A 400 MW solar farm and 2,000 MWh battery energy storage system proposed for construction in Queensland’s South Burnett region has been waved through the federal government’s environmental approval scheme. Image: Australian Solar Enterprises Renewables developer Australian Solar Enterprises (ASE) confirmed that its Tumuruu solar and battery energy storage project planned for Queensland’s South Burnett region has been given the green light under federal government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act. In its decision notice, the federal Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water (DCCEEW) said the Tumuruu solar hybrid project has been cleared as “not a controlled action,” moving the project closer to construction. The Tumuruu project, to be built on a 673-hectare site just north of the Queensland town of Blackbutt, comprises a 400 MW solar farm supported by a 2,000 MWh battery energy storage system featuring grid-forming inverters. A key feature of the project is that the PV array will be mounted on lightweight steel rods and plates barely a metre from the ground, a decision that ASE said will ensure minimal ground disturbance and preserve agricultural land. The Brisbane-headquartered developer said the lightweight system works with the site’s topography and retains high-value elements and still delivers a project that will generate at scale. “From day one, ASE set one rule: the project fits the land, not the other way around,” the company said. “When your design is right, the federal process gets easier, because you’re not asking the regulator to accept compromises. You’re showing them a project that already respects what’s there.” ASE said the EPBC decision allows the project to advance the grid connection process and ultimately to construction and operations. ASE is targeting a final investment decision later this year with construction expected to begin soon after. It is anticipated the Tumuruu solar and battery system will commence operations in 2028. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com. More articles from David Carroll Please be mindful of our community standards. Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *
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A new report by the International Renewable Energy Agency finds that round‑the‑clock solar and wind paired with battery energy storage deliver power at lower cost than new fossil fuel generation in high‑quality resource regions. Image: pv magazine Firm levelised costs of electricity for solar-plus-storage range from $75/MWh (USD 54) to $113/MWh (USD 82) in high-irradiance regions, the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) said in its new report, 24/7 Renewables: The Economics of Firm Solar and Wind. That compares with USD 70/MWh to USD 85/MWh for new coal in China and more than USD 100/MWh for new gas globally. Since 2010, total installed costs declined by 87% for solar and 55% for onshore wind, while battery storage costs fell 93%. IRENA’s analysis shows firm solar-plus-storage costs dropped from above USD 100/MWh in 2020 to USD 54/MWh to USD 82/MWh by 2025 at high-quality resource sites. The agency projects further reductions of roughly 30% by 2030 and around 40% by 2035, bringing firm costs below USD 50/MWh at the best-performing sites. Firm wind-plus-storage costs in 2025 ranged from around USD 59/MWh in Inner Mongolia to USD 88/MWh to USD 94/MWh across Brazil, Germany, and Australia, with costs projected to fall to roughly USD 49/MWh to USD 75/MWh across those markets by 2030. IRENA said costs decline further when wind is combined with solar PV, reducing storage requirements and overall system cost. The United Arab Emirates’ Al Dhafra complex, which pairs PV with battery storage, delivers a firm 1 GW of clean electricity at around USD 70/MWh, said IRENA. “24/7 renewable power is now cost-competitive with fossil fuels,” said IRENA Director-General Francesco La Camera. “The long-standing argument that renewables lack reliability no longer holds. Today, renewables can deliver reliable, round-the-clock power. As oil and gas markets remain exposed to geopolitical shocks, including ongoing disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, we must insulate our economies with resilient renewable systems. The economics of the entire energy system have shifted: the battery revolution has driven down costs while accelerating advances in storage. The advantage of renewables is not only economic but strategic, strengthening resilience, stability, and energy security in times of crisis.” IRENA said 24/7 renewable systems optimise the use of constrained grid connections, shift electricity production to higher-value hours, and reduce exposure to price volatility. It said hybrid solutions are well positioned to serve high-demand users including artificial intelligence and data centres that require uninterrupted supply, and said firm renewables can enable clean fuel production for hard-to-abate sectors where economic viability depends on high utilisation rates. Construction timelines are also shortening globally, with projects typically built within one to two years of securing permits and grid connection. The report provides a framework for evaluating and comparing the costs of round-the-clock renewable power across hybrid solar, wind, and storage systems, analyzing cost drivers and regional variations. The IRENA report lands amid a period of historically low solar and storage costs, even though the pace of decline has slowed in many markets. IRENA’s own data put the global average solar levelised cost of electricity at USD 0.043/kWh in 2024, while a separate analysis found that declining battery capital costs have already made dispatchable “anytime” solar electricity commercially viable in regions with high PV potential. From pv magazine Global This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com. More articles from Brian Publicover Please be mindful of our community standards. Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *
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As an independent publication, we rely on contributions from readers like you to fund our journalism. Thanks for your contribution! Sign up to our free newsletter to get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox. Noozhawk The freshest news in Santa Barbara County The Santa Barbara County Planning Commission decided to cap the number of acres available for solar panel use to 16,000 acres and streamline the building process for new installations. The commission approved the countywide cap in a 3-1 vote on Wednesday during a discussion about where solar panels could be built, and which projects would be exempted from permitting.
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Commissioner Vincent Martinez voted against the cap, and the seat for District One is currently vacant after the retirement of Commissioner Michael C. Cooney. County staff presented the commission with three options for the cap, ranging from 8,000 acres, 16,000 acres, and 24,000 acres. The 16,000-acre cap chosen by the commission will limit solar panels on agricultural land to 2% of the county’s available acreage. Commissioner Roy Reed supported a cap and recommended the middle option. “I think if we’re really going to be all in, 16,000 would be a reasonable start, since it will allow more than just equalizing what our county consumes,” Reed said. “It’s not overly large.” Commissioners Kate Ford and John Parke also supported setting the cap at 16,000 acres. Martinez said he was not against the cap but supported the lower amount. He added that the county could increase or decrease it depending on future technology or demand. The amount of land available for solar panel use would change how much energy the panels could supply the county’s population. County staff explained that solar panels capped at 8,000 acres could supply 100% of the county’s power needs, while 16,000 acres could supply 200% of the county’s current needs. The total number of acres in Santa Barbara County designated as agricultural land is 760,525 acres. “These numbers show that even a relatively small percentage of agricultural land, if developed with solar, could support a significant share of the county’s energy needs,” said Matt Hernandez, a planner for the Long Range Planning Division. The commission also discussed whether to ban installing solar panels in the county’s coastal zone and along the Gaviota Coast, but the commissioners opposed the ban. Commissioner Parke acknowledged the desire of residents to protect the coastline but said he thought a ban was unnecessary. “We’ll have (conditional use permit) hearings on each one of these things, where everything here will be examined, like every grain of sand on a beach, and do we need to have the exclusion as well? I don’t think so,” Parke said. “I think it could be counterproductive.” The rest of the commission agreed with Parke, and the item was not approved. The commission also approved changes to expand permitting exceptions for solar projects and allow them to be installed without planning permits. The new exemptions will apply to solar canopies on developed land, ground-mounted solar panels on developed sites up to five acres, and allow battery storage systems next to solar panels up to a quarter-acre. The commission unanimously approved the exemptions. The item will now return to the Board of Supervisors for review and approval. Public Comment Speakers overwhelmingly supported the changes to build solar energy. Comments ranged from a desire to keep up with a growing industry and the need to add more renewable energy to the county’s power supply. Das Williams, the former board supervisor for District One, expressed his support for the battery proposal, saying it was needed to keep up with increasing demand for solar energy. “There is a revolution happening out there in energy, and it’s taken place since this ordinance was first conceived,” Williams said. Katie Davis, the chairwoman of the Sierra Club Santa Barbara, said adding new solar farms would benefit the county as it attempts to move away from gas. She added that solar panels on farms can benefit crops, animals, and workers by providing shade and protecting them from excessive heat. Ben Schwartz, the policy director at the Clean Coalition, thanked the commission for considering the coalition’s input on the changes. Schwartz supported streamlining the installation for smaller solar projects. “Obviously, if it’s something massive, if it’s utility scale, if it’s 100 megawatt hours, review is essential,” Schwartz said. “But if it’s something that’s going on the side of someone’s house to charge their electric vehicle, it doesn’t really make sense to go before you.” — Noozhawk staff writer Daniel Green can be reached at dgreen@noozhawk.com.
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Monday, May 11, 2026 Mohul Ghosh May 11, 2026 India quietly achieved one of its biggest energy milestones during the brutal April 2026 heatwave: The country successfully met a record electricity demand of 256.1 GW without nationwide blackouts — and solar energy played a major role in making that possible. As temperatures crossed 40–45°C across large parts of India, millions of: …pushed the national electricity grid to unprecedented levels. But unlike earlier years when such extreme demand often triggered fears of load-shedding and power shortages, India’s growing solar infrastructure helped stabilize the grid during critical daytime hours. According to GRID India and the Ministry of Power: The government also said electricity consumption during April 2026 grew nearly: The early and intense heatwave significantly increased cooling-related electricity usage across homes, offices, factories, and commercial spaces. The most important shift was solar energy’s contribution during the daytime peak. According to official data: Even during the actual national peak demand moment: A decade ago, such numbers would have been nearly unimaginable for India’s power system. Coal still remains India’s primary electricity source. At the April 25 peak: However, experts say the structure of India’s grid is now beginning to change fundamentally. During daytime hours: Despite the success, India’s grid faces a growing challenge known as the “double-peak problem.” Experts say: This creates two separate demand spikes: Currently, coal still carries most of the evening load because battery storage infrastructure remains limited. The April 2026 heatwave became a real-world stress test for India’s renewable energy transition. Instead of collapsing under demand: This is especially significant because: The Central Electricity Authority expects: India’s solar expansion over the last decade has been massive. The country now has: Major projects like: …are helping transform India into one of the world’s largest renewable energy markets. Experts say solar alone is not enough. India now urgently needs: Without storage: This is why India is increasingly investing in: The April heatwave demonstrated that solar energy is no longer just an environmental initiative. It is now becoming: As India faces: …solar power may increasingly become essential not just for sustainability, but for simply keeping the country running during extreme summers.
