, corners previously cut off have been squared up & gaps between individual cells have been closed down, all giving greater density under the glass.

Along with increased panel sizes, which offer more glass and less frame, output per square metre of array deployed has increased significantly.
While there used to be a few percentage points between the best available panels and the also rans, most panels are now very close in performance terms. 
Something like 90% of the world’s PV solar is made in China, or by Chinese companies operating in other countries to avoid trade barriers.

While the world doesn’t have complete transparency from China about their internal labour conditions, solar manufacturers are responsive to customer pressure.

All the panel brands recommended by SolarQuotes have made documented statements about modern slavery and they can be found on the second-last row of our panel comparison table.
If you’re ready to get pricing on a system, you can get up to 3 solar quotes via my service from Australian installers I have personally pre-vetted and trust.

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Own Rent
Solar panel grants and funding can help households access renewable energy solutions, potentially reducing their energy bills by over £900 a year.
With the recent launch of the UK government’s Warm Homes Plan, which is set to be the largest energy efficiency initiative in British history, there are more solar panel funding options available than ever.
These range from group buying schemes such as Solar Together to solar panel grants such as ECO4, through which eligible households can claim free solar panels.
Our experts have conducted hundreds of hours of research and interviewed top grant providers to give you detailed insights into solar panel grants in the UK, including who qualifies for each scheme, how to apply, and how much solar panel funding you could receive. We also surveyed over 2,000 solar system owners in the UK* to find out how they financed their solar panel installations, providing you with real-world perspectives to guide your own solar journey.
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These are the solar panel grants and incentives available in the UK to reduce the cost of solar panels and encourage the adoption of renewable energy.
Depending on your living situation and your household income, you could receive free solar panels under the ECO4 scheme, the Warm Homes Nest Scheme and the Warm Homes Plan.
A grant is a form of financial support from the government or institutions that typically doesn’t need to be repaid. It can cover all or part of solar installation costs, provided you meet the eligibility criteria. A scheme is a structured programme with specific goals such as increasing solar adoption. It could take the form of a grant or loans, tax incentives, or rebates.
While eligibility criteria are dependent on the grant or scheme you’re applying to, here are some of the most common ones:
Solar grants usually only cover specific solar energy system components such as solar panels, inverters and installation costs. Battery storage or advanced monitoring systems are typically excluded.
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The UK Government’s Energy Company Obligation (ECO) scheme focuses on improving the country’s most energy-poor homes, particularly low-income and vulnerable households. ECO4 is the fourth “wave” of this scheme, and it was extended until the 31st of December 2026.
The grant scheme is managed by Ofgem, the energy regulator, which requires bigger energy suppliers to supply energy-efficiency measures to UK homes. The ECO4 grant covers solar panels and other energy-efficient improvements such as heating systems, insulation and double glazing.
The Local Authority Flexible Eligibility (LA Flex) is an extension of the ECO4 grant. It enables local authorities to fund low-income and vulnerable households who require energy efficiency improvements but don’t receive income-related benefits. 
As of the end of June 2025, 10 per cent of ECO4’s 875,900 installed ‘measures’ were micro-generation measures, which include solar panels. 16 per cent of respondents to our survey* reported receiving ECO4 or LA Flex grants for their solar panel installation.
Eligible households could receive free solar panels under ECO4, though the amount awarded depends on specific circumstances. In some cases, the grant has covered the cost of multiple energy upgrades costing over £80,000, according to Kevin Henney, Director at ECO4 Hub. This could cover the cost of a property receiving a new heating system, full insulation and solar panels, for example.
The ECO4 grant is available in England, Scotland and Wales. It is currently unavailable in Northern Ireland.
In order to be eligible for an ECO4 grant, your household’s annual income must be under £31,000.
You also should be in receipt of one of the following benefits:
If the only benefit you are claiming is Child Benefit, there is an upper income threshold based on how many children you have and whether you’re a single- or 2-parent household. You will need to earn under this amount to qualify.
For single-parent households:
For 2-parent households:
If you receive benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions – regardless of whether you receive Universal Credit or not – you may be eligible for ECO4. This also applies if you receive disability benefits, such as the Disability Living Allowance or Personal Independence Payments.
Although the ECO4 grant focuses on owner-occupied homes, it can also help those in energy-inefficient social housing and privately rented properties, provided the property owner gives permission to install solar panels.
You won’t be eligible for the ECO4 if your property has an EPC rating of D or above. Under this grant, it is also required that any improvements carried out on a home rated F or lower should raise them to an EPC rating of at least D.
Local authorities use LA Flex to determine your household’s eligibility for energy-efficiency improvements. Their assessment is usually based on the assumption that you live in a property that needs energy-efficiency upgrades and one of the following statements applies.
To be eligible for LA Flex, private tenants will need their landlord’s permission.
If approved, the energy company (or grant administrator) will pay the installers directly. If the ECO4 grant does not cover the full cost of the solar panel installation, you will have to pay the remaining balance to the installer directly, or through a financing plan.
In January 2026, the government announced it would extend the scheme until the 31st of December 2026.
When installing energy-efficient home improvements through the ECO4 grant, you have several steps to complete. From application to installation, the process can take as little as two weeks.
Eligibility assessment:
Energy assessment:
Approval and planning:
Installation:
Post-installation:
You can apply to ECO4 directly through your energy supplier, including:
A surveyor will then evaluate your property and determine whether your home is suitable for solar panels.
Identification documents
Proof of income or benefits
Energy bills
Proof of ownership or tenancy
Property information
Solar Together is a group buying scheme for solar panels and batteries which operates in various UK regions. The scheme aims to make solar power more affordable and accessible for homeowners and small businesses within the UK.
It’s an increasingly popular way of funding solar panel installations: 28 per cent of respondents to our survey* chose to install their solar panels through Solar Together.
The scheme is available to homeowners and tenants with their landlord’s permission living in participating council areas. After interested parties register, solar panel providers then bid for the opportunity to install a group’s solar panels. This auction format results in a competitive installation price, which reduces the costs compared to an individual household’s quote.
Solar Together covers solar panel installations. Unlike a grant, this scheme essentially offers a bulk discount on a group’s solar panels; which makes the overall costs lower than an individual installation.
The savings you can make vary depending on the local authority, the number of households in the group and the installers’ offers. However, through this scheme, you can expect to pay between 30 and 40 per cent less than the average cost of solar panels.
Solar Together isn’t a UK-wide scheme. To find out whether it’s available in your area, check with your local authority. The organisation is currently working on expanding the scheme to more regions.
Solar Together offers competitively-priced installations from vetted solar panel installers. The application process is simple and streamlined.
Register your interest via the Solar Together website.
“Group-buying means that everyone gets a better deal. Through our scheme, participants secure average savings of 40 per cent off the typical market price [of solar panels], depending on the installation size. Registering for a Solar Together scheme takes just five minutes, and our help desk is here to support people every step of the way.
 
For regions with existing annual Solar Together schemes in place, we are continuing to grow the schemes and are increasing engagement in these areas. We are also launching new schemes in communities up and down the country, most recently in West Yorkshire.”
The Warm Homes: Local Grant was launched in April 2025 as part of the Labour government’s Warm Homes Plan. It aims to tackle fuel poverty, cut households’ carbon emissions and promote renewable energy adoption in lower income households.
Eligible households could receive up to £15,000 each to cover energy-efficiency improvements such as solar panel installations. They could also receive a separate £15,000 grant to install a low-carbon heating solution such as heat pumps.
This grant is available to households across England.
Eligibility requirements for the Warm Homes Plan include:
Tenants are eligible for this grant provided they have their landlord’s permission.
You can check your eligibility with the government’s free eligibility checker. It’s also worth noting that local authorities are dispensing these grants and can be flexible according to their communities’ needs, so it’s worth applying even if you don’t meet every single criteria.
Through the Warm Homes Plan, installers and contractors are paid directly by your local authority.
If you own the home you live in, you can apply directly through the Government’s eligibility checker. If you meet the criteria, you’ll be asked for your email address or phone number and your application will be sent to your local authority.
If you are a renter, you must apply to your local authority directly.
In January 2026, the UK government launched its Warm Homes Plan. The plan will benefit from up to £15 billion pounds in funding to upgrade up to 5 million homes by 2030, which would make it the largest energy efficiency scheme in British history.
On top of the Local Grant detailed above, the Warm Homes Plan will also include a Warm Homes Fund, through which homeowners regardless of income will be able to apply for low and 0 interest loans to install solar panels, solar batteries, heat pumps, home insulation and more.
The government hasn’t yet announced when these loans will be available. More details are due to be published later in 2026 and will be laid out here as soon as possible.
The Welsh Government’s Warm Homes Nest Scheme provides free energy-efficient home improvements, including solar panels, to eligible households, as well as energy-saving advice. The scheme is open to low-income families and those living in deprived communities throughout Wales.
Eligible households could receive free solar panels through the Welsh Government Warm Homes Nest Scheme.
This grant is available to eligible households throughout Wales.
You could be eligible for energy-efficiency improvements including free solar panels if you meet all 3 of the conditions below.
The installer usually receives the grant directly from Nest.
Contact Nest on 0808 808 2244.
Lines are open Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 6.00pm.
Along with your application, you’ll need to include:
Lorraine from Cardiff funded her solar panel system thanks to the Nest scheme. Her home had an EPC rating of F, she is on Universal Credit and her husband, who suffers from heart problems, receives Personal Independence Payments.
 
