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The AI pendulum has swung back and forth throughout the last few years, from ChatGPT and Copilot in the cloud, then back to local AI and the PC’s newfound NPU, then back to independent agents like Claude. Now it’s headed the way of the PC once again, abandoning privacy arguments (which still stand strong!) for a more straightforward argument: It’s better for your wallet.
A few announcements at IFA underscored what is now the prevailing argument in AI circles: AI’s selling point is that it essentially multiplies your productivity, assigning independent agents to tasks you’d otherwise perform yourself.
The trouble is that it all comes at a cost. You’ll pay for a cloud AI subscription, with a limited number of tokens which typically expire at the most inopportune time. But no matter what, cloud AI will always keep charging you. It’s the exact reason so many people invest in solar panels for their home. If my local utility company is going to keep charging me money (and raising their rates) why not invest in my own power generation and get it it for “free?”
We’re entering an era where your local PCs can become a personal AI “solar panel” of sorts, driven by AI goliaths like Nvidia and Microsoft — but not only by those titans.
Welcome to PCWorld’s newsletter, Smart Mode! The focus of this newsletter is productivity: from software to hardware to peripherals, all with the idea to get what you need to get done, efficiently.
I’m your host, Mark Hachman, covering the productivity tips, tools, and trends that you need to know about, both from within PCWorld and beyond. If you want the latest issue in your inbox each week, just sign up right here.
Nvidia, naturally, has always been in favor of powerful, local GPUs. Nvidia’s Personal AI Router (PAIR) is an intriguing concept, combining every GPU-equipped device (AMD or Nvidia) on your network into a shared pool of AI computing power. Nvidia said it has tested RTX PAIR on up to 18 devices on a local network, though there is a catch: PAIR assumes a hardwired network is in place, not the mesh routers throughput homes. That means that you’d have to build in a hardwired switch of some kind.
Nvidia
I actually think a smarter implementation is Exo, a project that’s been on my to-do list. Exo basically (supposedly) just finds and assimilates both CPU and GPU resources and storage into an AI cluster, daisy-chaining them together via Thunderbolt connections. For me, with lots of Thunderbolt cables, this seems like a no-brainer. It’s also much more forgiving for homes with existing hardware of all stripes… though hardwiring a Thunderbolt cluster likely requires much tighter quarters than an Ethernet cluster built around your house, which RTX PAIR offers.
The problem with both solutions, of course, is power: you’re going to be pulling a lot of juice and generating a lot of heat to make either solution work. Wouldn’t it be nice to take advantage of the cloud and local AI?
That’s where Microsoft is now, with what it’s calling “unmetered intelligence.” In a presentation at IFA in Berlin last week, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Windows + Devices, Mark Linton, argued that PC makers and owners should just “offload to the PC” their AI workloads.
“We mean that these powerful PCs can complement what you do in the cloud, but you shouldn’t have to go to the cloud for models that you can use every day,” Linton said. “What if your PC were powerful enough, and essentially you can change your token economics by running it locally on your PC?”
It’s certainly a far cry from when Microsoft and hardware makers were pitching the NPU as the engine of AI, while we (and others) were discovering that the GPU was actually a better choice for generative AI, and that the CPU was more appropriate for managing AI agents. NPUs still have a role to play, it seems, but as efficient engines of small, smart tasks like the filtering algorithms in Windows Studio Effects.
Chris Hoffman / Foundry
We know that most of the time our laptops and desktops sit mostly idle why we, as humans, write, read and think. Background features like Windows Studio Effects and Voice Focus use AI to improve the PC experience without overwhelming your PC’s resources. Windows Foundry offered an alternative, prioritizing CPUs and GPUs. But it still feels like Microsoft is still stuck in the talking stage, rather than the doing stage.
Two other companies changed that at IFA, offering intriguing visions of what local AI could be.
The first is Anker, the Chinese peripheral powerhouse that debuted the MindBase, a central smart hub that connects over 100 Anker devices via its OmniLink protocol. Apple, Google, and Amazon also have these sort of smart hubs, connected wirelessly, allowing something like a Google Home to connect your lights and thermostat.
Anker
Anker’s MindBase goes beyond that. At its heart is an AI layer capable of 26 TOPS, nearing the 40 TOPS of a Copilot PC. What I found especially interesting, though, was its so-called EverSafe Memory, an API layer which allowed it to connect up to 48TB (!) of local storage. That goes, way, WAY beyond what a convention “smart home” device can offer.
The other candidate is Violoop, an AI product that has been knocking at my door for a week or so. Violoop is an AI appliance: connect an HDMI cable from your PC to the small box, and it can “see” what’s on your screen, intuit what needs to be done, and act — but only when you tap the big confirmation button on top of it. The company promises that the Violoop will queue up multiple independent actions, from checking your calendar to writing an email in your tone and voice. How useful is it? That remains to be seen.
Violoop
That’s a similar approach to what my colleague Adam Patrick Murray attempted with his mini AI PC project from two weeks ago, when he used both an MSI mini PC as a command-and-control hub as well as a Framework Desktop with an AMD Ryzen “Strix Halo” chip inside. (Why two PCs? The argument, Adam told me, was that if one crashed or ran out of resources it would be easier to reconstruct.)
I have to believe that we’re going to see this trend continue. And why wouldn’t it? Take a Thunderbolt docking station. Some Thunderbolt 5 docks now include local storage in the form of an SSD slot, while docks like the Humbird 3 blur the line between docking stations and external GPUs. At CES 2026, Plugable showed off the TBT5-AI, a small local AI server connected by Thunderbolt.
You know, hardware makers would kill to sell us two devices for our desk, rather than just one. And if consumers, office workers, and creatives buy into into this idea that AI can offload some of the day-to-day drudgery of their work life, they might just do it. What’s the difference between a mini PC, a single-board computer, and an AI appliance? Not a hell of a lot. And it’s a brand new world for hardware makers to play in.
I love laptop utility software. Here’s why!
I’m really torn on the concept of task stacking. On one hand, it’s certainly useful for certain work; if I’m headed to the garage where the washer lives, I’ll check and see if any laundry needs to be taken downstairs, or removed from the dryer. Likewise, my wife or I will fold clothes while watching TV — gotta keep that laundry train moving in a house with teenagers living in it.
So task stacking — performing multiple tasks at once — certainly makes sense for thoughtless tasks. In some ways, that’s the premise of local AI, right? You’re offloading drudge work. But if you need to sit down and think through something, I have an issue with optimizing my time to perform those tasks efficiently. I mean, if I have to plan out my time to maximize task stacking, could I be earning some of that back by simply performing them serially and somewhat inefficiently? If you have any thoughts, drop me a line!
Thanks for tuning in to this edition of Smart Mode, PCWorld’s newsletter devoted to helping you make the most of your life, smartly. Sign up and have it sent to your inbox every Thursday!
Mark has written for PCWorld for the last decade, with 30 years of experience covering technology. He has authored over 3,500 articles for PCWorld alone, covering PC microprocessors, peripherals, and Microsoft Windows, among other topics. Mark has written for publications including PC Magazine, Byte, eWEEK, Popular Science and Electronic Buyers’ News, where he shared a Jesse H. Neal Award for breaking news. He recently handed over a collection of several dozen Thunderbolt docks and USB-C hubs because his office simply has no more room.

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Norcross, Ga.-based Suniva has raised $835 million in debt and equity financing to build a 4.5-gigawatt solar-cell manufacturing plant in Laurens County, S.C., expanding its U.S. production capacity more than fourfold. The financing comes as the company seeks to scale domestic manufacturing amid efforts to reduce reliance on imported solar components. The new facility is expected to begin production in late 2027 and reach full capacity in 2028, adding 564 advanced-manufacturing jobs.
The financing includes senior secured credit facilities provided by funds managed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Miami, Fla.-based I Squared Capital, a second-lien facility from JBA Asset Management, and equity investments from Electron Capital Partners, Orion Infrastructure Capital, and Rubric Capital Management, among other investors. Lion Point Capital, Suniva’s largest shareholder and long-term backer, also participated.
Suniva manufactures crystalline-silicon photovoltaic cells that are sold to solar-industry customers for incorporation into finished solar modules and other systems. Its new South Carolina facility covers 621,468 square feet, and the building shell is already complete. The company says domestic suppliers and long-term offtake agreements with U.S. solar companies covering most of the planned future production should provide a customer base as the plant ramps.
“U.S. energy independence and meeting the needs of increasing energy usage in the United States requires domestic production of U.S. solar cells. As the only U.S.-owned solar cell manufacturer at commercial scale, we believe Suniva is uniquely well positioned in the market. We look forward to helping the United States and the Administration achieve its important goal of U.S. energy independence,” said Tony Etnyre, CEO of Suniva.
Etnyre brings more than 25 years of experience in solar manufacturing, semiconductors, and industrial operations. Before joining Suniva, he served as president and CEO of FTC Solar, where he grew the company’s revenue from zero to $187 million over four years and led it through a $258 million initial public offering in 2021 at a valuation of about $1.3 billion.
Earlier, Etnyre held senior operational and engineering roles at SunEdison, including vice president of its Solar Module Business Unit and vice president of engineering. He also serves on the board of clean-technology company Nitricity and previously held a leadership position at Xponent Power.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he has focused his career on manufacturing operations, global supply chains, and semiconductor production.
Suniva is also pursuing a reverse merger with SUNation Energy, announced in June. Under the agreement, Suniva would merge with a SUNation subsidiary, with the combined company expected to operate under the Suniva name while retaining SUNation’s Nasdaq listing.

