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Thailand’s Ministry of Industry is promoting the creation of specialized industrial zones for recycling solar panels and electric vehicle batteries. The initiative is intended to help the country cope with growing volumes of such waste and strengthen control over the disposal of hazardous industrial materials, Bangkok Post reports.
Industry Minister Varawut Silpa-archa said that solar panels installed about ten years ago could begin turning into significant volumes of waste within the next one or two years. According to him, the average service life of such panels is about 15 years.
The ministry proposes concentrating recycling enterprises and hazardous waste disposal facilities in controlled zones. They are to be equipped with centralized wastewater treatment systems and round-the-clock monitoring.
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The ministry also identifies electric vehicle batteries reaching the end of their service life as a separate problem. Some used batteries can be reused in energy storage systems, but damaged or degraded batteries must be properly disposed of due to their possible content of hazardous substances.
Thai authorities are also reviewing the Factory Act and other regulations governing industrial waste in order to increase penalties for illegal dumping. As the minister noted, current laws, some of which are 40–50 years old, provide for fines of no more than 200,000 baht, potentially making illegal disposal cheaper than proper waste management.
The ministry is cooperating with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Department of Special Investigation, and the Customs Department. Possible measures include fines of up to tens of millions of baht, tracking offenders’ financial transactions, and confiscating their assets.
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India overtook the United States (US) to become the largest market for new solar capacity additions outside China in 2025, driven by strong growth in rooftop solar. This would have been unthinkable before PMSuryaghar came into the picture, and perhaps, credit needs to be given where due to the government for ensuring that the scheme has largely delivered on key objectives. Almost 6 million households have availed of the scheme so far.  
According to a latest BloombergNEF (BNEF) report, subsidies and support for decentralised agrivoltaic projects (Mostly PMKUSUM) have contributed to this growth, while the co-location of energy storage systems (ESS) with solar projects can improve project economics by shifting electricity supply to evening peak-demand hours.
Rooftop solar emerged as India’s fastest-growing solar segment, supported by capital expenditure subsidies. Government assistance has also extended to the relatively small segment of decentralised agrivoltaic (agro-PV) projects. Meanwhile, co-locating energy storage with solar projects can improve project economics by shifting electricity generation to evening peak-demand hours.
India added 51 GW (direct current, DC) of solar capacity in 2025, surpassing its previous record set in 2024 by 55%. The country has increased its annual solar additions every year since 2023. BNEF expects India to add another 52 GW (DC) in 2026, allowing it to retain its position as the world’s second-largest solar market this year.
India also recorded a major milestone in wind power deployment, overtaking the US and Germany to become the world’s second-largest wind market in 2025, according to BNEF.
Record additions of 6.3 GW lifted India from fifth place in 2024. The 2025 additions were nearly double the previous year’s total and approximately 50% higher than the previous record set in 2017. The surge included projects that had previously been delayed by land acquisition and grid connectivity challenges.
The acceleration in wind deployment is significant for India’s increasingly solar-heavy power system. Rapid solar capacity additions have pushed daytime electricity prices close to zero on several occasions. Wind power can help diversify renewable generation beyond daylight hours, with wind projects generally performing particularly well during the windier monsoon season.

BNEF projects that India will become the world’s third-largest market for energy storage projects by 2030, excluding pumped hydro storage. Cumulative energy storage capacity is expected to reach 45 GW/138 gigawatt-hours (GWh) by the end of the decade.
Standalone storage auctions have gained momentum with support from federal government subsidies. Under the government’s latest policy revision, viability gap funding (VGF)—a subsidy that covers part of a project’s upfront cost—provides assistance of ₹18 lakh ($18,700) per megawatt-hour. This covers approximately 15%–20% of project capital expenditure.

Government-organised, multi-technology renewable energy auctions increasingly require developers to supply firm, or assured, electricity. This has encouraged power producers to combine renewable energy generation with storage when bidding for contracts.
India has the world’s lowest levelised cost of electricity (LCOE) for utility-scale solar projects, according to BNEF. A significant share of these projects is located in Rajasthan and Gujarat, where clear, sunny weather supports solar generation for much of the year.
The government has also developed numerous solar parks in these states, providing developers with large tracts of flat, contiguous land for project development.