“I applied thinking I’d get turned down as it seemed too good to be true, but after two weeks, I heard back. I had to answer some questions and provide proof of income and expenditure, but it was really simple and the person I spoke to was very helpful. 
 
Someone came out to see my house and he said I could have cavity wall and roof insulation, a new boiler, and solar panels. I couldn’t believe that it was all free and wouldn’t make any difference to my benefits. 
 
It took a while to get everything done, and it was a bit of an upheaval, but it’s made a huge difference to our lives now. Our bills are much lower, and last winter was the first one we didn’t worry about.”
Note: Energy Saving Trust Scotland has stopped funding standard solar panel and battery projects under the Home Energy Scotland Grants and Loans Scheme. However, a loan of up to £5,000 is available for solar thermal panels and hybrid solar PV/water heating.
To improve insulation in homes with low energy ratings and combat high energy bills, the Scottish Government has launched a series of grants and loans under Warmer Homes Scotland.
Warmer Homes Scotland targets households in the lower-income bracket, including homeowners and private tenants who have lived in their homes for six months or longer. 
Solar thermal systems focus solely on heating water by capturing sunlight with thermal collectors, which transfer the heat to a water storage system. They are primarily used for domestic hot water or space heating, offering an eco-friendly way to reduce reliance on conventional heating methods.
A hybrid solar PV/water heating system combines PV panels for electricity with solar thermal collectors for water heating, maximising energy efficiency by utilising daylight for both purposes and reducing overall energy costs.
Although solar panel systems are not covered, solar thermal and hybrid solar PV/water heating systems are, and loans are available for households that pass the affordability and credit checks.
Off-gas properties and households in remote rural and island areas can get an uplift, as defined by the Scottish Government’s Urban Rural Classification.
The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme is available throughout Scotland.
Funding depends on availability and is on a first-come, first-served basis.
You can apply for the Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme if your property is in Scotland and one of the following applies.
Eligible applicants also have to pass affordability and credit checks and be able to pay an administrative fee of 1.5 per cent of the total loan amount, to a maximum of £150 per application.
Loans are typically paid into your bank account.
The Home Energy Scotland Grant and Loan Scheme closed on 31 July 2024 for standard solar panel applications, but you have up to 9 months to complete the project. The loan scheme is ongoing.
Here’s the step-by-step process from application to installation:
Initial inquiry and application:
Contact Home Energy Scotland to discuss your interest in applying for a loan and determine your eligibility.
Assessment: 
Affordability and credit checks help Home Energy Scotland assess your ability to repay the loan. Affordability checks review your income and expenses, while credit checks examine your borrowing history, including how reliably you’ve repaid debts.
Approval and financing:
Contact Home Energy Scotland on 0808 808 2282.
Lines are open Monday to Friday from 8am to 8pm and Saturday from 9am to 5pm.
Solar panels allow homeowners to generate their own electricity and reduce reliance on the grid, leading to substantial savings on energy bills over time. 
Average annual savings from solar panels, including SEG payments
We surveyed over 2,000 solar panel system owners* to find out how many took advantage of financial incentives. Solar Together was the most popular scheme among those we surveyed, accounting for 28 per cent of respondents.
If you don’t qualify for any grants, you have several other options to help with solar panel costs.
One of the Government’s green incentives involves applying a 0 per cent VAT rate to some energy-saving materials and equipment, including solar panels, until the 31st of March 2027. This applies to the supply and installation of solar panels in England, Scotland and Wales.
To give you an idea, we estimate the price of a 4.5kW solar system suitable for a 3-bedroom house to cost around £7,300 without a solar battery. If you had to pay 20 per cent VAT on it, you’d actually be paying £8,760 on your system upfront.
The UK Government introduced the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG) scheme on 1 January 2020, and it’s still ongoing. Intended to replace the previous Feed-in Tariff scheme, it ensures that larger energy suppliers offer an export tariff to customers who generate their own renewable electricity via solar panels or wind turbines.
Homeowners with solar systems generating up to 5kW qualify for the SEG scheme. Potential candidates must also install an export meter and have a Microgeneration Certification Scheme certificate or equivalent document.
With solar loans, you can pay for solar panels over time and avoid the upfront cost. Often available through banks, building societies and solar panel installers, these loans may have high interest rates.
Green mortgages are specialised home loans that offer homebuyers or homeowners financial incentives to purchase, build or renovate homes that meet certain environmental and energy-efficiency standards. These incentives can take various forms, such as cash-back offers, lower interest rates or higher borrowing amounts.
A solar subscription plan allows you to avoid the upfront cost of installing solar panels while still enjoying the benefits of solar energy. Several panel providers offer subscriptions, which usually work in one of the following ways.
You can avoid the initial outlay by paying a monthly subscription. This often includes maintenance, warranty and repairs. In some cases, it also covers replacement batteries.
Installers offering subscription plans include:
As well as contributing to a greener environment, this model allows for immediate savings on your electricity bills. So, if you’re looking to switch to solar with no initial investment, this is an appealing choice.
Discover the cost of installing solar panels on your home and find out how quickly they can pay for themselves and start saving you money.
The data used to power this calculator is sourced from various solar companies and industry bodies, including the UK government, Ofgem, and the Energy Saving Trust. Please note that costs are estimated and based on a UK average, and should not be taken as the exact price you would pay. If you’d like to get an accurate quote for solar panels, then you can use this form to get an estimate from providers near you.
Tenants and landlords can also benefit from solar panel government grants and schemes designed to make properties more energy efficient.
If you’re a tenant and would like solar panels installed on your rental property, the first step is to secure permission from your landlord. Here are our top tips for approaching the conversation:
Installing solar panels in rental properties can have many advantages for landlords.
You may be eligible for free solar panels through the ECO4 grant, the Warm Homes Plan or the Warm Homes Nest Scheme, which offer grants covering up to 100 per cent of the installation costs for low-income households. For qualifying homeowners, these programmes aim to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy bills.
Not all solar panel funding comes from the government: for example, SEG tariffs are provided by energy companies, and some banks offer green mortgages to incentivise sustainable home improvements.
While it’s not a solar grant per se, the Solar Together scheme is a group-buying programme that helps communities collectively purchase solar panels at reduced rates.
Currently, there are no grants that specifically cover solar panel installations in Northern Ireland. However, residents can take advantage of green loans and mortgages. Our experts regularly check for updates about local initiatives in Northern Ireland.
For an average 3-bedroom home in the UK, solar panels cost around £9,800, including installation and a battery. The potential annual savings of  over £900 mean you could break even in 10 to 12 years.
Yes, pensioners can qualify for solar panel grants if they meet income and energy-efficiency criteria. Incentives like the ECO4 grant and Wales’ Nest Scheme offer assistance to low-income households, including pensioners. Eligibility depends on income, your home’s EPC rating, and existing energy measures, so pensioners should review requirements and apply as needed.
Written by Katharine Allison
As a writer for FMB, Katharine researches and interrogates products and companies to find the best consumer purchases on the home improvement market – including heat pumps, home security systems and windows. Her high standards for up-to-date information and expert advice ensures that our readers can be assured that the products we recommend are top-rated and high-quality.
Katharine has worked with a wide variety of content publishers over her 12-year career as a writer, including Gordon Ramsay, Transport for Wales, Northern Rail, Cuvva Car Insurance, and a number of large construction firms and environmental organisations. Her work has been published in some of the UK’s leading publications, including The Independent and Architectural Digest. Katharine has also completed three degrees – fine art, philosophy and psychology – and is undertaking a fourth, in STEM, at the Open University. She co-founded the mental health charity Inner Allies and can often be found giving advice on their helplines at weekends.
On top of her impressive career and educational background, Katharine runs a racing team of sled dogs. She enjoys early morning dog walks along her local beach, watching the wildlife while looking forward to the first of many coffees.
*Survey of 2,004 solar panel owners conducted by the Federation of Master Builders, June 2024.
@ 2026 Copyright Federation of Master Builders

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Solar Power World
By Billy Ludt | April 3, 2026
Geronimo Power started commercial operations at its 117-MW Dodson Creek Solar Project in Highland County, Ohio.
A 128-MW solar project Geronimo Power developed in South Dakota. Credit: Geronimo Power
“Together with our community members and project partners, we’re proud to expand our commitment to Ohio,” said Andy Cukurs, COO for Geronimo Power. “With Dodson Creek, our total Ohio operating portfolio has reached 675 MW — that equates to over $240 million in economic benefit to local and state residents throughout our portfolio’s operating life.”
During construction, Dodson Creek employed 125 construction workers at its peak. The project was constructed by EPC partner Kiewit Power Constructors.
“We are pleased that the Dodson Creek Solar Project is now in commercial operation, reflecting our strong partnership with Geronimo Power and the Highland County community,” said Brian Koller, VP of Kiewit Power Constructors. “Kiewit is proud to have successfully delivered this project and to support Ohio’s clean energy future and long-term economic growth.”
Dodson Creek uses Series 7 modules developed and produced by First Solar, which operates a manufacturing and R&D hub in nearby Perrysburg.
“We’re proud that our Series 7 technology is helping power the Dodson Creek Solar Project,” said Mounir El Asmar, First Solar’s head of strategic accounts. “This milestone reflects the strength of our partnership with Geronimo Power and underscores how genuinely American solar technology can drive economic growth while supporting the nation’s need for affordable energy.”
Over the first 20 years of operation, Dodson Creek is anticipated to produce approximately $21 million in new tax revenue for Highland County and local townships, school districts and emergency services districts.
Additionally, Geronimo announced a pledge to contribute $585,000 to Highland County charities and organizations through a dedicated charitable fund.
News item from Geronimo Power
Billy Ludt is managing editor of Solar Power World and currently covers topics on mounting, inverters, installation and operations.

