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The new light-powered technique uses miniature solar cells to wirelessly guide living cell alignment without electrodes.
Researchers used miniature photovoltaic cells to generate electrical fields that influence how living cells align, without wired electrodes.
Experiments with human lung and skin fibroblasts showed that cell orientation followed the patterns of the solar cell arrays.
Researchers plan to test cardiac and muscle cells before exploring three-dimensional environments for more precise tissue organisation.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) have developed a way to control the alignment of living cells using miniature solar cells, potentially offering a wireless alternative to bulky electrical systems used in tissue engineering.
The approach uses tiny photovoltaic cells patterned across silicon chips to convert light into local electrical fields that influence how cells orient themselves. By changing the size and arrangement of these microscopic solar cells, researchers can guide groups of cells into specific patterns without connecting electrodes directly to them.
The technique could eventually help scientists organize cells more precisely when developing biological tissues through 3D bioprinting.
Bioprinting uses living cells and biological materials, known as bioink, to build tissues layer by layer. Keeping these cells organized is important because their alignment can influence how tissues develop and function.
Researchers have traditionally used electrical stimulation to influence cell orientation. However, these systems often rely on bulky equipment, wired electrodes, and invasive connections that make precise control more difficult.
To address this, the Penn State team developed patterned arrays of silicon photovoltaic microcells. These tiny devices capture light and convert it into electrical signals, generating local fields that influence cellular behavior.
In a study published in Advanced Functional Materials, the researchers tested two approaches. They changed the diameter of individual photovoltaic cells, ranging from 80 to 800 micrometers, and experimented with different arrangements while keeping the cell size constant.
The team placed commercially sourced human lung and skin fibroblasts on the silicon chips. Fibroblasts are connective-tissue cells that help produce and maintain the structural framework surrounding tissues.
The samples were exposed to different light intensities over seven days. The researchers then compared their alignment with cells grown on chips that received no illumination.
The results showed that fibroblasts grown without illumination displayed largely random alignment. Cells exposed to light, however, arranged themselves according to the patterns of the photovoltaic arrays.
The researchers also found that changing the illumination intensity influenced the electrical response of the solar cells, providing another way to regulate cellular alignment.
By adjusting the size, spacing and arrangement of the photovoltaic microcells, the team could modify the electrical fields generated across the chip.
The approach does not provide complete control over cell organization, as interactions between neighboring cells still influence their movement and orientation. However, it demonstrates how light-powered electrical stimulation can guide groups of living cells without wired electrodes.
The researchers now plan to test the technique on more sensitive cell types, including cardiac and muscle cells, to investigate whether electrical stimulation can also influence their functions.
They also want to move beyond flat surfaces and explore three-dimensional environments. This could allow photovoltaic arrays to generate electrical fields in different directions, offering greater control over how cells organize themselves within developing tissues.
The findings could eventually support more precise tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, although further work is needed before the approach can be applied to functional 3D-printed tissues.
With over a decade-long career in journalism, Neetika Walter has worked with The Economic Times, ANI, and Hindustan Times, covering politics, business, technology, and the clean energy sector. Passionate about contemporary culture, books, poetry, and storytelling, she brings depth and insight to her writing. When she isn’t chasing stories, she’s likely lost in a book or enjoying the company of her dogs.
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Artificial Intelligence Review Highlights Efficiency Gains and Operational Challenges in Photovoltaic Systems
A newly published review article in Discover Applied Sciences evaluates the integration of artificial intelligence with solar photovoltaic systems, characterizing it as a breakthrough solution designed to enhance the performance, reliability, and forecasting of solar energy generation. Authored by Gaurav Kansal, the comprehensive survey provides an international perspective on how machine learning and advanced computational frameworks contribute to core operational domains. The analysis indicates that artificial intelligence-based techniques allow for optimized system operation and can improve overall energy conversion efficiency.
The review delineates several principal technical domains where artificial intelligence techniques deliver primary operational contributions within photovoltaic systems. These areas include maximum power point tracking and power generation forecasting. In addition, the paper examines the essential role of artificial intelligence methodologies in fault diagnosis and overarching system optimization.
The review details how techniques such as particle swarm optimization and genetic algorithms have shown significant potential in optimizing photovoltaic system parameters. These techniques have also shown significant potential toward optimizing maximum power point tracking and hybrid artificial intelligence-based frameworks under varying operating conditions.
Despite these technical performance advantages, the review underscores that artificial intelligence implementations face prominent practical challenges that complicate deployment in real-world solar systems. High computational demands, complex requirements for data management, and the persistent necessity of ongoing model maintenance present serious hurdles for operators. At the same time, continuing advancements in underlying artificial intelligence algorithms and supporting hardware technologies are steadily facilitating the integration of renewable energy systems, which may substantially decrease reliance on traditional energy sources.
To establish an application-oriented synthesis, the author conducted extensive literature searches across major scientific indexing databases during the defined review period. The analyzed literature was identified through systematic queries of Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, and ScienceDirect. The scope of this bibliographic survey specifically focused on evaluating research literature directed toward artificial intelligence applications in photovoltaic power forecasting, maximum power point tracking algorithms, operational fault diagnosis, image-based inspection routines, and critical cybersecurity concerns across modern installations.
The paper also provides a review of recent developments in the field, emerging research directions, and emerging solutions. These emerging solutions include transfer learning, few-shot learning, and edge computing.
The principal contribution of the review is a critical application-oriented synthesis of these artificial intelligence techniques. By systematically highlighting existing practical challenges, identifying current research gaps, and outlining emerging directions, the review establishes a foundation for more reliable and intelligent system operation.
Subject of Research: Artificial intelligence applications and emerging operational techniques in solar photovoltaic systems
Article Title: A comprehensive review of artificial intelligence applications in solar photovoltaic systems and future perspectives
Article References: Kansal, G. (2026). A comprehensive review of artificial intelligence applications in solar photovoltaic systems and future perspectives. Discover Applied Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42452-026-09822-4
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s42452-026-09822-4
Keywords: artificial intelligence, photovoltaic systems, solar energy generation, maximum power point tracking, power generation forecasting, fault diagnosis, system optimisation, metaheuristic algorithms, particle swarm optimisation, genetic algorithms, energy conversion efficiency, data management, model maintenance, transfer learning, few-shot learning, edge computing, image-based inspection, cybersecurity
News Source: Blake Davidson. (November 14, 2026). Artificial Intelligence Review Highlights Efficiency Gains and Operational Challenges in Photovoltaic Systems. Scienmag.
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Solar Panels on a Vast Green Farm in Renewable Energy Landscape
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I am rating First Solar (FSLR) a Hold with a target price of $193.84, which is 8.8% above the November 11 close of $178.11, which is
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Malaysian Agrivoltaics Study Finds Cabbage and Tea Deliver Highest Land Productivity
A comprehensive techno-economic modeling investigation led by Muhammad Hazim Mohd Sohimin and Yun Ii Go evaluated the integration of solar photovoltaics with agriculture across Malaysia, concluding that shade-tolerant crops such as cabbage and tea achieve superior overall land-use efficiency compared to staple grains and tree plantations. The study, published in Discover Energy, utilized system-level simulations, multicriteria decision matrices, and sensitivity analyses to establish how dual-use agricultural photovoltaic configurations can reconcile competing demands between national renewable power capacity expansion and domestic agricultural preservation. In evaluating four distinct field scenarios representing key national crops, the researchers demonstrated that integrating photovoltaic panels with cabbage cultivation attained the highest Land Equivalent Ratio at 1.74, closely followed by tea at 1.53, whereas configurations pairing solar modules with oil palm and paddy rice generated substantially lower systemic efficiency and faced severe microclimatic and structural barriers.
The policy motivation underlying this research stems from ambitious clean energy targets set under Malaysia’s National Energy Transition Roadmap, which dictates an increase in renewable energy installed capacity to 70 percent of the total power mix by 2050, alongside a near-term objective under the National Renewable Energy Policy and Action Plan to achieve a 40 percent share by 2035. Meeting these decarbonization goals requires extensive deployment of utility-scale solar farms across a territory blessed with abundant solar irradiance averaging between 1650 and 1800 kilowatt-hours per square meter annually. However, conventional large-scale solar developments demand substantial surface areas, inevitably sparking competition for fertile acreage with the agricultural sector, which accounted for approximately 7.8 percent of national gross domestic product in 2023 and 8.9 percent in 2024. To prevent compromising food security goals outlined under the National Agrofood Policy 2021 to 2030, agrivoltaic systems have emerged as a dual-land-use mechanism capable of maintaining agricultural productivity while generating clean electricity.
To rigorously screen prospective agricultural candidates for dual-use implementation, the investigators devised a systematic scoring framework incorporating six weighted criteria that directly govern agronomic viability under photovoltaic arrays. Shade tolerance was assigned the preeminent weighting of 40 percent because photosynthetically active radiation attenuation fundamentally dictates plant biomass accumulation under panel arrays. National agro-economic potential was weighted at 20 percent to account for scalability and economic relevance across Malaysia, while mature crop height was allocated 10 percent due to its direct influence on mounting structure elevation and steel expenditure. Water consumption requirements, harvest growth rates, and microclimatic resilience against temperature and humidity shifts were each allocated 10 percent. Normalized scoring evaluations designated cabbage and tea as high shade-tolerance candidates, whereas paddy rice and oil palm were categorized as medium shade tolerance due to their fundamental physiological reliance on high incoming solar radiation for grain filling and fruit bunch maturation.
Building upon the crop selection results and an assessment of existing solar installations, four distinct 500-kilowatt direct-current system scenarios were modeled. Scenario 1 paired tea cultivation at Kampung Sungai Palas with an elevated multiuse solar structure featuring a 2.5-meter clearance height and 2.5-meter row spacing, capitalizing on the cooler highland climate and ample rainfall that assist natural panel cleaning. Scenario 2 integrated paddy rice at Jitra utilizing an elevated inter-panel spacing design positioned at a 3-meter mounting height and 3-meter row spacing to allow enhanced light penetration. Scenario 3 evaluated oil palm integration at Kempas through an elevated orchard design requiring a 10-meter mounting height and 6-meter row spacing to accommodate mature palm trees between arrays. Scenario 4 evaluated cabbage cultivation retrofitted onto an existing large-scale solar farm at Sungai Siput, utilizing compact panels mounted at a 1.5-meter clearance height with a 1-meter row spacing.
Primary engineering performance modeling was executed using PVsyst and HelioScope simulation software to evaluate electrical yield, array losses, land consumption, and economic yields under standardized tropical conditions. The simulations assumed an annual module degradation rate of 0.5 percent over a 30-year operational lifespan, a 6 percent discount rate reflecting the weighted average cost of capital in Malaysia, and a feed-in electricity selling tariff of 0.45 Malaysian ringgit per kilowatt-hour aligned with regulatory period four utility rates. Under these standardized parameters, the required land footprint varied significantly across designs, ranging from 3975 square meters for the tightly spaced cabbage installation to 9696 square meters for tea, expanding substantially to accommodate wider array spacing in paddy and palm.
The primary simulation findings revealed stark disparities in electrical generation, systemic losses, and overall environmental yields across the tested crop scenarios. Scenario 4 produced 709.2 megawatt-hours annually while utilizing the smallest overall land area, proving highly compact and cost-effective. Conversely, Scenario 3 for oil palm produced the lowest electrical output and suffered extensive systemic losses. Detailed loss breakdown showed that placing solar modules at 10 meters within an oil palm plantation caused severe shading from overarching fronds as well as heightened electrical mismatch losses due to irregular illumination profiles, ultimately diminishing system performance ratio and power output.
Evaluating overall land productivity through the Land Equivalent Ratio revealed that both cabbage and tea dramatically outperform conventional monocultural farming or unintegrated solar installations. The Land Equivalent Ratio aggregates relative agricultural and electrical yields from dual-use land against single-use benchmarks on equivalent spatial footprints, where values exceeding 1.0 demonstrate enhanced spatial efficiency. Scenario 4 achieved a total Land Equivalent Ratio of 1.74, representing the highest combined performance across both sectors, while Scenario 1 achieved 1.53. In the final multicriteria evaluation matrix incorporating capital expenditures, Net Present Value, power output, Land Equivalent Ratio, system losses, and land requirements, Scenario 1 secured the highest aggregate score of 25 points, followed closely by Scenario 4 at 23 points. In contrast, paddy achieved 21 points, while oil palm scored only 11 points due to excessive land consumption, extreme structural costs, and substantial electrical losses.
To examine agronomic risks and validate the primary findings, the researchers executed crop sensitivity modeling using the Food and Agriculture Organization AquaCrop simulator, evaluating cabbage and paddy yield responses under baseline unshaded conditions, 50 percent shading, and 75 percent shading. The sensitivity analysis demonstrated that cabbage maintained stable vegetative biomass accumulation under 50 percent shade, benefiting from microclimatic cooling and mitigated evaporative stress. In contrast, paddy rice exhibited steep, disproportionate yield losses under identical shading conditions, as reduced irradiance severely crippled photosynthetic carbohydrate production and spikelet filling. Under 75 percent shading, both crops experienced dramatic yield collapse, demonstrating that intense shading thresholds represent severe stress regimes that cannot sustain commercial food production. These crop modeling outcomes underscore that agrivoltaic deployment cannot be treated as uniformly compatible with all crops, warning that uncoordinated deployment over staple food grains could threaten regional food supply.
A secondary PESTLE analysis encompassing political, economic, social, technological, legal, and environmental dimensions highlighted that the structural and legal frameworks surrounding agrivoltaics in Malaysia remain nascent compared to established markets in Japan, Europe, and the United States. While the United States emphasizes federal investment tax credits and USDA rural grant mechanisms, and Japan enforces rigid agricultural productivity thresholds to safeguard domestic rice production, Malaysia currently possesses no dedicated agrivoltaic permitting framework, land-zoning classification, or tailored tariff mechanism. Malaysian projects must rely on general green financing schemes such as the High Tech and Green Facility or non-specific tax allowances like the Green Investment Tax Allowance. Furthermore, qualitative stakeholder mapping revealed that rural farmers and developers harbor persistent concerns regarding technical complexity, uncertain crop yield impacts, maintenance obligations, and elevated capital costs compared to conventional ground-mounted photovoltaic systems.
Structural and climatic design constraints represent an equally critical consideration for agrivoltaic engineering in equatorial Southeast Asia. The study highlighted that the 10-meter elevated orchard mounting structure necessary for oil palm integration imposes excessive capital expenditure penalties due to greater structural steel mass, deeper reinforced foundations, and wind bracing. Under tropical monsoon regimes characterized by torrential precipitation and high wind shear, elevated arrays endure increased wind uplift forces and heightened dynamic bending moments at column bases, coupled with severe corrosion risks from sustained atmospheric humidity. Consequently, the researchers conclude that near-term agrivoltaic commercialization in Malaysia should prioritize low-profile, cost-effective mounting systems paired with shade-tolerant, low-canopy crops like cabbage and highland tea, creating a verified foundation for dual-use land efficiency before attempting more complex agroforestry configurations.
Subject of Research: Techno-economic and agronomic assessment of agrivoltaic crop and site selection in Malaysia
Article Title: Assessing Malaysian agrivoltaics from energy-land-food perspective: site-crop selection, scenario development and sensitivity analysis
Article References: Mohd Sohimin, M. H., & Go, Y. I. (2026). Assessing Malaysian agrivoltaics from energy-land-food perspective: site-crop selection, scenario development and sensitivity analysis. Discover Energy, 6(1), Article 52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43937-026-00154-3
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s43937-026-00154-3
Keywords: agrivoltaics, dual-use farming, solar photovoltaics, land equivalent ratio, cabbage cultivation, tea cultivation, paddy rice, oil palm, microclimate modification, crop shading sensitivity, renewable energy transition, Malaysia energy policy, PVsyst modeling, AquaCrop simulation, photovoltaic system loss, food security
News Source: Alan Morgan. (November 14, 2026). Malaysian Agrivoltaics Study Finds Cabbage and Tea Deliver Highest Land Productivity. Scienmag.
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Solar module maker Heliene and perovskite company Caelux have announced the start of commercial-scale production of perovskite/silicon tandem solar modules at the Heliene module assembly facility in Minnesota. 
The modules feature Caelux’s “Energy Producing Glass” layered on top of a traditional silicon solar module, which the companies say achieves efficiencies of 27% or more. The glass, which Caelux produces at its facility in Baldwin Park, California, contains a thin film of perovskite material that adds a second energy generation layer to a solar module.
The two companies say they have entered into a long-term multi-gigawatt agreement to commercialize the perovskite/silicon hybrid modules, and are targeting module efficiency of 29% by 2028. 
In a recent presentation during pv magazine USA Week 2026, Caelux CEO Scott Graybeal outlined his company’s technology roadmap, explaining that silicon solar modules made with the current generation of Caelux glass can achieve efficiencies of between 26.7% and 28.2%, depending on the cell architecture of the underlying silicon layer. The CEO said his company expects to reach a milestone of greater than 30% efficiency in tandem module configurations with TOPCon, HJT and back-contact cell designs by 2028 or 2029.
Caelux’s approach to perovskite integration with silicon relies on what is known as four-terminal (4T) perovskite technology. In a 4T perovskite module, the perovskite layer is deposited onto glass and the silicon cells strung and laminated separately. The technology gets its name because the top and bottom light-absorbing layers of the finished module operate as completely independent electrical circuits, each requiring its own positive and negative electrical contacts, or terminals. In addition to Caelux, companies like Tandem PV and CubicPV are pursuing 4T perovskite tandems for commercial use.
This differs from two-terminal (2T) perovskite tandems, in which a perovskite layer is deposited directly on top of the silicon during the cell manufacturing phase. Also known as “monolithic” perovskite tandem solar cells, this technology is being pursued by companies like Swift Solar and Oxford PV.
Heliene CEO Martin Pochtaruk says Heliene chose to work with Caelux partly because of the 4T architecture and partly because it manufactures perovskite glass domestically.
“One of the advantages of Caelux’s technology is that we can integrate its Energy Producing Glass into our existing manufacturing lines without having to build an entirely new production setup,” Pochtaruk said in a statement. “With both companies manufacturing in the U.S., we’re bringing together two fully domestic supply chains to advance what’s possible with American-made solar, besides the fact that partnering with true friends also makes it fun.”
The two companies plan to display one of the perovskite-silicon tandem modules at the Heliene booth at RE+ 2026. Commercial shipment of the modules is expected in 2027.
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Tuesday, November 24, 2026
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm CET, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Day 1 | Europe’s Solar and Storage Markets 2027: What works where?
Day 2 | Solar + Storage Co-location: Three markets, three business cases
Day 3 | Solar Quality: Which technical risks still need better answers?
Day 4 | Cybersecurity and Procurement: What can European solar projects source in 2027 and beyond?
As a media partner of Genera 2026, pv magazine will organize and moderate a session in Spanish in Madrid, during International Electrification and Decarbonization Week.
Monday, November 23, 2026
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The planned network would be India’s highest-voltage transmission system, reports said, at an estimated cost of about 68,800 crore rupees.
India’s national transmission panel has approved a 1,150-kV transmission corridor linking the western and eastern regions, according to minutes released late Tuesday, Nov. 10. The project is estimated to cost nearly ₹68,800 crore and take about six years to complete.
The network would carry more power than the current system. The proposed 1,150-kV network offers substantially higher transmission capability compared to the existing 765-kV system, and it minimizes the need for multiple EHV transmission corridors.
ALSO READ: India-Germany Energy Cooperation
The ultra-high-voltage 1,150-kV transmission corridor will lower transmission losses, optimise right-of-way land use, and avoid the need for multiple parallel lines. Operating at 1,150 kV instead of 765 kV reduces the electrical current required to carry the same quantum of power, cutting resistive conductor losses while planners factor in 660-MVAr reactors to manage reactive compensation and line charging.
The first phase would link Chhattisgarh, Odisha, and West Bengal. It would also connect with a 6,000-megawatt high-voltage transmission system carrying renewable power from Rajasthan’s Bhadla solar region. Government minutes from September describe that link as a 800-kilovolt, 6,000-megawatt HVDC line from Bhadla-IV to Raigarh Kotra-III.
The combined length of the corridor over both phases will reach around 3,750 circuit-kilometers with transformation capacity of 66,000 megavolt-amperes, the September minutes noted. Early planning papers  refer to a six-year timeframe. Phase II shall be implemented in a phased manner based on the suggestions received from GRID-INDIA depending upon the real rise in load in Odisha and Maharashtra.
ALSO READ: Green Targets
The 1,150-kV transmission corridor is designed to move power from western states such as Rajasthan toward growing industrial demand in the east, including Odisha. In eastern India, the corridor is geared toward powering upcoming green hydrogen, green ammonia, steel, petrochemical, solar PV, and EV manufacturing hubs in Odisha, particularly around Paradeep and Gopalpur.
The Central Electricity Authority noted that about 12 gigawatts of green hydrogen and green ammonia demand was considered, while the modeled loading on the corridor was about 3 to 3.5 gigawatts. Grid planners including GRID-INDIA and GETCO have flagged that the realisation of projected green hydrogen loads remains uncertain, making timely industrial connectivity and the completion of the Bhadla-IV HVDC renewable link critical to meeting India’s 2030 non-fossil and green hydrogen targets.

