Solar Now

Windmills tower over rural land at a wind farm by Pattern Energy, owner of Heritage Prairie Renewable, at its Post Rock project in Kansas. The company has two projects slated for Kankakee and Livingston Counties – Heritage Prairie Wind and Heritage Prairie Solar. (Provided by Pattern Energy)
The $2.6-billion wind and solar energy project set for more than 1,600 acres in Kankakee and Livingston counties is set to begin in June.
Heritage Prairie Renewable, the expansive solar and wind project in western Kankakee County and part of Livingston County, will start taking shape later this summer and in the spring of 2027.
The Heritage Prairie Renewable project was approved by the Kankakee County Board in 2022. It’s a joint venture of Pattern Energy and Repsol Renewables North America, which has its headquarters in San Francisco, with an operations center in Houston.
The Heritage Prairie Wind project will be located in western Kankakee County and northeastern Livingston County. Within Livingston County, the project will be located in Dwight, Round Grove, and Broughton townships, according to the company’s website.
Windmills spin at the Pilot Hill Wind farm near Herscher. A wind and solar farm by Pattern Energy are on schedule for Kankakee and Livingston Counties, with Heritage Prairie Wind project set to in June. (Tiffany Blanchette)
Heritage Prairie Wind is a 616.5 megawatt wind generation facility that will provide electricity to the needs of about 180,000 homes.
“Heritage Prairie Wind is on schedule,” said Patrick Gehl, public engagement manager with Pattern Energy, in an email. “Construction is targeted to begin in June, with commercial operations beginning in 2028.”
Delbert Skimmerhorn, director of planning for Kankakee County, said almost everything is in place, including road use agreements and a decommissioning bond. Skimmerhorn said Pattern Energy has paid the stormwater permit fee of $52,000, and the county is waiting on the building permit fee of $1.85 million. Those fees go into the county’s general fund.
“I expect that sometime next week,” Skimmerhorn said of the building permit fee.
Heritage Prairie Wind is a $2.1 billion investment, and the project is expected to provide $175 million in new tax revenues to Kankakee and Livingston counties over the life of the project – 30 to 40 years. According to Pattern Energy’s website, more than 330 construction jobs will be used during the building of the project and 12 to 16 full-time jobs to operate and maintain the facility.
The construction on the wind farm takes 12 to 18 months, and the facility is targeted to be operational in 2028.
Windmills tower over rural land at a wind farm by Pattern Energy, owner of Heritage Prairie Renewable, at its Post Rock project in Kansas. The company has two projects slated for Kankakee and Livingston Counties – Heritage Prairie Wind and Heritage Prairie Solar. (Provided by Pattern Energy)
Heritage Prairie Solar is a $500 million project, and the 300-megawatt solar farm’s footprint will take up 1,600 acres of the total farmland in Kankakee County east of Essex. Construction is expected to start later this year.
“The Heritage Prairie Solar project remains in development, with construction site preparation anticipated to begin in 2026 and commercial operation targeted for 2028,” Gehl said.
It’s estimated to provide more than 150 full-time local construction jobs. After construction, two full-time employees will be dedicated to the solar farm for the 30- to 35-year life of the project.
Over the life of the solar project, more than $44 million in property tax revenue will be generated to the taxing jurisdictions within its large footprint and about $23 million in property taxes to Herscher and Reed-Custer school districts, the company said.
I'm the associate editor as well as the editor of the business and opinion sections. I'm a graduate of Indiana University and have more than 30 years of experience in newspapers.

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Planet Detroit
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We’re reporting all summer. Tell us what matters in your zip code — pipelines, PFAS, rate hikes, the data-center next door — and we’ll put it in front of the people running.
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Across the country, Americans are feeling the pressure of rising utility bills in an unpredictable economic time. Since 2021, electric prices have risen nationally around 40%, with many Michiganders seeing a roughly 6.1% increase in 2026 alone.
Despite all the noise about energy sovereignty, energy dominance, and energy independence, most seem to ignore one critical realization: we are on the verge of a 21st-century age of cheap and abundant energy. 
Real challenges must be addressed to power the 21st century. Yet the drive to build natural gas plants addresses this challenge by maximizing utility profits. How? Utilities make an average of 9.7% return on equity on large capital projects, and do not profit from electricity sales or the operation and maintenance of existing equipment.
This means that if a utility could build a $1.2-billion project vs. a $200-million dollar one to achieve the same goal, they will always choose the more expensive one. 

To be clear, I am not arguing to remove the existing grid. Our existing system can, over time, play a different role. Large power lines can become supplemental to our own local, homegrown energy production. In Michigan, nearly half — 45.9% — of our state’s total energy demand could be met by installing solar panels on existing rooftops, according to a 2016 study.
This study did not include energy production or additional benefits from installing solar panels over parking lots to limit heat islands; over canals and reservoirs to reduce evaporation of precious water resources; or over agriculture to increase crop production that thrive in partially shaded environments.
We in Michigan have a variety of needs, and we should expect our utilities to serve us by investing in a flexible and resilient energy system that allows us to affordably meet our local needs using local solutions and meet the challenges of the 21st century together. 
This is not a political issue nor one of sustainability. This is a challenge of affordability, reliability, and resilience.
Michigan utilities were ranked the least reliable across the nation by the Citizens Utility Board last year with regards to power interruptions and the highest prices for electricity in the Midwest.
From 2013-2022, these power interruptions cost each customer roughly $1,272 every year in lost groceries, medicine, and other costs associated with power outages.
Utility advocates voice a need for “firm” and “dispatchable” capacity in the form of building new gas plants because it secures their profits for decades, not because it will make our system more resilient or keep your lights on after a storm. 
In a recent article from the Insti­tute for Energy Research, a fossil fuel advocacy group founded by Charles Koch, the authors argue that policy barriers are preventing the United States from deploying gas plants required to meet rising demand.
To me, by ignoring cheap, resilient, and available homegrown energy, it seems the Insti­tute for Energy Research sees only where we have been, not where we are going. 
Rather than focus on the 20th-century resources that force our daily dependency on foreign fuel supplies, let us mandate our utilities to persistently deliver affordable, reliable, and resilient homegrown elec­tri­city.
The cost of sunlight has no price volatility. No wars impact how the sun shines on your home, and no trade embargoes will impact your home’s energy production.

Planet Detroit’s Voices column includes opinion pieces from our community of partners and readers. These pieces express the voices of the authors and not necessarily those of the publication.
Van Buren Township planning commission grants preliminary approval for a substation serving Google’s planned 1-gigawatt data center Wednesday, despite concerns from overflow crowds about noise, property values, and infrastructure strain.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel says Trump administration orders keeping the J.H. Campbell coal plant open have cost ratepayers $180 million, far more than the aging facility would recoup in profit.
DTE Energy files for a $474-million rate hike, offers to pause increases for two years if rate case has “constructive’ outcome and Saline data center opens by target date.
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by Richard Boehnke, Planet Detroit
May 30, 2026

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GoodWe, Suzhou, China; manufacturer of solar inverters, has introduced the SBP G2 Series AC-coupled retrofit inverter for residential energy storage applications. The series is available in 3.6 kW, 5 kW, and 6 kW single-phase models. It supports low-voltage lithium-ion batteries operating between 40 V and 60 V. The inverter can upgrade existing single-phase or three-phase PV systems by adding battery storage. UPS-level switching to backup mode is achieved in less than 10 ms during grid outages. Battery-to-AC efficiency reaches up to 95.5%, while the unit carries an IP65 protection rating. The wall-mounted inverter weighs between 19.2 kg and 19.5 kg and supports WiFi, LAN, 4G, CAN, and RS485 communications.

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Türkiye's installed electricity capacity rose to 125,410 megawatts (MW) as of the end of April, according to official data, propelled by a rapid growth in variable renewable sources such as solar and wind.
The Energy and Natural Resources Ministry said renewable sources accounted for 62.5% of total installed capacity, equivalent to 78,377 megawatts. The ministry also reported that domestically sourced capacity reached 71.7% of the total electricity mix.

Solar energy has emerged as the fastest-growing segment in Türkiye's power system, reaching 26,769 megawatts and accounting for 21.3% of total installed capacity.
Wind power increased to 15,075 megawatts, representing 12% of total capacity.

Together, wind and solar reached 41,844 megawatts, or 33.3% of Türkiye's total installed electricity capacity, meaning roughly one-third of installed capacity now comes from the two renewable sources alone.
Hydropower remains the single largest source of installed capacity at 32,338 megawatts, or 25.8%, followed by natural gas at 25,013 megawatts (20%).
Domestic coal accounted for 11,565 megawatts (9.2%), while imported coal stood at 10,456 megawatts (8.3%).
Smaller contributors included biomass at 2,396 megawatts (1.9%) and geothermal energy at 1,798 megawatts (1.4%).

Türkiye aims to raise combined wind and solar installed capacity to 120,000 megawatts by 2035.
To support the expansion, it plans to invest around $30 billion.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Alparslan Bayraktar said Türkiye had built a 26,769-megawatt solar capacity from scratch over the past 13 years.
Bayraktar said solar power is expected to soon become the largest single source in the system.
“By the end of this year, solar power will surpass hydropower to reach the top spot in total installed capacity,” he noted.
He added that renewable energy continues to expand its share in line with Türkiye's long-term climate and energy targets, including its 2035 net-zero emissions ambition.
The minister also pointed to record additions in wind and solar capacity in recent years and said further expansion would be marked by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan at an upcoming mass ceremony for renewable energy investments scheduled for next week.

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Elon Musk says that he wants SpaceX and Tesla teams to work together to build 100 gigawatts of solar power manufacturing capacity in the US — cells and modules. And he wants to do that within three years. There’s a lot to consider here.
Before we get into some of the nuts and bolts, big-picture view, Tesla is almost a decade behind schedule on what Musk said the company would achieve with self-driving cars, and SpaceX is years behind schedule on sending people to Mars. However, on the flip side, Tesla has built manufacturing facilities — in China and the US — much faster than skeptics assumed the company could.
Regarding these broad solar ambitions, pv magazine‘s Ben Zientara has gone through and evaluated how realistic they look. It’s a great piece, and I’m just going to highlight what I see as the key notes here:
Overall, we really don’t have enough insight into the plans (if they exist in detail) SpaceX and Tesla are pursuing. However, if they truly are set on jacking up solar module and solar cell manufacturing capacity in the United States, it does look possible. Within three years? Well, we’ll see.
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Zach is tryin’ to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its editor-in-chief and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about electric vehicles and renewable energy at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao.
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‘Is it worth getting home solar and battery in 2026?’: Man shares revealing data on home battery backup savings  Yahoo
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More than 400,000 batteries have been installed under the cheaper home batteries scheme. Here’s how to get the best bang for your buck
Change by degrees offers life hacks and sustainable living tips each Saturday to help reduce your household’s carbon footprint
Got a question or tip for reducing household emissions? Email us at changebydegrees@theguardian.com
If Australians love solar, they are head over heels for home batteries. More than 400,000 batteries have been installed under the government’s subsidy scheme.
Here’s what you need to consider if you’re looking at getting one installed.
The cheaper home batteries program was originally designed to encourage people to install systems that were too big for what they actually needed. In December, the government announced it would create a tiered scheme to support households to pick systems better tailored to their needs.
In changes to the scheme from May, all battery systems will receive the full base subsidy on the first 14 kilowatt hours (kWh) of usable capacity. Systems that go above 14kWh will get 60% of the subsidy, up to 28kWh. Anything between 28 and 50kWh will be subsidised at a rate of 15%.
The discount will then be slowly reduced every six months until 2030.
Tim Forcey, a home comfort and energy adviser, researcher and author, says there is no need to rush and that it may be worth households investigating other measures first.
The first step is to improve energy efficiency, with better insulation in the roof and walls, draught-proofing, window coverings and double-glazed windows. These measures mean that, as you move to the next step to electrify your home, you will get far more value from your appliances.
Installing split-cycle air conditioning that uses a heat pump to both cool and heat your home, replacing gas cooktops with induction and swapping out a gas water heater with electric are all good next steps.
“Now you’ve got an all-electric home, so you’ve got a better chance to get actual value out of a battery,” Forcey says. “Having a big battery that you’re using to power a leaky house is not an efficient or effective use.”
That depends. There are many reasons to invest in a battery, and sometimes good reasons not to.
“Every household is quite different,” UNSW’s Dr Dylan McConnell says. “Bigger is not always better from a return on investment perspective, or value perspective.”
The first question is whether you have solar. If you don’t have solar, getting a home battery can still be useful, particularly if you are in an area prone to blackouts or disasters and want to be more resilient.
Batteries do their best work when paired with solar. The Smart Energy Council’s chief strategy officer, Nigel Morris, says that as the biggest cost associated with solar is the initial installation fee, it is a good idea to maximise your generating capacity.
“The best bang for your buck, and the best bang for the environment, is to put on as much solar as you can. No one ever said: ‘Damn, I added too much solar’,” Morris says.
There is no reason to replace an older solar system if it is meeting your needs, but it may be time for an upgrade if your electricity use has grown. For those who are investing in solar for the first time, Morris says going bigger off the bat can help future-proof, particularly for households looking to buy an EV, add other appliances or have children.
“As you start to electrify your home, it’s likely your home will increase consumption,” Morris says. “For example, an electric vehicle adds a significant amount of load. That’s a really important factor in system design. Many people will want or need to charge, to some degree, overnight, so storage becomes really crucial.”
“The basic idea is straight forward: use the sun to charge the battery, and then use the battery at night to run the house,” Forcey says. “During the peak hours, especially during the five-to-nine peak times, that’s when the grid will be most stressed and most expensive.”
With the average system size since December roughly 32kWh, and the average daily household use roughly between 15 kWh and 20 kWh, McConnell says most systems will be more than enough for what’s needed.
Choosing a reputable installer is crucial. It is tempting to look for a cheaper option but the more significant factor is quality of work and reputation. An installer should be willing to answer your questions, take time to understand your circumstances, and be willing to teach you how the system works so you can make changes or detect problems.
Attention to detail is especially important for safety, Morris says. A badly placed battery may be at risk of being hit when entering a tight-fitting garage, or crunched if someone accidentally hits the accelerator instead of the brake.
Forcey has heard stories of people whose batteries were installed incorrectly, so they drew power during the most expensive times and discharged at the cheapest.
Unless you are going fully off-grid, which can be very expensive, make sure to read your existing electricity plan to understand how you are being charged, and how to set your battery to take advantage.
From 1 July, for example, some providers will begin offering free electricity in the middle of the day between 11am and 2pm. A home battery could be programmed to charge during this period for use later in the evening. Other providers may offer EV-specific charging plans.