In this interview, UNSW’s Yansong Shen warns that the solar industry will exhaust global silver reserves within five years at current production rates, unless commercial-scale module recycling infrastructure is rapidly developed, arguing that the challenge requires metallurgical engineering expertise rather than reverse manufacturing approaches. The solar industry faces a critical resource crisis within five years unless commercial-scale module recycling infrastructure is rapidly developed, according to Professor Yansong Shen, a tenured Full Professor of Metallurgical Engineering at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). Get Premium Subscription “If we maintain this solar panel production rate, we will use all the silver in the world, from the real world, in five years. So, after five years, we have no silver to produce a single piece of new solar panels,” Shen warns. The professor, who leads the world’s largest research organisation dedicated to solar module recycling in Australia, as noted by Dr Garvin Heath, NREL, argues that recycling end-of-life solar modules is not a reverse manufacturing process but an urban mining challenge that requires metallurgical engineering expertise. Shen highlights that the industry’s early approach to the problem was fundamentally not efficient. “In the very beginning, many of the people working in this area were from PV manufacturing research,” he explains. “They see this problem as a reverse process of PV manufacturing. That’s why it did not work well in the past, because they did it the wrong way.” The professor’s background in extractive metallurgy, specifically pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy processes used to extract metals from natural silicon-based ores, positioned him to recognise solar module recycling as an urban mining process. “For solar panel recycling, we hope to extract metals like silver and copper from the man-made silicon-based material,” Shen explains. “And even better than the natural resources, those are very complex in composition and morphology, and are very different from one location to another. But for the solar panels, they are very consistent.” The scale of the challenge is substantial. Shen cites global projections showing cumulative PV capacity reaching 1,600GW by 2030, generating approximately 8 million tons of waste. By 2050, those figures are expected to reach 4,500GW and 78 million tons, respectively. Australia, he notes, represents one of the highest per-capita solar installations globally. These projections align with data from Australian module manufacturer Tindo Solar. Its CEO, Richard Petterson, told PV Tech Premium that if Australia installed around 1TW of solar modules over 25 years, the nation would need to recycle around 40GW of modules each year; if the country installed 500GW, 20GW of modules would still need recycling annually. It is worth noting that the Australian government has begun addressing the issue, committing AU$24.7 million (US$17.86 million) to a national solar module recycling pilot programme. Shen outlines a five-step recycling process, noting that most commercial operators worldwide have only reached the second step. The process begins with the removal of the aluminium frame, which he characterises as “a zero-step, very easy part.” Step one involves delamination, separating the front glass and back sheet to access the middle layer – solar cells, which contain silver and silicon. “The ‘troublemaker’ is PV manufacturers. They are doing such a very good job, and [the modules] can last 24-30 years, which is good, but that’s also the challenge for recyclers to delaminate,” he notes. Step two involves sorting the separated materials: glass, silver-silicon powders, back sheet, and other residues. Step three, which Shen identifies as “the most challenging part”, requires extracting silver and silicon from the middle-layer solar cells. “Now, worldwide, we have some solar panel recycling companies. They basically stopped at step two, the sorting step. They did not do much in step three, extracting the silicon as well as the metal recovery,” he says. Steps four and five address environmental closure and material recovery. Step four treats off-gas and waste liquid from the delamination and leaching processes to create a closed-loop system, while step five extracts metals from the liquid and converts them into reusable materials. Shen notes that recovered silver need not meet the purity standards required for new solar modules. “We are working with the fashion industry, the industry they don’t care about, like, 99.999 silver,” he explains. “They just need to design something for the people as decoration.” The professor emphasises that around 94% of material from end-of-life solar modules can be recycled, but notes that “all these processes, since step three, step four and step five, are all challenging. They are not all yet available in the commercial operations.” When asked about state-level landfill bans, such as Victoria’s prohibition on solar modules in landfills, Shen argues that a national ban is necessary primarily for environmental protection rather than as an industry development tool. “We need to ban this for our next generation, otherwise the environment will be very, very damaged, like all these heavy metals and all these waste gas, waste materials, waste liquid, will damage Australia’s soil, and that may not be easily recovered,” he argues. Shen proposes a dual-infrastructure approach to handle Australia’s recycling needs. The first generation involves ground-based plants located near major cities like Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, and Perth, though “definitely, not the inner-city centre.” These facilities would process modules transported from rooftops and utility-scale solar PV power plants, though he acknowledges that the “logistics are very expensive.” The second generation involves mobile processing units. “We developed a mobile unit to the best of our abilities. This unit will re-design and transform various chemical reactors for processes such as determination, sorting, leaching, etc. Our goal is to adapt these chemical reactors from large-scale systems to a more ‘portable’, small-scale design,” explains Shen. These containerised units would be transported to regional solar PV power plant locations for on-site processing, though with lower throughput than stationary facilities. “Some of them will be near cities, and some of them will be mobile-based. By combining the two, I hope that we can solve the problem,” Shen says. Shen identifies a structural challenge in Australian research funding that he believes hinders commercialisation. “Technology invention may be limited at the materials discovery stage or process design stage. The current bottleneck for PV recycling is that we put a lot of funding and resources into materials research. They are very important, but they are confined to a laboratory scale. This did not solve the industry-scale problem. It’s just a beginning,” he argues. As a result, Shen advocates for greater emphasis on process engineering alongside materials science. “We need to promote Australia’s process engineering,” he says, noting that its academic mass has declined over the past 20 years. “We may need at least 30% process engineers for the real-world technology development.” The professor warns that without this shift, Australian research funding risks being converted “to some papers” that are then commercialised elsewhere. Shen’s research hub at UNSW is the world’s largest and “most comprehensive and systematic research organisation” focused on solar module recycling, as noted by Dr Garvin Heath, a global PV recycling researcher, with comparable groups operating in Europe, Japan and America. The challenge now, Shen says, is translating that research capability into Australian industrial practice to service the country’s numerous solar PV power plants and rooftop installations as modules reach end-of-life across Australia’s grids.
Get the best experience and stay connected to your community with our Spectrum News app. Learn More Continue in Browser Get hyperlocal forecasts, radar and weather alerts. Please enter a valid zipcode. Save As New York races to meet its clean energy goals, a growing number of solar developers are targeting agricultural land, and some residents and researchers say the state is not doing enough to protect the farms that feed its communities. The tension is playing out across rural New York, where Cornell University researchers surveyed landowners in three counties most likely to see large-scale solar development. Farm landowners were at least twice as likely as others to hear from solar developers seeking to lease their land, according to Katie Walsh, a research associate at Cornell. The stakes are significant. According to the American Farmland Trust, New York lost more than 2,700 farms and more than 350,000 acres of farmland between 2017 and 2022. Without intervention, the state could lose an additional 450,000 acres by 2040. A report from the state Comptroller’s office found that between 2024 and 2025, New York lost 500 farms and 100,000 acres of farmland. The decline of farmland equates to 1.5% which is five times the national rate of 0.3%. Some rural residents say proposed solar projects are being placed on land zoned for conservation or residential use, bypassing the kind of community input that should accompany decisions of that scale. Critics argue that siting large arrays on or adjacent to agricultural land undermines the very resources the state claims to want to preserve. "If we’re trying to protect agriculture and farmland in upstate New York, this is not the way to go about it," said Frank Florio, a Clifton Park resident living near a proposed solar development. Solar supporters, however, say that framing misses the bigger picture. Jeff Risley, executive director of Renewable Energy Farmers of America, argues that leasing land for solar can serve as a financial lifeline for farms under economic pressure. "Harvesting electrons is just another way of harvesting a crop," Risley said. "It’s just another way for the landowner to use the land and get another income stream." Cornell research offers some support for that view. Farmers can receive between $1,000 to $1,200 per acre for a solar lease, and those who signed them were three times more likely to say they would reinvest the revenue into their operations rather than scale back. Still, Risley acknowledged that responsible siting matters. "I’m not saying that the concerns aren’t legitimate and that we have to be smart about siting solar on agricultural land and minimizing impacts," he said. "But the facts on the ground don’t match the rhetoric in the air." The debate reflects a broader challenge facing states with aggressive renewable energy targets: how to expand clean power infrastructure without sacrificing the farmland and local character that rural communities depend on.
A former Cypriot MEP has sparked fresh debate over Cyprus’ solar energy system after accusing authorities and energy officials of misleading the public about the benefits of household photovoltaics. In a social media post that quickly drew attention online, Eleni Theocharous, who is also a doctor, said her home solar system is being shut down almost daily during peak sunlight hours – the very period when panels are supposed to produce the most electricity. “Every day from 9.30 in the morning until 4 in the afternoon, my photovoltaic system is cut off and production drops to zero,” she wrote, adding, with a note of sarcasm, that the system seems to remain active “only when it’s cloudy.” Theocharous said she had lost around 10,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity production over the past three years because of the shutdowns, yet keeps receiving power bills from the Electricity Authority of Cyprus. She said her latest two-month bill came to €181.70 despite living alone. “If this is not deception of the people, then there is no reason for any reaction,” she wrote, criticizing what many homeowners increasingly describe as a flawed solar energy system. Enter your information below to receive our weekly newsletters with the latest insights, opinion pieces and current events straight to your inbox.
Yindjibarndi Energy Corporation (YEC) has reached financial close on the 150MW Jinbi solar PV power plant in Western Australia’s Pilbara region and signed a 30-year power purchase agreement (PPA) with mining giant Rio Tinto. The project, which received environmental approval in June 2024 as the first development cleared under Western Australia’s Green Energy Approvals Initiative, will commence construction immediately with commercial operations expected in mid-2028. Get Premium Subscription Stage 1 comprises a 75MWac solar facility with an option to expand to 150MWac, including the potential addition of battery energy storage systems (BESS), subject to regulatory approvals and future development decisions. Under the PPA, YEC will supply 100% of the electricity generated by Jinbi to Rio Tinto, supporting the decarbonisation of Rio Tinto’s Iron Ore Pilbara operations. The agreement continues Rio Tinto’s renewable energy procurement strategy in Australia, which has seen the company sign multiple large-scale PPAs in recent years. In Queensland, Rio Tinto has contracted over 600MWac of solar capacity and 600MW/2,400MWh of battery storage from Edify Energy’s Smoky Creek and Guthrie’s Gap projects to supply its Gladstone aluminium and alumina operations, with construction targeting completion in 2028. Following financial close, YEC has issued notices to proceed to DT Infrastructure, its engineering, procurement and construction contractor, and Rapid Camps, its construction accommodation provider. Early site works are already underway, with Yurra, a Yindjibarndi Nation enterprise and YEC’s preferred civil works partner, carrying out site preparation and mobilisation activities. Yurra, which is majority-owned by the Yindjibarndi people through Yindjibarndi Wealth Pty, provides civil construction, building construction and maintenance, facilities maintenance and project management services across the Pilbara. YEC CEO Craig Ricato said reaching financial close within three years of the partnership’s formation demonstrated the organisation’s capacity to deliver complex infrastructure projects while maintaining cultural foundations and accountability to shareholders. “It confirms that a Yindjibarndi-led project, grounded in Country and culture, can meet the rigorous commercial requirements of the energy market while staying true to our values and governance responsibilities,” Ricato said. Rio Tinto Iron Ore chief executive Matthew Holcz congratulated YEC and acknowledged the leadership of the Yindjibarndi People in achieving the milestone. “Developing renewable energy on Yindjibarndi Country, in partnership with its Traditional Custodians, creates enduring value – supporting our operations while contributing to long-term economic opportunities on Country,” Holcz said. YEC was established in 2023 as a partnership between Yindjibarndi Aboriginal Corporation and Philippines-based ACEN Corporation, with the goal of developing up to 3GW of wind, solar and energy storage projects across approximately 13,000 square kilometres within the Yindjibarndi Native Title Determination Areas. The partnership structure ensures Yindjibarndi approval of all proposed project sites and provides for Yindjibarndi equity participation of 25% to 50% in all projects, alongside preferred contracting for Yindjibarndi-owned businesses and training and employment opportunities for Yindjibarndi people. YEC’s broader development portfolio includes the Baru Marnda project, a hybrid wind-solar-battery development comprising up to 1GW of wind and 500MWac of solar capacity located 50km south of Karratha. Rio Tinto has also significantly grown its engagement with Aboriginal communities on renewable energy developments across Australia. For instance, the mining company previously signed agreements for two 5.25MW solar PV plants in the Gove Peninsula of the Northern Territory with the Gumatj and Rirratjingu Traditional Owner Groups, and announced plans to build an 80MW solar plant in collaboration with the Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation near Karratha, with operations expected in 2027. However, it should be noted that Rio Tinto has come under fire in the past for its mining practices in Western Australia, particularly around ancient Aboriginal sites. In May 2020, the company legally destroyed two ancient rock shelters at Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara to expand an iron ore mine, devastating an archaeological site that dated back 46,000 years of continuous human occupation. The blasts, which occurred on the traditional lands of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people, sparked global outrage and forced the resignation of Rio Tinto’s CEO, Jean-Sébastien Jacques, two other senior executives, and, eventually, the chairman. The incident precipitated widespread changes across the Australian mining sector and led to a landmark co-management agreement between Rio Tinto and the PKKP Aboriginal Corporation, establishing a new framework for how the company proposes and manages mining activities affecting cultural heritage. PV Tech has previously explored how solar and energy storage can support the decarbonisation of Australia’s mining sector whilst also presenting economic benefits via green metals exports.
