Mickey Starling
reporter3@greenepublishing.com
Anyone driving in the Lee area will eventually come upon a field of solar panels that stretch as far as the eye can see. An area resident called Greene Publishing, Inc., with questions about the solar farms in their area.
The first concern was about where the energy goes from all those panels. The electricity is transferred to the transmission grid and used wherever needed. Most, if not all, of Madison County’s solar farms are leased or owned by Duke Energy. “They don’t keep records on where the power goes, only how much enters and departs the grid,” according to Tri-County Electric Cooperative Vice President of Engineering and Technology Jeff Brewer.
The next concern was about environmental impacts of solar farms, especially the metal poles that anchor the panels to the ground. Brewer states that all utility equipment is designed for environmental safety. “Environmentalists are supporters of solar farms,” said Brewer, who explained that all utility poles are safe for up to 50 years of use without fear of contamination.
There also have been local comments about solar farms making our area a “target” for hurricanes. For that to be correct, much more heat would be needed from solar farms. Urban areas create far more heat from roads and sidewalks. Furthermore, solar farms do not attract lightning more so than anything else. Lightning looks for the shortest electrical path between a storm cloud and the ground. Solar farms are struck by lightning often simply because of the large area they cover.
In short, solar farms do not contribute to the local economy or electrical supply, but at least they don’t contaminate the soil or harm the environment.
Plans for a major solar farm classed as "nationally significant infrastructure" has been approved by the government's Planning Inspectorate.
The Great North Road Solar and Biodiversity Park, near Newark in Nottinghamshire, has the potential to power up to 400,000 homes – the equivalent of every home in the county – developers Elements Green previously said.
The project would form a ring of "solar islands" roughly 6.2 miles (10km) from north to south around villages such as Caunton and Ossington, with the eastern edge alongside the A1.
Final approval was given by Baroness Margaret Curran on behalf of the secretary of state for energy security and net-zero.
Its nationally significant classification meant the applicant was required to apply for consent from the Planning Inspectorate rather than Newark and Sherwood District Council.
Announcing the decision on Tuesday, the government said the application was for a solar photovoltaic array generating station, battery energy storage system and grid connection infrastructure, with a maximum generation capacity of 800MW.
"The examining authority listened and gave full consideration to all local views and the evidence gathered during the examination before making its recommendation to the secretary of state," a government spokesperson added.
People living nearby had raised concerns over the potential impact the scheme could have on the area, and the results of a consultation published in 2024 showed 54% of respondents opposed it.
Robert Jenrick, Reform UK MP for Newark, said he was "appalled and devastated" by the news, and felt the views of local people had been ignored.
"The whole area will now be subjected to acre upon acre of solar panels," he said.
"More than 10% of my constituency will now be solar. Good farmland ruined. Years of mess and disruption. Views wrecked for generations."
The government's decision can be challenged in the High Court, which would make a decision on whether there would be grounds for a judicial review.
This process would have to happen within six weeks.
Listen to BBC Radio Nottingham on Sounds and follow BBC Nottingham on Facebook, on X, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to eastmidsnews@bbc.co.uk or via WhatsApp on 0808 100 2210.
Police said the man was robbed after travelling to a meeting point to sell the motorcycle.
Police were called to the scene after a lorry hit the central reservation.
The council says the funds will allow works to open up "hidden" underground space to take place.
Robert Henry Steele, who was a passenger on the motorbike, died at the scene.
Sukhi Ghuman and his ex-wife Kiranjit Ghuman are being sought to stand trial in the US.
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Inventors have been advancing solar technology for more than a century and a half, and improvements in efficiency and aesthetics keep on coming
Elizabeth Chu and D. Lawrence Tarazano, U.S. Patent and Trademark Office
Long before the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, 1970, generating awareness about the environment and support for environmental protection, scientists were making the first discoveries in solar energy. It all began with Edmond Becquerel, a young physicist working in France, who in 1839 observed and discovered the photovoltaic effect— a process that produces a voltage or electric current when exposed to light or radiant energy. A few decades later, French mathematician Augustin Mouchot was inspired by the physicist’s work. He began registering patents for solar-powered engines in the 1860s. From France to the U.S., inventors were inspired by the patents of the mathematician and filed for patents on solar-powered devices as early as 1888.
Take a light step back to 1883 when New York inventor Charles Fritts created the first solar cell by coating selenium with a thin layer of gold. Fritts reported that the selenium module produced a current “that is continuous, constant, and of considerable force.” This cell achieved an energy conversion rate of 1 to 2 percent. Most modern solar cells work at an efficiency of 15 to 20 percent. So, Fritts created what was a low impact solar cell, but still, it was the beginning of photovoltaic solar panel innovation in America. Named after Italian physicist, chemist and pioneer of electricity and power, Alessandro Volta, photovoltaic is the more technical term for turning light energy into electricity, and used interchangeably with the term photoelectric.
Only a few years later in 1888, inventor Edward Weston received two patents for solar cells – U.S. Patent 389,124 and U.S. Patent 389,425. For both patents, Weston proposed, “to transform radiant energy derived from the sun into electrical energy, or through electrical energy into mechanical energy.” Light energy is focused via a lens (f) onto the solar cell (a), “a thermopile (an electronic device that converts thermal energy into electrical energy) composed of bars of dissimilar metals.” The light heats up the solar cell and causes electrons to be released and current to flow. In this instance, light creates heat, which creates electricity; this is the exact reverse of the way an incandescent light bulb works, converting electricity to heat that then generates light.
That same year, a Russian scientist by the name of Aleksandr Stoletov created the first solar cell based on the photoelectric effect, which is when light falls on a material and electrons are released. This effect was first observed by a German physicist, Heinrich Hertz. In his research, Hertz discovered that more power was created by ultraviolet light than visible light. Today, solar cells use the photoelectric effect to convert sunlight into power. In 1894, American inventor Melvin Severy received patents 527,377 for an “Apparatus for mounting and operating thermopiles” and 527,379 for an “Apparatus for generating electricity by solar heat.” Both patents were essentially early solar cells based on the discovery of the photoelectric effect. The first generated “electricity by the action of solar heat upon a thermo-pile” and could produce a constant electric current during the daily and annual movements of the sun, which alleviated anyone from having to move the thermopile according to the sun’s movements. Severy’s second patent from 1889 was also meant for using the sun’s thermal energy to produce electricity for heat, light and power. The “thermos piles,” or solar cells as we call them today, were mounted on a standard to allow them to be controlled in the vertical direction as well as on a turntable, which enabled them to move in a horizontal plane. “By the combination of these two movements, the face of the pile can be maintained opposite the sun all times of the day and all seasons of the year,” reads the patent.
Almost a decade later, American inventor Harry Reagan received patents for thermal batteries, which are structures used to store and release thermal energy. The thermal battery was invented to collect and store heat by having a large mass that can heat up and release energy. It does not store electricity but “heat,” however, systems today use this technology to generate electricity by conventional turbines. In 1897, Reagan was granted U.S. patent 588,177 for an “application of solar heat to thermo batteries.” In the claims of the patent, Reagan said his invention included “a novel construction of apparatus in which the sun’s rays are utilized for heating thermo-batteries, the object being to concentrate the sun’s rays to a focus and have one set of junctions of a thermo-battery at the focus of the rays, while suitable cooling devices are applied to the other junctions of said thermo-battery.” His invention was a means to collecting, storing and distributing solar heat as needed.
In 1913, William Coblentz, of Washington, D.C., received patent 1,077,219 for a “thermal generator,” which was a device that used light rays “to generate an electric current of such a capacity to do useful work.” He also meant for the invention to have cheap and strong construction. Although this patent was not for a solar panel, these thermal generators were invented to either convert heat directly into electricity or to transform that energy into power for heating and cooling.
By the 1950s, Bell Laboratories realized that semiconducting materials such as silicon were more efficient than selenium. They managed to create a solar cell that was 6 percent efficient. Inventors Daryl Chapin, Calvin Fuller, and Gerald Pearson (inducted to the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2008) were the brains behind the silicon solar cell at Bell Labs. While it was considered the first practical device for converting solar energy to electricity, it was still cost prohibitive for most people. Silicon solar cells are expensive to produce, and when you combine multiple cells to create a solar panel, it’s even more expensive for the public to purchase. University of Delaware is credited with creating one of the first solar buildings, “Solar One,” in 1973. The construction ran on a combination of solar thermal and solar photovoltaic power. The building didn’t use solar panels; instead, solar was integrated into the rooftop.
It was around this time in the 1970s that an energy crisis emerged in the United States. Congress passed the Solar Energy Research, Development and Demonstration Act of 1974, and the federal government was committed more than ever “to make solar viable and affordable and market it to the public.” After the debut of “Solar One,” people saw solar energy as an option for their homes. Growth slowed in the 1980s due to the drop in traditional energy prices. But in the next decades, the federal government was more involved with solar energy research and development, creating grants and tax incentives for those who used solar systems. According to Solar Energy Industries Association, solar has had an average annual growth rate of 50 percent in the last 10 years in the United States, largely due to the Solar Investment Tax Credit enacted in 2006. Installing solar is also more affordable now due to installation costs dropping over 70 percent in the last decade.
That said, at least until recently, the means to find a viable and affordable energy solution is more important than making solar cells aesthetically pleasing or beautiful. Traditional solar panels on American rooftops aren’t exactly subtle or pleasing to the eye. They’ve been an eyesore for neighbors at times, and surely a pain for homeowners associations to deal with, but the benefits to the environment are substantial. So, where’s the balance? Today, companies are striving towards better looking and advanced solar technology, such as building-applied photovoltaic (BAPV). This type of discreet solar cell is integrated into existing roof tiles or ceramic and glass facades of buildings.
Solus Engineering, Enpulz, Guardian Industries Corporation, SolarCity Corporation, United Solar Systems, and Tesla (after their merger with SolarCity) have all been issued patents for solar cells that are much more discreet than the traditional solar panel. All of the patents incorporate photovoltaic systems, which transform light into electricity using semiconducting materials such as silicon. Solar panels and solar technology has come a long way, so these patented inventions are proof that the technology is still improving its efficiency and aesthetics.
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This past summer, qathet Film Society (qFS) announced that the Patricia Theatre would be getting a 24-kilowatt solar energy system installed on its roof.
The system was designed and installed by Vancouver Renewable Energy Co-operative (VREC Solar), a worker cooperative, as part of a community-owned energy project called SolShare.
The crew began installing the solar panels onto the 100-year-old theatre on October 21, according to SolShare Energy chief executive officer Rob Baxter.
"Local community members and other BC residents have the opportunity to become shared owners of the project," stated Baxter, in a media release. "SolShare was approached by local community members to install solar on the Patricia Theatre, the longest running movie theatre in Canada. For the past year, SolShare worked with local partners, including qathet Film Society, to develop this community owned solar project, and now construction is underway."
The theatre will host the project on the rooftop and purchase the solar power, displacing much of its demand for electricity from BC Hydro. Revenue earned from selling the electricity is used to pay dividends to the shareholders.
"The installation has no cost to the film society," said qFS executive director Gary Shilling, in a previous interview with the Peak about the project. "We provide the roof and they supply the equipment. There is a small savings in our electrical bill, but the primary motivation was a belief in solar as the best way forward to expand electrical capacity in the world."
Environmental advocate and Cinema Politica qathet member Charlie Latimer spearheaded the project.
"It can feel pretty disheartening to see the onslaught of oil and gas projects being fast-tracked,” stated Latimer. “This project is something positive, super local and very tangible you can do to help get more renewable solar energy in qathet.”
SolShare follows the model of similar projects in Europe. Local individuals become community investors and pool their resources to install solar energy systems at no cost to the building owners, and then sell the power it produces.
“The project will have multiple environmental and financial benefits, and we were able to keep the capital cost of the system down by accessing tax credits,” said Baxter.
To promote local ownership, residents of the qathet community are the first to be able to apply to become co-owners of this project. After October 26, investment will open to all BC residents.
The minimum buy in is $500. Applications for share ownership close November 4.
For more information, go to solshare.ca/patricia.
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The Maryland Energy Administration (MEA) has officially launched Megawatts for Maryland, a multi-phase competitive auction program aimed at expanding in-state renewable generation and energy storage capacity while putting downward pressure on regional electricity rates.
Backed by up to $100 million for Fiscal Year 2027, with an additional $100 million anticipated for FY 2028, the initiative draws funding from the state’s Strategic Energy Investment Fund. The program targets grid-scale deployment to tackle climbing electricity demand and regional transmission cost pressures.
The launch comes as state leadership works to expand a mid-Atlantic solar and storage footprint that currently stands at 3,440 MWdc of installed solar capacity across 119,137 individual installations, representing $7.7 billion in total investment and generating 8.77% of Maryland’s electricity.
While solar currently powers over 408,000 homes, the state’s battery storage capacity remains modest at just 35 MWh, underscoring the need for near-term grid-scale storage incentives. With a robust local footprint of 200 solar companies including 17 manufacturers and 100 installers and developers supporting nearly 5,000 jobs, current market forecasts project Maryland will add 2,637 MW of solar capacity over the next five years.
The initiative utilizes a strict two-stage competitive bidding process designed to weed out speculative proposals and back projects capable of reaching commercial operation. Developers must establish baseline eligibility by November 30, 2026, through a preliminary application where MEA will evaluate initial project parameters, real estate control, and interconnection standing.
Applicants cleared in this first stage must then submit their final bid price per megawatt-hour alongside comprehensive financial models and documentation by January 22, 2027. MEA anticipates issuing grant decisions in Spring 2027, with selected projects required to achieve commercial operation within seven years of funding allocation.
MEA is casting a wide net for asset classes, opening eligibility to Tier 1 renewable energy generation projects not participating in net energy metering, energy storage systems encompassing standalone battery energy storage systems as well as systems co-located with net-metered or non-net-metered Tier 1 renewables, and hybrid assets coupling generation and storage directly. Rather than relying on fixed incentives, MEA will award grants to eligible developers requesting the lowest price per megawatt-hour through the closed-bid auction format.
Renewable energy and energy storage projects are the quickest, cleanest, lowest cost option to develop local energy supply, according to MEA Director Kelly Speakes-Backman. Developers can review the complete Funding Opportunity Announcement, financial model templates, and submit proposals through the online My MEA portal.
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Chinese manufacturer Sigenergy has unveiled a 401 kWh battery energy storage system for commercial and industrial (C&I) installations.
The company said the SigenCube fully integrates the power conversion, energy management, and batteries in a single cabinet. The modular architecture has been engineered for high scalability and supports up to 100 units in parallel.
Sigenergy, which has established itself as one of Australia’s most popular residential battery suppliers with more than 120,000 systems already installed here, said the product has been designed to satisfy expected growth in the C&I energy storage sector following the federal government’s recent expansion of the small-scale renewable energy scheme (SRES).