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Different by Design: First Solar’s Long-Term Bet on India Begins to Pay Off Photograph: (Saur Energy)
Walking through First Solar’s thin film module factory near Chennai is an unusual experience for anyone who has spent time in India’s solar manufacturing ecosystem. There are no rows of texturing baths, no wafer cassettes, no long PECVD lines. Instead, sheets of glass enter one end of an integrated production block and finished, framed modules emerge at the other end — within roughly four hours, almost entirely handled by automation, AGVs, and a workforce that looks, from the floor, almost uniformly under thirty.
The plant is, by any reasonable measure, India’s most distinctive solar facility. It is the only solar manufacturing site in the country that produces a non-silicon, non-Chinese-origin module, end to end. It is also one of the only large industrial facilities of any kind in India that does not deplete a single litre of fresh groundwater for its production process. And as the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) regime moves down the value chain to cells, wafers, and ingots, it is positioned in a way no other manufacturer in the country can quite replicate..

For Sujoy Ghosh, Country Lead, First Solar India, none of this is the result of a recent strategic pivot. It is the outcome of a 15-year-plus engagement with the Indian market that he has been part of through almost every chapter — from the first commercial cadmium telluride (CdTe) modules sold in India in 2011, to the company’s earlier development arm that built and monetised utility-scale assets between 2014 and 2020, and now the Greenfield manufacturing plant in Tamil Nadu commissioned within the Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) framework.
To understand why First Solar’s Indian operation is structurally different from anything else operating under ALMM today, the conversation has to start with the technology itself. 
First Solar’s differentiation begins with Cadmium Telluride, a thin film semiconductor deposited at high temperature directly onto a 2.5 mm sheet of glass. There is no polysilicon, no ingot, no wafer — the semiconductor and the module are built in a continuous process under one roof. “We take a sheet of glass and convert it into a finished module in about four hours, in a single integrated process,” Ghosh explains, contrasting that with the silicon route, which moves polysilicon through ingots, wafers, cells, and finally module assembly across multiple highly capital- and energy-intensive stages.
The economic implications are significant. Per gigawatt of integrated capacity, thin film is among the lowest-capex solar technologies anywhere in the world. The energy footprint is also dramatically lower — by Ghosh’s estimate, roughly four times less energy is expended for the semiconductor-to-module process than the polysilicon route. In a country where industrial energy costs and water stress both matter, that profile travels well.
Thin film technology also performs well in the field. First Solar has more than two gigawatts of installed CdTe capacity in India dating back to 2011 — long-duration field data across Indian climate regimes that most newer entrants simply do not have. Thin film degrades less than silicon at high cell temperatures, which matters in hot peninsular and central Indian sites; CdTe also captures a broader photon spectrum, which matters when humidity and atmospheric moisture shift the available light. The result, Ghosh notes, is a higher kilowatt-hour yield over lifetime for the same nameplate capacity — the metric that matters to any IPP doing serious LCOE math. That field performance is why First Solar’s customer roster reads like a who’s-who of the early Indian utility-scale market: Reliance Power, Azure Power, Acme, ReNew, Tata Power Renewables, , EDF/EDEN, Fortum, Hinduja Renewables, Mahindra Susten, CESC Ltd,  — most marquee IPPs have bought into the technology, and many are repeat First Solar buyers.
Ghosh says First Solar’s 2021 decision to build a Greenfield Indian facility was the product of three converging forces: 1) A policy framework — particularly the PLI scheme — actively encouraging integrated, end-to-end manufacturing rather than mere assembly; 2) A domestic market that had grown into one of the company’s largest internationally; and 3) A decade of demonstrated technical performance that had built a loyal Indian customer base.

What is somewhat understated in the public conversation around domestic solar manufacturing is that First Solar had been investing capital in India long before it built its Tamil Nadu plant. Between 2014 and 2020, in the wake of the government’s 100-GW solar target announcement, the company ran a development business in India — acquiring land, bidding for PPAs, building utility-scale assets, and then recycling capital by selling those assets to financial investors. The plant represents a second, far larger, stage of capital commitment, and the sequence gives Ghosh’s reading of the Indian market a depth few newer manufacturing entrants can match.
If there is one section of the discussion where Ghosh’s tone shifts from analytical to genuinely enthusiastic, it is on building the plant itself. By his account, First Solar’s two principal concerns going in — quality of infrastructure, and the amount of red tape slowing the ease of doing business — both turned out to be substantially better than expected. The plant was built from scratch in roughly 19 months, a timeline he says comfortably matches comparable Greenfield projects the company has executed elsewhere.
Most of the approximately 35-40 permits required for construction and operations are now handled online and time-bound, with queries logged and addressed digitally. Power supply and quality have been on par with developed-market benchmarks. Water for manufacturing is supplied as tertiary-treated reverse-osmosis output recycled from Chennai’s municipal sewage — reliable, cost-effective, and a pointed indication of how a water-stressed state is keeping heavy industry running without depleting fresh sources. Talent has been the third surprise: India’s young engineering graduates have proved unusually adaptable to the Industry 4.0 environment of the plant. “They’re mostly Gen Zs, and they’re very adaptable to automation,” Ghosh says.
It is in the next phase of policy that First Solar’s structural positioning becomes most consequential — yet under-discussed. 
ALMM List-I, covering modules, has been an obvious win for India’s domestic industry. But module assembly is, as Ghosh puts it bluntly, “the easy part.” The real test of an industrial ecosystem is whether it builds depth in cells, wafers, ingots, and ultimately polysilicon — the parts of the value chain where capital intensity is high, capacity utilisation really matters, and innovation happens. ALMM List-II, which extends the same domestic-sourcing logic to solar cells, is the policy lever now shaping the next phase. A subsequent extension to wafers — effectively an ALMM List-III — will, when it follows, do the same upstream. For Indian module assemblers that have so far thrived on imported Chinese cells and wafers, this is a critical transition.
For First Solar, this is largely a non-issue. Because the CdTe process brings together semiconductor, cell, and module production into a single, integrated facility, every module rolling off the Tamil Nadu line is, by definition, fully domestically manufactured at every layer of the value chain. There is no upstream Chinese cell or wafer dependency to engineer out, because the silicon supply chain is not used at all. As ALMM List-II and any subsequent ALMM list take effect, First Solar is, in policy terms, effectively pre-qualified under domestic content rules — not by adapting to a tightening regime, but by virtue of having always been built that way. 
The proof is already showing up in segments where DCR compliance is enforced rather than assumed. First Solar is now, by Ghosh’s account, the largest-selling DCR module in the PM-KUSUM segment — a market the company had not historically participated in before the Indian factory came online. It has also begun supplying public-sector buyers, with a small NTPC Ramagundam order and a recent SECI selection for a CPSU project. The legacy IPP base, meanwhile, has stayed intact through the transition. 
Ghosh’s reading of where the Indian solar manufacturing story goes next is shaped by his long visibility into the customer side. On the issue of protectionism, he resists the framing entirely: the basic customs duty regime imposed in 2019–2020 was designed for a world in which modules sold at 25–28 cents per watt; in a market where Chinese modules are now changing hands at 7–8 cents and producers are publicly admitting losses, however, headline tariffs simply do not levelise the field. Anti-dumping action, safeguard duties, and quality control orders — the tools used in every major economy facing strategic supply-chain dumping — are, in his view, legitimate countermeasures, not protectionism.
On the role of government, less is more. Demand creation, a level playing field, and structural rules around bankability, warranty enforcement, and recycling are where MNRE and the centre should focus. Government-prescribed efficiency thresholds, technology preferences, and component-level specifications, by contrast, are best left to market forces and discerning IPP customers. Ghosh flags a related concern: as new entrants without manufacturing or renewable-technology heritage take a larger share of supply, the consumer’s ability to enforce 25-30-year warranties — and the producer’s ability to honour recycling obligations down the line — becomes the structural risk policy needs to address. 
And on demand, the warning is plain. PPAs for plain-vanilla solar and wind are not getting signed at the pace they once did. The market is shifting toward round-the-clock and distributed segments, and PM-KUSUM and PM Surya Ghar are still climbing learning curves on the ground. Without sustained demand pull, Ghosh cautions, the manufacturing build-out risks running into excess capacity within its own borders before the upstream value chain has had time to mature. 
An industry-leading sustainability footprint is where First Solar’s Tamil Nadu facility distinguishes itself most visibly. The company is a global RE100 signatory, and the Indian plant has contracted an 80 MW captive solar-wind hybrid that can currently meet roughly 30–35 percent of plant energy needs in real time. Ghosh expects that to reach 50 percent as the contracted capacity is fully commissioned within the year. Going beyond will require either continued banking with the Tamil Nadu discom — whose policy continuity is uncertain — or captive storage, both of which are under active evaluation.
The plant’s water footprint is genuinely remarkable. It does not draw any fresh or groundwater for production. All process water is sourced from the recycled-sewage RO supply, and the plant runs zero liquid discharge with about half of all waste streams recovered and reused inside the loop. By Ghosh’s reckoning, it is “probably the only solar plant in the world which is net zero from a water standpoint.” In a country where industrial water stress is one of the underwritten risks of any large factory, that is a competitive moat in its own right — and one likely to grow more valuable as global buyers begin to apply CBAM-style carbon and water lenses to solar inputs themselves. If buyers start asking how clean the clean-energy industry actually is, a process that uses roughly a quarter of the energy and a fraction of the water of a polysilicon line is on the right side of the question.
One of First Solar’s greatest differentiators is found in its global recycling program. The same integrated process that gives First Solar its ALMM and cost advantages delivers a significant structural benefit: every First Solar plant comes with a working recycling capability built in.
Indian regulation already mandates solar end-of-life recycling. Since November 2022, MoEFCC rules have treated retired modules as e-waste, which means they cannot be landfilled — and the recycling obligation sits with the producer. What is missing, Ghosh points out, is the market mechanism: a WEEE-style framework, of the kind used in Europe, where a regulator sets a recycling fee, collects it from the producer at the time of sale, and allocates it to recyclers by volume processed. Until India puts that scaffolding in place, the obligation hangs over every gigawatt being bid out — roughly 50 GW per annum — with little clarity on who actually pays for what. 
First Solar is already operating recycling lines, but for a different reason. Its high-yield, integrated manufacturing inevitably generates production scrap, and within that scrap sits something genuinely valuable — the cadmium telluride semiconductor itself. Recovery is an economic decision as well as a sustainability one. The semiconductor is recycled and reused in new solar modules; while the glass and polyolefin, cables, and steel go to different outlets for beneficial use. Recycling is integrated into the product’s lifecycle from its design, manufacturing, through end-of-life management, rather than as an after-thought. 
The competitive implication is significant. A pure module assembler has nothing equivalent to recover from its own scrap; the high-value semiconductor sits in cells imported from elsewhere. When MNRE finalises the recycling-enforcement architecture Ghosh has been advocating for, First Solar will be the only manufacturer in India with operational, in-line recycling already running. As with ALMM List-II, the advantage is structural: not built for a future Indian rule but happens to be exactly what such a rule will require. 
Across the conversation, what comes through most clearly is that First Solar’s Indian story is not built on a single regulatory tailwind. It is the compounding of 15 years of customer relationships, asset-development experience, technology field data, manufacturing discipline, and a sustainability profile that happens to align almost perfectly with where Indian and global procurement is now heading. ALMM List-II will reward that alignment; a future extension to wafers will reward it further; the carbon- and water-intensity questions European buyers are beginning to ask will reward it again. In a market where most of the manufacturing build-out is still upstream-dependent on Chinese inputs, the only solar technology in India that does not touch the Chinese silicon value chain at any point is, increasingly, looking less like an outlier — and more like a category of one.
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‘Thank you for listening’: Ohio city plans to phase out rooftop solar fees as electric rates rise  Yahoo
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SSAB, the Swedish steelmaker, will supply decarbonized steel to Vattenfall for the construction of the Juliusburg/Krukow ground-mounted solar park in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, according to a company statement. The SSAB Zero steel will be used in the support structures for solar panels. More than 9,000 steel sections with a combined weight of 209 tons are planned for the project.
SSAB noted that although solar energy already has a significant role in Germany’s energy transition, emissions still accompany solar park construction. Vattenfall stated that using SSAB’s low-carbon steel reduces CO2 emissions in the construction and supply chain by 67%. The solar park has a rated capacity of 80 MW (peak) and is expected to generate about 120 GWh of fossil-fuel-free solar electricity annually.
In a separate earlier agreement last November, SSAB signed a deal with Vattenfall to supply 120 tons of fossil-fuel-free steel for the construction of what was described as the world’s first and largest dam gate, produced with nearly zero carbon emissions during production.
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Posted on May 29, 2026

Danish energy company Ørsted A/S (CPH:ORSTED) has arranged land financings with HA Sustainable Infrastructure Capital Inc (NYSE:HASI) for three solar-plus-storage projects in the US with a combined capacity of 1 GW.
The transactions announced by HASI on Wednesday concern about 6,600 acres (2,671 hectares) across Ørsted’s Eleven Mile Solar Center in Arizona’s Pinal County, the Sparta Solar project in Texas’ Bee County and the Muscle Shoals Solar project in Colbert County, Alabama. All three sites are in operation and are run under long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs).
Under the arrangement, Ørsted and its partners will continue to own and operate the assets.
“By partnering with HASI, a leading sustainable infrastructure investor, we’re able to optimise our capital position for future investment, while continuing to deliver energy to our customers across Arizona, Texas, and Alabama,” said James Giamarino, Chief Commercial Officer at Ørsted Americas.
The 300-MW Eleven Mile Solar Center and the 250-MW Sparta Solar farm, which is part of the 518-MW Helena Energy Center, were commissioned in 2024. The 227-MW Muscle Shoals Solar plant has been generating electricity since 2021 for Meta Platforms and the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA). The three sites are currently equally owned by Ørsted and Energy Capital Partners (ECP).
Ørsted owns over 6 GW of wind, solar and energy storage capacity in the US through its Americas Onshore business.
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By Josh Axelrod The US president makes no bones about his disdain for wind power, which over the years he’s falsely blamed for cancer and whale deaths in the Atlantic Ocean. But his anti-wind sentiment has assumed new proportions since he took office. During that time, he has thrown up roadblocks to stop wind expansion at every… Read More

By Ray Brennan California is moving ahead with offshore wind development even as the Trump administration tries to slow the industry across the country. State officials and industry groups say California’s enormous wind resource could help power millions of homes, create jobs, and strengthen the grid for decades to come. A National Renewable Energy Laboratory… Read More

By Dan Gearino A utility megamerger announced this week would mean that the largest offshore wind project in the United States would be owned by the same company that already is the nation’s leading developer of renewables and battery storage. NextEra Energy of Florida, the largest U.S. utility by market value, reached an agreement to combine… Read More

The 920 MW Greater Changhua 2b and 4 offshore wind farms have achieved two important milestones: All 66 array cables have been successfully installed and energised. All 42 wind turbines at Greater Changhua 4 (583 MW) have now been successfully connected to Taipower’s grid and are generating electricity. We’re continuing commissioning and grid integration works… Read More