Standalone solar and wind have been India’s cheapest sources of new bulk power generation since 2018, based on BNEF’s LCOE estimates.
In the second half of 2025, the LCOE of Indian solar and wind projects paired with four-hour battery energy storage systems (BESS) fell below that of coal-fired power plants for the first time under BNEF’s mid-case scenario.
Declining battery prices have been a key factor behind this shift. BNEF forecasts that turnkey costs for a four-hour energy storage system could fall to $48 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in China by 2030, from $62/kWh in 2025. In Europe, costs are projected to decline to $125/kWh from $172/kWh over the same period.
These global declines in battery costs are likely to exert downward pressure on storage costs in India as well. The LCOE of renewable energy systems paired with storage could fall further as developers gain experience from India’s first projects and benefit from improved project execution.
Corporations operating in India signed approximately 2.3 GW of clean power purchase agreements (PPAs) in 2026 through September, making India the largest market in the Asia-Pacific region for such deals during the calendar year.
Meanwhile, the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) is tightening deviation settlement mechanism (DSM) rules for renewable energy generators to support grid stability as the share of intermittent generation increases.
In 2025, wind and solar accounted for 16% of India’s electricity generation. Their combined share could rise to 41% by 2035 under BNEF’s economics-led scenario.
Power grids are another major investment area as India expands and upgrades its electricity network to accommodate rising power demand and electrification.
Investment in new connections and grid assets, alongside the reinforcement of the existing network, is expected to average $53 billion annually through 2050.
Renewable energy and storage will require a further $1.5 trillion in investment over the same period. Solar and wind are expected to account for approximately $500 billion each.
Renewable energy assets are projected to attract an average of $40 billion annually through 2050, while energy storage is expected to draw a further $19 billion a year.
Government subsidies have also supported the expansion of standalone energy storage auctions in India. Under the viability gap funding mechanism, eligible projects receive assistance of approximately ₹18 lakh ($18,700) per MWh to cover part of their upfront costs.
The support is designed to cover roughly 15%–20% of project capital expenditure, improving project viability and encouraging investment in standalone storage capacity.
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Following an initial package of measures announced in April, French government spokesperson Maud Bregeon has unveiled additional initiatives aimed at accelerating the electrification of the economy and improving electricity demand flexibility.
The government identified significant untapped potential in the residential sector, particularly through smart management of heating, domestic hot water and electric vehicle (EV) charging. It estimates that these measures could reduce associated energy costs by up to 35%.
To unlock this potential, the government plans to make subsidies for heat pumps conditional on smart-control capabilities from 2027. Households installing such systems could save between €150 ($168.8) and €200 annually.
For EV charging infrastructure, the government intends to work with industry stakeholders to ensure that smart-control functions are enabled by default in new installations. Options under consideration include connecting charging stations to Linky, France’s nationwide smart electricity metering system, or introducing connectivity solutions that automatically schedule charging during off-peak hours. These measures could save households between €70 and €100 per year.
The government also plans to introduce flexibility requirements for industrial energy metering systems.
The plan calls for greater use of Linky smart meters to manage household electricity consumption. Although the meters already support applications such as automated domestic hot water heating, many of their capabilities remain underused. The government intends to encourage their integration with residential energy management systems to improve demand flexibility.
Another measure targets grid connections for solar photovoltaic installations combined with battery energy storage systems. By the end of 2026, the government plans to allow projects with installed capacity of up to 25 MW to benefit from an exemption from the current 17 MW connection limit, provided their maximum power injection into the grid does not exceed 17 MW.
The measure is intended to facilitate grid connections for hybrid renewable energy projects, particularly solar-plus-storage installations, without increasing their maximum permitted grid injection.
France’s energy regulator, the Commission de Régulation de l’Énergie (CRE), has also outlined plans to encourage electricity consumption during periods of high solar generation.
New electricity supply products are being tested for potential commercialization through EDF Obligation d’Achat (EDF OA), the division of state-owned utility EDF responsible for purchasing electricity under France’s renewable energy support schemes.
The products would reflect the typical daily solar generation profile, with output peaking around midday before declining in the late afternoon. The aim is to encourage electricity suppliers to offer tariffs that incentivize consumers to shift demand to periods of abundant, lower-cost solar generation.
Several French energy companies and industry associations have also announced commitments to expand electricity demand flexibility by 2030.
Gimelec, a French trade association representing electrical equipment, automation and digital energy technology companies, aims to mobilize 6 GW of flexibility in commercial and service-sector buildings. It plans to support the installation of energy control and management systems in 50% of existing facilities.
EDF aims to introduce remote-control systems for energy-intensive equipment in five million customer households by 2030, targeting heating, domestic hot water, heat pumps and EV charging. The utility plans to use its EDF & Moi customer app to connect and manage these devices, positioning the platform as a household energy management tool.
French independent power producer Neoen has committed to deploying 1 GW of flexibility capacity by 2030.
Meanwhile, French energy storage and flexibility provider NW Group plans to invest €1 billion by 2030 to add 1.5 GW of capacity to its electricity flexibility platform in France. The company also intends to open the platform to industrial and residential consumers seeking to generate revenue from flexible electricity consumption.
Octopus Energy France has pledged to manage 1.5 million connected devices by 2030, representing an estimated 5 GW to 6 GW of flexible capacity.
The company expects the initiative to deliver €100 million in financial benefits to households and support the deployment of 15,000 remotely controllable heat pumps. It could also underpin a €150 million investment in a heat pump manufacturing facility, subject to the targeted deployment volumes being achieved.
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Residents urge Ottawa County board to intervene in fight over 1,900-acre solar farm  MLive.com
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The India solar industry is currently navigating a dual challenge: a rapid surge in infrastructure investment and a persistent workforce readiness gap. According to the latest Mercom India report, ‘Bridging India’s Solar Talent Gap,’ employers across the utility-scale, manufacturing, and rooftop segments are struggling with fresh graduates who require extensive on-the-job training. This skills deficit threatens to slow the momentum of India’s ambitious renewable energy targets.
To support the evacuation of 135 GW of renewable energy, the Union Cabinet has earmarked ₹60 billion (~$631.11 million) for viability gap funding to deploy 50 GWh of battery energy storage systems (BESS) under the Green Energy Corridor (GEC) Phase-III program. Complementing this, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has updated its Manual on Transmission Planning Criteria to include ultra-high-voltage AC systems and refined modeling for BESS and HVDC infrastructure. Furthermore, the CERC has adopted tariffs for 1.8 GW of wind power projects, with rates ranging between ₹3.67/kWh and ₹3.69/kWh, while UPERC approved PPAs for 19.7 MW of solar capacity under the PM-KUSUM scheme at rates between ₹2.91/kWh and ₹2.99/kWh.
For EPC contractors and project developers, these developments signal a shift toward more complex, storage-integrated projects. The talent gap implies that firms must invest more heavily in internal training programs or partnerships with technical institutions to ensure project execution quality. Simultaneously, the focus on data center green power procurement—backed by NITI Aayog’s push for model green tariffs—opens a lucrative new C&I market segment for developers capable of providing round-the-clock (RTC) renewable energy solutions.
The industry is awaiting the finalization of model green tariff and banking principles for data centers. Additionally, the MNRE’s search for an expert institution to support the National Hydrogen Safety Panel marks a critical step in scaling the green hydrogen economy. As India continues to integrate large-scale storage and modernize its grid, the ability of developers to navigate these regulatory shifts while managing a skilled workforce will determine their competitive edge in the broader India renewable energy sector.
Aditya Pathre is the Founder of MVApulse and covers India’s renewable energy sector, including solar, wind, battery energy storage systems (BESS), green hydrogen, transmission infrastructure, renewable energy policy and competitive bidding. His reporting focuses on project developments, market trends, government policies and energy transition across India.
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Neem-grown silver nanoparticles supercharge solar cells with a 54.7% efficiency leap
Dye-sensitized solar cells have long been the scrappy underdogs of the photovoltaics world: cheap, colorful, and able to generate electricity even in diffuse indoor light, yet held back by efficiency numbers that pale next to silicon. Now a team of researchers in India reports a photoanode makeover that pushes these devices significantly closer to the big leagues, using a green synthesis route that starts with something most people would never associate with advanced materials: neem leaves. The work, published in the journal Ionics, describes silver-decorated titanium oxynitride photoanodes that lifted the power conversion efficiency of quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells by roughly 54.7 percent compared with the unmodified material under identical conditions.
The device at the heart of the study is a quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell, a variant of the classic Grätzel architecture in which the liquid electrolyte is replaced by a gel-like medium. This substitution matters enormously for real-world deployment. Conventional liquid-electrolyte cells suffer from evaporation, leakage, and temperature instability, which have prevented them from leaving the laboratory in large numbers. Quasi-solid-state designs sidestep those failure modes, but they introduce their own challenge: the gel electrolyte conducts ions more sluggishly than a liquid, so every component of the cell must work harder to keep electrons and ions moving. That makes the photoanode, the workhorse electrode where sunlight is first converted into separated charge, a prime target for optimization.
The photoanode in question is based on TiON₀.₅S₀.₂₅, a titanium oxynitride in which nitrogen and sulfur are incorporated into the titanium dioxide lattice. Pristine TiO₂ is a superb electron transporter but a poor absorber of visible light, because its wide band gap only lets ultraviolet photons through. Doping with nitrogen and sulfur introduces additional electronic states that narrow the effective band gap and extend absorption into the visible spectrum, where most of the Sun’s energy resides. The researchers synthesized this material using a green route based on neem extract, which acts as a natural reducing and stabilizing agent, avoiding the harsh chemicals that conventional synthesis typically demands.
On top of the N, S-modified framework, the team decorated the surface with silver nanoparticles, tuning the loading until they found the sweet spot at 1.9 percent silver by weight. Structural analyses confirmed that the anatase phase of TiO₂ was preserved throughout the process, which is crucial because anatase is the crystalline form that performs best in dye-sensitized solar cells. Interestingly, adding silver actually reduced the crystallite size from 34.52 to 27.90 nanometers while increasing the specific surface area from 52.4 to 66.3 square meters per gram. Smaller crystals with more surface area mean more sites for dye molecules to anchor, more interfaces for charge to cross, and more opportunities for photons to be captured.
Field-emission scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed a porous nanostructure with well-dispersed silver nanoparticles, exactly the morphology a high-performing photoanode needs. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, a technique that probes the chemical states of surface atoms, confirmed the presence of nitrogen- and sulfur-containing species together with metallic silver on the surface. This combination is significant: the N and S dopants modify the electronic structure of the TiO₂, while the metallic Ag nanoparticles act as tiny plasmonic antennas that concentrate light and shuttle electrons across interfaces.
Optical studies showed that the Ag-loaded material absorbed significantly more visible light than the pristine version, and photoluminescence measurements revealed a reduced emission intensity, suggesting that excited electrons were being separated more efficiently rather than recombining and releasing their energy as light. In a solar cell, recombination is the enemy: it wastes the energy that photons deliver before that energy can be harvested as electricity. Suppressing recombination is therefore one of the most direct routes to higher efficiency.
Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and transient photocurrent analysis provided further evidence that the silver decoration was doing its job. The Ag-loaded photoanodes showed lower charge-transfer resistance, meaning electrons could cross interfaces more easily, and a longer electron lifetime, meaning electrons survived longer before being lost to recombination. Together, these measurements paint a picture of a photoanode in which light harvesting, charge separation, and charge transport have all been improved simultaneously, a rare trifecta in materials engineering.
When the team assembled complete quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells using the optimized Ag(1.9%)/TiON₀.₅S₀.₂₅ photoanode, the devices achieved a power conversion efficiency of 6.56 ± 0.09 percent, an improvement of approximately 54.7 percent over the pristine TiON₀.₅S₀.₂₅ device under identical conditions. While 6.56 percent may sound modest next to the 26 percent achieved by state-of-the-art silicon, the comparison is not really fair: dye-sensitized cells are cheaper to manufacture, work well in low light, and can be made flexible and semi-transparent. In those niches, even a 54.7 percent relative improvement is a meaningful step forward.
The researchers attribute the enhanced performance to three factors working in concert: improved light harvesting thanks to the plasmonic and dopant effects, increased surface area from the smaller crystallites, and facilitated interfacial charge transport thanks to the well-dispersed silver nanoparticles. What makes the result particularly compelling is the green synthesis route. Neem extract, a renewable and widely available plant material, replaces the toxic reducing agents that conventional nanoparticle synthesis typically requires, aligning the manufacturing process with the sustainability goals that motivate solar energy in the first place.
The study, led by D. Shiney Manoj and colleagues with corresponding author P. Ram Kumar at Thiagarajar College of Engineering in Madurai, was supported by a Seed Money Research Grant from the institution. As the world searches for photovoltaic technologies that can be deployed beyond the rooftop silicon panel, quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells decorated with plant-grown silver nanoparticles offer a glimpse of what sustainable energy innovation can look like when green chemistry and advanced materials engineering meet.
Subject of Research: Materials Science
Article Title: Green-synthesized Ag-decorated N, S-modified TiO₂ photoanodes for quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells
Article References: Manoj, D. S., Seema, A., Ramasubbu, V., Nichelson, A., Jiji, G., & Kumar, P. R. (2026). Green-synthesized Ag-decorated N, S-modified TiO₂ photoanodes for quasi-solid-state dye-sensitized solar cells. Ionics. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-026-07579-9
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s11581-026-07579-9
Keywords: dye-sensitized solar cells, titanium oxynitride, green synthesis, neem extract, silver nanoparticles, quasi-solid-state electrolyte, photovoltaics, plasmonic effect, Green-synthesized, Ag-decorated, S-modified, photoanodes
News Source: Denise Maddox. (October 17, 2026). Neem-grown silver nanoparticles supercharge solar cells with a 54.7% efficiency leap. Scienmag.
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Fujiyama Power Systems expanded its manufacturing operations by commissioning a 2 GW power electronics plant in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, in August 2026, serving India’s solar and power electronics markets.
New Delhi [India], October 16: Fujiyama Power Systems Ltd, which began as an inverter and UPS manufacturer nearly three decades ago, is expanding its manufacturing footprint as it builds on its position in India’s power electronics and rooftop solar markets. The company, which sells solar solutions under the UTL Solar and Fujiyama Solar brands, commissioned a 2 GW power electronics plant in Ratlam, Madhya Pradesh, in August 2026.
The facility manufactures solar inverters, UPS systems and related products, taking Fujiyama’s total power electronics manufacturing capacity to approximately 4.2 GW. This represents more than seven times the 567 MW capacity recorded in March 2023.
The business began in 1996 with the establishment of UTL Electronics by Pawan Kumar Garg and Yogesh Dua to manufacture power backup products. Fujiyama Power Systems Ltd was incorporated in 2017. In 2000, the company developed what it describes as India’s first single-card surface-mount technology (SMT)-based inverter, followed by innovations in UPS systems and solar power conditioning units (PCUs). It entered solar PCU manufacturing in 2012.
1 October 2026
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The company’s engineering-led approach continues to underpin its product development, supported by 60+ R&D engineers and scientists at its Delhi facility.
The Ratlam complex also houses a 2 GW solar panel line. Next in the expansion plan are lithium-ion battery capacity of 3 GWh and solar cell manufacturing of 1.2 GW, extending the company’s reach across the rooftop solar value chain.
Fujiyama makes the key inverter components in-house, including transformers, inductors, heat sinks, metal cabinets and circuit boards. This gives it tighter control over design, quality and cost, and less dependence on imported inverter kits.
Fujiyama sold 4.5 lakh inverters in FY26 and 1.4 million units over the past five financial years, primarily serving customers in tier-2 and tier-3 markets. Its product portfolio spans off-grid inverters from 0.6 kVA to 20 kVA, on-grid inverters from 1 kW to 136 kW, hybrid inverters up to 50 kVA and online UPS systems up to 120 kVA.
Fujiyama holds five patents, including one for its rMPPT solar technology, with four more awaiting grant. Its in-house R&D team of 60+ engineers drives product development, supported by a direct feedback loop from over 900 trained service engineers across 25 states. This field input keeps product design anchored to customer needs and real-world performance.
“We started as a power electronics company, and the inverter is still the heart of what we do. In 2000 we built India’s first single-card SMT inverter. Today our inverters power rooftop solar systems across the country. With Ratlam, our power electronics capacity has grown more than seven times in about three years, to 4.2 GW a year.
Our strategy is simple: design in-house, make in India and reach the customer directly. More than 1.4 million families, mostly in tier-2 and tier-3 towns, already rely on our inverters. As PM Surya Ghar takes rooftop solar to millions of homes, we want that demand to be met with Indian-designed, Indian-made products,” said Pawan Kumar Garg, Chairman and Joint Managing Director, Fujiyama Power Systems Ltd.
In FY26, revenue increased 72.3% to ₹2,654.5 crore, while net profit rose 94.5% to ₹304.1 crore. As of June 30, 2026, the company had more than 10,100 channel partners, supporting its reach across residential and small-business markets. It also exports to 10 countries.
The company’s growth comes amid the expansion of India’s rooftop solar sector. The PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana is supporting residential solar adoption, creating opportunities for domestic manufacturers of inverters, panels and associated equipment. Fujiyama is an empanelled national supplier under the programme.
As demand for rooftop solar solutions grows, the company’s focus on in-house engineering, domestic manufacturing and distribution reach will shape its efforts to expand in the inverter segment and strengthen its position across India’s wider clean energy market.
About Fujiyama Power Systems Ltd
With business roots dating back to 1996, Fujiyama Power Systems Ltd was incorporated in 2017 and is an Indian power electronics and energy solutions company operating under the UTL Solar and Fujiyama Solar brands. Its product portfolio includes solar inverters, PCUs, UPS systems, chargers, solar cells, solar panels, and lithium-ion and tubular batteries.
The company operates manufacturing facilities across Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh. Its manufacturing capabilities include approximately 4.2 GW of power electronics, 3.6 GW of solar panels and 1 GW of solar cells. It is supported by 60+ R&D engineers, over 900 service engineers and a channel network of more than 10,100 partners. The company has supplied 1.4 million inverters over the past five financial years and exports to 10 countries.
Disclaimer: This article is published via a syndicated feed. The content has not been independently verified by Outlook Business, and all views expressed are those of the syndicate. Readers are advised to use their discretion.
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NY rejects Hudson Valley solar farm opposed by Trump administration  Lohud
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GES, a Spain-based renewable energy EPC contractor, has won four EPC contracts to build twelve solar PV plants in Aragon and the Valencia region of Spain. Together, the plants will have a capacity of 583.41 MW, and the contracts are worth €225 million (~ $252.34 million). Three of the contracts have come from new clients, while the fourth has come from a long-standing client for which GES has delivered over 1 GW. Two of the plants are in the province of Zaragoza, and their 93.52 MW is to supply about 47,000 households from the second half of 2027. A third Zaragoza plant of 132.92 MW is to be prepared for a future battery energy storage system. The other nine plants, which add up to 356.97 MW, belong to a developer that is working with GES for the first time.
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Luis Reyes
Oct 17, at 9:00am ET
Anyone who’s spent time around dairy cattle will tell you a cow treats anything new in her pasture the same way. She licks it, and then she rubs on it. Fence post, water tank, the side of your truck, it doesn’t matter. So when a University of Minnesota researcher decided to put solar panels in a cow pasture, the first question wasn’t about electricity. It was how you’d keep a very large, very curious animal from wrecking the glass.
Brad Heins, who runs the dairy research at the university’s West Central Research and Outreach Center in Morris, settled it with a tape measure. He found the tallest cow in the herd, worked out how high she could reach with her tongue, and set the bottom edge of the panels at 8 feet. He’s since admitted that was probably overkill. But the first array went up in 2017, and apart from a few days of the herd licking the panels and rubbing on the poles, the cows have pretty much left it alone.
Which, it turns out, is the question every farmer asks him first.
Heins says he gets an email about panel damage from a farmer at least five times a week. Agrivoltaics is the catch-all term for getting a piece of land to grow something and make electricity at the same time, and here in the US what we mostly get is sheep grazing between rows of panels, because sheep are short and don’t lean on things. When Morris started, Heins says, Minnesota already had sheep grazing under panels. Cows, no.
That first system was small. Thirty kilowatts, split into two banks of 15, with the steel posts set in concrete 6 feet down. Heins has said they “probably built it hurricane-strength,” and the university put the cost at about $90,000, with the extra height adding very little of that. The actual experiment ran in the summer of 2019, and it was about as simple as a cow study gets: 24 crossbred cows, 12 with access to the panels and 12 without, for 28 days.
The two groups gave just as much milk as each other. The shaded cows were dirtier, which the researchers put down to moisture and manure building up under the panels. The difference that mattered was in the cows themselves. The cows out in the sun breathed 78 times a minute, against 66 for the cows in the shade, and ran a full degree Fahrenheit hotter.
One degree doesn’t sound like much. A cow’s normal body temperature sits somewhere around 101.5°F, and one more degree is the kind of change a vet would notice. Heins, asked about it at the field’s dedication, didn’t hedge. “Actually that 1 degree is a big difference,” he told Agweek, and he tied it to milk production, heifer growth and general stress on the animals.
So if you’re a dairy farmer expecting a milk bump from the shade, there wasn’t one in 28 days, and I’d be a little skeptical of anyone selling you panels on that basis. What you’re buying is a herd that’s less heat-stressed. Whether that turns into milk over a whole summer is what the longer research is supposed to tell us.
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The next array came in 2021, a 240-kilowatt array big enough to shade 200 to 250 cows at a time. This time the poles went 6 feet into the ground without any concrete. And here’s a detail that I think gets lost in most of the coverage: the cows don’t live under the panels. The paddocks at Morris are run for grass, not for shade, so the herd only moves into the solar paddock when the grass there’s ready to graze. In the 2023 season that worked out to about 10 days of shade all summer.
That summer was a dry one in western Minnesota, and Heins noticed the grass under the panels came back faster after grazing than the grass in the open paddocks. Of the roughly 25 plant mixes the center has tried, orchard grass, meadow fescue and red clover have done best under the glass. A French solar company saw something similar on a Normandy dairy pasture this year, where the open field browned out in July and the shaded one stayed green through August. Less sun on the ground means less water baking out of the soil, and in a dry year that’s the difference between a second grazing and bare dirt.
I’d be careful reading too much into one dry summer, and Heins hasn’t published a yield number for the grass that I can find. But the direction matches what’s showing up in other pastures.
The field that put Morris on the map is the 500-kilowatt one, dedicated on September 6, 2024, and reported by Agweek as likely the biggest cow-and-solar pasture in the Midwest. Its electricity goes to the University of Minnesota Morris campus, which says it runs carbon-neutral, and its shade goes to the research dairy’s cows.
Getting it built took some arguing. Bryan Herrmann, the campus’s vice chancellor for finance and facilities, said some contractors told the university that panels 8 feet off the ground simply wouldn’t work. A solar contractor from Hudson, Wisconsin, Energy Concepts, took the job and hammered the steel posts 8 feet down into the dirt, no concrete footings, then hung the panels with their bottom edge 8 feet up. No concrete also means that when the panels wear out, you can pull the posts and get the pasture back.
Does a post with nothing holding it but dirt actually stay put? Apparently so. A storm came through with 80-mph winds, damaged trees and buildings in the area, and left the array alone. The company’s president put it down to structural engineering, which is a fairly modest way of saying they’d done the math on the wind load. The panels are angled and spaced for electricity, with one row never shading the next even under the low winter sun, and the shade for the cows is a side effect of that.
The field cost about $731,000, with $452,000 of that from the Legislative-Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources, which mostly runs on state lottery money. Another 280 kilowatts of bifacial panels were going in at the research center that summer. Bifacial panels catch light bouncing off the ground on their undersides as well as on top, which in a state that spends a good chunk of the year under snow is a pretty neat trick.
One thing I couldn’t find anywhere is how many panels are in that 500-kilowatt field. Agweek went with “hundreds,” and the university’s never published a count, which is a slightly odd thing to leave out of a dedication ceremony.
Here’s where I think the research gets interesting for anyone who isn’t a university. Fixed panels on 8-foot poles are a luxury. The solar industry mostly builds single-axis trackers now, panels that tilt through the day to follow the sun, and when a tracker tilts, one edge drops into cow range. Raising the whole thing costs money a developer would rather not spend. You can get around the reach problem by standing the panels on edge instead, which is what Rutgers did in a New Jersey cattle pasture, but then you give up most of the shade at midday, which is when a cow actually wants it.
So the center’s asked the state for $1,443,000 to build a roughly 255-kilowatt tracker array in an organic pasture and split it three ways: one section left exactly as a developer would build it, one with electric fence wire on brackets along the panel edges, and one raised out of reach on longer poles. The center’s proposal puts 96 Holstein and crossbred cows into four groups of 24 and fits them with GPS collars, at about $400 a cow, so the grazing boundary can be moved around on a screen to keep them off the tilted edges while still letting them get to the shade.
The paperwork’s got the array layout done by October 31, 2026, and the panels installed by June 30, 2027. I couldn’t tell from the commission’s website whether the money’s been approved, so treat those as a plan, not a schedule.
The herd under the existing panels isn’t waiting on any of that. Heins told Sahan Journal, in a story the Associated Press distributed on September 23, 2026, that about 275 cows now graze between the rows of the 500-kilowatt array, eight years into the project, and that “it’s garnered a lot of interest in Minnesota and around the world.”
Agree or laugh out loud?
Olivia Richman · Oct 5, 2026
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Olivia Richman · Sep 23, 2026
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Olivia Richman · Oct 17, 2026
Chema Bonilla Díaz · Oct 17, 2026
Chema Bonilla Díaz · Oct 17, 2026
Dave McQuilling · Oct 16, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 16, 2026
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Deep transfer learning brings solar fault diagnosis and power loss prediction to the edge
Solar photovoltaics has become the fastest-growing source of renewable electricity, and the International Energy Agency expects it to supply roughly a fifth of all generated power worldwide by 2030. Yet the same modules that promise 25 to 30 years of service must survive in open outdoor conditions, exposed to dust accumulation, bird droppings, thermal swings, wind-induced mechanical stress, snow and ice, and photochemical degradation. Field studies across different climatic zones show that dust alone causes energy losses of 5 to 30 percent, while bird droppings and snow accumulation can push losses to 45 percent. When these faults go unnoticed, they quietly erode economic returns and raise the levelized cost of energy for entire solar plants.
Researchers Ramji Tiwari and S. Saravanan, publishing in Results in Engineering, have now built a unified deep learning framework that does something previous systems could not: it classifies six distinct types of photovoltaic surface faults and simultaneously predicts how much power each fault is costing, using a single fine-tuned neural network backbone. The work is explicitly aimed at edge deployment, meaning the trained model is compact enough to run on modest hardware such as a GTX 1060 graphics card, performing inference on 224 by 224 pixel RGB images at roughly 45 frames per second. That speed makes near-real-time monitoring feasible for drones, fixed cameras, and robotic inspection platforms.
The framework’s dataset is one of its most important contributions. Prior studies typically relied on fewer than 5,000 images from a single repository, covering only two to four fault categories, which limited generalization to real-world conditions. Tiwari and Saravanan instead aggregated 12,463 photovoltaic surface images from four public repositories, harmonized their inconsistent labels into a unified six-class taxonomy, and removed near-duplicates using perceptual hashing with a Hamming distance threshold of 10. The six classes are Bird-drop, Clean, Dust, Electrical-Damage, Physical-Damage, and Snow-Covered. The final distribution is imbalanced, with Clean panels accounting for 38.7 percent of images while Snow-Covered and Electrical-Damage represent only 4.9 and 6.3 percent respectively, reflecting the natural rarity of severe faults. Stratified sampling preserved class proportions across the 80:10:10 train-validation-test split, and online augmentation with random rotation, translation, flipping, and scaling boosted minority-class representation during training without introducing artificial samples.
Beyond the image dataset, the authors collected 110 experimental power-loss measurements using a 500 W monocrystalline module at an outdoor test facility. They deposited realistic dust simulants, including cement dust, fine road dust, and soil dust with a median particle size of about 35 micrometers, at seven progressive levels from 5 to 35 grams per square meter. Each level remained on the module for at least 48 hours, with measurements of irradiance, open-circuit voltage, short-circuit current, maximum power point voltage and current, output power, and temperature taken every 15 minutes. Power loss was computed relative to a temperature-corrected clean baseline, yielding a continuous regression target that avoids the boundary artifacts of discretized severity classes.
The classification backbone was built on two state-of-the-art convolutional architectures, ResNet50 and DenseNet201, both initialized with pretrained ImageNet weights and fine-tuned across all layers using the Adam optimizer with an initial learning rate of 1e-4. ResNet50 uses shortcut connections that add the input feature map to the learned residual mapping, mitigating performance degradation in deep networks. DenseNet201 goes further, concatenating feature maps from all preceding layers in each dense block, which enables explicit feature reuse and gives parameter efficiency: approximately 20 million parameters versus ResNet50’s 25.6 million despite greater depth. The power-loss regressor is a ridge regression trained on feature vectors extracted from the second-to-last fully connected layer of the trained classifiers, coupling fault classification and energy-loss prediction through a shared learned representation rather than treating them as separate systems.
The results show DenseNet201 clearly outperforming ResNet50. Test accuracy rose from 85.61 to 87.80 percent, macro F1-score improved from 0.88 to 0.93, Cohen’s Kappa increased from 0.832 to 0.876, and macro-average AUC climbed from 0.945 to 0.975. The largest class-specific gain came in the Bird-drop category, where recall jumped 17 percentage points from 0.65 to 0.82, a benefit the authors attribute to DenseNet201’s dense connectivity preserving multi-scale texture information needed to distinguish scattered bird droppings from irregular dust accumulation. McNemar’s test confirmed the difference was statistically significant, with a chi-squared statistic of 7.6 and a p-value of 0.006. Grad-CAM explainability visualizations showed that DenseNet201 consistently concentrated activation on physically meaningful fault regions, such as localized deposits for Bird-drop, crack edges for Physical-Damage, and discolored cell regions for Electrical-Damage, rather than spurious image features.
The power-loss estimation module achieved an in-sample R-squared of 0.978 with DenseNet201 features, explaining 97.8 percent of observed power-loss variance, with RMSE of 3.3 percent and MAE of 2.5 percent. The authors are transparent that these figures reflect fitting on the 110-sample dataset rather than generalization, and they report a supplementary leave-one-out cross-validated tabular-feature model with R-squared of 0.927, RMSE of 1.79 percentage points, and MAE of 1.47 percentage points as the primary cross-validated evidence of predictability. The practical economic value is substantial: an MAE of 2.5 percent corresponds to roughly 12.5 W of estimation error for a 500 W module, or about 25 kW for a 1 MW plant, translating to approximately USD 7,000 per year at an electricity price of USD 0.08 per kWh with 3,500 hours of annual peak sun.
An ablation study quantified the contribution of each framework component. Replacing pretrained ImageNet weights with random initialization reduced validation accuracy by 12.10 percentage points, confirming that low-level features learned from ImageNet remain highly valuable for photovoltaic fault classification. Freezing the backbone and training only the classification head cost 5.17 percentage points, showing that domain-specific adaptation of convolutional features is essential. Removing preprocessing normalization and data augmentation cost 3.86 and 3.41 percentage points respectively, while batch size variations had only minor influence below 1 percentage point.
The framework maps each continuous power-loss estimate onto a five-level severity scale, from Negligible (0 to 5 percent) through Minor, Moderate, Severe, and Critical (above 35 percent), each with a recommended maintenance response ranging from routine monitoring to emergency intervention. This severity grading transforms automatic image processing beyond mere fault identification into actionable asset management, allowing operators to prioritize cleaning and repairs by their actual effect on energy yield rather than by visual appearance alone.
The authors acknowledge several limitations. The power-loss experiment used a single monocrystalline module under arid-region dust conditions, so generalizability to other module technologies, geographic locations, and bifacial designs remains unproven. The clean-reference power was estimated from a single calibration reading via linear irradiance and temperature correction rather than measured by a continuously monitored parallel reference module, introducing model-based uncertainty into every regression metric. Applied dust level and module temperature were correlated in the dataset, confounding any independent temperature effect. The framework relies on visible-spectrum imagery only, excluding thermal infrared, electroluminescence, and SCADA electrical monitoring that could reveal subsurface damage. Future work directions include Vision Transformers and ConvNeXts for larger datasets, YOLOv11-based fault localization, multimodal data fusion, Digital Twin maintenance planning, SHAP explainability, federated learning across installations, and INT8 quantization or knowledge distillation for further edge compression.
Subject of Research: Deep transfer learning-based fault classification and power loss prediction for solar PV modules: toward edge deployment
Article Title: Deep transfer learning-based fault classification and power loss prediction for solar PV modules: toward edge deployment
Article References: Tiwari, R., & Saravanan, S. (2026). Deep transfer learning-based fault classification and power loss prediction for solar PV modules: toward edge deployment. Results in Engineering, 32, Article 113560. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2026.113560
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1016/j.rineng.2026.113560
Keywords: Deep, transfer, learning-based, fault, classification, power, loss, prediction, solar, modules, toward, edge
News Source: Ophelia Keating. (October 17, 2026). Deep transfer learning brings solar fault diagnosis and power loss prediction to the edge. Scienmag.
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In India, the rooftop solar subsidy is offered under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana. Under this scheme, homeowners can claim a subsidy of ₹30,000 to ₹78,000, depending on the size of the on-grid rooftop solar system they install.
To get the subsidy, apply on the national portal (pmsuryaghar.gov.in), choose a registered solar company, and get the system installed. Once the system is commissioned and approved, the subsidy is credited directly to your bank account.
Here are some benefits of the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana:
Lower cost: The subsidy cuts the upfront cost of going solar.
Energy independence: You depend less on the grid and are less affected by rising power tariffs.
Up to 90% savings on electricity bill for years: Most systems recover their cost in 3 to 5 years. After that, you get almost free electricity for the rest of the system's life.
Cleaner environment: Every 1 kW system is said to have the same impact as planting ~39 full-grown trees, so you help reduce pollution.
In this blog, you will get a walkthrough of PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, who can apply, the documents you need, the full online process, and the mistakes to avoid.
The Government of India launched this scheme in February 2024 through the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The target is to install rooftop solar systems on 1 crore homes in India.
If your system makes more power than you use, the extra units go back to the grid through net metering. Most homeowners know this scheme as PM Surya Ghar Yojana. It is the subsidy programme for rooftop solar through which you can avail a subsidy of ₹78,000 (capped) for a 3 kW or above system size.
The subsidy you receive depends on the size of your solar system. For a 1-2 kW solar system, the subsidy is ₹30,000 per kW. For capacity above 2 kW and up to 3 kW, you get an additional ₹18,000 per kW. The maximum subsidy is capped at ₹78,000 for systems of 3 kW or more.
System Size
Central Subsidy
1 kW
₹30,000
2 kW
₹60,000
3 kW and above
₹78,000 (capped)