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What will it take for solar power to take off in the Philippines?  rappler.com
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EPA head Lee Zeldin considered favorite to be next US Attorney General
Drilling company sells Tulsa’s Utica Square shopping center
April 3, 2026

Iran attack Kuwait desalination power plant damage: As the two sides exchanged taunts, an Iranian attack on Friday hit a water desalination and power plant in Kuwait, a major U.S. ally in the region, causing material damage to parts of the facility, Kuwait’s electricity and water ministry said. The attack underlined a potentially devastating vulnerability for Gulf countries, which rely heavily on desalination for drinking water.
Russia Primorsk oil terminal drone attacks Baltic Sea: Russia’s Baltic Sea port of Primorsk, one of the country’s largest export gateways, lost at least 40% of its storage facilities in Ukrainian drone attacks last month, according to satellite images seen by Reuters. Ukraine has stepped up attacks on Russian energy infrastructure, launching the heaviest drone strikes on Baltic Sea ports during the war.
Venezuela PDVSA Citgo control U.S. refinery: Venezuelan interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s administration is getting ready to take over the boards of state oil firm PDVSA’s U.S. subsidiaries, including Citgo Petroleum, according to sources familiar with the preparations. The move could intensify a power struggle over control of the seventh-largest U.S. refiner.
oil tanker availability U.S. Gulf Coast global supply shift: Oil tanker availability along the U.S. Gulf Coast has dropped sharply in recent weeks, as Asian and European refiners cut off from Middle Eastern supply have been snapping up vessels to import oil and fuel from the United States, according to shipping analysts and traders.
U.S. oil drilling response high prices: Only a quarter of energy companies reported last week they planned to increase drilling activity due to spiking oil prices, while more than half said they will maintain or even reduce drilling.
U.S. LNG exports record Middle East supply disruption: U.S. LNG exports hit a new record in March as conflict in the Middle East took nearly 20% of global supplies offline, with plants running above capacity and new processing units starting up.
EPA microplastics pharmaceuticals drinking water rules: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed to include microplastics and pharmaceuticals on a list of contaminants in drinking water for the first time, a move that could lead to new limits for water utilities.
Puerto Rico solar panels battery systems funding cuts: As many as 40,000 low-income and medically vulnerable Puerto Ricans were supposed to receive federally funded solar panels and battery systems, but only 6,000 were delivered before funding was cut.
Virginia energy legislation data centers substations: Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger signed new energy legislation allowing data centers and manufacturers to invest in their own substations and addressing how large customers buy renewable energy certificates.
Gulf of Mexico drilling Endangered Species Committee decision: Despite reluctance from oil companies to expand under the “Drill, Baby, Drill” push, the Endangered Species Committee will allow oil companies to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, raising concerns from environmental groups about impacts to wildlife.
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Contributions from five partners will support a 132 MW portfolio of 25 community solar projects across four states.
Image: U.S. Department of Energy
Atlanta-based community solar developer Dimension Energy has announced its largest-ever project financing package, with $650 million in new funding to support a portfolio of 25 community solar projects totaling 132 MW in capacity across sites in Illinois, New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
The announcement includes $415 in debt financing from four of Dimension’s existing partners: First Citizens Bank, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Inc. (MUFG), ING Capital LLC and National Bank of Canada, along with $235 million in tax equity from first-time partner Franklin Park.
The latter company, best known for its work in conventional energy, fuel cells and renewable natural gas, has previously worked with solar industry partners such as New Columbia Solar and Sammons Infrastructure. 
“Franklin Park is proud to partner with Dimension Energy on this portfolio of community solar projects,” said Neil McQueen, vice president of Franklin Park Infrastructure. “Dimension is a leader in solar development and operations, and their proven platform makes them an ideal partner for us as we increase our investments in distributed clean energy assets.”
The financing package represents a new milestone for Dimension, which previously announced $412 million in funding for its development activities in October, 2025, which also included financing from First Citizens, ING, National Bank of Canada, and MUFG. 
Since its founding in 2018, Dimension Energy says it has executed more than 1 gigawatt (GW) of projects serving over 35,000 customers, with an additional 3.5 GW under development across 14 markets.
The company says the new financing will advance its mission to deliver affordable, locally generated clean energy and provide subscribers with immediate utility bill savings. 
Three of the four states in which the current financing package will fund projects have existing community solar rules. Programs in Illinois, New Jersey and New York all offer some form of guaranteed bill savings to at least some subscribers. 
Pennsylvania is the exception, although advocates have made many attempts to get a community solar program working. In 2025, the Pennsylvania state House passed a community solar bill, but the bill never made it to a floor vote in the state Senate.
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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CFIP’s first window will be screened by a steering committee, with selected projects set to undergo NACA Fund due diligence.
Zambia has opened a call for proposals for solar photovoltaic (PV) projects with a combined capacity of up to 300MW, as part of the Carbon Feed-In Premium (CFIP) programme.
The Ministry of Green Economy and Environment and the Ministry of Energy jointly announced the tender, which targets solar PV projects equipped with battery storage, Renewables Now reported.
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The authorities are inviting applications from local and international independent power producers, national utility ZESCO and its subsidiaries, and other eligible stakeholders.
The current window focuses exclusively on solar PV with storage and forms the initial technology phase of the CFIP mechanism.
Project developers have up to two months to prepare and submit their proposals, with the deadline for applications set at 31 May 2026.
The ministries will apply the CFIP eligibility criteria, set out in Annex 1 of the programme documents, to assess submissions.
Each project must have a planned installed capacity between 30MWac and 100MWac and include an on-site battery energy storage system (BESS) with a minimum duration of 30 minutes.
At least half of the electricity generated must be sold to ZESCO or its subsidiaries under the conditions of the call.
A CFIP Steering Committee will evaluate project submissions against the programme’s eligibility requirements and core principles.
Projects that pass this initial screening will move to a further stage of analysis and consideration to confirm compliance with all CFIP conditions and requirements.
All shortlisted projects must also complete the NACA Fund due diligence process.
Projects that successfully pass due diligence will receive an offer of a standardised CFIP renewable energy project contract from ZANACO, which acts as CFIP Fund Manager.
This contract will set out the CFIP price and payment terms for transfers from ZANACO to the renewable energy project proponent.
In April 2025, Zambia resumed work on the Zambia–Tanzania Interconnector Project, which connected its power grid to East Africa and formed part of a wider regional power market.
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Island Green Power’s 500 MW East Pye Solar Project Accepted for Examination by UK Planning Inspectorate  SolarQuarter
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India bets big on domestic manufacturing: Essential for building strong and sustainable energy security  Manufacturing Today India
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India’s solar module production capacity is projected to reach up to 220 GW by fiscal 2028, supported by government incentives, growing domestic demand, and rising export opportunities, according to CareEdge Ratings. Solar cell capacity is expected to approach 100 GW by the same period.
Image: SAEL
From pv magazine India 
India’s module manufacturing capacity has expanded from about 72 GW in March 2024 to nearly 118 GW by July 2025, while cell capacity has grown from 8 GW to about 27 GW. Wafer manufacturing remains limited at 2 GW, though several Indian firms plan expansions exceeding 30 GW, representing investments of more than INR 240 billion ($2.9 billion).
CareEdge said the capacity buildout reflects accelerating installations, policy support, and greater access to finance. Current output capacity is estimated at 50 GW to 60 GW for modules and 8 GW to 10 GW for cells, leaving a cell import dependency of 40 GW to 45 GW. Most imports originate from China.
To reduce this reliance, India has introduced measures such as the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), which requires use of domestic modules for certain projects, and upcoming ALCM/ALMM rules for cells to promote local production.
“Planned module capacity of over 215 GW to 220 GW by fiscal 2028 is expected to entail investments of more than INR 140 billion rupees, with an estimated 25% to 30% of panels likely to be exported,” said Tanvi Shah, senior director at Care Analytics and Advisory.
“The domestic cell manufacturing capacity is expected to reach around 100 GW, supported by cumulative capital expenditure exceeding INR 550 billion,” said Nitu Singh, associate director at Care Analytics and Advisory.
CareEdge said India’s solar exports will increasingly drive growth as output surpasses domestic demand. Exports have risen sharply from INR 8.7 billion in fiscal 2019 to INR 94.6 billion in fiscal 2025, peaking in fiscal 2023–2024 when shipments briefly exceeded imports. Much of that growth came from US buyers diversifying supply away from China.
Exports declined in fiscal 2025 after tighter scrutiny under the Uyghur Forced Labour Prevention Act, but rebounded in early fiscal 2026 as developers accelerated shipments ahead of tariff deadlines. Imports fell 54% during the same period, signaling progress toward solar manufacturing self-sufficiency.
In value terms, exports to the United States rose by INR 11.04 billion in the first four months of fiscal 2026, while shipments to Kenya surged 55-fold year on year.
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Gina Farese, CEO of Marcor Construction and Marcor Solar, among solar panels inside the company warehouse in West Babylon on Tuesday. Credit: Newsday/Steve Pfost
There’s a reason Gina Farese is known to her employees as the foster mother of the solar industry.
The chief executive of West Babylon-based Marcor Construction and its sister company, Marcor Solar, has taken on the monumental task of servicing upward of 3,000 solar rooftops on Long Island and the five boroughs whose original installers or panel makers have either left the market, closed down or filed for bankruptcy.
It’s a little-discussed sector of the solar industry on Long Island that has seen considerable turnover after rebate programs and other incentives have come and gone, leasing companies ran Tupperware-like solar sales parties, and the industry continues to see ups and downs that justify its local moniker, the solar coaster.
Marcor was in the news this week after EmPower Solar, one of Long Island’s largest installers, disclosed it was winding down operations just months after the federal government nixed a home solar tax credit that helped grow the Long Island market to the largest in the state. Marcor will provide a contact point for EmPower customers whose equipment, including solar panels, batteries, racks and inverters, is still covered under manufacturers’ warranties.
Farese said her company is stepping into the breach for EmPower customers whose products have existing warranties.
"We want customers to know that these agreements were strategically put in place so that they were not left high and dry and they are not orphaned," Farese said. Customers "have a home, and as the ‘foster mother of solar,’ I have open arms to help in any way, shape or form in what we’re capable of doing."
She stressed that Marcor did not acquire the assets of EmPower and workmanship warranties on installation work by EmPower have not been assumed by Marcor, unless otherwise discussed.
"We’re working to be very fair and flexible as much as we can be," she said. "If we can bill work through a warranty" because of a product defect, "we’ll bill that way." She said the company will work to "minimize payments by the homeowner" on systems that need workmanship-related repairs.
It’s not just EmPower’s customers who need that service. Over the past decade more than a dozen solar installers, leasing companies and manufacturers have exited the market, leaving a large number of customers in the lurch as systems age and installation problems become more evident. Farese put the figure of orphaned systems across Long Island in the double digit percentages of the roughly 100,000 systems in the Long Island Power Authority territory.
SUNation Solar Systems, a Ronkonkoma-based installer, has a 30-person team dedicated to "service anything that has been built," including residential and commercial, with "thousands of customers under monthly monitoring," said chief executive Scott Maskin. In all SUNation, which in December installed its 10,000th solar system, provides service for around 13,000 systems, Maskin said. 
The need is growing. 
In November national solar company PosiGen Solar filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas, citing loss of the federal tax credits. The company, with 40,000 customers, including some on Long Island, experienced a cash crunch last summer and shut down most operations after its lenders stopped funding ongoing operations.
The number of home solar systems left in the lurch is so substantial, Farese said, and Marcor Solar, which continues with its business of installing solar and battery systems, has "pivoted a large portion of our business service right now." The company has licenses for both roofing and solar work, she noted.
Marcor has 40 employees working in its solar division, including 15 recently hired from EmPower. "My team has to be on autopilot and they have to be able to run the deal start to finish," she said. "We do the design, review the engineer reports. We keep overhead tight to do the volume." Her team services between 30 and 50 solar rooftops a week. She has 13 master service agreements with entities including banks, panel manufacturers and agents for firms formerly in the business, tending to customers who are still paying off leases and loans on systems.
John Rocchetta, managing partner of GreenLogic Energy, a Southampton-based installer, has watched installers and suppliers come and go over more than two decades in business. He said that while most solar-panel installs are "set it and forget it," GreenLogic has a growing service division that is tending to keep systems operating to peak performance.
"There are so many systems out there from so many out-of-business contractors, and those systems are orphaned," said Rocchetta. Customers "don’t know if they’re working, and those systems need a checkup. They need a company do to checkups for animal damage, broken zip ties or bolts — there are items that need to be addressed."