The expansion, that took effect on 1 October, lifted the maximum size of solar systems covered under existing Small-scale Technology Certificate mechanism from 100 kW to 1 MW capacity, increasing demand for both solar panels and storage as C&I companies look to generate and store more of their own power.
Will Hall, Managing Director of Sigenergy in Australia and New Zealand, said the changes dictate that the next wave of growth in storage will be commercial.
“Home batteries have gone mainstream in Australia, and businesses now want the same control over their power costs and reliability,” he said. “SigenCube is our answer for the sites where space, noise and heavy loads have held storage back.”
Sigenstore said the SigneCube is built to meet heavy industrial demands. Each ES401 cabinet holds 401 kWh in a 1,100 mm × 2,450 mm × 1,650 mm footprint, delivering an energy density of more than 220 kWh per square metre. The manufacturer said for a 4 MWh project, SigenCube needs 54.5 m², compared with more than 80 m² for traditional solutions, a saving of more than 30%.
“Businesses are not only asking for more kWh. They want a system that fits on a tight site, runs quietly next to its neighbours and keeps the plant going when the grid does not,” Hall said. “That is what SigenCube is built to do.”
Every cabinet has its own energy management system, and up to 100 units can run in parallel without an external data logger. Operating temperatures range from -30°C to 55°C. Units feature AI-assisted thermal management, active battery balancing, and declared sound level below 60 dB.
Protection runs from the battery pack to the whole system, including a top explosion vent, smoke and heat detection, cabinet-level aerosol suppression, a water firefighting interface and multiple layers of overcurrent protection. Asealed cooling loop gives a 10-year coolant life.
Sigenergy said grid-forming capability delivers 0 ms load-side disruption and MWh-level black start without grid support, with SigenCube capable of 150% overload for 10 seconds.
Units are pre-commissioned at the factory, and basic setup and diagnostics take up to five minutes on site through the app.
SigenCube will be available in Australia for off-grid projects and in New Zealand from January 2027. Grid-connected projects in Australia will follow Clean Energy Council listing.
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Thailand has launched a nationwide household solar programme offering subsidies of up to THB50,000 per home, with the government targeting one million households as part of efforts to cut electricity bills and reduce dependence on imported energy.
Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul officially launched the People’s Solar programme on Tuesday (October 27), describing it as part of the government’s push to strengthen energy security by allowing households to produce their own clean electricity.
The scheme will cover households in all 76 provinces and Bangkok, with a total subsidy budget of THB50 billion.
Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas, Deputy Interior Minister Polapee Suwanchawee, Finance Ministry Permanent Secretary Lavaron Sangsnit and Interior Ministry Permanent Secretary Arsit Sampantharat joined the launch, alongside executives from the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), Cabinet members and representatives from the public and private sectors.
The government wants households to use the electricity they generate first, cutting their monthly bills, while allowing surplus power to be sold back to the grid under the programme’s rules.
PEA confirmed ahead of the launch that participating households can receive support of up to THB50,000 towards solar equipment and installation, with registration opening on October 27.
The government has previously said installations would not be limited to rooftops. Ground-mounted and floating solar systems can also be covered where homes are unsuitable for rooftop panels.
Total economic benefits over the life of the project are projected to exceed THB473 billion, according to figures presented at the launch.
The government also expects the scheme to support local economies by generating work for solar installers, suppliers and related businesses while giving households an additional source of income through surplus electricity sales.
Anutin said the policy was designed to “turn electricity bills into savings” while broadening public participation in Thailand’s clean-energy transition.
Anutin instructed agencies to put households at the centre of implementation, remove unnecessary administrative procedures and provide services quickly and transparently while maintaining electricity-system safety standards.
The government has previously designated the MEA and PEA as one-stop service providers to help participants with installation, grid connection and related procedures.
The programme is also designed to support households that may not have sufficient upfront capital. The government has been coordinating with state-owned financial institutions on low-interest financing, while participating electricity authorities are preparing smart-meter upgrades needed to measure electricity supplied back to the grid.
Anutin said keeping more energy spending within Thailand would strengthen long-term energy security while reducing exposure to volatile international fuel prices.
The government also expects the programme to reduce carbon emissions and generate more carbon credits, while helping Thai businesses adjust to increasingly stringent environmental requirements in international markets.
Officials have linked the clean-energy transition with Thailand’s wider effort to strengthen environmental and governance standards as it pursues accession to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).
The government had spent nearly a year studying feasibility, installation costs and necessary improvements to electricity distribution systems before moving ahead with the first phase, Anutin said.
He added that the government intends eventually to expand access further, with the longer-term goal of making clean energy available to more households at affordable prices while strengthening Thailand’s energy independence.
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Ever since Gov. Gavin Newsom signed the Plug and Play Solar Act last month and opened the door for Californians to plug small solar panels directly into wall outlets without utility permissions, people have been asking: Can renters use this technology?
“It’s a bit of an open question,” said Joseph Kaatz, senior staff attorney at the Energy Policy Initiatives Center at the University of San Diego School of Law.
“Seems my lease and many others often prohibit actually putting solar on your balcony,” one commenter wrote in an online forum celebrating the new law.
Plug-in solar, also known as balcony solar, is often billed as solar for renters, since the panels don’t require access to the roof or costly installation and are lightweight and more portable than traditional solar systems. In Germany, they’re popular in apartment complexes, where people set them on their patios or hang them on balconies to save money on electric bills.
Under the California law that goes into effect in January, residents can buy certified panels under 1200 watts and set them up without getting utility approval, which can be onerous. But renters may have to navigate another layer of permissions: landlords. Currently it’s unclear whether tenants have the right to set up the panels if property owners don’t want them.
California has strong laws that prevent homeowner associations from blocking solar panels or imposing unreasonable restrictions on them, Kaatz said. The Solar Rights Act, established in the 1970s, was key to resolving conflicts between HOAs and their members and paving the way for solar installations as interest in rooftop panels surged in the 2000s.
But the law was designed to apply to homeowners, not renters. It mainly bars rules around property sales and transfers that would restrict solar.
“We’re in a new era of technology now that the Legislature never had to think about before,” Kaatz said. He thinks there’s a strong case to be made that the language in the Solar Rights Act applies to rental agreements, but it’s a matter of interpretation, he said, and it hasn’t come up yet since balcony solar is so new.
A few states with new balcony solar bills have included clauses that protect renters. New Jersey’s law, also passed this year, bars landlords from prohibiting balcony solar while requiring tenants to provide notice and adhere to “reasonable restrictions” on panel size and placement. Laws in Colorado, Virginia and Vermont include similar provisions, and a bill recently introduced in Congress would require states to protect renters’ rights to use the systems. But California’s law doesn’t address them.
Property owners say solar panels on balconies and fences could affect their insurance, while renters worry that landlords could set their insurance liability requirements so high it would make the panels cost prohibitive.
“If a tenant of mine wanted a panel, I would deny it,” one landlord wrote in the comments of a recent L.A. Times story. “I would not want a miscalculation on their part to damage my property. I am not so sure my insurance would go for it either.”
The Southern California Rental Housing Assn., which opposed the bill as it was moving through the Legislature on the grounds that it would allow tenants to connect devices without notifying landlords, said it is analyzing what it means for members. “The law doesn’t specifically address rental housing,” spokesperson Tanya Mannes Castaneda said.
Daniel Yukelson, executive director of the Apartment Assn. of Greater Los Angeles, said he reads the bill as allowing tenants to install balcony solar and his group may seek an amendment next year.
“There are literally no parameters in the law that we are aware of that would restrict the installation of these things,” Yukelson said. “Solar panels can be installed on the outside of a building, and wires can run everywhere, and those create trip hazards and panels can create fire hazards.”
Advocates are also ready to seek amendments if need be. California has special laws on the books protecting the rights of renters to hang their laundry outside to dry, said Bernadette Del Chiaro, a senior vice president at the nonprofit Environmental Working Group, which co-sponsored the California bill.
“If landlords start to restrict portable solar in California, we’ll simply have to go back to the Legislature and expand the state’s Solar Rights Act,” she said. “Since landlords don’t pay the utility bill for their tenants most of the time, it is unreasonable for them to place burdensome restrictions on their tenants.”
Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco), who authored the bill, said in a statement that California’s solar laws aren’t specific to homeowners and “if a landlord wants to take their tenant to court to block them from installing a small affordable clean energy device, they can do that and lose.”
Balcony solar manufacturers say the “solar for renters” moniker may be a bit of a misnomer at the moment, since the vast majority of people who have purchased the small, lightweight systems in the U.S. are still homeowners.
“The reality of it is that it’s still very unbalanced,” Michael Scherer, co-founder of the Texas-based manufacturer Craftstrom, said, noting that 95% of its U.S. customers are homeowners. He said apartment dwellers, who may have space for only one 400-watt panel, may be less interested because they’ll save less than someone buying a larger system.
A 400-watt panel could power a normal-size refrigerator, or most of the other appliances running in an apartment apart from a refrigerator, such as laptops, lamps and a television, Scherer said. But it would hardly make a dent in the cost of air conditioning, for which he recommends at least a 3,000- to 4,000-watt kit. (A home cooled by a heat pump probably would require a smaller setup, but still more than 1,500 watts, he said.)
The energy nonprofit Bright Saver, which sells kits of two 180-watt panels for $414 with a $29 membership, has a calculator on its website that estimates savings for people by ZIP Code, taking into account their electrical utility. A 360-watt system would save someone in the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s East Hollywood territory between $113 and $142 in the first year, it estimates. That would cover the cost of a panel in three to four years and lead to $1,764 in savings over 10 years, assuming a 7% annual rate increase.
Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, said the biggest problem for California renters is that the main certification for plug-in systems in the U.S. requires an electrician to rewire power outlets to allow for a special plug. The goal, she said, is to make sure that panels connect to a circuit that can support them, but typically renters don’t hire electricians.
Bright Saver is trying to get UL Solutions, the main certifier, to exempt solar kits under 360 watts, which many experts agree produce too little power to endanger the grid or overwhelm a home’s wiring.
The testing body said it’s concerned that systems under 400 watts can still overheat electrical components in a home and create a fire risk.
“Lower wattage alone does not eliminate those risks,” Colleen O’Brien, a principal engineer at UL Solutions, said in a statement.
For balcony solar systems to be allowed under California’s new law, they have to meet the standards of a certifying body such as UL Solutions. At the moment, none have received approval, although advocates expect at least one panel kit to be cleared by the end of the year.
Updates
11:45 a.m. Oct. 27, 2026: This story has been updated to include comment from Sen. Scott Wiener.
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A 12.5-acre stretch of land on NE 82nd Avenue that once served as a rock quarry and later a dumping ground for debris from the construction of Interstate 205 is being transformed into a community solar project, nature sanctuary and future wildlife hospital. Construction is already underway on the solar portion, an 800-kilowatt array expected to help up to 140 low-income East Portland households save money on their electricity bills.
Bird Alliance of Oregon purchased the lot at 2800 NE 82nd Avenue, across the street from McDaniel High School, in 2024, according to OPB. The nonprofit, which advocates for birds, animals and projects that benefit the natural environment, planned the site for both an animal hospital and a nature sanctuary from the outset, according to the seed reporting from Axios. The solar array itself will occupy a two-acre section of that property, per KXL, which also confirmed the array’s 800 kW capacity.
The project is being built through a partnership between Bird Alliance of Oregon, APANO and the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the station’s report notes. Seven arrays of solar panels are planned for the site, and the system is scheduled to begin creating energy in February 2027, according to APANO.
Eligible subscribers must be customers of Pacific Power and fall at or below 80% of the State Median Income, per the same APANO page. Enrolled households won’t pay anything out of pocket; instead, the array will feed power into the local grid while each subscription generates a financial credit that lowers that household’s bill, the KXL report explains.
Those credits could add up. Bird Alliance of Oregon estimates the project could knock as much as 40% off eligible households’ electricity bills. Savings could reach around $300 a year, and APANO projects a combined $900,000 in savings over the array’s 20-year lifetime, OPB reported. APANO is holding workshops to walk applicants through eligibility, including one planned for Tuesday at Roseway Heights Middle School, 7334 NE Siskiyou St., starting at 6:30pm, according to Axios.
The solar array is just one piece of a much larger vision for the site. Bird Alliance of Oregon plans to build a new Wildlife Care Center there that will more than double the size of its current facility and provide capacity to treat more than 6,000 animals a year, according to the Bird Alliance of Oregon. That hospital will relocate from Northwest Portland, while other operations at the organization’s existing sanctuary will continue as normal, the nonprofit says on its property FAQ page.
The broader site is also planned to include an outdoor classroom and an eastside education hub, per Bird Alliance of Oregon. Once complete, the sanctuary is expected to include four acres of native habitat and walking trails, according to Axios‘s earlier reporting on the site. Community members have already pitched in: more than 100 volunteers helped plant 540 native trees and shrubs there, as reported by KATU.
The project arrives as Portland pours more than $60 million into revitalizing the broader 82nd Avenue corridor through its Clean Energy Community Benefits Fund, OPB reported. It will be the seventh community solar site funded by that program, following projects like PDX Community Solar in the Cully neighborhood, which began delivering power to 150 homes last year in a collaboration between the Bonneville Environmental Foundation, the Port of Portland and Verde, according to Axios’s earlier coverage. That Cully project, built on a three-acre site with more than 2,200 panels, was designed to cut energy bills by 30% to 45% for about 150 qualified low-income residents, OPB reported.
Statewide, Oregon’s Community Solar Program has grown steadily since launching in 2020. Its Low-Income Facilitator has verified and referred more than 2,400 low-income households to community solar projects, generating more than $250,000 in collective savings, according to the Oregon Public Utility Commission. Still, regulators have flagged ongoing project-development and interconnection delays as a concern for the program, the commission noted, even as the state’s Department of Energy awards grants for community solar projects.
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Aerodynamic specs, solar panels, and driver incentives help GP Transco turn small efficiency gains into savings it can reinvest in its people.
GP Transco makes aerodynamic equipment part of its standard truck and trailer specs, putting fuel-saving features to work as soon as new equipment hits the road.
GP Transco
*Summarized by AI
A tenth of a mile per gallon in improved fuel efficiency may not sound like much. But Alex Gorno sees it as money GP Transco can put back into its people.
The Joliet, Illinois-based fleet combines aerodynamic equipment, idle reduction technology, and driver coaching to chip away at fuel costs. Gorno, who is vice president of maintenance, says those savings help the company afford driver pay increases, office staff raises, and bonuses.
It’s more than just choosing a fuel-saving device. GP Transco has made efficiency part of its equipment specifications, delivery process, driver orientation, and incentive program. Every fraction of a gallon layers on top of the others and can add up to something significant.
For Gorno, fuel efficiency fits naturally into the maintenance department’s responsibility to control costs. An improvement of 0.1 or 0.2 mpg becomes much more meaningful when multiplied across tens of millions of miles.