 
Please note: The central government has set a maximum subsidy of ₹78,000 for homeowners. So any system of 3 kW or more receives a fixed subsidy of ₹78,000, no matter how large it is. Residents of Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Uttarakhand, and Rajasthan may also get an extra state subsidy, based on the size of their system. However, these state benefits are not offered in every city. You must check whether your city is covered before you count on the extra amount.
The PM Surya Ghar Yojana covers residential rooftops only. Commercial and industrial buildings do not qualify under this scheme. Housing societies can apply for solar in shared areas, but under separate rules. You can apply if you meet these conditions:
You are an Indian citizen and the legal owner of the property where the system will be installed.
You have a valid electricity connection in your name from your local DISCOM (Distribution Company).
You have not taken any other solar subsidy for your home before.
You choose solar panels that are DCR-compliant (Domestic Content Requirement) and listed under ALMM (Approved List of Models and Manufacturers).
You install a grid-tied rooftop solar system.
You must have the following documents ready from the beginning to apply for the PM Surya Ghar Yojana:
Latest electricity bill with the consumer number and system details (sanctioned load)
Aadhaar card
Mobile number linked to Aadhaar
Bank details with a cancelled cheque
Proof of property ownership, or the owner’s consent if you are not the sole owner.
Note: Requirements can vary slightly by state and DISCOM. Check with your DISCOM if you are unsure.
To apply for the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana, you need to meet the eligibility rules, submit the required documents, choose a registered solar company, and get your net meter approved. Here is the full process, step by step:
Visit the portal: Go to the national portal (pmsuryaghar.gov.in), open the consumer section, and start your application.
Create your profile: Log in and fill in your name, email address, address, state, district, and PIN code. Then save the profile.
Fill in the application: Click "Apply" and enter your personal details and your latest electricity bill information. Upload your ID proof, proof of ownership, and your most recent electricity bill.
Add your bank details: Upload your bank account details and a cancelled cheque. The central subsidy is usually paid by direct bank transfer (DBT), so make sure your bank account is linked to your Aadhaar.
Choose a registered Solar Company: Pick a solar company from the state-wise list on the portal and ask for a quote.
Upload the signed agreement: Sign an agreement with your chosen solar company and upload it to the portal.
Apply for net metering: After the solar company completes the work, submit the system details on the portal and apply for the net meter. Your DISCOM will then issue a commissioning certificate to confirm that the system is live.
Claim the subsidy: Log back into your consumer account and upload the commissioning certificate to claim your subsidy. Once your claim is approved, the money reaches your bank account within 30 days.
Most homes get their subsidy within a few weeks to a couple of months after applying. The installation itself takes only a few days. Most of the waiting time comes from DISCOM approvals and inspections, and this differs from state to state.
Once your claim is processed, the central subsidy goes straight to your bank account, usually within 30 days of commissioning. In total, you can expect the whole process, from subsidy application, to commissioning, to take about 60 to 90 days.
Most delays and rejections happen because of small errors. Avoid these:
Installing panels that are not listed under ALMM
Not linking your bank account to your Aadhaar
Choosing a system larger than your sanctioned load
Having a name on your documents that does not match your Aadhaar
Installing the system before DISCOM feasibility approval

How to Choose the Right Solar Company
Your solar company decides how smooth the whole process will be. A professional solar company saves your time, effort, and money. A local solar company can leave you stuck with delays and rejected claims. Before you choose your solar company, check these points:
Portal registration: The solar company must be registered on the official PM Surya Ghar portal.
DCR panels: Ask for proof that the household solar panels are DCR compliant.
Paperwork support: The solar company should handle your application, DISCOM approvals, and net metering process.
Warranty and after-sales support: Ask about the panel warranty, the inverter warranty, and how service requests are handled once the system is installed.
This is where SolarSquare stands out. As a registered solar company, they look after everything from start to finish, including the subsidy application, DISCOM approvals, net metering, and installation. You don't have to make repeated trips to the DISCOM office or chase paperwork yourself. They also keep the process simple and clear for first-time solar buyers. It’s worth mentioning that SolarSquare is also India’s #1 rooftop home solar company as per the PM Surya Ghar portal data with highest numbers of residential solar panel systems installed in India.
Getting the solar subsidy is simple if you follow the right order. You must ensure that you are eligible for the PM Surya Ghar subsidy and that you have all your documents ready. Apply only on the official portal, and wait for DISCOM approval before installing anything.
Then choose a trusted, registered solar company to guide you through the process. A reliable partner like Solarsquare can take the paperwork off your hands, so you can cut your electricity bill and receive your subsidy without delay.
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Ganesha says it will be an important day for you, Aries. Your energy and confidence are ready to take you to new heights. Today you will be able to express your thoughts with clarity, which will increase your communication skills. New opportunities may arise in the working areas, which you have to be ready to take advantage of. In social life, you can make new meetings, which will prove beneficial for you in the future. This day will be good for solving family issues, and you will be able to establish better relations with your close ones. In the field of health, take care of your routine and resort to yoga or meditation to relieve mental stress. Controlling your expenses will be a smart move, as any sudden financial need may arise. Overall, this day is for you to stay positive, just use your insight and energy properly.
Ganesha says it is going to be a positive day for you. Your sensitivity and intuition will flourish today, allowing you to establish better connections between yourself and others. It is time to connect with someone or refresh old memories. Try to communicate with people close to you, as it will strengthen your relationships. In the field of work, your creativity will be cyclical today. If you are working on a project, your ideas will be new and full of innovation. Do not be afraid to share your ideas, it will give you positive feedback from your colleagues. In terms of financial condition, avoid any big investments. Small expenses will prove to be justified but think well before making any big decisions for the long term. In terms of health, focus on a balanced diet and regular exercise. For mental health, practicing meditation or yoga will help keep you stress-free.
Ganesha says new opportunities are likely to open up for you. You will be in a position to take your creative abilities to new heights. This is the time to share your ideas and make new plans. Your friends and family will support your ideas, so it will be beneficial to take their advice into account. Positive changes are possible in business. This is the right time to work on an important project. You will get an opportunity to use your skills and knowledge properly. But, be careful; in some cases, you will need to control your emotions. In personal life, relationships will deepen. You will try to spend more time with your loved ones. This is a good time for love and companionship. Enjoy emotional moments that will make your relationships stronger. Be health conscious. Dedication to yoga and meditation will give you mental peace. These activities will keep not only your body but also your mind active. Overall, today will be full of possibilities for you. Stay committed to your dreams and work on them.
Ganesha says your day is full of some new possibilities. You will experience grace and stability in your actions. This is the time to focus on your goals and work with determination to pursue your plans. You are likely to get success in your work, especially if you maintain your hard work and dedication. Positive changes can also be seen in your relationships. You will get a chance to spend time with family and listen to them, which will increase mutual understanding and depth. Focus on communication, as it will make your relationships stronger. However, it is also time to make monthly plans. Take care of your financial matters and try to save. This is the time when you can take concrete steps for your future. Your health condition is likely to remain normal but take some rest. Maintaining a mental balance will be important for you. Stay positive and keep faith in your actions!
Ganesha says today will be full of new possibilities and positive energy for you. You will feel a rise in your confidence, which will keep you open to new opportunities. This is the right time to make an important decision. Your spirituality and intuition will be strong, which will enable you to understand and face difficulties. Spending time with friends and family will awaken a sense of happiness and satisfaction in your mind. Relationships with colleagues at work can take a new direction. Cooperation and communication will help solve problems. If you face an obstacle or challenge, remember that you can overcome it. In terms of health, you may need to make a little improvement in your routine. Regular exercise and a balanced diet will give you freshness and energy. Strengthening social relationships and contacting new people will also be beneficial today. This is the time for self-growth and positive change for you, so recognize the energy within you and use it properly.
Ganesha says today will be full of enthusiasm and energy. You will move towards achieving your goals, and your hard work will pay off. Social life will also be active; you will get a good chance to spend time with friends and family. In terms of health, take a little caution. Focusing on meditation and exercise will help reduce mental stress. This is also a good time to take up a new hobby, which can unleash your creativity. Take wise steps in terms of money. Make informed decisions while investing. For potential financial gains, take a look at past projects again. Your career is showing good signs of progress. Your ideas may be appreciated at the workplace, which will increase your confidence. Still, some issues may require restraint. Overall, today will prove to be positive and auspicious for you. Spend it with pride with your loved ones.
Ganesha says today will be a very auspicious and positive day. You will get a chance to clarify your thoughts, which will bring stability to your personal and professional relationships. Your communication skills will increase, and this will open the doors of new possibilities for you. Your creativity and aesthetic sense will be especially strong today. If you are associated with any art or design, your work will be appreciated. This is the right time to express your feelings. If you are confused about a decision, trust your intuition; it will show you the right path. In terms of health, small changes can make your life better. Focus on regular exercise and a balanced diet. In love and relationships, a new understanding will develop, which will strengthen the mutual bond even more. Overall, this day is a sign of positive changes and new beginnings for you. Stay focused on your goals and recognize your inner strengths.
Ganesha says today is a suitable day to highlight your cognitive abilities and business skills. Today, you will be full of clarity and precision in your actions, which will increase your value among your colleagues and superiors. There is a possibility of bringing some changes to your routine, which will bring positive results for you. This is a good time to improve relations with family members. Try to resolve any old disputes, and keep communication open. In terms of health, meditation and yoga will bring mental peace. Also, take some time out of your routine for exercise. From a financial point of view, this is the right time to make a good plan for the right investment. Take a good look at the options available to you and make a wise decision. Overall, today will prove to be a day of new possibilities and positive changes for you. Be full of confidence and stay focused on your goals.
Ganesha says today will be a day full of energy and inspiration. Your confidence will increase and your thoughts will come out with clarity. On this day, you will be able to see some new possibilities in your career, which will bring you hard work. Mutual understanding and harmony will increase your relationship, which will create a happy atmosphere among the family. This is a great time to express your thoughts clearly, so do not hesitate to communicate with your partner or friends. It is important to be health conscious, a little exercise and meditation will maintain your mental and physical health. Overall, this day will bring activity and positivity for you, so make the most of all the opportunities!
Ganesha says it will be a day of information and communication for you. Your mind will be full of ideas and you will be able to express your ideas well. There is a possibility of some new opportunities in professional life, which can prove beneficial for you. It is a good time to strengthen relationships with your colleagues, so work together at the workplace. Your emotional state will also be strong. Time spent with family will give you satisfaction. If you have any old problem going on, then the right time is coming to solve it. However, you need to keep your emotions under control, so that you do not get agitated over small things. In terms of health, try to practice yoga and meditation. It will empower you both mentally and physically. Take informed decisions in financial matters; do not rush into any investments. In summary, this day will be all about communication and cooperation, which will lead to positive changes for you.
Ganesha says there will be a new energy and freshness in your thoughts, which will make your personality even more attractive. Social contacts are likely to increase, which will expand your network. You will be inspired to spend blissful time with your friends and family. Some positive changes can also be seen in the business sector. The results of your hard work will gradually start coming, and this will motivate you to move forward. Keep in mind that while sharing your ideology, work with empathy, this will strengthen your relationship with colleagues. It is important to be health conscious. A little attention and relaxation will give you mental freshness. Practicing yoga or meditation will be beneficial for you. This day will be full of positivity and new possibilities for you. Express your mind openly and do not hesitate to adopt new ideas.
Ganesha says it will prove to be a positive day for you, Taurus. You will feel energetic and full of confidence. The time has come to reap the fruits of your hard work and efforts. The workload may stress you for a while, but you will face all the challenges recognizing your strengths. Sweetness will also remain in your relationships. Spending time with your family and friends will be a source of joy for you. Conversation with someone special can give you a new vision and promote mutual understanding. A special occasion may be organized among friends or family, which will bring happiness and harmony to you. Moments spent with loved ones will give you mental peace. It is important to be health conscious. A little exercise or yoga will give peace to your mind and energy to your body. Your day will be full of happiness and positivity, just keep your thoughts and emotions balanced.
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Chema Bonilla Díaz
Oct 17, at 6:00am ET
Pickup trucks get used for all kinds of things in Texas, and if you’ve spent any time near the coast you’ve probably watched a few of them back a trailer down a boat ramp before sunrise. The Pentagon’s border surveillance program now works pretty much like that, except the boat in the bed weighs about what a mid-size outboard motor does and nobody gets in it.
That boat’s called the Lightfish, built by a San Diego startup named Seasats, and on October 2 the company said a fleet of them had been launched from the Texas coast into the Gulf to look for drug runners and anyone else coming in by water. It’s an extension of a job those boats have been doing on the Rio Grande since January, floating alongside crewed patrols as part of something called Operation River Wall.
So what exactly is out there?
Each Lightfish is about 11 feet long, 3 feet wide and 340 pounds, according to the company. That’s lighter than most jet skis. Two people can carry one down to the water and launch it from a ramp or straight off a tailgate, and that’s basically the whole reason it could show up on a river where, by Seasats’ own account, nobody had run a drone boat for any length of time before.
It’s solar powered. The top of the hull is covered in panels, the panels charge a battery, and the battery turns an electric motor. Seasats’ spec sheet rates the boat for six months on station, a cruise speed of 2 knots, a 5-knot sprint, and seas up to state 6, which works out to waves somewhere between 13 and 20 feet. It’s self-righting, so if a wave rolls it over it comes back up on its own, and there’s a small generator aboard as a reserve for bad weather or power-hungry sensors.
Two knots, by the way, is about 2.3 mph. You walk faster than that.
So this isn’t a boat that chases anyone. It parks itself on a patch of water, points its cameras at the bank or the horizon, and stays put, which is what the industry means by “holding station.” A crewed patrol boat has to come home when the fuel or the people run out. A Lightfish apparently doesn’t, for months at a time.
What rides in the payload bay depends on the job. Seasats says one hull has carried electro-optical and infrared cameras (regular video and heat vision, more or less), signals equipment, and sonar. Reuters puts the price at roughly $240,000 a boat.
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Watching, mostly. Reuters reported on October 2 that the Pentagon has been running a test group of 10 Lightfish on the river since January. In an average month, the Pentagon says, the boats have assisted in 452 detections, 350 apprehensions and 100 turnbacks. Frankly, those are bigger numbers than I expected from a 10-boat pilot.
A turnback is border jargon for a group that starts crossing, realizes it’s been spotted, and heads back the way it came. The boat doesn’t do anything to them. It just sits there with its cameras on, and according to Mark R. Ditlevson, the assistant secretary of war for homeland defense whose office runs the program, that’s often enough. People on the bank see the boat waiting for them and know they’ve “basically been found out,” he told Reuters.
How does a boat with nobody aboard tell a Border Patrol agent anything? Its sensors feed tracking data into military software, Palantir’s Maven and Anduril’s Fortress according to Reuters, and those systems push alerts out to Customs and Border Protection and the Coast Guard. Basically, the boat spots something, a screen lights up somewhere, and a crewed unit decides whether to go take a look. The boat stays where it is.
I’d argue the river is the more interesting half of this story, even though the Gulf is the news. A drone boat on the open ocean is something you’ve seen on this site plenty of times. A drone boat anchored on a river narrow enough to throw a rock across, in water that’s shallow and muddy and full of debris, is a different problem, and 10 of them have apparently been dealing with it for nine months.
Because the Gulf is enormous and the Coast Guard can only be in a few places at once. Offshore surveillance has traditionally meant planes and cutters, and both run into one limitation: they burn fuel and they carry people, so they go out, look, and come back. Seasats CEO Mike Flanigan put it bluntly in the company’s release: “The Gulf is too vast to monitor with crewed hulls alone.”
He’s selling boats, so take that with a grain of salt. But the basic point holds up. A plane covers a lot of water fast and can’t stay. A 2-knot solar boat covers almost nothing fast and can stay for months. Put enough of them in a line and you’ve got a fence of cameras instead of a sweep, which is arguably a better match for the job of waiting around for a go-fast boat that may or may not show up.
That’s apparently the plan. Ditlevson told Reuters that if the program keeps working, Lightfish orders could grow by 50 boats and the fleet could form a radar fence across the Gulf from Texas to Key West. Key West is the far end of the Florida Keys, so that’s essentially the whole U.S. rim of the Gulf. He also said the expansion would come in increments and that his office isn’t wedded to one vendor.
Reuters names Saronic, Saildrone and Splash as companies building similar boats, and a couple of those have been through here recently: Saronic’s 24-foot Corsair stayed behind in Panama after a summer exercise and now patrols with that country’s coast guard, and Splash’s 11-foot Typhoon is a rival hull about as long as the Lightfish, built for speed instead of endurance.
Seasats hasn’t said how many boats went into the Gulf, and neither has the Pentagon. The release says “a fleet,” which could mean five or 50. My guess is it’s closer to the river number than the 50-boat figure, since that one’s still a maybe, but I can’t find anything that pins it down, so your guess is about as good as mine.
That sounds odd for a body of water that produces hurricanes, but it’s how the Pentagon is treating it. Reuters reports the Gulf deployment is a warm-up for testing the boats in the Pacific off San Diego, where the seas are rougher and the swells are bigger. Seasats happens to be based in San Diego, and the company has run Lightfish across the Pacific before, so the boat’s been in big water. Running a surveillance line in it, with boats expected to hold a spot for months, is a different ask.
So the sequence goes river, Gulf, Pacific. The 10 boats on the Rio Grande have been out there since January, the Gulf fleet went in off the Texas coast on October 2, and Ditlevson told Reuters the same day that the up-to-50-boat expansion depends on the results coming back from both.
Agree or laugh out loud?
Chema Bonilla Díaz · Oct 12, 2026
Olivia Richman · Oct 7, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 17, 2026
Chema Bonilla Díaz · Sep 18, 2026
Luis Reyes · Sep 18, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 14, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 17, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 17, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 17, 2026
Olivia Richman · Oct 17, 2026
Chema Bonilla Díaz · Oct 17, 2026
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Alex Greer strategically utilized a program that links farmers with solar developers to enhance his sheep business. By securing grazing contracts across 38 acres in Asheboro and Rowan counties, he faced hurdles like controlling vegetation and installing predator-proof fencing. Interestingly, studies indicate that sheep grazing can bolster soil health and remain financially viable compared to mechanical mowing over time. Greer’s journey exemplifies the promising intersection of solar farming and agriculture.