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On July 28, 2026, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau added foreign-produced power inverters to its official covered list of equipment and services. This amounted to an immediate ban on new inverter equipment authorizations for unapproved foreign models, with regulators citing national security and digital espionage concerns.
The directive distinguishes between products seeking approval and authorized inverters that have already been deployed. New restrictions only apply to inverters with next-generation hardware designs. Existing inverter models that already hold valid FCC equipment credentials are unaffected – they can still be imported, sold and deployed.
The vast majority of commercial, industrial and utility-scale installations scheduled for construction over the next 12 to 18 months will experience little disruption, as they will be using already approved hardware. For new unproved foreign-produced inverters, the approval gate has closed. Long-term plans to introduce new technology have been frozen.
The inverter ban initially targeted bidirectional wireless connectivity in modern smart inverters on the grounds they represent an unacceptable security risk. This was despite a January 2026 Department of Energy analysis that inspected 30 Chinese inverters and found zero evidence of malicious hardware tampering.
Market observers at Intertek CEA said the original rules apply to inverters containing components that enable remote communication, control, sensing, data collection, or monitoring through wifi, cellular, Bluetooth, or similar wireless connections.
[Updated Aug 20, 2026]: The FCC clarified and expanded this scope to explicitly include both wired connections (such as Ethernet) and wireless connections. Furthermore, the restriction strictly applies to utility-interactive inverters (UL 1741 compliant); off-grid, non-utility-interactive inverters and standalone AC-to-DC rectifiers are excluded.
The language of the ban creates near-term ambiguity for hardwired utility-scale inverters, but Wood Mackenzie noted that leading manufacturers are notifying clients that they believe their products do not fall under the scope of the ban. In the short term, the ban creates a severe supply imbalance, exposing a vulnerability in current procurement strategies. A forecast published by Intertek CEA said that US manufacturing will likely only meet 40% of combined solar and battery storage demand through 2027.
While more than 90% of inverters installed in the United States in the last decade were imported, Wood Mackenzie reported that total domestic inverter manufacturing capacity is expected to exceed 100 GW by late 2027, driven by federal incentives. Despite this optimistic mid-term outlook, changes to hardware selection in the short term could see projects lose their grid interconnection spots, as this could be viewed as a material modification.
Overseas suppliers can seek a conditional approval from the Department of Homeland Security or Department of Defense by Jan. 1, 2028. This process requires rigorous supply chain audits, similar to those for imports subject to Foreign Entity of Concern (FEOC) requirements.
The FCC defines foreign hardware using the Buy American standard. This allows for potential exemptions for foreign-owned vendors that complete final assembly in US factories. Similar to previous FCC router restrictions, these waivers might be achievable, though Intertek CEA noted that past approvals included no Chinese-headquartered manufacturers.
[Updated Aug 20, 2026]: The FCC added an explicit compliance exemption for inverters that qualify for the Section 45X Advanced Manufacturing Production Credit under 26 U.S.C. § 45X. Equipment meeting these domestic production credit requirements will not be classified as “foreign-produced” on the Covered List.
For compliant inverters, developers must manage financial risks associated with safe-harbored equipment that has not yet been delivered. Short-term costs are expected to rise due to inverter supply constraints, but Wood Mackenzie’s reporting indicates that increasing domestic capacity should help moderate prices by late 2027. The industry must now transition from a focus on low hardware costs toward a strategy that prioritizes national security compliance and long-term supply chain certainty.
The regulatory environment requires buyers and asset managers to scrutinize the bill of materials for every inverter. Analysts at Intertek CEA pointed out that historic equipment filings often cover internal wireless communication chips rather than whole inverter enclosures. If federal authorities apply restrictions broadly, the legal standing of many current product series could face sudden challenges.
Switching component vendors is complex, requiring updated short circuit models, new thermal calculations, and revised protection settings. Again, submitting updated engineering files to regional grid operators routinely triggers material modification clauses, which can lead to long delays and even strip a project of its position in the interconnection queue.
The sector needs to operate within two realities. Projects using pre-approved models can proceed without regulatory friction, while next-generation pipelines remain frozen.
The regulations are complex for global manufacturers that want to retain access to the US market.
Seeking a conditional exemption requires providing full transparency into corporate capitalization and ownership networks, mirroring the strict framework used under the FEOC guidelines for battery material sourcing.
Beyond corporate transparency, the introduction of the Buy American statute shifts financial accounting standards by requiring detailed direct materials cost tracking across the entire procurement footprint.
Because a single unverified sub-component from an unapproved region can invalidate an entire product line’s compliance status, several non-Chinese manufacturers are actively establishing isolated, dedicated manufacturing lines specifically designed to meet the strict component tracing rules of the US market.
Some suppliers were exploring “dumb boxes” by removing all internal wireless communication modules at the overseas factory. The responsibility for communication, data logging, and grid interactions then shifts to external systems added after import, creating a clear distinction between power conversion and system telemetry.
While this technical workaround allows developers to continue using reliable power electronics, it introduces new system risks and requires custom firmware layers along with extensive field validation.
In the residential solar sector, where simple “plug-and-play” installation is vital for profitability, the added cost and labor of installing external communication boxes could significantly reduce project margins.
For utility scale applications, centralized external controllers must manage real-time active and reactive power adjustments across hundreds of unnetworked string units, which increases operational liability if these integrated control layers fail during a grid event.
[Updated Aug 20, 2026]: The FCC explicitly closed the “dumb box” workaround. Under the August 20 revision, an inverter is subject to the ban if it contains—or is designed, equipped, or configured to accept—a remote communication component. Removing modules at the factory no longer bypasses the rule if the hardware architecture accommodates remote communication units.
The mid-term outlook for the US inverter market depends heavily on how quickly announced factory capacity can scale up. Wood Mackenzie data shows that announced domestic solar and energy storage inverter manufacturing capacity is on track to surpass 100 GW by the end of 2027.
However, setting up advanced automated electronics manufacturing facilities requires highly specialized automated surface mount technology machinery, which currently faces long global delivery times.
Intertek CEA’s research suggests that fully operational domestic manufacturing capacity may lag behind corporate announcements, indicating that domestic supply might only cover about 40% of total US solar and storage demand in the near term. This potential 60% supply gap could create intense competition among developers for compliant domestic hardware, likely driving up procurement costs across the industry and favoring large, well-capitalized development firms.
The federal government’s focus on digital vulnerabilities over physical tampering is forcing the solar industry to rapidly mature its code maintenance protocols. Developers are adopting robust software supply chain protections that mature sectors like finance, banking, and healthcare have spent years refining.
This transition is occurring as artificial intelligence radically alters threat logistics. A solar industry cybersecurity expert anonymously told pv magazine that artificial intelligence tools have compressed attack timelines: vulnerabilities that historically required weeks of manual research can now be mapped and exploited in hours or days.
To counter these automated tools, energy security frameworks must prioritize speed, complete software visibility, and the capacity to push immediate remote patches out to users. Developing end-to-end repeatability in software deployments is essential to ensure critical grid-tied operations remain protected from automated discovery and other cybersecurity threats.
The need for rapid software remediation introduces significant operational friction for PV asset managers. The FCC restrictions mandate a new administrative approval step before executing firmware updates on existing equipment lines. A standard remediation cycle must already clear several tiers of an organization, such as software developers, original equipment manufacturers, asset owners and field operators.
Adding federal approval check-gates risks creating bureaucratic bottlenecks that paralyze defensive response times, said the cybersecurity expert. Administrative delays conflict with the need to act quickly to counter cyberattacks, particularly given how AI has compressed attack timelines. To prevent widespread grid exposure, the solar industry should advocate for automated and repeatable approval processes that eliminate administrative overhead.
To navigate tighter regulations without halting product development, hardware suppliers are shifting toward localized data security architectures, said the cybersecurity expert. Top international manufacturers are onshoring software validation platforms and placing comprehensive security at local trust boundaries. Before any firmware bundle or system patch reaches an active installation site, file hashes are manually re-tested and verified by domestic cybersecurity teams.
This posture reflects a philosophical shift toward an “assumed breach” methodology, said the industry expert. Engineers no longer design equipment under the assumption that external firewalls will block all intrusions. Assuming an asset will eventually be penetrated shifts the design focus toward strict containment, continuous telemetry monitoring for abnormal signatures, and rapid system isolation to prevent a single compromised device from disrupting broader distribution grids.
The FCC’s ban on new foreign-made wireless inverters is rapidly reshaping US solar and energy storage procurement. Ultimately, the US solar industry is shifting focus from global sourcing toward national security compliance, localized control, and striving for long-term supply chain certainty.
Amendment Note (August 20, 2026): On August 20, 2026, the FCC Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau published a Public Notice clarifying and updating the Covered List restrictions enacted on July 28, 2026. The August 20 modifications:
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The company expects to complete the facility in late 2027 and reach full production in 2028
September 10, 2026
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Suniva, a U.S.-based manufacturer of monocrystalline silicon solar cells, has completed an $835 million capital raise comprising debt and equity financing to fund its second U.S. solar cell manufacturing facility and increase its total manufacturing capacity to 5.5 GW.
The financing includes senior secured credit facilities provided by funds managed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and I Squared Capital, and a second-lien credit facility provided by JBA Asset Management.
Electron Capital Partners, Orion Infrastructure Capital, and Rubric Capital Management participated through equity investments, along with other investors. Suniva’s largest shareholder, Lion Point Capital, also participated in the financing.
The company plans to use the capital to construct a 4.5 GW manufacturing facility in Laurens County, South Carolina. Suniva expects to complete the facility in late 2027 and reach full production in 2028. The shell of the 621,468-square-foot building has already been completed.
The South Carolina project represents an investment of approximately $600 million and is expected to create 564 manufacturing jobs, according to the company.
Suniva currently operates a monocrystalline silicon solar cell manufacturing facility in Norcross, Georgia, with 1 GW of annual capacity. Once the South Carolina facility reaches full production, the company expects its combined U.S. solar cell manufacturing capacity to reach 5.5 GW.
The financing follows Suniva’s June 8, 2026, announcement that it had signed a definitive reverse merger agreement with a wholly owned subsidiary of SUNation Energy, a provider of residential and commercial solar systems, battery storage, and energy services. Under the agreement, the combined company is expected to operate under the Suniva name and continue SUNation’s listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026.
Total Solar corporate funding, including venture capital and private equity funding, public markets, and debt financing in 1H 2026 totaled $16.9 billion, up 56% YoY compared to the $10.8 billion raised in 1H 2025. The number of deals increased 23% YoY, with 96 deals in 1H 2026 compared to 78 during the same period last year, as per Mercom’s recently released 1H and Q2 2026 Solar Funding and M&A Report.
Renu
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Rana Holdings Ltd has expressed interest in establishing a 2 GW solar energy portfolio and a 200 MW green hydrogen plant in Madhya Pradesh.
The proposals were discussed during a meeting between Madhya Pradesh chief minister Mohan Yadav and Darshan Singh Rana, chairman and managing director of Rana Holdings.
The company also proposed a 50 MW AI and computing data center, with plans to expand the facility to 200 MW, as well as a 30,000-MTPA critical minerals recovery and recycling complex and an integrated smart manufacturing hub in the state.
According to the Madhya Pradesh government, the proposed projects could attract investment of around INR 35,200 crore ($4 billion). The government said the projects could contribute to the state’s energy transition and support the development of advanced manufacturing and digital infrastructure.
Rana Holdings is a UAE- and India-headquartered multi-sector conglomerate, with a combined portfolio commitment of more than $25 billion across advanced manufacturing, aerospace, clean energy, technology and wellness.
Separately, Yadav discussed an industrial-scale AI computing campus and a Sovereign AI Factory with investors from NIDI Services DMCC/SCNELL. The company presented a concept involving an investment of around $1.5–2 billion (around INR 18,000 crore) in a 50-MW AI factory, which could be expanded to more than 100 MW in the future.
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Thailand’s Ministry of Energy has unveiled its draft Power Development Plan (PDP) 2026, targeting a 50% share of clean energy within 10 years while reducing dependence on imported gas and creating the conditions for 10 GW of rooftop solar.
Energy Minister Ekanat Prompan said the plan would increase the share of renewables in the generation mix from less than 20% today to 50% within the first decade. The government is also considering technologies including small modular reactors (SMRs), carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), and geothermal energy.
For distributed solar, the government plans to expand direct power purchase agreements (PPAs) and increase household participation in the electricity market. The draft sets a target of procuring up to 10 GW of electricity from rooftop solar, alongside the deployment of smart grids and energy storage to support grid stability.
Ekanat said the government is seeking feedback from households, businesses and other stakeholders before finalizing the plan, citing its implications for electricity costs, energy security and Thailand’s economic competitiveness.
According to Reuters, the government plans to support the measures with THB 50 billion ($1.52 billion) in funding and import tax exemptions for solar products.
Thai authorities, meanwhile, are already taking steps to support the rooftop solar target.
In early August, they opened registration for rooftop solar installers and eligible equipment ahead of a nationwide expansion of residential solar.
The Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA) and Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) are accepting applications from Aug. 3 to Sept. 30, 2026. Installers must meet qualifications and technical standards established by the electricity authorities. Eligible equipment, including solar modules and inverters, must comply with applicable international standards, including IEC standards, and Thai Industrial Standards (TIS).
In April, Thailand’s National Energy Policy Committee approved a net-billing scheme for residential rooftop solar.
The program targets up to 500 MW of capacity nationwide. Households will be able to sell surplus solar electricity to distribution utilities at THB 2.20/kWh ($0.07/kWh). Eligible systems will be limited to 5 kW per electricity meter, with power purchase agreements running for 10 years.
The scheme is limited to residential consumers and excludes industrial users and businesses.
Thailand had around 3.3 GW of rooftop solar capacity at the end of 2024, according to data from the country’s Department of Alternative Energy Development and Efficiency.
The country’s cumulative solar capacity reached 6,842 MW at the end of 2025, according to figures from the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), compared to 3,388 MW at the end of 2024.