Who: GP Transco
Where: Joliet, Illinois
Fleet: 500–600 power units, almost exclusively Freightliner, plus 1,200-plus trailers.
Operations: Hauls general dry-van freight across the lower 48 states and Canada.
Fun Fact: The fleet offers an online 3D shop walkthrough where visitors can explore a truck and trailer and learn about their equipment features.
Challenge: Saving fuel while keeping equipment practical to maintain and drivers comfortable.
GP Transco’s tractor specifications include FlowBelow wheel covers and aerodynamic fairings around the drive axles. Trailers have Transtex Top Edge kits to reduce rear drag, along with trailer skirts.
Rather than treating those devices as separate projects each time equipment arrives, the fleet has worked them into its purchasing and delivery process.
The fleet handled earlier installations internally. Today, Gorno says, the aerodynamic equipment is specified through manufacturers or installed before delivery. Solar panels, for instance, are installed at the dealer during the pre-delivery inspection.
This means equipment can start working without first coming through the company’s shop for those installations. Some trailers begin hauling freight before they ever return to headquarters, Gorno says.
Standardization also helps. GP Transco previously operated a wider mix of makes and models but has consolidated primarily around Freightliner. That gives technicians a more familiar platform and simplifies parts inventory.
“It's not a mystery every time we look at a new truck,” Gorno says.
Fuel-saving equipment still has to survive daily operations. Fairings and wheel covers can get hit, just like other truck components.
Gorno says GP Transco has not seen a recurring, systemic damage problem with its aerodynamic equipment.
By standardizing the fleet aero specs and using products commonly used in the industry, they can be repaired over the road or the fleet can handle them in-house.
“The parts are readily available and easily replaceable, because
Some components are designed to break away when struck, helping limit damage to surrounding equipment and making replacement straightforward, he explains. “If the aero devices, if the wheel covers get hit, they come off. It’s kind of a break-free technology. So it's not going to take the wheel with it, it's not going to take the bumper with it.”
GP Transco’s solar panel rollout illustrates how it moves from trying a technology to making it part of the spec.
The fleet started a pilot program a couple of years ago, installing Merlin 500W solar kits on a limited number of trucks. The solar panels are mounted across the tractor’s roof fairing. The power generated by the solar panels helps maintain battery charge during a driver’s break, reducing the need to restart the engine overnight.
Drivers reported that the panels reduced restarts. Gorno remembers individual examples of drivers reporting that overnight restarts fell from four to one, or from three to two. Those kinds of examples helped convince GP Transco to expand the installation.
The rest of the fleet’s 2024 trucks and its 2025 trucks were equipped with the panels.
This year, GP Transco also has been piloting lithium batteries to extend how long trucks can support hotel loads without restarting. The goal is to let drivers run heating and cooling, refrigerators, and other equipment during their breaks while burning less fuel.
Equipment is only part of GP Transco’s approach. Fuel efficiency is a significant part of its two-day driver orientation, with instruction on idling, acceleration, and anticipating braking.
Coaching continues after orientation. When a driver’s performance shows room for improvement, the company reviews the trends, discusses changes, and sets up a plan to monitor progress.
GP Transco also connects performance to pay through its Elite score, which combines multiple driver metrics. Fuel economy and idle percentage are major components, Gorno says.
Drivers who meet the program’s criteria qualify for a bonus applied to the miles they drove during the previous month. Reducing idle percentage below a specified threshold can help drivers earn additional cents per mile.
A leaderboard adds competition, but the financial incentive gives drivers a direct reason to participate.
Gorno also connects the broader fuel-efficiency effort to a separate, fleetwide driver pay increase of 5 cents per mile. Savings across the operation help make investments like that possible, he says.
GP Transco is willing to pilot technology, but Gorno advises fleets beginning their efficiency efforts to start with established equipment and proven approaches.
“We've kind of set ourselves up in such a way that we're able to pilot new technologies and get new things into the fleet and we could be the guinea pig for other fleets,” Gorno says.
But not every fleet has that ability.
“If you're just getting into it, I would not pilot,” he says. “I'd go with the standard and see what has already worked and has been proven.”
“And I wouldn't discount anything,” he advises. “You know, the little improvements … it might sound like a small number of 0.1 or 0.2 mpg improvement, but you annualize that across 40, 50, or 60 million miles, it allows for downstream effects in a positive way.”
Higher diesel prices have shortened the payback period for GP Transco’s efficiency investments, Gorno says, but the fleet still sees value in them when fuel prices ease.
Albert Transport Pushes Diesel Efficiency to the Limit
With diesel topping $6 a gallon nationally, ATA's Bob Costello explains why fleets should prepare for continued pressure at the pump.
The lighter trailer aerodynamic system installs in less than 45 minutes, according to the company, with potential payback in under a year depending on fuel prices and trailer mileage.
Diesel prices have eased from September’s record high, but doubts about additional Russian supply and limits on dyed-diesel tax relief mean trucking fleets still face expensive fuel. And prices could go higher.
Can better fuel economy help pay for driver raises? In this podcast, GP Transco explains how small efficiency gains create room to reinvest in its people.
What’s another tenth of a mile per gallon worth? GP Transco shares how equipment upgrades and driver coaching turn small gains into meaningful fuel savings.
Operating-cost savings have overtaken sustainability goals as the leading reason surveyed fleets are adopting battery-electric terminal tractors, according to new NACFE research.
The new card combines fuel discounts with telematics-based purchase controls. Geotab’s analysis also points to potential savings from choosing lower-priced fuel stops.
ACT Research expects costs, charging infrastructure, and technology improvements to drive zero-emission commercial vehicle adoption as federal regulations and incentives retreat.
A new fuel card feature for Wex customers offers convenience and security.
Why do battery-electric Class 8 trucks remain so expensive? A California bill signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom would give fleets and state agencies more visibility into what manufacturers charge.
© 2026 Bobit Business Media Inc. All rights reserved.
CNCEC’s subsidiary signs a low-margin photovoltaic EPC contract in Ghana, testing payment collection capability and project execution capacity.
According to the announcement of CNCEC, its subsidiary Sedin Engineering has signed a 300MW photovoltaic EPC contract in Ghana.
Over the past several months, Guangdong Thermal Power of China Energy Engineering Corporation has just started construction on the 50MW Tamale photovoltaic project in the Savannah Region of Ghana; the agreement for JinkoSolar to sign a 100MW Tiger Pro 3 module order with a Nigerian distributor has come into effect; the 35MWh energy storage system provided by Sungrow for the RESPITE solar-storage project in Sierra Leone has been connected to the local grid.
Four Chinese companies, three West African countries, four completely different market entry strategies. The RMB 2.58 billion deal of CNCEC is the largest among them and the closest to the traditional centralized EPC model. However, it is facing a market where the government has cut the electricity price from 18 cents to 6.5 cents, independent power producers’ arrears are still accumulating, and the gross profit margin of photovoltaic EPC has been compressed to a single-digit range.
Can an engineering company with a background in coal chemical industry and advanced chemical new materials find its own position in the low-margin photovoltaic sector in West Africa?
By the end of 2025, Ghana’s cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity reached 276.7MW, of which utility-scale capacity was only 183.1MW, lower than the previously set target of 347.5MW. The updated 2026-2030 plan sets the new ground-mounted photovoltaic target at 852MW, which will be equipped with nearly 2GWh of battery energy storage, and the private sector will undertake 41% of the utility-scale photovoltaic investment.
The 300MW single project volume of Sedin exceeds 1.6 times the existing utility-scale photovoltaic stock in Ghana. The figures on the demand side are clear, and even a little urgent.
But on the payment side opposite the demand, there is a completely different logic.
The Electricity Company of Ghana collects electricity bills in Ghanaian cedi and pays independent power producers in US dollars. Every time the cedi weakens, arrears return to the accounts receivable of independent power producers in the way of “re-accumulation”.
The Ghanaian Minister of Energy disclosed in October 2026 that the monthly payment ratio to IPPs has increased from about 40% to nearly 100%. The Minister of Finance said that the 2026 budget has allocated 345 million US dollars for energy payments, with the goal of “no new arrears accumulated for the first time”. These improvements are real, but they are also political commitments. For an EPC contract with a construction period of two to three years, the sustainability of the commitment is more worthy of attention than the intensity of the commitment.
The reason why China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation previously required full letter of credit payment in Ghana’s photovoltaic supporting equipment projects, upgrading government credit and commercial credit to bank credit, precisely shows that in this market, the reliability of cash payment is not sufficient to support the risk pricing of a long-term contract.
As the EPC contractor, Sedin does not hold the power station assets and does not directly bear the erosion of the cedi depreciation on electricity bill income.
However, the release of its progress payment and quality guarantee deposit depends on the rhythm of the owner receiving money from the power purchaser. When the cash flow of the power purchaser is squeezed by the exchange rate, the payment milestones in the EPC contract will be extended first. Low price is not the biggest problem, but the opaque payment path is.
In the first half of 2026, CNCEC signed new overseas contracts of 72.935 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 76%, and the proportion of overseas revenue rose to 35%; in the first 8 months, the new overseas contracts signed reached 79.188 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 57.46%. In emerging tracks such as photovoltaic and energy storage, the company’s expression is to “continue to make efforts”.
The most notable public track record of Sedin in the field of photovoltaic EPC is the 150MW DC project in Laos signed in 2025, with a contract value of 528 million yuan, less than half the scale of the Ghana project.
The span from 150MW to 300MW, from Southeast Asia to West Africa, from chemical plants to ground-mounted power stations is obvious.
But Sedin did not enter the market from scratch.
Within the CNCEC system, Hualu Company has long-term accumulation in the engineering of polysilicon materials. The multi-professional interface management, long-cycle equipment procurement rhythm control and overseas on-site construction organization trained by chemical EPC have a considerable proportion of reuse space in ground-mounted photovoltaic power stations.
The problem is that what is reused is engineering discipline, not profit thickness.
The reason why the gross profit margin of chemical EPC is higher than that of ordinary civil engineering is that the process complexity forms an entry barrier; the process barrier of photovoltaic EPC is much thinner, and the competitors are much denser.
The average gross profit margin of Sinoma Energy Conservation’s disclosed overseas new energy EPC projects is about 8.13%, which is achieved under the background of “fierce competition and price pressure for standardized onshore new energy projects”; the gross profit margin of clean energy engineering business is 9.10%, lower than the industry average of 10.25%.
If Sedin’s 0.86 yuan/W corresponds to a power station body with compressed boundaries, the price is not as aggressive as it seems on the surface; if it corresponds to a more complete scope of work, the profit margin will be further squeezed.
The 2.58 billion yuan Ghana project accounts for about 2.6% of CNCEC’s total new overseas contracts signed in the first three quarters of 2026, and will not change the overall profit direction alone.
But it is a verification sample: Can Sedin turn photovoltaic EPC in Ghana from a one-time “new track breakthrough” into a repeatable business category. If it can, there will be negotiation chips for the second and third projects in West Africa; if not, the 2.58 billion yuan will only be a nice-looking announcement.
Looking at the bigger picture, Sedin is not the only Chinese enterprise placing bets in West Africa, but its playstyle is clearly different when compared with several other peers.
China Energy Engineering Corporation follows the path of “centralized EPC + government framework”, binding sovereign-level or utility-level owners to win large orders and act as the general contractor. The payment risk largely depends on the owner’s credit rating and the host country’s fiscal discipline; JinkoSolar takes another path: no involvement in EPC, only selling modules and adopting distribution channels, earning profits from the manufacturing end, betting on whether West Africa’s distributed installed capacity can spread out from the concentration in South Africa; Sungrow is positioned at the equipment and system layer, not bearing the payment risk of the power purchaser, but the financing structure of the project determines whether the equipment payment can be recovered smoothly.
Sedin’s position is heavier than Sungrow’s, and lighter than China Energy Engineering’s centralized EPC.
It does not only earn profits from the manufacturing end like JinkoSolar, nor does it bind the national power company in Senegal to do a 500MW framework like China Energy Engineering. It is taking on a low-margin photovoltaic general contracting project with chemical engineering discipline in a market where electricity prices have been renegotiated and payments are being restored but not yet stable.
The success or failure of this contract will not define the overall trend of the West African photovoltaic market, but it will give a clear reference: When the unit price of centralized photovoltaic EPC is compressed to 0.86 yuan per watt, can an engineering company that crosses over from the chemical industry keep the gross profit margin near the central level of the engineering business by relying on execution efficiency and contract boundary management.
Sedin’s 2.58 billion yuan has bought a ticket to enter the African new energy EPC table.
It has already sat at the table. The heaviest chip on the table is not the quotation, but the payment calendar of the Electricity Company of Ghana and who will stand in front of the contractor when the cedi fluctuates next time.
CNCEC’s chemical industry foundation can help Sedin build the power station, but whether the money after completion can be smoothly recovered along the path from cedi to US dollar depends on whether there is a corresponding arrangement in the contract structure that can shield the contractor from exchange rate risks.
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Business
Lavaron Sangsnit, permanent secretary at the Ministry of Finance, said the Cabinet had formally approved a household solar programme targeting one million homes nationwide.
The programme will support rooftop, ground-mounted and floating solar power systems, with a government subsidy of THB50,000 per household towards a standard THB140,000 package using equipment certified by the electricity utilities.
Three state financial institutions will provide loans on the same terms: Government Savings Bank, Government Housing Bank (GHB) and the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives (BAAC).
The loans will carry an annual interest rate of 2.5%, with repayment over seven years.
Subsidy cuts borrowing to THB90,000, with no upfront payment
Lavaron said participants would not need to use their own cash on the first day of installation.
Once the system begins operating, the banks will draw down the government’s THB50,000 subsidy in monthly rounds and use it to reduce outstanding loan balances, bringing each household’s actual borrowing down to THB90,000.
Those who can afford to pay in cash may instead pay the installer the full package price and claim the THB50,000 subsidy directly from the government through PromptPay.
Electricity sales to the state at THB2.20 per unit; THB700 in extra monthly income
For homes with lower bills, the investment may not be worthwhile.
In an example involving a household normally paying THB4,000 a month, a five-kilowatt solar system would allow 40% of its electricity output to be used in the home during the day, saving approximately THB1,100–1,200 a month.
The remaining 60% could be sold back to the electricity utility at THB2.20 per unit, generating additional income of more than THB700 a month.
Combined savings and electricity sales revenue are estimated at about THB1,800 a month.
After allowing for monthly loan instalments of approximately THB1,100, the household’s net electricity cost would fall to THB3,200–3,300 a month, providing an immediate saving of about THB700 a month throughout the repayment period.
Once the seven-year loan has been repaid, instalments would end and households would retain the full benefit of monthly savings of approximately THB1,100 for the panels’ remaining service life of around 13 years, based on an average total lifespan of 20 years.
Lending risk is considered low because the electricity utilities will collect loan instalments through electricity bills.