Representative AI image of sheep grazing beneath solar panels, showing how solar farms can provide valuable pastureland for farmers and support sustainable sheep farming. Image Credits: ChatGPT.

Alex Greer strategically utilised a program that links farmers with solar developers to enhance his sheep business. Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons.

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Flick Fact: The $16.5 million solar farm in the middle of B-N?  The Pantagraph
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The proposed scheme, near Selby, has faced objections from residents
Plans to build a battery energy storage system and 500MW solar farm across swathes of land near Selby could be changed following objections from people living nearby.
Light Valley Solar Limited wants to build on 2,520 acres (1,020 hectares) of land between the villages of Escrick, Monk Fryston, Hambleton, Chapel Haddlesey and South Milford.
The development has faced opposition, with conerns raised about the loss of agricultural land, the impact on the rural landscape and the potential harm to wildlife.
In response the firm has outlined nine proposed amendments, including removing solar panels from an area near homes, creating new wildlife habitats and altering construction access routes.
Opponents have also questioned the scale and location of the scheme, arguing that it would industrialise large areas of countryside and affect the character of nearby villages.
Among the changes to the scheme that have been proposed is the removal of solar panels from land south of Milford Lodge and Milford Lodge Cottage.
The land would instead become an area of grassland managed to provide habitat for ground-nesting birds.
The developer said the change followed discussions with North Yorkshire Council about bird habitat provision, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
In addition, the removal of panels would increase the distance between the development and Milford Lodge Cottage, following representations from residents.
The developer has also been in discussions with Sherburn Aero Club and says removing panels near a proposed emergency landing strip would improve safety for aircraft making emergency landings.
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Orb Energy marks two decades in India with approximately 450 MW of installed solar PV capacity and plans to exceed 1 GW by 2030.
October 17, 2026. By News Bureau
Orb Energy has completed 20 years of operations in India, reporting approximately 450 MW of installed solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity, more than 175,000 systems and 95,000 customers served across the country. The company aims to exceed 1 GW of installed solar capacity by 2030, with a focus on rooftop solar solutions and financing for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs).
Founded in Bengaluru in 2006, Orb Energy initially focused on providing solar power to semi-urban and rural markets facing unreliable electricity supply. Over the years, the company expanded its operations into grid-connected rooftop solar, particularly for SMEs, as declining solar costs and the introduction of net-metering policies improved the viability of such installations.
According to JMK Research & Analytics, Orb Energy ranked among India’s top three rooftop solar companies in 2025. The company has also typically ranked among the country’s top five rooftop solar companies over the past six years, according to JMK Research & Analytics and CRISIL.
In 2017, Orb Energy established a solar panel manufacturing facility in Bengaluru. Its operations subsequently brought together manufacturing, system design, installation and after-sales service. The company also introduced an in-house solar financing facility to help SMEs adopt rooftop solar without collateral or an upfront down payment. Cumulative disbursements through this facility have reached nearly INR 350 crore.
The company has received institutional backing to support its operations and financing activities. In 2019, Shell acquired a 20 percent stake in Orb Energy. In 2022, the US International Development Finance Corporation extended a USD 20 million loan to support the company’s in-house credit facility for SMEs.
Commenting on the 20-years of operation, Damian Miller, CEO and Co-Founder of Orb Energy, said the company’s growth reflected the trust of its customers and the contributions of its employees and partners.
When Orb Energy began operations in 2006, solar panels cost around 40 times more than they do today, according to the company. At the time, solar power was largely used for off-grid applications, including remote electrification and backup power. The company initially developed a branch network to serve customers across South India, which at its peak comprised 170 branches in five states.
As grid-connected solar adoption increased, Orb Energy shifted its focus towards rooftop installations for SMEs. Its financing model was developed to address the upfront investment barriers faced by businesses seeking to adopt solar energy.
As it enters its third decade, the company plans to expand its installed solar capacity beyond 1 GW by 2030, continuing to focus on rooftop solar adoption among businesses.

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⚡ Quick Read
As large-scale solar installations expand across diverse geographical regions, the risk of lightning-induced damage remains a critical concern for developers and EPC contractors. While traditional Lightning Protection Systems (LPS) using Franklin rods are standard, they do not always prevent transient overvoltage during direct strikes on PV modules or mounting structures. A research team in Indonesia has recently proposed a novel grounding strategy to mitigate these risks by optimizing grounding-point locations and evaluating various configurations to improve surge dissipation.
The study utilized an equivalent electrical circuit model developed in ATPDraw 7.2 software, simulating an array of ten 200 W solar panels. The researchers modeled the electrical characteristics of frames, mounting structures, and electrodes under a simulated lightning strike with a peak amplitude of 50 kA and an impulse waveform of 1.2/50 μs. The simulation tested two primary configurations: direct grounding through PV module frames and grounding through mounting structures.
Key findings indicate that soil resistivity plays a major role in transient voltage distribution. As soil resistivity increased from 30 Ωm to 3,000 Ωm, peak voltages shifted from the injection point toward the grounding connection. Notably, the study revealed that introducing a second grounding point provided substantial benefits, reducing transient voltages by 47.5% to 54.8% for frame-grounded systems and 43.2% to 50.7% for mounting-based grounding. The researchers concluded that grounding through mounting structures generally yielded lower maximum voltages due to reduced electrical resistance.
For EPC contractors operating in India, where lightning activity is prevalent in many regions, these findings offer a practical pathway to enhance system resilience. By strategically placing grounding points closest to potential lightning injection points and adopting dual-grounding configurations, developers can significantly lower the risk of transient overvoltage. This approach not only protects the PV modules but also ensures that the overall system remains within the safety limits prescribed by IEEE Std 80. Incorporating these findings into the design phase can lead to more robust infrastructure, reducing long-term operational expenditure (OPEX) related to component replacement.
The industry is expected to evaluate these simulation results against real-world field data. As the India renewable energy sector continues to scale up, the adoption of advanced grounding techniques will become increasingly vital to protect multi-megawatt assets. Future project designs may integrate these findings to refine EPC standards, ensuring that large-scale solar farms are better equipped to withstand extreme weather events while maintaining grid stability.
Aditya Pathre is the Founder of MVApulse and covers India’s renewable energy sector, including solar, wind, battery energy storage systems (BESS), green hydrogen, transmission infrastructure, renewable energy policy and competitive bidding. His reporting focuses on project developments, market trends, government policies and energy transition across India.
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⚡ Quick Read
As the demand for land-efficient renewable energy solutions grows, the integration of agrivoltaic systems has become a focal point for researchers and developers. A recent study conducted by a team from Sweden and Italy has investigated the performance of semitransparent, magenta-colored cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film PV panels. Unlike conventional crystalline-silicon solar panels, which are opaque and block significant portions of the light spectrum, these magenta panels are engineered to transmit specific blue and red wavelengths that align with the absorption regions of plant chlorophyll pigments.
The field experiment took place at Kärrbo Prästgård in central Sweden during the 2024 growing season. The trial compared broccoli grown in an open-field control plot with crops cultivated beneath two distinct CdTe PV systems. These systems featured nominal transparency levels of 50% and 70%, resulting in average photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) transmittance values of 13.2% and 19.2%, respectively. Each system utilized 21 panels from Chinese manufacturer Advanced Solar Power, installed at a height of 1.5 meters with a 6-degree tilt.
The results indicated that broccoli grown under both PV systems achieved fresh head weights of 173.7 g (50% transparency) and 168.5 g (70% transparency), compared to 187.6 g in the open-field control. While the difference was not statistically significant, the researchers noted a 25-day delay in crop maturity for the agrivoltaic plots. Despite this, the researchers favored the 50% transparency configuration due to its higher PV cell density and comparable crop performance to the 70% variant.
For EPC contractors and solar developers, this research highlights the potential for wavelength-selective agrivoltaic systems to solve land-use conflicts. By customizing the light spectrum, developers can maintain agricultural productivity while simultaneously generating electricity. This technology offers a sophisticated alternative to traditional opaque panels, which often limit the types of crops that can be grown underneath. As India continues to scale its renewable energy capacity, such innovations could be critical for projects in regions where land availability is constrained by agricultural requirements.
The next phase for this technology involves scaling these experiments to larger commercial footprints to assess the economic viability of CdTe thin-film modules in diverse climates. As the India renewable energy sector continues to expand, integrating advanced agrivoltaic solutions will be essential for developers looking to optimize land value and secure community support for large-scale solar installations.
Aditya Pathre is the Founder of MVApulse and covers India’s renewable energy sector, including solar, wind, battery energy storage systems (BESS), green hydrogen, transmission infrastructure, renewable energy policy and competitive bidding. His reporting focuses on project developments, market trends, government policies and energy transition across India.
India’s Power Sector Intelligence Portal
MVApulse is an independent publication covering India’s renewable energy sector including solar, wind, BESS, transmission, green hydrogen, EPC and power markets.
Copyright © 2026 MVApulse. Powered by Swadi Innovative Technologies Pvt Ltd.

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Letter to the Editor (Shaw Local News Network)
I would rather see a farmer stay on his property and his home with a 20-year lease with a solar farm than go bankrupt. Then the bank sells it to a Mining Co. such as a gravel pit or a data center that would pull all of our resources.
Tina Uselding
McHenry

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⚡ Quick Read
The global solar energy landscape is undergoing a structural transition as the industry moves away from the unprecedented growth rates previously dominated by China. BloombergNEF (BNEF) has released its latest market outlook, projecting 584 GW of global solar installations for 2026. This figure marks a 10.8% decline from the 655 GW anticipated for 2025. The revised forecast reflects a more pronounced slowdown in the Chinese market than analysts initially anticipated, coupled with steady, organic growth in the rest of the world.
Data from BloombergNEF indicates that China, which deployed a staggering 383 GW of solar capacity in 2025, is expected to see a 29% decline to 271 GW in 2026. This contraction is attributed to market saturation and a strategic policy shift that is redirecting capital toward energy storage solutions rather than pure-play solar capacity expansion. In the first half of 2026, China installed approximately 71.8 GW, a sharp drop compared to the 212.2 GW recorded during the same period in 2025.
Conversely, markets outside of China are showing resilience. Global capacity outside of China is projected to reach 313 GW, slightly outperforming earlier expectations. Growth is particularly notable in emerging markets such as India, the Philippines, Nigeria, and Malaysia. In several of these regions, the expansion is driven almost exclusively by residential and commercial rooftop solar installations rather than utility-scale projects.
For EPC contractors and solar developers in India, these findings signal a shift in the investment climate. With utility-scale solar growth cooling in major global hubs, non-utility solar has emerged as the largest sector for renewable energy investment. Indian developers should note that the ‘chugging along’ growth in the Indian market is increasingly supported by decentralized solar applications. As global module supply chains adjust to China’s reduced domestic demand, Indian players may find more favorable pricing environments, though they must navigate the increasing complexity of integrating energy storage into project designs.
The industry is moving into a phase of maturity where ‘breakneck’ growth is being replaced by sustainable, diversified deployment. As the India renewable energy sector continues to scale, the focus will likely shift toward grid integration and the hybridization of solar with battery energy storage systems (BESS). Stakeholders should prepare for a market where residential and commercial segments provide a critical buffer against the volatility of large-scale utility tenders, ensuring long-term stability in the broader energy transition.
Aditya Pathre is the Founder of MVApulse and covers India’s renewable energy sector, including solar, wind, battery energy storage systems (BESS), green hydrogen, transmission infrastructure, renewable energy policy and competitive bidding. His reporting focuses on project developments, market trends, government policies and energy transition across India.
India’s Power Sector Intelligence Portal
MVApulse is an independent publication covering India’s renewable energy sector including solar, wind, BESS, transmission, green hydrogen, EPC and power markets.
Copyright © 2026 MVApulse. Powered by Swadi Innovative Technologies Pvt Ltd.

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With Southeast Asia’s largest electricity bills rising even higher, Filipinos invest in rooftop panels.
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Philippines solar power boom: Iran war spurs demand for renewable energy sources
Manila, Philippines – Keith Cantera and his family have been thinking about having their own solar power grid at home for years. But spending up to $5,000 for solar panels was nothing to scoff at, so they put the idea on the back burner.
It all changed this year when the United States-Israel war on Iran rattled global energy markets and sent electricity prices soaring. From paying a monthly bill of about $150 before the war began in late February, Cantera said his family went to forking out as much as $220.

Eight months later, they are having solar panels installed on their rooftop.
“The cost is about the same as paying our electric bills for three or four years based on the current rate,” Cantera said. “But in the fifth year, we’ll have recovered our investment, and electricity will essentially be free.”
Cantera is one of a growing number of Filipino homeowners turning to solar power in a country that had Southeast Asia’s highest electricity costs even before the war. They were comparable only to Singapore, where the average income is more than 10 times higher.
A report by the energy think tank Ember estimated that rooftop panels had nearly doubled in the Philippines since early 2025.
And in the first months of the war from March to May, the rush for solar power led to $407m in panel imports, according to government trade data from China, where most panels are manufactured. The Philippines became the biggest single overseas market for that period. Only the Netherlands bought more, but it redistributes them to the rest of Europe.

Lexus Grepo, CEO of the solar power supplier Solarmaxx, can attest to the boom.
“There is a 30-day wait because solar panel shipments can’t keep up,” Grepo said. “In March, we had 40 projects, which was almost triple our monthly clientele. Since then, we have been setting up 25 to 30 systems a month.”
Grepo does not expect demand to slow down even if tensions in the Middle East ease and shipping routes for energy supplies reopen.
“I think people now realise that the world is an unpredictable place, so they have to be ready for any eventuality. Filipinos now see that they don’t necessarily have to be at the mercy of the global energy market.”
The Philippines, one of the few countries in the region where electricity is not subsidised, relies on imported coal and gas for more than 70 percent of its power mix. The value of its currency, the peso, which has slid to a record low of more than 63 to the US dollar, is making these imports even costlier.
In late March, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr declared a national energy emergency in response to the war ⁠and what he described as the “imminent danger” posed to the national energy supply. Still, electricity rates have continued to increase.