The chief executive of NextEra Energy said on Monday that his company felt good about Dominion’s investment in offshore wind, a technology he has disparaged in the past. CEO John Ketchum made the remarks on a call with investors to discuss NextEra’s $66.8 billion bid for Dominion, which is building a more than $11 billion… Read More

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A sea of solar panels is rapidly engulfing one of the world’s largest salt deserts. By 2029, nearly 60 million panels will cover 280 square miles of India’s Rann of Kutch, extending right up to the border with Pakistan. The Khavda solar park is set to be the world’s largest and most powerful supplier of electricity from the sun, with a generating capacity of 30 gigawatts — 30 times the size of a typical coal or nuclear power station and enough to power Austria. 
With India’s economy now growing faster than China’s, Khavda epitomizes the country’s breakneck rush to electrify with solar power. Installed solar capacity in India has been growing by 40 percent a year. In March, it passed 150 gigawatts, and by 2030 is set to double again. 
Analysts say the world’s most populous nation is on the verge of becoming the first major country to power its industrialization predominantly with solar energy. 
Cheap solar is “enabling India to develop without the long fossil-fuel detour taken by the West and China,” said Kingsmill Bond, energy strategist and director at Ember, a U.K.-based think tank that tracks the world’s transition to renewable energy. “China built on coal; India is building on sun,” he said. “And what India is doing could also be mirrored in other emerging economies.” 
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India’s solar revolution comes as a surprise. Just a decade ago, apart from rooftop installations and a few microgrids serving remote rural villages, solar power was virtually unknown. The government seemed hell-bent on industrializing with coal, unleashing a rising tide of carbon dioxide emissions and supercharging climate change.
In 2015, shortly after taking office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to double coal output by 2020. And at successive international climate negotiations, his ministers pushed back angrily against demands that the country renounce the fossil fuels that drove industrialization in Europe and North America. 
“How can anyone expect that developing countries make promises about phasing out coal [when they] still have to deal with poverty reduction?” Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav asked angrily at COP26 in Glasgow five years ago, before sabotaging the conference’s planned declaration on eliminating coal from the global economy. 
But back home, policy was already changing. The country’s sunny climate made it a natural home for solar energy, and the cost of solar panels was falling fast. Ever since the Glasgow conference, India has been introducing solar energy at an accelerating rate. Last year, for the first time, more than half its installed generating capacity was from non-fossil fuel sources. 
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As booming India’s electricity demand continues to grow by more than 6 percent each year, the solar trend is set to continue. According to the International Energy Agency, or IEA, about half the growth anticipated between now and 2030 will be met by solar power, and another 25 percent from other low-carbon sources, mostly wind, hydroelectric, and nuclear. 
Leading the solar surge is the country’s largest private power producer and the world’s second largest solar developer, the Adani Group. Founded in 1988 initially as a commodity importer by Gautam Adani, a long-time confidante of Prime Minister Modi and reputedly now Asia’s richest person, it is widely regarded as having benefited from Modi’s patronage. 
Eyebrows were raised in 2023 when long-standing military protocols banning all construction within 6 miles of the border with Pakistan were set aside weeks before Adani gained control of that land for the Khavda project. And in 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice accused Adani executives of paying hundreds of millions of dollars in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain lucrative supply contracts for its solar energy and hiding this from potential investors. The case was dropped this month after Adani made offers to invest in the U.S., though U.S. officials denied any link. 
Still, the fast-growing Khavda solar park, which had an installed capacity of 9.4 gigawatts as of April, is the jewel in the Adani crown. Its panels are attended by robots that dry-clean them at night to remove desert salt and dust without requiring precious freshwater. The project also includes wind turbines in the windy coastal region on the shores of the Arabian Sea, which should secure nighttime power for the grid.
India still has a long way to go to break its dependence on fossil fuels. Coal still delivers most of the country’s baseload and fuels about 70 percent of total power generation. It helps make India the world’s third-largest carbon dioxide emitter, after China and the U.S, and is a major cause of the country’s urban smogs, which are the worst in the world. But the target to double coal mining output has been quietly forgotten, and construction of coal-fired power stations has been much reduced. Coal’s share in the energy mix is set to fall below 50 percent by 2035, according to the IEA.
Still, with its enormous generating capacity, coal remains deeply entrenched. And there are other constraints on how much solar power can contribute to keeping the lights on in India. While solar last year made up 28 percent of the country’s total installed electricity-generating capacity, it accounted for only 9.4 percent of the electricity put into supply. 
Why the difference? There are two reasons. 
The first is that the country’s outdated grid cannot yet transmit all the solar power being captured in the deserts of western India to where it is needed in the urban heartlands. At times last year, almost 40 percent of the country’s solar power output did not reach customers. 
Charith Konda, an India-based energy researcher for the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, attributes this to the rapid growth of solar facilities, which has outstripped grid development. “Solar plants typically take 18 to 24 months to build, while transmission projects usually take about five years… The grid is trying to catch up.” To that end, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has committed to spending more than $100 billion on expanding the national grid by 29 percent by 2032, through a series of green energy corridors linking solar hubs to major industrial and population centers.
But a revamped grid is only part of the answer, said Debajit Palit, who researches the country’s energy transition at the Chintan Research Foundation in New Delhi. Solar also underdelivers because India lacks the infrastructure to store renewable energy to meet demand after the sun goes down and during the cloudier monsoon season.
One solution being hurriedly adopted is to use water as a battery — so-called pumped storage. This involves linking two storage tanks or reservoirs, one higher than the other.  When the grid has surplus power, that electricity is used to pump water from the bottom tank to the top tank. Then, when the grid needs extra power, it can be generated by dropping the water through turbines to the lower tank. 
Starting later this year, a 1.4-gigawatt project is expected to pump water from one of India’s largest hydroelectric reservoirs, the Gandhi Sagar on the Chambal River in the state of Madhya Pradesh. Another, with a capacity of 3 gigawatts, is set for completion near Mumbai in 2030. In January, the country’s Central Electricity Authority identified 120 potential pumped-storage sites with a combined capacity of 180 gigawatts.
Another solution to the storage problem is lithium-ion batteries. World battery prices are falling dramatically — down 58 percent since 2023, said Ember’s global electricity analyst Kostantsa Rangelova, “making round-the-clock solar electricity increasingly viable.” 
Recognizing this, the Indian government has since last year required new solar farms to install battery storage so they can supply more constant power to the grid. Adani is currently assembling the country’s biggest battery storage system at the Khavda complex — enough to discharge over a gigawatt of power to the grid for three hours every evening. 
An additional concern is that India remains heavily dependent on China for the technology behind its solar push. While it now manufactures most of its solar panels, the silicon materials that make the photovoltaic cells largely come from China, as do three-quarters of the lithium-ion batteries essential for energy storage. 
The Indian government is working to address this reliance on its northern neighbor for the supply chain for its renewables technologies by boosting domestic manufacturing. A more long-lasting constraint may be land. 
Solar panels require a lot of space — a difficult issue in a densely populated country that has more people than China on little more than a third of the land area. In a few places, solar companies are offering farmers the option to continue cultivating below raised solar panels, so-called agrivoltaics. But elsewhere, solar facilities are evicting peasant farmers, creating angry protests. 
Occupying areas empty of people, such as the desert salt flats of Khavda, avoids disturbing people but may put wildlife at risk. The Khavda complex abuts the Rann of Kutch Wildlife Sanctuary in Pakistan, which is home to threatened species such as striped hyenas, desert lynx, jackals, and desert foxes, as well as critically endangered great Indian bustards and migrating waterfowl following the Central Asian Flyway from Siberia to the Indian Ocean. 
Despite such drawbacks, optimists believe that mass deployment of batteries should one day allow India to meet 90 percent of its electricity demand from solar energy. “The question is no longer whether solar can power India’s electricity system,” said Rangelova, “but how quickly it can scale.”
Not all of India’s booming industries can easily banish coal and hook up to solar-powered electricity, however. One logjam is the steel industry, which requires coal to produce the intense heat needed for blast furnaces and to convert iron ore into pig iron and then steel. India has the most ambitious plans of any country in the world for increasing steel manufacturing, aiming to double production in the coming decade. “Steel is the elephant in the room for India’s decarbonization,” said Palit. 
But in other sectors, the news is better. The country is electrifying its transportation system, for instance. The 42,000 miles of broad-gauge track in India’s vast railway network have been almost entirely electrified in the past decade. Meanwhile, electric road vehicles are moving into smoggy city streets. Most rapidly, India’s ubiquitous motorised rickshaws, often called tuk-tuks, are being electrified. Some 60 percent of sales of motorized rickshaws are now electric, making India the world leader. 
The choking of oil and gas supplies from the Middle East in recent months will only further accelerate the country’s shift to electrify its transportation sector, said Konda.
Whatever the drawbacks, the rapid advance of Indian solar power continues, and marks a sharp difference from the energy path chosen by China and, until now, what has been seen by many countries as essential for their economic development. 
For years, China was notorious for building a new coal-fired power station every week. But India is avoiding that path. Its coal use is only 40 percent of that in China at a similar stage of economic development, according to Bond. Instead, it is installing solar generating capacity at almost the same rate as China once built coal plants. 
With India’s leaders aiming to complete the country’s transition into a modern industrial economy by 2047 — the centenary of its independence from Britain — this matters for the world. India’s current per capita use of electricity is only a third of the global average, a fifth of that of China, and less than a tenth that of the U.S. Closing that gap by burning coal would be ruinous for the world’s climate. Achieving it with solar power could go a long way toward saving the planet.

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Informed debate on energy and climate change
Three in five (60%) said they would pick solar with just one in ten (10%) picking fracking
By Alasdair Johnstone
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Last updated: 29 May. 2026
Polling by More in Common for the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit [1] has found that of people who said they would vote for the Reform UK party in the English local elections on 7th May, more (43%) would back a solar farm than fracking (23%) as the best way to create energy in their local area when forced to pick between the two.
Amongst all voters at this year’s local election, three in five (60%) said they would pick solar with just one in ten (10%) picking fracking.
 
Reform’s energy spokesperson has repeatedly called for fracking to be started in places like Lincolnshire and the Reform mayor for Lincolnshire has also held talks with fracking companies [2,3]. But Reform-led councils in Lancashire and North Yorkshire have opposed fracking projects in their areas [4]. The Makerfield constituency is an area which has been highlighted as having potential for fracking [5]. The Reform party won all the council wards for the constituency the recent local elections. 
 
Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unitsaid: “Reform’s pro-fracking, anti-solar stance appears not only at odds with broad public opinion, but also the opinion of their voters who would prefer a quiet solar farm over a noisy fracking pad in their area. That divergence is also playing out between the national level of the party and local councils some of which have said they don’t want fracking in their area.
 
“Public opposition aside, Reform would find it tough to emulate Trump’s pro-fracking push as British geology is very different to that in the US. Reform voters clearly back renewable energy which is helping to reduce the UK’s dependence on volatile gas markets and foreign imports.”
 
When voters were asked about their support for pylons, nearly three in five (58%) would support construction of pylons, compared to just under one in five (18%) who opposed. More Reform voters at these local elections (46%) said they would support pylons being built than oppose them (33%).
 
When specifically prompted on pylon’s perceived visual impact, a fifth (20%) of the public said they should not be installed, but over half (53%) still said they should be installed “because they are connecting new renewable energy projects to the grid which themselves create high-skilled jobs for British people”.
 
Despite the party’s anti-renewables stance, previous polling from More in Common [6] found that even among those who planned to vote for Reform UK, there is strong support for onshore wind (56%), offshore wind (66%) and solar farms (59%). 
 
Previous polling has also found that the cost of living was the biggest issue determining how people voted in the local elections, with energy bills ranking top of the list for individual costs pressures.
Notes to editors: 

1. Polling conducted by More in Common between 21st – 27th April 2026 of 1,441 English adults (aged 18 or above) living in areas with local election son 7th May 2026.
 
2. The Guardian, Reform mayor courted US oil and gas executive about fracking in the UK
 
3. PA, Reform Calls for ‘every last drop’ of oil and gas to be extracted in UK
 
4. BBC News,  No fracking in Lancashire, says reform lead council, BBC News – Gas drill plans opposed by town council and MP
 
5. Friends of the Earth, List of MP constituencies in potential fracking area
 
6. ECIU – England election poll – how energy bills, net zero and climate featured in voters’ minds as they cast their ballots

For more information or for interview requests:
George Smeeton, Head of Communications, ECIU, Tel: 07894 571 153, email: george.smeeton@eciu.net
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52: Changes to Habitats Regulations, application fees, a parliamentary petition, and a solar farm refusal
This week’s entry looks at changes to the Habitats Regulations under the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025, application fees, a petition calling for changes to decision making for nationally significant infrastructure projects and a solar farm appeal decision.
We reported previously on the case of C G Fry & Son Limited v Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government and another [2025] UKSC 35.
There, the Supreme Court held that, whilst an appropriate assessment under the Habitats Regulations is required to be carried out at all relevant stages of the planning process – including the discharge of conditions and reserved matters – this did not apply so as to require an appropriate assessment of an internationally recognised wetland site, aka a Ramsar site, (n.b., in Fry, there was a concern at the reserved matters stage about the potential impact of wastewater and surface water entering the River Tone, with consequent effects on the Somerset Levels and Moors Ramsar Site).
The Court reached this conclusion because Ramsar sites derive(d) their protection from national policy, unlike European sites (i.e., Special Protection Areas and Special Areas Of Conservation) which derive their protection from the Habitats Regulations, and planning permissions should not be hostage to retrospective changes in policy given the uncertainty this would create for developers.
The latest commencement regulations (here) implementing the Planning and Infrastructure Act 2025 change this. These came into force on 21 May 2026 and amend the Habitats Regulations by extending the protection afforded to European sites to include Ramsar sites too. This means that there is now a statutory requirement for Ramsar sites to be treated in the same manner as European sites when carrying out an appropriate assessment under the Habitats Regulations.
The result is that Fry is effectively redundant, because Ramsar sites now derive their protection from law not policy, so an appropriate assessment of the implications of development for a Ramsar site would need to be carried out.
In Blog 36, we reported that the Department of Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) was consulting on changes to fees for planning delivery services for energy infrastructure developments. The Government consulted on a proposed fixed fee model, whereby each consenting application type would be assigned a weighting based on its estimated processing time, derived from professional judgement.
A summary of the consultation responses received has now been published.  
The headline is that, whereas Government previously proposed that the fee changes would take effect this summer, changes are now postponed to the 2027/2028 financial year to allow for further evaluation. This seems to have been promoted by concerns about the fixed fee model, which some consultation respondents said would unfairly penalise smaller, less complex projects (and so a tiered, segmented or staged fee structure should be pursued instead).
This means that for energy DCOs, for example, there will still be no fee payable to DESNZ for DCO submissions made in this financial year, separate to that payable to the Planning Inspectorate.  If the Government proceeds as planned, the fee will be £100,600 for submissions made in the next financial year.
A petition calling for an amendment to the Planning Act 2008 to end decision making by a single minister has received c. 5,000 signatures.  It says that the power should be transferred to an independent panel of experts or decided by a vote in Parliament. The current situation, so the petition says, “… creates a risk of political bias and undermines public trust”. This would see a return to the original position, under the Planning Act 2008, where it was the Infrastructure Planning Commission (IPC) that both examined and decided applications, before the decision-making powers were transferred to the relevant Secretary of State in 2012 (only 1 application was determined by the IPC).
There’s an interesting cross-over between this and judicial review reforms, albeit the motives are very different. We reported last week that the Chancellor had announced an intention to introduce a requirement for Parliamentary approval in relation to as-yet-unspecified energy DCOs of ‘critical national importance’, so that they will not be able to be challenged in the courts other than on human rights grounds.
If the petition receives 10,000 signatures, the Government must respond to it.  If it receives 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament.  The petition will stay open until 26 November 2026.  
Finally for this week, a proposal for an 18.5MW solar farm in Somerset has been refused planning permission following an inquiry earlier this year.  The appeal decision can be accessed here.  The appeal was dismissed on the basis of identified harm to heritage assets, the Dorset National Landscape and best and most versatile land, which were enough to outweigh the significant benefits associated with renewable solar power.
The appeal also raises the interesting question of the weight to be given to the National Policy Statements EN-1 and EN-3 in the context of an appeal under section 78 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990.  On that, the Inspector concluded that:
A useful reminder, therefore, that solar development will not automatically be acceptable in every location and of the importance of site selection.
This publication is intended for general guidance and represents our understanding of the relevant law and practice as at May 2026. Specific advice should be sought for specific cases. For more information see our terms & conditions.