Most of Marcor’s work, Farese said, involves systems that weren’t installed properly or should not have been installed on roofs. "The majority of the things we run into is poor installation," she said, "solar that was installed on a roof that it never should have been installed on," including with three layers of roof tiles. It can cost $20,000 to $30,000 to uninstall a solar system, redo the roof then reinstall it, she said.
Farese started her career on Wall Street as an investment banker but joined her dad’s construction company 20 years ago, starting at the bottom. "It was baptism by fire," she said. "I had to drive the truck, ride in the back of the truck, crash the truck — whatever I had to do … I was able to teach myself this industry and be challenged constantly as a woman in a male dominated field."
The best advice she ever got: "Think like water." It means she developed an understanding of how water behaves on roofs and how to divert it, prevent leaks, keep her work tightly sealed. "It’s pretty easy to follow what water would do."
Farese, in addition to being a certified instructor who leads seminars for real estate agents and others on the intricacies of solar on homes, also is the chair of the Nassau County Home Improvement Advisory Board and a member of the Suffolk County Consumer Affairs board.
Despite the ups and downs of solar, she remains a strong believer in the industry.
"Good solar is good, but bad solar is bad," she said. "Customers just need to ask the right questions and make sure they’re getting the right system for their home. Solar is a necessity and we need clean energy. We need to find companies who can do this and do it right."
As for her own role, Farese said that in a perfect world, "there shouldn’t be a whole business for me to clean up solar all day long. But here I am."
Mark Harrington, a Newsday reporter since 1999, covers energy, wineries, Indian affairs and fisheries.
Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 28: Baseball, Softball and Plays of the Week! On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we check in with Matt Lindsay at Mount Sinai and their new baseball coach Eric Strovink, Chris Matias is with the Floral Park softball team and their star pitcher Chloe Zielinski and Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week.
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Sarra Sounds Off, Ep. 28: Baseball, Softball and Plays of the Week! On the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off," we check in with Matt Lindsay at Mount Sinai and their new baseball coach Eric Strovink, Chris Matias is with the Floral Park softball team and their star pitcher Chloe Zielinski and Jared Valluzzi has the plays of the week.
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Zaragoza City Council Commissions 220 kW Solar Plant, Awards Rooftop PV Contract to Iberdrola Clientes  SolarQuarter
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Sunraycer Initiates Construction of Large-Scale Texas Hybrid Solar and Storage Development Exceeding 600 MW  Energies Media
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On the south side of Chicago, an early example of community solar for low-income Americans is operating at the Dearborn Homes in the Bronzeville community, thanks in part to a DOE-funded project to support a microgrid that combines solar photovoltaics with battery storage.
Title: Microgrid-Integrated Solar-Storage Technology (MISST) 
Funding Opportunity: Sustainable and Holistic Integration of Energy Storage and Solar PV
SETO Team: Systems Integration
Location: Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois
Amount Awarded: $4,000,000
Awardee Cost Share: $4,000,000
The Microgrid-Integrated Solar-Storage Technology (MISST) project will address availability and variability issues inherent in solar photovoltaic (PV) technology by utilizing smart inverters for solar PV and battery storage and by working synergistically with other components within a microgrid community. MISST utilizes the existing DOE-funded microgrid technologies and testbed and is designed to work seamlessly with a dedicated solar PV/storage controller that will be developed in this project. The PV/storage controller will demonstrate the economic, reliability, and resilience benefits of a microgrid-based solar PV/storage solution.
The project will deploy high-power solar PV and a high-power battery energy storage system (BESS) in the Bronzeville Community Microgrid (BCM), which is controlled by a microgrid cluster controller and is electrically connected to an existing 12 megawatt microgrid. Initially, ComEd plans to deploy a 2 megawatt islandable feeder, with the potential to expand it to the full microgrid scale by completing the additional feeder configurations, communication, protection and control systems planned for the complete microgrid.  The total installed solar and storage capacity within the project will achieve instantaneous penetration levels between 20% and 35% of the microgrid’s peak load. The MISST integrated solution will be scalable to significantly higher levels of penetration with standardized and proven external and internal interoperability capabilities.
The project team will also develop optimal integration of PV and energy storage in an islandable microgrid and the optimal utilization of such systems by coordinating the operation of their controllers with those of other microgrid elements. Smart inverters offering robust droop control strategies will also be developed and demonstrated. The MISST project deliverables will include the strategic plan and detailed design methodology for MISST, recommended methodologies, processes and considerations for practical implementation and scaling up for high power applications of similar solutions, and numerical input and analytical results based on the deployment. 
If successful, the project will provide a utility-scale practical implementation of a hierarchical and coordinated solution that addresses one of the key barriers for the high penetration of solar PV systems: the seamless integration of these systems in utility grids. This means that solar PV systems are both intended to operate without deterioration of reliability, power quality and operational security of transmission and distribution utility systems, and are also expected to help improve efficiency by supplying loads locally and providing ancillary services when needed, under interconnected and islanded conditions. In this regard, this project would represent a contribution to modern and future T&D system engineering, control and operations.
Download the presentation from Commonwealth Edison Company at the SHINES Technical Kickoff Meeting.
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Achieving a system cost of $0.65/W through the secondary market and do-it-yourself assembly demonstrates a viable pathway for US plug-in solar to provide immediate utility bill relief to renters and apartment dwellers.
Image: Bentham Paulos
From pv magazine USA
The sudden emergence of plug-in solar is timely, given the high concern about energy affordability.  It offers renters and apartment dwellers – more than one-third of US households – a way to cut their utility bills with solar power, complementing rooftop and community solar.
Given the  buzz around it, I was asked by one of my clients, the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA) to develop a short report for state energy agencies. With 28 or so state legislatures considering plug-in bills, state energy staff are busy coming up to speed.
While my CESA paper mostly discussed the theory of plug-in solar, including regulatory and programmatic issues, I thought I should do some field research on the practice – by installing my own system.
Plug-in theory
The defining characteristic of plug-in solar (also called balcony or DIY or plug-and-play solar) is that it can be installed by an amateur and plugged into an existing outlet, without the involvement of an electrician.
It falls in the spectrum between solar for recreational vehicles and standard residential rooftop systems. Installations typically range from one to four panels, or 400 to 1200 watts. They are mounted on balconies, backyards, sheds, and elsewhere. In fact, people are coming up with many innovative ideas, like this PV table from GoSun.
In most places, plug-in solar is neither legal nor clearly illegal, since laws and regulations do not address it. City permits don’t typically cover plug-in appliances that are not permanently installed. Utility interconnection agreements govern systems that export power onto the grid, which a small solar system may or may not do. But many companies, customers, and others will hesitate to get involved until the rules are clarified.
The biggest regulatory concern – energizing lines during an outage and putting line workers at risk – is not really an issue, since inverters are covered by UL 1741, and have “anti-islanding” capability.
Plug-in practice
Despite my master’s in energy analysis and policy (go Badgers!) and 30 years in energy advocacy, grantmaking, and research, I never really had to understand amps and volts, or the difference between serial and parallel wiring.  With DIY solar, those are fundamental. Most people won’t want to figure all that out, so will want a pre-fab kit with compatible equipment and ease of assembly.  But you pay for that convenience.
I wanted to see where the US market is headed, not just where it is now in its infancy. Europe is the model, with possibly 4 million systems in Germany alone. While there are many vendors in Europe, Ikea’s plug-in solar partner, Svea Solar, has kits starting around €450 ($518), for two 500 W panels, an 800 W (AC) inverter, cables and mounts. There is no VAT charged, and Ikea members get a 15% discount.
This works out to only $0.65/W of AC output, reflecting a mature and active market, with many retailers, distributors, and equipment manufacturers.
Here in the United States, an equivalent kit from Brightsaver is approximately $1.60 per AC watt, plus tax, picked up at their Bay Area or Los Angeles locations. EcoFlow offers a kit for $1.58 per AC watt plus shipping, but only in Utah so far.
In the name of research, and because I’m a cheapskate, I set out to achieve the German Ikea price.
But as experienced DIY people know, it’s best to practice on someone else’s project. My friend Marco loved the idea of adding plug-in solar to supplement his existing rooftop system, so he bought the Brightsaver “NEM expansion kit.” (Brightsaver spotted that current California solar customers can add up to 1 kW to their existing system with no further permission needed and without losing NEM status (see page 27 of CPUC Decision 14-03-041.)
I discovered two key things – first, getting two large panels up to a second story roof is tricky.  Fortunately Marco is a sailor and tied some excellent knots so we could lift the panels with rope.
Second, panels with a proper tilt angle can absorb a lot of wind force – they are like sails. We did a ballasted system on his flat roof to avoid penetrations, with cement blocks.  But a windy night nearly pushed everything over the edge.  We added some sandbags and roped them to anchors on the roof soffits.
Hitting the Ikea price meant I couldn’t just get the Brightsaver kit.  Here in the SF Bay Area there are plenty of used solar panels on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.  Indeed, the homeless camps get used solar panels from Urban Ore, our local building materials recovery store.  I got four 315 W panels from some dude in Richmond for $50 each, or $0.16/W. I tested the voltage, which looked pretty good.
Getting the inverter was harder, since I could find only three models with 120 volt output, and just two of them are UL-certified.  Rooftop systems use 240v, as do European plug-in inverters. I got the AP Systems EZ1-LV 960 W inverter from Miga Robotics in Oregon for $350. I’m sure the price will come down as more companies make similar products.
I’m running 1.2 kW DC through the inverter, for an inverter loading ratio (ILR) of 1.25, which is slightly above the national average of 1.16 for distributed solar, according to Berkeley Lab’s Tracking the Sun.
It took me a few YouTube videos to understand parallel and series wiring, to plug four panels into the two circuits of the inverter.  A set of long Y-cables from Amazon was $60.
Next was installation. I have a nice flat garage roof with almost no shading. An added plus is that the outlet in the garage is at the end of the circuit, which I learned from a paper by Berkeley Lab’s Daniel Gerber, is the right place to plug in to avoid “breaker masking.”  While that paper is not exactly a how-to manual, it does cover the main safety issues: touch safety, circuit overload, and ground faults.
I got four concrete footings from Home Depot for $25, then put a couple of steel pipes that I already had across them.  I zip-tied the panels to the pipes, though because they are only about a foot off the deck on one side, I don’t think they are going anywhere. The panels all face south but have a low tilt angle, which means they will get their best output in the summer, but poor output in the winter, when it’s more likely to be cloudy anyway.
I put the inverter in the garage, ran the Y-cables through a hole I drilled in the wall, and plugged the inverter into the outlet. Done.
Unlike my vintage 2011 rooftop system with an SMA string inverter, my new system is wifi-connected, so I can see I’m producing around 5.5 kWh per day now in March, with daily peak output around 850 W. At a retail rate of $0.30/kWh, that’s about $50 per month in savings.  Given a total cost of $635 – $0.66/W, bullseye! –– my payback should be just over a year. Of course, for systems that cost more or are in locations with less sun or lower electricity prices, the payback period will be longer.
Building the market
Making this a reality for all will take a number of steps.
Most of the legislative and regulatory attention is appropriately focused on safety. (The CESA paper includes an overview of the safety issues.) UL Solutions has put out UL3700 (which can be viewed online), and now offers testing and certification. Since it is not an official UL standard, they can take comment and consider changes at any time. If you have substantive comments, drop them a line.
Local permitting agencies can choose to get involved, though they don’t normally cover plug-in appliances. Federal laws in Germany limit local regulations, but do encourage customers to register their systems. About one in four systems is registered.
Grid relations are the next issue to resolve. Utah (and soon Virginia) “legalized” plug-in solar largely by exempting small systems from net metering. This eliminates the paperwork, but does mean that any power generated in excess of demand in real time, and exported to the grid, is not compensated at all.  It is given to the utility,  which tends to erode the profitability of the investment!  Whether a system will export depends on the customer’s load, and whether a battery and controller will head off the exports. Adding to an existing system that already has an interconnection agreement may avoid this issue, making NEM expansion kits an early opportunity.
Manufacturers and packagers are stepping up.  A new example is a kit from Pii Energy that combines solar and a battery with smart outlets and a system controller, specifically addressing UL rules and avoiding exports to the grid for customers without interconnection agreements. Small batteries with on-board inverters may displace stand-alone inverters, while enabling non-export and a little bit of insurance against outages.
Logistics and distribution have to be worked out. I got used panels not only because they were cheaper but because they were available locally. Shipping just a couple large rigid panels is quite expensive, so distributors will need solutions other than FedEx. An obvious retailer is a local rooftop installer, who buys panels and inverters by the pallet and can sell them from their warehouses. They’ll have to fight with Amazon and their network of warehouses. Eventually big box retailers may get involved, like Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart. Other vendors are trying flexible or folding panels that are easier to ship.