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Norcross, Ga.-based Suniva has raised $835 million in debt and equity financing to build a 4.5-gigawatt solar-cell manufacturing plant in Laurens County, S.C., expanding its U.S. production capacity more than fourfold. The financing comes as the company seeks to scale domestic manufacturing amid efforts to reduce reliance on imported solar components. The new facility is expected to begin production in late 2027 and reach full capacity in 2028, adding 564 advanced-manufacturing jobs.
The financing includes senior secured credit facilities provided by funds managed by Goldman Sachs Alternatives and Miami, Fla.-based I Squared Capital, a second-lien facility from JBA Asset Management, and equity investments from Electron Capital Partners, Orion Infrastructure Capital, and Rubric Capital Management, among other investors. Lion Point Capital, Suniva’s largest shareholder and long-term backer, also participated.
Suniva manufactures crystalline-silicon photovoltaic cells that are sold to solar-industry customers for incorporation into finished solar modules and other systems. Its new South Carolina facility covers 621,468 square feet, and the building shell is already complete. The company says domestic suppliers and long-term offtake agreements with U.S. solar companies covering most of the planned future production should provide a customer base as the plant ramps.
“U.S. energy independence and meeting the needs of increasing energy usage in the United States requires domestic production of U.S. solar cells. As the only U.S.-owned solar cell manufacturer at commercial scale, we believe Suniva is uniquely well positioned in the market. We look forward to helping the United States and the Administration achieve its important goal of U.S. energy independence,” said Tony Etnyre, CEO of Suniva.
Etnyre brings more than 25 years of experience in solar manufacturing, semiconductors, and industrial operations. Before joining Suniva, he served as president and CEO of FTC Solar, where he grew the company’s revenue from zero to $187 million over four years and led it through a $258 million initial public offering in 2021 at a valuation of about $1.3 billion.
Earlier, Etnyre held senior operational and engineering roles at SunEdison, including vice president of its Solar Module Business Unit and vice president of engineering. He also serves on the board of clean-technology company Nitricity and previously held a leadership position at Xponent Power.
A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he has focused his career on manufacturing operations, global supply chains, and semiconductor production.
Suniva is also pursuing a reverse merger with SUNation Energy, announced in June. Under the agreement, Suniva would merge with a SUNation subsidiary, with the combined company expected to operate under the Suniva name while retaining SUNation’s Nasdaq listing.

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A Swedish team harnessed nature's bioluminescent trick, transforming jellyfish glow-protein into a functioning solar cell that converts ultraviolet light into electrical current.
By Space Daily Editorial Team · Edited by Daniel Moran
Published September 9, 2026 · How we edit
Shine ultraviolet light on a droplet of glowing jellyfish protein and, for a moment, it stops behaving like biology and starts behaving like a solar cell. An electron leaves the molecule, a circuit picks it up, and current flows.
That was roughly the pitch out of Gothenburg in the late 2000s, where a small group at Chalmers University of Technology built exactly that: a photovoltaic device whose light-absorbing material was the protein that makes Aequorea victoria glow green. No rare earths. No dye synthesised in a fume hood.
Green fluorescent protein, GFP to anyone who works with it, is the most famous molecule most people have never heard of. Osamu Shimomura pulled it out of Pacific jellyfish in 1962, and by the 1990s it had become biology’s universal highlighter: splice its gene onto another gene, and whatever that gene builds will glow. That line of work earned Shimomura, Martin Chalfie and Roger Tsien the 2008 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Fluorescence and electricity are separate tricks, though. A fluorescent molecule swallows a high-energy photon, loses a little of the energy as heat, and spits out a lower-energy one. Ultraviolet in, green out. A solar cell asks for something rougher, which is for the excited electron to leave the molecule altogether and go do a job.
Getting from the first behaviour to the second is the entire engineering problem.
Zackary Chiragwandi and colleagues at Chalmers and the University of Gothenburg laid out the hardware in Applied Physics Letters in 2006: two oxide-coated aluminium electrodes sitting 30 nanometres apart on a chip, with a droplet of enhanced GFP bridging the gap. Enhanced GFP is the lab-brewed version, grown in bacteria, with no tentacles involved. Left alone, it self-assembles into strands across the gap.
A follow-up paper in the Journal of Physical Chemistry C put the device through its paces. Current appeared with no external voltage applied at all: the detail that separates a solar cell from a light-triggered switch. That current tracked GFP’s own absorption spectrum, confirming the protein really was the light harvester. Output fell steadily as temperature rose, which the authors read as an orderly, liquid-crystal-like arrangement of protein strands coming undone.
Then there is the number that decides everything.
Chiragwandi told CNN in 2010 that the goal was nanodevices that could work from inside the body, chasing applications such as reversing blindness or fighting tumours. One contemporaneous report, from DogoNews, put the actual output at tens of nanoamperes. A nanoampere is a billionth of an amp, and a phone charger pushes around two amps. For nanoscale medical devices, where almost nothing else fits and toxicity rules out most alternatives, a trickle was enough to matter.
Two papers from one group amount to a starting point, not a field, and the jellyfish cell never scaled beyond the lab bench. No follow-up study pinned down exactly why, but a few likely culprits stand out. Proteins are wet, fragile and fussy about temperature, which matches what the Chalmers group’s own data showed. GFP absorbs hardest in the ultraviolet, a thin slice of what the sun actually delivers to the ground. Silicon, over those same years, got cheaper by roughly an order of magnitude, which alone tends to flatten the case for anything unproven. Together, they read like a plausible account of where the project ran out of road, though nothing in the record confirms it.
Biology did make it into working photovoltaics, but by way of whole organisms rather than isolated proteins. Researchers at the University of Cambridge, working with the chip designer Arm, sealed blue-green algae into a container the size of an AA battery and ran a low-power microprocessor on it for more than a year using nothing but ambient light and water. Paolo Bombelli, first author on the paper in Energy and Environmental Science, said the team had expected the thing to quit within weeks.
Photons, as it happens, are GFP’s real trade. A luminescent solar concentrator is a transparent sheet dosed with fluorescent dye: the dye catches sunlight across the whole panel, re-emits it, and the sheet channels that light sideways into narrow strips of ordinary silicon along the edges. Most versions rely on rare-earth or toxic emitters, an awkward look for anything sold as a green window.
A team led by Rute Ferreira at the University of Aveiro built one around enhanced GFP and reported it in Green Chemistry in 2020, reaching a power conversion efficiency of roughly 0.35 per cent once coupled to silicon cells. Modest numbers, plainly reported. A 2025 paper in Small, led by Sihan Lei at the Technical University of Munich’s Straubing campus, locked a cousin of GFP called T-Sapphire into solid epoxy instead of water. The optical efficiency reached 7.41 per cent, and the solid version outlasted the liquid one thirty-two times over before the signal faded: eight days against six hours. Optical efficiency describes how well a sheet delivers light to its edges, so it does not compare directly with a solar panel’s rating, and one paper remains one paper.
Aequorea victoria has drifted off the Pacific coast of North America for a very long time with no stake in the electricity market. Its glow protein has turned out to be a poor generator and a decent usher, catching light in one place and handing it to silicon somewhere else. That is a job in windows rather than on roofs, a smaller ambition than the 2010 headlines carried, and a good deal more likely to survive contact with a factory.
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The International Convention Centre (ICC) Sydney is set to host the largest rooftop solar installation of any central business district (CBD) in the Southern Hemisphere, the New South Wales government has announced.
ICC Sydney, government-owned and operating across the Convention, Exhibition and Entertainment Centres, will expand its existing rooftop solar network to more than 18,400 square metres, generating an estimated 2.6GWh annually.
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When combined with renewable energy procurement, the expanded array will enable ICC Sydney to run on 100% renewable energy.
NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully said the project showed how greater renewable energy generation could be unlocked in urban areas by using existing building rooftops.
“Hosting the largest solar farm of any CBD in the Southern Hemisphere will help the ICC to reduce emissions and energy costs while also strengthening Sydney’s competitiveness in attracting major international conventions and events,” Scully said.
Based on annual generation, the NSW government said the expansion would make ICC Sydney the fourth-largest solar-powered convention centre in the world, and the largest outside the United States.
The ICC Sydney project is a modest addition in absolute terms compared with the potential scale of rooftop solar across Sydney more broadly.
A 2025 report from engineering consultancy Arcadis, produced with the Committee for Sydney, Endeavour Energy, Ausgrid and Arup, found that a coordinated Sydney Renewable Energy Zone (REZ) could see rooftop solar PV across the metropolitan area generate up to 21GW, enough to meet up to 75% of the city’s annual energy demand if installed across every residential, commercial and industrial roof.
Metropolitan Sydney currently hosts around 3GW of rooftop solar capacity, meeting only 10-12% of total electricity demand. The report identifies industrial warehouses as particularly underused, given their high roof area relative to energy consumption, sometimes capable of generating up to 500% of a building’s own needs.
That gap between commercial and industrial rooftop potential and actual uptake extends well beyond Sydney.
Analysis from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) has separately found that Australian businesses have installed only a fraction of their available rooftop solar potential despite favourable underlying economics, describing the segment as a “missing middle” between household and utility-scale solar deployment.
The ICC Sydney project, while positioned as a leader among global convention venues, illustrates the kind of individual commercial rooftop investment that the report argues remains underexploited at scale across the country, where large single buildings with high energy demand and substantial roof area are precisely the customer profile the missing middle analysis identifies as underserved.