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Explainable Deep Learning Localizes Photovoltaic Array Faults With 99.8 Percent Accuracy
Engineers have designed an explainable deep temporal learning network, termed ECBL-Net, capable of dynamically identifying and localizing electrical and physical faults within large-scale photovoltaic arrays with 99.84 percent classification accuracy using solely raw time-series sensor data. As photovoltaic installations expand globally, solar arrays face operational vulnerabilities from environmental stressors and electrical anomalies, including arc faults, module soiling, open circuits, and inverter failures. These malfunctions degrade power output, reduce equipment lifespan, and generate substantial maintenance overhead when left undetected. Traditional monitoring protocols frequently fail to provide the temporal granularity or interpretability needed for safety-critical solar management. To address this operational gap, the new convolutional bidirectional architecture eliminates expensive emulator hardware and artificial feature engineering. Instead, the model couples automated sequence learning with post-hoc Shapley additive explanations to deliver transparent diagnostics directly from operational electrical measurements, establishing a dependable framework for automated maintenance in renewable utility grids.
The development of ECBL-Net directly resolves persistent limitations in conventional solar diagnostic algorithms and recent machine learning methodologies. Traditional supervisory control systems rely heavily on hardcoded operational thresholds, static statistical inference, and handcrafted feature pipelines that cannot adapt to changing solar irradiance or fluctuating ambient temperatures. While standard machine learning algorithms such as support vector machines, decision trees, and multilayer perceptrons achieve acceptable baseline classification, they operate as spatially fixed classifiers that treat each incoming data sample independently, ignoring the sequential progression of developing faults. More recent deep learning approaches combining convolutional neural networks with recurrent units have demonstrated improved detection rates, yet they function predominantly as opaque black boxes without diagnostic transparency. Furthermore, many competing systems depend on complex physical simulation layers, synthetic grid emulators, continuous curve tracing, or visual scalograms derived from continuous wavelet transforms, all of which introduce computational latency that prevents real-time deployment on standard photovoltaic sensor streams.
To build a realistic and robust diagnostic system, the researchers trained and evaluated ECBL-Net using real-world operational sensor recordings retrieved from the public photovoltaic data acquisition platform PVDAQ. Specifically, the team examined operational data collected from PVDAQ Systems 2105 and 2107, hosted through the Open Energy Information repository under a public domain dedication. Unlike synthetic benchmarks generated by computer simulations, these datasets capture genuine physical phenomena from active solar installations operating under natural environmental fluctuations. The underlying sensor infrastructure continuously logs synchronized inverter-level electrical variables and meteorological parameters at a high temporal resolution of one-second intervals. Across the monitored installations, the research team isolated six core sensor dimensions: inverter direct-current voltage, direct-current input current, metered power output, solar irradiance, module surface temperature, and ambient air temperature. These channels were selected due to their acute sensitivity to electrical abnormalities, such as sudden voltage collapses during ground faults or disproportionate power drops during localized inverter disruptions.
Before feeding the sensor streams into the neural architecture, the raw observational records underwent a structured preprocessing procedure to ensure temporal alignment and numerical consistency. Sensor channels were synchronized along a unified Coordinated Universal Time index. Because communication disruptions occasionally interrupted signal logging, the researchers applied linear interpolation across feature channels, noting that missing values accounted for approximately 0.35 percent of recorded values across both photovoltaic systems. Linear interpolation was preferred over forward-filling or spline interpolation because it maintains smooth operational transitions without introducing synthetic artifacts that could mask abrupt electrical transients. To eliminate high-frequency noise generated by inverter switching jitter and measurement fluctuations, each channel was processed through a fourth-order low-pass Butterworth filter configured with an empirical cutoff frequency of 0.1 hertz. The preprocessed time series was subsequently segmented into overlapping sliding temporal windows of 120 seconds with a 30-second stride, after which each window was normalized using channel-wise min-max scaling.
The structural framework of ECBL-Net operates as an end-to-end deep temporal pipeline consisting of four interconnected processing stages designed to preserve both feature representation and interpretability. Incoming normalized windows pass first into a one-dimensional convolutional temporal encoding layer configured with 64 filters, a kernel size of five timesteps, a stride of one, and rectified linear unit activations. This unpadded convolutional block systematically extracts fine-grained localized signatures, capturing rapid voltage dips, current spikes, and irradiance changes that signal the immediate onset of an electrical disturbance. The resulting temporal feature maps are channeled into a bidirectional temporal abstraction layer composed of a two-layer bidirectional long short-term memory network featuring 64 hidden units in each direction. By simultaneously processing temporal sequences in forward and backward directions, the recurrent layer concatenates hidden representations into a 128-dimensional latent vector at each timestep, capturing both retrospective conditions leading up to a failure and subsequent recovery dynamics across the observation window.
To identify the precise moments when operational anomalies manifest, the architecture incorporates a single-head additive temporal attention mechanism directly above the bidirectional latent representations. Unlike multi-head transformer mechanisms that compute dispersed contextual scores, this temporal attention module generates a single dynamic relevance weight for every timestep using a shared context vector and a learnable projection matrix. To enhance interpretability and eliminate noisy background fluctuations, the researchers integrated a temporal attribution masking layer during backpropagation that explicitly discards timesteps where attention weights fall below a significance threshold of 0.05. Model training was conducted using the Adam optimizer with an initial learning rate of 0.001, accompanied by dropout regularization set at 0.3 and early stopping with a 10-epoch patience threshold. Crucially, the training regimen introduced an interpretability-aware gradient suppression regularizer, weighted by a factor of 0.05, which penalizes divergence between attention gradients across sample pairs belonging to the same fault class.
A core distinction of ECBL-Net is its unified explainability framework, which couples internal temporal attention scores with post-hoc feature attribution using the DeepSHAP algorithmic implementation. By computing Shapley additive explanations over attention-weighted latent vectors, the network produces a localized relevance matrix that assigns an exact marginal importance score to each of the six sensor channels at every individual second. To ensure that post-hoc explanations accurately reflect internal decision dynamics, the calculated Shapley values are synchronized with temporal attention scores, establishing that a timestep constitutes credible diagnostic evidence only when attention intensity and feature attribution coincide. Furthermore, the researchers established a quantitative clarity measure based on a domain significance threshold to track the temporal concentration of explanations within active fault intervals. This dual-verification strategy overcomes the fundamental limitations of post-hoc surrogate methods like LIME, which lack temporal resolution, and gradient saliency maps, which frequently suffer from gradient saturation when applied to noisy time-series signals.
Rigorous quantitative evaluation demonstrated that ECBL-Net delivers exceptional multi-class classification performance across five distinct operational fault categories and normal operation. The network was evaluated against baseline conditions comprising No Fault, Open Circuit, Arc Fault, Soiling, Inverter Error, and Partial Shading across five independent experimental runs with randomized seed initializations. The proposed architecture attained an overall classification accuracy of 99.84 percent, an average precision of 99.87 percent, an average recall of 99.46 percent, and an overall F1-score of 99.65 percent. In comparative benchmarks against existing solar diagnostic architectures, ECBL-Net surpassed hybrid convolutional long short-term memory networks and multi-strategy whale optimization fusion networks by more than 1.2 percent in overall classification accuracy. Receiver operating characteristic curves revealed area-under-the-curve metrics exceeding 0.97 across every modeled fault category, with near-perfect boundary separation observed for open circuits and arc faults. Even for closely related operational conditions exhibiting overlapping electrical characteristics, the model maintained high diagonal dominance across confusion matrices.
Beyond aggregate classification metrics, empirical testing confirmed the system’s high temporal localization precision by measuring the Mean Absolute Localization Error between predicted and actual fault onset moments. For sharp electrical disruptions such as Arc Faults, ECBL-Net achieved a remarkable Mean Absolute Localization Error of just 3.2 seconds, followed closely by Inverter Errors at 4.1 seconds. Conversely, gradual environmental disruptions such as Soiling and Partial Shading exhibited larger temporal error spreads, reflecting the naturally diffuse onset and ambiguous signal progression inherent to progressive dust accumulation and moving cloud cover. Analysis of attention concentration through the Attention Sharpness Index and Mean Absolute Deviation further corroborated these findings. Arc faults registered an Attention Sharpness Index of 0.86 and a low Mean Absolute Deviation of 0.078, indicating tightly clustered temporal focus around transient current spikes. In contrast, normal operating states registered diffuse attention distributions with an Attention Sharpness Index of 0.51 and a Mean Absolute Deviation of 0.146.
Computational benchmarking verified that ECBL-Net achieves practical deployment viability for continuous real-time monitoring without requiring specialized supercomputing infrastructure. With a total memory footprint of less than 10 megabytes and minimal inference latency across tested 120-second temporal windows, the trained architecture satisfies the hardware constraints of standard industrial edge controllers and embedded graphical processing units deployed at photovoltaic substations. Nevertheless, the authors highlighted several engineering boundaries that warrant subsequent investigation before full-scale commercial adoption. The current empirical validation relied exclusively on two operational photovoltaic installations from the PVDAQ database, meaning that generalization across alternative solar panel manufacturing technologies, diverse inverter topologies, and disparate geographic climate zones remains to be proven. Additionally, real-world deployment must address long-term sensor degradation, environmental noise beyond the filter passband, and unprecedented combinations of compounding faults. For ultra-low-power microcontroller platforms operating at the edge, model compression techniques such as weight quantization or knowledge distillation will be required to maintain real-time latency.
Subject of Research: Explainable deep temporal learning for dynamic fault localization in large-scale photovoltaic arrays
Article Title: An explainable learning architecture for dynamic fault localization in large scale photovoltaic arrays
Article References: Subha, K., & Sharanya, S. (2026). An explainable learning architecture for dynamic fault localization in large scale photovoltaic arrays. Discover Artificial Intelligence, 6(1), Article 1786. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44163-026-02487-3
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s44163-026-02487-3
Keywords: ECBL-Net, photovoltaic fault diagnosis, deep temporal modeling, time-series sensor data, PVDAQ dataset, dynamic fault localization, explainable artificial intelligence, temporal attention mechanism, DeepSHAP, bidirectional LSTM, one-dimensional convolution, arc fault detection, solar inverter monitoring, Butterworth filter, gradient suppression regularization, attention sharpness index, mean absolute localization error, edge computing solar analytics
News Source: Blake Davidson. (November 14, 2026). Explainable Deep Learning Localizes Photovoltaic Array Faults With 99.8 Percent Accuracy. Scienmag.
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First Solar: Strong Backlog, But Lower Guidance Raises Concerns (NASDAQ:FSLR)  Seeking Alpha
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Saudi Arabia has launched its eighth NREP procurement round, seeking developers for solar PV and wind projects 
The tender includes 900 MW Tumair Solar PV IPP in Riyadh and 1 GW East Al-Amoah Solar PV IPP in Aseer 
The remaining 1.3 GW is allocated to the Al-Mozeraah Wind IPP in Makkah 
The Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC) has officially launched a new renewable energy tender under round 8 of Saudi Arabia’s National Renewable Energy Program (NREP). 
The Principal Buyer, SPPC, seeks to procure 3.2 GW of combined capacity across solar PV and wind energy projects. This includes the 900 MW Tumair Solar PV IPP in Riyadh province and the 1 GW East Al-Amoah Solar PV IPP in Aseer province. 
The remaining 1.3 GW capacity is sought as the Al-Mozeraah Wind IPP located in Makkah province. Winning entities will enter into power purchase agreements (PPAs) with SPPC. 
SPPC has not specified any timeline for submissions to this call. Details can be sought on its website. 
Saudi Arabia targets around a 50% share of renewable energy and energy storage systems in its power mix by 2030, subject to electricity demand growth. It tenders large-scale solar PV, wind energy, and energy storage projects under the ambit of NREP. 
SPPC released the list of qualified developers under round 7 of the NREP, under which it sought 5.3 GW capacity, including 3.1 GW of solar and 2.2 GW of wind energy. For the solar energy category, 22 bidders qualified, including Masdar, EDF, Engie, Sembcorp Utilities, and local developers. 
Clenergize, a Dubai-based clean energy consulting and advisory firm, earlier said that Saudi Arabia targets awarding 14 GW of renewable energy capacity in 2026. This includes Round 7 and other SPPC tenders. By the end of 2025, the country had tendered a cumulative 64 GW of renewable energy capacity, including 20.6 GW tendered in 2025 alone. More than 47 GW of this capacity was covered by signed PPAs. 
Saudi Arabia’s overarching target is to install 100 GW to 130 GW of renewable energy capacity by 2030, driven by solar PV. This requires the country to install more than 23 GW annually; however, GlobalData believes it will fall short of the target, reaching about 74.2 GW by the end of this decade (see GlobalData: Saudi Renewable Capacity May Reach 74 GW By 2030). 
According to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), Saudi Arabia’s total installed renewable energy capacity reached 12.3 GW at the end of 2025, including 11.8 GW of solar PV. 
TaiyangNews 2024

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covers news and issues across the Tri-State. Have a story you’d like Jay to cover or a news tip? Reach him at jay.shakur@wcpo.com.
LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. — After months of debate over the future of large-scale solar development in Dearborn County, a proposed zoning amendment remains unresolved after the county’s planning commission voted to table the measure Thursday.
The commission had been expected to move forward with a recommendation on new regulations governing utility-scale solar farms. Instead, commissioners delayed action following another meeting marked by disagreements among residents, farmers and members of the commission.
WATCH:
The proposed rules include requiring solar developers to organize and pay for public meetings before submitting applications, limiting the size of individual developments and capping the amount of agricultural land that can be used for solar energy production countywide.
The commission also has discussed limiting individual projects to 200 acres per farm owner, with multiple property owners potentially joining together for projects ranging from 500 to 700 acres. Another proposal would cap the total amount of farmland used for solar development at approximately 3%, or 1,800 acres.
Some of those provisions stem from a citizen-submitted model ordinance developed by residents seeking stricter protections against large-scale solar projects.
During an earlier meeting, Planning and Zoning Director Nicole Dailey cautioned commissioners against adopting the citizen proposal as written, citing inconsistencies and redundancies. However, commissioners considered incorporating portions of the proposal into the county’s broader zoning amendment.
One change influenced by public input would require prospective solar developers to pay for, organize, and advertise community meetings before formally submitting a development application.
The debate gained momentum after Linea Energy proposed a 1,200-acre solar development in Manchester. The proposal prompted significant opposition from residents concerned about the impact on farmland and the county’s rural character.
In February, county commissioners responded by establishing a one-year moratorium on solar development while officials worked to develop new regulations.
Thursday’s meeting again highlighted the divide over how restrictive those regulations should be.
A farmer who said he is already under contract with Linea Energy argued the proposed restrictions could effectively prevent utility-scale solar development in the county.
“You’ve effectively banned utility-scale solar with what you’re talking about here tonight,” he told commissioners, adding that solar development must remain financially viable.
Other residents argued that large-scale solar projects could threaten agricultural land and change the character of the county.
Property rights also emerged as a point of contention. One resident questioned whether the proposed regulations would unfairly disadvantage farmers based on when they submit applications, even if neighboring property owners are pursuing similar developments.
The disagreement extended to the commission itself. During the meeting, one commissioner suggested Linea Energy could sue the county over what he characterized as potential discrimination.
Another commissioner expressed frustration with the continued disagreements, saying the sides could agree to disagree.
The planning commission is expected to revisit the proposed zoning amendment at its next meeting Tuesday.
Any recommendation from the planning commission would then move to the Dearborn County Commission for consideration.