The shift to solar is also partly driven by anger at electric companies that have come under scrutiny for charging customers for so-called system losses, which include illegal connections.
Cantera said learning about having to pay for someone else’s electricity consumption was the last straw.
“Who would agree to paying for something that you did not use? It’s not like the money we spend for electricity just fell from heaven,” he added.
But while the soaring demand is real, the upfront cost of a solar power system is still too high for most Filipinos. The government in March launched a new initiative offering loans for residential rooftop installations, but these are available only to public sector workers.
What officials hope can bring power rates down for the majority of people are the dozens of renewable energy projects in the pipeline, including a 3,500-hectare (8,650-acre) solar farm north of the capital, Manila, that is projected to be the largest in the world. When fully operational, the project is expected to generate 850 megawatts of electricity for 2.4 million households.
But some consumers said such projects could take years to complete, leaving them with ballooning electricity bills unless they take action themselves.
“It’s just so unpredictable nowadays. You have the impending El Nino weather pattern. There’s still war, the continuing fuel price hikes and so much more,” Cantera said. “So why not utilise a natural resource?”

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China has proposed export prohibitions or restrictions on 12 solar PV technologies covering polysilicon, silicon wafers, TOPCon, back-contact, HJT and perovskite-silicon tandem cell manufacturing. It has also introduced temporary pre-export registration requirements from October 16, 2026, until the revised catalogue is formally implemented.
October 17, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

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TP Solar Limited, the solar manufacturing arm of The Tata Power Company Limited and a wholly owned subsidiary of Tata Power Renewable Energy Limited (TPREL), produced 1 GW of solar modules and 0.9 GW of solar cells during the second quarter of FY27, covering July to September 2026. For the six months from April to September 2026, the company manufactured a total of 2 GW of solar modules and 1.8 GW of solar cells. The production figures reflect the ramp-up of manufacturing operations at its facility in Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu.
TP Solar operates a 4.3 GW solar cell and module manufacturing facility at the site, one of India’s largest single-location facilities of its kind. Tata Power, through TPREL, has invested nearly ₹4,300 crore in establishing the plant to strengthen domestic manufacturing capabilities across the solar value chain.
The facility manufactures solar cells and modules using Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) and Monocrystalline Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (Mono PERC) technologies. Its products include modules compliant with Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) norms and models approved under the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM). DCR modules are manufactured using cells produced at the facility.
The plant incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning-based systems and Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) to support manufacturing operations, material movement and production efficiency. These technologies are intended to improve process control and support higher levels of automation.
Nearly 80% of the facility’s workforce comprises women, making it a notable example of women’s participation in India’s solar manufacturing sector. The company said its workforce composition reflects its focus on inclusive employment alongside the development of domestic manufacturing capacity.
The facility supports Tata Power’s strategy to expand its presence across the renewable energy value chain and reduce reliance on imported solar components. Domestic production of cells and modules is also aligned with India’s efforts to strengthen local supply chains for renewable energy projects.
The Tata Power Company Limited is a vertically integrated power company and part of the Tata Group. Its total operational and under-construction capacity exceeds 26 GW, including approximately 17.7 GW of clean and green energy capacity and around 8.8 GW of thermal generation capacity.
Tata Power also operates across transmission and distribution, serving more than 13 million customers. Its businesses include over 7,800 circuit kilometres of transmission lines, including projects under development, and an electric vehicle charging network with more than 7,000 public charging points across 717 cities and towns.
The company has established 4.9 GW of integrated solar cell and module manufacturing capacity, signed 2.8 GW of pumped hydro storage projects and set a target of achieving net-zero emissions by 2045. TP Solar’s production performance supports its broader focus on domestic solar manufacturing and the expansion of India’s renewable energy infrastructure.
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The Better Business Bureau lists 352 customer complaints.
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After spending more than $129,000 on rooftop solar — almost $100,000 more than the state average — a Virginia resident says the deal has not produced the savings he expected.
Marcus Evins told 8News that the environmental benefits and lower utility costs made solar panels appealing, but after installing a 45-panel system on his Richmond home through a company called Top Tier Solar Solutions, the promised savings never materialized. Instead, his electric bills hit $400.
Records reviewed by 8News suggest other customers have raised similar concerns: the Virginia Attorney General complaint database shows 21 complaints involving Top Tier Solar Solutions, while the Better Business Bureau lists 352 customer complaints. 
“This is not at all been what I expected, and if I had the opportunity to do it all over again, I probably would not have gotten solar panels,” Evins told 8News. 
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He also provided the station with documents showing that his solar provider estimated he’d save 80% to 90% every month, with his electric bill hovering around $40 or less. 
For homeowners, going solar can be one of the best ways to save money on home energy — but only if the installer, design, and financing terms hold up under scrutiny. 
While solar panels are legitimate tech, it’s important to do research by getting multiple quotes and looking up information on the companies, such as their Better Business Bureau reputation and any customer reviews online. 
One of the best places to use is the comparison shopping site EnergySage, which is like Expedia for solar panels, to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes without giving your contact information to anyone unless you decide to move forward.
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Evins said his family did not immediately panic when the bills stayed high. 
“We trusted the process, we gave it some months and in probably about four to six months we started asking questions,” he told 8News.
As the mismatch continued, Evins said he sent a demand letter to the installer and its financing company raising concerns about the companies’ communication, his understanding of the agreement, and the lack of savings. He said he was also told the system was operating correctly and that noticeable savings might take a year to appear.
Evins said he requested a technician’s diagnostic report explaining why his utility bills did not reflect the anticipated savings, but he was not given one.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
In a statement to 8News, the financing company, GoodLeap, which was not directly involved in the installation, said, “GoodLeap has stepped in to help thousands and thousands of homeowners where contractors have gone bankrupt and systems need to get to full installation, all done at no cost to the homeowner.” 
The lender added that 12 of Evins’ panels are not working and that it is coordinating repairs with the installer while discussing compensation.
If you’re considering a solar system for your home, the Better Business Bureau says that solar customers can protect their investments by understanding roof conditions, household energy use, and warranty terms. It also recommends getting competing estimates and exploring available incentives and financing options. 
With EnergySage‘s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state and details solar panel incentives for each state, helping homeowners get the best price on rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is also one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Homeowners can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
Evins’ experience shows how quickly the math on rooftop solar can get murky. 
• A new homeowner was stunned when the bill hit $420 after installing solar.
• After hearing customer-service horror stories, one homeowner sought advice on avoiding solar scams before signing.
• Former EnergySage COO Charlie Hadlow broke down the mystery of solar costs for cautious homeowners.
• Rooftop systems can lose performance when owners overlook cleaning and repair basics after installation.
• In the Philippines, researchers identified the trustworthiness of providers as a major barrier to home solar.
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“This work presents the first functional validation of submerged solar cells.”
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Solar buildouts are reaching some unexpected frontiers: deep under ocean waters.
Off Weizhou Island on China’s southwestern coast, researchers generated electricity from sunlight at a depth of 10 meters — nearly 33 feet — helping to set a new benchmark for the technology.
Findings from the effort to test the efficacy of underwater solar panels were published in the journal Joule last month. 
As Euronews reported, the panel material used in the installation was nonstandard. Instead of the more typical silicon, the researchers used perovskites, described by Futurism as a calcium titanium oxide mineral.
Because blue and green wavelengths can penetrate the ocean’s surface, the cells were designed to capture that light.
“This work presents the first functional validation of submerged solar cells practically operating at a water depth of up to about 10 meters, greatly broadening their application scope,” study co-author Wen-Hua Zhang, a Yunnan University professor, said in a press release.
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Futurism pointed to how widely China is already deploying solar, citing panels “on the side of rainy mountains, on floating coastal platforms, and above bustling highways.” These examples highlight how aggressively developers are seeking new places to generate electricity.
Finding success with installing solar panels underwater opens up another possibility for crowded coastal regions, where land can be expensive and difficult to dedicate to large energy projects. If solar can work in more spaces, cities and companies could add clean power more flexibly, without competing as directly with housing, roads, or agriculture for land.
Expanding sources of local clean electricity could help reduce reliance on fuel-burning power plants. For households and businesses, this could mean a more diverse, resilient, economic energy supply, while nearby communities could also benefit from a reduction of the air pollution tied to conventional power generation.
These articles explore other ways solar may be moving into watery environments, from offshore waters to submerged settings:
• U.S. Navy researchers created a consistent self-polishing effect that could help underwater panels stay efficient.
• A Chinese energy company unveiled surface ocean solar platforms to generate power offshore.
• Researchers say floating solar near the equator could expand clean power for billions.
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So-called balcony solar setups are becoming legal across the US. Here's the latest.
Staff Writer
Staff Writer
October 17, 2026, 9:00 am ET

Plug-in solar systems are easy to set up and can save consumers money on their power bills, but they’re still illegal in many states. Utah was the first to legalize backyard and plug-in solar, but other states have since caught on, and more are working on their own pathway to legalization.
Also: My favorite travel chargers pack a few tricks – one even has its own screen
As we’ve covered before, these plug-in solar setups (also commonly called “backyard solar”) are plug-and-play systems consisting of one or more solar panels, an inverter, and a battery. The system connects to a home’s standard 120-volt outlet, automatically routing solar-generated electricity from the battery to the nearest running appliance.
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These systems are restricted because most US household electrical systems aren’t designed to receive electricity through a standard wall outlet. Electrical codes, utility regulations, and equipment certification requirements in the US make them difficult to install legally.
Ten states have already legalized backyard and plug-in solar systems, so residents there can already purchase and install systems like the EcoFlow Stream in their homes. Here’s the current status of the states that have already successfully passed legislation, legalizing such devices for consumer use.
Data sourced from Solar.com.
About two dozen states are still in the process of legalizing plug-in solar. Some bills have stalled until the next legislative session reconvenes in 2027, while others are going through committee hearings.
Balcony solar bills H.5175 and S3143 are advancing in Massachusetts, and the SUNNY Act is pending governor approval in New York. Bills in other states like Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Washington, DC have reached committee hearings.
Also: I’ve been testing solar gadgets for a long time – they’re finally worth buying
Most states have stalled plug-in solar bills until the next legislative session in 2027, including Alaska, Arizona, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, North Carolina, and Oklahoma.
Unfortunately, plug-in solar bills have failed in Georgia, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, so if you live in one of those states, these kinds of devices are technically illegal to operate. This doesn’t mean that it won’t eventually clear the legislative slate in these states, but lawmakers will need to file a new bill to reintroduce them after making necessary revisions.
Whether you can immediately set up your balcony solar panels or not after the systems are legalized in your state will depend on your home situation.
Also: Are online solar calculators accurate? I tested a 200W panel for 1 year to find out
Generally speaking, the bills in question focus on preventing utility companies from blocking plug-in solar projects. These bills can’t preempt bans on these systems by landlords or HOAs, though supplementary bills have been introduced in some states to include protections for HOAs and landlords.
Plug-in solar is illegal because the electrical systems in traditional American homes aren’t designed to receive power from a standard wall outlet. Rooftop solar systems are professionally installed and designed so the energy harvested by the panels flows through a circuit breaker and into your outlets. Plug-in solar, in turn, introduces electricity directly into an outlet, bypassing the electrical panel.
In a plug-in solar setup, nearby appliances draw energy supplied by the breaker and the solar inverter, but the wiring could carry more current than the breaker alone would allow before it trips. But it’s not solely about safety.
Also: I recommend you don’t run these appliances on your power station – even if you can
Installing your own solar panels means less reliance on local utilities. These companies are the biggest regulatory obstacle for plug-in or balcony solar setups. Their rules and regulations on solar energy are designed for rooftop panels, not plug-and-play systems, so legislation should push utility companies to change that.
There’s also the elephant in the room: utilities would make less money off their services if plug-in solar becomes widely popular. When consumers purchase less electricity, they contribute less to grid costs.