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MANILA, Philippines — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) have vowed to speed up the approval and energization of rooftop solar power systems, as complaints of delays were raised during a Senate committee hearing.
Senate committee on energy chairperson Sen. Erwin Tulfo raised the issue during the hearing on Thursday, saying that he knew people who wanted to install rooftop solar power panels but were discouraged by reports of lengthy approval periods for net-metering from Meralco.
Net-metering is a system that lets a household with solar panels send excess electricity back to the power grid and receive credits for the electricity it exports.
ERC representative lawyer Clarice Ann Bernal said the commission would coordinate with Meralco and other distribution utilities regarding the concerns.
Tulfo also suggested that the approval process could be shortened, proposing that Meralco conduct its inspection and issue approval within 24 hours when feasible.
Bernal said the ERC is currently drafting new net-metering rules that would seek to fast-track applications.
“Dun po sa aming new rules, we will ensure na ma-fast track na po ang mga net metering applications,” Bernal said.
(For our new rules, we will ensure that net-metering applications are fast-tracked.)
To emphasize his point, Tulfo said some homeowners had already spent between P500,000 and more than P1 million on solar installations but were still waiting for approval before they could fully benefit from the system’s net-metering arrangement.
“Meron daw po iba, waiting, there weeks. May iba, one month,” he said.
(There are others, waiting for three weeks. Others, for one month.)
Meralco Vice President and Head of Utility Economics Lawrence Fernandez said the process involves several steps and requires coordination among distribution utilities, local government units (LGUs), the Department of Energy, and the ERC.
“The industry, with the LGUs and the ERC, has been trying to streamline the whole process to make it, to expedite it for all customers,” said Fernandez.
Citing an example, Fernandez said the chief of the ERC’s Renewable Energy Division had recently installed a rooftop solar system that was energized in less than 20 days from start to finish.
Meralco’s portion of the process took only three days in that case, he said.
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The panel chairperson then asked the ERC to further examine the reported delays. /gsg
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Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) has recently issued a tender to lease two parcels of agricultural land approximately 10 acres each.i.e., a total of a 20 Acre land. The tenders aims to setup Agri-Photovoltaic (Agri-PV) power plants in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. It has invited bids until October 7, 2026.
SECI through this tender aims to identify and lease, on a long-term basis for 27 years, two suitable parcels of agricultural land located in the rural areas of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. These land parcels will be utilized for the development of Agri-PV power plants, along with associated power evacuation and ancillary infrastructure.
This also aligns with Delhi’s “Agriculture-cum-Solar Farm Scheme,” that aims to leverage the city’s canals and drains for harnessing solar and hydropower. As part of this broader vision, the GNCTD’s Renewable Energy Plan aims to identify potential areas and projects for renewable energy generation across Delhi, which has significant potential for solar energy generation. Accordingly, the plan outlines strategies to scale up solar energy production across the city.
SECI’s latest agrid tender also offer flexiblity which can be further extended by mutual consent. The land parcels are specifically required to be located within the revenue boundaries of the villages of Issapur and Dhansa, Tehsil-Najafgarh, District-Southwest Delhi.
The project would be funded by the Employer/Owner, as defined in the Special Conditions of Contract (SCC), through domestic funding and its own resources. The bid has a validity period of 180 days and is free of cost.
SECI’s tender aims to identify and lease two suitable parcels of agricultural land, approximately 10 acres each, on a long-term basis for 27 years, which may be further extended by mutual consent. The land is to be located in the rural areas of the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, specifically within the revenue boundaries of the villages of Issapur and Dhansa, Tehsil-Najafgarh, District-Southwest Delhi.
These land parcels will be utilized for developing Agri-PV plants, along with associated power evacuation and ancillary infrastructure. The land parcels shall preferably be located within an approximate radius of 1 km from the reference GPS coordinates and within the revenue boundaries of the corresponding villages.
The land parcel in Issapur, Tehsil-Najafgarh, District-Southwest Delhi, is approximately 1.0 km from the reference coordinates.
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CARTERET – A community solar project proposed for a Carteret warehouse could bring locally generated renewable energy to area residents.
Carteret Solar 3 LLC is scheduled to appear before the borough Zoning Board of Adjustment on Sept. 15 to seek approvals for the project at 50 Bryla St. The meeting will be conducted by videoconference.
The applicant is seeking minor site plan approval and a use variance to install a community solar facility on the roof of an existing warehouse property in the borough’s light industrial zone, where solar arrays are not permitted as a principal use.
More: Five-time Grammy winner headlining Carteret’s 50th annual Ethnic Day
Plans call for solar panels to cover most of the warehouse rooftop.
Electricity generated by the panels would be routed to ground-mounted equipment on the property before connecting to the electrical grid. The power would then be made available to residential customers in the area through the community solar program.
If approved, the project would add a renewable energy source to an existing industrial site without requiring additional land for a ground-mounted solar facility.
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According to China’s National Energy Administration (NEA), by the end of July 2026 the country’s installed solar photovoltaic (PV) power capacity had reached 1.286 billion kW, comprising 704 million kW of utility-scale PV and 582 million kW of distributed PV.
For the first time, installed solar capacity exceeded coal-fired power capacity, making solar China’s largest power source by installed capacity. Coal-fired capacity stood at 1.285 billion kW.
The milestone is widely viewed as a significant step in China’s energy transition. Although coal-fired power generation is expected to continue playing a stabilizing role in the country’s power system in the near term, market participants expect future energy investment to become increasingly concentrated in power grids, energy storage facilities and renewable-energy equipment.
As a result, many industry participants believe the shift will create new demand for CRGO, a key material used in transformers.
Growth in installed PV capacity is no longer viewed as the primary challenge for China’s energy sector. Instead, the focus is shifting to how rising volumes of renewable electricity can be delivered efficiently to end users.
China’s PV installation landscape is characterized by large-scale solar farms in western regions, while distributed solar projects dominate capacity growth in central and eastern China.
According to NEA data, the five provinces with the largest cumulative grid-connected photovoltaic capacity by the end of June 2026 were Jiangsu, Shandong, Hebei, Xinjiang and Zhejiang.
Although energy-intensive industries and some new-energy manufacturing facilities are increasingly relocating to western China, electricity consumption remains concentrated in economically developed regions such as the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region.
Because the regions with the largest PV generation capacity do not fully overlap with those exhibiting the highest electricity demand, China’s need for transmission and distribution infrastructure continues to increase.
At the same time, the intermittent nature of solar power generation is driving greater investment in energy-storage systems.
The NEA has outlined plans to add approximately 160 GW of new energy storage capacity during the 2026-2030 period, with the country’s total installed energy storage capacity expected to reach 300 GW by 2030, underscoring growing investment in grid modernization and renewable energy integration.
CRGO, which is widely used in transformers, therefore plays an important role in both grid expansion and the integration of energy-storage facilities.
Zhuo Chen, the expert with the China Iron & Steel Association estimated that China’s annual CRGO demand could increase to 4.37 million tonnes by 2030. According to the Chinese Society of Metals (CSM), the consumption of CRGO was 2.38 million tonnes in 2024.
Demand for high-magnetic-induction (Hi-B) CRGO is expected to grow faster than that for conventional grades because of increasing deployment of ultra-high-voltage (UHV) transmission networks, market participants said.
For example, Hi-B CRGO grades with thicknesses of 0.23 mm and iron loss of no more than 0.85 W/kg are more commonly used in the production of transformers for UHV transmission networks.
Despite the favorable long-term demand outlook, market participants remain cautious about CRGO market fundamentals due to concerns over capacity expansion and intensifying competition.
According to CSM, China’s CRGO production totaled 2.95 million tonnes in 2024, and capacity stood at 3.26 million tonnes.
Additional CRGO projects are scheduled to come on stream during the next few years, potentially increasing total capacity to around 4.2-5 million tonnes by the end of 2027, according to industry analysts.
“The increase in capacity is outpacing demand growth, which has placed considerable downward pressure on CRGO prices,” a trader in eastern China said.
Another trader based in central China said the benefits of PV-related investment are not being shared evenly across the downstream sector.
“Some major transformer producers have sufficient order books, while many smaller manufacturers are struggling to maintain operating rates,” the trader said.
Fastmarkets’ fortnightly price assessment for electrical steel, cold-rolled grain-oriented, ex-whs Eastern China was $1,548-1,608 per tonne on September 4, down from $1,636-1,725 per tonne on August 21.
Fastmarkets assessed the grade with a thickness of 0.23 mm and iron loss of 0.85 W/kg.
“Price competition is squeezing profit margins throughout the supply chain, which is not conducive to the healthy development of the CRGO industry,” the first trader added.
Industry analysts said some low-grade CRGO production capacity should eventually be phased out and warned that mills should remain cautious about adding new capacity, even in higher-grade segments.
While installed solar capacity continues to expand, some market participants believe the industry’s rapid growth phase may be slowing because of persistent oversupply and weak profitability.
Solar companies that cannot generate adequate profits are either reducing generation from existing power plants or suspending or scaling back unprofitable new projects, market sources said.
“If fewer new solar projects are developed in the future, growth in demand for transformers, transmission infrastructure and energy-storage systems may also moderate, limiting the pace of CRGO demand growth,” a market source said.
China will impose a 2% consumption tax on photovoltaic cells from April 1, 2027, with the rate increasing to 4% from April 1, 2028, ending a decade-long tax exemption for the sector.
In addition, three mandatory national standards covering energy-efficiency requirements for crystalline-silicon PV modules and inverters will take effect on January 1, 2027.
Industry participants expect the new tax policy and stricter efficiency requirements to accelerate the elimination of outdated and less-competitive production capacity. While this could improve the long-term health of the solar sector, it may also slow the pace of PV capacity additions, reducing the growth rate of demand for grid infrastructure, energy-storage systems and, consequently, CRGO products.
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The capped Glens Falls-owned landfill (to the right), just north of the Interstate 87 overpass at Luzerne Road in Queensbury.
Jonathon Norcross is a news reporter at The Post-Star. He can be reached at jonathon.norcross@poststar.com.

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Solar panels are coming to the capped landfill near Interstate 87 Northway Exit 18. The project, once finished, will also add panels to the fi…
The city is continuing discussions on an idea to put solar panels at its old landfill on Luzerne Road.
City officials have been in talks with a number of companies about potentially putting solar panels on the 18-acre city-owned property that si…
The capped Glens Falls-owned landfill (to the right), just north of the Interstate 87 overpass at Luzerne Road in Queensbury.
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A group of researchers from China’s Soochow University and Chinese PV manufacturer Longi has developed a perovksite-silicon tandem solar cell through an interfacial strategy that reportedly suppresses non-radiative recombination while preserving efficient charge extraction.
The proposed strategy consists of integrating a discrete monoclinic zirconia (ZrO2) nanoparticle between the cell’s transparent conductive oxide (TCO) and the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) layer. “This modulates the local surface energy to facilitate the growth of void-free, large-grain perovskite films, while simultaneously serving as a nanoscale localized contact,” Longi researcher He Bo told pv magazine. “In contrast to conventional metal oxide dielectrics, ZrO₂ exhibits a high dielectric constant, which mitigates interfacial charge accumulation and suppresses hysteresis.”
The scientists explained that the ZrO₂ interfacial layer acts as a discontinuous, nanoporous buffer between the transparent conductive oxide and the SAM, effectively passivating the buried interface without hindering charge transport. Owing to its wide bandgap of around 5.49 eV, ZrO₂ introduces negligible visible-light absorption, while its porous structure reduces direct contact between the perovskite and defective conductive oxide, thereby suppressing leakage pathways and interfacial recombination.
Meanwhile, the exposed SAM regions maintain efficient hole extraction, with structural characterization confirming the formation of phase-pure monoclinic ZrO₂. Scanning electron m icroscope (SEM) analysis also showed that precursor dilution controls nanoparticle coverage providing effective interfacial passivation while avoiding the formation of a continuous insulating layer that could impede carrier extraction.
The researchers built the monolithic perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell with a crystalline silicon (c-Si) bottom cell and an inverted p-i-n perovskite top cell.
The silicon subcell features intrinsic amorphous silicon (a-Si(i)) and doped nanocrystalline silicon oxide (nc-SiOₓ(n)) passivating contacts, with indium tin oxide (ITO) and silver (Ag) forming the rear contact. On the front side of the silicon cell, the nc-SiOₓ(n)/a-Si(i) contact stack is combined with ITO to form the recombination/contact region connecting the two subcells.
The ZrO₂ interfacial layer was introduced between the ITO and the MeO-4PACz self-assembled monolayer (SAM), followed by the perovskite absorber. The top cell was then completed with a lithium fluoride/ethylenediammonium diiodide (LiF/EDAI) interfacial passivation layer, a fullerene (C₆₀) electron-transport layer, a tin oxide (SnO₂) buffer layer, and an indium zinc oxide (IZO) transparent conductive electrode. Finally, a magnesium fluoride (MgF₂) anti-reflection coating and Ag fingers form the front optical and electrical contacts.
The optimized ZrO₂ interlayer was found to improve the integrity and molecular organization of the self-assembled monolayer (SAM), with conductive atomic force microscopy (C-AFM) showing fewer localized high-conductivity regions, indicating more homogeneous SAM coverage and reduced leakage pathways.
Moreover, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the formation of covalent Zr–O–P bonds creating a dual-anchoring network that strengthens SAM attachment to the interface. Ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS) and Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) revealed a favorable energy-level alignment and hole extraction.
Tested under standard illumination conditions, the tandem cell achieved a power conversion efficiency of 34.0%, an open-circuit voltage of 1.997 V, short-circuit current density of 20.36 mA cm⁻², and fill factor of 83.62%. The researchers also reported an independently certified open-circuit voltage of 2.014 V.
The device was also found to retain 84% of its initial efficiency after 2000 h, while a control cell built without the proposed interfacial strategy degraded to 70% after 1000 h.
“These results highlight an effective interfacial engineering strategy for simultaneously delivering high efficiency, enhanced voltage, and long-term operational stability,” Bo stated.
The new cell concept was presented in the paper “Nanoscale interfacial scaffold enables perovskite/silicon tandems with 34% efficiency and an open-circuit voltage over 2.01 V,” published in Science Bulletin.
Longi currently holds the world record for perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell efficiency, with a 35.5%-efficient two-terminal device. The result was independently certified in July by the European Solar Test Installation (ESTI), part of the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre in Italy.