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Just as nature often falls calm before a storm, Germany is currently experiencing a period of apparent inactivity, particularly within the governing coalition when it comes to legislative reforms in the energy sector. Instead of swiftly finalizing reforms that would at least avoid undermining the renewable energy sector and secure approval from the relevant authorities, the government appears more focused on making concessions to major players in the fossil fuel industry.
Whether deliberately or through sheer irresponsibility, the federal government is delaying necessary decisions and postponing the finalization of the EEG 2027, Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act, and a package of measures concerning the electricity grid. This is fueling uncertainty about the future and threatening the viability of numerous business models and the companies that depend on them. The question is whether this is merely a passing shower or a major storm brewing on the horizon.
Solar module price trends this month, by contrast, resemble a gentle breeze, offering some relief. Price reductions in the Full Black and Mainstream categories have been marginal, while prices in the other two categories have remained unchanged. A slight increase in demand in the second half of the year has been met with generally good module availability. As a result, the market is experiencing neither significant oversupply nor shortages, apart from certain ultra-high-efficiency products. Although the overall trend remains slightly downward, manufacturers are not expected to make any further significant price cuts before the end of the year.
The situation is quite different for energy storage products. For years, battery prices moved in only one direction: downward. Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries, in particular, benefited from steadily declining costs thanks to improvements in energy density and economies of scale. However, prices now appear to have reached a floor. Rising energy and transportation costs are prompting manufacturers to introduce significant price increases for the first time. These increases have been announced gradually over recent months, and by January at the latest, products from various brands are expected to cost more than they do today, at least in the residential storage segment. As wholesalers, we are preparing for a sharp increase in demand toward the end of the year.
This tendency to bring forward purchases, along with similar developments, is currently boosting order books across the sector. But how long can this surge last? Until Christmas, or perhaps even into the first quarter of 2027?
A more serious storm is brewing over the European Commission’s state aid approval for the planned reform of Germany’s Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG). If approval is not secured in time, there is a risk that subsidies for solar power could be suspended from Jan. 1, 2027. The current authorization expires at the end of this year. If the new legislation is not adopted and submitted to the European Commission in time, new solar projects could face considerable legal and investment uncertainty, particularly those that depend on public subsidies or the financial security provided by guaranteed support mechanisms. This would primarily affect medium- and large-scale, debt-financed PV installations, while conventional residential systems designed for self-consumption would be less exposed.
Nevertheless, I believe a market-wide downturn cannot be ruled out. Some competitors I have spoken with are less pessimistic. They point to a growing number of large-scale, subsidy-free solar projects that can operate profitably without EEG support. In the small and medium-sized segments, too, emerging business models and service providers, including those offering direct marketing services, suggest that new installations could remain economically viable.
However, every installation needs a grid connection, and the process of securing one should be as straightforward as possible. Unfortunately, despite the stated political goal of reducing bureaucracy, more and more obstacles are being introduced. These additional requirements impose costs on system operators, potentially making many projects economically unviable.
Prices in November, including changes from the previous month (as of Nov. 10).
Author: Martin Schachinger
Martin Schachinger has studied electrical engineering and has been active in the field of photovoltaics and renewable energy for almost 30 years. In 2004, he set up the pvXchange.com online trading platform. The company stocks standard components for new installations and solar modules and inverters that are no longer being produced.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].
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Tuesday, November 24, 2026
3:00 pm – 4:00 pm CET, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
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Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Day 1 | Europe’s Solar and Storage Markets 2027: What works where?
Day 2 | Solar + Storage Co-location: Three markets, three business cases
Day 3 | Solar Quality: Which technical risks still need better answers?
Day 4 | Cybersecurity and Procurement: What can European solar projects source in 2027 and beyond?
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The fate of a £1 billion solar farm earmarked for the Norfolk countryside could become clearer when hearings resume next week.
The second round of hearings examining the East Pye solar farm will take place at Mercure Norwich Hotel in Boundary Road.
It will help to determine whether the 2,700-acre solar farm should be built on land across south Norfolk, and follows the first round of discussions in September.
The hearings will take place at the Mercure Norwich Hotel (Image: Google Maps)
The arrays of panels will stretch from Tivetshall and Great Moulton in the west to Seething in the east, impacting villages including Hempnall, Saxlingham, Shotesham and Woodton.
The first session at 4pm on Tuesday will be a preliminary hearing, where people registered to speak can make their views on the project heard.
So far, 22 people have asked to speak.
A map of where the East Pye solar farm (Image: East Pye)
Wednesday’s hearing will consider compulsory acquisition and the temporary possession of land.
The hearing will assess whether compulsory acquisition is in the public interest.
The applicant, East Pye, will be asked to present its case for compulsory acquisition.
Site inspections will also take place next week, with Tibenham Airfield among the locations to be visited.
Aviation experts say the scheme, a mile from the airfield, poses serious safety risks and could endanger lives.
Officials will take the unusual step of visiting homes during the inspections.
More hearings are planned for December, before the examination ends in February next year.
After that, David Cliff, the planning inspectorate, will have three months to make a recommendation to Miatta Fahnbulleh, the energy secretary.
Due to its size, the project is classed as nationally significant, meaning the government has the final say on the scheme.
Almost 2,000 members of the public have made representations about the plans, many of them opposing the development.
Developer Island Green Power says the scheme could generate up to 500 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 115,000 homes a year.
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China to Meet All New Power Demand With Clean Energy, CCTV Says  Bloomberg.com
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Terra-Gen's $950 million Lockhart plant in San Bernardino County, California, is now operating 365 MW of solar and 173.7 MW of batteries. That's nearly one battery megawatt for every two of solar. Corporate buyers and California load-serving entities share the output, so the split matters most to buyers who need power outside midday hours.
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Key takeaways
Lockhart pairs 365 MW of solar with 173.7 MW of batteries, close to one storage megawatt for every two of solar, so part of its output can be delivered after the midday solar peak.
A battery rating in megawatts tells a buyer how much power the batteries can push at once. It doesn't say how many hours they can keep it up. Ask for the megawatt-hour figure before comparing storage-backed solar offers.
Masdar plans another $20 billion of US investment over the next decade, aiming for up to 25 GW by 2030. Terra-Gen's next projects in California and Texas will show whether Lockhart's battery ratio becomes its standard design.
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There's a new 538.7 MW power plant in Hinkley, California, and it comes in two parts. Terra-Gen announced on Nov. 10 that its $950 million Lockhart Solar and Storage project in San Bernardino County is in commercial operation, marked with a ribbon-cutting attended by employees, local and state officials, lenders, partners and customers. The company's release, distributed on PR Newswire, says the site can meet the annual electricity needs of about 350,000 homes and businesses.
The split between the two parts is the useful detail. Lockhart pairs 365 MW of solar with 173.7 MW of batteries, close to one megawatt of storage for every two of solar, which is how a plant that runs on daylight gets to sell power when it's needed most. Terra-Gen chief executive John O'Connor made the same case at the ceremony: solar is one of the cheapest sources of new electricity, and storage adds value by holding that energy for the hours of highest need.
At the scale of our Lockhart facility, that combination can make a meaningful difference for California's growing electricity needs., John O'Connor, chief executive officer, Terra-Gen
The 538.7 MW headline is just those two numbers added together, so batteries make up about 32% of it. If you're comparing Lockhart with a solar-only plant, start from the 365 MW of panels. The batteries are best read the way O'Connor frames them, as a way to move some of that solar output to the hours when it's needed, not as a separate source of generation.
Anyone who buys power in California, whether a utility or a company signing its own supply contract, can use Lockhart as a reference. It is a recent, fully built example of how much battery capacity a large solar developer puts next to its panels, and who ends up buying the result.
The supplier list shows how a project this size is split up. Cupertino Electric was the balance-of-plant engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and EPC Services handled the high-voltage work. First Solar supplied the modules and Nextpower supplied the tracking systems. Simon Day, Terra-Gen's vice president and head of solar development, said the team delivered on schedule and on budget while maintaining a strong focus on safety.
Terra-Gen via PR Newswire; Masdar
Some rough math helps put the price in context. Divide $950 million by 538.7 MW and you get about $1.76 million per megawatt of combined capacity. Treat that as an order of magnitude, not a benchmark. It mixes solar and storage in one figure, and the release doesn't break out costs for interconnection, land or financing.
The tax figure shows the county's side of the deal. More than $40 million over the plant's operating life comes to a little over 4% of the $950 million build cost. Terra-Gen says it will also make other contributions and provide other benefits to the local community.
The labor figures tell a story of their own. Terra-Gen says construction created more than 1,000 on-site jobs. Spread 880,000 hours across at least 1,000 workers and the average comes to no more than about 880 hours each, roughly 22 forty-hour weeks over a four-year build. Run it the other way and it's about 4,200 hours a week, or the equivalent of roughly 105 people working full time for the entire build.
That gap between more than 1,000 jobs and about 105 full-time equivalents suggests crews came and went as each trade's phase started and finished, rather than one workforce staying for the whole build. That is an inference from the averages, not a staffing record. If it holds, counties planning for housing, traffic and local hiring around the next big project could see headcount peak well above the average in some phases instead of holding steady.
Lockhart's battery capacity is given in megawatts, which is how much power the batteries can deliver at one moment. How long they can keep that up is measured in megawatt-hours, and the announcements don't give that figure. For context, Terra-Gen's full portfolio includes 5.6 GWh of storage.
Terra-Gen sells Lockhart's power under two kinds of contract: offtake agreements with corporate buyers, and long-term power purchase agreements with California load-serving entities, the utilities and other retailers that buy electricity for their customers. Masdar, which co-owns Terra-Gen with Igneo Infrastructure Partners, described the same mix in its own statement on Nov. 13.
So a company buying clean power can sign up for the same storage-backed plant a utility buys from. The release doesn't name the buyers or describe their terms, so Lockhart's battery ratio doesn't prove that any particular buyer gets evening power. What it does show is the kind of plant a buyer in California can now contract with.
Hourly timing matters more to some buyers than others. A company with heavy evening or overnight load in California, or one reporting its clean energy hour by hour, should care more about how the battery output is assigned than one that only buys renewable energy certificates.
Before signing a contract with a solar-plus-storage plant, ask three things. What is the battery's megawatt-hour rating? Which hours does your share of the output cover? Does the battery output go to you or to the utility buyers?
Masdar framed the plant as part of a bigger US push. It says it has invested about $3 billion in the United States, plans to invest another $20 billion over the next decade, and wants its US portfolio to reach up to 25 GW by 2030. Terra-Gen's gross operating portfolio stands at 4.4 GW of wind, solar and battery storage across 34 sites, mostly in California and Texas, according to the corrected company boilerplate. Lockhart's 538.7 MW equals about an eighth of that figure.
The US goal sits inside a bigger one. Masdar was founded in 2006 and is jointly owned by TAQA, ADNOC and Mubadala. It says its portfolio already tops 65 GW across six continents and that it is aiming for 100 GW by 2030. At up to 25 GW, the US could account for as much as a quarter of that global target.
Terra-Gen's other owner has scale of its own. Igneo Infrastructure Partners, an autonomous investment team within First Sentier Group, managed US$34.7 billion as of Sept. 30, 2026, on behalf of more than 200 investors, according to the corrected release. Check which version you're quoting from: syndicated copies of the original, including those on Yahoo Finance and IndexBox, still carry an older figure of $24.5 billion as of March 31, 2026.
Khaleefa Almheiri, president and CEO of Masdar Americas, said in the statement that power demand is growing fast because of AI, advanced manufacturing and broader economic growth. He described the partnership as Masdar's global expertise and investment capacity combined with Terra-Gen's strong local presence, and Masdar says that through Terra-Gen it is supporting American jobs, local manufacturing and supply chains. TradeArabia carried the same remarks.
But Lockhart's own contracts point somewhere more ordinary. Nothing in either announcement ties the plant to a data center. Its buyers are corporate customers and California load-serving entities. The demand Masdar describes may be real, but this plant's power is going to the usual grid buyers.
The next test is what Terra-Gen builds next in California and Texas, the two states where most of its 34 sites are. If those projects also carry close to one battery megawatt for every two of solar, and come with published megawatt-hour ratings, buyers will have a working template for what a storage-backed solar contract should include as Masdar's $20 billion goes to work.
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AirTrunk, an Australia-based hyperscale data centre specialist, has signed an exclusivity agreement with European Energy Australia for a 260 MW solar farm and a battery of more than 800 MWh. The agreement also covers a wind farm of up to 350 MW, and each plant is planned within the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone of New South Wales, Australia. Both companies are discussing a long-term power purchase agreement, under which the output would support the energy requirements of AirTrunk in the state. Those requirements include the data centre campus that AirTrunk has proposed on the former Kurri Kurri smelter site at Loxford. The solar farm and the battery are expected to begin operating in 2030, and the wind farm is expected to follow in 2032. European Energy Australia has said that it plans to connect the plants to the upgraded 132 kV network of Ausgrid, subject to final arrangements and approvals.
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Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
resilience
By Katie Singer, originally published by Katie Singer on Substack
November 13, 2026
If a developer wants to install a utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) facility or battery energy storage (BESS) near you, consider yourself blessed. You get to shake up your assumptions about “green,” “clean,” and “renewable” energy. You get to practice humility while explaining technologies’ not-so-sunny sides so that neighbors and legislators who believe that “renewables” cannot possibly have problems…actually hear you.
You get to learn a new chant: “Show me the professional engineer’s report certifying that this project’s hazards are mitigated”—when, honestly, you’d much rather clean a closet.
For starters, admit that in your zeal to prioritize health and safety, you’ve made mistakes. Recognize that we are all powerless over “green” industries, and that our lives have become unmanageable. Salute yourself for exploring your part in society’s predicament.
Step 2: Learn how electricity stays reliable and affordable. Get to know your county’s land use codes. Research solar PVs’ and BESS’s shadow sides—from their cradles-to-graves.
Step 3: Remember your goal: your county permits the facility only if protective health and safety conditions are met.
The vast majority of energy is consumed, toxins are emitted and human rights are violated while manufacturing a product.
Would your county require the developer to prove that its raw materials were sourced only from companies that can verify worker and environmental protections?
To pursue a safe solar facility in your county, find out where the power it generates will go, if the facility will connect to the grid, if it will need new power lines, transformers and substations—and if so, this equipment’s environmental impact.
From installation to “decommissioning” (dealing with end-of-life waste), require the developer to carry liability insurance for the project—not to self-insure. (If a self-insured developer files for bankruptcy, your county will pay to dispose of the project’s hazardous waste.)
Get written answers to questions such as: How much water will the developer use during construction? Where will it come from? Where will wastewater go? To protect groundwater, will used construction water need treatment?
Require the developer to keep all soil on site. Clarify in writing that only 400 acres (say) of land can be disturbed at a time to prevent stormwater runoff. (A big rain after a clear-cut would result in disaster.) After clearing an area (i.e., of shrubs or trees), the developer must plant grass within X number to hold soil and prevent sediment runoff. The developer must set up stormwater basins.
Your county staff, planning commissioners and board of supervisors will have to evaluate the project against the county’s ordinance about stormwater runoff and sediment in waterways or land use issues specific to your area’s topography.
Since panels’ glare can blind pilots flying overhead, and the FAA has rules about the distance between a solar PV field and an airport, do a ForgeSolar “solar glare” analysis. Ask the court to pause the project until a licensed professional engineer completes a solar glare report.
Panels hold chemicals, including per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs). In a hailstorm, panels can crack—and leach chemicals. Would your county require monthly soil testing at specified locations to ensure no chemicals leach into the soil? If they do leach, specify what the developer will do to remedy the soil.
Solar panels are electrical equipment. All electrical equipment poses fire hazards. To reduce the risk of fire, your county should specify how long grass (or other vegetation) can grow before the developer must cut it.
If a fire occurs during the day, the solar panels will not stop collecting sunlight and converting it into electricity: you cannot de-energize solar panels. Firefighters cannot spray burning panels with water because water conducts electricity, and water will not put out a solar panel fire. It can only cool it. At a public hearing in Spotsylvania, Virginia, the county’s fire chief said he would not try to extinguish a solar PV fire. He would just hose down everything near it. What is your county fire chief’s plan?
Batteries are made with lithium. Mining and processing lithium ravages ecosystems. Read about Max Wilbert and Will Falk’s efforts to stop lithium mining at Thacker Pass, Nevada. FYI—Max grew up believing that solar PVs, wind turbines and e-vehicles would help sustain our society.
Batteries provide high energy storage. One BESS battery can be the size of a small trailer. With a short and a discharge, you can end up with arcing, extremely dangerous, toxic, even runaway fires. Because of batteries’ toxic chemicals, when a BESS catches fire, nearby residents should not leave their homes, open windows, or run ventilation systems for 24 hours or more. Roads and businesses will close. BESS fires have become common—if little-known. Here’s an example at Moss Landing, California. Here’s a database of BESS failures.
Your county should require the developer to provide a professional engineer’s “sealed” report that all fire hazards have been evaluated and mitigated; and that this BESS will not catch fire like the one at Moss Landing or others listed in the database.
To keep cool, batteries require a cooling system. How much water will this BESS use? Where will its water come from? Where will its wastewater go? To protect groundwater, will it need treatment?
If your county officials permit a BESS with lithium-ion batteries, ensure in advance of a fire that your local government has:
When the equipment ages and the facility is no longer efficient enough to be profitable, either all panels will be replaced and all wires (and batteries, if there’s a BESS) will be upgraded—or the developer will abandon the project. Solar panels and batteries do not biodegrade: they’re hazardous waste.
Sending panels and batteries to a recycling center is actually very expensive. Get the developer to post a bond with the county so that it won’t be burdened with decommissioning costs if the developer files bankruptcy.
Remember your goal: county commissioners will permit the developer’s project only if it agrees to your conditions. This will require:
If your county has in-house experts to evaluate a solar facility’s chemical run-off, fire hazards, and economics, etc., ask them to provide reports. If your county does not have such experts, then it can require the developer to provide funding so that the county can hire expert consultants chosen by the county to evaluate the facility.
Katie Singer writes about technology’s impacts on nature on Substack. Her books include An Electronic Silent Spring and Honoring our Cycles.
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Mico Virata·13 November 2026 · 4:01 PM PHT·2 MIN READ
Photo courtesy of Alternergy.
Alternergy Holdings Corp. reported a 27% increase in net income to P28 million in the first quarter of their fiscal year 2027, supported by the contribution of its newly operational Balsik Solar Farm and steady performance from its existing renewable energy facilities.
Unlike companies that follow the calendar year, Alternergy uses a fiscal year running from 1 July to 30 June. Its first quarter of fiscal year 2027 therefore covers the period from July to September 2026.
The 28-megawatt-peak (MWp) solar facility in Hermosa, Bataan generated P51 million in its first full quarter of operations, accounting for 33% of the company’s total operating revenues. Alternergy’s consolidated revenues climbed 88% to P154.4 million during the period.
Also read PSEi closes at year’s lowest as index drops 1.18%
Alternergy president Gerry Magbanua said the results mark the start of a growing revenue stream as the company brings additional projects into operation.
“These results mark the beginning of a growing revenue stream as we progressively bring into operation the four projects we set out to complete in 2026 across our Triple Play portfolio of wind, solar and hydro resource technologies,” Magbanua said.
The company is developing four projects with a combined capacity of 225 MW. Its 128-MW Tanay Wind Farm and 64-MW Alabat Wind Farm were more than 90% complete, with Alternergy expecting their eventual operations to further strengthen its financial performance.
Existing assets also supported the quarter’s results. The 12.5-MWp Kirahon Solar Power Farm and 15.3-MWp Palau Solar Battery Farm each contributed 33% of operating revenues, while the 54-MW Pililla Wind Farm recorded improved revenue performance from higher feed-in tariff earnings.
Alternergy’s earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization increased 61% to P144 million from P89 million a year earlier.
Also read RE tops BoI’s investment providers
The company’s consolidated equity grew 34% to P6.7 billion, supported mainly by a P1.7-billion investment from ABC Energy in its two wind projects.
Total assets increased 10% to P27 billion from P24.6 billion, while cash stood at P3.8 billion despite continuing capital expenditures and dividend payments.
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Zacks Equity Research November 13, 2026
FSLR Quick QuoteFSLR RUN Quick QuoteRUN TYGO Quick QuoteTYGO
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Chicago, IL – November 13, 2026 – Today, Zacks Equity Research discusses First Solar (FSLR Quick QuoteFSLR – Free Report) , Sunrun (RUN Quick QuoteRUN – Free Report) and Tigo Energy, Inc. (TYGO Quick QuoteTYGO – Free Report) .
Industry: Solar
Link: https://www.zacks.com/commentary/3028305/3-solar-stocks-to-watch-amid-policy-and-interest-rate-headwinds
The U.S. solar market is witnessing growing demand for solar energy and battery storage across the United States, driven by rising electricity consumption, higher power prices, corporate decarbonization commitments and increasing energy requirements from data centers. It is expected to expand significantly in the coming years, supported by rising utility-scale installations and the growing role of solar and battery storage in meeting the country’s electricity needs. 
However, the industry faces challenges from shifting trade policies, including tariffs and import restrictions, which could increase equipment costs, disrupt supply chains and delay project development, while encouraging greater domestic manufacturing. A couple of prominent companies that solar investors may want to monitor are First Solar, Sunrun and Tigo Energy, Inc.
About the Industry
The Zacks Solar industry can be fundamentally categorized into two groups of companies. One is involved in designing and producing high-efficiency solar modules, panels and cells, while the other is engaged in installing grids and, in some cases, entire solar power systems. The industry includes several companies engaged in manufacturing solar power inverters that transform electricity produced by solar panels into grid-compatible power. Per a U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) report, solar’s share of U.S. electricity generation will be 8% in 2026 and 10% in 2027. It remains the nation’s dominant form of new generating capacity.
3 Trends Shaping the Future of the Solar Industry
Strong Demand Supports Solar Market Growth: Across the United States, utilities and commercial businesses are increasingly adopting solar energy combined with battery storage to address rising demand for affordable, reliable and cleaner electricity. Higher electricity prices and corporate decarbonization commitments are making solar power more economically attractive, while battery storage enhances reliability by providing backup power during grid disruptions and outages. 
Growing electricity consumption from data centers is also emerging as a major driver of demand for renewable energy and storage solutions. The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, cloud computing and other digital services is prompting hyperscalers and technology companies to invest heavily in large-scale solar and battery storage projects. These investments will help companies secure sufficient power to support their expanding operations while making progress toward their emissions-reduction and net-zero targets.
The Solar Energy Industries Association (“SEIA”), in collaboration with Wood Mackenzie, presents a cautiously positive outlook for the U.S. solar industry. The report highlights that the U.S. solar market is expected to approximately double between 2026 and 2031, supported by rising electricity demand, increasing utility-scale installations and the growing importance of solar and battery storage in meeting the country’s power requirements. 
However, the expansion is expected to be gradual, with annual capacity additions remaining relatively flat at around 44 GWdc over the next five years.
Shifting Trade Policies Influence Solar Industry Economics: According to SEIA, trade policies and import restrictions are reshaping the U.S. solar industry’s supply chain and influencing project costs. The imposition of additional tariffs on Chinese solar products, duties on steel and aluminum imports, and trade investigations involving solar products from Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia and Cambodia, are increasing uncertainty around equipment sourcing and pricing. 
These measures could make imported solar components more expensive, raising procurement and development costs for solar projects. At the same time, they may encourage developers and manufacturers to diversify their supply chains and increase reliance on domestically produced solar equipment.
SEIA further noted that these trade measures are influencing domestic manufacturing decisions. The United States has expanded its solar module manufacturing capacity, but domestic manufacturers still depend on imported solar cells and other components. Consequently, restrictions on imports could create supply shortages, increase equipment prices and delay project development.
Rising Interest Rates Threaten Solar Industry Growth Prospects: Higher Federal Reserve interest rates are generally a headwind for the U.S. solar industry because solar projects require substantial upfront capital investment and often depend on long-term financing. When interest rates remain elevated, developers face higher borrowing costs, making it more expensive to finance utility-scale solar farms, commercial installations and battery storage projects. Higher financing costs can weigh on project profitability, dampen investor interest and prompt developers to delay or abandon projects that fail to meet return expectations.
Sunrun explicitly discussed the impact of higher interest rates in its third-quarter 2026 earnings call on Nov. 4, 2026. Management indicated that persistently elevated interest rates had a modest impact on its projected 2026 results. However, it cautioned that capital costs could rise in 2027 if interest rates remain at current levels.
Zacks Industry Rank Reflects Gloomy Outlook
The Zacks Solar industry is housed within the broader ZacksOils-Energy sector. It currently carries a Zacks Industry Rank #150, which places it in the bottom 39% of more than 247 Zacks industries.
The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, which is basically the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates bleak near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
The industry’s position in the bottom 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries is due to a negative earnings outlook for the constituent companies in aggregate. Looking at the aggregate earnings estimate revisions, it appears that analysts have lost confidence in this group’s earnings growth potential over the past few months. The industry’s bottom-line estimate for the current fiscal year has moved down 6.7% to $1.40 since Aug. 31.
Before we present a few solar stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let’s take a look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.
Industry Lags Sector & S&P 500
The solar industry has underperformed both its sector and the Zacks S&P 500 composite over the past year. The stocks in this industry have collectively lost 36.5% over the past year, while the Oils-Energy sector has risen 25%. The Zacks S&P 500 composite has surged 9.4% over the same time frame.
Industry’s Current Valuation
On the basis of the trailing 12-month EV/EBITDA, which is commonly used for valuing solar stocks, the industry is currently trading at 9.23X compared with the S&P 500’s 16.03X and the sector’s 5.49X.
Over the past five years, the industry has traded as high as 33.13X, as low as 4.55X and at the median of 12.26X.
3 Solar Stocks to Watch
Sunrun: Based in San Francisco, CA, the company develops, owns, manages and sells residential solar energy systems. The company offers solar services through three channels: direct-to-consumer, solar partner and strategic partnership. Sunrun reported third-quarter 2026 revenues of $1.10 billion, up 52% year over year, while net income attributable to common stockholders increased to $153.2 million from $16.6 million in the prior-year quarter. 
The company continued to see growth in its direct business, with installations rising 9% year over year. Its storage-first strategy gained traction, as the storage attachment rate reached a record 75%, compared with 70% a year ago, while networked storage capacity expanded to 5.0 GWh.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Sunrun’s 2026 earnings per share (EPS) indicates an improvement of 2.9% from the prior-year reported figure. The consensus estimate for 2026 sales indicates an improvement of 17.2% year over year. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. 
First Solar: Based in Tempe, AZ, the company is a leading global provider of comprehensive PV solar energy solutions and specializes in designing, manufacturing, and selling solar electric power modules using a proprietary thin-film semiconductor technology. First Solar reported third-quarter 2026 net sales of $1.23 billion, down 23% year over year, primarily due to lower third-party module sales volumes. 
However, net income increased 25% to $571 million, or $5.30 per diluted share, compared with $456 million, or $4.24 per share, in the prior-year quarter. Its contracted sales backlog was 44 GW as of Sept. 30, 2026. First Solar also authorized a $500 million share repurchase program, signaling management’s confidence in the company’s long-term prospects. 
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for First Solar’s 2026 EPS indicates an improvement of 24.6% from the prior-year reported figure. The consensus estimate for 2027 EPS indicates growth of 40% year over year. The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). 
Tigo Energy: Based in Campbell, CA, the company is a provider of intelligent solar and energy storage solutions. Tigo Energy is set to benefit from the launch of its next-generation software-enhanced Tigo GO Battery in North America. It reported third-quarter 2026 revenues of $24.0 million, down 21.5% year over year. However, the company returned to GAAP profitability, recording net income of $0.4 million compared to a net loss of $2.2 million in the prior-year quarter. 
Gross margin improved to 46.2% from 42.7%, supported by a better cost structure, while operating expenses declined 10% to $11.2 million. Tigo Energy shipped 698,000 units, representing 517 MW of Module Level Power Electronics, during the quarter. The company updated its full-year 2026 revenue outlook to $95-$97 million and plans to prioritize investments in faster-growing markets, particularly Eastern Europe and Australia, to expand market share in 2027.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2026 EPS indicates an increase of 116.7% from the prior-year reported figure. The consensus estimate for 2027 sales implies an improvement of 3.58% year over year. The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #3. 
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Clear skies. Low 24F. Winds light and variable..
Clear skies. Low 24F. Winds light and variable.
Updated: November 13, 2026 @ 9:15 pm
FILE – Workers put switches and connectors after they come out of automated framing at a ReNew solar panel manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, Aug. 21, 2025.
FILE – Workers travel in a vehicle past transmission towers toward the construction site of Adani Green Energy Limited’s Renewable Energy Park in the salt desert of Karim Shahi village, near Khavda, Bhuj district near the India-Pakistan border in the western state of Gujarat, India, Sept. 21, 2023.
FILE – Solar panels cover the land at the Unchahar solar power plant, Raebareli district, India, Oct. 15, 2026.
FILE – Employees work on a wind turbine blade at the Adani New Industries Limited in the port town of Mundra in Western India’s Gujarat state, India, Sept. 20, 2023.
FILE – Lights are reflected in the Sabarmati River from the coal-based AMGEN power plant of Torrent Power in Ahmedabad, India, March 27, 2023.