During the seven-year repayment period, the systems will also be guaranteed by the banks, with panel-cleaning services provided to maintain full generating efficiency.
However, an exact level of electricity output cannot be guaranteed because generation depends on daily weather conditions and sunlight.
One entitlement per meter; registration from Tuesday (October 27, 2026) to Sunday (January 31, 2027)
Eligibility is limited to one entitlement per electricity meter, based primarily on the name of the utility’s contract holder or meter owner.
Buyers of second-hand homes must first ensure that the meter is transferred into the correct owner’s name.
People who own several meters may register more than one home, but the THB50,000 subsidy is limited to one entitlement per meter.
A central database will be used to check for duplication.
The government opened registration for expressions of interest in the programme on Tuesday (October 27, 2026) and will keep it open until Sunday (January 31, 2027).
Applicants can register online through the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and Provincial Electricity Authority websites, or visit one-stop service points at the utilities, where participating financial institutions will also provide services.
Teams from approximately 400 vendors accredited by the electricity utilities will then inspect sites for technical suitability, including roof strength and orientation towards sunlight.
Surveys are due to be completed by Wednesday (June 30, 2027).
The number of qualifying households will then be finalised to determine the actual loan funding required, based on the number of homes where installation is feasible.
The programme’s estimated funding package, financed through an emergency borrowing decree, exceeds THB70 billion.
It comprises THB50 billion in solar subsidies, more than THB10 billion each for smart meter upgrades at the Metropolitan Electricity Authority and Provincial Electricity Authority, and a further THB1 billion in borrowed funds for the Department of Skill Development to train unemployed workers to enter the labour market as solar panel installers.
Nuttapakron is a Rewriter for Nation Group. He focuses on factual precision and clarity, striving to present updates that are both trustworthy and highly readable.
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Jakson Solar plans to invest up to Rs 5,000 crore to set up 3 GW each of solar cell and ingot-wafer manufacturing capacity, according to Managing Director Ivan Saha. He spoke on the sidelines of the Renewable Energy India Expo.
Saha said the company aims to commission the 3 GW solar cell capacity by December 2027. The 3 GW ingot and wafer capacity is planned to be ready by the third quarter (Q3) of fiscal year 2028. The new facilities will primarily cater to the merchant market, he added.
Jakson Solar already operates a 1.2 GW solar module-making plant. The planned cell and ingot-wafer lines would extend its manufacturing presence further up the solar value chain. Equipment procurement tie-ups for the manufacturing capacity have already been secured.
The featured photograph is for representation only.
Rajesh Power Services Limited has received two domestic orders worth a combined Rs 34.37 crore, including taxes, from state power utilities in Gujarat and Rajasthan, according to a regulatory filing. The contracts cover distribution infrastructure maintenance and transmission system modification works and are scheduled to be completed over the next nine to 12 months. PGVCL…
Read More Rajesh Power Services secures Rs 34 crore utility orders
INOX Air Products (INOXAP) has launched its first green hydrogen plant at Asahi India Glass’s (AIS) float glass facility in Soniyana, Chittorgarh, Rajasthan. The plant, powered by solar energy, will generate up to 190 tons of green hydrogen per year through electrolysis. This marks India’s first use of green hydrogen in float glass manufacturing, supporting…
Read More INOX Air Products commissions green hydrogen plant in Rajasthan
ACME Greentech Seventh Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of ACME Solar Holdings Limited, has signed two Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) with SJVN Limited for a total capacity of 450 MW under a Firm and Dispatchable Renewable Energy (FDRE) project. The agreements cover contract capacities of 300 MW and 150 MW. The execution of these…
Read More ACME arm signs 450 MW FDRE PPAs with SJVN
The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has issued an Office Memorandum clarifying the applicability of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) for projects under its Strategic Interventions for Green Hydrogen Transition (SIGHT) Programme. The memorandum, dated December 19, 2025, responds to industry representations seeking clarity on procurement requirements for renewable power…
Read More MNRE clarifies ALMM exemption for early SIGHT green hydrogen bids
The North Eastern Regional Power Committee (NERPC) is finalising a National Power Committee (NPC)-approved Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for the diversion of regional spare transformers and reactors, with private transmission service providers (TSPs) seeking formal participation in the framework. The revised draft SOP was discussed during the recent Operation Coordination Sub-Committee (OCC) meeting. Framework for…
Read More NERPC finalising SOP for regional spare transformers, private TSPs seek role
The Telangana government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Akshat Greentech, a subsidiary of Mytrah Energy, to establish a solar cells and modules manufacturing facility in Hyderabad. The agreement was finalized during the World Economic Forum 2025 in Davos. The facility will have a production capacity of 6.9 GW each for solar cells…
Read More Akshat Greentech to set up solar manufacturing facility in Hyderabad
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Sophia University and others have replaced lead with tin, simultaneously improving the durability and conversion efficiency of perovskite solar cells. This achievement is expected to advance the practical application of perovskite cells with lower environmental burden and high safety.
Perovskite cells absorb light through layers formed by atoms such as iodine and lead that create a special crystal structure. Since the lead contained in this structure is a toxic substance, researchers have been working on replacing lead with tin, which has similar properties. However, tin is prone to oxidation, which disrupts the crystal structure, so balancing conversion efficiency and durability has remained a challenge to be solved.
The research team designed the perovskite layer as a structure in which conductive layers composed of tin and iodine alternate with non-conductive organic molecular layers. By introducing organic molecular layers, the ingress of water and oxygen can be blocked, thereby improving durability.
Although the method of introducing organic molecular layers improves durability, it increases electrical resistance and tends to cause a decline in conversion efficiency. To address this, the research team suppressed the efficiency decline by adding additives. According to reports, this method prevents tin oxidation and maintains approximately 85% of the initial performance even after 100 days.
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Industry calls for fresh incentives and policy flexibility as India's widening solar cell capacity gap threatens project timelines, investment and renewable energy costs
China's proposed restrictions on 12 critical solar manufacturing technologies have raised concerns over India's renewable energy supply chain, prompting calls for stronger domestic production incentives and policy support to prevent equipment shortages, project delays and rising solar power costs. The development comes as India's solar module manufacturing capacity significantly outpaces domestic cell production, exposing a structural weakness in its clean energy expansion.
Chetan Shah, Chairman and Managing Director of Solex Energy, has urged the government to accelerate domestic manufacturing and reduce dependence on Chinese equipment and technology.
Speaking on the sidelines of Renewable Energy India Expo 2026 in Greater Noida, Shah warned that delays in expanding domestic cell manufacturing could disrupt module supplies and increase pressure on electricity tariffs. China currently controls an estimated 75–90 per cent of the global solar supply chain, according to Shah.
Domestic Capacity Gap Raises Supply Risks
India had approximately 262 GW of solar module manufacturing capacity as of June 2026, compared with just 37 GW of cell manufacturing capacity. Domestic ingot and wafer production stood at around 2 GW, while polysilicon manufacturing capacity remained absent. The imbalance highlights India's continued dependence on imported components despite substantial investment in module assembly.
Shah has recommended extending the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM-II) implementation timeline by at least 12 months to allow domestic manufacturers additional time to establish cell production facilities. He also advocated dedicated production-linked incentives, capital subsidies and partnerships with Indian capital goods manufacturers, research institutions and technology providers. Such measures could strengthen domestic supply chains while supporting investment in higher-value manufacturing activities.
Global Trade Shifts Challenge Solar Investments
China's proposed export controls cover advanced technologies used in polysilicon, wafer and solar cell manufacturing, including next-generation photovoltaic processes. The proposed restrictions could increase equipment procurement costs and delay manufacturing expansion, particularly for Indian companies investing in advanced cell technologies.
A JM Financial assessment suggests that the restrictions could encourage India's long-term manufacturing localisation, although near-term disruptions may affect commissioning schedules and capital expenditure. From an economic perspective, greater domestic manufacturing could create industrial employment, attract technology investment and reduce import dependence.
However, higher production costs and technology-access constraints could weaken the competitiveness of locally manufactured solar equipment. Shah has also called for stronger technology partnerships with the US, European Union, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan to diversify sourcing. For India, the challenge is to balance manufacturing self-reliance with affordable solar power deployment. Sustained policy support, technology access and timely capacity expansion will be critical to protecting renewable energy investments and maintaining the country's clean energy growth momentum.
Select market data provided by ICE Data Services. Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2026 FactSet Research Systems Inc.Copyright © 2026, American Bankers Association. CUSIP Database provided by FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. SEC filings and other documents provided by Quartr.© 2026 TradingView, Inc.
Global map showing practical solar energy potential after excluding for physical, environmental and other factors
The potential for electricity generation from solar photovoltaic sources in most countries dwarfs their current electricity demand. Policymakers and investors often wonder whether the PV power potential in a specific country or region is good enough to take advantage of and if so, on what scale.
Until now, a global and harmonized assessment of country-level PV potential has not existed. A new World Bank report – “Solar Photovoltaic Power Potential by Country” – attempts to fill this gap by evaluating the theoretical potential (the general solar resource), the practical potential (accounting for additional factors affecting PV conversion efficiency and basic land use constraints), and the economic potential of PV power generation, considering a simplified evaluation of electricity production costs.
The report is based on data provided by the World Bank through the Global Solar Atlas, a free, web-based tool providing the latest data on solar resource potential globally. It is accompanied by country factsheets, downloadable from the Global Solar Atlas, that provide a summary of the resource potential and how it compares to other countries.
The data make it possible to evaluate or compare virtually any site, region, or country. Perhaps surprisingly, the difference in average practical potential between countries with the highest potential (e.g. Namibia) and the lowest (e.g. Ireland) is slightly less than a factor of two. In total, 93% of the global population lives in countries that have an average daily solar PV potential between 3.0 and 5.0 kWh/kWp. Around 70 countries boast excellent conditions for solar PV, where average daily output exceeds 4.5 kilowatt hours per installed kilowatt of capacity (kWh/kWp) – enough to boil around 25 liters of water. Countries in the Middle East, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa regions dominate this category, accompanied by Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Chile, Iran, Mexico, Mongolia, Pakistan, Peru, and many nations of the Pacific and Atlantic islands.
High-potential countries tend to have low seasonality in solar photovoltaic output, meaning that the resource is relatively constant between different months of the year. In total, 86% of the global population lives in 150 countries where the difference between the maximum and the minimum output between different seasons is below a factor of two, and average daily output is above 3.5 kWh/kWp.
Alongside solar resource, the potential for growth in the solar industry is determined by electricity needs; supportive or restrictive policies; costs and payback time; weather-related risks; stability of electricity grids; predictability of solar power supply; interconnection of grids enabling transmission and distribution; and other technical, social, and economic factors. Hence solar PV may still be economically attractive in countries with relatively low solar resource potential due to the prevalence of high electricity prices, or a high daytime peak load from industry or air conditioning.
This report aims to provide findings for high-level comparisons between countries and regions on their solar energy potential and is intended to raise awareness, stimulate investment interest, and inform public debate.
Many less-developed countries—in terms of the human development index, reliability of electricity supply, and access to electricity—tend to have very high practical solar photovoltaic potential, so far untapped. In Ethiopia just 0.005% of the country’s land area could generate sufficient power to cover existing needs, and in Mexico that figure is just 0.1%.
The World Bank is committed to supporting such countries in harnessing the opportunity for low-cost, clean solar power in a way that supports economic development and job creation – for example through the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program’s Solar Risk Mitigation Initiative. Our support extends from the expansion of markets for distribution of solar home systems through our Lighting Global initiative, to establishment of Green Mini-Grids, to investment in utility-scale solar parks and shared infrastructure in support of private sector development.
The report and the Global Solar Atlas were developed by Solargis for the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP)
Example of a country factsheet, available from https://globalsolaratlas.info/global-pv-potential-study:
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Australia is portrayed as a solar success story, and on two fronts it has earned that reputation. More than 4 million households have rooftop solar, while large-scale solar and wind continue to grow under state and federal schemes. Between these two extremes lies a forgotten market – C&I solar and storage. Systems sized between 100 …
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Households across the United Kingdom can reduce their energy costs through a new government-backed Warm Homes Loan Scheme covering technologies such as heat pumps, batteries and solar panels, according to the government factsheet. The scheme, detailed in the government publication, offers no- and low-interest loans that let households install clean energy technology without an upfront payment and instead spread the cost over many years.
The government reported strong demand for these technologies, citing almost 150,000 solar panel installations in the first six months of this year and a record high for heat pump sales in 2025. It said the loans are intended to help thousands more households lower their bills quickly.
According to the factsheet, installing a heat pump, battery and solar panels could help families save up to 550 pounds a year on energy bills, with a further 300 pounds a year possible under a time-of-use tariff. The loans are available to households in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
The government said it worked with lenders to deliver a reduction of up to 5 per cent in interest rates compared with regular loans from banks or high street lenders. As an illustration, the factsheet said a homeowner borrowing 10,000 pounds at 8 per cent over seven years could expect to repay around 155 pounds a month under a loan available at present, while the scheme could save up to 285 pounds a year on repayments.
Ten lenders are initially offering loans, some interest free, with repayment periods of up to thirty years in some cases. The lenders listed are Homeserve, partnering with E.On; HTG Finance; Propensio; Secure Trust Bank; Selina Finance; South Manchester Credit Union; Sunsave; Tandem Bank, partnering with British Gas; The Money Co-op; and This Bank.
Homeowners can also combine a loan with a grant of up to 9,000 pounds through the government Boiler Upgrade Scheme, or Home Energy Scotland in Scotland, further reducing the cost of installing a heat pump. The government described this as the first part of the scheme’s offer, with further lenders and products expected to join as it develops.
The maximum loan supported for each technology is 15,000 pounds for solar panels, 15,000 pounds for an electrical storage battery, 20,000 pounds for an air-water source heat pump, 10,000 pounds for an air-air source heat pump when MCS certification is available, 35,000 pounds for a ground source heat pump, 20,000 pounds for a biomass boiler, 7,500 pounds for a heat network connection and 20,000 pounds for a micro-renewable system.
All installations other than heat network connections will be carried out by MCS-certified installers, which the government said gives consumers confidence that recognised technical and consumer-protection standards will be met.
Energy Secretary Miatta Fahnbulleh said energy is an everyday essential that must be affordable for everyone, and that the government-supported loans would help families across the UK upgrade their homes with no upfront costs so they are warmer and cheaper to run.
Industry figures commented on the scheme. The Green Finance Institute said it co-chaired the partnership that designed and coordinated the launch of the first tranche of loans, and that finance should not block progress. The Money Co-op described participation as a natural fit with its credit union values. Hometree Finance said affordable finance turns home energy upgrades from a significant upfront cost into an achievable investment. HomeServe Finance said responsible finance helps customers overcome upfront costs. Secure Trust Bank Group said it can help households spread the cost at a lower interest rate. South Manchester Credit Union said autumn is a suitable time to launch the scheme as energy prices keep rising. Selina Finance said the upfront cost can be a significant barrier for homeowners. This Bank said it can help homeowners spread the cost of energy-saving upgrades. Tandem said it has funded almost 1 billion pounds of energy efficiency improvements to date. Sunsave said the scheme tackles the cost of borrowing directly. Lloyds Banking Group said it wants to help customers make changes affordably. E.ON UK said the announcement is a step toward removing barriers to low-carbon technologies. British Gas welcomed the move and said its engineers already install more low-carbon heating technology than anyone else in the UK. Good Energy said finance gives households another route to installing solar.