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NLC India Renewables has incorporated a joint venture with National Capital Region Transport Corporation to develop grid-connected solar PV projects, following the award of a 110 MW captive solar project in Uttar Pradesh.
May 30, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

Future of Renewable Infra Will Be Built on Resilient Structures, Not Cheapest Ones: Vedant Goel

AI, Digitalisation Will Drive Next Phase of India’s Energy Transition: Schneider’s Udai Singh

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GoodWe India’s Aniket Sawant on Crossing 6 GW Shipments and the Future of Energy Storage

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More than twice as many Reform UK voters would back a solar farm in their local area than support fracking, according to new polling that appears to contradict the party’s energy stance.
The survey, conducted by ‘More in Common’ for the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit, found that among people planning to vote for Reform in the English local elections on 7th May, 435 would choose a solar farm as the best way to generate energy locally, compared with just 23% who would pick fracking.
Among all voters in the local elections, three in five said they would choose solar, while only one in ten favoured fracking.
The findings come despite Reform’s energy spokesperson repeatedly calling for fracking to be restarted in places such as Lincolnshire. The party’s mayor for Greater Lincolnshire, Dame Andrea Jenkyns, has personally reached out to an American oil and gas company following a major gas discovery in the county, according to records released under freedom of information laws.
However, Reform-led councils in Lancashire and North Yorkshire have opposed fracking projects in their areas, highlighting a split between the party’s national positioning and local action.
The polling also found that nearly three in five voters would support the construction of pylons, compared with fewer than one in five who opposed them. Even among Reform voters, 46% said they would support pylons being built, while 33% opposed them. When asked about the visual impact of pylons, over half of the public still said they should be installed because they connect new renewable energy projects to the grid, creating high-skilled jobs.
Alasdair Johnstone from the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit said: “Reform’s pro-fracking, anti-solar stance appears not only at odds with broad public opinion, but also the opinion of their voters who would prefer a quiet solar farm over a noisy fracking pad in their area. That divergence is also playing out between the national level of the party and local councils some of which have said they don’t want fracking in their area.’
He added that public opposition aside, British geology is very different from that in the United States, making it difficult for Reform to emulate a pro-fracking push. Previous polling also found that even among Reform voters, there is strong support for onshore wind, offshore wind and solar farms.
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By Leia Larsen and Bethany Baker for Grist and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Broadcast version by Mark Richardson for Utah News Connection reporting for the Grist-Public News Service Collaboration
Utah state Representative Raymond Ward was reading a story in The New York Times about a growing trend in Europe, and it sparked an idea to make energy more affordable and portable at home.
Plug-in solar panels — sometimes called “balcony solar” — allow people to generate electricity by plugging panels directly into a standard outlet and help cut down on utility bills, without the need for expensive rooftop installations. The relatively cheap technology has taken off in parts of Europe, and a recent Utah law sponsored by Ward has spurred interest across the U.S.
© legacyimagesphotography – iStock-160735792
Utah lawmakers passed HB 340 last year with bipartisan and unanimous support, becoming the first state to allow residents to plug solar systems directly into residential outlets.
“It’s great for anyone who wants a little solar power but does not want to pay $30,000 for a roof install,” said Ward, a Republican.
Ward learned about plug-in solar panels after reading about their popularity in Germany. Balcony panels there added 10 percent more solar capacity to the grid in just a few months, The New York Times reported, just as Russia’s war with Ukraine was draining energy supplies.
Since Ward’s bill passed last year, 30 more states plus the District of Columbia have drafted similar bills, according to information tracked by the plug-in solar lobbying group Bright Saver.
“Thank you, Utah,” said Cora Stryker, a co-founder of the California-based nonprofit. “It’s a common-sense, no-brainer thing that should keep sweeping the country.”
Maine’s governor signed a similar bill earlier this month. Virginia’s plug-in solar bill currently sits on the governor’s desk awaiting a signature. Colorado and Maryland have legislation approved by both chambers of their statehouses. Bills in Hawaii, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Vermont have passed in one chamber so far.
Despite that momentum, U.S. residents still can’t buy plug-in panels from the same big box stores that sell other consumer electronic appliances, like hair dryers, washing machines, or toasters. That’s because Utah and other states also need rules and regulations for the panels, because while they sound simple, they flip the way the electrical utility system works on its head.
Residential households are only designed to pull power off the grid, through wires to outlets, and into plugged-in devices. Balcony solar does the opposite by creating power and pushing it backward into the outlet and “upstream” through a home’s wires, Ward explained. “Utilities tend, in general, not to want anybody else to make power,” he said.
Power providers also have concerns about safety, the lawmaker said. If line workers are trying to repair an electrical line they think is switched off, for example, but a condo’s solar panels are still pushing electricity through that line, it could put those employees in danger of getting electrocuted.
To Ward, those problems were solvable. “The electricity is the same over [in Europe] as it is over here,” he said. “All the same rules of physics work and have proved to be safe.”
But U.S. residents can’t smuggle balcony solar systems over in a suitcase from Europe, because North America uses different plugs and voltages.
Ward collaborated with Utah’s largest electricity provider, Rocky Mountain Power, to craft language for his bill so that the plug-in movement in Utah can be homegrown.
A spokesperson for Rocky Mountain Power noted the utility took no position on Ward’s bill. “We remain concerned that some products entering the market may not meet the requirements of the bill,” the spokesperson wrote in an email, “potentially creating electrical hazards for utility workers.”
The legislation removes liability for utilities, and owners of plug-in panels can’t ask for payments for the electricity they send back to the grid. It also requires a company called Underwriters Laboratories, often shortened to UL Systems, to develop safety certification for plug-in panels.
UL develops all kinds of safety standards for consumer products, building materials, and other goods. But Utah’s legislation marked the first time they were asked to test plug-in panels, and the company got to work over the summer. Kenneth Boyce, vice president of engineering for UL, said he was surprised to see his company named in Utah’s legislation.
“But we take it very seriously,” Boyce said.
The company issued a white paper in November outlining potential hazards with the panel systems themselves as well as how they might interact with a typical home’s wiring. From there, it developed product-level requirements that will allow the UL mark to appear on certified products.
“We’re … making sure we keep [consumers] safe while they get the benefits of participating in the energy transition,” Boyce said. “We can do both.”
Underwriters Laboratories’ researchers tested ways to ensure that plug-in panels don’t make circuit breakers explode, or that GFCI plugs that are supposed to trip and switch off — commonly found in bathrooms, kitchens, and outdoors — don’t fry and malfunction without the residents’ knowledge.
No plug-in systems have been certified by UL to date, Boyce said. “We expect that will change soon,” he said, noting he’s heard from multiple manufacturers. He expects the UL stamp to appear on U.S. panels in “months, maybe even weeks.”
Some inventive individuals, including the popular Utah YouTuber JerryRigEverything, have cobbled together their own plug-in systems. They use components that are individually UL certified, like panels, cords, and inverters. But all the components combined into a balcony system haven’t been tested and green-lit for safety, Boyce cautioned.
For those willing to take the risk, a global company called EcoFlow is one of the most popular online retailers for plug-in panels in the U.S. They’re currently in conversations with UL about how to certify their product, according to Ryan Oliver, a spokesperson for EcoFlow.
They’ve sold portable solar systems for about four years in Europe “where they’re very popular,” he said.
An inverter, which brings electricity from the solar panels into the home and shuts down generation to ensure safety, currently costs about $300 on EcoFlow’s website. A system that includes a battery to store solar energy costs $1,200. And compatible solar panels run between $250 to $1,000, depending on the size of the array.
“It’s consistent with Utah’s values of wanting to supply your own energy, and letting people make their own decisions around meeting their needs,” said Josh Craft, director of government relations and public affairs for Utah Clean Energy.
Craft said he’s experimenting with his own plug-in system at home donated by EcoFlow. “It works. It’s fun,” he said. “I have foldable panels set up on my patio roof.”
The panels could also amp up an entirely new market for clean energy. Their surge in popularity comes at a time when the Trump administration is slashing subsidies for wind and solar projects, even as energy bills are expected to spike due to demands from data centers and artificial intelligence, Craft noted.
Utah code resulting from Ward’s bill caps power output from plug-in systems at 1,200 watts, which means they won’t offset all the electrical use from a typical household.
On his YouTube channel, JerryRigEverything reported that his array saves about a dollar a day on his electricity bill. Craft figures his system, which is combined with a battery, cuts down his power bill by about 10 percent, but he hasn’t tested it while running an air conditioner.
In just the last few weeks, Ward said he’s had conversations with lawmakers in Hawaii, Washington, Minnesota, and Colorado about how to facilitate plug-in solar in their states. With Maine adopting a similar policy and several other states close behind, Utah’s experiment is already spreading.
“Heck yeah,” Ward said.
Leia Larsen and Bethany Baker wrote this article for Grist and the Salt Lake Tribune.
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Dear EarthTalk:
Is anybody working on solar-powered trains, and if so, when will they be ready for prime time?
Paul Best, Los Angeles, CA
Solar-powered trains run on the Sun’s energy to operate, via solar panels placed on train stations, on the roofs of trains, or most commonly, from the rail tracks. They also often gain indirect energy from the sun, using electricity from solar farms that is sometimes stored in batteries to facilitate auxiliary functions other than propulsion, including lighting, ventilation and GPS systems. Most solar train travel as of 2026 has been for short distances, optimal for tourism and urban shuttles, like the Byron Bay Train in Australia.
© Laser1987 iStock-1429700908
However, there are significant plans to achieve long-term solar train travel across the world. Unlike traditional diesel-powered trains, solar-powered trains are highly sustainable and offer an improved climate future because they rely on clean and renewable energy. Like other renewable energy sources, solar power improves the environment because it decreases environmental tensions and pollutants that arise with the use of fossil fuels.
In 2019, the International Earth Agency predicted that the global rail network could expand to almost 2.1 million kilometers by 2050. In 2024, Argentina unveiled its first solar-powered tourist train with a range of about 41 kilometers. Since introducing their first solar-powered train in 2017, India has also joined the effort. Indian Railways plans to develop 20 gigawatts of solar energy in vacant lands by 2030. The U.K. and Switzerland have also made efforts to introduce solar energy in train travel.
In 2017, Alice Bell, co-director at the U.K. climate change group Possible, wrote in The Guardian, “We think solar could power 20 percent of the Merseyrail network in Liverpool, as well as 15 percent of commuter routes in Kent, Sussex and Wessex…trains and trams all over the world could be running on sun in a few years’ time.” Approved in 2008, California’s solar-powered high-speed train will run approximately 1287.5 kilometers and is the first of its kind across the world. This train is set to be completed in 2030 and hopes to connect to cities like Vancouver, San Diego and Los Angeles.
While solar-powered train projects are promising, they still face financial, operational and timing challenges. Many have to do with train maintenance and durability, which can impact the safety of train operations. Nevertheless, solar trains could completely shift the current state of climate-conscious transportation.
EarthTalk® is produced by Roddy Scheer & Doug Moss for the 501(c)3 nonprofit EarthTalk. See more at https://emagazine.com. To donate, visit https://earthtalk.org. Send questions to: question@earthtalk.org.
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From pv magazine Australia
The New South Wales (NSW) government has launched the latest of its planned tenders seeking new solar and wind generation and energy storage projects as it prepares for the exit of coal and the shift to a renewables-dominated grid.
AusEnergy Services Limited (ASL, formerly AEMO Services), serving as the NSW Consumer Trustee, has opened registrations for tenders 8 and 9 under the NSW Electricity Infrastructure Roadmap.
Tender 8 is seeking 2.5 GW of renewable energy generation – the state’s largest generation Long-Term Energy Service Agreement (LTESA) tender yet. In another milestone, this tender introduces a new hybrid generation LTESA, designed to cater for the growing presence of combined solar or wind generation and battery storage projects in the pipeline.
ASL said the tender is open to projects with a minimum capacity of 30 MW and those that are on track to commence operations before the end of 2029 are expected to be considered more favourably.
At the same time, ASL is conducting Tender 9, seeking up to 12 GWh of long-duration storage projects.
This tender is expected to deliver about 1.5 GW of large-scale batteries or pumped hydro projects, with successful projects featuring at least 5 MW of power capacity and a minimum eight hours of energy storage capacity. Projects are expected to be operational by 2034.
NSW Energy Minister Penny Sharpe said the tenders demonstrate how serious the government is about delivering on its renewable energy targets as coal exits the system.
“Tender 8 alone will deliver enough energy to power about one-third of homes in NSW, marking a major step forward in our plan to future-proof NSW’s electricity system,” she said. “Tender 9 ensures we can store renewable energy, so it can be released on demand when needed, making our grid more stable and reliable.”
NSW has announced stretch targets of 16 GW of new generation by 2030, significantly above the legislated 12 GW minimum objective, and 42 GWh of new long-duration storage infrastructure by 2034, well above the 28 GWh minimum target.
Sharpe said when delivered, tenders 8 and 9 will significantly boost NSW’s generation and storage capacity with Tender 8 to pave the way for the state to achieve up to 90% of its 2030 renewable energy generation target.
NSW is already on track to exceed its long-duration storage targets for 2030 and 2034 with Sharpe saying the state is now seeking to unlock 50% more capacity beyond those minimum benchmarks,
“This is about keeping the lights on when ageing coal-fired power stations retire and doing it in a way that puts downward pressure on electricity bills for NSW families,” she said.
Tenders 8 and 9 will be run separately and through a single-stage process, offering projects the ability to secure a LTESA.
Proponents participating in Tender 8 will be able to bid for either a generation or a hybrid generation LTESA while those taking part in Tender 9 will submit bids for long-duration storage LTESAs.
ASL said these revenue support mechanisms are designed to improve project bankability and support projects reaching final investment decision and financial close.
Registrations for both tenders are set to close towards the end of next month with the announcement of successful bids expected by late 2026.
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May 29, 2026
By:
Michael Penate
Frederique Constant doesn’t usually make news for technology. The brand built its reputation in the accessible luxury lane on tidy dress watches and the occasional in-house complication priced well below where you’d expect one. So a solar movement is a genuine first, and it shows up somewhere that surprised me a little: the Classics Moneta Solarmetre, a new addition to a dress line that only launched in 2024.
The Moneta collection arrived with a slim profile, clean dials, and a coin-edge bezel that became its calling card. The Solarmetre keeps all of that and drops in the FC-120, a solar-powered quartz caliber developed with La Joux-Perret. Photovoltaic cells sit beneath the dial, turning light into stored energy for the regulator. Frederique Constant says a single minute of light runs the watch for a day, and a full charge covers roughly ten months in the dark.
If “first solar movement” sounds like a leap for a Swiss dress brand, the context softens it. Frederique Constant has been owned by Citizen since 2016, and La Joux-Perret has been a Citizen company since 2012. Citizen, of course, is the outfit that turned light-powered watches into a mass-market category with Eco-Drive. So FC building a competent solar caliber was never really in doubt. The real curiosity is why a brand sitting on that kind of family resource waited this long to use it. Seen that way, the FC-120 feels less like a bold pivot and more like an overdue one.
On paper, the watch reads well. The case grew to 39mm wide and 8.52mm thick to fit the new movement, which makes it larger than earlier Moneta models while staying within honest dress-watch territory. The three dials, in ice blue, burgundy, and cloud white, look solid but are actually translucent so light can reach the cells underneath. A new grained texture adds some depth, and the rest follows the usual dress-watch grammar: dauphine hands, faceted markers, a date window at 3.
What stands out most to me is the value framing. Every Solarmetre ships with both a leather strap and a Milanese bracelet, and the price holds at around $1,467 regardless of dial. Two genuine wearing options at that number is a real point in its favor, and it keeps the watch in accessible luxury rather than nudging it upmarket on the strength of a new movement alone.
The open question is whether solar belongs in this conversation at all. Solar quartz has long lived in tool watches and everyday beaters, where never thinking about a battery is the entire pitch. A dress watch asks for a different relationship. You reach for it on occasions, not daily, which is exactly when a solar cell is most likely to run flat in a drawer. Ten months of reserve answers part of that. Whether dress-watch buyers actually want light-powered convenience, or just like the idea of it, is something only wrist time and sales will sort out. For now, it’s an interesting test of where Frederique Constant takes the Citizen toolkit next.
Frederique Constant
Co-Founder & Senior Editor
Michael Peñate is an American writer, photographer, and podcaster based in Seattle, Washington. His work typically focuses on the passage of time and the tools we use to connect with that very journey. From aviation to music and travel, his interests span a multitude of disciplines that often intersect with the world of watches – and the obsessive culture behind collecting them.
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This lithium battery energy storage system in Blasdell, New York can power 15,000 homes for two hours during outages or periods of high demand.Ted Shaffrey/AP