FILE – Workers put switches and connectors after they come out of automated framing at a ReNew solar panel manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, Aug. 21, 2025.
FILE – Workers travel in a vehicle past transmission towers toward the construction site of Adani Green Energy Limited’s Renewable Energy Park in the salt desert of Karim Shahi village, near Khavda, Bhuj district near the India-Pakistan border in the western state of Gujarat, India, Sept. 21, 2023.
FILE – Solar panels cover the land at the Unchahar solar power plant, Raebareli district, India, Oct. 15, 2026.
FILE – Employees work on a wind turbine blade at the Adani New Industries Limited in the port town of Mundra in Western India’s Gujarat state, India, Sept. 20, 2023.
FILE – Lights are reflected in the Sabarmati River from the coal-based AMGEN power plant of Torrent Power in Ahmedabad, India, March 27, 2023.
BENGALURU, India (AP) — With the United Nations climate talks underway, India has set an ambitious goal of installing enough clean power to supply more than 1 billion homes by 2035, and has approved nearly $20 billion in power grid upgrades to ease bottlenecks that prevent some solar and wind energy from reaching consumers.
The world’s most populous country and one of the biggest carbon polluters is also among the fastest to expand clean power. Accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels is a key goal of this year’s climate talks, known as COP31, in Turkey.
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Construction Review

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Published on Nov 13, 2026
Eugene Frank
The 800MW Springwell solar farm project in Lincolnshire, England, has cleared a major legal obstacle after the High Court rejected an attempt by two local authorities to challenge its government approval. The ruling removes a significant legal hurdle for the proposed 800MW renewable energy project, which is expected to become the UK’s largest solar farm by generating capacity once developed.
The legal challenge was brought by Reform UK-led Lincolnshire County Council and Conservative-led North Kesteven District Council. Both authorities had sought to overturn the government’s April 2026 approval, arguing that the planning decision did not adequately consider the project’s potential effects on rural communities, surrounding landscapes and agricultural land.
However, on November 11, 2026, Mr Justice Kimblin ruled that the councils’ proposed challenge could not proceed. The judge considered the alleged procedural defects in the government’s assessment not arguable, effectively preventing the judicial review from advancing to a full hearing.
The ruling represents a significant development for the project, which is being jointly developed by EDF power solutions UK and Luminous Energy.
With the legal challenge unsuccessful, the developers can continue preparations to move the project towards construction.
Springwell Solar Farm is an 800MW utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) project proposed on approximately 1,280 hectares (3,163 acres) of predominantly agricultural land between Lincoln and Sleaford in North Kesteven, Lincolnshire.
The project will comprise ground-mounted solar PV panels and battery energy storage facilities. It will also have an on-site substation and electricity transmission infrastructure. Once construction in complete, Springwell solar farm will connect to the National Grid. This will be through a proposed new 400kV substation at Navenby. The connection will also be supported by an underground cable connection.

Once operational, the facility is expected to generate enough electricity to supply more than 180,000 homes annually. This is equivalent to about half of all households in Lincolnshire.
Additionally, Springwell solar farm is designed to operate for 40 years. After the four decades, the solar panels and associated infrastructure can be removed and the land restored for agricultural use.
An important feature of the development is its land-use strategy. Although the overall project covers approximately 1,280 hectares, 623 hectares, is allocated to above-ground infrastructure such as solar panels, battery storage and the substation.  This is equivalent to around 48% of the site. The remaining area is intended to accommodate landscaping, ecological enhancements, recreational facilities and opportunities for continued agricultural production.
The developers also propose approximately 12km of new footpaths, more than 15km of hedgerows and a community growing area.
The Springwell solar farm project has faced considerable opposition from local authorities and community campaigners, particularly over its proposed use of agricultural land and its potential impact on rural landscapes.
Lincolnshire County Council and North Kesteven District Council argued that the government’s assessment did not adequately address several important issues. These include:
The councils also initially opposed the development during the planning examination. They subsequently pursued legal action after the government granted development consent to Springwell solar farm on April 8, 2026.
Their judicial review application was formally submitted in May 2026. The authorities also identifying nine grounds on which they believed the government’s decision should be challenged.
However, the High Court ruling on Wednesday this week rejected the request for the case to advance to a full judicial review hearing.
The legal outcome is significant for Springwell solar farm project. This is because it leaves the government’s development consent in place, allowing the project to continue through its pre-construction preparations.

The Springwell Solar Farm is jointly backed by EDF power solutions UK and Luminous Energy, combining the former’s renewable energy investment and delivery capabilities with the latter’s experience in developing utility-scale solar and energy storage projects.
EDF power solutions UK, formerly known as EDF Renewables UK, is part of the EDF Group. The company is responsible for developing and investing in renewable energy infrastructure, including solar, battery storage, onshore wind and offshore wind projects.
Luminous Energy is a UK-based renewable energy developer established in 2013. It develops solar and battery storage projects across several international markets, including the UK, United States, Chile and Australia.
The company is working alongside EDF power solutions to advance the Springwell development through planning, construction preparation and eventual operation.
National Grid is a critical infrastructure stakeholder in the project. Springwell has a grid connection agreement allowing it to export up to 800MW of electricity through a proposed new National Grid substation at Navenby.
Importantly, the Navenby substation is a separate National Grid development and does not form part of the Springwell Solar Farm development consent itself. Its delivery is therefore an important dependency for the project’s planned grid connection.
Springwell solar farm project is estimated to cost approximately £922 million (US$878 million). The project also includes several significant infrastructure components beyond the solar panels themselves. These include battery storage, electrical substations and underground grid connection infrastructure.
One of the project’s notable community commitments is an annual benefit fund of £400 per megawatt of installed capacity. At the proposed 800MW capacity, this would represent up to £320,000 annually if the full planned capacity is installed.
Additional community and environmental provisions include:
The project also has an anticipated operational lifespan of approximately 40 years.
Following the April 2026 Development Consent Order and the November 2026 High Court ruling, the project remains in the pre-construction phase. The developers have indicated that electricity exports to the National Grid are planned to begin in 2029.
Further site surveys, construction planning, procurement and coordination with National Grid will be important milestones before the development enters full construction.

The High Court decision is a considerable victory for the project’s developers, but several important delivery questions remain.
First, the developers must progress from pre-construction preparations to actual construction. This includes finalizing the implementation program, undertaking additional site investigations and coordinating the procurement and installation of solar panels, battery storage systems and electrical infrastructure.
Second, the proposed Navenby substation remains a particularly important consideration. Since the substation is being developed separately by National Grid, its delivery and commissioning must align with Springwell’s construction and grid connection program.
Third, the project will need to maintain engagement with surrounding communities. This is especially important given the strong opposition that emerged during the planning and legal processes.
Additionally, the unsuccessful judicial review does not necessarily end local opposition. Community concerns surrounding agricultural land, landscape changes and the cumulative impact of large-scale solar developments in Lincolnshire are likely to remain part of the wider debate over Britain’s renewable energy expansion, as seen with projects such as the 800MW Tillbridge Solar Project.
Nevertheless, with government development consent intact and the latest legal challenge dismissed, Springwell solar farm is in a stronger position to advance towards its planned 2029 electricity export target.
If delivered as proposed, the 800MW Springwell solar farm project will represent a major addition to Britain’s utility-scale solar capacity. It will also demonstrate the growing importance of large-scale renewable energy and battery storage infrastructure in the country’s transition towards cleaner electricity.
Project type: Utility-scale solar PV and battery energy storage
Location: North Kesteven, Lincolnshire, England
Developer: Springwell Energy Farm Ltd
Project partners: EDF power solutions UK and Luminous Energy
Proposed generating capacity: 800MW
Site area: 1,280 hectares (3,163 acres)
Above-ground infrastructure area: 623 hectares
Expected electricity supply: More than 180,000 homes annually
Battery storage: Included. Final capacity not yet established.
Grid connection: Proposed 400kV connection to National Grid’s Navenby substation
Planning approval: April 8, 2026
Judicial review challenge: Rejected November 11, 2026
Court: High Court of England and Wales
Judge: Mr Justice Kimblin
Project status: Pre-construction as of November 2026
Target electricity export: 2029
Expected operational lifespan: 40 years
Community benefit fund: £400/MW annually
Proposed footpaths: 12km
Proposed hedgerows: More than 15km
Grid infrastructure stakeholder: National Grid
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Tunisia’s Société Tunisienne de l’Electricité et du Gaz (STEG) has secured a €50 million financing package from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Clean Technology Fund (CTF) to finance a solar power plant integrated with Tunisia’s first utility-scale battery energy storage system.
The project, located in Beni Mhira in the southern governorate of Tataouine, will comprise a 50 MWac solar photovoltaic plant integrated with a 10 MW/20 MWh battery energy storage system. It will also include a 1.2 km high-voltage transmission line connecting the facility to the national grid.
The package consists of a €30 million sovereign-guaranteed loan from EBRD alongside technical cooperation. The remaining €20 million concessional loan will come from the Clean Technology Fund (CTF). Under the Global Energy Storage Program, the CTF’s concessional financing makes the investment more affordable and supports the deployment of battery storage technology in Tunisia.
Combining solar generation with battery storage aims to increase the flexibility of Tunisia’s power system as more renewable capacity comes online. The battery storage stores excess electricity generated during peak sunlight hours and then supplies it to the grid when demand increases or when solar generation drops. 
As the country’s first utility-scale battery storage project, the investment will also help STEG to develop the technical and operational capabilities needed to integrate storage into the national grid.
Aida Sitdikova, Director of Sustainable Infrastructure, Middle East and Africa: “Tunisia has outstanding solar potential, and storage will help the country to make greater use of it. This first utility-scale battery is an important milestone for Tunisia’s energy security and its energy transition. Beyond the asset itself, it will help build the experience and frameworks needed for further storage projects, including private-sector investments.”
Faycel Tarifa, Chief Executive Officer of STEG: “This project marks a new chapter for STEG and for Tunisia’s power system. As our grid takes on more renewable energy, the ability to store and dispatch it becomes essential to keep supply secure and reliable. With Tunisia’s first utility-scale battery, STEG will build the know-how to operate storage at scale and integrate it into the national grid. We thank the EBRD and the Clean Technology Fund for their continued trust and support in this important step.”
The project is part of STEG’s wider programme to develop 380 MWac of solar generation capacity and 100 MWh of battery storage, and is aligned with Tunisia’s efforts to diversify its energy mix and reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels.
It builds on the EBRD’s longstanding support for Tunisia’s power sector, including grid reinforcement, the first large-scale private renewable energy projects, and the ELMED electricity interconnector between Tunisia and Italy.
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Upfront Ventures has backed Outer Spaces, whose backyard structures combine solar generation and battery storage, giving homeowners an alternative to rooftop panels.
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FILE – Workers put switches and connectors after they come out of automated framing at a ReNew solar panel manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, Aug. 21, 2025.
FILE – Workers travel in a vehicle past transmission towers toward the construction site of Adani Green Energy Limited’s Renewable Energy Park in the salt desert of Karim Shahi village, near Khavda, Bhuj district near the India-Pakistan border in the western state of Gujarat, India, Sept. 21, 2023.
FILE – Solar panels cover the land at the Unchahar solar power plant, Raebareli district, India, Oct. 15, 2026.
FILE – Employees work on a wind turbine blade at the Adani New Industries Limited in the port town of Mundra in Western India’s Gujarat state, India, Sept. 20, 2023.
FILE – Lights are reflected in the Sabarmati River from the coal-based AMGEN power plant of Torrent Power in Ahmedabad, India, March 27, 2023.