Waaree Energies is expanding its US solar manufacturing, targeting 4.5 GW of module capacity and considering a dedicated cell facility. Backed by ₹10,000 crore fundraising, the company aims for revenue and EBITDA growth while navigating rising costs, policy shifts, and strong competition from rivals like First Solar and Canadian Solar. Used by 10,000+ active investors Select the stocks you want to track in real time. Receive instant updates directly to WhatsApp. Waaree Energies Chairman and Managing Director Hitesh Doshi indicated the company is considering building a solar cell manufacturing facility in the US. This move follows its ongoing US module manufacturing expansion, which will boost capacity from 1.6 GW to 4.5 GW within six months. Waaree recently acquired bankrupt Meyer Burger's US assets for $18.5 million, adding a 1 GW heterojunction technology (HJT) module assembly line. As of May 2026, Waaree Energies has a market capitalization of approximately ₹92,900 crore, with shares trading around ₹3230.10. Its Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio is about 25x, and analysts like Motilal Oswal have issued 'Buy' ratings with a target price of ₹3,850, anticipating a 19% upside. The US solar market offers significant opportunity, with annual demand at 50-60 GW and 80-85% reliance on imports, creating demand for local manufacturing. Waaree aims to capture market share by aligning its products with regulatory demands and customer needs. This expansion occurs amid strong competition. First Solar is expected to reach over 14 GW of domestic capacity by 2026, planning a new 3.7 GW module plant. Canadian Solar aims for 10 GW of module capacity in Texas by late 2026 and 6.3 GW of cell capacity in Indiana by year-end 2026. Waaree's strategy is supported by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which encourages US solar manufacturing and domestic supply chains. However, industry faces challenges from import tariffs, including preliminary duties of 126% on modules using India-made cells. Waaree states it uses non-Chinese cells for US exports, lessening this direct impact. Beyond solar modules, Waaree Energies is diversifying across the renewable energy value chain. Plans include expanding into battery storage, electrolysers, inverters, transformers, solar glass, and semiconductors. A proposed ₹10,000 crore fundraising effort will support this expansion and potential acquisitions. The company provided a positive financial outlook, guiding for an operating EBITDA of ₹7,000-7,700 crore for FY27, up from FY26's reported ₹6,616.79 crore. For FY26, Waaree reported revenue of ₹26,536.77 crore and net profit of ₹3,884.15 crore, showing strong operational performance. The company also plans to commission a 20 GW advanced lithium-ion cell and battery pack manufacturing facility. However, Waaree faces several risks. Margin pressures could arise from fluctuating commodity prices like silver and copper, plus higher logistics costs due to shipping route disruptions. The US market is highly competitive, with rivals like First Solar and Canadian Solar significantly expanding their own capacity. Evolving trade policies and regulatory uncertainties, such as potential impacts from the 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act' on incentives, could also disrupt growth plans. Additionally, Waaree faces ongoing investigations from US Customs and Border Protection, Indian Income Tax authorities, and an international arbitration proceeding. These could present reputational and financial risks. Analysts generally hold positive outlooks for Waaree Energies, forecasting substantial growth. Analyst ratings favor 'Buy' or 'Outperform,' with price targets indicating potential upside. The company has reaffirmed its long-term revenue target of ₹1 trillion by 2030, driven by its expanding presence across the renewable energy value chain. This diversification, combined with US capacity expansion, supports Waaree's aim to be a leading integrated player in the global energy transition. Quarterly results, bulk deals, concall updates and major announcements delivered in real time. Used by 10,000+ active investors Select the stocks you want to track in real time. Receive instant updates directly to WhatsApp.
The energy transition needs many things. It also needs the patient, evidence-grounded engineering knowledge that turns ambitions into actual electricity. That is the contribution Sekhar Tatineni is making." Solar panels now generate more electricity, in a year, than the United States consumed in total in the early 1990s. Their manufacturing has scaled from kilowatt curiosity to terawatt enterprise in less than a generation. Whole new factories, each capable of producing enough modules to power millions of homes, are being commissioned every quarter across the United States, India, and Europe. And almost none of this has happened by accident. It has happened because, over twenty-plus years, a small number of engineers have done the unglamorous work of figuring out, over and over, how. How to build a high-efficiency solar cell at industrial scale. How to keep the variation tight enough that every cell meets specification. How to predict, before a defect appears, where the next problem on the line will emerge. How to qualify a module so that it will still be producing electricity three decades after the day it is installed. One of those engineers is Sekhar Tatineni. And over the past five years, he has done something that engineers in his position rarely do: he has written the work down. Sixteen peer-reviewed papers since March 2021, the latest published last month. Together they form one of the most comprehensive published engineering portfolios in the modern photovoltaic industry. And taken together, they amount to something much larger than a publication record. They are, in effect, a working textbook – assembled paper by paper – for an entire generation of engineers now stepping onto factory floors that, eighteen months ago, did not exist.
A FIRST LOOK Tatineni has spent more than two decades inside the industrial machinery of two of the most demanding manufacturing sectors on the planet – semiconductors and silicon solar cells. He began his career in semiconductor backend operations in the United States, working on wafer-level test infrastructure and design-for-manufacturability – the kind of foundational engineering that determines whether the chips inside everyday devices arrive defect-free or end up scrapped. He holds a master's degree in integrated-circuit design from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He has held production-engineering responsibility for facilities across the United States, Singapore, Norway, China, India, and Southeast Asia. Most of the past fifteen years of that work has been inside one of the global solar industry's most technically advanced manufacturing organizations. He has been a central figure in the industrialization of every major silicon solar cell architecture of the past decade and a half – back-surface field, PERC, half-cut, Alpha Pure, and heterojunction – and in the scale-up of the fine-wire interconnection technology that defines a generation of premium solar modules. His work has contributed to module products that have received multiple Intersolar Awards, the photovoltaic industry's most-recognized recognition for technical excellence. It is, by any honest reckoning, the kind of biography that in a different industry would be the subject of frequent profiles and keynote slots. In solar manufacturing, it is the biography of someone who has spent twenty years quietly doing the work the world now urgently needs done – and who, in the last five of those years, has begun documenting that work for the public record. THE TERRITORY HE HAS COVERED To survey Tatineni's sixteen papers is to take a tour through the central engineering disciplines of modern solar manufacturing. He has written, in considerable technical detail, on the deposition of transparent conducting oxide films – the atomically thin layers that determine whether a heterojunction cell delivers its theoretical performance. He has documented the failure modes that emerge in fine-wire module interconnection technology, the corrective actions that lift module reliability into multi-decade warranty territory, and the accelerated-aging methods that connect laboratory stress tests to actual field performance across multiple climate zones. He has built and validated a predictive analytics framework that ingests millions of inline sensor records each day and tells engineers, in near real time, which process levers to pull next. He has applied the patient discipline of statistical process control to bring screen-printing metallization – the step that defines the optical, electrical, and contact properties of every cell – to industrial-grade process capability. He has extended this work into the digital systems that orchestrate a gigawatt factory: manufacturing execution system architecture purpose-built for heterojunction production, with real-time recipe management and wafer-by-wafer traceability. He has applied rigorous design-of-experiments methodology to the lamination step that seals modules for their three-decade service life. He has investigated, in detailed engineering depth, the measurement protocols and instrument-induced artifacts that bias the current-voltage curves of high-capacitance modules – the very numbers by which the industry grades, prices, and sells its product. Through 2024 and into 2025, he has turned his attention to climate-specific module reliability under United States operating conditions, with accelerated stress testing, degradation-rate analysis, and field-projection modeling that the new domestic manufacturing build-out will need. He has documented the implementation of digital twin technology for the principal cell-manufacturing process steps – plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition, diffusion, and metallization – bringing real-time simulation into predictive process control. He has produced rigorous statistical work on inline current-voltage analysis, binning strategy optimization, and the correlation between incoming wafer quality and final cell efficiency distribution at gigawatt scale. Most recently, he has begun to extract and codify a deeper layer of methodological insight – the kind that only emerges from a career that has lived inside multiple industries. His work on cross-technology engineering knowledge transfer from semiconductor backend to solar cell manufacturing is, in effect, a framework for how the disciplines built across decades in semiconductors can be adapted, with rigor, to accelerate yield ramp in newer industries. His paper on systematic defect root cause methodology – integrating electroluminescence imaging, scanning electron microscopy, and process data into a structured analytical workflow – gives engineers a working playbook for the most common and most consequential investigations they will face. And in the most recent two papers, he has moved into artificial intelligence applications: real-time yield forecasting using LSTM-based process sequence modeling for early-warning detection, and AI-based defect classification integrated into inline automated optical inspection systems with quantified yield correlation. It is, taken together, an astonishingly wide-angle engineering portfolio. Almost every operating problem a modern photovoltaic factory will face has been addressed somewhere in these sixteen papers. WHY THIS MATTERS To understand the significance of Tatineni's contribution, you have to understand what the solar industry has historically lacked. Solar manufacturing has scaled, over the past two decades, faster than almost any industrial sector in modern history. But the engineering knowledge required to operate a high-efficiency solar cell line at gigawatt scale has remained, until very recently, largely undocumented in the open literature. It has lived inside the heads of a small number of experienced practitioners. It has lived inside the confidential internal documents of a smaller number of operating companies. It has rarely lived in the kind of public peer-reviewed venues where the next generation of engineers can find it, study it, and build upon it. What Tatineni has done, paper by paper, is take that knowledge and place it into the public record. He has written down what an MES architecture for heterojunction manufacturing actually needs to be. He has documented how to qualify the reliability of next-generation module interconnection. He has shown how predictive analytics frameworks can be designed, validated, and operationalized. He has put real numbers – efficiency improvements, yield uplifts, capability indices, commercial value calculations – against engineering interventions that, in the past, would have been described only impressionistically. This is, in the most literal sense, a contribution to the field of an order that is difficult to overstate. It matters now because the global solar industry is entering an inflection moment. The United States Inflation Reduction Act has set in motion tens of gigawatts of new domestic photovoltaic manufacturing capacity, much of it being commissioned over the next three years. India's PLI scheme is producing similar effects at similar scale. Europe is reshoring its own supply chain. China continues to expand. Every single one of those new factories will need engineers who know how to do, on the floor, the disciplines Tatineni has been writing down. And many of those engineers – especially the ones being hired into the new domestic facilities in the United States and Europe – are coming into the industry for the first time. For that generation of arriving engineers, the sixteen papers will function as a working reference. Not as marketing material, not as trade-press generality, but as the kind of evidence-grounded, industrially-tested engineering knowledge that distinguishes a factory that ramps to specification from one that does not. They will be cited in technology-strategy