This story was originally published by Canary Media and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration.
It’s set to be an abnormally hot summer this year—but the US grid appears to be in decent shape to handle the heat. The credit goes to a boatload of new solar and storage and a handful of new gas plants.
That’s the upshot of the new summer reliability assessment from the North American Electric Reliability Corp., which oversees the US and Canadian electric systems. “Record resource additions have strengthened readiness for the summer season,” NERC highlighted, including ​“a substantial influx of solar and battery” resources—the most prevalent and lowest-cost new sources of grid power—as well as ​“some new natural gas-fired generators.”
The report contradicts the Trump administration’s claims that aging fossil-fueled plants are needed in order to prevent blackouts. Over the last year, the Department of Energy has forced five coal plants and one oil- and gas-fired power plant to stay online past their planned retirements, citing an energy emergency that grid experts say does not exist. The approach is now being challenged in court.
However, it’s not the presence of expensive old fossil-fueled power plants that has put the grid in a good position heading into the summer—it’s the rapid expansion of solar and energy storage.
In fact, NERC’s latest summer assessment reached its conclusions without including any of the power plants forced to stay open by the Trump administration. ​“These plants and units were not incorporated into the anticipated resources of their corresponding assessment areas for Summer 2026,” the report notes.
“This report reflects the conclusion that renewables are significant contributors to reducing risk on the system today.”
“NERC’s summer reliability assessment confirms what we’ve known all along,” Tyson Slocum, director of the energy program at nonprofit watchdog group Public Citizen, said in a Thursday statement. ​“Delaying the retirement of outdated coal plants that require millions of dollars in upgrades and maintenance to keep them operational only prevents more reliable sources from being added to the grid.”
To be clear, some regions still face an elevated risk this year.
NERC’s report says New England, the Pacific Northwest, West Texas, and Canada’s Saskatchewan province could face potential electricity shortfalls under ​“abnormal summer conditions,” like elevated temperatures that push up air-conditioning demand. The Pacific Northwest is also facing drought conditions that hampered the hydropower it relies on.
Still, that’s a big improvement from the assessment for the summer of 2025, when NERC projected elevated risk during abnormally hot and dry summer conditions in six US regions, including a wide swath of the middle of the country from Texas to the Canadian border.
Those areas no longer at risk include the 15 US states from Louisiana to North Dakota and the Canadian province of Manitoba, whose grid is managed by the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, which provides power to about 45 million people. Notably, MISO is host to several of the coal-fired power plants in Michigan and Indiana that the DOE has forced to stay online. 
While NERC did track about 7 gigawatts of new fossil gas generation added since last summer, that was eclipsed by the 30.5 gigawatts of solar generation capacity added in the same period, according to the report.
Solar doesn’t provide its full nameplate generation capacity during morning and evening hours or when it’s cloudy, and of course it generates nothing at night. But it does generate a lot of power during the hottest hours of typical summer days. NERC found that the 30.5 gigawatts of new solar are contributing 16.4 gigawatts of capacity at times of peak summer demand.
Batteries that can store excess solar power for use later in the day have also come online at a rapid clip. NERC tallied more than 16 gigawatts of battery capacity added since last summer.
Most of those batteries have been built in Texas and California, as well as in other parts of the US West, the report notes. Solar-charged batteries have been saving the California and Texas grids from summer shortfalls in recent years, helping to dramatically reduce the risk of heatwave-driven blackouts.
But solar and batteries have also bolstered other regions. “MISO’s capacity resources have improved since Summer 2025,” the report says, with the new additions ​“made up of predominantly solar resource installations, along with smaller amounts of natural gas, wind, and battery storage resources.”
The assessment underscores the fact that solar and wind make the grid more reliable even though the Trump administration likes to argue otherwise, said Jessi Eidbo, a senior adviser at the Sierra Club and member of NERC’s Large Loads Working Group.
“This is not a conversation about renewables being tied to reliability risk,” she said. ​“This report reflects the conclusion that renewables are significant contributors to reducing risk on the system today.”
To prove the point, Eidbo highlighted the section of NERC’s report that calculates what proportion of the total capacity of solar, wind, hydropower, and battery storage is available to serve the peak demand hour in a given area. That’s an important metric to determine how helpful different resources are during crunch time for the grid.
NERC found that the 20.4 gigawatts of solar available in MISO are capable of providing 60 percent of their nameplate generation capacity during peak hours. NERC’s assessment of the peak load contribution of MISO’s fleet of roughly 3.6 gigawatts of battery storage was even higher, at 97 percent.
NERC found similar, if slightly lower, values for solar and batteries to meet summer peak hours in the Southwest Power Pool, a grid operator serving 14 Midwest and Great Plains states. The report assigned a 54 percent peak contribution rating to SPP’s 3.9 gigawatts of solar, and an 84 percent peak contribution rating to the region’s 1.3 gigawatts of battery storage.
Both of those regions have fallen from ​“elevated” risk to ​“normal” risk from summer 2025 to summer 2026, Eidbo noted—and both ​“have very high percentages of nameplate capacity from energy storage systems.”
This is a good sign that solar and batteries, both of which can be built more quickly and cheaply than gas plants, can also serve the grid when the summer heat hits and demand goes through the roof. 
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Chinese solar leaders set new cell record with 28.2% efficiency  Yahoo Tech
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Solar manufacturer’s n-type TOPCon bifacial modules excel in the 2026 PV Module Reliability Scorecard, highlighting sustained excellence in quality and performance.
May 30, 2026. By News Bureau
Emmvee Photovoltaic Power, has earned ‘Top Performer’ recognition in the 2026 Kiwa PVEL PV Module Reliability Scorecard, reinforcing the company’s focus on manufacturing quality, process consistency, product engineering and technology reliability. The scorecard is a globally recognised PV module reliability assessment released by Kiwa PVEL, an independent laboratory for PV module reliability testing. This marks the fourth consecutive year that Emmvee has been featured as a ‘Top Performer’ in the Kiwa PVEL PV Module Reliability Scorecard.  Emmvee was awarded the recognition for its G12R and M10R product series which are manufactured using n-type TOPCon cells and bifacial modules.
Emmvee’s products successfully met the testing and performance benchmarks under Kiwa PVEL’s Product Qualification Program (PQP). Conducted annually by Kiwa PVEL, the PQP evaluates module performance under a range of accelerated stress conditions designed to simulate long-term field exposure and operational wear and tear.
Commenting on the recognition, Suhas Donthi, President and CEO, Emmvee Group, said, “We are honoured to be recognised once again as a ‘Top Performer’ in the Kiwa PVEL Scorecard. This recognition reflects the consistency of our manufacturing processes and the reliability standards we are building across our product portfolio. As demand for high-performance solar modules continues to grow globally, we remain focused on delivering dependable and efficient products to our customers.”
Tristan Erion-Lorico, Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Kiwa PVEL, said, "With this fourth consecutive appearance in the Scorecard, Emmvee has demonstrated that quality and reliability are not a one-time outcome but deeply embedded into the company’s processes and approach. We congratulate them on this achievement.”
The recognition comes as Emmvee continues to expand its integrated solar manufacturing operations in India. The company currently has over 10.3 GW of module manufacturing capacity and 2.94 GW of solar cell manufacturing capacity, with further expansion underway.

AI, Digitalisation Will Drive Next Phase of India’s Energy Transition: Schneider’s Udai Singh

Iron-Air Batteries Can Power India’s Renewable Ambitions: Stuti Kakkar, Meine Electric

India’s EV Future Depends on Highway Charging Corridors: Kartikey Hariyani, ChargeZone

GoodWe India’s Aniket Sawant on Crossing 6 GW Shipments and the Future of Energy Storage

Encapsulant Selection is a Strategic Reliability Decision: Avinash Hiranandani

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EDP Bets Big on Australia in $1 Billion Asia Renewables Push  Bloomberg.com
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A leading operator in solar and onshore wind in France, ENGIE develops and operates solar projects in around twenty countries worldwide. This technology accounts for 11% of ENGIE’s renewable portfolio. Thanks to its integrated model and expertise across the entire energy value chain, ENGIE combines solar generation with battery storage systems and advanced energy management and supply solutions.
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By nature abundant and available on every continent, solar energy has a potential that far exceeds global energy needs. This makes it a key pillar of electrification and the energy transition.
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Solar energy contributes to our ambition to reach 95 GW of installed renewable and storage capacity by 2030. Its development is also supported by digital tools for monitoring, optimization and real-time management, including Darwin, the platform connecting all ENGIE solar and wind assets worldwide.
ENGIE designs, builds and operates grid-connected photovoltaic solar plants. Based on the direct conversion of sunlight into electricity, this proven technology is fast to deploy and cost-effective for large-scale renewable energy generation. ENGIE pays close attention to environmental integration, stakeholder engagement and long-term asset performance. Our solar projects also contribute to local development by sharing value within communities through taxes, local programs, dedicated offers and opportunities for local investment.
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ENGIE is also developing battery energy storage systems (BESS), particularly relevant in fast-growing solar markets such as India. These systems store excess electricity when production is high and feed it back into the grid when needed, enhancing flexibility and grid stability. In early 2026, ENGIE was awarded its first hybrid solar + storage project in India by the Solar Energy Corporation of India. This project, where storage is directly coupled with generation, will deliver up to six hours of renewable energy – a first in the country – while ENGIE continues to expand such solutions globally.
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Treaty Oak Clean Energy has commenced commercial operations at its 100 MW utility-scale solar project in Arkansas, supplying renewable electricity to Google under a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA).
The project represents another step in Google’s ongoing strategy to expand its renewable energy portfolio and support its long-term carbon-free energy goals, while also contributing to utility-scale solar growth across the United States.
Located in Arkansas, the solar facility is expected to generate clean electricity to support Google’s operations and strengthen regional renewable energy supply. The project also reflects the growing role of corporate renewable procurement in accelerating large-scale clean energy infrastructure development.
Treaty Oak Clean Energy stated that the project was developed to meet increasing demand for renewable electricity from large corporate and technology sector customers seeking to reduce operational emissions and secure long-term sustainable energy supply.
The commissioning of the project comes amid rapidly rising electricity demand from digital infrastructure, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence-related operations, which continue to drive significant investment in renewable energy projects across the United States.
Corporate power purchase agreements signed by major technology companies such as Google are increasingly supporting financing and deployment of utility-scale solar projects while helping utilities and regional grids transition toward lower-carbon electricity generation.
The Arkansas solar project is also expected to contribute local economic benefits through infrastructure investment, tax revenues, and employment opportunities during construction and operations.
The development highlights the continued expansion of solar energy infrastructure in the U.S. market as corporations intensify efforts to achieve sustainability and decarbonisation targets through direct renewable energy procurement.
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17170 Harbeson Rd
Milton, DE 19968
United States
Representatives of a therapeutic riding center raised concerns about a solar power project proposed on an adjacent property during the May 20 meeting of the Sussex County Planning & Zoning Commission.
Southern Delaware Therapeutic Riding is located on Harbeson Road in Milton next to a parcel where Milton DE Solar CSS LLC wants to install solar arrays on 11.5 acres of a 30.5-acre site. The company has a 35-year lease for the site.
A public hearing was held on the requested conditional use.
Jo Allegro-Smith, executive director of SDTR, urged commissioners and the developer to ensure the project does not disturb the horses or the people who rely on center programs.
Activities that are a concern include construction vehicles and equipment, and lawn mowing.
Allegro-Smith suggested a solid fence along the joint property line, extending the buffer from the planned 50 feet to 200 feet, part of which would be covered by pines at least 7 feet tall. 
Linda Berdine, president of the SDTR board, said she supports solar energy but worries about the effect of the project on the 10-acre adjacent therapeutic riding facility.
“It’s a request from us for responsible changes and enforceable protections,” Berdine said. “The issue is compatibility of adjacent land use, especially where use involves medically vulnerable individuals, and we have horses with unpredictable reactions.” 
She worries about the safety of people who use the center’s programs and the horses.
“We are a unique neighbor,” Berdine said. “We are not a horse farm … We are a therapeutic riding center. We serve children, we serve veterans and we serve individuals with disabilities.” 
Horses are prey animals and react instantly to sudden movement, noise and visual disturbances, she said. Even minor disruptions can lead to falls from horses, injuries to disabled riders and risks to volunteers and staff.
“You do have many participants with sensory sensitivities,” said Program Director Kelly Boyer. “They can hear tones that we don’t hear.” 
SDTR has operated in Sussex County since 1988. In 2025, it served 690 participants supported by 150 volunteers.
Berdine said she also worries about drainage and mud from the solar arrays.
She suggested reorienting some of the panels to increase the space between them and the center.
Coordinating construction with center activities would be critical, Boyer said.
“We would have to have an incredible communications channel between the two organizations,” she said.
Allegro-Smith said she’s concerned the center was not contacted by the developer as the project progressed.
“For most organizations, a lack of communication is inconvenient,” she said. “But as you heard, for us, it can bring us to a halt.”
The developer plans to check the site to see if further accommodations can be made.
A decision by the commission was delayed until a future meeting. It kept the record open for 10 calendar days in case changes are made after discussions between the developer and neighbors.