FILE – Workers put switches and connectors after they come out of automated framing at a ReNew solar panel manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, Aug. 21, 2025.
FILE – Workers travel in a vehicle past transmission towers toward the construction site of Adani Green Energy Limited’s Renewable Energy Park in the salt desert of Karim Shahi village, near Khavda, Bhuj district near the India-Pakistan border in the western state of Gujarat, India, Sept. 21, 2023.
FILE – Solar panels cover the land at the Unchahar solar power plant, Raebareli district, India, Oct. 15, 2026.
FILE – Employees work on a wind turbine blade at the Adani New Industries Limited in the port town of Mundra in Western India’s Gujarat state, India, Sept. 20, 2023.
FILE – Lights are reflected in the Sabarmati River from the coal-based AMGEN power plant of Torrent Power in Ahmedabad, India, March 27, 2023.
BENGALURU, India (AP) — With the United Nations climate talks underway, India has set an ambitious goal of installing enough clean power to supply more than 1 billion homes by 2035, and has approved nearly $20 billion in power grid upgrades to ease bottlenecks that prevent some solar and wind energy from reaching consumers.
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Africa’s largest copper mine is now running on solar baseload power thanks to a large-scale solar-plus-storage power plant.
The Kamoa-Kakula Copper Complex, located in the Central African Copperbelt near Kolwezi in the Democratic Republic of Congo, has been powered by a 233 MW solar plant coupled with a 123 MVA/526 MWh battery energy storage system since the facility entered commercial operation on Aug. 12. The system provides the copper complex with a continuous 30 MW power supply, with output currently peaking at 55 MW.
The facility is owned and operated by project developers CrossBoundary Energy, with Germany’s Dhybrid Power Systems GmbH responsible for engineering the battery system and providing the facility’s control platform.
Figures provided by Dhybrid state that during its first month of operation, the facility displaced around 4 million liters of diesel, worth roughly $11 million.
The project combines over 357,000 solar modules from Aiko, Sungrow solar inverters and medium-voltage stations, battery containers from Risen SYL and EPC Power power conversion systems.
Dhybrid says its universal power platform (UPP) acts as the central control layer for the entire plant, coordinating the solar and battery inverters, power quality meters, protection relays, meteorological sensors, UPS and HVAC units and managed network switches, equating to over 1,300 devices in total.
A statement from the company explains the UPP’s forecasting algorithm tells the operator twenty-four hours ahead what the plant can deliver. “The operator sets the value, and the platform decides every second how to split up to 180 MW of solar between the mine and the batteries, how far to charge for the night, and how to hold the setpoint through cloud cover and load swings,” the statement explains. “The customer only sees constant power output.”
Dhybrid has been awarded a contract to expand the battery system by a further 35 MWh, to an installed capacity of 561 MWh, with targeted commercial operations in January 2027.
The complex has also set a target of raising its on-site solar baseload capacity to 120 MW within 18 months.
The project is the DRC’s largest operational solar asset, according to figures available in the Africa Solar Industry Association’s (AFISA) project database. The database lists a total 1,381 MW of operational solar in the country, alongside a further 132 MW under construction.
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In Talatan, Qinghai Province, 609 square kilometers of Gobi terrain were once described by locals as a place where “wind blows stones across the ground and not a blade of grass grows,” suffering from a 98.5% desertification rate. Today, over seven million photovoltaic (PV) panels stretch across the plateau—forming the world’s largest solar park by installed capacity.
Yet what captured global social media attention was a flock of sheep: as wild grasses flourished beneath the shade of the solar arrays, local herders moved their flocks into the park to graze. Images of this “solar-grazing” (agrivoltaic) synergy went viral overseas—and were soon reposted by a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson, drawing millions of views worldwide.
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Sheep grazing peacefully beneath rows of solar panels in Qinghai. (Source: CNR photo)
The ecological metrics are equally striking: the massive solar arrays reduced local wind speeds by 50% and cut soil moisture evaporation by 30%, allowing vegetation coverage to rebound to 80% within three years. The barren desert transformed into a thriving pasture—so lush that local sheep reportedly required scheduled grazing limits to avoid overeating. This represents the greenest chapter of the “Chinamaxxing” narrative: international observers are captivated not just by the visual novelty, but by an integrated framework uniting ecological security with economic livelihoods.
A panoramic view of Talatan’s “solar sheep,” showing the sharp boundary between blue solar arrays and restored green grassland. (Source: Hainan Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture Government photo)
Green Living Through Foreign Eyes: From City Streets to Offshore Winds
For international visitors, this green shift begins in everyday urban life. Shenzhen—the world’s first megacity to achieve 100% electrification of its public bus and taxi fleets—operates roughly 16,000 pure-electric buses, cutting carbon dioxide emissions by 440,000 metric tons annually. The World Bank distributed Shenzhen’s transit electrification case study to its 189 member states as a blueprint for developing economies. When foreign travelers step onto Shenzhen’s streets, every taxi they hail is electric—demonstrating that low-carbon living is not a showroom exhibit, but the default factory setting of modern Chinese cities.
A fleet of pure-electric buses operating along Shenzhen’s avenues. (Source: Sohu photo)
A row of BYD electric taxis lined up at an urban fast-charging hub. (Source: Didi Chuxing photo)
Market adoption data underscores this scale: in 2025, global New Energy Vehicle (NEV) sales reached 23.542 million units, with China accounting for 70.3%. By comparison, annual EV penetration stood at 9.6% in the US and just over 20% in Europe. During the first three quarters of 2026, more than one in every two new passenger vehicles registered on Chinese roads bore a green license plate.
The other half of this energy transformation rises offshore as a “white forest” of wind turbines. Spanning 18,000 kilometers of coastline and over 3 million square kilometers of maritime territory, China is building the world’s largest offshore wind fleet, featuring massive 100-meter-class turbine blades that repeatedly break engineering records—including 102-meter and 123-meter blades hoisted into position high above open waters. By the end of 2025, China’s cumulative wind power capacity reached 640 GW (640 million kW). Combined with solar capacity, total wind and solar installations hit 1,840 GW (1.84 TW)—historically surpassing coal-dominated thermal power capacity for the first time.
Three Gorges Group hoists a 123-meter offshore wind turbine blade into place—an industrial spectacle over open waters. (Source: Tencent News photo)
Ecological Security: Nearly 4 in Every 10 Kilowatt-Hours Are Green
This transformation rests on newly released national energy figures. According to the National Energy Administration, China added 452 GW (452 million kW) of renewable energy capacity in 2025—a 21% year-on-year increase representing 83% of all new power generation capacity nationwide. By year-end, total renewable capacity reached 2,340 GW (2.34 TW), accounting for roughly 60% of the country’s entire power grid.
Even more notable is the structural shift in consumption: nearly four out of every ten kilowatt-hours consumed across Chinese society now come from clean energy, and 100% of the incremental growth in national electricity demand was met by newly added renewable generation. Behind these figures lies a binding national roadmap: raising non-fossil energy’s share of total primary energy consumption to roughly 25% by 2030, and exceeding 80% by 2060—treating carbon neutrality not as an abstract pledge, but as an operational schedule.
The Dual Impact of China’s Green Calling Card
The strategic value of this green transition lies in solving two challenges simultaneously. Domestically, it turns carbon constraints into industrial competitiveness: clean-tech sectors—spanning photovoltaics, wind turbines, EVs, and grid storage—accounted for 6.6% of China’s total exports in the first half of 2026. Internationally, Chinese clean-energy engineering offers developing nations a pathway to energy autonomy—from the Karawang solar plant powering 112,000 households in Indonesia to the RMB 13.962 billion ($1.92 billion) integrated solar-plus-storage megaproject in Abu Dhabi, UAE.
This commitment drew international recognition at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP31), which opened on November 9 in Antalya, Türkiye, gathering delegates from nearly 200 countries and regions under the theme “From Goals to Delivery.” On opening day, Stelios Pesmajoglou, Director of the Mitigation Division at the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), addressed the Guangdong session at the China Pavilion. He praised green innovation in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) as a “forward-looking and truly inspiring commitment,” commending Guangdong’s steady progress in carbon market infrastructure, carbon footprint tracking, and climate finance, while encouraging the region to contribute further “Bay Area solutions” to the global green transition. Former Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu echoed this sentiment: “China not only contributes to the international community; domestically, every measure it takes in green energy and related fields represents a monumental contribution to addressing global climate change.”
Delegates at the China Pavilion during COP31 commend China’s green transition and climate action initiatives. (Source: CGTN video screenshot)
Ecological security clears China’s skies, while clean electricity fortifies its industrial supply chains. When viral clips of “solar sheep” win admiration abroad and electric taxis in Shenzhen form the quiet everyday backdrop for visiting travelers, China’s green calling card achieves its most effective outreach: relying not on slogans, but on grass thriving beneath solar panels and quiet, low-emission cities—allowing the world to draw its own conclusions.

Chinamaxxing
** 博客文章文責自負,不代表本公司立場 **
BENGALURU, India (AP) — With the United Nations climate talks underway, India has set an ambitious goal of installing enough clean power to supply more than 1 billion homes by 2035, and has approved nearly $20 billion in power grid upgrades to ease bottlenecks that prevent some solar and wind energy from reaching consumers.
The world’s most populous country and one of the biggest carbon polluters is also among the fastest to expand clean power. Accelerating the shift away from fossil fuels is a key goal of this year’s climate talks, known as COP31, in Turkey.
India announced the 900-gigawatt goal in late September. It covers nonfossil power sources, including solar, wind, hydropower and nuclear energy. It is nearly twice India’s existing target of 500 gigawatts of clean power by 2030. India’s current clean power capacity of just over 300 gigawatts ranks it third behind China and the United States.
Experts say meeting the target could lower electricity costs, curb coal construction and accelerate the transition to clean energy.
The push comes as India struggles to use all the renewable electricity it can generate because of inadequate transmission infrastructure. The new goal refers to installed generating capacity, rather than the amount of electricity actually produced.
“If the grid doesn’t catch up, then there is no way India can meet this target,” Nikit Abhyankar from the India Energy and Climate Center at the University of California, Berkeley, said. “A robust and innovative transmission grid is an absolute must.”
The government also approved nearly $20 billion in funding for transmission infrastructure and battery storage under its Green Energy Corridor plan.
Economist Ajay Shah of the Mumbai-based XKDR Forum described the transition as the emergence of an Indian “electrostate,” in which electricity increasingly replaces coal and petroleum products.
“So now in India you have two assets — not only do you have cheap labor, you also have cheap energy,” Shah said.
The shift mirrors a global trend toward cleaner power, even as fossil fuel energy remains a key energy source amid rising electricity demand. Brazil, which ranks close behind India in clean energy capacity, projects renewables will supply nearly 90% of its electricity in the next decade, even as it expands oil and gas production. In the United States, where President Donald Trump supports fossil fuels, electricity demand is expected to grow by 40%, with natural gas remaining a major source.
India’s clean energy expansion could help industries replace costly imported fossil fuels with domestically produced electricity. Abhyankar said solar and wind power, even when combined with battery storage, are increasingly cost-competitive with power from coal, oil and natural gas.
Lower generation costs could eventually translate into cheaper electricity for households, though utilities also factor in transmission costs and other expenses.
However, India’s continued dependence on coal presents a major challenge to its clean energy transition. Coal generated about 71% of the country’s electricity in 2025, according to energy think tank Ember.
India’s power planners remain concerned about meeting growing demand and maintaining reliable electricity when solar and wind output fluctuates. Ghanshyam Prasad, chair of the Central Electricity Authority, said earlier this month that India could need as much as 150 gigawatts of additional coal-fired generating capacity by 2035.
Ember energy analyst Neshwin Rodrigues said coal will remain important for years, particularly until large-scale batteries can store solar energy to reliably meet demand when the sun isn’t shining.
Existing coal plants also pose operational challenges. Many cannot quickly reduce output when renewable electricity becomes available, making it difficult for the grid to accommodate growing solar and wind power.
Researchers at Berkeley estimate that beyond approximately 35 gigawatts of coal capacity already under construction, additional coal plants would not be economically necessary under the country’s new clean energy goals. Berkeley’s Abhyankar warned that newly built coal plants could become stranded assets if the government meets its renewable energy targets.
Meeting the 2035 target requires more than building more renewable power plants. Their electricity must be able to reach consumers.
India’s rapid clean energy expansion is already testing the grid’s limits. Although clean power accounted for 55% of installed power capacity by September, it generated about a third of the country’s electricity in the preceding three months, according to government data.
Over the past 16 months, India curtailed enough solar generation to power about 10 million homes because the grid could not accommodate it, according to government data and Ember.
The Green Energy Corridor plan aims to help states accommodate up to 135 gigawatts of renewable energy by 2033 by adding thousands of kilometers (miles) of transmission lines. The plan also includes additional battery storage.
But analysts question whether that’s enough. The Berkeley researchers estimate that India needs as much as 250 gigawatts of energy storage to integrate renewable electricity over the next decade.
“You either have more transmission to get the power out and transfer it. Or if you cannot get the power out, you store it and then transfer it during some other hours,” Ember’s Rodrigues said.
Shah, the economist, said two types of government policy could discourage investment in renewable energy: requirements that businesses pay higher rates to subsidize other consumers, and restrictions on electricity producers selling directly to private buyers.
He said India needs to allow electricity prices to rise and fall based on supply and demand, and make it easier for foreign investors to fund power projects. Domestic financing alone would not be enough to meet the country’s growing energy needs, he said.
“Currently, the government is a man in the middle, trying to interfere in a transaction between a private generator and a private buyer,” which creates a “choke point,” Shah said.
Battery supply chains pose another challenge, particularly India’s dependence on imported battery cells, mainly from China. Abhyankar said expanding domestic battery manufacturing could help India capture more economic benefits from the transition.
Despite those challenges, Abhyankar said India has already overtaken the United States in annual renewable energy growth, and its experience in expanding clean energy could be a model for other developing countries.
“What India is doing can be replicated in many countries in the Global South and can help these countries make the energy transition in an economically affordable manner,” he said.
Sibi Arasu can be followed on X at @sibi123. Reach him at sarasu@ap.org.
The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
FILE – Lights are reflected in the Sabarmati River from the coal-based AMGEN power plant of Torrent Power in Ahmedabad, India, March 27, 2023. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)
FILE – Employees work on a wind turbine blade at the Adani New Industries Limited in the port town of Mundra in Western India’s Gujarat state, India, Sept. 20, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
FILE – Solar panels cover the land at the Unchahar solar power plant, Raebareli district, India, Oct. 15, 2026. (AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh, File)
FILE – Workers travel in a vehicle past transmission towers toward the construction site of Adani Green Energy Limited’s Renewable Energy Park in the salt desert of Karim Shahi village, near Khavda, Bhuj district near the India-Pakistan border in the western state of Gujarat, India, Sept. 21, 2023. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)
FILE – Workers put switches and connectors after they come out of automated framing at a ReNew solar panel manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur, India, Aug. 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
© 2023 Bastillepost. All rights reserved.
© 2026 Bastillepost. All rights reserved.

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Energies Media
A vineyard needs the right amount of sun, shade, and airflow.
One Spanish winery has fitted agrivoltaic solar panels over its vines while still leaving the ground free for growing grapes and operating harvesting machinery. This provides shade for the vines while producing energy simultaneously.
But how can panels fare with crops that need sunlight?
Weather plays a large role in wine production. Temperature, sunlight, and rainfall impact the grape ripening cycle and the start of the harvest.
Rising temperatures are challenging for vineyards in Spain’s Penedès region. Warmer temperatures can speed up grape ripening, bringing harvests forward and affecting wine quality.
Wineries are rethinking ways to survive the heat without interfering with vineyard work.
An opportunity is provided by solar power. Wineries rely on electricity for their production, storage, and hospitality services, so having another source of generation on site can be very beneficial.
Vineyards require open rows for the vines, workers, and machinery. The challenge is to find space for the panels without taking away productive land.
The Familia Torres winery installed a pilot agrivoltaic system in its organic vineyard in the Penedès region of Catalonia.
The installation is part of the SOLARWINE project, which examines the use of photovoltaic technology in combination with wine production.
It will research the effect of the panels on the vineyard’s microclimate, on the grape development, and on energy production. Sensors will monitor soil and climate conditions to help the team compare agricultural and energy performance.
The electricity produced will be used for the Torres Brandy ageing cellars and the Familia Torres Restaurant Mas Rabell, both located nearby.
It is one of two SOLARWINE pilots, the other being in Castilla-La Mancha. Other trials include Virginia crops growing under solar panels.
The installation covers 1,000 square meters, with solar panels raised five meters above ground. That’s around 16 feet, which is enough room for a harvesting machine to pass underneath.
This allows harvesting machines to continue moving along the rows.
The pilot has two PV designs: opaque panels and semi-transparent bifacial panels. Opaque panels provide a solid cover, while semi-transparent panels let some light through.
Bifacial technology can capture sunlight from both sides of the panel.
By testing the two designs, it will be possible to compare their effect on harvest and electricity production.
Vines need sunlight, but the hot summer sun can cause heat stress. The panels are meant to shade the vines and protect them from direct sunlight. The goal is to slow grape ripening with rising temperatures and earlier harvests.
Sensors will determine whether the approach works in practice and if it is technically and economically feasible.
Another model is a Sicilian project that combines solar panels with sheep grazing.
The Penedès installation is not yet proof of increased wine production with elevated panels. It’s meant to show how elevated panels affect vines, the local environment, and energy output.
But it shows the potential of adding renewable generation to an existing agricultural operation.
If the results are positive, the trial could help guide the vineyards through hotter seasons and rising energy demands.
How can farms produce food and clean power without sacrificing either? That’s the question posed by Spain’s solar panels above a working olive grove.
The value of the project will be shown through the results over time. Vineyard owners will need sufficient evidence that adding the panels supports grape production overall. 
The project offers a practical example of how using agricultural land could serve two purposes at the same time, which could be a good solution in the end.
Bronwyn has over 20 years of experience in media, digital publishing, and storytelling as a journalist, content creator, and publishing editor. She writes about various niches and has a keen interest in science, technology, energy, and innovation.
Bronwyn has over 20 years of experience in media, digital publishing, and storytelling as a journalist, content creator, and publishing editor. She writes about various niches and has a keen interest in science, technology, energy, and innovation.
Bronwyn has over 20 years of experience in media, digital publishing, and storytelling as a journalist, content creator, and publishing editor. She writes about various niches and has a keen interest in science, technology, energy, and innovation.