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Chemical Mixture Erases Crystal Defects to Boost Perovskite Solar Cell Power
Perovskite solar cells have spent more than a decade tantalizing the photovoltaics community with a seductive promise: a semiconductor that can be printed like ink, layered on top of conventional silicon, and tuned to harvest sunlight with remarkable efficiency. Yet for all their promise, these manufactured crystals have been held back by a stubborn, invisible enemy. Deep inside their crystalline lattices, atomic-scale defects form during fabrication, trapping and dissipating the very energy the material is supposed to deliver. Now a team led by researchers at Princeton Engineering, the University of California-San Diego and Sungkyunkwan University in Korea reports a surprisingly elegant fix, and the results, published in the journal Science, suggest that the perovskite revolution may have just moved considerably closer to reality.
The new technique hinges on a counterintuitive insight about how perovskites crystallize. By adding a mixture of zinc bromide and methyl ammonium chloride early in the fabrication process, the researchers discovered they could dramatically reduce the number of defects that form in the crystal structure as the material solidifies. The consequences of that seemingly small intervention are striking. In defect-free perovskites produced this way, electrons retain the excess energy they absorb from sunlight roughly ten times longer than in untreated material. According to Dane deQuilettes, assistant professor at Princeton and a senior author on the paper, the improvement could translate into a one percent gain in power generation even for the most cutting-edge perovskite solar cells already in existence — a meaningful margin in a field where incremental gains are fiercely contested.
To understand why those microseconds matter, it helps to grasp what actually happens inside a working solar cell. When sunlight strikes a semiconductor, photons transfer their energy to electrons, lifting them into an excited state. The whole point of a photovoltaic device is to harvest that excess energy as electricity before the electrons relax back down and release it as heat. Defects in the crystal lattice act like traps along this pathway, snaring excited electrons and squandering their energy before it can be collected. The longer electrons can hold onto their excess energy — a property measured in microseconds in these experiments — the more opportunities there are to extract useful power. In deQuilettes’ measurements, electrons in the treated perovskites retained their energy for up to 300 microseconds, roughly a hundred thousand times longer than in many other semiconductors.
The discovery itself was born of serendipity. A few years ago, Jason Yoo, a first author on the paper who was then a researcher at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, noticed that his samples were behaving in ways he could not explain. He reached out to deQuilettes, whose laboratory specializes in developing tools to probe how electrons behave and interact inside perovskites. “He told me the samples were behaving like nothing he had seen before,” deQuilettes recalled. “He asked if I could help study them.” What deQuilettes found when he examined the samples amazed him: the extraordinary carrier lifetimes that would eventually form the basis of the Science paper.
The chemistry behind the breakthrough is as subtle as it is effective. The key, deQuilettes explained, is that the two added chemicals — zinc bromide and methyl ammonium chloride — must have a lower melting point when combined than either does alone, much as adding salt to ice lowers its freezing point. Such mixtures are known as eutectics, and the paper’s title, “Volatile eutectics to tailor crystallization for perovskite optoelectronics,” reflects this principle. By introducing a volatile eutectic during the early stages of fabrication, the researchers changed the way the perovskite crystal grows, steering it toward a more ordered lattice with fewer of the atomic-scale imperfections that plague conventionally processed films. “We opened up this new class of chemical mixtures that improve the performance of perovskites,” deQuilettes said.
The broader context makes the advance especially significant. Most solar cells installed around the world today are made of silicon, a material prized for its durability but constrained by its physics and its energy-intensive manufacturing. Perovskites, by contrast, can be prepared from liquid precursors and printed in sheets, like ink on newsprint, potentially making them cheaper and more sustainable to produce at scale. Increasingly, the two technologies are being combined rather than competing: a thin coat of perovskite layered over a silicon solar cell forms a tandem device that generates about 40 percent more power than a cell made from either material alone. The catch has always been that the printing and layering process tends to introduce those damaging atomic-level defects, blunting the perovskite layer’s contribution. Fewer defects mean a more efficient perovskite layer, which in turn means more efficient tandem modules rolling off future production lines.
The timing could hardly be more pointed. Global electricity demand is climbing rapidly, driven in no small part by the explosive growth of artificial intelligence and the datacenter infrastructure that underpins it. “The whole solar industry has been asking, what are the next set of technologies that are going to contribute to energy production?” deQuilettes noted. A one percent improvement in power conversion may sound modest, but in the economics of utility-scale solar — where installations span thousands of acres and margins are measured in fractions of a cent per kilowatt-hour — even single-digit percentage gains compound into substantial additional generating capacity. And because the improvement is achieved through chemistry during fabrication rather than through expensive post-processing, it is the kind of change that manufacturers could in principle adopt without redesigning their entire production workflow.
Perhaps the most intriguing implications reach beyond photovoltaics altogether. Because electrons in the treated perovskite persist in their excited state for hundreds of microseconds — an eternity by semiconductor standards — the material opens possibilities that conventional semiconductors simply cannot offer. “Energy is living in the material for so long, it broadens what’s actually possible with a semiconductor,” deQuilettes said. Long carrier lifetimes are coveted not only in solar cells but in a range of optoelectronic applications, from light-emitting devices to photodetectors and potentially quantum technologies, where the ability of a material to hold onto excitation energy determines what device architectures are feasible. The researchers emphasize that the discovery has raised more questions than it has answered. “It’s been really eye-opening,” deQuilettes added, suggesting that the eutectic approach may be only the first entry in what could become a broad family of defect-mitigating chemical mixtures.
The study was a genuinely international effort. In addition to deQuilettes at Princeton and Yoo and Bong Joo Kang at the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology, the author list spans Connor J. Dolan, Zhewen J.D. Deng, Jack R. Palmer, Kelly X. Vences and David P. Fenning at the University of California-San Diego; Seongsik Nam, Jinho Lee, Kyu Min Kang, Daesoo Kim, Jang Hee Cho, Donghyuk Chung and Seong Sik Shin at Sungkyunkwan University in Korea; Rushik Desai and Arun Mannodi-Kanakkithodi at Purdue University; Niranjana Mohan Kumar, Mariana I. Bertoni and Arkita Chakrabarti at Arizona State University; Yanqi Luo, Barry Lai, Zhonghou Cai, Martin V. Holt and Tao Zhou at Argonne National Laboratory; Andrew M. Kiss at Brookhaven National Laboratory; and In Sun Cho at Ajou University and Dong Hyun Kim and Jun Hong Noh at Korea University. That breadth of expertise — spanning synthesis, ultrafast spectroscopy, synchrotron characterization and computational modeling — reflects the multidisciplinary challenge of understanding and controlling defects at the atomic scale.
For a field that has weathered its share of hype and hard lessons, the new result offers something refreshingly concrete: a reproducible chemical strategy, published in a peer-reviewed journal, that measurably extends carrier lifetimes by an order of magnitude and points toward real gains in device performance. Perovskites have always been crystals of extraordinary promise; the challenge has been coaxing that promise out of an imperfect lattice. With volatile eutectics now shown to tailor crystallization in a way that suppresses defects at their source, researchers have a new tool — and a new class of chemistry to explore — in the long effort to build better solar technology, one crystal at a time.
Subject of Research: Defect mitigation in perovskite solar cells using volatile eutectic chemical additives during fabrication
Article Title: Building better solar tech, a crystal at a time
Article References: Building better solar tech, a crystal at a time. (n.d.). Original publication
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: Not provided
Keywords: perovskite, solar cells, crystal defects, eutectics, photovoltaics, tandem solar cells, semiconductors, carrier lifetime, zinc bromide, methyl ammonium chloride, Princeton University, Science journal
News Source: Denise Maddox. (October 16, 2026). Chemical Mixture Erases Crystal Defects to Boost Perovskite Solar Cell Power. Scienmag.
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“They paint the conduit to the roof color, you can barely see it.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A homeowner planning a 19-kilowatt rooftop solar system wanted everything to look just right after the installation was finished, but they said in Reddit’s r/TeslaSolar forum that they ran into a snag when Tesla informed them that attic conduit runs are “no longer offered.”   
Other Tesla customers, however, said that was not what happened on their homes, with several reporting attic conduit on installations of their own.
The issue surfaced from a homeowner who said they were moving ahead with a solar lease and had been told, “They are telling me, they do not offer hidden conduit anymore.” 
The homeowner said they were especially worried about aesthetics because their main electrical equipment sits on the front of the house, which they thought could make any exterior conduit look “terrible.” 
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
In the replies, other users’ experiences suggested the outcome of the installation could depend on the market, the crew, the home’s design, or the installer’s judgment. 
“Installed yesterday with attic run,” one Redditor shared. 
“It is also possible perhaps that your local area doesn’t offer it,” another speculated.
On its website, Tesla says that its designers “optimize solar panel locations for the highest production and arrange them for the most optimal aesthetic based on the useable roof space.” 
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
While your solar goals will determine whether leasing or buying is right for you, going solar is undeniably one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Homeowners comparing installers can try EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
Not everyone believed an exterior conduit would be a drawback. One homeowner with an outside run said, “They paint the conduit to the roof color, you can barely see it,” 
“Interior conduit runs are absolutely not a must,” another remarked. “For some houses it just doesn’t even make any sense.” 
Others noted that the concern could go beyond appearance, though. One described exterior conduits as “a soft spot for a leak” and pointed to the potential for clogging or “critter damage,” at least if unmonitored for long periods of time.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Getting multiple quotes from reputable solar installers can help you understand your options — and weigh the pros and cons of different approaches — before you sign a contract. 
For homeowners still comparing installers, pricing, and equipment options, EnergySage is a great resource to connect with vetted providers. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. 
EnergySage’s solar map also shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, along with details on solar panel incentives for each state. Together, it can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is also one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Homeowners who want to compare battery options alongside panel quotes can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage systems, including competitive installation estimates.
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Sri Lanka experienced a nationwide power outage on Saturday due to instability in its electricity system, with authorities working to restore supplies, Anadolu Agency reported.
The National System Operator has asked owners of rooftop solar photovoltaic systems to disconnect their installations until further notice to support efforts to restore electricity.
Energy Minister Anura Karunathilake said a breakdown at the Upper Kotmale Power Station was suspected to have caused the outage.
Authorities reported power disruptions in several parts of the island as efforts to restore electricity supplies continued.
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Wind and solar power facilities in Tongxin, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,China, Oct 14, 2026. /VCG
Editor’s note: Xu Xiaohua is chairman of Anhui Huasun Energy Co., Ltd., vice chairman of the Finance Committee, co-chair of the Perovskite Committee of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association, and chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Anhui New Energy Chamber of Commerce. The article reflects the author’s opinions and not necessarily the views of CGTN.
Recently, relevant Chinese authorities have introduced specific measures governing export controls on photovoltaic (PV) cell manufacturing equipment and technology. In light of industry practice, several observations are worth sharing.
Controls aim to safeguard China’s competitive advantage in the global PV industry
Over more than two decades, China’s PV sector has built a fully integrated industrial chain spanning polysilicon, wafers, cells, modules, and core manufacturing equipment, securing a pivotal position in global markets. This hard-won advantage is the fruit of relentless effort, sustained investment, and continuous innovation by generations of PV pioneers. It also serves as a critical pillar for maintaining China’s manufacturing competitiveness in the global energy transition.
The global PV industry is at a critical juncture, defined by accelerating technology iteration and intensifying market competition. As the key vehicle for core process technology, PV manufacturing equipment embodies China’s accumulated mass-production experience and industrial scale-up expertise. Imposing necessary controls on cutting-edge core equipment that represents next-generation PV technology can help prevent the unwarranted transfer of critical technology and process know-how, safeguarding China’s global competitive edge and long-term development potential in the PV industry. This policy arrangement enables China to retain strategic initiative in global PV technology competition. In essence, it is a legitimate measure to safeguard national strategic interests and preserve the industry’s long-term competitiveness.
View of a photovoltaic power station on mountains, Rizhao City, Shandong Province, China, Oct 13, 2026. /VCG
Controls demonstrate a measured and rational governance philosophy
The policy follows a category-based, targeted management philosophy. Instead of resorting to simple, blanket restrictions across the board, it applies targeted regulatory controls to relevant equipment based on differences across technology generations. Equipment that has achieved commercial maturity and boasts ample market supply continues to enjoy space for normal international trade, whereas highly sensitive core equipment at the technological frontier is subject to cautious, prudent management.
This institutional framework reflects the principles of pragmatism, targeted policy implementation, and balanced oversight, maintaining a rational, measured stance: It respects industrial reality and focuses on critical segments and core equipment, while also leaving necessary room for mature application and large-scale deployment of related technologies. For PV cell manufacturers, this regulatory approach will not disrupt their routine overseas business expansion. Ultimately, enterprises’ international competitiveness hinges on their manufacturing processes, mass-production experience, and capacity for continuous innovation. By maintaining a relatively open approach to mature equipment, the policy underscores a commitment to balancing security and development. Furthermore, it reflects the wisdom, vision, and strategic responsibility of a major power actively participating in and regulating international trade.
A rooftop photovoltaic power generation base in Fangxian County, Hubei Province, China, Oct 13, 2026. /VCG
Policy implementation requires coordination across the entire industry chain
The implementation of export controls on PV equipment is inseparable from coordinated efforts by industry associations, government authorities, cell and module manufacturers, and equipment producers. Enterprises concerned must further strengthen compliance awareness and operate in strict accordance with relevant policy requirements. At the same time, they must also continue to scale up R&D investment and improve their capacity for independent innovation to leverage technological progress to underpin their international competitiveness.
Safeguarded by measured and rational controls, China’s PV sector is well-positioned to contribute even greater wisdom and industrial momentum to the global energy transition.