17170 Harbeson Rd
Milton, DE 19968
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June 1 Solar Sourcing Deadline Tests India’s Renewable Readiness  BW Businessworld
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From the magazine
To anyone who knows about US solar manufacturing, Elon Musk’s claim that SpaceX and Tesla are working to build 100 GW of annual PV manufacturing capacity might seem unachievable.
As 2025 came to a close, experts from Intertek CEA estimated the total manufacturing capacity of solar module facilities in the United States to be slightly greater than 45 GW, moving to around 60 GW this year. The company’s Q4 2025 PV Supply, Technology, and Policy Report noted that its analysts expect an additional 16 GW to 20 GW of planned capacity to be constructed by early 2027.
The scale of Musk’s ambition, as outlined at Davos, is to build potentially two times more US module manufacturing capacity than currently exists, and cells as well, in just three years. Some might say that seems far-fetched, yet the domestic need for new power generation matches Musk’s estimates for what his companies can accomplish in the near term.
A 2025 study published by the American Clean Power Association estimated the United States would require more than 900 GW of new renewable generation capacity by 2040 to meet the increased energy demand from data centers and electrification of heating and transportation. Most new generation was expected to come from solar, with 647 GW forecast over a 15-year period.
Musk’s ambitions for manufacturing capacity growth are not without precedent on the world stage. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China had an annual module manufacturing capacity of 1,156 GW at the end of 2024 and produced 627 GW of modules. Data from the IEA also show China added an average of nearly 200 GW in new solar module manufacturing capacity per year between 2021 and 2024. The scale of rapid growth has been proven possible, but the question remains: Can Tesla (or anyone) build 100 GW of new manufacturing capacity in the United States in just three years?
To even begin such an undertaking would require a remarkable investment in equipment, real estate, power electronics and labor – including expert system integrators, programmers, machine operators and more. And that’s before considering the supply of raw materials and upstream components that would be required to triple the operating capacity of US solar manufacturing.
A few suppliers of solar manufacturing equipment operate in Europe, while the majority are now based in China. According to industry experts who spoke with pv magazine, working with European suppliers offers many advantages, including faster shipping (around five weeks from order to delivery) and better software integration packages. Once on site for integration, staff can get the lines running within four to six months. However, the European companies are reputed to charge around twice what many Chinese companies do, and they simply have no experience operating at the scale Tesla is seeking. For example, Italian company Ecoprogetti, a market leader in supplying PV module assembly lines, touts a track record of 38 GW of lines installed in its entire history.
Leading Chinese manufacturers of integrated module lines that sell to US companies include SC-Solar (Suzhou Shengcheng Solar Equipment), which advertises more than 800 GW of capacity installed worldwide, and Jinchen Machinery with more than 500 GW of projects built.
Chinese cell equipment providers include Suzhou Maxwell Technologies, widely billed as the world’s largest supplier of solar cell screen printing equipment. Laplace said in 2025 that it had shipped more than 470 GW of equipment worldwide. Shenzhen S.C New Energy Technology is also among the key suppliers.
According to industry experts, shipping from these Chinese suppliers can take longer – up to eight weeks after ordering. But once on site, the Chinese integration teams can get lines operational within three months.
Shortly after Musk’s announcement, a report from Reuters indicated Tesla was planning to purchase solar manufacturing equipment totaling $2.9 billion from Chinese suppliers.
The report mentioned Maxwell, S.C New Energy, and Laplace – all cell production tool providers – and indicated the equipment is slated for delivery by late 2026. The numbers quoted by Reuters are in line with expectations for cell manufacturing equipment costs. According to the 2025 Benchmarks in the Detailed Cost Analysis Model from energy data resource Open EI, the equipment necessary to produce 100 GW of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cells per year would require an investment of $3.5 billion if purchased from the lowest-cost Chinese suppliers.
But Tesla would also need module production equipment. The company’s module production capacity is limited and centered at its Buffalo, New York, facility, which has only recently begun making its newest residential modules.
The Open EI Benchmarks estimate it would cost a further $1.3 billion to purchase the equipment necessary to manufacture 100 GW of solar modules. This is roughly in line with estimates from industry sources who spoke with pv magazine. So, Tesla’s initial outlay of $2.9 billion seems likely to represent only the equipment necessary to manufacture cells – just the first step on its manufacturing journey.
Will future reports name other Chinese companies and cite new outlays of capital? Perhaps. Either way, purchase and delivery of the equipment to the United States is only one step in the process.
For a large industrial facility like a solar module manufacturing plant, a step-down transformer and other power electronics are necessary to connect the plant to the distribution grid. These components are currently in short supply.
A single, highly automated 2.5 GW module line consumes roughly 2.4 MW of continuous power, according to Ecoprogetti. Solar cell manufacturing is much more energy intensive. Lifecycle analysis from the International Energy Agency estimates it takes around 75 kWh of electricity to produce 1 kW of solar cells. At that rate, a 2.5 GW facility operating at capacity for a year would require a continuous 21.4 MW energy supply.
Combined and connected to a service that meets the regulatory requirement of 125% of continuous load, 100 GW of shared cell and module manufacturing facilities would potentially require energy distribution service of around 1,200 MW. The scale is enormous.
Adding to the complications, domestically produced transformers have been exceedingly hard to come by in recent years, and demand for them is at an all-time high. Market intelligence provider Wood Mackenzie has estimated wait times of two years or longer for the equipment to power new industrial facilities like module and cell manufacturing sites.
Tesla may have an ace up its sleeve here. At a September 2025 event, the company announced it would manufacture its own transformers as part of its new 20 MWh “Megablock” energy storage product.
But even if the facility has its power electronics sorted, the manufacturer must still navigate the local distribution utility’s large load interconnection process, which often involves up to two years of feasibility and impact studies and improvements to the grid. Musk’s companies have an advantage in this regard, too. Legislators in Texas, where Tesla operates its largest US gigafactory and has announced plans to expand, passed Senate Bill 6 in June 2025, directing the Public Utility Commission of Texas to develop a new framework for large load interconnections greater than 75 MW.
In March 2026, the commission issued a draft rule designed to speed up the interconnection process for large energy users. It would do so partly by imposing strict deadlines on developers and utilities, and partly by requiring proof of financial readiness to ensure developers in the interconnection queue can build projects once approved.
The next hurdle to overcome is space. Solar cell and module manufacturing facilities need a lot of it. Tesla is no stranger to large facilities. In the United States alone, the company has two gigafactories of more than 5 million square feet (464,515 m²) in California and Nevada, and a plant in Austin, Texas, that currently stretches across more than 10 million square feet, with plans in the works to expand it by 50%.
Even by those measures, the scale of 100 GW of new solar cell and module manufacturing facilities is daunting. When considering existing facilities in the United States such as those operated by Qcells, Canadian Solar, T1 Energy, and ES Foundry, each gigawatt of solar module manufacturing capacity requires an average of about 285,000 square feet of floor space, and each GW of cell manufacturing requires about 145,000 square feet.
That’s 430,000 square feet per gigawatt for both, meaning 100 GW would need 43 million square feet of space – more than four times the size of Tesla’s current largest US facility.
Would building and bringing online several huge new industrial manufacturing facilities in under three years represent an impossible undertaking? Perhaps not. Construction on the Tesla gigafactory in Austin started in 2020, and limited production began slightly more than a year later, with full operational readiness coming within two years.
Combined solar cell and module manufacturing capacity of 100 GW requires thousands of workers. Even in highly automated facilities, a 2.5 GW module manufacturing line can require 14 people per shift, or 42 workers per day. Round up to 50 to account for vacations, sick time, and part-time workers, and 100 GW of module manufacturing might require 2,000 workers.
Solar cell manufacturing can be much more labor intensive. Cell manufacturer Suniva reports 240 employees in its 1 GW Georgia cell factory, while ES Foundry says it has plans for 500 workers when its cell plant reaches its planned 3 GW of capacity.
With an estimated requirement of 200 workers per gigawatt, that’s another 20,000 people needed to staff facilities that produce up to 100 GW of cells a year. With Tesla currently claiming a worldwide workforce of more than 100,000, adding 100 GW of solar cell and module manufacturing would mean around a 20% increase in its staff.
Tesla’s plan to rely on importing Chinese-built equipment to the United States for its plans would be another massive undertaking, fraught with potential pitfalls.
Alongside challenges in equipment sourcing, costs, transformer delays and space constraints, the biggest remaining hurdle for Tesla could be export restrictions. China is reportedly considering restrictions on export of certain solar manufacturing technologies, and Chinese suppliers may have to obtain export approvals from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce for some of the equipment, which could delay or cancel the shipments.
On a more positive note for Tesla, if the equipment is delivered by Nov. 10, 2026, it would fall under the Section 301 tariff exemptions for solar manufacturing equipment, which were extended by the United States Trade Representative in November 2025.
Another facet of international trade policy is likely to hamper Tesla’s plans. New US tariffs on solar materials under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 are set to take effect this year and could dramatically increase the cost of importing raw materials needed to manufacture cells, some of which are not currently available from within the US.
Though final results of the Section 232 investigation have not yet been announced, analysts at Intertek CEA expect to see a tariff of $10/kg on imported polysilicon, with the addition of seven cents per watt for wafers sliced out of ingots made from that polysilicon. They also see a path for tariff exemptions for imports from some countries, or allowing a certain volume of material to be imported before tariffs kick in. The United States currently has domestic polysilicon production capacity to support the manufacture of around 17 GW of modules.
The Intertek CEA experts further estimate that the US administration could impose a high tariff on all imported modules that could shut non-domestic companies out of the US market for several years to come, potentially providing a larger addressable market for domestic companies like Tesla.
With his declaration of intent to bring 100 GW of new solar manufacturing capacity to the United States, Elon Musk seems to have penned a new chapter in his long history of making extra-ambitious guesses about how long it might take his companies to deliver on bold proclamations.
However, in this case, the stars could conceivably align. There is a great need in the United States for new sources of power generation paired with grid-scale battery storage, something that Tesla already excels at.
There is also a precedent for the addition of hundreds of gigawatts of PV manufacturing capacity in a single country, and with Tesla having reported $44.1 billion in cash and investments at the end of 2025, it has plenty of working capital to throw around in pursuit of this ambitious goal.
Tesla has previously shown its ability to build huge automobile and battery factories in less than two years, and with its own transformer manufacturing capability as well, it could have an inside track on getting the logistics squared away in record time.
Building 100 GW of new solar manufacturing in just three years may one day prove to have been an overly ambitious goal, but there may not be a US company more well-suited to accomplish it.
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Australia’s Floating Solar Array Is Doing A Lot More Than Generating Electricity  Yahoo Tech
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From pv magazine Latam
The Firm Energy Obligations (OEF) auction, convened by Colombia’s Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (CREG) through Resolution 101 079 of 2025 and administered by XM, the Colombian system operator responsible for running the country’s electricity system and wholesale market, awarded 4,069.7 MW of new net effective capacity for the period from December 1, 2029, to November 30, 2030.
Of this total, 1,546.9 MW corresponds to solar generation, 246 MW to wind power, and 2,276.8 MW to thermal plants.
A total of 85 generation plants participated in the auction, of which 77 were awarded OEF allocations. These include 29 solar, 24 hydroelectric, 22 thermal and two wind plants. The total awarded volume reached 143,011,373 kWh/day of firm energy.
According to official results published by XM, solar allocations were distributed among new plants, projects with prior OEF allocations and existing power stations. Developers with the largest presence include ERCO Generación, Enel Colombia, Celsia, AES, and several other PV-focused companies.
Among new solar plants without prior OEF allocations, notable projects include Puertos de Santander, with 992,744 kWh/day awarded; Yariguíes (200 MW, ERCO Generación), with 766,835 kWh/day; Ariguaní (200 MW, Xuenergy FV), with 614,159 kWh/day; and Bosques Solares de los Llanos 8, with 579,713 kWh/day. Also featured are Parque Solar Córdoba (200 MW, formerly Sahagún, Celsia), with 519,000 kWh/day; La Ponderosa, with 400,499 kWh/day; Wimke, with 375,818 kWh/day; and Andes Solares (85 MW, ERCO Generación), with 326,544 kWh/day.
The list also includes projects such as La Achira, Pacandé and La Zurumba, all awarded under the group of plants with lower variable costs (PCVI), a category that accounted for all solar allocations.
Among projects with prior OEF allocations or previous awards are Puerta de Oro, with 852,329 kWh/day; Melgar Photovoltaic Solar Park (180 MW), with 475,379 kWh/day; Atlántico Photovoltaic (199.5 MW, Enel Colombia), with 435,646 kWh/day; Barzalosa (100 MW), with 260,550 kWh/day; Bosques Solares de los Llanos 6, with 181,044 kWh/day; El Campano, with 142,815 kWh/day; and Valledupar Solar Park (Enel Colombia), with 130,416 kWh/day.
The auction also awarded OEFs to several existing solar plants, including Guayepo, with 712,900 kWh/day; Guayepo III, with 588,147 kWh/day; Fundación, with 480,268 kWh/day; Latam Solar La Loma, with 317,221 kWh/day; Shangri La (Isagen), with 273,031 kWh/day; Tepuy Solar Park (EPM), with 217,604 kWh/day; El Paso, with 216,460 kWh/day; La Unión, with 182,388 kWh/day; La Mata, with 119,394 kWh/day; and Urrá Solar Park, with 32,988 kWh/day. Although solar accounted for nearly 38% of the newly awarded capacity, its share of total allocated firm energy stood at 7.7%, equivalent to 11,064,934 kWh/day. This discrepancy reflects the design of Colombia’s reliability charge mechanism, which remunerates the ability to deliver energy under stressed system conditions and tends to favor technologies with higher operational firmness.
For this auction, CREG applied the framework defined in Resolution 101 066 of 2024, featuring two clearing prices differentiated by variable generation costs. The clearing price for plants in the lower variable cost group (PCVI) was $0.022/kWh, while the price for the higher variable cost group (PCVS) was $0.0164/kWh. XM administered the process using a sealed-bid mechanism, with the external audit conducted by RSM Colombia Auditores.
XM reported that the next stage of the process includes submission of fuel supply contracts or performance guarantees by winning companies on August 6, 2026, followed by issuance of OEF certificates on September 14. The external audit of the auction was conducted by RSM Colombia Auditores.
This auction follows the one held last year, when three reconfiguration auctions for OEF purchases covering the 2025–2026, 2026–2027 and 2027–2028 periods were conducted in March. In those auctions, 7.6 GWh/day, 6.4 GWh/day and 7.5 GWh/day were allocated, respectively, across a total of 74 plants, comprising both existing facilities and projects under construction. Of these, 37 are photovoltaic, of which 13 are under construction, while the remainder includes 24 hydroelectric and 13 thermal plants, all in operation.
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11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, June 11, 2026
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Mountains to climb
Available in print and digital formats.
Be part of the high-level European conference on solar and energy storage, exploring bankable BESS projects, warranties, and energy management for residential and C&I sectors
Entries open in seven categories: Modules, Inverters, BoS, BESS, Manufacturing, Sustainability, Projects.
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A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
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Showcase your brand across all our platforms: from 13 websites in 7 languages to our magazines, daily newsletters, industry events and more. Reach your audience the right way!
We are participating in Intersolar 2026 again this year! Visit us at our Booth Hall 2 A2.250 to discuss the latest trends within the photovoltaic industry with the pv magazine team.
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Solar Power World
By Kelly Pickerel | May 29, 2026
Nextpower continues its quest to become a one-stop-shop for all things utility-scale power, announcing it plans to acquire Prevalon Energy, an American energy storage supplier. Nextpower will spend $365 million on the acquisition.
Prevalon is a stand-alone company from Mitsubishi Power Americas. Prevalon provides fully integrated BESS solutions backed by its own intelligent control system.
“Prevalon was the perfect choice for Nextpower to expand into BESS,” said Markus Wilhelm, founder and CEO of Strata Energy, a large-scale solar and storage installer. “Both companies are technology focused and understand power, utilities and complex use cases for customers. Prevalon’s BESS hardware and software platform solves challenging problems for utility-connected and self-powered AI data centers, including inertia support, grid stabilization, contingency management and GPU AI workload smoothing.”
Nextpower, which got its start in solar tracking systems, has been expanding its platform, with recent acquisitions in the inverter, panel frame and O&M service segments.
“Many of our customers have rapidly expanded their storage programs, and asked us to extend Nextpower’s platform into power conversion and BESS to deliver fully integrated firm power solutions,” said Dan Shugar, founder and CEO of Nextpower. “Together with our recently announced and complementary power conversion acquisition, we expect that Prevalon’s BESS platform will open new market opportunities for Nextpower in AI data center power supply applications. Prevalon is already engaged with large hyperscalers with a lean, seasoned team that has a solid track record delivering BESS for utilities and IPPs across a variety of use cases.”
Prevalon’s BESS technology supports applications where power quality, rapid response and deployment speed are critical, including AI data centers, private grids, grid-connected storage, and industrial power systems. Its Hybrid Power Stabilizer is designed to manage rapid load changes and support grid stability, while its HD5 DC block and newly released HD5 AC block products provide modular energy storage building blocks supported by insightOS controls, monitoring, diagnostics, and long-term service capabilities.
“Prevalon shares Nextpower’s relentless focus on innovation, quality, reliability, and customer success,” said Tom Cornell, President and CEO of Prevalon Energy. “Operating as part of Nextpower, we can leverage their global reach and deep client relationships. Our customers will benefit from doing business with a reliable, investment-grade partner with decades of experience in power generation and management.”
The transaction is expected to close in Q2 FY27, subject to customary regulatory approvals and closing conditions.
Kelly Pickerel has more than 15 years of experience reporting on the U.S. solar industry and is currently editor in chief of Solar Power World. Email Kelly.