Lastly, since the vision is for amateurs to DIY the installations, they will need some instruction.  YouTube university is the place where people go for how-to videos, so solar marketers, local governments, utilities, and advocates can all offer content, plus in-person events and other outreach.
None of these issues seem hard to resolve, and innovation will come quickly once the regulatory door is opened. Having done my own, I can see how theory needs to evolve into practice before millions of DIY systems appear across the country.
Bentham Paulos is a consultant in Berkeley, working with the Clean Energy States Alliance, Berkeley Lab, and California CCAs. See more at PaulosAnalysis.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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Ratepayers are scrambling to avoid high electricity bills, and lawmakers in some US states are responding with new legislation to allow balcony solar panels. These plug-in panels make solar power accessible to households that don’t have the opportunity, or the inclination, to install their own rooftop solar panels. But, why leave it up to the states? It’s only a matter of time before the federal government steps in to help support the spread of this new money-saving technology, which will benefit millions of Americans…hold please…
Unlike solar-powered generators and other portable solar devices, balcony solar panels plug into a simple household outlet and feed electricity into household wiring, reducing the amount of electricity sucked from the grid. Ukraine is credited with popularizing the devices soon after Russia launched its unprovoked war against the country in 2022 and began destroying its energy infrastructure. The movement soon took off in Germany with strong support from the nation’s policy makers (see lots more plug-in solar background here).
The “balcony” in balcony solar refers to the ripe opportunity for hanging plug-in solar panels from apartment balconies, but a balcony is not required. The panels can be hung or propped up anywhere around a property where a household outlet is available.
The movement has been achingly slow to develop in the US. Utilities can take some of the blame because they generally treat a simple plug-and-play solar panel like a full blown rooftop solar installation, requiring costly connection agreements and fees. Landlords and homeowner associations can also shoulder responsibility for limiting use of the devices or prohibiting them altogether. Additionally, safety considerations and the age of the US housing stock come into play.
Still, the case for balcony solar is a compelling one. Back in 2017, for example, researchers at Michigan Technological University estimated the US demand for “plug and play PV” at 57 gigawatts, potentially saving ratepayers $13 billion per year while creating a substantial new industry market of $14.3 billion – $71.7 billion.
The cost of solar panels has dropped substantially since 2017 while electricity rates have gone up, so it’s no surprise to see legislators in at least two dozen states considering bills to cut down the hurdles to balcony solar, addressing safety concerns alongside utility red tape and other obstacles.
Utah was first out of the starting gate in March of 2025. Last month, Virginia also stepped up to the plate, and now Maine has chimed in. On April 2 the state legislature approved LD 1730, a bill that puts safety front and center.
“Given the varied electrical wiring in homes across Maine, LD 1730 emphasizes safety for consumers and line workers by requiring systems be installed by a licensed electrician,” observes the Natural Resources Council of Maine.
That’s not exactly the full plug-and-play vision, but the cost of hiring an electrician could be offset, and then some, within a year. “For the average household in Maine, a 1,200-Watt plug-in solar system could cut electricity bills by nearly 20% or $388 a year, according to the Office of the Public Advocate,” NRCM notes.
NRCM further observes that electricity rates have increased in Maine by 68% over the past five years. The upward trend predates US President Donald Trump’s rolling disaster of a war on Iran, and the war has only made things worse by ratcheting up the cost of natural gas as well as fuel oil for power plants.
“When oil and gas prices jump, like they are right now, Maine’s electricity prices follow, hitting the poorest households hardest,” NRCM emphasizes.
There being no such thing as a free lunch, the up-front cost of a balcony solar kit can put the panels beyond the reach of those who need it most. Gosh, those Biden-era federal tax credits for household renewable energy improvements would sure come in handy right now. Meanwhile, perhaps some enterprising startup will develop a subscription or leasing service, similar to those emerging in the rooftop solar industry.
The non-profit organization Bright Saver has been advocating for balcony solar in the US, and the results from Utah, Virginia, and Maine show that their efforts have been gaining traction. The organization has also identified a sort of back door for balcony solar through existing rooftop solar arrays that are already part of a net metering program.
The organization’s Net Metering Expansion Kits are already available in California, where state regulations allow rooftop solar owners to expand an existing array by up to 1 kilowatt. The panels can be placed anywhere sunlight is optimal, if not on the roof then on the side of a house, or in the yard.
Bright Saver’s “NEM Go” kit includes four 250-watt solar panels. Kits are also available in 800 and 1600 watt configurations.
If all goes according to plan, balcony solar kits could be as easy to pick up as a week’s worth of groceries. The German-based multinational supermarket chain Lidl, for example, is reportedly planning to carry plug-in solar panels at its UK stores for around £400 (about $460), following the UK government’s decision to lift regulatory hurdles.
“The government estimates that a typical UK home could save between £70 and £110 a year on their energy bills. At an upfront cost of around £400, that means the panel will pay for itself in around four years,” The Independent reported on April 2.
“The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero says the kits will be available ‘within months,’ with brands like EcoFlow hoping to have stock ready in time for the summer,” The Independent added.
No word yet on whether or not the company plans to stock the shelves of its US stores with balcony solar panels, but that could happen. Lidl (not to be confused with Aldi) is relatively new to the US supermarket scene, but it has already established a foothold in solar-friendly East Coast states including New York and New Jersey as well as Virginia.
The company also has a footprint in the Carolinas, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Washington, DC.
Image: Balcony solar kits can be placed anywhere sun is available, feeding clean electricity directly into household wiring while reducing monthly utility bills (cropped, courtesy of EcoFlow).
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US solar manufacturing might be in a bind. Protectionist trade measures like AD/CVD and Section 232 ostensibly promise to prop up the domestic industry against unfair Chinese competition by creating incentives to buy American. But the industry isn’t keeping up with the tariffs; while module assembly capacity has grown massively in the US, most of those facilities still rely heavily on imports of upstream components.
Solar cell capacity is slowly picking up, but it’s nowhere near module capacity, and the only current viable US wafer producer (Corning) isn’t producing enough to meet cell demand or create a reliable market for additional US polysilicon producers.
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Analysis published last month by the law firm Wiley Rein – led by Tim Brightbill, the lawyer behind most of the recent trade agitations from the US solar industry – said that wafers are the linchpin in the supply chain that could create “significant” problems for the industry. The analysis said that access to tax credits and exposure to unexpected tariffs could be tied to the legal definition of “blue” doped wafers, which have been treated to develop the crucial P/N Junction.
In some cases, doped wafers are effectively regarded as solar cells for legal purposes, and there is conflicting legal precedent for whether a blue or an undoped grey wafer is the determining factor in a solar product’s origin.
Following this analysis, Brightbill took to an online press briefing to argue that more robust tariffs and trade enforcement were the fundamental way that the US can ensure its domestic solar manufacturing industry continues to grow.
He said that the industry will be facing an “investment drop-off” with the end of the domestic content bonus for US-made products, despite “a renaissance in solar manufacturing”. That renaissance is predominantly in crystalline silicon-based module and some cell capacity, and First Solar’s cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film capacity.
Brightbill said that the coming changes “make robust trade enforcement more urgent than ever. AD/CVD and the Section 232 polysilicon action are exactly the durable tools our industry needs right now.” There are currently varying antidumping and countervailing duty tariffs on solar cells and modules imported to the US from China, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia and Thailand. There is also an ongoing investigation into cells and modules from India, Laos and Indonesia. The US is also currently conducting an investigation into all imports of polysilicon and its derivatives under Section 232 legislation, on the grounds of national security risk. This is expected to report back sometime in 2026, though timelines are unclear.
Opinions on this vary. US manufacturer T1 Energy, which bought a module assembly facility from Chinese module manufacturing giant Trinasolar, has previously said that Section 232 and AD/CVD tariffs would “boost” the US solar manufacturing industry, and that it would stand to benefit from stricter controls on products entering the US.
First Solar will also broadly benefit from restrictions; as a CdTe thin-film producer, it is isolated from most of the impacts of a probe into polysilicon imports. The company also said it expected the Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) restrictions expanded under last summer’s budget reconciliation bill to “strengthen” its position in the market. When we approached Hanwha Qcells for comment on Wiley Rein’s initial analysis, the company directed us to the press briefing given by Brightbill. It has plans to develop US wafer and cell production capacity and a polysilicon supply deal in place with Korean OCI Holdings.
But analysts have warned that the Section 232 tariffs could be hugely disruptive. Wood Mackenzie said in July that the investigation could prove to be the US solar industry’s “biggest supply vulnerability” and could “choke the entire US solar market”. Elissa Pierce, a Wood Mackenzie solar analyst, said: “Unlike module factories built in months, polysilicon facilities require years to develop. This is time the industry may not have as trade tensions escalate, and inventory buffers rapidly deplete.”
While on paper raising barriers to cheap imports puts domestic products on a more even footing, there is a wide gap between US demand and upstream supply which will take a significant time to bridge.
This all pertains to the origin of solar wafers, which are the crucial point in the supply chain based on legal definitions around when a product can conduct electricity. A blue wafer can, a grey wafer can’t.
Aaron Hall, president of renewables data platform Anza, told PV Tech Premium: “There is a clear cost premium associated with using domestically produced wafers versus imported supply, particularly Chinese wafers.
“Based on recent supplier input, that premium appears to be quite variable today, ranging anywhere from ~2 cents to as high as ~10 cents per watt, with a more typical expectation around ~5 cents in a more normalised environment. That variability reflects how early and supply-constrained the domestic wafer market still is.”
Tariffs are intended to close that gap by making imported products more expensive and less attractive, but, as Hall explained, there is currently nowhere near enough crucial US wafer supply to meet demand.
“Today, US wafer production capacity is extremely limited. For example, one of the only active domestic producers is currently at roughly 6GW of annual capacity. Even after accounting for segments of the market, like thin film, that don’t rely on crystalline wafers, domestic supply can only cover a fraction of total demand,” he said.
The current US solar market is around 40GW – while module capacity can cover almost all of that, the lack of upstream capacity won’t be solved quickly by a set of tariffs. If strict supply-wide restrictions were to come in tomorrow, many of those module facilities which rely on imported products, particularly solar wafers, would see their costs and prices rise. This also limits access to tax credits, Hall said, which can be key for young domestic industries:
“This creates a fundamental bottleneck. Even if developers or manufacturers want to use domestic wafers to qualify for domestic content incentives, there simply may not be enough supply available. As a result, access to those wafers, and by extension, eligibility for incentives, becomes constrained, which can drive further pricing pressure.”
Wiley Rein’s original analysis said that lack of clarity over wafer origin rules could restrict access to the domestic content bonus, in particular, which was introduced to incentivise buying US-made products and components. Almost all wafers originate from China, Chinese companies, or operations in Southeast Asia that are subject to AD/CVD levies. As established, current US supply can only meet a maximum of around 6GW a year.
Hall said that, in his estimation, AD/CVD and Section 232 could cause more issues than they solve: “Depending on how those evolve, they could further restrict import pathways or reshape supply chains, potentially exacerbating the supply-demand imbalance and putting additional upward pressure on domestic wafer pricing.”
Ultimately, if limited access to tax credits combines with increasingly costly domestic products, thanks to growing demand, it may be more cost-effective for some solar buyers to pay tariffs and forego any advantages for domestic products. We heard this argument last year, where Christian Roselund, senior policy analyst at Intertek CEA, warned that the combination of draconian FEOC rules, tariffs and a contracting solar market could broadly damage the US solar manufacturing industry.
It is true that while expanding tariff regimes with the promise of supporting domestic industry, actual incentives for solar deployments and most manufacturers have been pared back significantly. Last year, an analyst told PV Tech that the Trump administration’s apparent support for domestic US manufacturing was “doublespeak”.  
Certain big manufacturers may thrive, but the broader industry and its roughly 50GW of module capacity and growing cell capacity may not.
Speaking on the same platform as Brightbill, Danielle Russo, executive director of the Centre for Grid Security at lobby group Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE), said: “What we don’t want to do is go from an over-leveraged non-peer adversary in Iran to an over-leveraged peer adversary in China — and that is where the domestic solar industry plays such an important role for the United States.”
She is right about solar manufacturing, but it does not seem obvious that a stricter tariff regime is the way to help the upstream solar industry fulfil that role just as it is finding its feet.