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Some builder-installed panels may satisfy basic requirements without covering real household demand.
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Climbing monthly electric bills pushed one Southern California homeowner to look for ways to get more out of solar.
The homeowner said their electric bill is back to $350 to $400, and that in previous months they received a credit on their bills. However, it seems those days are gone.
They said the home was built in 2021, but the solar system that came with it no longer meets the household’s needs. “The system installed is undersized – only 10 panels. No battery backup,” they wrote.
In a Reddit post, the homeowner said they have a single-story California house of about 2,000 square feet and confirmed with SoCal Edison, their electric provider, that the property is on NEM 2.0. 
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They also said they received bill credits in December 2025 and January 2026, but their bills were back up to roughly $350 to $400.
They considered several paths to alleviate the high cost. One was to wait in hopes that technology improves and prices fall, finance a different system with a loan, sign a 25-year power purchase agreement with a 3.5% annual escalator, or add only a limited number of panels so they wouldn’t be moved to NEM 3.0.
Replies largely centered on protecting the value of NEM 2.0 and avoiding problems when the house is eventually sold. 
One commenter said that “the nem 2.0 piece is actually huge here and changes the math a fair bit,” while also warning that a long PPA may not make sense for someone planning to sell in 15 to 20 years.
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The conversation also pointed to an issue with some builder-installed solar: the panels may satisfy basic requirements without covering real household demand. One commenter told the homeowner that builders often “just slapped on the minimum to check a box.”
For homeowners dealing with high energy bills, going solar remains one of the best ways to save money on home energy. EnergySage can help by offering free solar installation estimates and a way to compare quotes side by side.
One commenter put it into perspective: “Nobody wants to inherit a 25 year contract with a 3.5% escalator and it’ll scare off buyers or force you to buy it out at an inflated price when you list.”
Commenters said the safest move may be to keep any solar addition fairly modest. One commenter suggested adding about four to six panels to cover the shortfall while staying below the NEM 2.0 threshold, and another recommended a battery-based approach, writing, “Use the battery when the rates are highest.”
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Shopping tools can also help reduce the chances of overpaying for an upgrade. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state, along with solar panel incentives for each state. Together, those resources can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. For a homeowner trying to get more value from daytime generation instead of letting it go to waste, storage can be especially valuable. Homeowners can also explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
One commenter shared his coworker’s setup: “He has two Tesla power walls and enough panels to power his AC and charge his and her Teslas for their commutes,” he continued, “he’s made as much as $30 in one day.”
These stories look at how homeowners are navigating rising power bills and shifting solar rules. They cover batteries, net metering, local California programs, and savings trends that can shape rooftop solar payoffs.
• In California, PG&E customers found the battery changes everything when NEM 3.0 credits plunge.
• As bills rise, one California city made rooftop solar into relief for low-income homeowners.
• In Ohio, one homeowner learned net metering may leave half the electric bill untouched.
• U.S. homeowners pushed back when critics claimed solar is worth the investment only with incentives.
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“One night it was raining very heavily and I started to see these (damp) spots being created.”
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Homeowners in one Edinburgh neighborhood say a council-backed retrofit project intended to make older buildings safer and more energy-efficient instead left them dealing with leaks, damaged interiors, and bills topping £20,000 ($26,500).
For residents who initially backed the upgrades, the aftermath has turned a housing- and climate-focused effort into an expensive test of trust.
A project in Lochend meant to modernize older tenements and bring them closer to current efficiency and building standards is now drawing complaints from residents, who told STV News the work went badly wrong.
After the work, homeowner Aga Barys said water coming through the roof affected several flats on her floor, leaving her to bring in builders to repair the damage.
“The cost after fixing everything was over £7,000 [$9,300],” she said.
She added that owning her flat leaves her responsible for more than £20,000 ($26,500) in retrofit charges, including a council management fee. Residents said the upheaval and the size of the bill have damaged confidence in work they had supported.
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“There is something systematically wrong with how they are doing the retrofits. We support this work and were really glad this kind of project was rolling out after so many years of neglect,” Barys stated.
The case highlights a familiar source of conflict in mixed-tenure buildings, where private owners and council tenants can run into disputes over both disruption and costs.
When several households share roofs and common areas, retrofitting older properties can be both complicated and costly. The council said the affected tenement blocks were built in the 1920s and require essential repairs and upgrades.
Another owner, Rita Cicellini, said her home still does not appear to be fully finished.
“What they needed to do the roof, they basically exposed it. One night it was raining very heavily and I started to see these (damp) spots being created. It doesn’t feel like the work is finished. It looks like they came with a chainsaw,” she explained.
Problems like these can make communities more wary of future housing upgrades.
Backed by tenants’ union Living Rent, residents said similar projects should not be expanded elsewhere without stronger oversight and better protections for the people living through the work.
Follow-up work has already begun. STV News reported that contractors paid for repairs to Barys’ property and are expected to return to Cicellini’s home to carry out additional work.
The council said it has support measures in place for owners facing large bills. Councilor Tim Pogson, housing, homelessness and fair work convener, said private owners can spread payments over 15 years and may also qualify for Scottish Government grant funding toward some of the work, depending on their personal circumstances.
Pogson also said the council has “a team of dedicated case officers available to support and answer questions from owners” and remains committed to “safe, warm, and well-maintained homes” through its city-wide housing improvement program.
The central question is whether those assurances will translate into better delivery next time.
As Barys put it, “We don’t ask for a free service. We want to pay our fair share, not live in the conditions that we have been suffering in for over a year.”
Similar tensions show up in other housing and home-upgrade disputes, from mold after a leak repair to contractor damage and HOA battles over rooftop panels.
• A renter said a bathroom leak repair left black mold worsening inside the apartment.
• In one neighborhood, contractors destroyed a lawn during work and deepened homeowner frustration.
• Across many HOAs, solar panels for homes still face neighborhood restrictions.
• One new homeowner found an HOA blocked solar plans despite promises of savings.
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PrepayPower raised electricity prices by 8.8% and gas prices by 10.6% in June.
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PrepayPower is holding electricity and gas rates steady for around 200,000 customers, with no increases due before at least March 2027.
After a year of rising energy costs, that kind of price certainty could make it easier for households to budget and avoid unexpected jumps in top-up costs.
According to RTÉ, the freeze covers about 180,000 electricity accounts and 60,000 gas accounts at PrepayPower, Ireland’s largest pay-as-you-go energy supplier.
Because customers with both services appear in each category, the total number of households affected is about 200,000.
For those customers, the company says it will not raise prices again until at least March 2027. Pay-as-you-go households often feel price changes immediately when topping up, particularly during winter, when heating and electricity use usually rise.
The move also follows a similar price freeze introduced by PrepayPower, its sister company Yuno Energy, and Electric Ireland.
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The announcement does not lower bills outright, but it does reduce the risk of another increase in the middle of winter.
Most major energy providers have increased prices, and PrepayPower itself raised electricity prices by 8.8% and gas prices by 10.6% in June, RTÉ reported.
RTÉ also cited Central Statistics Office figures showing that in September, prices for energy products — including electricity, gas, and other fuels — were up 15.3% in the year to September.
The freeze does not reverse earlier increases, but it does reduce the likelihood that bills will rise again during one of the most expensive times of year for home energy use.
Alongside the freeze announcement, Ireland’s Commission for Regulation of Utilities has brought in stronger winter protections for customers.
Under the CRU’s updated rules, repayment plans must match what customers can realistically afford, any upfront payment must be optional rather than mandatory, and people in debt must be given at least 18 months to repay.
The regulator also says suppliers should first try to resolve problems through their own support systems before directing struggling customers to outside groups such as MABS or SVP.
Existing winter safeguards are staying in place as well: no more than 15% of a prepayment meter top-up can be used to recover legacy debt, suppliers must still tell prepay customers in debt about alternative payment options, and the €200 ($224) fee for switching from a gas pay-as-you-go meter to a credit meter will remain suspended.
In explaining the decision, PrepayPower said the freeze is happening “despite rising wholesale energy costs and concerns over European gas supplies at a time when most customers are fearing energy price increases”.
These stories examine how regulators and energy companies elsewhere are handling household energy costs. They cover a U.K. price-cap increase, billing strategies in Great Britain, solar programs, and other ways customers can trim electricity expenses.
• In the U.K., a regulator-set price cap is pushing household gas and electricity bills higher.
• In the U.K., solar panels installed cost-free are helping homeowners cut long-term energy bills.
• Across the U.S., comparing home electricity options is helping households avoid costly utility deals.
• Dominion Energy customers can shift use during peak times to reduce electric bills.
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“Sounds like both your agent and selling agent are taking advantage of you.”
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In California, a buyer in escrow discovered the property’s solar agreement was not settled after all. Instead of an already-paid system, they were told the seller wanted to pass along a 25-year contract, which they feared would leave them with higher costs over time. 
In Reddit’s r/solar, the buyer said the seller wanted to transfer a “power purchase agreement,” or PPA, to them. Previously, their agent had told them that it was already paid off.
“I don’t know anything about solar and need help/advice,” they implored. The buyer added that the PPA, which started in 2023, would cost about $240 per month. As a concession for not paying off the system, the sellers offered a $15,000 credit.   
Several commenters pushed back on the idea that the transfer was unavoidable. 
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To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
One wrote, “Oh, the escrow can CERTAINLY ‘go through’ …seller needs to pay it off. Sounds like both your agent and selling agent are taking advantage of you.” Others said the buyer should insist on a payoff or be willing to walk away from the 2013 resale home.
A third asked, “So you don’t want cheaper power?” 
Going solar can be one of the best ways to save money on home energy if you compare the terms carefully. As EnergySage notes, with a PPA, the “difference between what you’d pay the utility and what you pay the PPA provider is your savings.” If you’re considering solar, EnergySage lets homeowners get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
For many commenters, the bigger concern with the PPA was what the payment could become over the life of the deal. One explained that with a 3% escalator, today’s $240 monthly charge could climb to more than $400 before the term is over.
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The thread also highlighted considerations beyond the electric bill, including the possibility of reroofing and the solar company’s role in removing and reinstalling the panels. Some noted that a future sale could get tangled if the transfer paperwork isn’t handled properly.
“If this house has shingles, and the lease /ppa has an escalator, this will likely end up costing you over $100K by the time the lease is paid off,” one person warned. 
Whether a PPA is right for you depends on your goals, and not every PPA is the same. In this case, Reddit users recommended asking for written information about assignment terms, fees, escalation rates and timing, and any buyout or prepayment provisions.
For anyone shopping for solar from scratch, EnergySage is a great resource to understand your options. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map shows average system costs by state and details solar panel incentives for each state; together, these tools help homeowners get the best price on rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save on energy costs, and go off-grid. It can also make solar more useful when production doesn’t fully match household demand. Homeowners can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
Solar deals can get especially messy during a home sale, and these stories cover issues buyers and homeowners may run into. 
• In California, buyers considering a prepaid solar lease were told the power could come liability-free.
• In Pennsylvania, a homeowner fielding a sales pitch asked who owns the panels before signing.
• EnergySage’s former COO broke down the mystery of solar costs and the terms that drive them.
• In Ohio, a homeowner learned net metering may leave half the bill untouched.
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The law comes as rooftop solar grows in Texas, with households looking for ways to cut electricity costs.
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Residential solar companies and individual salespeople in Texas now face registration requirements as the state steps in to police rooftop solar sales.
With that shift, regulators can monitor the industry, investigate consumer complaints, and penalize businesses that break the rules.
The Residential Solar Retailer Regulatory Act requires residential solar businesses and salespeople to register with the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation, and it authorizes TDLR to handle complaints and pursue enforcement against companies that violate the statute, KXAN reported.
State Sen. Judith Zaffirini, D-Laredo, championed the law after hearing from Texans across the state who raised concerns about solar sales practices. It was intended to address complaints from Texans who said they were misled about expected savings and available incentives before signing long-term contracts.
The law comes as rooftop solar grows in Texas, with households looking for ways to cut electricity costs. The new rules are meant to add guardrails to a fast-growing part of the energy market.
As more Texans adopted rooftop solar, reports of troubling sales experiences also increased. KXAN investigators reported on complaints connected to solar panel deals.
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Some of those complaints involved promises of lower utility bills that customers later said never materialized. Others focused on financing terms and incentives that consumers said they didn’t fully understand when they signed the contracts.
The scrutiny hasn’t been limited to the legislature. As KXAN reported, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued a San Antonio-based solar company, alleging it misled customers about warranties and financing and used deceptive sales tactics.
According to Paxton’s office, customers were left with systems that didn’t work properly. For families who entered lengthy contracts expecting savings, that can mean years of unexpected costs tied to equipment that doesn’t work as promised.
TDLR now oversees this, and it has become the main state regulator for residential solar retailers and salespeople. For homeowners who think a company used deceptive tactics or failed to follow the law, that creates a more defined agency to contact.
Homeowners still have five days to back out of a solar deal, which gives them time to review contract terms after a sales presentation. Zaffirini has also urged consumers, as KXAN reported, to review contracts carefully, ask questions, and not sign anything they don’t fully understand.
TDLR has delayed enforcement of contract disclosure requirements and the development of education brochures until November to give retailers more time to adjust, KXAN reported.
People who continue to run into problems can file complaints directly with TDLR, whose enforcement powers now include investigations and fines. Zaffirini has also said she plans to monitor how the law works in practice and, as KXAN reported, return to the issue in the 2027 legislative session if more changes are needed.
Zaffirini said to KXAN, “Texans deserve honest and transparent transactions, not deceptive sales tactics.”
Here’s more context on the consumer and homeowner issues tied to rooftop solar in Texas and beyond. The stories cover aggressive sales encounters, Texas property-rights fights, and HOA disputes over solar installations.
• New homeowners said a utility-linked ‘free solar’ rep turned aggressive after seeing their bill.
• In Texas, residents warned a new property law could sharply limit rooftop solar and wind choices.
• In Austin, a homeowner argued they can’t stop you from adding rooftop solar despite HOA pressure.
• One homeowner was stunned when an HOA violation notice arrived two years after solar installation.
• Homeowners weighing solar said a firm HOA policy still left them worried about lawsuits.
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“More than 50 critical facilities” are expected to benefit.
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About 4 miles of power lines in Katy, Texas, will be moved underground, and CenterPoint Energy says the work will involve planned outages before eventually shortening storm-related interruptions for roughly 5,600 customers.
CenterPoint is carrying out the project as part of its Greater Houston Resiliency Initiative.
As Community Impact reported, the Public Utility Commission approved the Katy project, which is expected to take about eight months once construction starts.
Aaron Coronis, CenterPoint Energy’s service area manager, said the new circuit is intended to better withstand storms. He said it should also reduce outages and add capacity to meet Katy’s future electricity demand.
Coronis said “more than 50 critical facilities” are expected to benefit, including Katy City Hall, Fire Station No. 1, Memorial Hermann Katy Hospital, and several assisted living centers.
Once the underground line is in operation, CenterPoint says roughly 5,600 customers should see shorter outage times.
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Residents and businesses are also being warned to expect some temporary disruption during construction, including planned power interruptions that CenterPoint said could last several hours.
To account for possible complications, Coronis said affected entities will be given outage estimates with extra time built in.
Coronis said the city will not use its funds for the project; instead, CenterPoint will spread the cost across all ratepayers, not just Katy residents.
Community Impact had not received a total project cost.
CenterPoint said it is trying to reduce disruption by keeping residents informed throughout the project. Coronis said the utility will contact people “before, during and after this work” by letter, email, door hangers, texts, and Nextdoor posts, according to Community Impact.
The company said its implementation plan aims to limit road closures and minimize traffic impacts.
CenterPoint said crews will restore each work site before moving on, and that process will be coordinated with the city.
Residents should also expect crews on-site Monday-Saturday from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Katy’s project is part of an effort to strengthen electric systems as utilities in Texas and beyond respond to mounting outage risks, as this related coverage examines.
• In northern Michigan, a utility will bury all new power lines after weeks-long ice storm outages.
• New data showed Houston led the U.S. in May outages, with some areas far above average.
• As outages worsen, Generac is pushing home backup battery and solar systems for households.
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Melbourne-based Allume Energy’s SolShare system, that allows residents in multi-unit buildings to share the energy generated from a single rooftop solar array across individually electricity meters, has scooped the pool at Australia’s Good Design awards.
The SolShare system received the 2026 Australian Good Design Award of the Year, the Australian Good Design Award for Sustainability, and was also named the joint winner of Best in Discipline Award for Product Design at the awards ceremony in Sydney on Friday night.
Designed and manufactured in Melbourne, Allume’s SolShare platform allows the energy produced by a single solar system to be distributed between separately metered dwellings according to their instantaneous energy needs. The system’s algorithm ensures solar energy consumption is maximised on site before any energy is fed back to the grid. 
The Good Design Award jury described SolShare as “true design excellence,” adding it was impressed by “the intelligent real-time demand allocation system and the product’s demonstrated impact in making renewable energy accessible to communities historically excluded from rooftop solar benefits.”
“Apartment residents share a roof but have had no practical way to share its solar,” the jury said. “SolShare changes that, connecting a single rooftop system to up to 15 apartments and directing power in real time to where it is needed most, without new meters, retailers or building overhauls.”
The win follows this year’s launch of SolShare 2, a redesign of Allume’s original technology released in 2019 that increases SolShare’s energy capacity by 36% and makes it possible for apartment residents to share an optimised battery as well as rooftop solar.
Allume Chief Product Officer Stella Knorr said the system has transformed a previously inaccessible population segment – apartment residents – into a cornerstone of the clean energy transition.
“Closing the solar divide between freestanding home and apartment residents has been our goal from day one, so it’s fantastic to see the team’s work and the impact this home-grown Aussie innovation is now having worldwide recognised in this way,” she said. “Our design approach is a big part of what’s allowed us to reach thousands more apartment residents and renters to date, and we’re expecting a significant ramp-up in the number of apartment residents SolShare is helping to save in the years to come.”
Allume said the ‘behind the meter’ system has delivered the benefits of solar to more than 13,000 apartments across Australia and the United Kingdom, contributing an estimated 28 GWh of clean energy to date.
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Great to see an Australian innovation making solar more accessible to apartment residents! 👏 Sharing rooftop solar and battery storage across multiple households is a smart step towards a more sustainable future. At Volts Electrics, we’re equally passionate about helping Australians make better use of clean energy. Congratulations to Allume Energy on this well-deserved recognition!
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Qcells announced plans to launch new versions of its residential solar panel series featuring U.S.-made aluminum frames by the end of 2026. 
The updated residential product offerings, which include the company’s Q.Tron AC and Q.Peak Duo AC lines, will incorporate aluminum frames extruded, anodized, and fabricated at supplier Aluko Group’s integrated facility in Halls, Tennessee. The initiative is aimed at helping residential installers and third-party ownership TPO providers qualify for the Investment Tax Credit ITC domestic content bonus adder. 
Under the Treasury Department’s domestic content guidance, solar hardware must meet specific domestic manufacturing thresholds to qualify for the 10% tax credit bonus. Qcells noted that keeping all three core stages of frame manufacturing, including extrusion, anodization, and fabrication, within the United States provides greater clarity for installers and financing partners when evaluating compliance. 
The domestic frame offering comes as the statutory domestic content threshold for clean energy projects begins stepping up toward 55% for projects commencing construction in 2027. 
“Through this partnership to produce modules with domestic frames, we are furthering our commitment to U.S. manufacturing, supporting clean, affordable energy and giving our customers the certainty they need to qualify projects for the domestic content bonus,” said Il Hyeong No, head of Qcells North America’s residential business. 
Supply chain localized in Tennessee 
Aluko Group’s manufacturing plant in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, is expected to reach full commercial production by the end of 2026. Once operational, the plant will have a planned annual capacity to manufacture enough frames to support 4 GW of solar modules. 
Aluko plans to invest more than $107 million into the facility over five years, creating 285 full-time jobs. The company operates what it describes as the only facility in the U.S. performing all three major frame production steps under one roof. 
“By carrying out extrusion, anodizing, and fabrication here in the United States, we are delivering a product that offers transparency and confidence at every step of the process,” said Jinwoo Park, president of Aluko Group. 
The move expands Qcells’ broader domestic manufacturing push across its vertically integrated operations in Dalton and Cartersville, Georgia, where the company operates large-scale module and component assembly operations.
Want to learn more about the scaling of U.S. solar supply chains and domestic content rules? Join us for pv magazine USA Week to attend the session Scaling Solar Production in the U.S. This panel addresses the real-world execution of policy-driven announcements, scaling domestic production, and navigating complex domestic content thresholds. 
The session will feature Qcells Global Chief Technology Officer Danielle W. Merfeld alongside fellow expert panelists Finlay Colville, Founder of Terawatt PV Research; Jim Wood, CEO of SEG Solar; and Zennia Villanueva, Vice President of Quality at RETC, part of the VDE Group. Register for pv magazine USA Week today to reserve your spot.
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⚡ Quick Read
NTPC (Mauritius) Energy, a subsidiary of India’s state-owned power giant, has officially invited bids for an engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) package to develop a floating solar project. The initiative is set to be located at the Tamarind Falls Reservoir in Mauritius, reflecting the growing trend of utilizing water bodies for renewable energy generation to conserve land resources.
The project scope involves the design, supply, installation, and commissioning of a floating solar photovoltaic (PV) plant integrated with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). By coupling solar generation with BESS, the project aims to provide more stable and dispatchable power to the local grid. The tender documentation specifies that the final date for the submission of bids is December 7, 2026. This project represents a strategic move by NTPC to leverage its domestic experience in large-scale solar and storage deployments in international markets.
For Indian EPC contractors, this tender offers a high-profile opportunity to showcase technical capabilities in the specialized field of floating solar. The integration of BESS adds a layer of complexity that favors companies with experience in hybrid renewable energy systems. Developers and contractors looking to expand their footprint in the Indian Ocean region should view this as a gateway to further infrastructure projects in Mauritius, which is actively seeking to diversify its energy mix away from fossil fuels.
Prospective bidders must now prepare their technical and financial proposals in accordance with the tender guidelines. Given the technical requirements of floating solar—which involves mooring systems, specialized buoyant structures, and water-resistant electrical components—the selection process will likely prioritize firms with proven track records in similar environments. As the India renewable energy sector continues to mature, such international ventures by major players like NTPC underscore the country’s growing role as a global hub for renewable energy engineering and project management expertise.
The following table summarizes the key parameters for the NTPC (Mauritius) Energy floating solar and BESS tender.
Aditya Pathre is the Founder of MVApulse and covers India’s renewable energy sector, including solar, wind, battery energy storage systems (BESS), green hydrogen, transmission infrastructure, renewable energy policy and competitive bidding. His reporting focuses on project developments, market trends, government policies and energy transition across India.
India’s Power Sector Intelligence Portal
MVApulse is an independent publication covering India’s renewable energy sector including solar, wind, BESS, transmission, green hydrogen, EPC and power markets.
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AI Model Diagnoses Solar Panel Faults Even When Data Goes Missing
Solar power is exploding across the global grid, but the panels that harvest sunlight are quietly fragile machines. They bake in heat, get hammered by sand and rain, and slowly age under decades of ultraviolet stress. When a single small fault goes unnoticed, it can snowball into a compound failure that cripples an entire array. Now, a team of researchers in Beijing has unveiled an artificial intelligence system that can diagnose these faults with remarkable precision — even when the sensor data it relies on is riddled with holes. The work, published in Frontiers in Electronics, reports diagnostic accuracies of 98.73 percent for single faults and 97.46 percent for compound faults, and it still holds 96.12 percent accuracy when the measurements are corrupted by 30 dB of noise.
The problem the researchers tackled is one that plagues every real-world photovoltaic installation: missing data. Photovoltaic power plants continuously monitor voltage, current, power, temperature, and irradiance, feeding this stream into fault-detection algorithms. But communication blockages, sensor malfunctions, asynchronous triggering between devices, unstable sunlight, temperature drift, hidden component defects, and simple wiring errors can all interrupt the flow. When data gaps appear, most existing fault diagnosis methods simply fail to account for them — a blind spot that can turn a healthy array into a mystery box.
Di Liu, Xiaojuan Zhu, and Changyu Du of Beijing Fibrlink Communications built their solution as a pipeline of four cooperating technologies: Tucker decomposition, the sparrow search algorithm, the Informer network, and a novel multi-scale convolutional model they call MSCNet. The first job belongs to Tucker decomposition, a tensor-based mathematical technique that treats the high-dimensional photovoltaic data — power, voltage, current, irradiance, and timestamps — as a structured spatial object rather than a flat table. By transforming the data into a Hankel tensor through a standard delay transformation known as Hankification, the method exploits the inherent temporal structure of the measurements to reconstruct the missing values.
The tensor completion model is solved using alternating least squares, a procedure that iteratively refines the core tensor and its factor matrices until the reconstruction converges. Once the completed Hankel tensor is obtained, the data pass through a delayed inverse transformation using the Moore–Penrose pseudo-inverse, delivering a filled-in dataset that preserves the original temporal patterns. In randomized missing-data experiments, where the team removed between 5 and 50 percent of the current measurements in 5 percent steps, their method achieved a relative squared error of just 3.51 percent at the brutal 50 percent missing rate — outperforming cubic spline interpolation, K-nearest neighbors, support vector machines, and low-rank matrix filling by margins of 1.28 to 3.74 percentage points.
Continuous data loss, the kind that occurs when remote devices lose communication or sensors fail outright, proved even more challenging. At a 30 percent continuous missing ratio, the Tucker-based method delivered a relative squared error of 5.27 percent, while KNN, low-rank matrix, and SVM-based alternatives hovered between 7.98 and 10.28 percent. The team’s algorithm beat the comparison methods at every missing percentage tested, confirming that the tensor approach is not a one-trick trick but a robust foundation for the diagnostic pipeline that follows.
With the data restored, the Informer network takes over. Informer is a Transformer variant purpose-built for long time-series feature extraction, and it outperforms the standard Transformer architecture in this domain thanks to a probabilistic sparse self-attention mechanism. Rather than forcing every query to attend to every key in the sequence, Informer lets each focus only on the first n queries with the highest relevance, dramatically reducing computational cost while capturing the global patterns that matter. The encoder converts the input into dense vectors of fixed dimensions and extracts features in order, generating a mapping that preserves the long-range dependencies in photovoltaic operation data.
But global patterns alone are not enough. Fault signals in photovoltaic arrays are often subtle, localized, and multi-scale — a short circuit in one string, a shadow across a few modules, an aging cell drifting out of spec. To capture these granular features, the team embedded MSCNet into the Informer encoder. MSCNet operates through two parallel branches: one performs global max pooling and global average pooling, then passes the results through a fully connected layer and a sigmoid gating mechanism to recalibrate the weights of each feature channel. The other branch expands the number of channels and solves the gradient vanishing problem through convolution, batch normalization, and ReLU activation, then extracts multi-scale features using depthwise separable convolutions. Because depthwise convolutions ignore relationships between channels, a channel shuffling operation recombines the outputs, and the two branches merge through a fully connected layer to produce the final enhanced representation.
The third component, the sparrow search algorithm, optimizes the global parameters of the combined Informer-MSCNet model. Inspired by the foraging and anti-predatory behavior of actual sparrows, the algorithm divides its population into discoverers, joiners, and vigilantes. Discoverers find food and lead the group, joiners follow them, and vigilantes monitor the surroundings for danger. When a warning value exceeds a safety threshold, the sparrows move to a safe area, and the algorithm iteratively updates positions until the optimal configuration emerges. This swarm intelligence approach accelerates convergence of the deep learning model, which would otherwise require extensive manual tuning of its many parameters.
To test the system, the researchers built a real photovoltaic simulation platform in a city in northern China, comprising eight PV modules connected in a four-series-by-two-parallel configuration, along with resistor boxes, electricity meters, temperature sensors, and an irradiance meter. Data were collected at 15-minute intervals, producing a dataset of 4,320 by 5 sampling points with ambient temperatures between 25.47 and 34.69 degrees Celsius and irradiance between 527.25 and 765.14 watts per square meter. They simulated four single fault types — open circuit, line short circuit, abnormal aging, and partial shadow — and four compound fault types combining two simultaneous failures. After filling the missing data with their Tucker-based method and diagnosing with the full pipeline, the model achieved 98.73 percent accuracy on single faults, beating Informer, Transformer, TCN, SVM, and CNN by 3.05 to 15.07 percentage points.
Under noise, the advantages became even clearer. When 30 dB of noise was added to the compound fault scenario, the proposed model maintained 96.12 percent accuracy, improving on Informer, Transformer, TCN, SVM, and CNN by 4.61, 5.9, 11.51, 13.96, and 17.88 percentage points respectively. The recall rate of 96.76 percent similarly outpaced all comparison algorithms. Ablation experiments confirmed that MSCNet is the critical ingredient: when the team removed it and ran a TCN-Informer-SSA variant, accuracy on open-circuit faults dropped 16 percentage points, and the variant fell below 90 percent on several fault types that the full model handles with ease. The researchers conclude that their Tucker decomposition-SSA-Informer-MSCNet pipeline offers a practical, noise-robust foundation for smart grid construction — a system that can keep watch over the world’s solar farms even when the sensors go dark.
Subject of Research: A high-precision fault diagnosis method for photovoltaic arrays considering the effect of missing data
Article Title: A high-precision fault diagnosis method for photovoltaic arrays considering the effect of missing data
Article References: Liu, D., Zhu, X., & Du, C. (2025). A high-precision fault diagnosis method for photovoltaic arrays considering the effect of missing data. Frontiers in Electronics, 6, Article 1656864. https://doi.org/10.3389/felec.2025.1656864
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.3389/felec.2025.1656864
Keywords: high-precision, fault, diagnosis, method, photovoltaic, arrays, considering, effect, missing, data, scientific research
News Source: Faith Mcneil. (October 17, 2026). AI Model Diagnoses Solar Panel Faults Even When Data Goes Missing. Scienmag.
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Qcells has unveiled intentions to introduce updated iterations of its home solar panel lineup equipped with aluminum frames produced domestically before 2026 concludes. The refreshed products, encompassing the Q.Tron AC and Q.Peak Duo AC ranges, will feature frames that undergo extrusion, anodization and fabrication at the Halls, Tennessee integrated plant belonging to supplier Aluko Group.
This effort seeks to assist residential installers and third-party ownership providers in securing eligibility for the Investment Tax Credit domestic content bonus adder. Per Treasury Department domestic content rules, solar equipment must satisfy particular domestic manufacturing benchmarks to receive the 10% tax credit bonus. Qcells observed that retaining all three core frame manufacturing phases within the United States offers installers and financing partners enhanced clarity when assessing compliance.
The domestic frame offering arrives as the statutory domestic content threshold for clean energy projects starts escalating toward 55% for projects beginning construction in 2027.
Il Hyeong No, who leads Qcells North America’s residential business, stated that the partnership to produce modules with domestic frames advances the company’s dedication to U.S. manufacturing, backs clean and affordable energy and provides customers with the certainty required to qualify projects for the domestic content bonus.
Aluko Group’s manufacturing facility in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, is anticipated to achieve full commercial production before the end of 2026. When operational, the plant is designed to have yearly capacity for manufacturing sufficient frames to support 4 GW of solar modules.
Aluko intends to invest over $107 million in the facility across five years, generating 285 full-time positions. The company characterizes its plant as the sole U.S. facility conducting all three major frame production steps beneath a single roof.
Jinwoo Park, president of Aluko Group, stated that performing extrusion, anodizing and fabrication within the United States yields a product delivering transparency and confidence throughout every stage of the process.
The initiative extends Qcells’ wider domestic manufacturing drive throughout its vertically integrated operations in Dalton and Cartersville, Georgia, where the company runs large-scale module and component assembly operations.
This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Solar Panels market in the United States, covering market size, growth trajectory, demand structure, supply capability, trade flows, pricing, competitive landscape, and forecast to 2035.
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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.
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From left to right: Susan Cotner, Greg Galluccio, Kimberly Ireland, Dr. Richard Perez, Jill Henck, and Nicole Bouchez, at a Crandall Library electric grid panel. 
Luke Mosseau is a staff writer. Contact: 518-742-3224, lmosseau@poststar.com.