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IPP ContourGlobal has put a solar-plus-storage project in Chile with a 6.5-hour BESS into commercial operation in Chile.
The Victor Jara project in Tarapacá combines 231MW of solar PV with a 200MW/1.3GWh battery energy storage system (BESS), enabling maximum power output for 6.5 hours.
ContourGlobal said it is among the longest-duration utility-scale BESS projects in the world and the longest-duration project currently operating in Latin America.
The Victor Jara project has a 15-year night-only power purchase agreement (PPA) with utility Copec EMOAC, which has been active in procuring power from other co-located BESS projects. The solar PV production is shifted into the late afternoon nighttime using the BESS.
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James Lee Stancampiano, ContourGlobal’s general manager for South America, said: “The idea that the sun from the Tarapacá desert can light Chilean homes at night is not just a technical achievement — it’s a powerful illustration of where we want to take Chile’s energy system.”
The project was acquired from developer and IPP Grenergy, along with the Quillagua 1 and Quillagua 2 in Antofogasta, which total 221MW of solar and 1.2GWh of BESS.
At the time of acquisition these were the first three phases of Grenergy’s Oasis de Atacama collection of projects, which has seven phases totalling 4GW of solar PV and 11GWh of storage, being developed and sold to different companies. The fourth phase (272MW of solar, 1.1GWh BESS) was sold to investor CVC late last year.
Chile has become a hotbed of large-scale BESS activity as companies deploy BESS to shift solar PV production into night time hours, mitigating curtailment and negative pricing risk.
BESS projects have been completed by IPPs and power firms Zelestra, Innergex and Engie totalling around 1.5GWh of BESS capacity in the past few months alone. In April, investor Copenhagen Infrastructure Partners started building one of that size.
The Oasis de Atacama projects have been supplied (so far) by both CATL and BYD, while Grenergy recently enlisted BYD for its second portfolio of projects, Oasis Central.
ContourGlobal’s global BESS strategy and development manager Maria Cuadrado was a speaker on the ‘Product Selection, Quality, and Underperformance in Battery Storage Projects’ discussion at the Energy Storage Summit 2026 in London in February. See the full video recording with a subscription to ESN Premium here.
Our publisher Solar Media, part of Informa Connect, will host the Energy Storage Summit Latin America 2026 on 27-28 October, 2026, in Santiago Chile. Use our discount code ESN20 for 20% off tickets.

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Enviromena Commissions 10 MWp Solar Farm in Wales Under Innovative Direct Energy Supply Model  SolarQuarter
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Recent decades of research and development have produced highly sophisticated solar cells—or photovoltaic (PV) devices—that generated more than 1,000 terawatt-hours of electrical energy globally in 2022. This deployment has been accelerated by improvements in the design and performance of PV devices, as well as significant cost declines, achieved through innovative research in module, cell, and manufacturing of PV.
PV deployment must grow dramatically in the next few decades—to the multi-terawatt (TW) scale—to achieve a sustainable energy system. Given the urgency of this growth, continued solar cell innovation is crucial.
This need for solar cell innovation is the main idea of a new article in Device, “Photovoltaic Device Innovation for a Solar Future.” Written by an international team of researchers led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the article highlights the importance of PV device innovation for the energy transition.
“Through device innovation, we can have a major impact on the global energy system of the future,” said Nancy Haegel, director of the National Center for Photovoltaics at NREL and lead author on the paper. “Even what might appear to be small changes, like a percent or two in efficiency, actually have huge impacts at terawatt scale.”
The paper, supported by the National Center for Photovoltaics and several core NREL PV programs funded by the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office, looks at both the past and future of solar cells. The authors review recent advances and future opportunities in solar cell innovation for four fully commercialized technologies: III-V multijunction solar cells for space and silicon (Si), cadmium telluride (CdTe), and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) for terrestrial power generation.
“There has been an incredible amount of innovation in these types of PV devices, and that innovation has been critical to the progress of solar over the last decade,” Haegel said. “Looking ahead, our hope is that this will inspire researchers in the PV community to contribute to device innovation.”
Recent advances in these solar cells have largely focused on efficiency, cost reduction, and improved reliability. But at the multi-TW production scale, new challenges, such as materials availability, supply chain, and embedded energy and carbon dioxide (CO₂), begin to affect the PV industry.
“Some of the most exciting areas for innovation—in addition to increasing efficiency, which is always important—include reducing use of scarce materials, developing circular technologies, and obtaining lower-cost dual-junction devices,” Haegel said.
Another key direction for future research is the “coupling” of solar cells.
“On the device side, coupling two or more materials to create low-cost tandem devices is becoming increasingly important,” Haegel explained. “And on the systems side, the future of PV is going to depend, in large part, on how it is coupled with other energy sectors in the clean energy economy, including transportation, storage, industrial processes, and electrification of building heating and cooling.”
The article appears in the first edition of Device, a new journal from Cell Press that focuses on device- and application-oriented research from all disciplines.
“It’s my goal to use Device to highlight the many interdisciplinary contributions that it takes to truly take a device from an innovative idea to a technology that makes real-world impact,” said Marshall Brennan, editor in chief of Device. “What Nancy and her colleagues have contributed is a perfect encapsulation of what we’re looking to accomplish: understanding technologies that help make real progress on challenges and impact the lives of global citizens while providing context for how to solve the various problems that a new technology will face as it scales. Moreover, NREL’s mission to solve energy challenges using creative solutions aligns with what Device stands for, so I am overjoyed with the opportunity to establish that connection early in the journal’s lifetime.”
Haegel added, “Given that PV is going to be a key part of the clean energy solution, we are excited to have a PV device article in the very first edition of Device, and we hope that it inspires new people to join the field and new advances in solar cells.”
Read the article and learn more about NREL’s PV research.
Last Updated April 28, 2026
The National Laboratory of the Rockies is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Critical Minerals and Energy Innovation, operated under Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308.

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Under the agreement, Airengy will act as a “smart” EPC contractor and will be responsible, among other things, for the design, licensing, procurement, construction, grid connection and completion of the projects.
In addition, the parties will examine the possibility of cooperation on the development level, under which Airengy may participate as an equity partner in some of the projects.
In the first phase, the companies defined seven projects with a cumulative solar capacity of approximately 22.15 MWp and a cumulative storage capacity of approximately 225.68 MWh. The potential consideration to Airengy for the construction works on these projects may reach approximately ILS 200 million.
The contract with Nofar Energy is another strategic step that Airengy has taken in recent months to establish and expand its development, design, and “smart” EPC operations in Israel. These steps include the acquisition of GreenGo’s EPC operations and the recruitment of Mor Yigali (formerly a senior executive at Doral Energy) to lead the company’s development and project activities in Israel.
Alongside its expansion in Israel, Airengy continues to deepen its development activities in Europe. Following the acquisition of a 34 MW portfolio in Poland, the company is working to expand its operations primarily in Poland and Italy, while conducting advanced negotiations for financing the transactions with leading entities in the capital and institutional markets.
In addition, the company continues to advance the commercialisation of its CAPP (Compressed Air Power Plant) technology for long-duration energy storage. In recent months, it has signed several memorandums of understanding to promote the establishment of compressed-air-based power stations in Europe. These steps support the company’s vision of building an international energy company operating across several complementary growth engines: entrepreneurship, smart EPC, storage and electricity generation.
The execution of the projects is subject, among other things, to the signing of detailed and binding agreements for each project, receipt of regulatory permits and approvals, and the arrangement of financing.
“Airengy is rapidly implementing its strategy of transitioning from a technology company to a full-scale energy company, with development and execution capabilities in Israel and Europe” said Maj. Gen. (res.) Yiftah Ron Tal, Chairman of Airengy. “The cooperation with Nofar Energy strengthens the company’s position as a growing player in the renewable energy and storage sectors and constitutes another building block in developing the company’s long-term capabilities in the energy market.”
For additional information:
Airengy
Nofar Energy Israel Ltd

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This year’s World Environment Day celebrates the theme of Climate Action, and Virgin Limited Edition is celebrating this across its collection of luxury hotel properties around the world. Richard Branson’s hotels boast everything from renewable energy projects, water conservation programs and regenerative farming. This marks the collection’s continued, long-term commitment to responsible tourism and

environmental stewardship.
As the climate crisis continues, World Environment Day 2026 focuses on urgent signals sent by the planet and Virgin Limited Edition responds with an ongoing sustainability program and meaningful action. Meanwhile, sustainability is an ongoing commitment, integrated in daily operations, guest experiences and long-term conservation strategies.
Leanbh Collins, Head of Global Sustainability for Virgin Hotels Collection, said, “At Virgin Hotels Collection, we believe exceptional hospitality goes hand in hand with positive impact. Across our Virgin Limited Edition portfolio, that belief is reflected in practical climate action shaped by each property and its environment – from renewable energy and water conservation to waste reduction and support for local ecosystems,” adding:
“We’re proud of the progress being made, while recognizing that sustainability is a journey of continuous improvement. There is always more to do, and our focus remains on making responsible, meaningful changes that support the places, communities and ecosystems around us for the long term.”
Moreover, Virgin Limited Edition is included within Virgin Holdings Limited’s SBTi-approved climate targets, which help guide decarbonization plans, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and support long-term climate resilience. Read on for details of the work at the following hotels:

At Necker Island, three wind turbines and a solar farm of more than 1,230 solar panels provide up to 650kW of renewable energy that contributes significantly to the running of the island through an integrated off-grid solution. The island also operates a fleet of 50 electric vehicles and continues to explore innovative ways to improve energy efficiency across all operations.