The factsheet also cited household examples. Beth in Birmingham installed 14 solar panels and a battery generating 4,800 kWh annually, with projected savings of 1,050 pounds a year. Tony installed 18 solar panels and a battery, with gross monthly energy bill savings of 191 pounds. David in Bristol installed an air source heat pump, a 7.5 kWh solar array and a battery in 2025, with projected annual generation of 7,034 kWh and projected yearly savings of 1,694 pounds. Stuart installed 24 solar panels and an 11.52 kWh battery in February of this year and estimated first-year savings after costs of around 400 to 500 pounds.
Interactive table based on the Store Companies dataset for this report.
This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Solar Panels market in the United Kingdom, covering market size, growth trajectory, demand structure, supply capability, trade flows, pricing, competitive landscape, and forecast to 2035.
The study is designed for manufacturers, distributors, importers, exporters, investors, procurement teams, advisors, and strategy teams that need a consistent, data-driven view of market dynamics and a transparent analytical definition of the product scope.
This report covers photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, which are devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity. It encompasses the global market for finished modules, including all major product technologies and form factors designed for a wide range of end-use applications.
The report combines the standard market-statistics backbone with strategic chapters that are useful for commercial planning, sourcing decisions, market entry, competitor monitoring, and portfolio prioritization.
The market is segmented into decision-relevant buckets so that demand drivers, pricing logic, supply constraints, and competitive positions can be compared across the same analytical frame.
The market data is classified and analyzed according to international trade codes, primarily under the Harmonized System (HS) headings for photovoltaic cells and electric generating sets. This ensures consistent tracking of trade flows for assembled solar modules and relevant apparatus across global markets.
Coverage focuses on United Kingdom and includes demand, supply capability where present, trade flows, pricing, competition, and outlook.
The report combines official statistics, trade records, company disclosures, product-level evidence, and analyst validation. Data are standardized, reconciled, and cross-checked to keep market sizing, trade flows, pricing, and forecasts comparable across countries and time periods.
All indicators are mapped to a consistent product definition and reviewed against the segmentation framework used in the Table of Contents.
Report Scope and Analytical Framing
Concise View of Market Direction
Market Size, Growth and Scenario Framing
Commercial and Technical Scope
How the Market Splits Into Decision-Relevant Buckets
Where Demand Comes From and How It Behaves
Supply Footprint and Value Capture
Trade Flows and External Dependence
Price Formation and Revenue Logic
Who Wins and Why
How the Domestic Market Works
Commercial Entry and Scaling Priorities
Where the Best Expansion Logic Sits
Leading Players and Strategic Archetypes
How the Report Was Built
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As part of the Government’s social housing reform, by April 2030 every council home will need to reach an energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of C.
Residents of homes with a lower rating of E, F or G might experience colder homes in the winter and higher energy bills.
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Sheffield City Council estimatesthere are projected to be 9,852 council homes requiring improvements to achieve a C rating before the deadline.
At recent council committee meetings, plans were revealed about how to upgrade the councils housing stock, of almost 38,000 homes in total.
These include upgrades to insulation in 4,001 homes, and up to 5,257 homes “renting out roof space” for solar panels and batteries.
The approach would see businesses investing to put solar panels on household roofs, a service that Councillor Douglas Johnson, chair of the housing policy committee, says already exists in the private sector.
He said: “The technology is there. We could put more solar panels on roofs if we had loads of money. But, of course, we don’t have loads of money, at least not without taking away from other essential stuff.
“This is a creative way of looking at how we can leverage all their external investment into council housing, without the council actually spending its own money.”
Around 200 council homes in Sheffield already have solar panels, and on October 19 the finance and performance policy committee approved funding for 212 more to get both panels and battery storage, at a cost of £1.67m.
£1m is set to come from the Sheffield climate investment bonds, with the remaining £671,500 from the councils housing revenue account.
Coun Johnsonexplained that because of capacity issues in the “creaky” national electricity grid, it’s most efficient to use power on-site, which the batteries make possible.
“You can generate power in the daytime and use it at night when you need more power. That means you don’t have to have a big flow of energy going into the grid or out again,” he said.
As well as bringing up EPC bands to meet the 2030 target, Coun Johnson said core aims were to benefit tenants electricity bills, and to decarbonise and move closer to the city’s net zero targets.
“Electricity is still much more expensive than gas. Solar panels provide a ready supply of electricity,” he said.
“It’s foundational to install solar panels because you can mitigate some of those risks of higher electricity costs, by generating your own electricity.
“One of the biggest emissions from all the council estate by far, is from council housing domestic boilers.
“Sheffield is pushing at some more new innovative boundaries of funding models for solar panels. This concept of ‘energy as a service’ and the market is early and developing rapidly.”
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He also hopes the initiative could increase jobs and skills in that sector to fit solar panels to a good quality.
What can council housing tenants expect?
With only three years to improve EPC ratings, Coun Johnson said tenants can expect to be contacted if their house is suitable.
He said information from council house condition surveys from last year should identify homes with a low EPC and where the panels are possible.
The proposals include a “tenant liaison officer” to talk to residents and help them understand the offer and how they benefit.
Coun Johnson said: “We appreciate that if you’re doing solar panels on housing, that necessarily involves people coming and working on your house, and people always find that stressful.
“But it’s good to encourage that take up, really, because actually it’s a really good offer for tenants.
“The people who are being offered that are the people who are in colder homes. They’re the ones who stand to benefit most from it.”
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Home > Mains Article > Agrivoltaics in India
Agrivoltaics in India combines farming and solar power generation on the same land, offering farmers additional income while raising concerns about crop yields, costs, and agricultural livelihoods.
By Vajiram Mains Team – Oct 26, 2026, 11:51 IST
Source: IE | DTE
Last updated on Oct, 2026
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Q1. What is agrivoltaics in India? +
Ans. Agrivoltaics in India involves installing elevated solar panels over agricultural land, allowing farmers to cultivate suitable crops underneath while generating electricity from the same plot.
Q2. What are the benefits of agrivoltaics in India? +
Ans. Agrivoltaics in India can reduce competition for land, expand renewable energy capacity, support continued cultivation, and provide farmers with an additional source of income.
Q3. Which crops are suitable for agrivoltaics in India? +
Ans. Agrivoltaics in India is considered suitable for fruits and leafy vegetables, while government assessments have not found it suitable for crops such as rice and sugarcane.
Q4. How much does agrivoltaics in India cost? +
Ans. Agrivoltaics in India costs approximately 25–30% more than conventional ground-mounted solar projects because elevated panels require additional civil works and structural infrastructure.
Q5. What are the major challenges of agrivoltaics in India? +
Ans. Agrivoltaics in India faces higher installation costs, limited crop suitability, uncertain effects on yields and soil health, and concerns about protecting small farmers’ land rights and livelihoods.
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In a press release published on October 27, 2026, EDP announced that it would design, build, operate and test a photovoltaic installation with a capacity of up to 455 kWc on an industrial site belonging to JTC Corporation, a statutory board under the Singapore Ministry of Energy, Commerce and Industry. The project is presented by both partners as the country’s first overhead solar system.
The panels will be installed on a structure stretched between multi-level industrial buildings, which should transform approximately 4,300 m² of previously unused space into an electricity generation surface. Once operational, during the first half of 2028, the installation will feed its production into the Singaporean national grid for a period of 10 years.
The press release places this project within Singapore’s objective to achieve 3 GWc of installed solar capacity by 2030. This type of installation is presented as a complement to conventional installations on rooftops, vacant land and water surfaces, in a country where available surface area is limited.
“The next phase of growth requires looking beyond conventional spaces and finding new ways to integrate solar into the urban environment,” said Vera Pinto Pereira, member of EDP’s executive board, according to whom this pilot demonstrates how underutilized spaces can become productive clean energy assets.
The pilot must validate the engineering approach adopted and address technical difficulties related to integrating a solar infrastructure between existing buildings. The lessons learned will help determine whether similar systems can be replicated on other industrial sites without requiring additional land.
“Every surface is a potential source of energy, including the spaces between our buildings,” said Finn Tay, director of sustainable development at JTC, adding that these lessons will guide the deployment of such solutions on a larger scale in the establishment’s industrial zones.
Singapore is EDP’s first market in distributed solar in the Asia-Pacific region and hosts its regional operations center. The project extends a partnership engaged with JTC: in 2020, EDP won the SolarLand Phase 3 program, of which 51.2 MWc are already in service.
The information presented in this article is provided for informational purposes only and does not constitute an investment recommendation, an incentive to buy or sell a financial asset, or investment advice. Readers are invited to conduct their own research before making any decision.
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Disclaimer: the financial information published on this website is provided for informational purposes only. It may contain errors or be incomplete and does not constitute investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Any investment involves a risk of capital loss.
Luis Reyes
Oct 27, at 12:00pm ET
Floating solar has been around for the better part of two decades, and almost all of it sits on water that behaves itself. Reservoirs, irrigation ponds, flooded quarries, the occasional Bavarian lake. Fresh water, barely a ripple, and usually a shoreline close enough to run a cable to.
The ocean is a different animal. Salt eats everything, the swell never stops, and anything you moor out there has to survive the one bad storm a year that nobody put in the brochure.
So the interesting part of the news out of Valencia isn’t the megawatt. It’s where they put it.
A Spanish startup called BlueNewables, with backing from the utility Naturgy, has parked two 500-kilowatt solar platforms on the seaward side of the Port of Valencia’s southern breakwater. The Port Authority announced on October 1 that the second one was in place and the whole 1-megawatt setup had moved into its testing phase.
Both platforms were built at a shipyard in Vigo, on the opposite corner of Spain, and towed around the Iberian Peninsula to get there. Which is a long way to drag a solar farm, but you’ll see why in a minute.
Spanish port officials call it “offshore” solar. I’d call it “just past the rocks” solar, but it’s still salt water, it still moves, and that’s the whole point of the exercise.
Each platform is a steel catamaran with a deck about 210 feet long and 135 feet wide, which works out to a little over 28,000 square feet of surface per unit. The deck carries 600 solar panels, so 1,200 across the pair, and a technical area with the inverters and transformers that turn what the panels make into something the port’s grid can take. Reporting from the Vigo shipyard put the weight of the second platform at a bit over 220 tons, and the two are built to the same design.
The catamaran shape isn’t a styling choice. Two hulls hold the deck up above the waterline, so the panels sit clear of the waves instead of bobbing in them, and a maintenance crew can walk around on a flat surface rather than a raft.
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BlueNewables also says the platform uses the seawater underneath as a natural coolant, which, if it holds up in practice, is pretty handy. The panels on your roof lose efficiency as they get hot, and the Mediterranean in August is hot.
The panels themselves are bifacial. If you haven’t run into the term, it means they have cells on both faces, so the back of the panel picks up light bouncing off whatever is underneath it.
On a roof that’s not much. On open water it’s a lot of glare, and the company is counting on that reflected light to bump the output.
The two units are named Paiporta and Catarroja, after two towns outside Valencia that were hit hard by the floods that tore through the region two years ago this month. Paiporta went into the water at the San Enrique shipyard on May 18, according to BlueNewables, and the Port Authority logged its arrival in Valencia on July 13.
Catarroja followed in early August, with the shipyard using two cranes and a rising tide at the same time to walk it off the slipway, and the yard formally handed it over on September 4. Getting a 220-ton object from a slipway into the water without a drydock apparently takes about 15 people and some patience, and you don’t get a second try at it.
Fair question. Valencia is one of the busiest container ports in Europe, and every square foot of quay is already doing something that pays better than a solar panel, as you’d expect. The port already gets north of 20 percent of its electricity from renewables and has gone as far as bolting panels to the side of one of its buildings, but a working harbor doesn’t have a spare field lying around, and the land behind it is city.
So BlueNewables’ pitch is basically that the water next to a port is a surface nobody’s fighting over. Same logic for islands, and for any coastline where the grid is weak and the land is spoken for. The company’s own description talks about places where land is scarce or expensive, grids are thin, or the power system is an island one, and a Spanish port with a city on one side and the sea on the other checks most of those boxes.
We’ve seen this “put it somewhere weird” approach work before. A German operator stood 2,600 panels upright on a Bavarian lake because a law capped how much water they could shade, and a town utility hung 64 of them on a public pool fence facing the parking lot.
Valencia is the same idea with a lot more salt and a lot more steel. Everyone involved is careful to call it a pre-commercial demonstrator, and you should read it that way too.
The money comes through a program called RENMARINAS VALENCIAPORT, funded by Spain’s energy agency IDAE with European NextGenerationEU recovery cash. The Port Authority built the test area and the grid connection, and says that infrastructure will stay put for whatever marine energy demonstrator comes next. BlueNewables brought the platforms.
Naturgy, through its innovation arm, is in for two years of shared data: how much the thing produces, what breaks, what maintenance costs, and what the port learns about plugging a floating generator into a harbor grid. That’s where the actual value of the project is, and you can’t see any of it from the beach.
The budget for the two platforms was about €4 million, call it $4.5 million and change, according to Navalia, the Vigo shipbuilding trade show, and the shipyard’s owner Marina Meridional projected the pair would generate around 1,500 megawatt-hours a year, enough for about 500 Spanish households by its math. Is 1,500 megawatt-hours good? For a 1-megawatt plant, it’s fine.
I ran the numbers, and it means the platforms would average about 17 percent of their nameplate output across every hour of the year, nights included, which is a normal figure for solar at that latitude. Frankly I’d expect the bifacial panels and the cooling to help a little, and the salt spray and the occasional seagull to hurt a little, and we’ll find out which wins.
Quite a bit, and I looked. There’s no kilowatt-hour figure from the water yet, which is reasonable when you consider the second platform has only been in place since the start of October.
The cost per kilowatt-hour hasn’t been published either, and for a demonstrator that’s the number that decides whether anyone builds a third one. I’d also like to see how the mooring handled the fall weather so far, since that’s arguably the thing you’d most want to know before buying one of these for a port in, say, Florida, and that data isn’t public.
The Port Authority’s own release says the results will be collected as operation progresses, which is a polite way of saying check back in a year. That’s fair. A demonstrator that announced all its answers in month one is the kind I’d be skeptical of.