meetings from Greenwood to Gujarat. They will be discussed in operations reviews. They will be adapted, refined, and built upon. They will, in short, do what serious engineering literature does – they will shape the practice of the field. WHAT THIS REALLY REPRESENTS There is, beyond the technical contribution, a different and arguably deeper significance to Tatineni's body of work. Most senior engineers do not write. They do not publish. They run their factories, solve their problems, and carry their hard-won knowledge with them into retirement. There is no professional obligation to do otherwise, and there are many disincentives – confidential intellectual property, competitive sensitivity, the simple time cost of writing carefully. To produce sixteen rigorous, technically substantive papers across five years while continuing to operate at the senior leadership level of a complex gigawatt-scale manufacturing organization is, by any reasonable measure, an act of professional generosity. It is an investment in the field that returns nothing personal to the author beyond the satisfaction of having made it. That generosity matters in a moment when the solar industry's continued scaling depends, more than anything else, on the speed with which a new generation of practitioners can become competent. The published record Tatineni has been building is the single most efficient mechanism the industry has to accelerate that competence. It saves new engineers years of trial-and-error. It compresses the experience curve. It allows the industry to scale at the speed the climate problem actually demands. And that – to be clear – is the deeper contribution. The sixteen papers will be useful. The technical content will be cited. The numerical results will be referenced. But the larger thing they accomplish is the transfer of two decades of engineering judgment into a form that other engineers, anywhere in the world, can read, absorb, and apply. This is what serious contribution to a field actually looks like. It is rare. It is consequential. And it is happening right now, in the public record, paper by paper. LOOKING AHEAD The two most recent papers, published in January and April 2026, point clearly to where Tatineni's work is now heading. Both apply artificial intelligence techniques – LSTM-based process sequence modeling for yield forecasting, AI-based defect classification for automated optical inspection – to manufacturing problems that, until very recently, were addressed only by human engineering judgment. This is the right next step. The next decade of solar manufacturing will, almost certainly, be defined in significant part by how well the industry integrates AI techniques into its operating disciplines. The questions that matter – what AI methods are actually appropriate for which manufacturing problems, what their failure modes look like, how to deploy them safely in production environments where the cost of a bad recommendation is measured in millions of dollars – are questions that need to be worked out, paper by paper, by engineers who understand both sides. Tatineni is exactly such an engineer. And his early entries into this literature suggest that the next phase of his work will be as consequential as the past five years have been. Sixteen papers in five years. Two decades of engineering experience anchoring every page. A field that needs the knowledge being written into a public record exactly when it is needed most. By any standard, this is the work of a senior engineer making a contribution to his field that will be felt for years to come. The quiet authority of Sekhar Tatineni is, on closer examination, not so quiet at all. It is the steady, accumulating, paper-by-paper work of an engineer who has decided to leave the field better than he found it. And the field – and through it, the broader work of building a clean-energy future – will be the better for it. THE COMPLETE PUBLICATION RECORD Sixteen peer-reviewed papers published between March 2021 and April 2026. 1. MAR 2021 Transparent Conductive Oxide (TCO) Sputter Deposition Process Optimization for High-Efficiency Heterojunction Solar Cells in GW-Scale Production 2. SEP 2021 Smart Wire Connection Technology (SWCT) Module Assembly: Yield Loss Analysis and Thermomechanical Reliability Correlation in High-Volume Production 3. APR 2022 Multi-Variate Predictive Loss Analysis Framework for GW-Scale Solar Cell Manufacturing: From Inline Data to Cell Efficiency Distribution 4. OCT 2022 Cp/Cpk-Driven Process Capability Enhancement in Screen Printing Metallization for High-Efficiency Solar Cells at Volume Scale 5. FEB 2023 MES Architecture for Heterojunction Solar Cell Manufacturing: Real-Time Recipe Management, Genealogy Tracking, and SPC Integration 6. JUL 2023 Reliability Degradation Mechanisms in Smart Wire PV Modules: Accelerated Aging Correlation to Field Performance in Multi-Climate Deployments 7. SEP 2023 Optimization of Photovoltaic Module Lamination Process Using Design of Experiments and Statistical Process Control 8. FEB 2024 Influence of I–V Measurement Conditions on Hysteresis Behavior in High-Capacitance Photovoltaic Modules 9. OCT 2024 Advanced Bifacial PERC Module Reliability Under US Climate Conditions: Accelerated Stress Testing, Degradation Rate Analysis, and Field Projection Models 10. MAR 2025 Digital Twin Implementation for Solar Cell Process Lines: Real-Time Simulation of PECVD, Diffusion, and Metallization for Predictive Process Control 11. JUL 2025 Inline IV Curve Analysis and Binning Strategy Optimization for PERC Solar Cells: Statistical Correlation of Electrical Parameters to Process Variables 12. AUG 2025 Wafer Quality Impact on Solar Cell Efficiency Distribution: Statistical Correlation of Incoming Material Parameters to Final Cell Performance at GW-Scale Production 13. NOV 2025 Cross-Technology Engineering Knowledge Transfer from Semiconductor Backend to Solar Cell Manufacturing: Methodology, Process Control Adaptation, and Yield Ramp Acceleration Outcomes 14. DEC 2025 Defect Root Cause Methodology in High-Volume Solar Cell Manufacturing: Integrating EL Imaging, SEM, and Process Data for Systematic Yield Improvement 15. JAN 2026 AI-Powered Real-Time Yield Forecasting in Silicon Solar Cell Manufacturing: LSTM-Based Process Sequence Modeling and Early Warning System Deployment 16. APR 2026 Automated Optical Inspection (AOI) and AI-Based Defect Classification in Silicon Solar Cell Manufacturing: Inline Implementation and Yield Correlation
Oliver Jones Jr. is a journalist with a keen interest in the dynamic worlds of technology, business, and entrepreneurship.
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Oliver Jones Jr. and writers in 01 and other communities. In a world where data architectures are transforming faster than industries can adapt, Venkata Vijay Satyanarayana Murthy Neelam, known to his peers simply as Vijay Neelam, is emerging as a rare kind of innovator-a researcher who bridges the precision of computational engineering with the imagination of artificial intelligence. His recent publications have ignited conversations among technologists and enterprise architects worldwide, signaling a defining shift in how organizations design, interpret, and secure their data flows in the age of large language models (LLMs).
Chinese solar and energy storage technology company LONGi has been recognised as a BloombergNEF Tier 1 Energy Storage Manufacturer for the eighth consecutive quarter in Q2 2026, reinforcing its position in the global energy storage market. The BloombergNEF Tier 1 ranking is regarded as one of the energy sector’s most credible benchmarks, with companies evaluated on technology capability, project delivery, bankability and financial stability. The quarterly assessment process reflects market performance and operational execution across the global energy storage industry. Related news: Powered by LONGi HPBC 2.0 cell technology, redefining a new era of photovoltaic value – the HiMO X10 LONGi said the latest recognition highlights its ability to provide reliable and bankable energy storage solutions for customers across commercial, industrial and utility scale applications. The company develops integrated energy storage systems designed to support renewable energy integration, grid stability and evolving power sector requirements. Its portfolio includes solutions for commercial and industrial facilities as well as utility scale deployments. Central to LONGi’s offering is its self developed 5S technology architecture, which integrates PCS, BMS, EMS, iCCS and TMS systems into a unified framework. The company said this enables greater operational control, improved efficiency and enhanced system reliability under varying operating conditions. Safety remains a key focus for the company, which reported a track record of zero thermal runaway incidents across its deployments. LONGi is also advancing integrated solar plus storage solutions that combine intelligent digital platforms with lifecycle service capabilities aimed at improving long term asset performance. Alongside its energy storage milestone, LONGi Solar also retained its Group level Gold Medal in the 2026 EcoVadis Corporate Social Responsibility ratings, achieving a score of 85. The result places the company among the top 2% of more than 150,000 companies assessed globally and within the top 1% in the electrical equipment manufacturing category. According to EcoVadis analysts, LONGi demonstrated an advanced corporate social responsibility management system covering environmental performance, labour and human rights, business ethics and sustainable procurement. EcoVadis is recognised as one of the world’s largest corporate sustainability ratings platforms. Its assessment framework is based on international standards including the United Nations Global Compact, International Labour Organization conventions, Global Reporting Initiative standards and ISO 26000 guidelines. LONGi said sustainability remains central to its long term business strategy, supported by its corporate social responsibility and sustainable procurement management systems. The company added that it will continue integrating sustainable development principles into its global operations while strengthening partnerships that support the energy transition. Author: Bryan Groenendaal
Bridge Michigan Michigan’s nonpartisan, nonprofit news source A state appeals panel on Thursday upheld the bulk of Michigan’s regulations limiting local control over renewable energy projects, while rejecting narrow aspects that critics had decried as regulatory overreach. The three-judge Michigan Court of Appeals panel ruled that state regulators followed proper legal processes when they set rules to carry out a controversial 2023 law that allows the Michigan Public Service Commission to approve large wind, solar and battery projects over local objections. But judges ruled the commission interpreted certain aspects of that law in ways that improperly limited local power. It wasn’t immediately clear how the split ruling could affect the multiple renewable energy development proposals currently awaiting state approval. However, state officials seemed to see it as a victory. “While the Commission continues to review the impact of specific findings of the Court’s decision on cases before us, today’s decision largely affirms the Commission’s approach and allows for continued and timely implementation of the law,” said Matt Helms, a spokesperson for the Public Service Commission. A lawyer for the dozens of local communities that had sued the state over its solar permitting rules called the ruling a “mixed bag.” Attorney Michael Homier said he’s pleased with portions of the ruling that favored his clients, but “disappointed the court didn’t apply the same reasoning” to his clients’ other arguments. RELATED: The ruling followed a tense yearslong debate about Public Act 233, which passed along party lines in 2023 as Democrats sought to speed up a renewable energy transition that had been slowed in part by fierce local opposition to planned wind and solar arrays. After the Michigan Public Service Commission wrote rules to carry out the law in 2024, dozens of local communities sued, arguing the rules undermine local control in ways the law never envisioned. The law allows local governments to retain jurisdiction over renewable energy proposals so long as they enact a so-called “compatible renewable energy ordinance” containing terms no stricter than the new statewide standards governing noise, setbacks and other particulars. If they don’t have such an ordinance, developers can instead seek approval from the Public Service Commission. Among other things, the local government groups argued the commission failed to follow proper rulemaking procedure and wrote overly narrow terms for the local ordinances. In their ruling Thursday, Judges Christopher Murray, Michael Gadola and Michael Kelly rejected those arguments and several others posed by the local governments. But they sided with the governments on two issues: In a press release, renewable energy advocates celebrated the ruling, with Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council President Laura Sherman saying it “affirmed the ability for Michiganders to use their land as they wish while stimulating job creation and economic development.” Officials with the Michigan Townships Association, which has been critical of the state permitting system and lobbies on behalf of dozens of townships involved in the lawsuit, did not respond to a request for comment. Thank you to our Michigan Environment Watch sponsors Bridge Michigan Environment Watch is made possible by generous financial support from our sponsors. Sponsorship supports our independent journalism mission but does not constitute sponsor endorsement of individual articles or editorial content. Bridge Michigan journalism remains fact- and data-driven and independent at all times. Please visit the About page for more information and to subscribe to Environment Watch. Interested in becoming a sponsor? Contact Emma Carr.