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Colombia’s new Minister of Mines and Energy, María Nohemí Arboleda, has placed the Colombia Solar program under review. The initiative, structured under the previous administration, includes a COP 4.2 trillion ($1.35 billion) agreement aimed at bringing photovoltaic systems to low-income households.
In recent comments on the ministry’s budgetary situation, Arboleda said officials are reviewing contracts with similar scopes, cases in which individual contractors held as many as five contracts, questions over officials’ work locations, and monitoring reports that, according to the minister, had not been submitted.
Arboleda also questioned the implementation of Colombia Solar, pointing to the COP 4.2 trillion allocation and saying the program currently has “zero connected users.”
“Obviously, the project cannot continue until there is clarity on what is happening, because it involves an allocated budget with no progress to show for it,” she said in remarks broadcast by Blu Radio.
The COP 4.2 trillion cited by Arboleda relates to an inter-administrative agreement signed on Dec. 29, 2025, between the Ministry of Mines and Energy and state-owned power company Generadora y Comercializadora de Energía del Caribe (Gecelca). The agreement has a five-year implementation period, running through December 2030, and targets 563,057 users across 13 departments.
Colombia Solar was launched in September 2025 through Decree 0972 and subsequently regulated by Resolution 40159 of 2026. A month later, document 4158 from the country’s Colombia’s National Council for Economic and Social Policy earmarked COP 8.35 trillion for the program between 2026 and 2030, with the goal of bringing photovoltaic systems to approximately 1.3 million households.
The program covers the design, supply and installation of solar PV systems for users in socioeconomic strata 1, 2 and 3 – the three lowest tiers in Colombia’s classification system – connected to the National Interconnected System. It covers the departments of Atlántico, Bolívar, Cesar, Norte de Santander, Santander, Antioquia, Boyacá, Cundinamarca, Chocó, La Guajira, Magdalena, Córdoba and Sucre.
Arboleda’s review follows an earlier order from the new government to examine several actions related to Colombia Solar. A dispute over the initiative between the outgoing administration and new President Abelardo De La Espriella’s team emerged in July.
In August, a separate procurement process managed by the Fund for Non-Conventional Energy and Efficient Energy Management (Fenoge), valued at approximately COP 164 billion, was canceled. The process covered the implementation, operation, maintenance and monitoring of photovoltaic systems and had come under scrutiny from the Inspector General’s Office. It is separate from the COP 4.2 trillion agreement signed with Gecelca.
The review of Colombia Solar comes amid a broader shift in the country’s energy policy.
The governments of Colombia and the United States signed two memoranda of understanding in Barranquilla on Tuesday, covering strategic minerals and civil nuclear cooperation. The agreements were signed during a visit by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who met with president De La Espriella.
On nuclear energy, the memorandum establishes a non-binding framework for cooperation. According to Colombia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy, it will facilitate technical exchanges, regulatory capacity building, workforce training and scientific research, as well as assessments of potential applications of nuclear technology for energy security.
The agreement does not provide for the construction of nuclear reactors in Colombia and does not identify specific projects, locations, technologies, capacities or timelines for nuclear power plants. The ministry described the memorandum as opening space for a “technical, gradual and responsible dialogue” on potential applications of nuclear technology.
A Nuclear Cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (NCMOU) does not itself authorize the export of U.S. materials or equipment for reactor projects. Under U.S. rules, such transfers require a nuclear cooperation agreement pursuant to Section 123 of the U.S. Atomic Energy Act.
Following the signing, Arboleda said Colombia aims to turn its mining and energy potential into “industry, formal employment, innovation and development for the regions,” adding that cooperation with the United States would provide technical tools to support that goal.
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Martedì, 22 Settembre 2026
11:00 – 12:00 CEST, Roma
Monday, October 26, 2026
10:30 am – 11:30 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, September 10, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
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A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
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Inox Solar Americas Signs 800 MW PV Module Supply Agreement for Projects in Colorado and Georgia  SolarQuarter
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Two people are facing felony charges after deputies say thousands of feet of copper wire were stolen from a solar farm in Roanoke Rapids.
The Halifax County Sheriff’s Office says deputies responded Tuesday morning, Sept. 8, to a solar energy farm near Airport Road after receiving a report of stolen copper wire.
Investigators say about 2,000 feet of copper wire had been taken from solar panels. The theft caused more than $10,000 in losses for the company, according to the sheriff’s office.
Deputies returned to the property Wednesday morning after receiving a report that two people were walking around and entering the site.
Authorities say surveillance cameras helped identify the two suspects through their clothing and tattoos. Investigators interviewed both people, who deputies say admitted to the theft.
Timothy Joyner of Roanoke Rapids is charged with felony breaking and entering, misdemeanor injury to personal property, felony larceny, and felony possession of stolen goods or property. He was held without bond.
Johnny Miller of Massachusetts is charged with felony conspiracy and felony possession of stolen goods or property. He received a $15,000 secured bond.
The sheriff’s office says the stolen copper was recovered and returned to the company. Both men are scheduled to appear in court Sept. 23.
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By Canary Media
Canary Media
10 September 2026
Clean energy scored a rare win in Ohio last month when state regulators unanimously approved a permit for 149 megawatts of solar and 149 MW of battery storage at the Hamden Energy site in Vinton County, located in the southeast quadrant of the state.
In contrast to most of the state’s solar permitting cases, no parties in the case opposed the project, proposed by developer Recurrent Energy, at the Ohio Power Siting Board — largely because it will be built on reclaimed coal mine land.
“Developing a solar project on reclaimed land is an excellent opportunity to harvest another one of the area’s abundant resources to power Ohio while providing supplemental tax revenue to support a legacy energy community,” said Ali Trunzo, a senior development manager for Recurrent Energy.
Like much of the rest of Appalachian Ohio, Vinton County has a history of hosting extractive industries — particularly coal, iron, and clay — whose production has plummeted over the last century. Although its economy has grown over the past 20 years, roughly 19% of the county’s residents live in poverty.
The county’s board of commissioners did not block the project, which they could have done under a 2021 law that erected extra hurdles for solar and wind power, but not fossil fuel generation.
Opponents of other solar farms in Ohio have frequently raised concerns about projects taking farmland out of use, although solar occupies less land than golf courses in the state and can coexist with some farming practices.
Projects on former mine lands and industrial brownfields, like Recurrent’s, tend to draw less opposition, although they have their trade-offs. Namely, they can be more expensive to develop than greenfields because of conditions at the location and the need to accommodate remediation, according to RMI, a clean energy think tank.
Trunzo declined to provide cost information about Recurrent’s Hamden Energy project, although she noted that specialized methods and equipment may need to be used to adapt to the site’s soils and terrain.
The roughly 25 people who commented in the case docket or spoke at a June 10 local hearing voiced mixed opinions. The most common concern was whether ongoing reclamation would be finished before construction started on the solar and battery project.
That remediation work is the responsibility of Cheyenne Resources, which holds the surface mining permit for the property, confirmed Andy Chow, a spokesperson for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. Recurrent Energy has agreed to begin construction only after reclamation is done.
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The Recurrent project is not the first coal-to-solar farm greenlit by the state. Regulators approved the Vinton Solar Energy Center in 2018, and the project remains under construction by developer Invenergy. Other states are siting solar at former mine lands as well.
More projects will likely follow in Ohio because of recent policy changes.
Under a 2025 law, House Bill 15, former mine lands and industrial brownfields are eligible for treatment as priority investment areas. Ohio has more than 70,000 acres that might fit that definition, RMI data shows. Rules from the Ohio Department of Development for designating such places took effect two months ago. Agency spokesperson Brian Bohnert told Canary Media the state has started to identify its first areas under the program. One of the two sites designated through late August includes both former coal mine land and an industrial site.
“The reuse of former mining land for new energy production is a win-win for Ohio consumers and the environment,” said Rebecca Mellino, associate director of climate and energy policy for The Nature Conservancy.
The Nature Conservancy’s view, Mellino said, is that HB 15 not only creates priority areas but also lets counties host solar on former mine sites and brownfields despite exclusions that might otherwise apply under Senate Bill 52, the 2021 enactment that added hurdles for renewable energy developments.
In many cases, solar energy is cheaper and can come online quicker than natural gas generation. Yet as projections call for the state’s electricity demand to grow, clean energy developers continue to face bans or project vetoes under SB 52. Beyond the statute’s terms, state regulators have often blocked projects on the basis of unanimous local government opposition, regardless of whether opponents’ arguments were based on opinion or grounded in fact.
A bill passed by the Ohio Senate this spring could make it even harder, if not impossible, for many solar and wind projects to get built. SB 294 is now in the Ohio House of Representatives.
“Projects like Hamden Energy are vital to bringing sustainable, affordable, and dependable energy online,” said Chris Tavenor, general counsel for the Ohio Environmental Council, which was a party in the case.
But, Tavenor cautioned, ​“without reform to the energy siting process, energy costs will remain high, and we will continue to see energy prices rise along with demand. We acknowledge this win, while also recognizing that we have much more work ahead.”

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Kathiann M. Kowalski is a contributing reporter at Canary Media who covers Ohio.
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Inspire Clean Energy Ranks #4 Among Independent Solar O&M Service Providers in Asia Pacific in Wood Mackenzie’s 2026 Rankings  SolarQuarter
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An agreement made by Sembcorp Industries to acquire Philippine solar farm developer Puente Al Sol from CleanCurrent Renewable Energy Inc was dropped. Sembcorp and CleanCurrent Renewable Energy mutually agreed to terminate the proposed SGD 105 million (~$83,048,267) transaction, citing prevailing market conditions and evolving circumstances. Puente Al Sol is developing a solar farm in Cadiz, Philippines, with a planned capacity of 96 MW. The transaction was originally agreed in January 2025. Sembcorp had agreed to the deal as part of its renewable energy activities. The company said the termination follows changes in the conditions surrounding the proposed acquisition. The decision means Sembcorp will not proceed with the planned purchase of the Philippine solar developer.  
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Western Sydney has witnessed a significant surge in the adoption of solar energy among homeowners in recent years. This trend, driven by both economic and environmental factors, highlights the shifting attitude towards sustainable energy solutions. Many residents in this region are turning to solar installers Western Sydney to facilitate this transition, benefiting from professional installation services tailored to local needs.
One of the primary reasons Western Sydney homeowners are embracing solar technology is the rising cost of electricity. Traditional power sources have become increasingly expensive, prompting households to seek more cost-effective alternatives. Solar panels provide an opportunity to reduce monthly utility bills significantly, offering a level of financial control and savings that was not previously available.
In addition to economic incentives, environmental concerns play a crucial role in accelerating solar adoption. Many homeowners recognise the impact of traditional energy consumption on carbon emissions and climate change. By installing solar power systems, they contribute to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, aligning their energy consumption with sustainable practices.
Solar energy is a clean, renewable resource that does not produce harmful pollutants during operation. This aspect is particularly vital for communities in Western Sydney, where urban development and industrial activity continue to increase. The utilisation of solar power helps mitigate environmental degradation and preserves local ecosystems.

The Australian government, along with state-specific initiatives, offers significant incentives for adopting solar energy. Rebates, tax benefits, and feed-in tariffs create a favourable environment for homeowners to invest in solar systems. These financial advantages make the upfront costs more manageable and enhance the long-term return on investment.
Western Sydney residents benefit from these schemes, which encourage a faster transition to renewable energy sources. Combined with competitive pricing from reputable solar installers Western Sydney, the practicality and appeal of solar installation have increased considerably.
Recent technological developments have improved the efficiency and durability of solar panels, making them a more attractive option for homeowners. Innovations such as higher conversion rates and enhanced storage capabilities mean that solar energy can now reliably meet a household’s power demands throughout the day and night.
One notable product gaining popularity in the Western Sydney area is the Sigenergy range of solar solutions. These systems, installed by professional Sigenergy installers, offer advanced performance metrics that appeal to environmentally conscious and financially savvy consumers alike.
Public awareness campaigns and educational programmes have also contributed to the growing acceptance of solar power in Western Sydney. Local councils and environmental organisations actively promote the benefits of renewable energy, helping to dispel myths and provide clear, factual information to the public.
Workshops, seminars, and online resources inform homeowners about the technical, financial, and environmental aspects of solar installation. This knowledge empowers residents to make informed decisions and encourages widespread adoption.
Installing solar panels has been demonstrated to increase property values in many instances. Prospective buyers recognise the benefit of reduced energy costs and sustainable energy sources, making solar-equipped homes more desirable in the market.
This increase in property appeal is an additional incentive for Western Sydney homeowners to invest in solar technology, ensuring a favourable return beyond just energy savings.
The growth in demand for solar installations has led to a rise in professional service providers equipped to handle various installation needs. Trustworthy solar installers Western Sydney offer comprehensive assessments, customised system design, and prompt installation services. Their expertise and adherence to industry standards ensure the safety and performance of solar systems.
Western Sydney homeowners appreciate the availability of local experts who understand the region’s specific requirements and can provide ongoing support for their solar investments.
Solar technology integration with advanced energy storage systems further motivates homeowners to switch. Battery storage allows excess solar power generated during peak sunlight hours to be stored for use during evenings or cloudy days, maximising energy self-sufficiency.
This feature reduces dependency on the grid and reduces electricity costs. It enhances the value proposition of installing solar panels, especially in regions like Western Sydney, where energy consumption patterns fluctuate.
Increased solar adoption among Western Sydney households contributes to greater energy security for the community at large. Decentralised power generation reduces pressure on the national grid and mitigates risks related to outages or supply disruptions.
This aspect holds particular significance in densely populated areas, where demand for reliable electricity is continuous and critical for daily living.
Although the benefits of solar energy are substantial, homeowners must carefully consider factors such as roof orientation, shading, and system sizing before installation. Professional assessments conducted by experienced installers assist in identifying the optimal configuration for each property.
Ongoing maintenance requirements and warranty provisions should also be understood to ensure long-term system reliability and performance.
The initial investment for solar panel installation can vary widely based on system size and chosen equipment. However, when balanced against energy savings, government incentives, and increased property value, the return on investment is typically favourable.
Homeowners in Western Sydney increasingly recognise the economic advantages, further driving the solar market growth within the region.
Western Sydney homeowners are switching to solar faster than ever due to a combination of financial benefits, environmental awareness, technological advancements, and supportive policies. The presence of skilled solar installers Western Sydney and access to quality products like those from experienced Sigenergy installers facilitate this transition effectively. As renewable energy continues to evolve, Western Sydney is positioned to remain at the forefront of sustainable residential energy solutions.