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One of the largest floating solar developments in Southeast Asia, Chereh is expected to generate sufficient clean electricity to power the equivalent of 100,000 homes. The project will create around 1,500 jobs during development and construction.
The project combines Masdar’s floating solar experience, including its work on the 145MW Cirata project in Indonesia, with Citaglobal’s infrastructure and energy development capabilities and TIZA Global’s project development and local stakeholder engagement experience.
The ceremony was attended by His Royal Highness Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, the Sultan of Pahang; His Excellency Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail, Chief Minister of Pahang, together with senior leadership from the project partners.
Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah, the Sultan of Pahang said, “Pahang is committed to supporting initiatives that advance sustainable development and create lasting value for our people. The Chereh Floating Solar Project reflects how our natural resources can be used responsibly to contribute to Malaysia’s renewable energy ambitions, while bringing opportunities for local communities and industry. I look forward to seeing the project deliver meaningful benefits for Pahang and the nation.”
Mohamed Jameel Al Ramahi, Chief Executive Officer of Masdar, commented, “Malaysia is a strategically important market for Masdar, with rising electricity demand, strong renewable energy potential and growing investment in advanced industries and digital infrastructure. As our first project in the country, Chereh marks an important milestone in our long-term commitment to Malaysia and our expansion across Southeast Asia.
“By combining Masdar’s global floating solar expertise with strong local partnerships, we will support Malaysia’s energy ambitions while creating jobs and new economic opportunities in Pahang.”
Financial close was reached on the project on October 27, with approximately 580 million MYR raised in Malaysian ringgit from three international lenders. The financing structure aligns project funding with future project revenues while attracting international capital into Malaysia’s renewable energy sector and supporting long-term local economic participation.
Chereh Solar Sdn Bhd signed the power purchase agreement (PPA) with Tenaga Nasional Berhad, Malaysia’s national utility company, in December 2025. The agreement provides for the sale of electricity generated by the project for 21 years from commercial operation. The project was secured through a competitive tender process under Malaysia’s Large Scale Solar (LSS) Cycle 5+ program, with the consortium’s bid offering the lowest tariff in the floating solar category.
Through its investment in Chereh Solar, Citaglobal is expanding its participation in renewable power generation alongside its established infrastructure activities. Chereh forms a key component of the Group’s New Energy platform, which spans solar, hydropower and Bio-CNG initiatives.
For Masdar, Chereh is its first project in Malaysia and will be the inaugural project under the 10-gigawatt renewable energy roadmap agreed with the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) in 2023. Masdar is also progressing a feasibility study for a major floating solar installation at the Murum reservoir in Sarawak.
The partners will work closely with Malaysian authorities, local communities and stakeholders throughout development, construction and operations. A Site Agreement has also been signed with Pahang Water & Energy Resources to support the project’s development.
By using an existing reservoir for solar generation, the project reduces the need for land-based solar sites. Malaysia has targeted increasing the share of renewables in its installed electricity-generation capacity to 35% by 2030, with floating solar expected to contribute significantly to this target.

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Heavy rains flood shelters, damage solar power systems and threat essential healthcare services.
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Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip – As the rain intensified, 65-year-old Abu Sajed rushed to place buckets and pots strategically around his modest room in central Gaza.
The stone walls and tarpaulin roof offered little protection to his makeshift home, east of Salah al-Din Street, near the “Yellow Line” in Bureij refugee camp.

“We could no longer stay in bed because of the heavy rain. We moved to chairs in the only part of the room the water had not reached and waited for the rain to stop,” said Abu Sajed, who has diabetes.
He searched for his blood glucose monitor in the darkness. But it was soaked and no longer working.
His family’s solar power system, used for lighting and charging phones, was also damaged. Water also flooded his daughter’s neighbouring tent, soaking her clothes and belongings and destroying the inverter connected to her solar system.
“I did not know what to do. I could not protect myself or my family. Even going to the toilet had become difficult because of all the water,” he said.
His ordeal continued after the rain stopped. The following morning, as he tried to leave the room, his foot slipped on the muddy floor and he fell. Because of poor health, he could not get up alone. His wife and daughter struggled to lift him.
“I felt helpless and exhausted,” he said.
Recent rainfall has added to Gaza’s suffering, and due to Israel’s siege, most people lack adequate housing.
But the impact extends beyond flooded shelters and damaged belongings. It also threatens the energy sources residents depend on, particularly amid Gaza’s continuing electricity crisis.
In a room inside a damaged building in northern Gaza, Mohammed al-Hour uses sunlight to charge people’s phones through his solar power system. But rainwater also seeps through the cracked walls and damaged ceiling of his room.
“People come to me asking to charge their phones, even for a little while, so they can have lighting at night. But when the clouds persist and the sun disappears, it becomes difficult,” he said. “Whether you live in a tent or a house, rainwater will find its way in. The bombardment has destroyed almost everything.”
Companies trying to maintain electricity services are struggling with the damage.
Despite preparations in advance of the winter, Abu Zayed Electricity Company could not prevent water from entering several facilities, damaging equipment and causing generators to malfunction. It temporarily suspended services at affected branches over fears of electrical contact and short circuits.
Aya Shaheen, the company’s general manager, said distribution panels and electricity metres were covered with plastic sheeting and tarpaulins, exposed wires were insulated, and municipalities were asked to pump out accumulated water. But the damage exceeded available resources.
“However much we try to prepare and protect our equipment, we continue to face major obstacles because of the extensive destruction of infrastructure,” she said. “Municipalities are also dealing with enormous pressure. Flooded tents need urgent intervention, so they cannot respond to every request for assistance.”
Water entered one of the company’s sites, even though its generators are housed in specially equipped prefabricated structures, Shaheen said. Restoring services and repairing equipment can take hours or days, depending on the damage.
According to UNICEF, the recent rainfall affected more than 106,000 people. About 950,000 displaced people live in flood-prone areas, including 400,000 in particularly high-risk locations.
A joint assessment by the World Bank, the United Nations and the European Union estimated that 80 percent of electricity generation and distribution assets had been destroyed or rendered inoperable during the war. This has severely limited access to reliable electricity, particularly as solar generation declines on cloudy days and equipment becomes vulnerable to water damage.
Mohammed Abu Khaled, an engineer specialising in energy systems and equipment used in the health sector, warns that rainwater entering solar systems can damage batteries and inverters, causing short circuits and corrosion of electronic circuits.
“The inverter is the weakest link and the component most likely to fail. It contains sensitive electronic circuit boards that are often not adequately protected against water,” he said.
He estimated that malfunctions in household solar systems and those used in displacement camps increased by more than 40 to 50 percent following recent rainfall. Repairing a damaged inverter can cost between $200 and $500, while families may have to replace an entire battery if it is damaged.
Solar panels’ electricity output can also drop by 60 to 80 percent on cloudy days, slowing battery charging and reducing the hours households can rely on stored electricity, he added.
The risks become more serious when rainwater reaches hospital equipment, particularly as many health facilities have been forced to operate from prefabricated structures and temporary buildings offering inadequate protection against the weather.
Abu Khaled said strong winds and heavy rainfall can cause water to seep into hospital departments, exposing operating-room equipment, portable oxygen generators, vital-signs monitors, laboratory devices and lighting systems to moisture and damage.
Some equipment has already been affected by damp conditions, adding pressure to healthcare facilities struggling with severely limited resources, he said.
As rainfall continues, Gaza’s residents face another winter with little infrastructure to protect them and few resources to replace damaged belongings and equipment.
With water seeping into shelters, electricity systems at risk of failure and medical equipment increasingly vulnerable, the weather is adding another burden to families struggling to maintain the most basic conditions for survival amid the destruction.

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APAC data center firm AirTrunk has signed a new energy contract in Australia.
The operator and European Energy Australia have signed an exclusivity agreement to progress two renewable energy projects in the Hunter region of New South Wales.

– AirTrunk

The proposed projects include a 260MW solar farm, an 800MWh+ battery project, and an up to 350MW wind project in the Hunter-Central Coast Renewable Energy Zone. The projects are expected to begin operating between 2030 (solar and battery) and 2032 (wind).
Robin Khuda, founder and CEO of AirTrunk, said: “Digital growth must bring new energy with it. The Australian government’s expectations and NSW’s guidelines set a high bar for the industry. This partnership is an important step towards delivering on that commitment.”
Catriona McLeod, managing director, European Energy Australia, added: “It’s great to see AirTrunk and the tech sector embracing renewable energy – partnerships like this allow us to bring more renewables online and add more energy to the grid.”
AirTrunk has committed to matching 100 percent of its electricity use with renewable energy by 2030 as part of its Net Zero 2030 target. In FY26, the company said around 73 percent of its electricity use was matched with renewable energy across its portfolio.
The company and European Energy Australia have previously partnered on the 31MW Mulwala Solar Farm in New South Wales, which officially opened this week. The farm includes a 100MWh battery. Construction on the farm began in September 2025, with the project including more than 25,000 panels.
“Having Mulwala operating at full output is an important step for our activities in Australia. We’ve taken the project through development, construction, energization and commissioning, and we are now delivering renewable electricity in New South Wales,” McLeod said last week.
Founded in 2018, AirTrunk was acquired by Blackstone and the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP) for US$16.1bn in 2024, in what was the largest-ever deal in the space at the time.
The company has data center campuses in operation and under development in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia, as well as Singapore; Hong Kong; Johor, Malaysia; Tokyo and Osaka, Japan. Earlier this year, the company announced it had acquired Indian operator Lumina CloudInfra, officially marking its entrance into India.
Denmark-based European Energy was founded in 2004 and develops solar and wind farms. It has more than 2GW of projects in operation and development around Australia.

Empowering data centers for sustainability & cost savings

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Read the orginal article: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/airtrunk-signs-1gw-energy-deal-with-european-energy-australia/