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JinkoSolar has retained its position as the world’s leading solar module supplier after shipping 86.8 GW of photovoltaic modules in 2025, according to its latest annual report and Q1 2026 financial results. The company said cumulative global module shipments surpassed 400 GW by the end of the first quarter of 2026. Its Tiger Neo product range alone accounted for more than 220 GW, making it the best-selling photovoltaic module series globally. JinkoSolar attributed its continued market leadership to strong supply chain management, advances in manufacturing and product technology, and the expansion of localised distribution networks across international markets. The company has continued to strengthen its position in N type TOPCon technology. By the end of 2025, JinkoSolar had secured more than 3,500 patents, including over 700 related to N type TOPCon technology, placing it among the global leaders in TOPCon intellectual property. JinkoSolar also reported new efficiency milestones for its solar cell technologies. Its N type TOPCon solar cell achieved a conversion efficiency of 27.79%, while its TOPCon perovskite tandem cell reached 34.76%. The company said these achievements marked its 32nd world record for cell efficiency and module power output. As part of its next generation technology strategy, JinkoSolar has established a joint venture with XtalPi Technology to develop what it describes as the world’s first fully closed loop experimental platform combining artificial intelligence driven decision making, robotic execution, and automated data feedback. The company expects commercial scale production of perovskite tandem cells within three years. Related news: JinkoSolar launches mass production of Tiger Neo 3 as global pre-orders exceed 15GW JinkoSolar’s flagship Tiger Neo 3.0 N type TOPCon modules have achieved mass production efficiency above 24.8% with power output reaching 670 W. The company said the modules have gained strong market acceptance due to features including high bifaciality, low degradation rates, and improved low light performance. The manufacturer expects high power modules above 640 W to account for more than 60% of total module shipments in 2026, allowing the company to maintain premium pricing compared with conventional solar products. In the energy storage segment, JinkoSolar said it had once again been recognised as a Tier 1 energy storage manufacturer by BloombergNEF. The company plans to double energy storage shipments in 2026 while expanding its presence in overseas markets through integrated photovoltaic and storage solutions. JinkoSolar has also introduced five specialised solar module products under its Tiger Neo 3.0 platform to address growing demand for sector specific energy solutions. The new range includes Anti-Glare modules for transport infrastructure, Dust-Free self cleaning panels, Safety King fire resistant modules, Light Diamond lightweight modules, and AIDC modules designed for data centres. The company said the products are aimed at addressing operational challenges including glare reduction, dust accumulation, fire safety, structural weight limits, and power reliability as industries accelerate low carbon energy adoption. Looking ahead, JinkoSolar said it will continue investing in technology innovation, global market expansion, and integrated solar and energy storage systems to strengthen its competitiveness in the international photovoltaic sector. Author: Bryan Groenendaal Link to the list of JinkoSolar distributors in Africa HERE
The Austrian manufacturer said its new glass-glass module features 108 back-contact TOPCon half-cells and a power conversion efficiency of 23.52%. Image: Sonnenkraft Austrian solar module manufacturer Sonnenkraft has launched a new back-contact TOPCon panel for rooftop applications. Dubbed 480GG2RNE, the glass-glass module is based on 108 TOPCon half-cells. It offers a power output of 480 W and an efficiency of 23.52%. The new product measures 1,800 mm x 1,134 mm x 35 mm and weighs 24.5 kg. It is designed for a maximum system voltage of 1,500 V and an operating temperature range of -40 C to 85 C. The module also features an integrated shading management system designed to reduce power losses under partial shading conditions. The temperature coefficient is listed at -0.26%/C Sonnenkraft provides a 15-year product warranty for the module and guarantees 99% of the original power output in the first year. The annual linear degradation rate is specified at 0.4% over 30 years. The company said the back-contact design improves efficiency, shade tolerance, and aesthetics by relocating all electrical contacts to the rear side of the cells. This creates a busbar-free front surface that increases the active cell area exposed to sunlight and gives the module a uniform black appearance. According to Sonnenkraft, the module is suitable for residential rooftop installations, building-integrated PV, and other design-oriented applications. It is certified under several IEC standards, has passed the HW3 extended hail test, and is resistant to salt mist and ammonia exposure. From pv magazine Germany This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: editors@pv-magazine.com. More articles from Sandra Enkhardt Please be mindful of our community standards. Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *
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Get local news delivered to your inbox! E-edition PLUS unlimited articles & videos Personalized news alerts with our mobile app *FREE access to newspapers.com archives Hundreds of games, puzzles & comics online *Refers to the latest 2 years of agupdate.com stories. Cancel anytime. A row of squash plants grows between arrays under partial sun. Growing vegetables inside a utility-scale solar farm may sound unconventional, but new research from Iowa State University suggests it is both feasible and commercially realistic. Get local news delivered to your inbox! Imagine buying a dozen eggs at a grocery store, but when you get home and open the carton, there’s only a half dozen inside because you weren’… Conservation tillage practices, such as no-till and reduced till, are critical for sustainable agriculture, and they are gradually becoming po… As old-fashioned wall calendars flipped pages to May and digital calendars rearranged electrons to follow suit, most folks along Wisconsin’s L… Oats were once a major Minnesota crop, with about 4 million acres planted annually on average until the early 1960s. But in 2025, oats account… A row of squash plants grows between arrays under partial sun. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device.
https://arab.news/4kyzb Most people don’t think of agriculture when they hear the term “solar farm” or “wind farm.” In fact, many fear that renewable energy installations are eating up prime farmland and threatening natural areas. But what if it weren’t an either-or proposition? What if wind and solar could go hand-in-hand with environmentally sustainable farming? In “Agri-Energy,” Pierce shows how this growing trend not only creates much-needed space for energy production but is an economic lifeline for countless farmers, and provides surprising benefits for livestock.
While Artemis II was primarily a demonstration flight of the architecture NASA plans to use for future lunar missions, it was also an excellent excuse for the crew to snap some photos of the Moon and Earth with the benefit of modern camera technology. If you’ve been looking forward to seeing more of the crew’s images, you’re in luck, as thousands of new images have recently been released. Now we don’t mean to beat up on the folks at NASA, but browsing through these images, we couldn’t help but be reminded of an article we saw on PetaPixel that discussed the space agency’s haphazard approach to sharing images online. It’s really more like an unsorted file dump than anything, made worse by the fact that you have to access it through a government website that looks and performs like it was designed in the early 2000s. There’s even a prominent button that attempts to load a gallery feature that relies on the long-deprecated Adobe Flash. It would be nice to see the situation improved by the time astronauts actually touch down on the lunar surface, but we wouldn’t count on it. Speaking of old tech, we’ve been following the resurgence of keyboard-equipped smartphones with great interest, as we imagine many of you have been. A recent CNBC article addresses the trend, although it didn’t quite take the nerd contingent into account. We want physical keys so we can work in the terminal and write code without fighting an on-screen keyboard, but of course, that’s not exactly what your average consumer is looking for. It’s quite the opposite, in fact. A 20-something user referenced in the article explained how the younger generations see the physical keyboard as a way to be less connected to their phones, describing it as “an extra barrier of inconvenience that adds more steps into the thinking process.” If you need us, we’ll be collecting dust in the corner.
As regular readers may know, we’ve also taken an interest in plug-in solar panels recently. So-called “solar balconies” have become quite popular in Europe, but regulatory friction in the United States has prevented them from achieving similar success here. An article in the MIT Technology Review talks about the process of bringing solar balconies to the US, and we’re not overly thrilled with some of the developments it highlights. As the key hurdle appears to be safety, UL Solutions recommends that balcony solar panels be plugged into a specialized outlet. If putting a regular AC plug on the end of a solar panel can lead to potentially dangerous situations, they believe the solution is to require a different plug that no one could mistake for anything else, with built-in safety features to reduce the risk of electric shock. That might not seem unreasonable at first, but it actually represents a pretty serious hurdle for many users. Consider that the whole advantage of these panels is the convenience: you can simply open the box, plug them in, and start collecting energy. But if you need to install a special outlet, potentially requiring an electrician, the whole concept falls apart. Expect to hear more from us on this particular subject as it develops. Finally, Spirit Airline customers weren’t the only ones running into issues this week — a Southwest flight in California was delayed due to complications with a robotic passenger. The bot actually had a ticket, but the flight crew said it still violated the airline’s rules for large carry-on luggage and had to be moved to a different seat. Then somebody realized the robot’s relatively large lithium-ion battery was also in violation of carry-on limits, and it had to be removed and confiscated by authorities. Important details to keep in mind if you happen to be a robot planning your summer vacation. See something interesting that you think would be a good fit for our weekly Links column? Drop us a line, we’d love to hear about it. Actually the unmanned flight, with Snoopy and his friends onboard was. The recently completed flight, was the first one with people onboard. And thusly demonstrated the capabilities of carrying people. I’m pretty sure the grid tie inverters wont generate any power until they’ve read the incoming phase first. The same reason they wont make power and back-feed when the power is out. Please be kind and respectful to help make the comments section excellent. (Comment Policy) This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
A few passing clouds. Low 39F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph.. A few passing clouds. Low 39F. Winds WNW at 10 to 15 mph. Updated: May 10, 2026 @ 7:17 pm A solar farm can be seen from Mohr Road in the town of Florida Wednesday, November 20, 2024. The Clifton Park Town Board is considering a six-month moratorium on solar-energy-system applications.
Saratoga County reporter A solar farm can be seen from Mohr Road in the town of Florida Wednesday, November 20, 2024. The Clifton Park Town Board is considering a six-month moratorium on solar-energy-system applications. CLIFTON PARK — The Clifton Park Town Board is considering a six-month moratorium on solar-energy-system applications as developers continue to seek to cover more acreage with the technology. The moratorium would specifically prohibit Tier 2 and Tier 3 solar energy system applications for 180 days. The town classifies Tier 2 and Tier 3 systems as medium- to large-scale ground-mounted installations, including solar facilities that involve substantial land area, electrical interconnection infrastructure and long-term land conversion. Residents who spoke in opposition to the moratorium at Monday’s public hearing said the town should consider solar projects on a case-by-case basis rather than impose a sweeping moratorium. Residents who spoke against the moratorium also said solar projects bring in revenue to the town and landowners, supplement the need for affordable, renewable energy sources, and bolster the power grid supply. “We have to get our power from somewhere, and we should be getting it from the cheapest, cleanest, least polluting sources,” Mary Lou Classen said Monday on behalf of the Saratoga County League of Women Voters. The resolution primarily sites the need to safeguard farmland and wetlands as the rationale for the moratorium. “Voting yes on the moratorium will allow the town board to properly reevaluate their town codes as they pertain to community solar arrays,” said Francis Florio of Ballston Lake. The town is reviewing its draft Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan, soon to be adopted and incorporated into the town’s Comprehensive Plan, another rationale behind the moratorium, according to the resolution. The Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan includes recommendations to restrict solar development on farmland in Clifton Park. Specifically, the plan calls for updates to the town’s zoning laws which would significantly prohibit solar array development on agricultural lands based on the state Department of Agriculture and Market’s guidance against larger scale solar energy system installation on soils classified as prime farmland or prime soil. The plan also recommends solar systems not be installed where they would block views or be within a 1000 feet of state or federal wetlands. Town Supervisor Phil Barrett said the town has preserved 2,000 acres of property permanently since he’s been in office. “Probably our largest competitor in recent years is green energy,” said Barrett at the public hearing. “It’s been a big competitor to our open space preservation.” The Town of Clifton Park currently has three operating solar arrays, including the seven-megawatt Sugar Hill Solar farm, the three-megawatt array on Blue Barns Road, and the 996.5 kilowatt array on a portion of the town landfill on Vischer Ferry Road. Consideration of a moratorium comes as the most recently proposed 5- megawatt, 19-acre solar array project on MacElroy Road in Clifton Park is under review by the town planning board. The originally proposed application has been revised since December and would require a Department of Environmental Conservation permit for its 50 foot buffer from wetlands. Residents and homeowners raised concerns about the project to the planning board and the applicant, DG Cooley, LLC, at a planning board meeting in February. If passed, the resolution will not apply to Tier I solar energy systems, maintenance, repair or replacement of existing solar systems or applications that received final site plan approval prior to the law’s effective date. Saratoga County reporter Melanie Snyder can be reached at msnyder@dailygazette.net. Saratoga County reporter {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Top stories and breaking news, delivered daily at 5:30 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Major news, right when it happens—sent straight to your inbox. Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks. We recommend switching to one of the following browsers: Sorry, an error occurred.