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Fraunhofer ISE’s New Electrode Design Delivers Up to 15% More Energy at the Same Battery Weight  SolarQuarter
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The report shows that the UK’s untapped commercial rooftops could become a major new source of solar energy generation with enough output to match that of 20 Hinkley Point C nuclear power stations. This, if utilised correctly, could massively increase UK renewable energy production, fast-track the UK’s path to net zero, improve national energy security, reduce the need for solar deployment on agricultural land, and drastically reduce energy costs for occupiers amid ongoing energy price uncertainty.
The report, which draws on data and respondents from 70 real estate organisations with combined assets under management (AUM) of over £500 billion, has found that less than 10 percent of suitable commercial building roofspace has been utilised for solar generation to date, providing just 3-5 GW of solar capacity.
While solar technology is widely championed in principle, its deployment remains significantly below its technical potential, particularly across the industrial and logistics real estate sector.
Unlocking the remaining 90 percent could provide a vast new source of home-grown renewable generation, with the potential for more than 60 gigawatts (GW) of untapped solar capacity to be harnessed across UK commercial real estate. It would also significantly reduce energy costs for occupiers and create additional revenue streams for landlords whilst rapidly decarbonising the UK’s built environment, which currently emits 25 percent of the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions.
This latent capacity (60 GW) is the equivalent of powering approximately 20 million National Grid enabled UK homes per year, or more than 10 times the AI data-centre capacity the Government expects the UK to need by 2030.
The report reveals the clear commercial case for rooftop solar installation, should the necessary financial, regulatory and legal frameworks be put in place. For a typical 300 kWp solar installation with a capital expenditure of £250,000, a tenant-funded installation could generate a 20 percent Net Yield in its first year and a payback period of just 5.5 years. For landlord-funded installation, Net Yield in the first year sits at 12 percent, with a payback period of 8 years. Whether the solar panels are installed by the landlord or tenant, both models present strong environmental benefits, saving 53 tonnes CO2e per year.
Solar power is also increasingly viewed as an essential element of asset modernisation, decarbonisation and future-proofing existing assets against tightening ESG regulations, meeting higher tenant expectations for building sustainability and helping to protect occupiers from volatile energy pricing. It would also significantly reduce the need for solar farms to be deployed on agricultural land, a positive given concerns around future food security and heightening scrutiny of solar installation in rural areas.
However, despite the many benefits, the report highlights that delivery constraints are a key barrier to wider roll-out, meaning that well-intentioned projects are delayed, downsized or not pursued at all. Whilst 85 percent of respondents expect rooftop solar activity to increase in the coming years, this will not happen without significant policy reform.
Financial viability remains one of the most persistent constraints on rooftop solar PV deployment in the UK commercial real estate sector. Mismatches between funders’ requirements and commercial leases, ambiguity in the REIT regime and insurance terms all hamper deployment. Other constraints include structural barriers such as leasing complexity, policy and regulatory uncertainty, grid capacity and connection delays as well as inconsistent commercial frameworks. The cumulative impact of these hurdles is the prevention of widespread, scalable solar deployment as well as market fragmentation.
In response, the report calls on the government to unlock the full potential of rooftop solar through seven clear recommendations. These include:
Remove tax and regulatory barriers by clarifying REIT rules for solar investment; broadening the REIT regime to include renewable energy; extending the business rates exemption for solar investment beyond 2035; and improving capital allowance reliefs.
Standardise legal and commercial frameworks such as PPAs and lease clauses to reduce complexity, cost and delays.
Introduce consistent insurance standards for rooftop solar to reduce design risk and avoid projects being downsized or abandoned.
Strengthen export revenues through more predictable long-term pricing mechanisms, making larger solar installations viable.
Accelerate grid reform and investment to improve connection times, increase capacity and provide clearer information for developers.
Provide long-term policy certainty, including clear implementation of MEES to support investment and make solar a standard feature of commercial buildings.
Maximise existing solar projects by increasing the 50kW cap on permitted development regimes with prior approval with local planning authorities
“Solar energy has a critical role to play in the UK’s energy transition, and commercial real estate has the potential to be a major player in the generation of rooftop solar” said Rob Wall, Assistant Director, Real Estate:UK. “However, as our research shows, deployment of solar on commercial buildings is slow and we are still some way off from delivering that long promised rooftop revolution. There is ambition – with 85 percent of real estate professionals expecting solar power generation from commercial buildings to increase over the next 24 months – but for that to happen we need a series of policy reforms as set out in today’s report.”
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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.
“We want to keep investing in Pennsylvania.”
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After opting for energy-saving upgrades, a Pennsylvania cookie maker’s power bills still jumped, underscoring how hard utility expenses are to manage across the state.
At Shirley’s Cookie Company in Blair County, facilities maintenance manager Richard Weyant said thousands of dollars went toward LED lighting and improved HVAC equipment, according to Philly Voice. Even with those updates, electricity consumption fell 5.7% over four years while the company’s power bills climbed 17.4%.
He told lawmakers that the company has little flexibility to cut electricity use because power is required to mix, bake, and store its products. Weyant also said competitive pressure from manufacturers in other states and abroad means the business cannot always raise prices enough to offset higher energy costs.
With elections on the horizon, both parties have made affordability a central issue in Harrisburg, though they remain divided on how to lower energy costs.
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Electric bills are only part of the strain. Bill Ward, Jr., president and CEO of Ward Transport and Logistics, said high diesel prices are also taking a toll on businesses, noting that the cost of fuel “cuts into our margin” and makes it harder to offer raises and strong benefits.
Weyant said rising operating expenses are crowding out spending on equipment, automation, wages, and benefits. He said six automation upgrades worth about half a million dollars had been stalled and warned that “money spent covering these higher operating costs is money we can’t use somewhere else.”
Coal and natural gas power plants contribute to air and water pollution linked to asthma, heart disease, cancer, and premature death, while also keeping many households tied to volatile fuel costs instead of more abundant energy sources like sunlight and wind. Industry lobbying has often slowed cleaner, cheaper alternatives that could protect communities and reduce monthly bills.
Republican Josh Kail blamed Democratic energy policies and called for greater use of the state’s natural gas, though he did not outline why he thought investment in renewable energy would not yield dividends once built. Industry executive Stephanie Catarino Wissman of the American Petroleum Institute Pennsylvania also said permit delays and regulatory reviews were slowing development, while environmental advocates have pushed for a more diversified energy mix with additional renewables.
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Weyant urged lawmakers to look beyond power and fuel bills alone and consider options such as solar, battery storage, demand-reduction technologies, grants, and tax incentives. He said those tools can help businesses and households limit their exposure to rising energy costs while also improving reliability.
For households looking for relief, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Readers can explore EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes. Their free services can also make the math easier for homeowners. 
With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, as well as details on solar panel incentives for each state, and together these resources can help readers get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off grid. It can also help homeowners keep essential appliances running when the grid goes down. Readers can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
“We want to keep investing in Pennsylvania and we want to keep investing in our employees,” Weyant said. “Affordable, reliable energy helps Pennsylvania manufacturers’ ability to do both.”
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GreenIT launched two solar parks in Piedmont, Italy, with a combined capacity of approximately 19 MW the facilities will produce approximately 30 GWh of electricity per year.
The new plants are located in the provinces of Vercelli and Alessandria, their commissioning expands GreenIT renewable generation capacity in Italy and strengthens its presence in the country’s photovoltaic market.
GreenIT is a joint venture owned 51% by Plenitude, a company controlled by Eni, and 49% by CDP Equity, established in 2021, the company focuses on the development, construction, and operation of facilities for renewable energy in Italian territory.
The two parks have approximately 32,000 high-efficiency bifacial photovoltaic modules these panels are installed on structures with single-axis solar tracking systems. These systems adjust the orientation of the panels throughout the day to better utilize available radiation and optimize electricity production.
Another aspect of the projects is the use of land that was previously used for mining activities, before the plants were built, these areas were remediated and rehabilitated to accommodate the solar installations.
The project thus combines the addition of new photovoltaic capacity with the recovery of spaces previously used by other industrial activities.
The company maintains a portfolio of more than 300 MW of solar projects in an advanced stage of development with which it plans to expand its photovoltaic capacity over the next few years. In addition, it has around 30 MW under construction in Campania and Piedmont, these facilities are expected to come online between the end of 2026 and the first months of 2027.
These projects are part of the company’s strategy to increase renewable generation in Italy and contribute to the goals of the country’s Integrated National Energy and Climate Plan for 2030.
Paolo Bellucci, CEO of GreenIT, highlighted the role of the two new plants in the company’s expansion plans:
The commissioning of these two plants represents an important step in GreenIT’s growth trajectory and reinforces our ambition to become one of the leading Italian operators in the solar and wind energy sector.
Bellucci also reiterated the company’s commitment to the development of renewable energy generation and the advancement of Italy’s energy transition.
Source: Renews
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Africa’s solar panel manufacturing capacity is set to increase to quadruple this year, according to a new report from thinktank Ember.
Ember’s latest report, developed in collaboration with Africa Tech Futures Lab, says solar panel manufacturing output will quadruple as 2 GW of manufacturing plants in Egypt and around 500 MW in Tanzania come online. Panel manufacturing capacity across a further six countries – Morocco, South Africa, Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria and Kenya – is expected to reach around 1 GW.
The report points out that data for assessing solar panel manufacturing capacity in Africa is extremely limited, with little publicly-available documentation.
Dave Jones, Ember chief analyst and co-author of the report, told pv magazine that Africa’s large-scale solar manufacturing factories in Egypt, Ethiopia and Tanzania are likely trying to keep a low profile to avoid unwanted attention from the US authorities, who are aiming to reduce solar imports into the country. 
“However, many smaller solar manufacturing plants across Africa are increasing capacity, and although companies are keen to make press announcements, these announcements offer very little detail on manufacturing line capacity and even less on actual manufacturing volume,” he added.
The report adds that the new panel manufacturing capacity in Egypt and Tanzania is predominantly geared toward export to the US, where prices are much higher for Chinese panels due to US tariffs on Chinese goods.
While the other six mentioned countries are geared more towards supporting domestic growth, the report adds that up to 94% of the panels installed in Africa today are still imported from China.
According to data from Ember’s China’s Solar PV Export Explorer, China imported 19 GW of PV cells and 9 GW of PV wafers into Africa in the the 2.5 years to June 2026. Over the same time period, Africa manufactured just 2.7 GW of PV panels.
“We think that, in a small part, this reflects the step-up in African solar manufacturing that will continue into late 2026 and beyond. But we think the majority would not actually be imported into the country, but rather re-shipped most likely to the US,” the report says. “Customs in most African countries do not report imports of cells and wafers, so there is no data there that helps to clarify.”
Upcoming changes to US tariffs, which are set to make imports of PV cells and panels more expensive from December this year, could reduce the ability of African nations to sell cells and panels into the US. The tariff changes follows China’s removal of its 9% export VAT earlier this year.
“This could mean solar panels end up being used domestically,” the report continues. “This would replace Chinese imports and ultimately mean Africa becomes more directly self-sufficient.”
Jones also told pv magazine that Chinese solar panels remain the biggest barrier to building solar supply chains in Africa. 
“[Chinese panels] are extremely high quality and, at $80 or so a panel, fall into the ‘ridiculously cheap’ category,” he explained. “Africa imported just $2.4 billion of solar panels in the last 12 months, so the import bill is not big, and the value-add that countries can achieve will be small, so when countries consider solar, they need to do it in a cheap and long-term way.”
Jones added the complimenting clean technologies justify more urgency in terms of supply chains. The report highlights that Africa is already importing more dollars of batteries than solar panels from China, while Jones said that EVs, grid tech and wind turbines are also rising.
“African countries should be developing an overall cleantech industrial supply chain that seeks to leapfrog the old energy world of ‘import oil and gas, import cars, import power plants’,” Jones said.
Additional headline figures from the report indicate that a record 17 GW of solar will be installed in Africa this year, equivalent to around 100,000 solar panels a day, with a total 36 of Africa’s 54 countries on track to install a record amount of solar in 2026.
The report adds that three quarters of Africa’s solar growth is distributed solar, made up of small-scale customer-side PV systems installed mostly on rooftops. Of the estimated 26 GW of solar added in Africa between 2023 and 2025, the report says distributed solar accounted for 20 GW.
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Zoning Changes — The Clyde Board of Aldermen approved changes to the town’s zoning ordinance on Aug. 13, 2026.