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EUPD Research explores India’s rapid solar manufacturing expansion, its growing export potential, competitiveness relative to China, and the evolving trade and sustainability dynamics shaping global PV markets.
Adani Solar has integrated ingot and wafer production in Gujarat, India.
Photo: Adani Solar
India’s solar industry is expanding at a pace unmatched in global clean energy. EUPD Research estimates that the country will install 213 GW of new solar capacity between 2025 and 2029, averaging 42 GW a year. Yet manufacturing capacity is rising far faster, creating a structural surplus that could redefine global supply and pricing.
By 2030, India’s module manufacturing capacity is projected to exceed 280 GW, with cell capacity jumping from 26 GW in 2025 to 171 GW, a 6.6-fold increase. Wafer production could reach 45 GW, indicating deeper upstream integration. This growth is underpinned by policies such as the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme, Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) mandates, and Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM-I and ALMM-II), which are designed to localize supply chains and reduce import dependence.
However, domestic demand cannot absorb this expansion. According to EUPD Research’s latest report titled India’s Solar Surge: The Next Looming PV Price Shock?, even at 65% capacity utilization factor (CUF), India’s export potential could reach 143 GW by 2030, while the annual average domestic demand remains around 42 GWdc. This annual manufacturing capacity would be enough to cover the forecasted demands of India, North America and the EU-27 combined!
The country is transitioning from self-sufficiency toward export dependence, with the U.S. market accounting for nearly 97% of shipments in 2024 (4.3 GW). However, with 50% tariffs now in effect, the U.S. market has tightened significantly for Indian manufacturers, with just 1.86 GW of module imports in the first half of 2025. Therefore, to maintain utilization and margins, Indian producers must expand into Europe, where diversification policies and sustainability standards are shaping future demand, and also into the Middle East, Africa, and other emerging markets.
Export Potential: Sensitivity Analysis Across Varying Capacity Utilizations