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The law contends that large-scale battery energy storage systems present “unique and substantial risks to public health, safety, and welfare.”
Salem’s town board previously enacted a moratorium that prohibited considering BESS applications. But a new local law would ban the facilities…
The law contends that BESS present “unique and substantial risks to public health, safety, and welfare.”
A quick look at the issue and what these systems actually do.
A site on Route 149 and Ridge Road was discussed, but that area is not zoned for such a site, so no battery storage site is currently planned …
Lake George enacts a six-month moratorium on battery energy storage systems to gain a better understanding on the issue while weighing the pro…
From left to right: Susan Cotner, Greg Galluccio, Kimberly Ireland, Dr. Richard Perez, Jill Henck, and Nicole Bouchez, at a Crandall Library electric grid panel. 
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Solar panels at a community solar farm in Chicago Heights. Erin Hooley/ Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service/ Getty

This story was originally published by Canary Media and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
A community solar project built for New Orleans’ oldest historically Black Catholic order of nuns. An all-electric affordable housing complex in Salt Lake City. A program offering low-income Maryland households inexpensive loans for rooftop solar and energy efficiency.
These are just some of the recent projects financed in the US by green banks, entities that use public funds to boost lending for clean energy and climate-adaptation efforts in tough-to-finance sectors. And they’ve done it even as the Trump administration’s clawbacks of federal climate funding force them to scale down their Biden-era plans.
“We’ve continued to move capital in very challenging times,” said Dan Adler, executive director of the U.S. Green Bank 50, a coalition of 56 green banks and other organizations. To fill in the gaps, they’ve sought out financing partners ranging from commercial banks and credit unions to corporate and philanthropic funders. ​“We’re making a virtue out of a necessity,” he said.
The Green Bank 50 laid out what its members have been able to accomplish over the last two years in its inaugural impact report, released in September, which collected data from 48 green banks nationwide. Over the course of 2024 and 2025, those organizations put about $1.4 billion of their own capital, along with $11 billion in additional private capital, into more than 40,000 projects.
The goal is to find projects private-sector lenders consider too risky, ​“but if you do it with green banks a few times, then private capital can take over.”
The report includes summaries from about 70 case studies of the work that’s been helped along by financing from green banks. Some are large-scale projects, like the $10 million community solar array being built on land owned by the Sisters of the Holy Family in New Orleans, which has committed to providing up to 350 low-income households with reduced utility bills using the solar power it will generate. Loans for that project came from the nonprofit Inclusive Prosperity Capital, the United Church of Christ Cornerstone Fund, and Pelican Community Capital, which is a Louisiana community development lender affiliated with the Baton Rouge Area Foundation.
Inclusive Prosperity Capital is among the many green banks that has had to make do without promised grants from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It won $249 million from the program, which was created by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and provided $20 billion in green bank grants and another $7 billion in Solar for All grants. The Trump administration terminated both programs last year.
“We had projects with financial commitments, training courses for developers and lenders, a predevelopment mentorship program, staff hired and trained, and more,” Inclusive Prosperity Capital CEO Kerry O’Neill said. ​“We hope recent court decisions will result in our return to this important work.”
In August, a federal judge ruled the administration’s freeze of the $20 billion to be unlawful, and this month, two separate federal judges have ruled the Solar for All termination illegal. But the administration has yet to release the funds, and is expected to appeal to the US Supreme Court.
The loss of federal funds has severely curtailed the scale of work planned by the Green Bank 50 partners. Climate United Fund, a partnership that was awarded $7 billion but had its funds frozen, has been unable to follow through on plans to finance U.S.-built electric trucks, energy-efficiency and clean energy upgrades, and loans to Native American–led clean energy projects.
The 48 green banks surveyed in the impact report have about $6.8 billion in their funding pipelines. But Adler conceded that the loss of federal funds has put some worthy projects out of reach. ​“When money is coming down from the sky at basically 0 percent [interest], you can do very interesting projects—and we’re prepared to do that again,” he said.
“But now we have to focus on tight discipline with private capital as our key partner,” he said. ​“You can’t do the higher-risk projects, so you work on what’s addressable.” The goal, he said, is to find projects that are still considered too risky or unproven for private-sector lenders, ​“but if you do it with green banks a few times, then private capital can take over.”
Solar and Energy Loan Fund, a Florida-based green bank, has financed nearly $80 million in home energy-efficiency, solar, and storm-hardening projects.
That’s in fact the founding principle of the green bank movement, he noted. Some of the first green banks formed in Connecticut and New York state in the 2010s have become significant drivers of private-sector lending for building energy efficiency and electrification, solar for schools and municipalities, and other categories of investment important to meeting state and local climate policies.
The technologies behind the projects that green banks finance aren’t risky in and of themselves, Adler said. But the classes of customers that green banks work with—such as affordable housing providers and solar developers working in low-income communities—can be. ​“Whether they’ve been redlined out of the traditional capital markets, or the deals are not as big as traditional lenders are motivated to engage in, we’re taking on the credit risks and the deal structure and size risks,” he explained.
Green banks have continued to find ways to reduce those risks. One method is bundling funds from multiple lenders, which reduces an individual lender’s risk. That’s how Inclusive Prosperity Capital and its partners financed the community solar project for the Sisters of the Holy Family.
It’s also how the New York City Energy Efficiency Corp., a 16-year-old green bank, supported a 396-unit, all-electric affordable housing project in Salt Lake City. The green bank worked with Utah nonprofit SustainEnergyFinance to set up a $4.5 predevelopment loan—a form of financing that can be hard to underwrite for first-time projects—so that the project’s developer could move into the next phases of construction.
Green banks are also sharing technical resources to help each other lower financing costs, Adler said. He cited the Solar and Energy Loan Fund, a Florida-based green bank that has financed nearly $80 million in home energy-efficiency, solar, and storm-hardening projects. That organization has developed a platform, now being used by 13 other green banks and similar lenders across the country, that standardizes much of the underwriting and loan-processing expertise it’s built up over the past decade, said David Graber, the green bank’s chief of staff.
“We provide the back office and the capital. Partners bring the local trust and the projects,” Graber explained. The Solar and Energy Loan Fund estimates that each lending partner on the platform avoids hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in costs it would otherwise incur running a full lending operation on its own.
Montgomery County Green Bank in Maryland has blended financial technology support and layered financing to make home renewable-energy and energy-efficiency improvements more affordable. In March 2026, the organization launched a $4 million initiative that offers households low-interest loans for rooftop solar, heat pumps, and other projects.
Qualifying homeowners can access solar loans with a subsidized interest rate of 2.99 percent for the first 15 years, with a higher rate applying afterward, said Rokas Beresniovas, the green bank’s head of partnerships and business development.
As utility bills rise, mobilizing investment for these kinds of efforts is more important than ever, Adler said. But as the Green Bank 50 report highlights, many green banks operate on budgets of less than $2 million per year.
“We could do a lot more,” he said. ​“But we’re looking at what we’re able to finance.”
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“The only time you might get close is when you get the edge of cloud effects.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A solar owner thought a new 17.6-kilowatt setup might be falling short after seeing its peak output stall at around 12 kilowatts.
A key part of the r/TeslaSolar subreddit’s explanation was the roof layout. 
 In a thread on Reddit, the original poster described their setup and asked: “Why doesn’t peak production reach close to 17.6kW? If I’m lucky it hits 12.x, but that’s like a 36% loss at peak…”
Questions like this are common after a system goes in, especially when the monitoring app number doesn’t seem to line up. People replying said the 17.6-kW figure is the array’s nameplate size, not a promise that the system will reach that output at one specific instant on an actual home. 
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Because most panels are grouped on the west roof plane and only four modules are on the east side, the setup emphasizes later-day generation. With that in mind, a reported high near 12.x kW is not as unusual.
“You will never hit 17.6,” a user replied. “The only time you might get close is when you get the edge of cloud effects.”
If you enter with realistic expectations, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Homeowners comparing designs can try EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
With three Powerwall 3 units in the mix for this homeowner, the goal isn’t just to hit the biggest possible number in the app for a brief moment. When an array leans heavily west, it can keep producing later in the day, which may align well with evening household use and battery charging.
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That is why commenters kept returning to the distinction between kilowatts and energy produced over time. The original poster was watching an instantaneous peak near 12.x kW, while the 17.6-kW figure refers to the full array’s rated size.
In other words, a roof plan with most panels facing west can still be functioning as intended.
For someone trying to evaluate a similar situation, a good starting point is to verify whether the number in the proposal is a nameplate rating and then look at how the roof layout is distributed. Doing that can help separate a normal production pattern from a genuine equipment issue.
A user assessed: “You need to upsize when you can’t have optimal panel placement to make up for it. ~12kW w/ west facing panels on a 17kW system isn’t bad.”
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
If you are still shopping, EnergySage can help the average person save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations.
EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, as well as details on solar panel incentives for each state. Together, those resources can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives. 
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. This is especially relevant in a configuration like this. Homeowners who want to compare battery options and pricing can explore EnergySage for information on home battery storage, including competitive installation estimates.
A solar system’s real-world performance does not always match the number printed on the contract. 
• One Tesla owner saw a strange negative power bill after a confusing utility statement arrived.
• Elsewhere, a homeowner watching rooftop panels saw output surge past 1,050 watts on an 880-watt setup.
• Another homeowner found that cleaning the panels carefully sharply improved production without changing the system.
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Work has been completed on the 74.9 MW Bailey Mill Solar Center, which Duke Energy Florida, a United States-based electric utility, has built near Monticello in Jefferson County. Its 163,000 panels can produce enough electricity at peak output to power about 15,000 homes in Florida, US. Duke Energy Florida expects that output to save its customers $250 million in fuel costs over the life of the site. The saving will reach them directly, as the price that the utility pays for fuel is passed through to their bills. Bailey Mill is one of five solar sites that the utility has completed since 2025, and 11 more are planned before the end of 2028.
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Plans to build a battery energy storage system and 500MW solar farm across swathes of land near Selby could be changed following objections from people living nearby.
Light Valley Solar Limited wants to build on 2,520 acres (1,020 hectares) of land between the villages of Escrick, Monk Fryston, Hambleton, Chapel Haddlesey and South Milford.
The development has faced opposition, with conerns raised about the loss of agricultural land, the impact on the rural landscape and the potential harm to wildlife.
In response the firm has outlined nine proposed amendments, including removing solar panels from an area near homes, creating new wildlife habitats and altering construction access routes.
Opponents have also questioned the scale and location of the scheme, arguing that it would industrialise large areas of countryside and affect the character of nearby villages.
Among the changes to the scheme that have been proposed is the removal of solar panels from land south of Milford Lodge and Milford Lodge Cottage.
The land would instead become an area of grassland managed to provide habitat for ground-nesting birds.
The developer said the change followed discussions with North Yorkshire Council about bird habitat provision, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
In addition, the removal of panels would increase the distance between the development and Milford Lodge Cottage, following representations from residents.
The developer has also been in discussions with Sherburn Aero Club and says removing panels near a proposed emergency landing strip would improve safety for aircraft making emergency landings.
Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
The scale of the site is leaving some villagers "shocked and scared".
The developers, Evolution Power Limited, say the two sites could attract £25bn of investment.
Visitors can speak to Dorset homeowners and see their green energy installations.
Developer Low Carbon says the 2,400 acre West Oxfordshire Energy Plant would produce 500MW.
Conservative MPs Stuart Andrew and Sarah Bool oppose the construction of Green Hill Solar Farm.
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“That’s actually a pretty good deal with the right player.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A San Diego homeowner who said they could afford to pay cash for rooftop solar turned to the r/solar subreddit after an installer appeared to push a lease instead.
The homeowner also said household electricity demand is expected to grow because they plan to add both an electric vehicle and a hot tub.
Posting in a Reddit thread, the homeowner said the installer recommended a lease and claimed tax credits had expired, even though the homeowner said paying upfront was financially feasible.
According to the post, the home uses about 1,300 kilowatt-hours during its highest-use months.
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Because the household expects to add an EV and a hot tub, current consumption may not fully capture the size of the system it will eventually need.
Responses in the thread urged caution about the pitch. Some commenters brought up prepaid-lease depreciation structures, while others warned that kickbacks can be part of the sales channel.
“Prepaid lease and paying cash allows for an investor to use the accelerated depreciation, and the tax credit value which they typically pay in to effectively reduce your out of pocket,” a user wrote. “That’s actually a pretty good deal with the right player.”
Going solar is one of the best ways to save money on energy bills, just as the original poster’s instincts dictated. Using EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes can make it easier to see whether a sales pitch matches the numbers.
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
They also said they may not stay in the home beyond seven years. That kind of timeline can make contract terms especially important, because someone who may move sooner could value flexibility differently than a homeowner planning to stay for decades.
With peak-month usage already near 1,300 kWh and additional demand likely from an EV and hot tub, a proposal should focus on where the home’s energy use is headed, not just where it is now.
One practical step is to collect multiple bids using the same assumptions of around 1,300 kWh in high-use months, an EV and hot tub, and the possibility of moving within seven years.
Comparing those proposals can make it easier to spot when a salesperson may be tailoring the recommendation around sales-channel incentives instead of the household’s actual needs.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
“Prepaid lease,” a user advised. “You’re going to want that 25 year warranty on the batteries given how much they degrade over time.”
With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. For context, EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system by state, along with details on solar panel incentives for each state. Together, those resources can help homeowners get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives. That makes it a useful check against a single company’s pitch.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save on energy costs, and go off-grid. Homeowners who want to pair storage with panels can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
Other customers have shared similar confusion around solar tax credits and lease-driven sales pitches. 
• A homeowner learned they could still claim thousands off a rooftop solar bill.
• A homebuyer discovered a 20-year solar lease can complicate finances long after closing.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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Small solar upgrades in California could threaten older net-metering deals  Yahoo
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