Zoning Changes — The Clyde Board of Aldermen approved changes to the town’s zoning ordinance on Aug. 13, 2026.
Clyde may be Haywood County’s smallest town, but the latest overhaul to its zoning rules packs a big punch: nearly 90 updated or new definitions setting the stage to govern what is and isn’t permissible if and when Clyde grows.
Those definitions include new uses on the horizon that didn’t exist before, like data centers and commercial solar facilities — as well as emerging issues like living in RVs after a disaster and special events.
“These are living documents, so you know, the world changes, and so does sometimes our zoning ordinance,” explained Clyde’s new town planner, Alexis Baker. “With any zoning ordinance, there are always things that you can do better.”
Baker, who has worked as a city planner across Western North Carolina, said she came in with a fresh set of eyes and saw some things that needed changing.
Defining data centers was chief among those. Clyde currently has a moratorium on data centers and crypto mining while developing rules to govern them. But first, what are they? There is no way to zone something that is not defined, Baker explained.
“We have been using common definitions, maybe even looking at other jurisdictions for our definitions,” Baker said.
The definition for data centers is likely to keep evolving, however, until a rulebook is created during the year-long moratorium.
“Any definition that we added for cryptocurrency or data centers is just a placeholder,” Baker said. “We gave ourselves a year to make sure that we make the best decisions possible.”
The possibility of homeowners setting up their own miniature solar farms is another new-fangled definition in the zoning ordinance. While solar panels for personal use are OK, what about a bunch of them?
“Utility-scale solar may not be appropriate to say put in a small neighborhood,” Baker said. “Any other solar that is not on your roof requires a special use permit.”
Another big change in the updated zoning ordinance was more flexibility on living in RVs and campers after a natural disaster. Flooded Clyde homeowners attempting to live in RVs on their property after Helene ran afoul of old rules — which limited living in an RV as a primary dwelling for more than 180 days.
Baker and other town officials recognized the need to amend this section.
“We don’t allow RVs as long-term residences, but we do also understand that people need to live somewhere while they’re waiting to have their primary residence repaired,” Baker said.
Now victims of natural or other disasters can live in temporary dwellings while their home is being repaired for up to 12 months, or longer if permitted. If property is within the area of a federal disaster declaration, or approved by the town administrator, residents can apply for a temporary permit free of charge.
Other conditions include being ready for travel or highway use and complying with county sewage regulations.
There’s also an entirely new section for special events.
Any outdoor special event either held on town property or that disrupts traffic must now get a special use permit approved by the town board.
“You don’t want an unknown event happening and you can’t get through a main road, for example, or there could be an emergency and, you know, fire or the police can’t get through. That’s kind of one of the things that we hope that would help with,” Baker said while explaining her thought process behind the new section.
This change reflects Baker’s philosophy that zoning ordinances are “living documents.”
“It’s just continuously keeping your regulations up to date with what happens in the world and in our local community,” she said.
The changes were presented during a public hearing before the Clyde Planning Board prior to coming to the board of aldermen. Public comment was allowed and encouraged during every step.
Baker wants to make sure the new zoning ordinance is as easy to understand as possible for Clyde residents. That includes rewriting clunky definitions or cleaning up technical language.
“I think what we’re trying to do is to bring better clarity,” she said. “I personally believe that the zoning ordinance should be more easily understood by maybe someone who doesn’t have a planning background.”
Baker may be new to Clyde, but she believes these changes are just the beginning when it comes to the town bouncing back after Helene.
“I think there’s a lot of interesting things happening in Clyde. You know, there were a lot of buyouts after Helene. I think there’s a lot of possibilities going on here, and I’ve seen kind of a pickup in development, so I think there will be a lot to do, and I would like to be involved in positive changes for the community,” she said.

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Germany’s solar industry is beginning to feel the effects of prolonged regulatory uncertainty surrounding Solar Package I, more than two years after the legislation was adopted and while several of its measures remain pending EU State aid approval. Although the German government approved the package in 2024 to accelerate the expansion of solar energy, including changes to auction design, higher project size limits and support for different PV technologies, the European Commission has yet to give its green light to a number of key provisions due to State aid concerns. This delay is creating uncertainty for developers and is already affecting investment decisions across the sector.
In an exclusive interview with Review Energy, Carsten Körnig, Managing Director of the German Solar Association (BSW-Solar), warned that the situation is no longer simply delaying regulatory changes, but is affecting investment decisions, project pipelines and expectations for the German photovoltaic market in 2027.
“The ongoing delay in EU State aid approval — which has now persisted for over two years since the adoption of Solarpaket I — has left crucial national solar regulations frozen on paper,” Körnig said.
According to the association, conducting major auctions under rules that do not yet incorporate the pending Solar Package I provisions is causing “significant disruption across Germany’s solar industry.”
The warning comes after Germany’s 1 September innovation auction, which closed with 475 MW on offer. The auction could not apply the Solar Package I provision that would increase the maximum solar component of bids from 20 MW to 50 MW, as the required EU State aid approval remained pending.
Attention is now turning to the second-segment solar auction scheduled for 1 October, which covers solar installations on buildings and noise barriers. Different Solar Package I provisions affecting this segment also depend on the pending approval.
For BSW-Solar, the consequences extend beyond these individual auction rounds.
Solar Package I introduced a dedicated auction sub-segment for special solar installations, including Agri-PV, floating PV, moor PV and carport PV, designed to prevent these generally more expensive dual-use technologies from competing directly with cheaper conventional ground-mounted projects.
Because that mechanism cannot yet be applied without EU clearance, BSW-Solar argues that these technologies are struggling to compete under the existing framework.
“Many developers invested in planning processes and made financial commitments, which now results in severe operational losses due to postponed or cancelled projects,” Körnig said. He added that the prolonged freeze “severely damages trust in the national legal framework and paralyzes the pipeline of new, land-saving project developments.”
The association also points to a second source of uncertainty: the existing EU State aid approval for Germany’s current Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG), excluding the pending Solar Package I provisions, is valid only until 31 December 2026.
According to BSW-Solar, projects bidding in auctions late this year whose awards are not officially announced until 2027 could face the risk of receiving no support. The association says this legal uncertainty is already making it more difficult for developers to obtain bank financing.
The effects, it says, are already visible in the market. 44% of companies in the rooftop PV segment and 56% of companies in the ground-mounted solar sector are experiencing declining demand for photovoltaic systems scheduled for installation or participation in auctions in 2027 because of uncertainty over next year’s regulatory framework.
“Instead of driving the highly necessary market acceleration of 20 GW of additions per year to meet statutory targets, the lack of EU clearance acts as an artificial brake, discouraging project pipelines and jeopardizing Germany’s expansion targets,” Körnig said.
One of the measures that could not be applied in the September innovation auction was the increase in the maximum solar component of bids from 20 MW to 50 MW.
BSW-Solar argues that the change would have a tangible economic impact on project development. “The increase of the bid size from 20 to 50 MW will reduce costs for new projects per MW and will increase overall PV installation in Germany,” Körnig told Review Energy.
But the association believes even the 50 MW threshold will eventually be insufficient.
BSW-Solar says that with the planned increase in ground-mounted PV tender volumes to 14 GW per year in total, including PPA and innovation tenders, Germany would need to go further and raise the cap from 50 MW to 100 MW.
The association also notes that the 2026 auctions have so far been highly competitive because developers are seeking awards for projects already in their pipelines before the current State aid approval expires at the end of the year. At the same time, developers are beginning to scale back the development of new projects until there is greater certainty over the future regulatory framework.
BSW-Solar said it cannot currently quantify the exact number of delayed projects, affected MW or investment volume. However, it said numerous companies made advance plans in anticipation of a rapid approval and that the two-year delay is resulting in “severe operational and economic losses” from projects that have not been realised or commissioned.
The upcoming 1 October second-segment solar auction presents a different challenge.
Solar Package I increased the annual auction volume for this segment from 1,100 MW to 2,300 MW, a change BSW-Solar considers essential to accommodate the growing pipeline of commercial rooftop projects.
The package also lowered the threshold above which rooftop systems must participate in auctions from 1,000 kWp to 750 kWp.
BSW-Solar warns that introducing the lower threshold without simultaneously expanding the auction volume to 2,300 MW would create an “artificial bottleneck.”
“Projects will be forced into a highly restricted auction pool, heavily choking the commercial rooftop market,” the association warned.
BSW-Solar is calling on the German government to resolve the State aid issues quickly, particularly through the implementation of two-sided Contracts for Difference (CfDs) with what it describes as a fair market corridor.
According to the association, CfDs should be introduced for photovoltaic systems of 200 kWp or more in accordance with European rules. While it considers the proposed transition of the existing support framework towards two-way CfDs appropriate, BSW-Solar says improvements are still required.
“In particular, a market value corridor is missing and PPA are heavily restricted by the current design of the CfD,” Körnig said.
The association argues that CfDs should be introduced immediately to meet the requirements for State aid approval of the EEG from 2027 and, ultimately, “to prevent a halt to expansion in early 2027.” 
The debate therefore extends beyond the two auctions currently in focus. For Germany’s solar industry, the key issue is increasingly whether the regulatory framework for 2027 can be resolved in time to prevent today’s planning uncertainty from translating into a broader slowdown in new photovoltaic deployment.
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Revenue from 4,000 acre solar project on Navajo Nation will not directly go to local tribe members  Planetizen
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Wesley Littlefield   09.09.26

I was invited on a media trip into the Montana backcountry. I was super excited, but I didn’t know if I would have enough battery power to make it through the trip while capturing all the photos and videos I needed. Luckily, I had the Nestout 28W 4-Panel Solar Charger handy as I headed off-grid. Find out whether this sun-powered charger is right for you in my honest Nestout 28W 4-Panel Solar Charger Review.


I took the Nestout 28W 4-Panel Solar Charger into the Montana backcountry for a 5-day adventure. We whitewater rafted, fished, and camped without access to any power other than what we brought. I had to keep my phone, camera, and backup batteries charged for five days, and I couldn’t have done it without the Nestout Solar Charger.