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China strongly criticized the EU’s ban on Chinese inverters in EU-funded solar projects, warning it could damage trade relations, supply chains, and Europe’s energy transition. China’s Ministry of Commerce Image: N509FZ, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 The Chinese government has issued an official statement regarding the EU’s recent ban on Chinese inverters in EU-funded PV projects. “Without any factual evidence, the EU has for the first time designated China as a so-called ‘high-risk country’ and, on this pretext, banned financial support for projects using Chinese inverters,” said China’s Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). “The EU’s designation of China as a ‘high-risk country’ will undermine mutual trust between China and the EU, disrupt bilateral economic and trade cooperation, destabilize industrial and supply chains both within the China–EU context and globally, and even carry the risk of decoupling and further supply chain disruption,” the statement reads. “China urges the EU to immediately cease the stigmatization of China by designating it as a ‘high-risk country,’ and to lift the unfair and discriminatory practices targeting Chinese products,” the MOFCOM added. “China will closely monitor the situation, carefully assess the impact of the EU’s policies on the interests of Chinese enterprises and on China-EU industrial and supply chains, and take necessary measures to safeguard the legitimate and lawful rights and interests of Chinese enterprises.” No details about potential countermeasures were revealed. MOFCOM also stated that the new measures excluding Chinese products may harm the EU itself, jeopardizing its green transition and energy security. The EU revealed its plan to restrict funding for PV projects using inverters from high-risk suppliers on April 23. The list of high-risk countries includes China, Russia, Iran and South Korea.
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The Town of Jaffrey has partnered with ReVision Energy to build a community solar array atop a former municipal landfill, a project aimed at expanding clean energy access and reducing costs for low-income residents. Construction is underway at the capped landfill site, with the 1.34-megawatt array expected to be operational in early 2027. The town will lease the property to ReVision Energy and receive $10,000 annually, with payments increasing over time. Town Manager Jon Frederick said the project makes productive use of otherwise unusable land while supporting residents in need of energy savings. ReVision Energy, a Brentwood-based, employee-owned company, is leading development of the project. Financing is provided by Blue Haven Solar, part of Blue Haven Initiative, which focuses on investments with social and environmental impact. The array will include 2,266 U.S.-assembled solar panels and is expected to generate more than 1.7 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, offsetting about 933 tons of carbon emissions. All of the energy produced will support about 250 low- and moderate-income households participating in or eligible for New Hampshire’s Electric Assistance Program. Participants are expected to receive up to $2 million in total bill credits over the life of the project, with savings of about 25 percent on electricity supply costs. Eversource will manage customer enrollment, prioritizing eligible households in Jaffrey and nearby communities under guidelines set by the N.H. Department of Energy.Officials said the project highlights how municipalities can repurpose closed landfills to generate revenue, meet clean energy goals and deliver direct benefits to residents facing rising energy costs. This article is being shared by a partner in the Granite State News Collaborative. For more information, visit collaborativenh.org. Your comment has been submitted.
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ENERGY The repeal of a 30% federal tax credit for residential rooftop solar systems has some installers changing the way they pitch solar to homeowners Solar panel installers in New Mexico are grappling with a sharp contraction in New Mexico’s residential solar market in the first three months of the year following the Dec. 31 expiration of a 30% federal tax credit. The federal Residential Clean Energy Credit covered 30% of the cost of a solar system. But President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed into law July 4, repealed that tax credit for residential rooftop solar systems. Facing a harsher market, some installers in New Mexico are changing their pitches to residents. Others are not. Christopher Fortson, marketing director for Positive Energy Solar, said the company, which has sold systems in New Mexico since 1997, is now offering a prepaid leasing option. While Trump’s bill repealed the residential tax credit, it did not repeal a credit for third-party ownership. Under Positive Energy Solar’s prepaid lease, Positive Energy Solar will own a customer’s rooftop solar system for six years. That allows Positive Energy, a “third-party,” to take advantage of the 30% tax credit and pass on the savings to customers, who take ownership of the systems after that period. Fortson, citing data from HomeAnalytics, said the number of residential rooftop solar permits handed out in New Mexico has grown from 20% to 30% in recent years. But in 2026, those figures have shrunk by 22%, he said. In January, year-over-year residential solar permits fell by 40%, Fortson said. “It’s a pretty substantial retraction in the market,” Fortson said. A Wood Mackenzie report prepared for the Solar Energy Industries Association in March said that nationally, homeowners installed 4,647 megawatts of solar in 2025, a 2% decrease from the previous year. The report said it anticipates a market contraction of 19% in 2026 with the expiration of the federal tax credit Continued third-party ownership will help “cushion that decline and support a recovery beginning in 2027.” But, the report added, consumers will continue to purchase solar panels as equipment costs fall and energy costs rise. Wood Mackenzie forecasts that the residential solar segment in the U.S. will add more than 60 gigawatts of rooftop power over the next decade. The New Mexico Solar Market Development tax credit offers a state tax credit against a resident’s income tax for the purchase of a solar energy system on residences, businesses and agricultural enterprises. The credits require certification from the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department. The credit provides up to 10% of purchase and installation costs. But it cannot exceed $6,000 per year. Sen. Mimi Stewart, an Albuquerque Democrat, in the 2026 legislative session proposed a bill with others that would increase the tax credit to 30% of system and installation costs. The bill also proposed increasing the credit’s limit to $15,000. The bill passed in the Senate on a 26-10 vote. But it never received a vote on the House floor. The bill would have allowed for $30 million in tax credits annually, unchanged from the 2024 cap. In 2024, the Legislature increased the department’s budget for the tax credit to $30 million from $12 million. Demand for the tax credit had exceeded its $12 million from 2020 to 2023. Fortson had said Positive Energy Solar was tracking state legislation. “With both the double whammy of the federal tax credit going away and New Mexico not being able to pass the increase in the state tax credit, it kind of left homeowners wondering how they could potentially go solar and what options they have available to them,” Fortson said. Other local solar installers are also feeling the pain. Tom Poulin, co-owner of Poulin Solar Pro, said “there’s been a noticeable decrease in business.” “I think a lot of it is driven by the federal tax credit going away,” Poulin said. “But it’s also coupled with a period of super high demand.” The store, which sells solar panels in Albuquerque, experienced three record months last year as customers raced to install solar systems before the tax credit expired, he said. Competition has shrunk, too, he said. There are fewer sellers in the market than national companies “who rushed into our market selling at the lowest price — they’re all out of business now.” Despite the slowdown, Poulin said the company, in its decade selling solar panels, never made sales pitches centered around the federal tax credit, although customers did notice it. There’s still no state tax on solar, no property tax, and a system can increase home values up to 4%, Poulin said. “We’re seeing that the customers want to go solar,” Poulin said. “They understand that it’s still cheaper to go solar than it is to buy their power from PNM, and they can do it at a fixed cost. And they can build an asset of their own.” Justin Horwath covers tech and energy for the Journal. You can reach him at jhorwath@abqjournal.com. A New Mexico overlander shares how a shoulder-season sprint to Sequoia and Joshua Tree led to broken equipment, improvised repairs and lessons for safer desert and mountain travel. Penny Rembe speaks on expanding property while keeping history intact Nicki Starr and wife Marcy have helped raise more than 100 foster children in New Mexico World War II Air Force colonel: ‘We have encountered a phenomenon which we cannot explain’
Waaree Energies is planning significant expansion in the US. The company may build a solar cell manufacturing facility there. This follows an increase in module manufacturing capacity. Waaree aims to boost its market share in the growing US solar market. The company is also focusing on an energy transition ecosystem in India.
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In the relentless pursuit of pushing solar energy technology to unprecedented heights, perovskite solar cells have emerged at the forefront of next-generation photovoltaics, promising high efficiency and low-cost production. However, a significant challenge has dogged their scalability and commercial viability: reverse-bias instability, which threatens long-term device reliability when modules are subjected to adverse operating conditions. Now, a groundbreaking study led by researchers Wang, Luo, Li, and their team offers a transformative approach to overcoming this hurdle, delivering perovskite solar modules with remarkably enhanced reverse-bias stability. Their work not only breaks new technical ground but sets the stage for the broader deployment of this promising technology in real-world applications. Perovskite solar modules conventionally employ ultrathin self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) as hole transport layers to facilitate charge extraction and enhance overall device efficiency. Despite their advantages, these SAM-based layers suffer from heterogeneous coverage, leading to discontinuities. Such uneven distribution forms shunting paths within the device, significantly reducing the breakdown voltage and making the modules susceptible to failure under reverse bias conditions. Reverse bias, a scenario where the polarity of the voltage across the solar cell is inverted, can occur due to partial shading or module mismatch, causing hot spots and device degradation. A crucial insight from Wang and colleagues’ research is the identification of the chemical processes underlying the instability at the interface between the indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode and the perovskite active layer. Specifically, they reveal that ITO triggers an electrochemical deprotonation reaction of formamidinium (FA) ions within the perovskite structure. This deprotonation event compromises the structural integrity of the perovskite and undermines device stability when subjected to reverse voltage stress, pointing to a critical interfacial failure mechanism previously not well understood. To combat this dual challenge of discontinuous SAM distribution and interfacial ion degradation, the research team devised a pioneering molecular-templated pre-assembly method. This strategy leverages the inherent hydrogen-bonding interactions between the SAM molecules and a polycarbazole polymer template. The molecular templating acts as an organizational scaffold, promoting the formation of homogenous clusters of SAM in the precursor solutions and securing firm adhesion to the substrate. The outcome is the creation of dense, uniform SAM layers that eschew the problematic gaps and defects characteristic of traditional deposition techniques. This innovative pre-assembly procedure marks a substantial departure from conventional film-forming approaches, which often rely on spontaneous self-assembly with limited control over molecular ordering and coverage. By harnessing the directional forces of hydrogen bonding, the method offers unmatched precision in manipulating the molecular architecture at the nanoscale, ensuring that the hole transport layers are both physically continuous and chemically robust. This molecular-level control is instrumental in mitigating shunting pathways and elevating the breakdown voltage threshold of the solar modules. Beyond the fabrication of small-area devices, the researchers translated their molecular-templated SAM layers into scaled-up minimodules, demonstrating the method’s practical scalability. The fabricated minimodules achieved a certified steady-state power conversion efficiency of 23.2%, with peak efficiencies reaching 24.0%. These figures are among the highest reported for perovskite modules using ultrathin SAM-based hole transport layers, underscoring the technique’s capacity to deliver both performance and durability in larger-format devices. Crucially, the enhanced reverse-bias stability is not merely theoretical but experimentally validated through rigorous stress testing. Small-area devices preserved 95% of their initial efficiency after enduring 300 hours of sustained reverse bias at −4.8 V, an extraordinary feat considering the aggressive conditions. Correspondingly, the minimodules exhibited a T98 lifetime of 312 hours under negative open-circuit voltage stress, a metric indicative of time to 98% of initial performance retention, signaling substantial improvement over existing benchmarks. An additional layer of reliability is introduced via electrical engineering design: the integration of bypass diodes within the module architecture. The study demonstrates that a single bypass diode can effectively protect up to 16 subcells connected in series, preventing catastrophic failure from local shading or reverse bias conditions. This innovation simplifies module design complexity while ensuring enhanced