Bernardino Couñago, BlueNewables’ co-founder and CEO, called the first launch in May “a very important milestone in the roadmap of our technology.” The company hasn’t named a second site, and I’d be a little surprised if it did before the Valencia numbers come in. The two platforms were shown to delegates of the ENERMAR marine energy conference, which the Port Authority hosted from September 30 to October 2, and Valenciaport declared the demonstrator fully installed and in testing on October 1, 2026.
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The selected developer will undertake the design, engineering, manufacture, supply, transportation, installation and commissioning of the solar PV projects. The scope also includes associated civil and structural works, along with identifying, acquiring and transferring encumbrance-free land for the solar plants and NTPC REL’s battery energy storage system (BESS) project.
The contractor will be responsible for constructing and commissioning a new 400 kV terminal line bay and dedicated 400 kV transmission lines, including securing the required right-of-way, to the Kurnool project pooling substation. The work further covers telemetry, grid-compliance systems such as dynamic reactive power compensation, performance testing, mandatory spares, and operation and maintenance of the solar plant and switchyard for three years after commissioning.
Under the technical eligibility requirements, bidders must have designed, supplied, erected and commissioned grid-connected solar PV plants with a cumulative installed capacity of at least 40 MWp. This must include at least one plant of 10 MWp or more that had been operational for at least six months before the bid opening. Financial eligibility requires an average annual turnover of at least Rs. 5.9 bn during the preceding three financial years and a net worth of at least 100 per cent of paid-up share capital at the end of the preceding financial year. Bidders must also submit bid security of Rs. 500 mn. The deadline for submissions is November 16, 2026.
NTPC Renewable Energy (NTPC REL) has invited bids for an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) package covering up to 900 MW of inter-state transmission system-connected, ground-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) projects near its Kurnool solar project in Andhra Pradesh. The package includes land acquisition and is being tendered through a single-stage, two-envelope process covering techno-commercial and price bids. The selected developer will undertake the design, engineering, manufacture, supply, transportation, installation and commissioning of the solar PV projects. The scope also includes associated civil and structural works, along with identifying, acquiring and transferring encumbrance-free land for the solar plants and NTPC REL’s battery energy storage system (BESS) project. The contractor will be responsible for constructing and commissioning a new 400 kV terminal line bay and dedicated 400 kV transmission lines, including securing the required right-of-way, to the Kurnool project pooling substation. The work further covers telemetry, grid-compliance systems such as dynamic reactive power compensation, performance testing, mandatory spares, and operation and maintenance of the solar plant and switchyard for three years after commissioning. Under the technical eligibility requirements, bidders must have designed, supplied, erected and commissioned grid-connected solar PV plants with a cumulative installed capacity of at least 40 MWp. This must include at least one plant of 10 MWp or more that had been operational for at least six months before the bid opening. Financial eligibility requires an average annual turnover of at least Rs. 5.9 bn during the preceding three financial years and a net worth of at least 100 per cent of paid-up share capital at the end of the preceding financial year. Bidders must also submit bid security of Rs. 500 mn. The deadline for submissions is November 16, 2026.
Enerpac has introduced two split-flow pump series for multi-point lifting and skidding applications, particularly at remote industrial sites and locations with limited access to conventional power sources.The new SFP-B Series is battery-powered, while the SFP-D Series runs on diesel. Both operate at pressures of up to 700 bar and are designed to simplify equipment setup and provide greater control during lifting operations.The SFP-B Series offers up to 75 minutes of runtime at full capacity and has four outlets for multi-point lifting. Its 150-litre oil reservoir supports demanding application..
Electromech Infraprojects has filed its Draft Red Herring Prospectus (DRHP) with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) for a proposed initial public offering (IPO). The offering comprises a fresh issue of equity shares aggregating up to Rs 3.26 billion and an offer for sale of up to 1.89 million equity shares by existing shareholders. The shares have a face value of Rs 5 each.The Mumbai-based company provides mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) solutions for data centres, Global Capability Centres (GCCs), and commercial and industrial projects. Its services cover technical de..
Dubai South recorded 12,428 residential property transactions between January and August 2026, surpassing the 9,788 transactions registered during the whole of 2025 by 27 per cent, according to Anarock Research’s Dubai South Residential Micro-Market Report. Residential sales value reached AED 15.9 billion during the eight-month period, representing 81 per cent of the AED 19.6 billion recorded in 2025.The report highlights significant growth in Dubai South’s residential market, with annual sales value increasing from AED 720 million in 2020 to AED 19.6 billion in 2025. Transaction volumes also ..
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Singapore has set a target of 4 GW of solar by 2035, alongside its existing goal of 3 GW by 2030. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and for Energy, Trade and Industry Gan Siow Huang outlined measures this week to meet the new target at the Asia Clean Energy Summit.
“We have just raised our ambition to 4 GWp by 2035,” Gan said. Singapore had 2.3 GW of solar installed as of October, she said, and the Energy Market Authority (EMA) has said the country is well on track for its 2030 target. Gan said solar will meet at most 10% of the city-state’s electricity needs in 2050.
Gan said the EMA has launched a tender to aggregate solar demand across government agencies for public premises, including solar carports and building-integrated PV. The EMA is also working with the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore on a portal to help homeowners adopt solar and find installers, with details to follow.
Industrial agency JTC is piloting an “overhang” solar installation on a canopy between two buildings at Woodlands East Industrial Estate with EDP APAC, said Gan. JTC has also launched two innovation challenges, one for facade-mounted PV and another for containerized solar paired with mobile batteries to replace diesel generators at temporary worksites. In addition, the government is exploring a pilot of solar roof tiles on heritage state buildings with the Singapore Land Authority and Swiss research center CSEM.
Singapore had around 350 MWh of energy storage and aims for just over 1 GWh by 2030, Gan said. She added that the EMA has granted a conditional approval to Sembcorp Utilities to import 1.3 GW of electricity from or through Peninsular Malaysia.
Singapore raised its 2030 target to 3 GWp in March, after installing 504 MW of solar in 2025 to reach 2,093 MW at the end of that year. EMA estimates that rooftop systems make up more than 80% of the country’s capacity. Its largest ground-mounted plant is the 118 MW Sembcorp Jurong Island Solar Farm, unveiled in 2025.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2026
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026?
Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
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Monday, November 23, 2026
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pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.
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The UK government has approved Elements Green’s 800MW Great North Road solar farm in England.
It is the second consent awarded to a large-scale solar scheme by energy department DESNZ today, with Cubico’s 150MW Frodsham also given the green light.
Great North Road is cleared for construction at a site close to Newark in Nottinghamshire.
It will connect to the grid at the Staythorpe substation, where network capacity has been freed up by the closure of fossil-fuelled power stations.
At 800MW, it is among the largest solar projects approved in the UK to-date.
UK energy minister Michael Shanks said: “Solar power is the cheapest generation we can build and is crucial to delivering energy security and tackling affordability for families and businesses.
“More homegrown power that we control is a once in a generation opportunity to grow our economy and tackle the root cause of sky-high energy bills: our exposure to volatile global fossil fuel markets.”
A Development Consent Order application for Great North Road was submitted to the UK Planning Inspectorate for examination in June 2025.
The authority’s recommendation report was sent to DESNZ for determination in July this year.
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Government-backed Warm Home Loans scheme to help households cut energy bills by hundreds of pounds
Households across the UK can now cut their energy bills by hundreds of pounds a year at no upfront cost by applying for interest-free or “low-interest” loans to fund upgrades such as heat pumps, batteries and solar panels.
The government-backed Warm Home Loans scheme, which launched on Tuesday, could mean thousands more households are able to access low-carbon energy alternative technologies, thanks to loans ranging from £7,500 to up £35,000.
Energy suppliers including British Gas and E.On have partnered with lenders from Tandem Bank and Homeserve respectively to offer the loans directly to customers at a discounted rate compared with those offered by high street lenders.
People interested in swapping their gas boiler for an air-source or ground-source heat pump could secure loans of up to £10,000 or £35,000 respectively, while also drawing on the government’s existing scheme which offers grants of up to £9,000 a year for households installing the replacements for fossil fuel heating.
Installing a heat pump, battery and solar panels could save households up to £550 a year on their energy bills, rising by a further £300 a year with a time-of-use tariff, according to the government.
Soaring energy costs have led to record demand for low-carbon home energy upgrades over the last year, and the government believes the loan scheme means “thousands more households” will be able to cut their energy bills by fitting clean energy technology and spreading repayments over many years.
Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary, said: “Energy is an everyday essential that must be affordable for everyone. These government-supported loans will help families across the UK upgrade their homes with no upfront costs to make them warmer and cheaper to run.”
Chris Norbury, the chief executive of E.On UK, said that a recent trial showed that fuel-poor customers in Coventry were able to save more than £250 a year on average by combining a home battery with a time of use tariff that charges lower rates for using energy outside peak demand hours.
He said the Warm Homes Loan scheme was “an opportunity to take that further” by “removing barriers to low-carbon technologies”.
The government set out the terms of the new scheme a day before the chancellor, John Healey, delivers his first budget on Wednesday, which reportedly will include plans to scale back heat pump grants made through its boiler upgrade scheme.
The scheme is not expected to be scrapped altogether, but sources say hundreds of millions of pounds will be cut from its £2.7bn five-year budget because Treasury officials consider it a subsidy used mainly by middle-class households.
It has typically provided grants of up to £7,500 to help meet the £13,600 cost of installing a heat pump, meaning households have still required a significant outlay to make up the difference.
The Guardian understands that grants of up to £9,000 a year are likely to remain available to households that are not connected to the gas grid and are forced to rely on high-cost heating oil. These grants could be used alongside the low-interest loans to cover the full cost of a heat pump.
Other lenders taking part in the Warm Home Loans scheme include HTG Finance, Propensio, Secure Trust Bank, Selina Finance, South Manchester Credit Union, Sunsave, The Money Co-op and This Bank.
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Haryana Power Purchase Centre (HPPC) on behalf of the state discoms: Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam Limited, has invited bids for the selection of solar power developers to set up 500 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic (PV) projects integrated with 250 MW/1,000 MWh four-hour duration battery energy storage system (BESS) in Haryana. The tender will be conducted through a tariff-based competitive bidding process under a build-own-operate model. The selected developers will supply power under a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with HPPC. The deadline for bid submission is November 17, 2026.
According to the tender guidelines, the scope of work includes setting up the solar-plus-BESS project, including the transmission line up to the delivery/interconnection point, along with the associated line bays, at the developer’s own cost. Additionally, it includes the identification and acquisition of land, installation and ownership of solar PV projects and associated BESS. The selected developers will also be responsible for obtaining statutory approvals and grid connectivity, developing transmission lines and associated equipment up to the delivery point, and installing remote terminal units and supervisory control and data acquisition systems. The developers must install at least 0.5 MW/2 MWh of BESS capacity for every 1 MW of contracted solar project capacity. The projects are required to be commissioned within 24 months of signing the PPA. Additionally, the tender also requires bidders to comply with the applicable technical standards for solar PV modules and use modules and cells listed under the relevant Approved List of Models and Manufacturers. The minimum and maximum contracted capacity under a single bid are 5 MW and 250 MW, respectively.
Furthermore, the bidders are required to submit an earnest money deposit of Rs 1.327 million per MW in the form of a bank guarantee, a document fee of Rs 50,000 plus GST, and a bid processing fee of Rs 10,000 per MW, plus GST. Under the financial eligibility criteria, the bidders must have a net worth of at least Rs 13.27 million per MW of quoted capacity, based on the last two financial years, or at least 7 days before bid submission. Additionally, they must have a minimum annual turnover of Rs 7.64 million per MW of quoted capacity, based on the last two financial years, at least 7 days before bid submission.
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The Tamil Nadu facility will be commissioned in phases.
India’s Vikram Solar Limited will begin production at its 9-gigawatt (GW) N-type tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell manufacturing facility in Tamil Nadu in December.
Located at SIPCOT Industrial Park in Gangaikondan, Tirunelveli district, the facility will be commissioned in phases.
At full capacity, it is expected to supply high-efficiency TOPCon cells for most of the company’s module production.
The plant is the second phase of Vikram Solar’s manufacturing integration roadmap at Gangaikondan.
Its 6-GW module plant at the site was inaugurated in August, whilst a proposed 9-GW ingot and wafer facility has received board approval and is targeted for financial year 2029.
Vikram Solar plans to expand the cell plant’s capacity to 12 GW. The nearly 200-acre integrated campus is being developed through VSL Green Power Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company.
The company intends to seek enlistment under the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers List-II for cells produced at the facility. The campus is expected to support more than 2,000 direct and indirect jobs.
Gyanesh Chaudhary, Chairman and Managing Director of Vikram Solar, said the facility would allow the company to manufacture its own cells, marking a key step in its integration strategy.
The planned ingot and wafer facility would extend this strategy upstream, enabling the company to manufacture ingots, wafers, cells, and modules at the same site.
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Singapore has set a target of 4 GW of solar by 2035, alongside its existing goal of 3 GW by 2030. Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and for Energy, Trade and Industry Gan Siow Huang outlined measures this week to meet the new target at the Asia Clean Energy Summit.
“We have just raised our ambition to 4 GWp by 2035,” Gan said. Singapore had 2.3 GW of solar installed as of October, she said, and the Energy Market Authority (EMA) has said the country is well on track for its 2030 target. Gan said solar will meet at most 10% of the city-state’s electricity needs in 2050.
Gan said the EMA has launched a tender to aggregate solar demand across government agencies for public premises, including solar carports and building-integrated PV. The EMA is also working with the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore on a portal to help homeowners adopt solar and find installers, with details to follow.
Industrial agency JTC is piloting an “overhang” solar installation on a canopy between two buildings at Woodlands East Industrial Estate with EDP APAC, said Gan. JTC has also launched two innovation challenges, one for facade-mounted PV and another for containerized solar paired with mobile batteries to replace diesel generators at temporary worksites. In addition, the government is exploring a pilot of solar roof tiles on heritage state buildings with the Singapore Land Authority and Swiss research center CSEM.
Singapore had around 350 MWh of energy storage and aims for just over 1 GWh by 2030, Gan said. She added that the EMA has granted a conditional approval to Sembcorp Utilities to import 1.3 GW of electricity from or through Peninsular Malaysia.
Singapore raised its 2030 target to 3 GWp in March, after installing 504 MW of solar in 2025 to reach 2,093 MW at the end of that year. EMA estimates that rooftop systems make up more than 80% of the country’s capacity. Its largest ground-mounted plant is the 118 MW Sembcorp Jurong Island Solar Farm, unveiled in 2025.
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Wednesday, October 28, 2026
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026?
Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
Thursday, November 5, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 23, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.
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With Singapore’s new target of deploying 4 gigawatt-peak (GWp) of solar by 2035, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) is stepping up efforts to unlock more opportunities for solar deployment.
This includes identifying new spaces and applications for solar, making it easier for private residential property owners to adopt solar, and ensuring the power grid remains ready to support the increased supply from solar, EMA said in a statement on Tuesday.