I found the Nestout 28W Solar Charger very simple and easy to use. Just unfold it, lay it out (hang it or prop it up) in the sun, plug in the cable, and start charging. Once the panels are in the sun, the screen turns on automatically to show how much it’s charging. I love the built-in Velcro stands, even though I was skeptical of them at first. They’re great for angling the panels toward the sun. The only problem is that my screen is upside down when they’re deployed. The solar charger also has built-in loops so you can hang it if needed.
Rating:  9 / 10

It didn’t take long on my media trip for the Nestout Solar Charger to become essential. I started charging batteries on the second day, but they didn’t charge very quickly. Even in bright, sunny conditions, the solar panels are only 24% efficient. I left a backup battery charging for a few hours in the afternoon, and the power only increased by 5%. I would have to charge it all day, hoping it might reach 75%. However, I expected this because solar panels in general are notorious for slow charging since they’re not very efficient.
Rating:  7 / 10

One of the main reasons I was excited to bring the Nextout Solar Charger on this trip was that it was designed to be weather-resistant, and we had plenty of opportunities for it to encounter water since we were whitewater rafting. While I kept it in a dry bag when not in use, I still left it in dirt, sand, and dew. Nestout used water-resistant, heavy-duty materials to ensure this gear could handle rough handling and tough conditions. I’ve been very impressed with just how tough this unit is because I’ve crammed it in suitcases, gear bags, and accidentally dropped it, but it’s still going strong.
Rating:  9 / 10

The Nestout 28W 4-Panel Solar Charger is ideal for off-grid camping and emergency preparedness. On multi-day fishing and hunting trips, I have it packed, just in case I need to charge a camera or phone in the field. If you spend a lot of time away from power sources, then this solar charger is worth checking out. However, if your camping and outdoor activities take place near electricity, I don’t see a reason to own it.

 
I’ve used less expensive (and smaller) solar chargers that performed similarly, but not quite as well as the Nestout 28 W 4-Panel Solar Charger. This is the best one I’ve gotten my hands on so far, but at $130 MSRP, I know it’s not for everyone. I would really love to see it charge faster at this size and price range. However, $130 is a small price to pay to nearly always have access to power for those of us who need it on our adventures.
Rating: 8 / 10

Pros:
Cons:

Now that you’ve finished reading my Nestout 28W 4-Panel Solar Charger Review, you understand why it’s become an essential tool in my off-grid kit. I use it to keep my gear charged when away from other power sources, and I love the ruggedness and durability that it offers because I’m tough on my gear.
Overall Rating:  8.25 / 10
Wesley Littlefield
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MANILA, Philippines —  SunAsia Energy Inc. is teaming up with Thailand-listed Gunkul Engineering Public Co. Ltd. to build a $1-billion floating solar project on Laguna Lake, touted as the largest of its kind in the region.
The companies recently formalized their partnership to develop the project, which is envisioned to have an installed capacity of around one gigawatt.
SunAsia Energy president and CEO Tetchi Capellan said the deal underscores the shared vision of the Philippines and Thailand to “forge meaningful collaboration, drive innovation and create an impact that extends well beyond our borders.”
Unlike ground-mounted solar projects, floating solar installations require specialized engineering solutions to withstand water-based conditions, including humidity, corrosion, wind waves and other environmental and mechanical stresses.
Given its scale, the Laguna Lake project is expected to drive local manufacturing of key components, particularly floaters or the platforms that keep solar panels afloat on bodies of water.
“SunAsia is working with floating solar experts across the region, drawing on a century of engineering knowledge and experience to design for the future while anticipating risks today and building resilience for the years ahead,” SunAsia Energy vice president for strategic projects Karlo Abril said.
Before Gunkul’s entry, Blueleaf Energy Philippines of the Macquarie Group had been involved in the project since 2021, providing development and funding support.
With the new partnership, SunAsia Energy is expected to leverage Gunkul’s proven expertise in renewable energy development, as well as in engineering, procurement and construction.
As a publicly listed renewables platform, Gunkul has a diversified portfolio of clean energy assets and engineering capabilities, positioning it as an integrated power player in Asia.
SunAsia Energy, on the other hand, primarily focuses on solar power development, partnering with local and international groups to advance solar projects across the country.
Beyond large-scale ground-mounted solar projects, the company has also expanded into floating solar development to complement its land-based renewable power portfolio.
Philstar.com is one of the most vibrant, opinionated, discerning communities of readers on cyberspace. With your meaningful insights, help shape the stories that can shape the country. Sign up now!
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A homeowner in Augsburg, Germany, wanted to run their house without a connection to the public grid. The system needed to cover household demand day and night using only onsite solar and battery storage.
The basement installation made battery safety an important part of the choice. The homeowner had concerns about installing a large lithium-ion battery system indoors and asked SALZSTROM, BIWATT’s local distributor, about alternatives. SALZSTROM proposed a sodium-ion solution based on BIWATT R2 batteries and H3 hybrid inverter.
The installation pairs a 49 kWp PV array with 270 kWh of storage. It uses 60 BIWATT R2 sodium-ion battery units and four 12 kW BIWATT H3 inverters, providing 48 kW of inverter power.
Safety and environmental impact were key factors in the battery choice. BIWATT’s sodium-ion chemistry offers greater thermal stability and a lower risk of thermal runaway than LFP, addressing the homeowner’s concerns about a large indoor battery installation.
Lithium extraction can involve significant water use and land disturbance. BIWATT’s sodium-ion technology instead draws on abundant sodium resources and hard carbon derived from coconut shells, offering a lower-impact materials route that fits the homeowner’s goal of creating an all-green home energy system.
Cold-weather performance was especially important for a fully off-grid home. In winter, any energy used to heat the batteries would have to come from the home’s own solar-and-storage system. BIWATT rates the R2 for operation down to -30°C without an auxiliary heating system, keeping more stored energy available for household use.
The result is a home energy system powered entirely by onsite solar and storage, giving the homeowner a safe, fully green energy solution.
The 60 R2 units are linked through BIWATT’s dynamic balancing technology to form a single 270 kWh storage network. Solar power generated during the day is stored for use at night and when PV output is low.
The completed system is designed to supply the whole home continuously without a grid connection or the need to purchase grid electricity.
The homeowner described the result, saying, “You made a dream come true.”
BIWATT launched the world’s first sodium-ion all-in-one HESS in 2023. The indoor R2 followed in 2024, the outdoor R3 in 2025, and the stackable all-in-one R5 and I3 C&I storage system in 2026.
Contact BIWATT for more information.
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
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Sustainability is a major focus today, and energy saving is a given. Those who have installed a photovoltaic system on their roof are fortunate. But what happens if the roof structure catches fire? Are there disadvantages?
Since photovoltaic systems have been installed on roofs, a persistent rumor suggests that the fire department will not extinguish the house. But is that really true? How should one act if there's a fire on the roof and solar panels are present? myHOMEBOOK investigated and asked the fire department.
The introduction of photovoltaic systems has significantly changed the rules for the fire department. Firefighters sometimes cannot easily reach the source of the fire. Carsten-Michael Pix from the German Firefighters Association explains to myHOMEBOOK: "Of course, a solar system doesn't make extinguishing easier. I have something on the roof that naturally makes access more difficult. And when I'm looking for the fire, I first have to remove something, but it's not impossible."
Photovoltaic systems do not always need to be removed during a fire, only if the fire is in close proximity. The German Firefighters Association has published a brochure for firefighters. It contains many helpful tips on how to handle a fire involving photovoltaic systems.
Related: Legal changes for photovoltaic systems! More money for full feed-in
It's clearly a rumor. The fire department must decide how to proceed with each fire individually, and whether a photovoltaic system is involved is secondary. "It's complete nonsense; the fire department will always help," says Carsten-Michael Pix. "Of course, if it is, in quotes, worth it." For example, if a barn with a photovoltaic system is "fully involved," as the fire department jargon goes, the fire department might initially not extinguish it. In such cases, the fire department might let certain parts burn, according to Pix. "But that has nothing to do with the photovoltaic system; it's always an individual decision," the spokesperson explains.
Also interesting: Did you know you can buy solar systems at Ikea?
The rumor that the fire department doesn't extinguish when a photovoltaic system is involved has persisted for years. Over fifteen years ago, there was an incident that might have sparked the rumor. Pix is familiar with the case: "I know of an operation somewhere in East Frisia, where the issue was very new. The fire department didn't really know what to do, and ultimately, very unfortunate images emerged." The fire department, which Pix says was overwhelmed and helpless, apparently let the building burn down.
Yes and no. Solar modules are made from various materials but can usually only smolder. The cables to which the panels are attached are generally not fire starters either. Like all other cables, they are encased in plastic. "But the parts can't really burn, as we commonly understand fire," Pix reassures. Additionally, roof tiles to which solar modules are attached are never flammable.
Also interesting: Are insurance policies for PV systems worthwhile? Finanztest has checked
No. You can, but you don't have to. When making an emergency call, you should mention everything that seems important at the moment. The fire department assesses the situation on-site, Pix explains: "The first firefighter on the scene always conducts a survey." This involves questions about whether people are in danger, what is burning, where it is burning, and whether anything specific needs to be known, such as the presence of gas cylinders in a workshop or solar panels. Even if the fire department sends someone on a reconnaissance mission, it never hurts to inform them about potentially hard-to-see solar modules, especially on a very tall building.  
Generally, you can't prevent a fire. For instance, you can't control whether lightning strikes. However, owners can do one essential thing, the expert advises, which is to ensure installations are done according to the latest technology standards, meaning hiring good craftsmen, not those who have only been doing it for three months. Comparing companies is definitely advisable, and in this regard, one shouldn't necessarily focus on saving money.
Insurance is available for all life situations. Some are essential, while others are just for peace of mind. You don't need special insurance for photovoltaic systems. However, you should definitely consult with your insurance provider, Pix advises: "There are so many different scenarios. A policy might have been taken out decades ago when photovoltaic systems didn't even exist. Talking to your insurance is always the right move." In this case, caution is better than regret.
The post How Dangerous Are Photovoltaic Systems in a House Fire? appeared first on myHOMEBOOK.
Allendale, Northumberland: My late-flowering poppies have lit up the garden, and it’s not only me who’s taken an interest
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The president offered few details of the plan but said the money would have to be spent in America
Trump makes racist remark about Arab-sounding names as he jokes about his Iran war in Dallas
The moment in question came as HUD Secretary Scott Turner left the stage at the Republican Party’s midterm convention in Texas
At least five people have died and 86 remain missing after a fire erupted on a ferry in the Philippines, triggering a search-and-rescue operation in rough seas.
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Democratic senator praised Republican colleague from Pennsylvania, Dave McCormick in surprise appearance
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A suspected Russian attack drone nearly struck Volodymyr Zelensky’s aircraft during takeoff from Moldova, according to Norway’s prime minister.
The Trump administration has worked to restore monuments tied to Confederate leaders while criticizing Smithsonian exhibits that touch on slavery
The president’s top federal prosecutor in DC refuses to answer questions about his demands to re-open vandalism case against ex-Olympian
Lawsuit says police should’ve known the risk of putting a kid in the driver’s seat wearing impairment goggles
Special conservation and security measures are in place to ensure the 70-metre long artefact’s safety while it is in the UK.
Critics say threshold pushes higher-paid staff to cut back on work and often mothers to stop working to avoid losing entitlement
School staff tell focus groups they believe school system in England and Wales cannot deal with attendance crisis
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The Royal Regiment of Scotland soldiers said they relished the chance to ‘prove ourselves’ against comrades.
The Scottish Government launched a consultation on its plan to cap the price of some household staples during the summer recess.

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A large industrial facility in south Louisville caught fire on Wednesday.
The fire was reported just before 3 p.m. Wednesday in the 8700 block of Minor Lane. That's near Okolona between Outer Loop and I-265.
The building is Grainger Industrial Supply. Grainger distributes maintenance, repair and operating supplies.
Okolona Fire Chief Mark Little said a solar panel on the roof caught fire.
Video shows one of 12 chunks of the solar panels scorched on top of the building.
The building is nearly 1.5 million square feet.
Little said four firefighters went down due to heat exhaustion.
"You got the sun that's beating down obviously up on the roof. You're wearing about 80 pounds of gear and you have a respirator on that makes it more difficult," said Little.
The fire took around two hours to get under control.
There were no employee injuries reported.
Hearst Television participates in various affiliate marketing programs, which means we may get paid commissions on editorially chosen products purchased through our links to retailer sites.

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