Source: EUPD Research 2025
Price Parity in Sight: India Begins to Bridge the Price Divide with China
India’s surge is about both capacity and competitiveness. The spot price gap between Indian and Chinese TOPCon modules has narrowed, from 9 to 5.7 US¢/W between Q1 2024 and October 2025. This convergence suggests India is steadily narrowing the price gap with Chinese manufacturers.
Even so, production costs remain higher. India’s average minimum sustainable price is 17% above China’s and 14% above Southeast Asia’s (SEA), reflecting smaller scale and limited integration. Falling upstream component prices and new production lines are helping narrow the gap, but competitiveness still varies by market. In the U.S., following the introduction of 50% tariffs on India-made goods, the price gap between Indian and SEA modules has doubled, rising from 3.1 to 6.2 US¢/W, impacting the competitiveness of Indian modules.
In the domestic market, India-made modules remain about 40% costlier than Chinese ones, a cost difference largely driven by the DCR premium enjoyed by local producers. This premium, alongside the 20% basic customs duty and ALMM mandate, effectively protects the home market, allowing domestic manufacturers to maintain elevated prices.
Beyond Price: Carbon, Freight, and ESG Edges
As PV markets mature, competitiveness increasingly depends on non-price factors such as carbon footprint, logistics, and ESG performance. These elements could become decisive for Indian manufacturers seeking to expand in Europe and other regulated regions.
As per EUPD Research calculations, freight costs from India to Europe account for about 5% of module price, compared with 8.7% from China, giving India a logistics advantage. The carbon emission intensity of Indian freight is roughly 65% lower than that of Chinese shipments to Europe, due to shorter routes. These attributes align strongly with Europe’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) and Net-Zero Industry Act (NZIA), which prioritize low-carbon, traceable imports.
Currently, Indian manufactured modules are less carbon-intensive than Chinese equivalents. Yet Chinese producers are closing the gap by greening their manufacturing. Indian firms, meanwhile, have to address efficiency shortfalls: domestic TOPCon modules are 1–1.5 percentage points less efficient than leading global brands. Chinese manufacturers also lead in R&D advancement and patent activity, with the majority of global solar technology patents originating from Tier-1 Chinese firms. For Indian manufacturers, strengthening research capabilities and innovation focus will be essential to gain a competitive, non-pricing edge in global markets.
On ESG transparency compliance, Chinese Tier-1 firms still lead in the regulatory landscape, environmental standards and other parameters, courtesy of their scale, global experience, and established systems, according to EUPD Research analysis of the Tier-1 Chinese and the Indian module manufacturers. For Indian exporters, bridging this gap is crucial. As Europe enforces stricter sustainability and human-rights rules, transparent reporting and supply-chain traceability is key for successfully supplying  ESG-sensitive large commercial, industrial and utility segments.
Comparative ESG Performance: Top Indian and Chinese Manufacturers