To identify where and how Singapore can deploy more solar, EMA will collaborate with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) to refresh the Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Roadmap for Singapore, building on the version last updated in 2020.
The refreshed Roadmap will assess solar deployment opportunities across diverse types of surfaces and help chart the pathways towards maximising solar deployment over the medium to long term, in support of Singapore’s higher solar ambition.
EMA is also taking steps to encourage greater solar adoption for private residential landed properties.
EMA and the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS) have inked a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the development of a one-stop digital portal to make it easier for homeowners to adopt solar.
The platform aims to aggregate solar-related information and services, helping homeowners understand their options, connect with solar installers, and explore group purchase opportunities.
As solar adoption increases, the electricity grid will have to accommodate more electricity flowing from solar panels back to the grid.
EMA will therefore embark on a research collaboration with the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) to study and map the capacity of local electricity networks, to accommodate more solar in landed residential estates.
This will help EMA better understand grid conditions, anticipate future needs, and plan ahead to ensure that the grid can keep pace with growing solar adoption.
“With Singapore’s land constraints, we need to make the most of every opportunity to harness solar energy. Strong partnerships will be key to unlocking more opportunities for solar, making adoption easier, and ensuring that our grid is ready to support its growth,” said Puah Kok Keong, Chief Executive, EMA.
In a separate statement, EMA said it has also launched a Whole-of-Government Solar Demand Aggregation (DA) Framework to accelerate solar deployment across government-owned premises.
By bringing together solar demand from across the public sector, the Framework aims to unlock more opportunities for solar deployment, including at sites with different tenures, operational needs and conditions. This supports Singapore’s target of achieving 4 gigawatt-peak (GWp) of solar deployment by 2035.
Under the Framework, a panel of solar photovoltaic (PV) installers will be appointed to help government agencies assess the solar potential of their premises and develop tailored proposals for solar PV deployment.
By aggregating demand across agencies, the framework aims to create greater economies of scale and opportunities for industry, while giving agencies more flexibility to pursue solar deployment at suitable sites.
The framework also helps open opportunities to go beyond conventional rooftops and make better use of Singapore’s limited space.
Agencies can explore innovative solar solutions such as solar carports, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and building-applied photovoltaics (BAPV), tapping on built environment spaces for clean energy generation opportunities.
The Solar DA Framework complements existing programmes such as the Housing & Development Board’s SolarNova programme and JTC’s SolarRoof and SolarLand initiatives.
Together, these efforts reflect Singapore’s commitment to maximise every suitable opportunity for solar deployment as we work towards a cleaner and more sustainable energy future.
JTC to pilot innovative solar solutions in industrial estates in Singapore
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The Town Council meets at Florence Town Hall.
FLORENCE — The Florence Town Council was urged to get the best possible deal for residents before supporting a major annexation that could lead to a sea of solar panels east of the present town limits.
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INA Solar and Caelux plan to commercialize 3 GW of hybrid-tandem solar modules over five years
The partnership will cover technology validation, manufacturing readiness, and regulatory requirements, including India’s ALMM
Caelux says its contracted volume with module manufacturers globally now exceeds 25 GW
Insolation Energy Limited (INA Solar) has entered into a partnership with US-based Caelux Corporation to commercialize 3 GW Hybrid-Tandem solar modules, targeting an efficiency of up to 29% by 2028.
Under the agreement, INA Solar will use Caelux’s proprietary Energy Producing Glass technology by applying a Caelux-supplied perovskite-based power-generating glass layer on its TOPCon solar cells.
The duo claims this integration will boost energy generation, increase energy density, and reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE). INA Solar has entered the partnership through its subsidiary Insolation Green Energy Private Limited.
Over their five-year partnership, the two companies will work on technology validation, manufacturing readiness, and applicable regulatory approvals, including Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) requirements.
Vikas Jain, Managing Director of Insolation Energy Limited, said this partnership strengthens its focus on building an integrated solar manufacturing ecosystem.
Currently, Jaipur-headquartered INA Solar operates a combined annual module production capacity of 5.5 GW, producing modules ranging from 500 W to 635 W output with a focus on TOPCon and Mono PERC technologies. It is also developing a 4.5 GW TOPCon solar cell facility and an 18,000 MTA aluminum frame facility in Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh.
Speaking with TaiyangNews at the recently concluded Renewable Energy India (REI) 2026, INA Solar’s Chief Business Officer (CBO) Abhishek Kaushal shared that the aluminum frame manufacturing facility will have sufficient capacity to cover 4.5 GW to 5.0 GW of its in-house needs (see Live Blog: October 22-24, 2026: Renewable Energy India Expo 2026).
For Caelux, this is yet another partnership targeting the India market. Earlier this year, it entered similar partnerships with Rayzon Solar and Navitas Solar for 5 GW each, and with GREW Solar for 4 GW capacity (see GREW Solar Explores Perovskite-Tandem Market With 4 GW Deal).
Caelux Corporation CEO Scott Graybeal said the company’s global contracted volume with module manufacturers now exceeds 25 GW.
TaiyangNews 2024
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“Could I maybe get pointers into what to watch or read for getting started?”
Photo Credit: iStock
A 24-year-old looking for a storm-ready solar setup on a $700 budget came away with the realization that, in order to decide on a system, they would need a clearer understanding of their own goals.
In a Reddit post, the 24-year-old asked for advice about putting together a modest system that could keep phones, batteries, and a few other essentials running during a short- or long-term outage.
Noting that they lived with their parents in a 1980s home, they explained, “We can’t go solar anytime soon, don’t think my dad would like to invest into that quite yet.”
With rooftop solar not an option, the original poster had been leaning toward an off-the-shelf patio kit. After reading more, though, they came away thinking such a system was probably not the best value.
“I know I’m definitely not the first to ask in here ‘how do I start’ but could I maybe get pointers into what to watch or read for getting started?” they asked.
For homeowners who may be able to build toward something bigger, EnergySage is one place to explore home battery storage options and compare competitive installation estimates. EnergySage has also teamed up with electrification brand Qmerit to help homeowners get the best price on home battery storage solutions.
Adding battery storage is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and gain more energy independence. In a situation like the one described in the thread — where rooftop solar is off the table for now — batteries can also be a more realistic first step than a full solar install.
It quickly became apparent that the 24-year-old needed a better understanding of what their goals and expectations were.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
After initially saying they were looking for a patio solar setup that could charge relatively small devices like phones and batteries, the OP later added, “I want to maybe have a short term end goal of being able to power a few small ac units in our house by next summer.”
Another user immediately called the OP out on their shifting goals, writing, “Not what you said originally. Once you add air conditioning you are nowhere near a $700 budget.”
After further trying to help the OP, the same commenter finally gave up, saying, “Sorry, but you need to at least be able to say what you want to accomplish.”
The OP agreed, concluding, “Yeah honestly I just needa sit down and read a little more into all this. I appreciate you offering to help though, genuinely.”
For those unable to install a full-fledged solar-and-battery system, portable backup power can come before permanent solar. Rather than jumping straight to panels, a simpler path can be to figure out which devices matter most during an outage, then size a battery option around those needs.
For households that may eventually consider a larger installation such as a whole-home battery, comparing battery-storage options through EnergySage and Qmerit can help clarify pricing and scope without requiring any commitment.
For people looking for a more portable unit, Pila offers another strong battery-backup option with plug-and-play batteries that are priced at a fraction of what a whole-home backup system would cost.
There’s plenty to consider when weighing up home batteries and generators, from financing to safety.
• A homeowner considering off-grid living found battery backup made outages a thing of the past.
• SunPower and Palmetto are helping homeowners get backup batteries without upfront costs for outage protection.
• Families have been replacing gasoline generators with safer home battery systems that avoid fumes and fuel.
• Homeowners have been asking installers for next-gen backup batteries instead of keeping aging generators around.
• During blackouts, more households have been turning to clean-energy backup systems instead of noisy generators.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
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ModuRack, LLC introduces eight standardized Mechanical System Kits designed to simplify solar installation and reduce deployment costs.
Powered by patented MagicFrame clamp-free technology, the kits cover Residential Roof, Carport, Vertical/Fence, Ground Mount, Agrivoltaics, Flat Roof South, Flat Roof East/West, and Facade applications.
Each kit integrates PV modules, structures, and connection hardware into factory-prepared installation units.
One Kit. One $/W Price. Factory to Field.
On October 8, 2026, UL Solutions issued a UL 2703 Certificate of Compliance covering six specified MagicFrame mounting system models.
ModuRack welcomes U.S. pilot partners.
RE+ 2026 | November 17–19 | Las Vegas | MagicGreen Booth N3345
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YouTube video of the Oct. 27, 2026 Ottawa County Board of Commissioners meeting courtesy Ottawa County, Michigan
OLIVE TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Oct. 27, 2026) – Ottawa County will get involved in the ongoing dispute involving the Silver Maple Solar Project.
During this morning’s monthly meeting of the Board of Commissioners, three items directly relating to the proposed 200-megawatt, utility-scale initiative which RWE Clean Energy wants to build over nearly 2,000 acres of farmland in Zeeland and Jamestown townships all passed. The $300 million-plus project is now before the Michigan Public Service Commission for approval under a state law that allows the PSC to overrule any local jurisdiction in such clean energy-related matters.
Zeeland Township has already filed a lawsuit in 20th Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of this legislation, with RWE asking that the matter be resolved in the federal court system instead. The township has asked the county to intervene with the PSC on this issue.
On a 10-1 margin, commissioners authorized County Administrator Patrick Waterman to file a petition by the November 12th deadline making the county an intervener, as well as retaining legal counsel, and on an unanimous vote, authorized up to $50,000 for covering costs of such action.
Board Chairman Josh Brugger of Grand Haven.
The lone no vote on the first two items came from Holland Democrat Doug Zylstra.
The 9 AM Ottawa County Board meeting was in the main meeting room at the County Administration Building in West Olive (12220 Fillmore St.). An online link to the agenda and supporting documents is here.
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27 October 2026
In India, the programme has put productive solar assets in women’s names, supported rural enterprises and prepared plans for coal-dependent districts and future solar-panel waste. Its next test is whether these project-level efforts can be sustained and scaled
SDG 5: Gender Equality | SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy | SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth | SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production
Ministry of New and Renewable Energy MNRE | Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change MoEFCC
UNDP’s Pathways to Climate Resilience reports results through August 2026 from nine countries supported by Japan’s FY2024 Supplementary Budget. India’s US$944,245 project combines clean-energy livelihoods with planning for industrial transition and solar waste.
Area
India Result/Plan
Women’s ownership
Productive solar assets were registered in the names of 60 women entrepreneurs.
Skills and enterprises
1,165 farmers and agricultural entrepreneurs received support through training; 28 local youthtrained to maintain solar systems.
Government capacity
135 government and financial-institution officials were trained to integrate decentralised renewable-energy livelihoods into programmes.
Coal-dependent regions
Odisha and Jharkhand prepared greenhouse-gas inventories for 2005–2023; Odisha developed a just-transition roadmap identifying district priorities and alternative livelihoods.
Solar-panel waste
Maharashtra’s recycling plan estimates 566 kilotonnes of end-of-life solar waste by 2050 and proposes 19 recycling facilities. These are plans, not facilities already built.
Solar pumps and other small renewable-energy systems can power irrigation, processing and sewing close to where people work. Registering equipment in women’s names also gives them a recognised productive asset. The report describes an Odisha farmer whose solar pump, provided through earlier Japan-funded support and registered in her name in 2025, helped her grow crops beyond the monsoon season. Her reported annual income rose from roughly US$600 to US$1,050. This is an individual example, not an estimate of income gains for all participants.
The current work connects equipment with skills and buyers. Solar-system maintenance training gives local youth a service role, while links to livelihood missions helped secure cloth-bag orders in Tamil Nadu and Nagaland. A separate analysis of decentralised renewable-energy solutions supported by previous Japan-funded projects estimated more than US$2.4 in social and environmental value per dollar invested; that valuation should not be read as a measured financial return from this year’s activities.
The Odisha and Jharkhand emissions inventories establish a basis for identifying sectoral emissions and planning lower-carbon development. Odisha’s roadmap also considers livelihoods for workers and communities exposed to a coal transition, including opportunities in food processing and textiles. The work identifies possible directions; it does not yet show that replacement employment or incomes have been secured at scale.
Maharashtra has mapped 966 solar installations and identified 182 potential recycling sites as inputs to its solar photovoltaic waste plan. The proposed facilities would need collection systems and a viable business model to operate. The plan therefore also considers producer take-back, deposit refunds and financial support — recognising that locating recycling sites alone will not ensure panels are recovered and processed.
What Is Decentralised Renewable Energy?
Decentralised renewable energy is generated near where it is used, rather than supplied solely by a large power plant through the grid. In this programme, examples include solar pumps for irrigation and solar-powered equipment for rural businesses.
The India results point to three different tests for public policy: whether women retain control over productive assets and income; whether coal-district plans lead to durable livelihoods; and whether solar recycling becomes operational before waste volumes rise. Each requires more than installing equipment or publishing a plan.
State Rural Livelihood Missions and financial institutions have a potential route to expand solar-powered enterprises through existing programmes. Evidence on equipment uptime, affordable finance, repeat orders and women’s control over business decisions would show whether the model remains useful after project support ends. For transition and recycling plans, the corresponding evidence is investment, functioning facilities and sustained employment—not proposed sites or identified opportunities alone.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: Which parts of the solar-livelihood model can State programmes sustain, and what evidence would show that the plans for coal-dependent districts and solar-panel recycling are moving into operation?
Follow the Full Report Here: UNDP, Pathways to Climate Resilience: From Local Action to Global Impact
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Bangladesh is renegotiating PPAs with solar developers that signed high tariffs years ago but never built their plants, prompting investor warnings about contract risk.
A government committee formed in April has already held talks with several project owners and is scheduled to meet two more on Oct. 27 and Oct. 29, with the aim of lowering tariffs agreed when project and equipment costs were higher.
The projects were approved under the Quick Enhancement of Electricity and Energy Supply (Special Provisions) Act, 2010, during the previous government’s tenure. Most were approved on the basis of unsolicited proposals from investors and have not been completed despite repeated extensions of their approvals.
Government officials said the PPAs were signed at high tariffs that reflected project and financing costs at the time. Construction costs and solar equipment prices have since fallen significantly, they said, so the projects’ tariffs should be brought in line with current rates for other projects.
Committee Chairman Mahfuzar Rahman, a joint secretary at the power division of Bangladesh’s Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, said the government is revisiting existing contracts with projects that failed to come online on time.
“Actually, we need to check the issues involving their power tariff and implementation delays and revisit them,” Rahman said. He said the government will act on the outcome of the review.
Project owners and private investors have raised concerns about the renegotiation. They said the government’s concern over utility-scale solar projects that signed PPAs and implementation agreements several years ago but have made limited progress is understandable. However, they said projects should be held to their contractual milestones, and investors that fail to perform should face the remedies already set out in their project agreements rather than tariff changes.