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Duke Energy plans 4 new Central Florida solar farms, projects $1B in customer savings  The Business Journals
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The Intelligent Energy Association has reached a major milestone in its fight against extreme energy poverty. With the 12th edition of its “Energy for Life” project, the organisation has electrified its 100th household in Romania, bringing light, safety and new opportunities to families living in some of the country’s most isolated areas.
For thousands of people across Romania, access to electricity remains far from a given. In remote communities, where geographical isolation and a lack of infrastructure make connection to the national power grid difficult or impossible, everyday activities that most people take for granted can become a challenge.
Against this backdrop, the Intelligent Energy Association continues to expand its “Energy for Life” project, providing off-grid households with access to electricity through photovoltaic systems. The initiative focuses on homes that are not connected to the national distribution network and for which conventional grid connection is not a viable option in the foreseeable future.
The project’s 12th edition marks a particularly significant achievement: the electrification of its 100th household in Romania. Beyond the symbolic importance of this milestone, it represents 100 families whose daily lives have been changed through access to a necessity of modern life.
For the beneficiaries, a photovoltaic installation means far more than having electric light. It brings safer living conditions, greater comfort and better opportunities for children to study and learn. It also offers families living in isolated areas a chance to overcome some of the limitations imposed by their geographical circumstances.
Bringing modern energy to one of Romania’s most remarkable landscapes
The latest stage of the project took place in Fundătura Ponorului, one of Romania’s most spectacular natural landscapes. Often referred to as “God’s Palm”, this secluded area in the Șureanu Mountains is a place where traditional rural life and unspoilt nature have remained closely connected.
Surrounded by forested hills and mountain slopes, the valley unfolds across a broad landscape shaped by the winding waters of the Ponor stream. Traditional houses, shepherds’ shelters, hayfields, green pastures and grazing livestock create a picture of rural life that seems largely untouched by the pace of the modern world.
Here, nature has shaped the landscape over centuries, while local communities have learned to adapt their lives to the rhythms of the mountains and the changing seasons. Yet, behind the extraordinary scenery lies a less visible reality: geographical isolation continues to create significant challenges for those who live here, particularly when it comes to accessing essential services and infrastructure.
The “Energy for Life” project seeks to bridge this gap. By installing photovoltaic systems, the initiative brings the benefits of modern technology to households that remain beyond the reach of the conventional electricity grid. Rather than changing the character of this unique landscape, the project uses the energy of the sun to improve living conditions while preserving the traditional way of life.
At Fundătura Ponorului, the beauty of nature has been complemented by an act of human solidarity – bringing electricity to those who need it most.
100 households electrified, thousands still waiting
Launched in the summer of 2021, “Energy for Life” was created to draw attention to a largely overlooked issue in Romania: extreme energy poverty. While electricity is an essential part of everyday life for most households, thousands of people across the country continue to live without access to this basic resource.
Over successive editions, the project has demonstrated that renewable energy can provide practical and sustainable solutions for communities that conventional infrastructure has failed to reach. For households in remote locations, photovoltaic systems can offer a viable alternative, bringing electricity where extending the national grid is not currently feasible.
The scale of the challenge is reflected in the National Electronic Register of Households Without Electricity in Romania (RENGEER), developed in 2024 by the Intelligent Energy Association with the support of the Ministry of Energy.
According to the register, Romania has 5,494 households without access to electricity, home to 11,611 people. Among them are 4,777 children and young people under the age of 18.
These figures reveal the extent of a problem that often remains invisible in public debate. Many of the affected households are located in hard-to-reach areas, where limited infrastructure, low incomes and the absence of cadastral documentation make conventional electrification particularly difficult.
Reaching the 100-household milestone is therefore both a significant achievement and a reminder of how much work remains to be done.
For the families already reached by the initiative, however, the impact is tangible. One hundred households now have access to electricity, and one hundred families have taken an important step towards safer and better living conditions.
The challenge ahead remains considerable, but every household brought into the light is proof that practical solutions, sustained commitment and cooperation can make a real difference.
Since 2004, ‘The Diplomat – Bucharest’ aims to bring a fair and balanced analysis and comprehensive coverage of the political and business scene in Romania.
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Solar Microcells Wirelessly Align Cells for Bioprinting
Researchers at Penn State have demonstrated that miniature solar cells can wirelessly control the alignment of biological cells, offering a potential method to shape 3D-printed tissues without the need for invasive wiring. The team, led by engineering professor Ibrahim T. Ozbolat, published their findings in Advanced Functional Materials, describing how they used light-activated photovoltaic microcells to influence the orientation of fibroblasts grown on computer chips. This approach eliminates the bulky electronic interfaces and tethered electrodes traditionally required to apply electrical currents to cells, marking a significant step toward more flexible bioprinting techniques.
Bioprinting involves using living cells and molecular signals to construct biological tissues and organs layer by layer in a laboratory setting. A critical challenge in this process is maintaining the correct alignment of the bioink, a blend of cells and materials, to ensure the resulting tissue grows in the desired structure. Historically, researchers have used electricity to guide this alignment, but the method typically relies on wired connections that can be cumbersome and invasive. The new study introduces a wireless alternative that uses light energy to generate the necessary electrical influence directly at the cell interface.
The study was an experimental investigation focused on the interaction between photovoltaic cells and biological samples. The researchers utilized commercially sourced lung and dermal fibroblasts, which are common cell types found in connective tissue throughout the body. These cells were placed on silicon wafers, the fundamental base used to build computer chips, that had been patterned with arrays of tiny solar cells. By varying the configuration of these solar cells, the team aimed to observe how different electrical fields affected cell behavior over time.
The experimental design involved two primary strategies for adjusting the layout of the photovoltaic cells on the chips. In the first strategy, the researchers varied the diameters of the individual solar cells, ranging from just smaller than a millimeter to a mere 80 micrometers, which is less than the width of a human hair. In the second strategy, the diameters remained constant, but the overall shape of the patterned array was altered. These variations allowed the team to test how changes in size, shape, and spacing between the individual solar cells influenced the electric field generated by the array.
During the experiment, the chips were exposed to various intensities of light for seven days, allowing the fibroblasts to grow. The light was captured by the photovoltaic cells and converted into an electrical current, which in turn influenced the cells. At the conclusion of the seven-day period, the researchers compared the alignment of the cells on the illuminated chips to those grown on chips that did not receive light exposure. This comparison served as a control to isolate the effect of the photovoltaic-generated electrical fields on cell orientation.
The results indicated a strong correlation between the patterning of the solar cells and the alignment of the fibroblasts. In the control chips that were not exposed to light, the cell alignment was largely random, with no specific directional preference. However, in the illuminated chips, the cells aligned in a manner that clearly mirrored the underlying pattern of the photovoltaic cells. This finding suggests that the electrical fields generated by the solar cells are sufficient to guide cell orientation without the need for direct physical wiring or external electrodes.
Yifan Tao, the first author of the paper and a doctoral candidate in engineering science and mechanics, noted that the intensity of the illumination also played a role in the process. The testing showed that the activity of the photovoltaic cells was influenced by the brightness of the light source. This means that researchers can adjust cell alignment not only by changing the physical pattern of the solar cells but also by modifying the light intensity or the distance of the light source from the sample.
Ozbolat explained that while scientists have known for years that weak electrical currents can influence cell alignment, the traditional methods have been limited by the need for bulky systems and invasive wiring. Photovoltaic cells, the same materials used in solar panels, have previously been shown to offer a wireless approach to electrically influencing biological cells. However, it was previously unclear whether manipulating the layout of a photovoltaic cell array could effectively align larger clusters of cells into specific shapes. This study provides evidence that such manipulation is possible and effective for the cell types tested.
The researchers acknowledged that the method does not offer complete control over cell alignment, as cell-to-cell interactions can still play a role in the final structure. Nevertheless, the findings light the path toward wirelessly influencing tissue growth, which could have significant implications for the field of regenerative medicine.
Future work will focus on testing more sensitive cell types, such as cardiac or muscle cells, to understand how the electrical influence may impact cell function alongside alignment. The current study was conducted on a flat, planar surface, but the researchers hope to extend the method to three-dimensional spaces in the future.
The study was supported by chair funds from the Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences at Penn State, as well as grants from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. The research team included several doctoral candidates and postdoctoral researchers from engineering science and mechanics.
Subject of Research: Wireless cell alignment control using photovoltaic microcells for bioprinting
Article Title: Microscopic solar panels could help shape 3D-printed biological tissue
Article References: Microscopic solar panels could help shape 3D-printed biological tissue. Original publication (Bibliographic details unavailable.)
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: Not provided
Keywords: bioprinting, photovoltaic cells, cell alignment, fibroblasts, tissue engineering, wireless control, light-activated, silicon wafers, electrical fields, regenerative medicine, microcell arrays, bioink, cell migration, 3D printing, connective tissue, optical stimulation, material science, biomedical engineering, light intensity, cell orientation
News Source: Gregory Coleman. (November 13, 2026). Solar Microcells Wirelessly Align Cells for Bioprinting. Scienmag.
We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.
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New Jersey homebuyer get conflicting information from seller on solar panel warranty  Yahoo
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Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), the Kingdom’s Principal Buyer, has released the request for qualification (RFQ) for Round 8 of the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP). The round covers three independent power projects (IPPs) with a combined capacity of 3,200 MW: two solar PV plants and one wind farm.
The RFQ is the first stage of the tender. Developers apply to be qualified, and SPPC then invites the qualified bidders to submit proposals.
The winning developers have built, owned and operated (BOO) their plants. Each project company signs a 25-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with SPPC, which buys all the electricity the plant produces. SPPC carries out the pre-development studies, runs the tender and signs the PPAs. It also signs storage services agreements for battery projects.
Saudi Energy has already started tendering the grid connections for these sites. In March 2026 it invited bids for 380kV bulk supply point (BSP) substations for upcoming renewable projects. A BSP is the high-voltage substation where a power plant connects to the national grid. The packages included:
Outside the competitive rounds, the ACWA Power, Badeel and Aramco Power consortium signed PPAs for 15,000 MW of solar and wind in July 2025.
SPPC is also running other power tenders:
The NREP aims to raise the share of renewables and energy storage in Saudi Arabia’s installed capacity to about 50% by 2030, depending on how fast electricity demand grows. Saudi Energy reported about 19.3 GW of renewables connected to the grid by the end of September 2026.
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THE refusal of planning permission for a largescale solar farm in the Ballyglunin, Abbeyknockmoy and Monivea areas has been appealed to An Coimisiún Pleanála.
Heron Solar Ltd’s application for the extensive Belville Solar Farm development was turned down by Galway County Council last month. However, the applicant has now appealed this and is seeking for the decision to be overturned.
County Council planners refused permission citing 11 grounds. These included a lack of legal consent from local landowners, an inadequate environmental impact assessment and the absence of detailed designs for the PV panels.
The decision also referenced an incomplete archaeology and cultural heritage assessment and the inclusion of land zoned ‘less likely viable’ in the Local Authority Renewable Energy Strategy (LARES).
Submissions
The proposed solar farm spanning almost 600 acres in Ballyglunin, Abbeyknockmoy, Monivea and surrounding townlands was first proposed by Power Capitals Renewable Energy (PCRE) (Heron Solar Ltd) in June last year.
It sparked considerable opposition from residents in the area and more than 300 submissions were lodged by residents, community groups and public representatives.
One of those groups, the Oakwood Residents Group, believes further submissions are needed to voice their concerns to An Coimisiún Pleanála. The group is holding a public meeting this evening (Wednesday) at 8pm in the Abbeyknockmoy Community Centre.
The appeal is currently being considered by An Coimisiún Pleanála and a decision is not expected until early next year.
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Dear EarthTalk: “What’s up with “solar windows” that generate solar electricity and remain transparent? Can this tech put a dent in our carbon emissions?” — Mark Jackson, Cary, N.C.
Modern urban skylines are dominated by towering skyscrapers with expansive glass facades that absorb large amounts of solar heat while leaving vast surface areas unused for renewable energy generation. Traditional architectural designs treat windows as passive barriers, but this paradigm is shifting as cities search for new ways to combat climate change. By transforming transparent building skins into active power generators, urban centers can harness millions of square feet of previously wasted vertical space.
Transparent luminescent solar concentrators and transparent photovoltaic glass operate by harvesting invisible wavelengths of light, like ultraviolet and infrared, while letting visible light pass through cleanly. These advanced materials use specialized organic salts or nanoparticles embedded within glass panes to absorb non-visible solar radiation and direct it toward thin photovoltaic strips lining the frame edges.
A major advantage of solar windows over traditional rooftop panels is their ability to scale clean energy generation in densely built environments without requiring additional land. Retrofitting existing commercial towers with power-generating glass multiplies potential exponentially. As Ana Almerini, marketing and communications manager at SolarReviews, argues: “Unlike traditional solar panels, solar windows can filter UV and infrared sunlight and use it to generate electricity.” This allows entire building skins to function simultaneously as architectural viewing panes and distributed power plants.
Integrating transparent solar technology into building envelopes also holds tremendous potential to cut carbon emissions, reduce reliance on fossil-fuel-powered HVAC systems, and shrink urban footprints. Buildings consume a massive share of global electricity, much of it driven by cooling loads on sunny days. As Martin Deil, global CEO of ClearVue Technologies, notes regarding market validation: “This is a pivotal moment… This sale of our solar envelope solution confirms our commercial strategy and shows the value the market is starting to place on energy-efficient smart building solutions.”
Achieving widespread viability requires careful balancing of costs, efficiency and total optical clarity. Integrating these systems demands advanced coatings and specialized interlayer films within double- or triple-pane glass units to maintain structural thermal insulation. When modern building-integrated photovoltaics connect directly to a property’s local microgrid, they provide localized backup generation that stabilizes energy loads during peak demand hours. While efficiency metrics and production economics are still being optimized, transparent solar windows are a vital frontier for zero-net-energy cities. Harnessing the invisible spectrum of sunlight turns ordinary glass into a global warming weapon.
CONTACTS: Let the sunshine in: Exploring the benefits of solar glass, renewableenergymagazine.com.
EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss for the 501(c)3 nonprofit EarthTalk. See more at https://emagazine.com. To donate, visit https//earthtalk.org. Send questions to: question@earthtalk.org.
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Supported by Innovate UK, Power Roll is developing, testing, and implementing lightweight, low-cost, flexible solar mini grid systems in India and Africa.
This content has been archived, as Innovate UK are now part of UKRI. For the latest information from Innovate UK, please visit the Innovate UK council page on the UKRI website.
Power Roll has installed two mini solar grid systems in rural locations in Africa and India. These grids demonstrate the use of their innovative solar film and energy storage technologies that have the potential to disrupt the global solar power market.
Paul Laidler, project lead at Power Roll, explained:
The mini solar grid systems use flexible solar PV that is thin, light, easy to install and can be used off-grid. This makes it very attractive to communities who might struggle to get access to technology, particularly if their location is remote.
Power Roll’s solar film will be produced as a roll and can be used on a variety of surfaces in off-grid settings; for example, curved around a technology pole or attached to a fragile roof. Its lightness and versatility give it numerous advantages over silicon solar panels not only where it can be deployed, but also in ease of transport.
The technology can be applied in a number of ways in off-grid settings, including lighting, charging laptops and mobile phones and pumping water for irrigation purposes.
Laidler said:
We want to make solar energy affordable and available to everyone – and that means having a low-cost solution that works in off-grid locations where people have previously found it difficult to access power.
At scale, Power Roll’s solar technology will generate electricity at a cost which is at least 40% cheaper than silicon PV, and it weighs as little as 2% of current silicon PV products, which is a distinct advantage.
The technology will also help the UK achieve its target of becoming net zero by 2050.
Power Roll participated in two Energy Catalyst brokerage events and achieved funding as a result. It received £492,000 in grant funding from the FCDO (Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office) to develop, test and demonstrate its technology at an Energy Catalyst round 5 event.
It recently attracted a further £515,000 in grant funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) in Energy Catalyst round 7. This second round requires the Sunderland-based company to include improvements to social inclusion and gender equality in its project scope.
Laidler explained:
Until now it’s been about proving the technology, but now we are measuring what difference it can make to people’s lives; for example, allowing women entrepreneurs to expand their business and making it easier for kids to learn because they can study at night.
Although the programme is concentrating on rural, off-grid locations in developing countries, Laidler says the mini grids could be installed anywhere in the world, including in developing countries, where they could open up the underdeveloped commercial rooftop market and enable solar power to be generated where it is not possible today.
As well as participating in the Energy Catalyst events, Power Roll was able to benefit from the government’s Future Fund, which was launched in May 2020 in response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The Future Fund was designed to support firms across the UK to get through the pandemic by stimulating investment, so that they can continue to break new ground in technology and innovation.
Power Roll secured an initial £250,000 convertible loan from the Future Fund, which formed part of a £2.8 million funding round closed in August 2020.
Neil Spann, managing director at Power Roll, commented:
We were able to leverage the value of the Future Fund loan as part of our highly successful investment round in the summer of 2020. As of early 2021 we are close to completing a follow-up round that will raise a similar amount.
Spann continued:
The success of our funding round and the quality of our investors reflects the global commercial potential for our technology. Our investors are excited about the new markets we can exploit and disrupt. There’s huge potential for solar and energy storage in a vast range of new applications including non-loadbearing rooftops, building integration, transport, off-grid and even powering Internet of Things sensors.
Through investment from Finance Durham and other investors, Power Roll is currently constructing a pilot plant in County Durham to further scale-up and commercialise its solar film technology.
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The Mukwonago Town Board is seen at a Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Wednesday night. From left: Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Kelly Mueller, Town Chairman Peter Topczewski, Town Attorney John Macy, Town Planner Ben Greenberg, and Supervisor Lyle Boucher.
The Mukwonago Town Board is seen at a Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Wednesday night. From left: Supervisor Gilbert Yerke, Supervisor Richard Wrasman and Supervisor Kay Clabault.
The Town of Mukwonago Plan Commission is seen at a Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Wednesday night. From left: Rob Schuett, Kathryn Bell, Bill Moulas, Bob Usarek, and Peter Bratz.
Peter Murphy of OneEnergy Development LLC is seen at a Town of Mukwonago Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Wednesday night. Murphy represents OneEnergy, which seeks to install a solar project near the intersection of Highway I and Section Road in the Town of Mukwonago.

The Mukwonago Town Board is seen at a Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Wednesday night. From left: Deputy Clerk/Treasurer Kelly Mueller, Town Chairman Peter Topczewski, Town Attorney John Macy, Town Planner Ben Greenberg, and Supervisor Lyle Boucher.
The Mukwonago Town Board is seen at a Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Wednesday night. From left: Supervisor Gilbert Yerke, Supervisor Richard Wrasman and Supervisor Kay Clabault.
The Town of Mukwonago Plan Commission is seen at a Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Wednesday night. From left: Rob Schuett, Kathryn Bell, Bill Moulas, Bob Usarek, and Peter Bratz.
Peter Murphy of OneEnergy Development LLC is seen at a Town of Mukwonago Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting on Wednesday night. Murphy represents OneEnergy, which seeks to install a solar project near the intersection of Highway I and Section Road in the Town of Mukwonago.
MUKWONAGO — A public hearing for a proposed 6-megawatt solar energy project in the Town of Mukwonago on Wednesday night wound up being mostly discussion between members of the Town Board and Plan Commission, with residents only getting about 15 minutes to ask questions at the very end of the night.
The Joint Plan Commission and Town Board meeting held at Brooklife Church, 857 S. Rochester St., on Wednesday included a public hearing regarding a conditional use permit for the proposed Spring Lake Solar project on its agenda. The public hearing was a continuation of a previous public hearing at St. James Catholic Church on Oct. 26, which was adjourned after several hours of public comment.
On Wednesday, the Town Board and Plan Commission reopened the public hearing and gave the floor to the applicant, Peter Murphy of Seattle-based OneEnergy Development LLC, the company wanting to install 13,000 solar panels across approximately 28 acres on property northwest of Highway I and Section Road in the Town of Mukwonago.
Murphy spent about 45 minutes providing answers to questions posed by residents at the previous public hearing. He addressed concerns, including how many projects were included within OneEnergy’s proposal, with Murphy confirming that only the 6-megawatt project is part of the proposal, and that the project would coordinate smoothly with the Mukwonago Fire Department.
The Town Board and Plan Commission then decided to hold off on further public comment, instead spending the next hour allowing Town Board and Plan Commission members to question the applicant. The most frequently discussed topic among board and commission members was that OneEnergy plans to sell the solar project to We Energies once construction is complete.
Town Board Supervisor Kay Clabault questioned who would be responsible for decommissioning the project at the end of its 30to-50-year useful life; Murphy confirmed that the project owner, We Energies, would be the decommissioner.
Several members of the Town Board and Plan Commission, including Clabault, Supervisor Gilbert Yerke, and Town Chairman Peter Topczewski, expressed concern about whether We Energies would honor the decommissioning of the project at the end of its useful life. Murphy said a condition of the CUP is that the project must be decommissioned at the end of its useful life, meaning the project owner, regardless of who that may be in 30-50 years, would be legally required to decommission the project.
“The conditional use permit has the decommissioning plan that requires that to happen,” Murphy said. “So, your permit is legally enforceable. That’s the local enforcement pursuant to the permit, and then (there is an) additional level of regulation from the state Public Service Commission.”
Topczewski said his concern stems from the town not being a signatory to the lease agreement for the project. He said he wants to see a copy of the lease agreement before moving forward.
“I’m going to be dead probably in 30 years,” Topczewski said. “My obligation here is to protect the interests of the town.”
Among other comments about the project, Supervisor Lyle Boucher said he believes there isn’t enough local benefit to Town of Mukwonago residents.
“The benefit I get as an electrical customer (in the Town of Mukwonago) is not greater or no less than a We Energies customer in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan,” Boucher said.
Residents did not get to take the microphone until about 9 p.m. Residents were limited to only questions, not comments, about the project that had not already been discussed earlier in the evening. Answers to those questions will be provided at another continuation of the public hearing on Dec. 2 at Mukwonago Town Hall, W320-S8315 Beulah Road, according to Town Attorney John Macy.
Residents who spoke included Tarri Stanzer, who asked how much power would be generated by the solar panels on cloudy days as opposed to days with more sunlight. Tony Kuczynski, who said he lives a few doors west of the development, asked why the power provided by the solar project is needed at all. Meanwhile, multiple residents, including Brent Radobicky, disputed an earlier claim by Murphy that OneEnergy attempted to reach out to all nearby residents who might be affected by the development; Radobicky said he did not receive any correspondence.
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The wars disrupting global energy markets have exposed the strategic weakness of an economy built on fossil fuels. Countries dependent on imported oil and gas can find their growth, public finances and energy supplies hostage to conflicts thousands of kilometres away. A threatened shipping route or an interruption in supplies can quickly raise the cost of transport, electricity and food. For India and much of the developing world, this is not an occasional inconvenience. It is a structural vulnerability.
The case for domestic clean energy has never been stronger. Solar and wind power do not have to pass through contested shipping routes, and once installed, they provide electricity without the recurring cost of importing fuel. Electrifying transport and industry can reduce dependence on oil and gas. The transition is no longer simply an obligation born out of the climate crisis. It is now an economic and a strategic necessity.
But there is a distinction that governments cannot afford to overlook. Energy security is not the same as a just transition. A country can reduce its dependence on imported fossil fuels while creating new dependencies on critical minerals, intensifying competition for farmland and water, or leaving consumers with unreliable and unaffordable power. Developing countries face the harder task of building clean energy systems while coping with high borrowing costs, limited access to technology and far fewer financial resources than wealthy economies.
That is the choice confronting delegates at the United Nations climate summit COP31 in Türkiye. The energy crisis has made the case for moving away from fossil fuels harder to dismiss. The challenge is to turn that urgency into a transition that is cleaner, more secure and fairer.
The latest Global Carbon Budget, released on November 10, captures the contradiction. Fossil fuel CO2 emissions are projected to fall by 0.4% in 2026 to 38.2 billion tonnes. Oil emissions are expected to decline by 1.9%, partly because the war in Iran has disrupted supplies and pushed up prices. Yet coal emissions are projected to rise by 0.6%, while total CO2 emissions, including those from land use change, are expected to increase to 43.3 billion tonnes, up from 42.8 billion tonnes last year.
“A decline in fossil CO2 emissions is encouraging, but a reduction driven partly by geopolitical shocks is not a sustainable climate solution,” said Pierre Friedlingstein, the director of the Global Carbon Budget Office at the University of Exeter and the lead author of the report. The warning is fundamental. Higher prices and disrupted supplies can temporarily suppress fuel consumption. When markets stabilise, demand can return. A lasting decline in emissions requires countries to replace fossil fuels, not simply use less of them because they have become expensive or difficult to obtain.
Clean technologies are already changing the equation. A companion study in the Nature Climate Change journal estimates that solar, wind and electric vehicles could offset 64% to 79% of the additional emissions associated with rising energy demand through 2028. But the deployment must accelerate. The geopolitical crisis has strengthened the economic case for clean energy. It has not made the transition inevitable.
For India, the strategic case is particularly strong. The country imports about 88% of its crude oil, exposing its economy to price shocks, supply disruptions and vulnerable shipping routes. More than 93% of its primary energy supply still comes from fossil fuels, according to the Council on Energy, Environment and Water (CEEW), a think-tank. Reducing that dependence would strengthen the economy and advance its climate goals.
India has made substantial progress. Renewable electricity generation exceeded 500 terawatt-hours in 2025, supplying about a quarter of the country’s electricity, according to the International Energy Agency’s assessment of India’s renewable energy market. It estimates that without the solar, wind and bioenergy capacity added since 2010, coal imports in 2025 would have been about 110 million tonnes higher. It also estimates that these sources reduced cumulative spending on coal and natural gas imports by more than $100 billion between 2011 and 2025. These are significant gains in energy security.
But India has reached a more difficult stage. The task is no longer to add renewable capacity. It is to make renewable energy displace fossil fuels. Solar power is abundant during the day, while cooling demand can remain high after sunset. Wind generation varies by season. Without storage, stronger transmission and a more flexible electricity system, coal will continue to fill the gaps.
The problem is already visible. Around 2.1 terawatt-hours of renewable electricity was curtailed in 2025-26 because coal plants could not reduce generation below their minimum operating levels, according to an analysis of India’s power system by Ember, an energy consultancy, published in June. Clean electricity was being wasted to keep coal plants running. “Coal’s remaining hold is after dark,” said Neshwin Rodrigues, a senior energy analyst at Ember and the author of the analysis. India needs storage and a more flexible grid to use renewable power when demand is highest. The operating requirements of its coal fleet cannot be allowed to dictate the pace of the transition.
The challenge extends well beyond electricity. Transport remains heavily dependent on petroleum, while steel and cement production rely on coal and gas. A renewable power boom cannot transform an economy that continues to consume fossil fuels across these sectors. India must electrify road transport and industrial processes, improve energy efficiency and develop cleaner alternatives where direct electrification is difficult. Progress must be measured by how much fossil fuel the economy stops using.
The latest emissions projections underline the gap. India’s fossil fuel CO2 emissions are expected to rise 4.4% in 2026, with coal emissions up 5.9%, according to the Global Carbon Budget. Renewable generation is growing, but demand and industrial activity are also expanding. India will not secure its energy future by adding clean power alone. It must change the way its economy consumes energy.
India’s ethanol blending programme illustrates how the pursuit of energy security can create new vulnerabilities. By August 2025, blending ethanol with petrol had saved more than ₹1.44 trillion in foreign exchange and substituted about 24.5 million metric tonnes of crude oil, according to the Economic Survey 2025-26. These savings matter for a country heavily dependent on imported oil. But the programme has also increased demand for agricultural feedstocks, bringing energy policy into competition with other uses of land, water and crops.
Between 2021-22 and 2023-24, maize accounted for 20% of ethanol feedstock supplied. Damaged food grains and rice from the Food Corporation of India accounted for 11% and 8%, respectively. In comparison, sugarcane-related feedstocks made up the remaining 62%, according to PRS Legislative Research, a think-tank.
The Economic Survey notes that administered ethanol prices, alongside improvements in maize cultivation, are reshaping farm incentives and could affect crop diversity and food security. A maize dashboard on Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) prepared by Crisil, a research and analytics firm, also points to rising diversion of maize towards ethanol production.
The implications go beyond the farm price of maize. The crop is used for animal feed and other agricultural purposes. Sugarcane, rice and maize require substantial water, often in regions where supplies are already under pressure. Directing more land and water towards fuel production can narrow farmers’ choices and intensify competition for scarce resources.
“The costs of blending go beyond just the procurement of inputs from farmers and their processing,” said Karthik Ganesan, a fellow at CEEW. The full cost includes public support for agriculture and distilleries, water use and the opportunity cost of land that could grow other crops. Anasuya Gangopadhyay, a research scientist at the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, a think-tank, said, “food insecurity is not an immediate threat.” But she warned that continuing current cultivation patterns could increase risks over time.
The climate benefit of ethanol also depends on how it is produced. Fertiliser, irrigation, processing and land-use changes affect the emissions saved by replacing petrol. A 2026 study in PLOS One, which uses land use modelling, identifies trade-offs between biofuel production, land, nitrogen emissions and food security under different feedstock scenarios. Domestic production alone does not make a fuel sustainable.
For developing countries, the greater obstacle is often the cost of building the infrastructure needed to make clean energy reliable. Solar and wind projects require transmission networks, storage and stronger distribution systems. Industry and transport need investment to move away from fossil fuels. India has access to domestic capital, but high borrowing costs and financially stressed electricity distribution companies raise project risk and expense. Poorer economies face even steeper barriers.
This is where the international response has fallen short. Developing countries are being asked to reduce emissions and strengthen energy security while paying more for capital and often relying on imported technology.
At the UN summits, India has emphasised predictable climate finance and countries’ right to determine their own transition pathways. The negotiations in Türkiye must turn these demands into practical support.
The geopolitical crisis has given governments a powerful reason to move away from fossil fuels. Countries that build domestic clean energy systems will be better placed to withstand supply disruptions, reduce exposure to volatile prices and tackle climate change.
The Türkiye climate summit, which is set to conclude on November 20, is expected to make the path to a just energy transition easier. World leaders at Summit have urged governments to keep climate action a priority, amid the ongoing geopolitical conflicts.
 