Source: EUPD Research 2025
With carbon, freight, and ESG metrics becoming new trade filters, Indian manufacturers have an opening to position themselves as low-carbon, credible alternatives to Chinese suppliers, provided they act quickly to align with evolving European standards.
Global Fallout: Overcapacity, Trade Shifts, and New Power Balances
India’s rapid capacity buildup will have wide global implications. With India’s module manufacturing capacity likely exceeding 280 GW by 2030, the world could face a new wave of PV oversupply that drives module prices lower. This parallels earlier phases of Chinese module manufacturing expansion, though with a new competitive geography emerging in Asia.
For China, India’s rise introduces margin pressure in mainstream segments. As price parity approaches, Chinese firms are expected to pivot toward high-efficiency and next-generation technologies such as high-efficiency n-type TOPCon, heterojunction (HJT) and perovskite tandem modules. China’s global market share is expected to decline over the coming years as diversification efforts progress, assuming continued expansion into new regions and technology segments.
In Europe, the outlook is mixed. Persistent price softness could make Asian imports 25–30% cheaper than European-made modules, undermining on-shoring efforts even with subsidies. Yet this same environment opens the door for Indian suppliers that comply with CBAM and NZIA rules. Europe’s demand, exceeding 65 GW annually, combined with its focus on sustainability and supply-chain resilience, could make it India’s next major growth market. Joint ventures, licensing partnerships, and traceability-linked co-production models between Indian and European manufacturers are likely to increase.
For India, overcapacity is both an opportunity and a challenge. Large, integrated players may consolidate market share, while smaller firms face margin stress. India’s position as a diversification hub in global clean-tech supply chains will strengthen if it can align with trade frameworks such as the India–EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA).
The deal under negotiation would align testing and certification standards, reduce duplicate compliance costs, and encourage collaboration on sustainability and labour norms. Once finalized, the FTA could grant Indian manufacturers easier market entry, lower non-tariff barriers, and better positioning if Europe later imposes carbon-based trade restrictions on high-emission imports.
Moreover, several European buyers and intermediaries have been diversifying their procurement toward alternative suppliers as part of broader risk-mitigation strategies, as seen with earlier shifts toward Chinese manufacturers, according to EUPD Research’s PV InstallerMonitor© | EES InstallerMonitor© findings. This evolving sourcing landscape creates a timely opportunity for Indian manufacturers to expand their market share in Europe.
Conclusion
India’s solar manufacturing boom marks a turning point in the global PV industry. Rapid capacity growth, narrowing cost gaps with China, and lower carbon intensity are propelling India into an export-driven phase. Yet these same trends risk creating oversupply and price compression if diversification does not keep pace.
With major markets like China, the United States and Europe showing signs of slowdown, including project delays, financing constraints, and weaker installation margins, global price pressures are likely to intensify. While top Indian manufacturers remain financially stable for now, sustaining capacity utilization will depend on expanding into new markets and aligning early with low-carbon, compliant trade regimes.
To stay competitive, Indian manufacturers must act quickly. Europe offers a critical opening as it seeks reliable, low-carbon suppliers under the CBAM and NZIA frameworks. Early alignment with these standards will be key to securing long-term positions in premium markets.
Sustained competitiveness will depend not only on scale, but on speed, focus, and differentiation. As global competitive intensity rises, time to market and disciplined execution are becoming decisive differentiators. The race for market share is increasingly costly, and chasing volume without clear value creation or profitability risks becoming a trap. The key question is no longer who can produce the cheapest module, but who can identify the right markets, define the right segments within the identified markets contributing over average to net profitability, and move first with the right offering.
To thrive in this environment, Indian manufacturers must evolve beyond production scale and embrace data-driven market evolution. This means understanding how to tier markets, segment customers, and position premium products that deliver measurable differentiation. The ability to match technology and pricing strategy with the most receptive demand pockets will define who captures tomorrow’s opportunities.
This is precisely where EUPD Research provides its decisive value. For more than 25 years, EUPD has been delivering impactful, data-backed solutions that enable manufacturers to understand markets, identify high-potential segments, and connect with the right stakeholders. Through its unique approach, combining intelligent market tierisation, stakeholder access, and impactful communication, EUPD transforms complexity into clarity and data into direction. Its frameworks empower companies to detect emerging trends early, choose the right strategic moves, and accelerate their time to market with confidence.
If managed effectively, India’s solar surge can consolidate its position as a cornerstone of clean-tech diversification. But to achieve this, manufacturers must act now, pairing scale with strategic foresight, market intelligence, and trusted expertise. Those who leverage data sovereignty, digitalization and market intelligence to understand where to play, how to win, and how to differentiate will not just win the race; they will win the market itself, securing enduring strength and premium positioning for the decade ahead.
Ultimately, sustainable leadership will belong not to those who invest the most in production, but to those who quickly balance technological excellence with data-driven intelligence and precise market execution.
About the Authors:
Markus A.W. Hoehner is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Hoehner Research & Consulting Group and EUPD Group. He has been active in top-level research and consulting, focusing on cleantech, renewable energy, and sustainable management for more than three decades. He can be reached at m.hoehner@eupd-research.com.
Rajan Kalsotra is a Senior Consultant at EUPD Research, bringing over 14 years of experience in the renewable energy sector. His expertise encompasses market research, policy development, and strategic consulting. He has collaborated with leading energy organizations, delivering valuable insights into the global renewable energy landscape, with a particular focus on solar energy, energy storage, and emerging technologies. He can be reached at r.kalsotra@eupd-research.com.
Abhinandan Khajuria is a Renewable Energy Analyst at EUPD Research, focusing on analyzing global solar PV and battery markets, understanding international policies, engaging stakeholders, and undertaking research to deliver valuable inputs for the clean energy market. He can be reached at a.khajuria@eupd-research.com.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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Korean policy analyst focusing on solar power plant siting and permitting, Daun Kim, has reported on her recent trip to India’s Bhadla Solar Park. The analyst highlights how clear siting policies and streamlined permitting helped India scale renewables, something that South Korea can learn as it pursues a 100 GW renewable energy target by 2030.
Image: Jakson
After hours of travel, the horizon revealed endless rows of solar panels stretching into the desert, cleaned by robots gliding across the arrays. Transmission towers lined the road were built to connect this vast park to the grid. Visiting Bhadla Solar Park, I witnessed what scale truly looks like on the ground.
In India, a single solar park alone generates more power than Korea’s ten largest solar plants combined. Through the Indian government’s flagship scheme, the Bhadla Solar Park has reached a capacity of 2.2 GW, while in Korea, the largest plants typically range only between 100 MW and 150 MW. For Korea, where restrictive siting regulations based on minimum distance requirements and grid constraints make large-scale projects nearly impossible, the contrast is striking. The message was clear: India has not only set bold solar ambitions but also backed them with practical policies that turn vision into reality.
How India did it 
The turning point came in 2014, when the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) launched the scheme “Solar Park and Ultra Mega Solar Power Projects (SPUMSPP)”. The program aimed to create at least 25 solar parks (over 500MW) and ultra mega solar power projects (over 1,000MW), targeting the deployment of a new 20 GW within a span of five years. The government doubled the target capacity to 40 GW by 2029. As of August 2025, the scheme had approved 53 solar parks with a total capacity of approximately 39,323 MW across 13 states. Of these, 18 parks (10,856 MW) were fully developed, and another 3,140 MW of solar projects were operational in 8 parks.
The key was to make projects both predictable and profitable. The state government took charge of land acquisition, road and water infrastructure, and permitting, which allowed developers to focus on installation without procurement and time-delay risks.
The Bhadla Solar Power Projects Developer (SPPD) received 30% of the project cost from  Central Financial Assistance (CFA), which boosted profitability and encouraged reinvestment in new projects. This achievement was made possible by the state’s 50% participation in the SPPD as a requirement for CFA, which boosts the state government’s active engagement in renewable energy deployment. According to the developer, the solar parks under the scheme yield a 12~16% Internal Rate of Return, up to twice as high as the rate observed in Korea.
The scheme’s economies of scale spread the fixed capital cost over more megawatts, while the reverse auction drove down the levelized cost of electricity. This combination has attracted strong foreign investment, as large-scale developments offer both stable returns and reduced per-unit risks.
India’s SPUMSPP scheme serves as a siting policy designed to streamline the development of solar projects by reducing the time required to secure suitable land and by creating an environment that facilitates hassle-free construction. At the same time, the scheme provides economic advantages that enhance project profitability, thereby fostering a favorable climate for financial investment. Ultimately, it functions as a key driver accelerating the nationwide deployment of solar power.
How Korea is Doing 
Korea, by contrast, has tied itself in regulatory knots. A unique separation distance requirement forces solar PVs to be installed at least 100m to 1km away from any household or road. Each local government interprets the rule differently through its own ordinance, but overall it reduces the potential land for solar deployment by 62.7%. Combined with limited grid capacity and heavy curtailment, this makes large-scale projects like Bhadla inconceivable.
While every developer faces these structural limitations, the separation regulation has remained unsolved for many years, resulting in annual solar deployment of around 3.3 GW on average. It has also kept the solar and wind share of Korea’s energy mix stubbornly low — around 6%, less than half the global average (15%).
Why this matters now 
Both India and Korea share similarities in their approach to renewables and industries. India’s booming manufacturing sector requires vast amounts of power, while Korea’s AI ambitions are expected to drive electricity demand upward.
Solar plays a significant role in both economic growth. India has a robust nationalization plan for the renewable energy value chain, particularly in equipment manufacturing, including solar panels. The new Korean government has unveiled an RE100 industrial cluster initiative, seeking to strengthen the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers amid the uncertainty surrounding environmental taxes and trade barriers.
Given both countries’ ambitious renewable targets, solar energy is key to effectively realizing their net-zero goals. India aims to raise its solar capacity up to 319 GW and wind capacity up to 110 GW by 20303. Korea has so far deployed about 30 GW of solar and wind capacity as of 2023, and the government has pledged to scale this up to 100 GW by 2030.
For any government committed to realizing its solar energy mission, ambition must be matched with action. A credible deployment plan begins with siting strategies and policies that are workable on the ground. Removing persistent barriers—whether in land acquisition, cumbersome permitting, or grid connection—creates the certainty investors demand and the efficiency developers need. By ensuring competitive pricing and accessible financing, such integrative policies transform solar from a policy aspiration into a market reality. The payoff is clear: faster deployment, stronger investor confidence, and a decisive step toward a cleaner energy future.
India’s experience shows that scaling renewables is not only about sunlight or land. It is about lowering barriers, aligning incentives, and making projects work for both investors and communities. Korea has technology and ambition. What it needs is the political will to clear the path.
Author: Daun Kim – Policy Analyst, Renewable Permitting Team at Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC)
Daun Kim is a Policy Analyst on the Renewable Permitting Team at Solutions for Our Climate (SFOC). She focuses on streamlining regulatory processes and advancing solar energy deployment in Korea through policy research and analysis. Her work centers on improving permitting frameworks and land-use regulations, developing evidence-based policy recommendations, and facilitating stakeholder engagement to accelerate the clean energy transition for our climate.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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Yale Climate Connections
FILE PHOTO: Students build a solar panel array during a class on solar panel installation. (AP Photo/Mathew Sumner)

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