The investors said the tariff is a fundamental assumption behind an independent power producer’s financial model, debt sizing, lender due diligence and equity investment decision. If investors and lenders perceive that agreed tariffs can be revisited after signing, they said, it adds a further layer of contractual and regulatory risk to the market. For long-delayed or non-performing projects, they called for a transparent, project-specific review based on the obligations and remedies in each project’s agreements.
Mostafa Al Mahmud, president of the Bangladesh Sustainable and Renewable Energy Association, said tariffs for projects that have failed to make progress can be renegotiated, but that renegotiating tariffs for projects at an advanced stage of construction is not acceptable.
“Any such steps will lower the confidence of investors in Bangladesh which require substantial domestic and international investment to achieve renewable energy ambitions,” said Mahmud.
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The solarization project at SOS Children’s Village Lekenik, located between Zagreb and Sisak, was launched on the idea that a solar power plant represents a solution leading towards energy independence and the long-term financial sustainability of the village, according to the Green Energy Cooperative (Zelena Energetska Zadruga – ZEZ), which is implementing the project.
In the second phase, solar panels with a capacity of 250 kW were installed on the roofs of all fifteen family houses where SOS mothers and children live.
At 350 kW in total installed capacity, the solar power plant is the largest among SOS children’s villages in this part of Europe, ZEZ claims.
Annual savings to reach EUR 38,000
Before the implementation of the project, annual energy bills at SOS Children’s Village Lekenik were above EUR 80,000.
With the completion of the second phase, annual savings generated from the electricity consumed on-site and the surplus delivered to the supplier amount to around EUR 38,000, according to ZEZ.
Over the solar system’s minimum lifespan of 25 years, expected savings are estimated at EUR 1.17 million.
A model for other communities in Croatia and the region
The solarization of SOS Children’s Village shows that this is much more than an energy or environmental project. It is also a powerful financial sustainability mechanism for non-profit organisations, ZEZ stressed.
The project also combines social care, energy transition, and local development, serving as a model for other communities in Croatia and the region.
According to Mario Čović, Director of SOS Children’s Village Lekenik, with the completion of the solarization project, the village has taken an important step towards its long-term sustainability.
“We are particularly pleased that the achieved savings will be invested in children, including education, foreign language learning, summer holidays, sports and creative activities that enrich their upbringing. This project demonstrates how investing in renewable energy sources can deliver concrete benefits for both the environment and the community,” Čović explained.
He thanked all partners who recognised this vision.
Project implementation would not have been possible without partner and donor cooperation
The implementation of the project would not have been possible without the cooperation of partners and donors: SOS Children’s Village Croatia, Raiffeisen Bank, ZEZ, Kufner Group, and Biomasa Group. They donated a total of EUR 340,000 for the photovoltaic plant.
The project was led by ZEZ’s expert team in cooperation with partners and SOS Children’s Village Croatia.
“We are proud to have demonstrated that our team can deliver large-scale projects, coordinate partners, and handle everything from the initial idea to putting the facility into operation. Such projects simultaneously contribute to the environment, deliver concrete savings to beneficiaries in the SOS Children’s Village, and bring value to the local community as well as to the ESG goals of partners. In a time of climate crisis and volatile energy prices, together we are sending a message that energy should be renewable and produced locally, for the benefit of society and the community,” ZEZ manager Zoran Kordić underscored.
Keserić: Sustainability must be felt in real life
President of the Management Board of Raiffeisen Bank Liana Keserić stressed that it believes sustainability makes no sense if it remains solely on paper. It must be felt in real life, in her view.
The green transition is therefore not merely part of the bank’s business strategy, but an opportunity to support projects through partnerships that create a safer and higher-quality future, she added.
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Standard Solar, a Rockville, Maryland-based developer, owner and operator of commercial and community solar projects, has acquired a 13-project community solar portfolio totaling approximately 43.3 megawatts (MW) from Trajectory Energy Partners, expanding its renewable energy investments across Illinois.
The acquisition includes the Tallgrass Portfolio, a collection of solar projects developed by Trajectory Energy Partners across northern, central and southern Illinois. Standard Solar will oversee construction and retain long-term ownership and operational responsibility for the facilities.
The projects are expected to begin commercial operations in phases starting in 2027, with additional facilities scheduled to become operational through 2028.
Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
The acquisition strengthens Standard Solar’s presence in Illinois, where state-supported community solar programs have created opportunities for developers and investors to expand renewable electricity generation without requiring customers to install solar equipment on their properties.
The 13 projects range in capacity from approximately 2.4 MW to 6.6 MW and are located in communities including Lincoln, Du Quoin, Marengo, Poplar Grove, Rockford, Loves Park and Richton Park.
The portfolio includes Red Bird West, Red Bird East and Stovepipe West in Lincoln; Stovepipe East in Logan County; and Hawk Haven in the Village of Loves Park.
Additional projects include Grannys Creek North, Grannys Creek South and H and R North in Du Quoin; Lanceleaf in Marengo; Prairie North in Poplar Grove; Blue Aster and Fox Sparrow in Rockford; and Barn Owl in the Village of Richton Park.
Together, the facilities will add approximately 43.3 MW of community solar generation capacity to the Illinois market once construction and commissioning are completed.
“Trajectory has done the hard work required to bring a portfolio of this scale forward across multiple Illinois communities,” said Harry Benson, director of business development at Standard Solar.
“These are exactly the kinds of strong, well-developed projects we want to add to our portfolio.”
Benson said Standard Solar will contribute financing resources, previously secured solar panel inventory, construction execution capabilities and its long-term ownership model to move the projects toward commercial operation.
The transaction reflects a development structure in which one company advances solar projects through early-stage planning and local engagement before transferring them to an owner-operator with the capital and operational resources needed to complete construction.
Trajectory Energy Partners was responsible for developing the Tallgrass Portfolio, including establishing relationships with participating communities and landowners and navigating the early stages of project development.
Standard Solar will assume responsibility for bringing the projects through construction and managing their operations over the longer term.
“From the beginning, our approach has been to develop projects that work for the communities and landowners hosting them,” said Jon Carson, founder and managing partner of Trajectory Energy Partners.
“The Tallgrass projects reflect that approach and the years of building strong local partnerships to successfully navigate the complexities of early-stage development.”
Carson said Standard Solar’s financial and operational resources will support the portfolio’s transition from development into construction and electricity generation.
Once operational, the projects will participate in Illinois’ community solar market, allowing residential and commercial subscribers to receive benefits associated with electricity generated by shared solar facilities.
Community solar arrangements provide an alternative for customers who cannot install rooftop panels because of property ownership restrictions, building conditions or other limitations.
Subscribers typically participate through allocations of electricity production from an off-site solar project, with corresponding credits applied through their utility billing arrangements.
The Tallgrass Portfolio is also expected to generate economic benefits for participating landowners and host communities through long-term project operations.
For Standard Solar, the acquisition adds to an existing national portfolio of commercial and community solar assets.
The company owns and operates more than 500 MW of solar capacity across the United States and has approximately two decades of experience developing, financing and managing renewable energy projects.
Its business model combines project development, acquisition financing, construction execution and long-term asset ownership.
Standard Solar also uses in-house investment resources and tax equity capital to support commercial and community solar projects serving businesses, institutions, agricultural operations, governments and utilities.
The company is a portfolio business of Brookfield, the global investment firm with operations across infrastructure, renewable power and other asset classes.
Trajectory Energy Partners, which was founded in Illinois, develops solar and energy storage projects in partnership with landowners, communities and other organizations.
Its development activities focus on identifying suitable project locations, coordinating with local stakeholders and advancing renewable energy projects toward construction readiness.
The Tallgrass transaction provides Trajectory with an opportunity to transfer a developed portfolio to an established owner-operator while enabling Standard Solar to expand its Illinois project pipeline.
With commercial operations scheduled to begin in 2027 and continue into 2028, the acquisition positions Standard Solar to increase its community solar capacity in Illinois through a geographically diversified group of projects.
The transaction also extends the company’s long-term investment in distributed renewable energy infrastructure as demand for community solar participation continues to support project development across the state.
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As per the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, India’s installed solar capacity reached 171.05 GW on 30 September 2026. As the country continues to scale its clean energy infrastructure, the next challenge will be to ensure that this capacity provides reliable power for decades to come. The industry’s success will gradually depend not just on how quickly solar projects are built, but on the quality of the assets being installed.
For developers and investors, durability has direct financial implications. Since solar PV installations are generally designed to operate for 25 years, long-term reliability and warranty coverage are essential. Ensuring that modules are manufactured at the facilities declared by producers is equally important for verifying product authenticity, protecting consumer interests and safeguarding India’s energy security. While lower purchase prices can improve initial project economics, consistent quality and dependable performance remain critical to protecting returns over a plant’s operating life
The real cost of a solar module
A module’s purchase price represents only one part of its overall cost. Its long-term performance affects power generation, project income, and ROI. Over the lifetime of a solar power plant, cumulative generation can be impacted by slight variations in annual degradation, or a slow reduction in power output.
Indian installations face diverse conditions, from intense summer heat and dust to humidity, heavy rainfall and strong winds. These constantly apply pressure on the glass, encapsulants, frames and electrical connections of the modules. If manufacturing processes or materials are modified to cut costs, failures may not appear for years after installation when repairs and replacements can be more expensive.
Recent industry reporting has highlighted concerns about the mechanical durability of solar modules. In the second quarter of 2025, mechanical stress sequence testing detected glass breakage in around one-third of the modules that were tested. Even though these laboratory results did not represent failure rates across the wider market, they did stress upon structural reliability. Thinner glass, bigger module formats and minimised safety margins could increase durability risks, making material quality and component compatibility central considerations along with efficiency ratings.
Quality begins on the production line
The life of a module is affected by many elements such as the quality of the manufacturing, how it is transported, installed and used. But production is where the basis for long-term reliability is built. Consistent raw material quality, controlled lamination, reliable sealing and meticulous assembly provide structural integrity. Thus, quality control must be applied during the making process and not just at final inspection.
High production standards can go hand-in-hand with competitive price. Manufacturers can control costs without sacrificing product quality by increasing production yields, minimising waste of materials, automating key operations and tightening supplier audits. Traceability also helps to identify defects before products reach customers.
India’s regulatory system is a crucial basis for quality assurance. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) specifies approved models and manufacturers for certain project categories. Applicable quality control criteria also help in conformity to Indian Standards. Compliance, however, is simply the beginning. Independent testing, documented quality checks and unambiguous certification records help to establish product reliability. Developers should evaluate long-term project risks by considering test reports, supplier credentials, warranty conditions and traceability.
Efficiency must come together with reliability
The adoption of advanced cell technologies such as N-type Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon), is also adding another aspect to module selection. The higher conversion efficiency implies that more power can be generated from a given area, making the technology suited for large solar parks and installations where space is at a premium. It may also have benefits on temperature performance and degradation rates depending on the module design.
However, higher efficiency at the time of purchase does not automatically translate into effective long-term returns. The extended value of TOPCon technology depends on how well a module maintains its power output over time. Developers should thus measure the expected energy yield and degradation alongside initial power ratings when estimating a project’s economics.
For manufacturers, that means looking at technology not just for what the output will be when it’s new, but what value it can maintain over time. Improvements in cell architecture must translate into dependable generation under real operating conditions. Ultimately, efficiency creates lasting value when it helps a solar plant maintain higher energy output with consistent performance.
A better way to measure value
As India’s solar industry matures, manufacturing competitiveness will depend on consistent quality, sustained energy generation and competitive lifecycle costs, not just capacity additions and module prices.
India’s Panchamrit commitments which include 500 GW of non-fossil fuel-based energy capacity by 2030 and net-zero emissions by 2070, point to the extent of its clean-energy ambitions. Simultaneously, the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is supporting wider rooftop solar adoption. Meeting these aspirations demand durable solar assets that keep performance losses down, manage maintenance costs and offer reliable power for decades. Long-term durability will be essential to making solar energy affordable and reliable.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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Chinese solar module manufacturer JinkoSolar has unveiled a 510 W all-black residential solar panel based on its newly introduced TOPCon-based Amorphous-Si Passivating Cell (TAC) technology, which combines TOPCon electron-selective contacts, amorphous silicon heterojunction passivation and a back-contact electrode architecture.
The JKM485–510T series targets premium residential applications, including villas and homes with limited rooftop space, where power density, aesthetics and long-term reliability are key considerations.
The company said the 48-cell Tiger Neo 5.0 module has a maximum power conversion efficiency of 25.52% and a monofacial, dual-glass design. It measures 1,762 mm × 1,134 mm × 30 mm, weighs 22 kg and offers a maximum power density of approximately 255 W/m².
JinkoSolar said it has integrated several technologies to increase module power density and improve aesthetics. Its Gapless Cell Array (GCA) technology eliminates conventional gaps between cells, while concealed interconnections and busbars reduce inactive areas. According to the company, the design increases the effective light-receiving area by approximately 2%, resulting in an additional 10 W of module output.
The module also features Uniform Matrix Interconnection (UMI) technology, which replaces conventional printed main busbars with distributed electrical connections. JinkoSolar said the architecture shortens current paths, reduces resistive losses and enables interconnection processes that place less mechanical stress on the cells.
For improved aesthetics, the manufacturer has incorporated its All Consistent Color (ACC) technology, which combines precise control of coating thickness and refractive index with AI-assisted cell sorting. The process is designed to minimize visible color variations between cells, encapsulation materials and the frame, resulting in a more uniform black appearance.
The panel also uses Full-Spectrum Light Trapping (FLT) technology, combining surface texturing, antireflective coatings and rear-side reflection to improve light utilization under oblique sunlight and low-irradiance conditions.
The module features a power temperature coefficient of -0.24%/C, compared with approximately -0.26%/C for JinkoSolar’s previous TOPCon products. The manufacturer also claims the new panel delivers around 30 W more power than conventional back-contact modules of comparable dimensions.
For reliability, JinkoSolar has integrated a Perimeter Moisture Barrier (PMB) featuring butyl-based edge sealing to reduce moisture ingress and the associated risk of corrosion. The module also incorporates an optimized current-shunting design intended to limit power losses and reduce hot-spot risks under partial shading.
JinkoSolar offers a 40-year product warranty and a 40-year linear power output warranty for the module, according to its technical documentation.
“Our vision for Tiger Neo 5.0 was to develop a panel tailored to premium residential rooftops,” said JinkoSolar CEO Charlie Cao.
The new residential panel expands JinkoSolar’s Tiger Neo 5.0 portfolio, which includes larger-format TOPCon modules introduced in June 2026, with power outputs exceeding 700 W and efficiencies of up to 25.91%.
JinkoSolar has identified Europe and Australia as target markets for residential applications. The company has not yet disclosed commercial availability, pricing or production volumes for the new TAC-based module.
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