Banner image: Workers at a solar panel manufacturing plant on the outskirts of Jaipur, Rajasthan. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup, File)
India is promoting deep-sea fishing with the promise of better incomes for the country’s traditional fishers. Government schemes have sought to accelerate this transition by providing financial support for deep-sea fishing vessels. Yet the move into deeper waters has proved far more complicated than policy documents suggest. Across the coastal states of India, fishing communities […]
© 2026 Copyright Conservation news. Mongabay is a U.S.-based non-profit conservation and environmental science news platform. Our EIN or tax ID is 45-3714703.

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Saudi Arabia issues RFQ for three solar and wind projects with a combined capacity of 3,200 MW under NREP Round 8.
November 12, 2026. By EI News Network
Saudi Power Procurement Company (SPPC), the kingdom’s principal buyer of electricity, has issued a request for qualification (RFQ) for the eighth round of solar and wind power projects under the National Renewable Energy Program (NREP), covering a combined capacity of 3,200 MW.
The eighth round comprises three projects, including two solar photovoltaic (PV) independent power producer (IPP) projects with a combined capacity of 1,900 MW and a 1,300 MW wind power project.
The solar projects include the 900 MW Tumair Solar PV IPP in the Riyadh Region and the 1,000 MW East Al Amoah Solar PV IPP in the Aseer Region. The wind project, Al Mozeraah Wind IPP, has a planned capacity of 1,300 MW and will be located in the Makkah Region.
SPPC, as the principal buyer, is responsible for conducting pre-development studies, managing the tendering of power generation projects and signing power purchase agreements (PPAs) and energy storage services agreements with project developers.
The NREP is led and supervised by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy. The programme aims to increase the share of installed capacity from renewable energy sources and energy storage systems to around 50 percent of the kingdom’s energy mix by 2030, subject to electricity demand growth.

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For the past five years, Brighter Kerry has been laying the groundwork for Ireland’s first 100 per cent community-owned solar farm.
The Goodbody EIIS fund managed by Azets has recently committed to investing up to €9m in the initiative and with this, the company see any funding risk significantly reduced in the project. With this in mind, Brighter Kerry is now launching a Private Placement EIIS round.
The volunteer-led organisation, has ‘operated on a shoestring for years by getting help, often pro-bono, from the right specialists for each particular task’.
And its co-founder, Hugh Reynolds says it has ‘drawn heavily on the talents’ of its ‘incredible volunteer team, many of whom work in the energy space in their day jobs’.
“We’ve come a long way,” he said. “And we are now on track to be supplying energy to the grid by Spring 2028.”
“Technically we are a Renewable Energy Community (REC), which is essentially a group of citizens who come together to fund a renewable power generation project,” said co-founder Stephen O’Sullivan. “We aim to be open to everyone, benefit the community and operate on democratic principles. The idea is rather than have a wind or solar farm imposed on you, a community or locality takes ownership of what is built and where the benefits flow. While this is a first for Ireland, this particular model of community owned energy has actually been around in Europe since the early 2000s.”
Reynolds says that the project ‘benefits from an ideal location, technical and financial setup’.
“With regard to location, full planning permission has been secured from Kerry County Council, alongside a secure connection offer to the local ESB substation just 1.7 kilometres away,” he said. “ The project has also secured support under the State backed Small Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS), providing a 15-year supported tariff for qualifying electricity exported to the grid. This gives us predictable, long-term cash flows insulated from volatile wholesale market swings. In fact, because we are a REC, we get a premium on the price we get for our electricity.”
O’Sullivan said that ‘once lenders and shareholders get a fair return from their investment, 100% of the excess profits will be donated to charity’.
“How the profits are distributed will be decided democratically each year by the local owner investors,” he said. “ We believe the project brings together a number of characteristics which investors increasingly look for: long-term infrastructure, renewable-energy generation, community ownership and potential EII tax relief. Brighter Kerry delivers the so-called triple bottom line – a positive result for profit, people and planet. The investment is ultimately supporting tangible energy infrastructure, with long-term government-backed contracted revenues.”
Beyond its powerful social dividend, Brighter’s 2026 private placement EIIS round also offers a highly attractive financial structure for Irish taxpayers.
“ Because the company will only commence trading upon energisation in 2028, qualifying investors can avail of up to 50 per cent income tax relief on their investment against their taxable income,” said Reynolds. “Furthermore, private placement investors rank pari-passu alongside institutional co-investment partners, ensuring a transparent and equitable capital structure.
“So, as Ireland battles to meet its binding 2030 climate targets, the State is actively looking for models that can accelerate renewable deployment while maintaining public buy-in. And, Brighter Kerry proves that you don’t have to choose between commercial viability and social purpose. By harnessing our rich tradition of cooperatives and community action, the project is laying down a template which other communities and counties can and should replicate.
“As our Private Placement Round officially opens, we are inviting investors to back a vision that is already built on solid ground. You aren’t just funding a solar farm – you are investing in a permanent economic legacy for community-owned energy.”
Visit brighter.ie for additional information.
You can contact the company directly by email [email protected] or alternatively to learn more contact Robert Leen of O’Connor Pyne & Co by email [email protected] or phone (021) 481 0080. Closing date for Private Placement is Dec 15, 2026.

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Octopus Energy has launched plug-in solar panels for small businesses after selling out of its household kits within two weeks.
The energy supplier said cafés, shops, hairdressers and offices can now buy the panels, which are designed to plug directly into a weatherproof outdoor socket and don't require rooftop installation or an electrician.
The move follows the legalisation of plug-in solar for UK households in August. Octopus was among the first major suppliers to offer the technology and said it has since restocked its household kits twice in less than a month because of high demand.
Its new business kits use 460W bifacial panels, which can generate electricity from sunlight hitting both sides. They can be mounted on a wall or placed on the ground, making them potentially suitable for businesses that rent their premises or do not have access to a suitable roof.
Prices start at £450, with businesses able to choose between one- and two-panel systems.
Octopus estimates that a small business could cut its annual electricity bill by up to 23 per cent using a two-panel system, although the actual saving will depend on factors such as their electricity consumption, sunlight levels and how much of the power generated by the panels the business is able to use on site.
The energy company's estimate is based on a business using around 2,500kWh of electricity a year and a two-panel system generating 828kWh annually. Octopus said businesses could also earn money by exporting surplus electricity to the grid.
The company claims a two-panel setup costing £650 could pay for itself in around three years if the business uses the electricity generated and exports excess power through a smart export tariff such as Octopus's Panel Power.
Zoisa North-Bond, CEO of Octopus Energy for Business, said: "Energy bills are having a big impact on a small business' bottom line. Plug-in solar gives SMEs a simple way to generate their own cheap, green power – and because so many rent their premises, they don't need to own a building or have a suitable roof to benefit.
"We've been blown away by the demand from households, so bringing it to small businesses was a no-brainer."
A YouGov survey commissioned by Octopus Energy for Business found that 62 per cent of small businesses were aware that solar could reduce energy costs, but only 18 per cent had installed it. The survey questioned 1,034 SME decision-makers across the UK, excluding Northern Ireland, between 17 and 27 April 2026.
Minister for local energy and jobs, Martin McCluskey, added: "We have seen thousands of plug-in panels registered since we made them legal this summer as a simple, affordable way for people to benefit from clean, homegrown power.
"I fully support extending the bill-saving benefits to businesses and would encourage as many cafés, corner shops and pubs as possible to plug in and save money straightaway."
The newborn required intubation and later tested positive for both cocaine and cannabinoids, according to a criminal complaint
The Federal Aviation Administration's decision to ground all flights nationwide Friday threw the sports world into chaos, leaving NBA, NHL and college teams stranded as they tried to reach their destinations, and NFL teams were left to wonder whether the issue would be resolved in time for them to travel to their games this weekend.The FAA issued a notice that said the ground stop was “due to extraordinary circumstances and for reasons of safety.
The pulses are coming from a star over 5,000 light-years away from Earth
Strictly Come Dancing and Dune stars featured in Friday’s action-packed show
(AP) — Hye-Jin Choi opened with two bogeys, made up ground with a 15-foot eagle putt late and finished with a 3-under 67 Friday that gave her a three-way share of the lead at The Annika and another chance to win for the first time in 127 tries on the LPGA Tour.It was far more effective than the bogey-free round of Nelly Korda, the No.
Some 300 stores will close in 2026 and 2027, the company said earlier this year
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Leading by four points with just over two minutes left after intercepting Jayden Daniels twice in the span of five plays, the New York Giants somehow did not hold on and were dealt a stinging defeat in primetime by rival Washington."Every loss stings," top receiver Malik Nabers said Friday.
The American Heritage was docked near the Port of New Orleans Administration Building when it was struck by a tanker around 12:30 p.m. Friday, port officials said
(AP) — Coco Gauff came agonizingly close to extending her stellar season at the WTA Finals. If not for the vagaries of the event's convoluted round-robin play, one of the game's brightest stars would be still be around for the final weekend of the $10 million event.
The FAA said there was a “temporary telecommunications outage” and that “out of an abundance of caution all flights have been halted.”
Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Anthony Santander apologized Friday for sharing anti-Muslim social media posts, saying the content caused hurt and fell short of his own convictions.In a statement on Instagram, Santander said reflection and conversations with people he trusts made him recognize he should have been more thoughtful about what he shared and the responsibility that comes with having a public voice.
The new recruitment video uses midcentury footage featuring zero people of color and states, “The way it was. They way it can be.”
“Seeing a black cat is actually good luck because you get to see a cat”
The 41-year-old was arrested earlier this week near Gloucester
MADRID (AP) — Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono has been suspended for 12 games after he received a red card for a reckless on-field collision with Jesús de Miguel that resulted in the death of the Tenerife striker.The Spanish soccer federation’s disciplinary committee issued the suspension for Owono on Friday, 10 days after De Miguel died a day after his clash with Owono.
Lt Col Michael Morris was flown back to the US in August before he could be questioned by UK police
Family Dollar will pay $63 million to settle state and federal allegations that it routinely charged customers more at the register than the prices displayed on its shelves, website and mobile app.The Federal Trade Commission and 17 states filed federal charges against the company Thursday and announced the proposed settlement the same day.
FRISCO, Texas (AP) — DeMarvion Overshown said he didn't know inactive players in street clothes couldn't run on the field to celebrate before committing the 14th and final penalty by the Dallas Cowboys last weekend.Whether the linebacker nursing hamstring and back injuries should have known — and whether it's emblematic of a discipline problem under Brian Schottenheimer and his staff — went unanswered by the second-year coach.
HuffPost obtained a copy of Biden’s new memoir, “Promise Me, America.”

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Energies Media
A massive solar facility at a Florida airport had to relocate state-threatened species to meet conservation regulations.
The Sunshine State is rapidly expanding its renewable energy infrastructure across major public lands to meet surging electricity demand.
However, utility-scale photovoltaic facilities often overlap with vital local habitats.
To avoid ecological conflict, comprehensive mitigation strategies must be deployed before land clearing can begin.
Can Florida successfully expand its clean energy capacity while protecting sensitive local species?
Florida has grown in popularity due to its warm climate, extensive coastline, entertainment, and favorable economy.
This triggered rapid population growth, ranking it as the country’s third most populous state.
With thousands of new residents relocating daily, residential and commercial power demand has significantly increased.
Furthermore, shifting climate patterns have escalated summer temperatures.
As a result, air conditioning systems are being pushed to record limits.
Florida has an installed generation capacity of more than 72,000 MW to support 22 million residents.
However, state utilities predict that peak electricity demand will increase by 15% to 30% over the next decade.
This rapid surge is further compounded by statewide data center and electric vehicle expansion.
Continuously rising demand is placing severe strain on Florida’s power grid.
To relieve this pressure and prevent sudden electricity outages, the growing supply gap must be bridged urgently.
Solar energy is a core pillar for the state’s grid stability, but deployment must accelerate.
Natural gas currently fuels almost 70% of Florida’s power generation.
Continued reliance on fossil fuel infrastructure during peak demand spikes significantly inflates carbon emissions.
This complicates the state’s ability to meet national climate mandates aiming for rapid decarbonization.
That is why utility-scale solar capacity growth must accelerate.
Major utilities plan to add thousands of megawatts of solar capacity over the next decade.
This will help the state achieve clean grid goals and save customers billions in fuel costs.
However, tens of thousands of acres must be secured to deploy massive photovoltaic arrays.
This creates spatial conflict with native ecosystems.
It also sparks local opposition, as large solar developments on undeveloped land often overlap with fragile wildlife habitats.
Fortunately, environmental firms like Stantec help navigate regulatory and ecological challenges.
This ensures that clean energy growth is balanced with specialized environmental oversight.
Stantec works with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to create mitigation protocols and secure necessary permits.
Solar facilities are becoming common at major airports, as these sites offer flat, open spaces and clear regulatory pathways.
However, some still face significant ecological challenges due to overlapping native wildlife habitats.
The large-scale solar expansion at Tallahassee International Airport exemplifies this.
The 62-megawatt, 350-acre facility required clearing land that directly threatened local subterranean ecosystems.
Within the construction site were active underground burrows used by state-threatened gopher tortoises and other commensal species.
Heavy machinery operations could trigger burrow collapse and direct wildlife mortality.
Stantec established a species protection and mitigation program to prevent these risks.
The site was systematically surveyed, underground burrows excavated, and fauna safely captured before construction began.
This enabled the successful relocation of 20 gopher tortoises and 55 commensal snakes to conservation sites.
Thanks to these innovative mitigation efforts, the Tallahassee International Airport solar farm is fully operational.
The facility is one of the largest airport-based solar installations in the U.S.
It now produces clean electricity for thousands of homes across the regional grid.
Ultimately, implementing these nature-based mitigation and conservation strategies will fast-track the development of prospective utility-scale solar facilities at airports.
Anke Maree is a writer with a clear and engaging editorial style. Her work focuses on making complex topics accessible, informative, and relevant for readers across different areas of interest.
Anke Maree is a writer with a clear and engaging editorial style. Her work focuses on making complex topics accessible, informative, and relevant for readers across different areas of interest.
Anke Maree is a writer with a clear and engaging editorial style. Her work focuses on making complex topics accessible, informative, and relevant for readers across different areas of interest.

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Tribal Business News
Business, economy, and community news from Indian Country
The Rappahannock Tribe announced it installed a 12.32-kilowatt rooftop solar array at the Rappahannock Lodge on Cat Point Creek in Virginia, helping reduce electricity costs at the tribe’s environmental and conservation education facility.
The 28-panel system has generated nearly 2 megawatt-hours of electricity since entering service, reducing utility costs at the lodge and providing data the tribe can use to evaluate future energy projects, according to a news release from the tribe and its partners. 
Native-owned Polaris EcoSystems helped manage the project from grant writing through planning and installation at no cost to the tribe. Funding came from a 2025 capacity-building grant through Tribal Energy Alternatives’ Tribal Solar Accelerator Fund.
The Piedmont Environmental Council also supported the project. The organization worked with Polaris EcoSystems to secure initial technical assistance funding through the U.S. Department of Energy for solar siting research.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service transferred the 7,520-square-foot lodge to the tribe in 2023 for use as an Indigenous environmental and conservation education center. Cat Point Creek is the site of the tribe’s ancestral capital town.
The solar installation also serves as a demonstration project at the lodge, allowing the tribe to monitor electricity production across seasons and incorporate system performance data into its education and conservation programs, according to the release. 
Never miss the biggest stories and breaking news about the tribal economy. Sign up to get our reporting sent straight to your inbox every Monday morning.
To reach the newsroom or submit news, email editor@tribalbusinessnews.com. Subscribe Today! More by Tribal Business News Staff
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