operational safety and longevity, promoting commercial viability for large-scale perovskite photovoltaics. This body of work marks a pivotal advancement in addressing the long-standing reverse-bias reliability concerns that have impeded the commercialization pathway of perovskite solar technology. By fusing precise molecular control with astute device engineering, Wang et al. bridge fundamental materials science with pragmatic engineering requirements. Their molecular-templated SAM deposition strategy elegantly resolves critical failure modes that previously limited the practical lifespan of perovskite solar modules, instilling newfound confidence in their scalability. Looking forward, the demonstrated approach opens avenues for further refinement of interfacial layer chemistries, potentially extending beyond polycarbazole templates to other polymeric or molecular scaffolds capable of facilitating tailored hydrogen bonding networks. Such advances may yield even greater control over interfacial energetics and operational stability. Additionally, the principles elucidated here regarding electrochemical deprotonation phenomena could inspire new mitigation strategies at varied perovskite compositions and electrode interfaces. In addition to the technological breakthroughs, the study sets a methodological precedent by combining advanced molecular engineering with comprehensive device characterization under realistic operational stresses. This integrated approach offers the photovoltaic research community a blueprint for systematically tackling interfacial and electrochemical degradation phenomena, which are frequently intertwined in thin-film photovoltaics yet remain poorly understood. The insights gained here are likely translatable to other emerging solar technologies confronting similar stability challenges. As the renewable energy sector grapples with demands for both efficiency and longevity, such innovations are critical. The ability to reliably endure reverse bias conditions not only safeguards module integrity under real-world shading and mismatch conditions but also boosts the economic feasibility of perovskite solar modules by reducing warranty risks and maintenance costs. The reported metrics place perovskite technology closer to competing head-to-head with established silicon photovoltaics on the reliability front. Moreover, the study’s implications extend beyond single modules to the design of large photovoltaic arrays where reverse bias can induce intricate failure cascades across interconnected cells. The demonstration that a single bypass diode can protect multiple subcells simplifies array-level protection schemes, potentially reducing system costs and enhancing overall resilience. This insight carries significant ramifications for the commercialization and integration of perovskite-based solar power plants. In summary, the work by Wang, Luo, Li, and their colleagues represents a landmark contribution to perovskite solar cell research. By unveiling the molecular basis of reverse-bias instability and introducing a sophisticated templated assembly technique, they have unlocked a pathway to durable, high-performance perovskite modules. Their achievements inject fresh momentum into the quest for scalable, commercially viable perovskite photovoltaics capable of transforming global energy systems towards sustainability. The scientific community and industry stakeholders alike will keenly watch as these findings catalyze further innovations, potentially accelerating the adoption of perovskite solar technology. As laboratories worldwide adopt molecular templating and explore new templates and interface chemistries, we may soon witness perovskite modules surmounting previously insurmountable reliability barriers — heralding a new era of efficient, resilient, and affordable solar energy. Subject of Research: Development of molecular-templated pre-assembled self-assembled monolayers to enhance reverse-bias stability in perovskite solar cells and modules. Article Title: Molecular-templated pre-assembly of self-assembled monolayer for perovskite solar cells and modules with improved reverse-bias stability. Article References: Wang, X., Luo, R., Li, N. et al. Molecular-templated pre-assembly of self-assembled monolayer for perovskite solar cells and modules with improved reverse-bias stability. Nat Energy (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-026-02014-9 Image Credits: AI Generated DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-026-02014-9 Tags: device degradation under reverse biasenhancing perovskite solar module reliabilityhole transport layer optimizationhot spot mitigation in solar modulesimproving breakdown voltage in perovskitesmolecular templating in solar cellsnext-generation photovoltaic technologyovercoming shunting paths in solar modulesPerovskite solar cell stabilityreverse-bias instability in photovoltaicsscalable perovskite solar manufacturingself-assembled monolayers in perovskite cells We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website. 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SOLAR POWER THE Sun remains the Earth’s oldest and most dependable source of energy. Without sunlight, life itself would not exist. Every day, the world receives immense amounts of heat and light from the Sun, and modern technology now allows this energy to be converted directly into electricity through solar power systems. Unlike fossil fuels, solar energy is renewable, abundant, and naturally available. For billions of years, the Sun has continued to supply energy to the planet, and scientists believe it will continue to do so for billions more. Yet despite living under a climate rich in sunlight for most of the year, Bangladesh still depends heavily on imported fuel oil, gas, and coal to meet its growing electricity demand. Every year, vast amounts of foreign currency leave the country to pay for energy imports needed for power generation, irrigation, transportation, and industrial production. This dependence has made the national energy sector increasingly vulnerable to global fuel price fluctuations and supply uncertainties. In this context, solar power is no longer simply an environmental discussion; it has become an economic and strategic necessity. Bangladesh possesses a natural advantage that many developed countries do not. Even European states with long winters and limited sunlight are rapidly expanding renewable energy because they recognise that sustainable power will define the future of economic stability and industrial growth. Bangladesh, with its long hours of sunshine and widespread open rooftops, has even greater potential to expand solar electricity generation on a large scale. Solar panels already demonstrate how versatile this technology can be. They can supply electricity to homes, agricultural irrigation systems, factories, offices, transport systems, calculators, street lighting, satellites, and numerous other applications. The technology itself is relatively simple. A solar system generally requires three major components: solar panels, an inverter, and batteries. Solar panels often remain functional for 20 to 30 years, while inverters are comparatively affordable and durable. The most expensive component, however, remains the battery system, which usually requires replacement every few years. This is where one of the central barriers to solar expansion in Bangladesh emerges. High import duties on solar batteries significantly increase installation costs for ordinary consumers. For low-income and rural households, the initial investment often appears unrealistic. A rural family spending only Tk 500 or Tk 600 monthly on electricity naturally hesitates when faced with installation costs of Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000 or more for a solar system. Even if the long-term savings are substantial, the upfront expense discourages adoption. As a result, the discussion around renewable energy in Bangladesh cannot remain limited to technology alone. Policy intervention is equally essential. If the government genuinely intends to expand solar power, it must address affordability. Reducing taxes on solar batteries, offering subsidised financing, introducing easy instalment facilities, and expanding low-interest loans for renewable energy projects could significantly increase public participation. Without such measures, solar energy risks remaining confined to wealthier urban households or commercial projects rather than becoming a nationwide solution. At the same time, Bangladesh already possesses the physical infrastructure needed for rapid solar expansion. Rooftops across cities, towns, factories, educational institutions, and rural homes remain largely unused for energy generation. In villages, tin-roofed houses and open spaces offer even greater opportunities for installing solar panels. If utilised properly, these spaces could support both on-grid and off-grid systems, reducing pressure on the national electricity network while also expanding access in underserved areas. The wider economic implications are equally important. A stronger solar sector would reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels, help preserve foreign currency reserves, and gradually move the country toward greater energy self-sufficiency. It would also contribute to reducing environmental pollution and carbon emissions at a time when climate vulnerability continues to threaten Bangladesh through floods, heatwaves, cyclones, and rising sea levels. Renewable energy is therefore not only an economic issue but also a question of environmental resilience and long-term national security. Encouragingly, recent government statements suggest that renewable energy may finally be receiving greater institutional attention. On May 7, at the inauguration of the three-day BIID Expo on power, energy, and construction equipment at the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Center, State Minister for Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Iqbal Hasan Mahmud announced plans to expand solar panel installations in homes across the capital to reduce pressure on the electricity grid. He stated that a new policy framework aimed at making solar power more accessible is expected to be introduced through a government order by next June. The minister also acknowledged an important reality: Bangladesh has lagged behind in renewable energy partly because of weak leadership and inadequate policy direction. The government now claims it intends to place greater emphasis on solar and wind energy as part of the country’s future energy strategy. Alongside this, authorities have reportedly set a target to add another 809.5 megawatts of solar electricity to the national grid by 2028. At present, Bangladesh generates approximately 1,451 megawatts of solar electricity, accounting for just over 5 percent of total electricity generation capacity. These initiatives represent progress, but they must move beyond announcements and targets. Bangladesh’s long-term electricity demands cannot be sustainably met through continued dependence on oil-, gas-, and coal-based projects alone. Temporary expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure may ease short-term shortages, but it will deepen financial pressure, increase import dependence, and worsen environmental risks over time. Electricity remains essential for industrial growth, healthcare, education, agriculture, and modern daily life. Ensuring a stable and affordable power supply is therefore one of the country’s most urgent development challenges. In a nation blessed with abundant sunlight, failing to invest seriously in solar energy would mean neglecting one of the most practical and sustainable solutions available. With proper planning, supportive policies, and affordable financing mechanisms, solar power could become not merely an alternative source of energy, but one of the central pathways out of Bangladesh’s recurring electricity crisis.
Mafizur Rahman, a market analyst and financial management consultant, is managing director of Gold Bell Corporation. Editor: Nurul Kabir, Published by the Chairman, Editorial Board ASM Shahidullah Khan on behalf of Media New Age Ltd. +8802-9632245-48 [email protected] For Advertisement, Cell: +8801849 263831 Email: [email protected]
by Dev Parmar | May 8, 2026 10:32 am Trade Brains is India’s trusted financial and business news portal. Phone: 080884 91790 Email: [email protected] Reach us out at For Advertisement, Press Releases, Partnerships or to get backlinks on this website, please e-mail us at [email protected] For Partnerships & Promotio Visit – tradebrainsawards.com/ Chandan Singh Rawat Emaill: [email protected] Mob: (+91)6366648573 Bikram Singhary Email: [email protected] Mob: (+91)8088491790
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Integrated Energy Systems Office This photograph features a photovoltaic array that is housed at the mesa top behind the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The project was financed through a power purchase agreement (PPA) between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and SunEdison. Committed to Restoring America’s Energy Dominance. Follow Us
Partly cloudy. Slight chance of a rain shower. High 68F. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.. Some clouds this evening will give way to mainly clear skies overnight. Low near 45F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Updated: May 10, 2026 @ 12:20 pm A cow, back right, scratches on a support beam of a solar panel Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. Solar panels operate on a farm with cattle Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Christiana, Tenn. Anna Clare Monlezun, left, a rangeland scientist, chats with Loran Shallenberger, right, vice president of regenerative energy and agrivoltaics at Silicon Ranch, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Christiana, Tenn. Cattle rest under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. A cow grazes near solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. Crimson Clover grows in a field under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. A calf stands under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Christiana, Tenn. Cattle graze under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. Anna Clare Monlezun, a rangeland scientist, connects a hose while working near solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a solar farm in Christiana, Tenn. Cattle graze under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. Cattle graze under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn.
A cow, back right, scratches on a support beam of a solar panel Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. Solar panels operate on a farm with cattle Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Christiana, Tenn. Anna Clare Monlezun, left, a rangeland scientist, chats with Loran Shallenberger, right, vice president of regenerative energy and agrivoltaics at Silicon Ranch, Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Christiana, Tenn. Cattle rest under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. A cow grazes near solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. Crimson Clover grows in a field under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. A calf stands under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, in Christiana, Tenn. Cattle graze under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. Anna Clare Monlezun, a rangeland scientist, connects a hose while working near solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a solar farm in Christiana, Tenn. Cattle graze under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. Cattle graze under solar panels Tuesday, April 28, 2026, at a farm in Christiana, Tenn. CHRISTIANA, Tenn. — From a distance, the small solar farm in central Tennessee looks like others that now dot rural America, with row upon row of black panels absorbing the sun’s rays to generate electricity. But beneath these panels is lush pasture instead of gravel, enjoyed by a small herd of cattle that spends its days munching grass and resting in the shade. Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings. Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular videos. Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles. Sign up now to get our FREE breaking news coverage delivered right to your inbox. Sponsored By: St Anthony’s Hospital First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks. We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
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A new renewable energy project in Jackson County is drawing attention across Oregon as regional leaders, agricultural operators, and energy officials look toward new ways to address drought conditions, rising utility costs, and long-term economic sustainability in rural communities. The Medford Irrigation District’s floating solar project, the first of its kind in Oregon, is now being viewed as more than a renewable energy installation. Economic analysts and water managers say the project could become part of a broader strategy aimed at protecting Southern Oregon’s agricultural economy while reducing operational costs for irrigation systems that serve thousands of acres of farmland. The project places nearly 1,800 solar panels across irrigation ponds near Medford and Central Point, allowing the district to generate electricity directly from existing water infrastructure. Unlike traditional solar developments that require additional land use, the floating system operates on reservoir surfaces already owned and maintained by the irrigation district. State and federal agencies supporting the project have identified the installation as a potential model for rural regions facing increasing pressure from drought, water shortages, and higher energy demands. Southern Oregon’s economy remains heavily connected to agriculture, particularly in Jackson and Josephine counties where irrigation districts support vineyards, pear orchards, hay production, vegetable farming, and livestock operations. Water availability has become one of the most important economic concerns in the region over the last decade as snowpack levels continue fluctuating and summer drought conditions intensify. Officials involved with the floating solar initiative say reducing evaporation losses from irrigation ponds could help preserve additional water supplies during peak summer months, particularly during years of below-average rainfall. The economic implications extend beyond water conservation alone. Energy produced by the floating solar system is expected to contribute roughly two million kilowatt-hours annually into Oregon’s community solar network. Participating residents and businesses may receive utility bill credits through the state’s community solar program, allowing households to benefit from renewable energy generation without the expense of installing private rooftop systems. State program materials indicate portions of the energy output are specifically reserved for low-income households, creating potential utility savings for qualifying Southern Oregon residents struggling with rising energy costs. Regional economic planners have increasingly focused on renewable infrastructure projects as both environmental and financial investments for rural Oregon communities. Utility costs for irrigation districts have climbed significantly in recent years, especially during extended summer pumping operations. By generating electricity locally, irrigation districts may be able to offset portions of their operating expenses while stabilizing long-term utility expenditures. Supporters believe those savings could eventually help reduce financial pressure on farmers and water users who depend on irrigation systems throughout the growing season. The project also arrives during a period of economic uncertainty for many agricultural producers across Southern Oregon. Farmers throughout the region continue dealing with inflation, labor shortages, higher fuel costs, and unpredictable weather conditions. Water reliability has become one of the largest concerns tied directly to agricultural production and land values. Officials say technologies that help preserve water while lowering operational expenses may become increasingly important as rural communities attempt to adapt to changing environmental and economic conditions. Federal involvement has also elevated the significance of the project. Funding support tied to the United States Department of Energy and renewable energy initiatives reflects growing national interest in expanding alternative energy systems into rural agricultural communities. Oregon lawmakers and energy advocates have increasingly promoted community-based renewable programs designed to strengthen local infrastructure while reducing long-term dependency on outside power sources. Water managers across Oregon are now closely watching the Medford Irrigation District project as a potential blueprint for future development. Similar floating solar systems have gained attention internationally, but Oregon’s installation represents one of the first large-scale agricultural applications in the Pacific Northwest. If successful, analysts believe similar projects could eventually appear in additional irrigation districts throughout Southern Oregon and other drought-prone farming regions across the state. For residents of Southern Oregon, the floating solar initiative represents an intersection between agriculture, energy, and economic stability at a time when rural communities continue searching for practical solutions to rising costs and growing environmental challenges.
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by Leon Mendonca | May 9, 2026 3:00 pm Synopsis: Emmvee Photovoltaic Power Limited delivered a breakout FY26 with 116% revenue growth, a 9.4 GW order book, and expanding cell utilisation, but its biggest strategic move may lie ahead. With a planned 9 GW ingot and wafer expansion, Emmvee is positioning itself to move beyond modules and build deeper control across the solar value chain. As India’s solar manufacturing ecosystem moves toward deeper localisation, Emmvee Photovoltaic Power Limited is preparing for a much larger role than module production alone. After scaling module capacity to 10.3 GW, strengthening its balance sheet, and launching a 6 GW integrated expansion, the company has now outlined plans for a 9 GW ingot and wafer facility from FY29. Backed by TOPCon technology, alternative supply chains, and a growing order book, Emmvee appears to be building an increasingly integrated solar manufacturing platform. With a market cap of Rs 18,624 crore, the shares of Emmvee Photovoltaic Power Ltd are trading at Rs 269 and are trading at a PE of 17 compared to their industry’s PE of 31. The shares have given a return of more than 15% since their listing in November 2025 . However, for FY26, more importantly, this was a year when Emmvee completed its shift to being a public limited entity, improved its financial stability, expanded its manufacturing capacity, and established itself on the foundation of an even more integrated manufacturing setup. To put the facts out in the most basic terms, in FY26, Emmvee recorded revenues of ₹5,049 crore, EBITDA of ₹1,734 crore, and PAT of ₹1,082 crore. Another significant aspect worth mentioning here is the order book of 9.4 gigawatts at the end of FY26 compared to the previous year’s figure of 4.9 gigawatts. What stands out about all these figures is the fact that the company achieved this feat because it operates on a more integrated model that gives it better control over various factors like manufacturing, delivery, and other aspects. While modules themselves have become increasingly commoditised, it can be seen that there is scope for gaining a competitive advantage by moving towards an integrated manufacturing model. Financial Performance, FY26 demonstrated the speed at which the operations model of Emmvee was scaling. Year-over-year, revenue from operations was up by 116%, and EBITDA increased by 140% compared to the previous fiscal year. The margin in EBITDA margins moved from 31% to 34%, and PAT margins increased from 16% to 21%. This was mainly due to high production levels, better usage of their cell manufacturing plants, operating leverage, and low finance cost intensity after balance sheet deleverage. Return metrics continued to be outstanding for the firm, with ROCE of 38% and ROE at 51%. After its IPO in November 2025, Emmvee raised ₹2,900 crore, with ₹2,144 crore from the fresh issue, out of which ₹1,621 crore was deployed to prepay term loans. Consequently, net debt/equity was reduced to negative 0.06x, and the current ratio improved to 2.1x. Thus, Emmvee is moving into the next growth phase on financially strong footing. In terms of operational performance, FY26 was no less revolutionary. Emmvee’s installed capacity of solar modules reached 10.3 gigawatts by the end of FY26, after it had launched two new 2.5-gigawatt module lines in Sulibele, Bengaluru – one in May 2025 and another one in December 2025. Solar cell installed capacity was reported to be 2.94 gigawatts, and FY26 also witnessed the completion of the company’s first year of cell-manufacturing operation. Module production grew to 2,999 megawatts against 1,482 megawatts of the previous year, thus growing by a factor of two. Cell production amounted to 1,520 megawatts against 534 megawatts of the previous year, which meant it was almost three times higher than last year’s figure. Capacity utilisation on cells grew from 43.3% to 69.9%, with the Q4 figure reaching as high as 79% and management confirming even 85% for March. As far as module utilisation is concerned, it stood at 43% – however, management mentioned that this number needs to be considered within the context of commissioning new lines. Although FY26 was a remarkable year, it seemed that the management had set FY27 as the year of execution. Construction work on Emmvee’s new 6-gigawatt integrated cell and module factory at Devanahalli, Bengaluru, has already started. The land acquisition process has been successfully undertaken, construction has commenced and the module line order has already been placed. The module line is estimated to commence operation before the end of calendar year 2026, whereas the cell line commissioning is expected at the end of FY27. Upon completion, this factory will bring up the total capacity of the modules to 16.3 gigawatts and cell capacity to 8.9 gigawatts. For this purpose, the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency has sanctioned a term loan worth ₹3,306 crore at an interest rate of 7.95%. It seems that approximately 75% to 80% of this borrowing will be incurred by March 2027. This expansion is strategically crucial because it not only enhances Emmvee’s manufacturing depth but also aligns it with the localised manufacturing ecosystem of India’s solar sector. Policy-based localisation was another dominant theme in the conference call. The management stressed that ALMM List 1 provided the initial groundwork for localisation of module manufacturing in India, and ALMM List 2 for solar cells is expected to take localisation of cell procurement to new heights. More significantly, ALMM List 3 is expected for wafers and ingots from 2028 onwards, which is expected to gradually increase involvement in wafer production by Indian manufacturers. Management emphasised that such a move towards localisation and vertical integration is fully consistent with the strategy of backward integration pursued by Emmvee. The management explained that the future of solar manufacturing would not be limited to companies producing modules but would involve firms that could gain greater visibility in the value chain, achieve better traceability, lower reliance on outside procurement chains, and have more control over technology and quality. There are many parallels in this regard to the way in which semiconductor firms achieved strategic resilience by taking control over their wafer production. The most significant strategic development of the call occurred during the Q&A section. According to management, Emmvee intends to establish an ingot and wafer production plant having a capacity of approximately 9 gigawatts. This plan will occur in two phases, where Phase 1 involves production worth 5 gigawatts, followed by Phase 2, involving the establishment of another plant having a capacity of 4 gigawatts one year later. The first phase is likely to happen in FY29. Management was quick to note that this move isn’t a response to any policy change; rather, they always intended “to very clearly fully integrate backwards”. The estimated cost involved in setting up such plants is roughly between ₹600 crores and ₹700 crores per gigawatt. This suggests that Emmvee could invest more than ₹5,000 crores. However, what is more crucial about this move is that Emmvee would no longer be adding capacity. Instead, it would seek to gain control of the critical elements used in solar manufacturing. Management made it clear that supply chains around the world are getting redesigned in such a way that reliance on outside supplies now becomes a strategic vulnerability. As was noted above, Emmvee has stated several times that it has alternative supply chains for all critical raw materials, including solar glass, junction boxes, and wafers, and has already started diversifying its sources of supplies in many cases. Management further indicated that Emmvee still enjoys low costs across the globe compared to Chinese competition, which makes it capable of providing services internationally when the opportunity arises. While no money from exports came in during FY26, management viewed export activities as an “upside”, not a key activity. By developing an integrated approach to cell and module production together with alternative sourcing of raw materials outside of China, Emmvee seems to develop a vertically integrated ecosystem similar to those of semiconductors. From what management has to say about the company, the answer seems to be yes. Emmvee currently has 10.3 gigawatts of module capacity and 2.94 gigawatts of cell capacity and is working on an integrated 6-gigawatt expansion that will increase module capacity to 16.3 gigawatts and cell capacity to 8.9 gigawatts by FY27. Furthermore, the 9 gigawatt ingot and wafer expansion that Emmvee plans to start from FY29 looks like a very important strategic step to establish itself in the most important part of the solar manufacturing value chain. Taking into account Emmvee’s 9.4 gigawatt order book, impressive 34% EBITDA margin, lack of net debt, TOPCon technology leader status, and alternative supply chains outside of China, it looks like Emmvee is not only trying to become a manufacturer of solar cells but also a fully fledged solar manufacturing ecosystem. Indeed, it is in semiconductors that the companies controlling wafers, process technology, and supply chains created the widest moats. Disclaimer: The views and investment tips expressed by investment experts/broking houses/rating agencies on tradebrains.in are their own, and not that of the website or its management. Investing in equities poses a risk of financial losses. Investors must therefore exercise due caution while investing or trading in stocks. Trade Brains Technologies Private Limited or the author are not liable for any losses caused as a result of the decision based on this article. Please consult your investment advisor before investing.
Leon is a Financial Analyst at Trade Brains with experience of writing 500+ finance and stock market-related articles, supported by an MBA in Finance and Marketing. He brings a strong understanding of financial analysis, along with insights into the securities market. Experienced in analysing financials and business data, supporting research-driven decision-making, and presenting insights in a clear and structured manner Trade Brains is India’s trusted financial and business news portal. Phone: 080884 91790 Email: [email protected] Reach us out at For Advertisement, Press Releases, Partnerships or to get backlinks on this website, please e-mail us at [email protected] For Partnerships & Promotio Visit – tradebrainsawards.com/ Chandan Singh Rawat Emaill: [email protected] Mob: (+91)6366648573 Bikram Singhary Email: [email protected] Mob: (+91)8088491790
April 18, 2026
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