This African luxury accommodation option recently completed a 242kW photovoltaic solar farm, allowing the camp to operate fully off-grid with 24-hour solar power. Mahali Mzuri also uses solar energy to power both the guest camp and staff accommodation, supporting its low-impact tourism model within the Maasai Mara ecosystem.
In South Africa, the Ulusaba airstrip runs entirely on solar power, while 921 solar panels across the property help reduce reliance on grid electricity and generators. Mont Rochelle is also continuing to expand its renewable energy efforts, with new solar panels currently being installed across the estate.
At Son Bunyola Hotel & Villas, the estate’s connection to the local power grid removes the need for diesel generators, helping to significantly reduce fossil fuel consumption, carbon emissions and noise pollution across the estate. Hot water across the estate is pre-heated using recovered energy from air conditioning and refrigeration systems, while a biomass boiler fuelled by recycled wood chippings helps significantly reduce propane consumption.
This luxurious property has replaced its diesel-fuelled water boilers with a more sustainable wood pellet alternative. Managed through the local municipality, the heated water is distributed throughout the wider Verbier community.
When it comes to sustainable living, water conservation is a major priority across the Virgin Limited Edition profile, especially in areas where water scarcity presents growing environmental challenges.
At this luxurious property in Morocco, wastewater is recycled and reused to irrigate the hotel’s gardens and vegetable plots. Moreover, the harvesting of rainwater helps to support the property’s gardens and kitchen garden.
Moreover, after a devastating earthquake in 2023, Kasbah Tamadot was involved in reconstructing wells in the villages of Imi Oughlad and Timezra, along with the installation of a water storage reservoir in the Asni Valley.
This luxurious property has developed five rainwater collection points to offer drinking water for wildlife in the dry season. It also features a new rainwater harvesting system at the camp’s local primary school, helping provide clean drinking water for students.
Heading to Necker Island again, the property boasts rainwater collection systems to capture between 20,000 and 300,000 gallons of water in a single day of rainfall, which is then reused for irrigation. Seawater is also transformed into usable water for the island through reverse osmosis technology.

Heading back to Africa, Ulusaba features Bio Boxes that purify grey water into drinking water, which is then pumped into reservoirs used by wildlife across the reserve.
Meanwhile, across the Virgin Limited Edition properties, work continues to reduce single-use plastics and implement circular waste initiatives designed to minimize environmental impact. Management at Necker Island has eliminated single-use plastic with refillable systems and refillable sunscreen stations.
Plastic straws have been replaced by bamboo alternatives, while staff uniforms are made from recycled ocean waste and plastic, and the island’s iconic Red Dock is constructed using recycled plastic planks.
Similar initiatives are reflected across the wider portfolio, with all properties offering filtered drinking water in reusable glass bottles, operating without single-use plastics, providing reusable slippers, and continuing to roll out refillable amenities and other plastic-free alternatives across guest experiences.
Besides each property facing unique environment challenges and its location and ecosystem, Virgin Limited Edition’s broader approach remains focused on long term, measurable progress. Through investments in renewable energy, water conservation, biodiversity protection and responsible tourism practices, the collection continues to evolve its environmental commitments while supporting the communities and landscapes that surround its properties.

Freelance and travel writer who lived in Africa before moving to a charming seaside town on the Costa del Sol, Spain.
I enjoy writing about lesser-known places, beautiful nature, and sustainable travel. Open to writing opportunities.

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Battery energy storage systems (BESS) are becoming increasingly key to achieving solar project bankability in Africa, according to a webinar hosted by the Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA).
The second day of AFSIA’s four day e-conference on storage solutions focused on addressing the financial considerations when deploying solar energy storage across Africa.
Zoë Pierre, Investment Principal at African Infrastructure Investment Managers (AIIM), told attendees that while Africa has world-beating solar resources, bankability is increasingly dependent on delivering flexible, dispatchable power.
Pierre said AIIM, which develops and manages private equity funds for African infrastructure projects, is increasingly focused on platforms that combine solar, storage, flexible dispatch and sophisticated market participation.
“That’s where we think long-term value creation is going,” Pierre said. “The winners of Africa’s energy transition won’t just generate renewable power, they’ll deliver it when the system needs it most. Africa has incredible renewable resources, the challenge is flexibility and bankability.”
Pierre added that storage is likely to scale fastest in African markets where regulation is evolving alongside renewable growth and cited South Africa, Egypt, Zambia, Namibia and Kenya as key examples.
When asked by an attendee why projects fail to materialize on the continent, Pierre said the bottlenecks are execution and structure rather than technology.
“Projects fail because of structuring,” Pierre explained. “They fail because the offtake is weak, because grid access is uncertain, because development capital is insufficient, because the funds underestimate transmission risk, or because the risk allocation between parties is fundamentally unbankable.”
“You need credible counterparties, clear dispatch frameworks, robust engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) structures, bankable operations and maintenance (O&M) contracts, credible resource studies and experienced management teams.”
Pierre also recommended that developers be careful with their spend from day one so their net negative is not so high that it deters investors.
“I think there’s often an underestimation of how much time it takes to get a concept and memorandum of understanding into a structured power purchase agreement, into a structured lending agreement, into a fully vetted EPC agreement with warranties built in. A lot of that is actually just coming from developer experience,” Pierre said. “It’s very unlikely that your first one is going to be the winner.”
In a session focused on Africa’s commercial and industrial (C&I) market, Michael Iwu, Business Development Manager at Empower New Energy, said that while the cost of BESS is declining, it remains expensive for many businesses to invest upfront. 
Iwu highlighted local debt market constraints and currency and credit risks as additional financing challenges facing the C&I market as he called for innovative financing models to align stakeholder incentives and create predictable cash flows.
He cited power support agreements, otherwise known as a lease to own model, as the best financing model for accelerating C&I storage adoption in Africa.
“If you want to invest and predict your revenues, I think you should go for a fixed monthly payment model, which is a power support agreement,” Iwu said, while adding other financial models that work for the market C&I include an Energy-as-a-Service model, a blended finance approach and portfolio aggregation.
Iwu also presented attendees with several risk mitigation strategies for those interested in investing in Africa.
“I would advise you to look at long term financing, minimum of 10 years, and ensure you include some form of type of pay clauses in the agreement or fixed monthly payments to ensure revenue certainty,” he said.
In a discussion of how to scale C&I storage in Africa, Iwu suggested standardizing contracts and technical specifications to reduce costs and speed up deal executions and access to local currency financing and hedging solutions to manage foreign exchange risk.
When asked what is needed to attract more private capital into the sector, Iwu said collection rates remain a major risk for projects in Africa.
“Developers should address that risk by working with credible partners and demonstrating you are able to manage the risk of collection,” he said. “Contracts should be bankable, and some form of bank guarantee is needed to give investors confidence that their investments will be recovered.”
“We have seen many investments in Africa where investors struggle to recover their funds. But if project developers work with EPCs to ensure investments can be recovered, there is significant capital available to scale projects.”
AFSIA’s e-conference on storage, now in its sixth edition, concludes tomorrow with a session covering the storage market outlook on the continent.
Data collected by the association estimates more than 31.8 GWh of storage projects are under development in Africa.
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Funding Opportunities
On October 15, 2021, the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office (SETO) released the Performance Targets for Perovskite Photovoltaic (PV) Research, Development, and Demonstration Programs Request for Information (RFI) for public response and comment. The RFI sought feedback from industry, academia, research laboratories, government agencies, and other stakeholders on efficiency, stability and replicability performance targets for perovskite PV devices that could be utilized to align community efforts, ensure relevance of potential future funding programs, and accelerate technical and commercial development and de-risking of perovskite technologies. 
The RFI included proposed device performance targets for power conversion efficiency (PCE), area, stability, and sample sizes, and included the following questions:
A total of 11 RFI responses were received and reviewed, including 6 from the perovskite and solar industry, 3 from national laboratory organizations, and 2 from academic institutions. This summary presents aggregated information from all RFI responses, revised performance targets, and clarification on potential utilization by SETO. 
Download the RFI summary document or read the findings below.
Please note that unless explicitly stated, the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE) is not communicating an opinion or viewpoint about any of the responses described below, but rather is publishing an RFI response summary and performance targets so that the public may also benefit from information received by DOE.
For commercial viability, perovskite PV devices will need to demonstrate competitive or improved performance against current commercial PV technologies in areas such as production cost, durability, power density, energy yield, and levelized cost of electricity. While long-term targets are necessary, short- and medium-term targets are useful to the perovskite research and development (R&D) community. These targets can align research directions and goals, ensure that future funding programs are relevant, and accelerate technical and commercial development and de-risking of perovskite technologies. The SETO-funded Perovskite PV Accelerator for Commercializing Technologies (PACT) Validation and Bankability Center will aid in refining these targets.
SETO developed proposed device performance targets to evaluate the commercialization potential of perovskite prototypes, and included these in the RFI to solicit feedback on them. The table below summarizes revised device performance targets that incorporated this feedback. These targets include factors such as efficiency (by device type), durability tests, sample requirements such as number of devices, preconditioning requirements, minimum module size, and ratio of tested area to total area. The original proposed performance targets can be found in the full RFI summary document.
 
18% for single junction devices
24% for perovskite-perovskite tandem devices
27% for hybrid tandem devices (perovskite-other PV material)
 
At least 500 cm² with at least 4 interconnected cells
 
Pass selected standard International Electrochemical Commission (IEC) and International Summit on Organic Photovoltaic Stability (ISOS) module quality tests with <10% performance loss per test³
6 months of continuous outdoor testing with <3% performance loss overall and <1% performance loss over the final 3 months⁴
 
>1 kW total capacity
At least 20 modules for outdoor testing⁵
These targets will likely evolve with increased understanding of how to enable manufacturing and deployment of perovskite PV at the gigawatt scale. These targets are not necessarily applicable for all perovskite PV research, development, and deployment activities. They do not directly address commercialization pathways outside of terrestrial power generation, and they do not represent a “finish line” which will definitely lead to commercially viable devices. Instead, these targets are intended to help establish confidence and manage risk for manufacturing and commercialization programs as perovskite technologies and companies mature and expand.
Given SETO priorities and generally supportive responses, SETO intends to focus on optimizing a single set of targets and clarifying their potential usage. SETO also intends to revise these targets as needed. However, some respondents proposed alternatives to a single set of shared performance targets, including different sets of targets for different stages of development, waiting to set targets, and eliminating targets. 
Respondents generally supported setting performance targets for the three device configurations proposed (single junction perovskite, perovskite-perovskite tandem, hybrid perovskite tandem). However, several suggested adding bifacial devices. No specific targets for bifacial devices were proposed, but respondents indicated that bifacial technologies are increasing in market share for incumbent technologies and are likely to be relevant to perovskites. The current targets do not exclude bifacial devices but don’t set specific targets for them, in line with SETO’s goal of setting broadly applicable targets when possible.
Feedback on PCE targets was mixed. Some groups supported increasing the targets, up to 22% PCE for single junction and 28% for hybrid tandems, while some supported decreases, as low as 23% for hybrid tandems. The proposed increases tended to be linked to proposals for smaller required device areas. 
There were multiple questions about the use of “Total Area PCE”, which was a concern given edge effects for non-optimized device fabrication. “Aperture Area PCE” was proposed as an alternative to resolve this issue. 
There were also multiple responses questioning whether PCE was the best metric. Energy yield was proposed as a more relevant metric, since perovskites are more temperature-sensitive than silicon or cadmium telluride technologies. This means that modules with identical PCEs as measured at standard testing conditions might have quite different operational PCEs, as modules in the field tend to operate at much higher temperatures than test conditions. The respondents indicated that a lower standard PCE for perovskites might be acceptable, as operational energy yield could still exceed incumbent technologies.
 
In general, respondents indicated interest in reduced module area requirements, though some indicated support for the proposed value. The alternative proposed sizes were as small as 100 cm², but the most common proposal was for 225 cm². This would align with a standard 150 mm by 150 mm device area, similar to standard silicon solar cells. The rationales for the proposed reductions centered around equipment availability and throughput. Some groups indicated that the proposed size was not on their current scaling roadmap and would impose an additional burden to acquire relevant tools. Multiple groups indicated that the metallization steps were the primary concern in creating larger devices, with either a lack of capability to support the proposed size or a throughput issue that would cause resource balancing challenges.
 
Additionally, there were some concerns about relevance of the size for alternative and initial markets. Most groups that proposed size reductions were willing to increase overall device count requirements or include process yield targets.
Respondents generally supported performing a subset of the proposed testing protocols. There were concerns with the ability of each entity to conduct the full range of testing. Additionally, it was proposed to change the title to “Durability” or “Reliability” rather than “Stability.” 
Groups indicated a lack of confidence that the proposed light presoaking procedure was sufficient and relevant. Multiple suggestions around output requirements and similar requirements were made, as well as proposals to defer defining this protocol pending initial PACT recommendations on this topic. 
A general, repeated suggestion was to reduce the number of tests to minimize burden. Given the current state of perovskite technologies, groups felt that tests directly targeting acceleration of device failure modes (mainly light, heat, cycling, and bias) were most immediately relevant. Suggestions were made to include light soaking at elevated temperature, similar to ISOS protocols, and to expand the reverse bias/partial shading testing. 
Responses to the outdoor testing proposal varied. Some groups supported extending the requirement to a full year at minimum to ensure that annual variability was captured, as well as requiring multiple sites to capture variations in climate. Other groups indicated that the test duration was too long relative to their innovation cycles. There were also concerns about the success value proposed, primarily due to potential burn-in or similar behaviors that might lead to a larger initial drop, followed by more stable behavior.
 
Learn more about SETO’s solar PV research and subscribe to the SETO newsletter for the latest solar news.
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How subsidy withdrawal reshapes photovoltaic deployment: Spatial heterogeneity and causal evidence from China  ScienceDirect.com
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Floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems have experienced rapid growth since 2015, with over 9.6 GWp installed capacity by 2024, and FPV could become an important source of power generation in land-scarce regions. In this Review, we explore trends in global FPV deployment. The large estimated power-generation potential of FPV, over 22 TWp from 10% of inland water bodies and more than 718 TWp from 10% of offshore areas within exclusive economic zones, indicates FPV’s relevance for meeting energy demands. Capital expenditures have declined to a median of 1.25 USD Wp^–1; however, levelized cost of electricity generally remains higher than for land-based PV. Nevertheless, ancillary benefits such as water conservation, synergies with hydropower and aquaculture, and reduced land-use conflict enhance FPV’s economic and environmental value. Challenges include increased operations and maintenance complexity and harsher operational conditions compared with land-based systems. The impacts of FPV systems on their local environment require further investigation, and system developers can face regulatory uncertainty. Offshore FPV and hybrid systems with wind, wave and desalination offer new frontiers but require further technical maturation. Coordinated research, policy support and standardization are needed to enable FPV’s full potential as a scalable, low-carbon energy solution.
Floating photovoltaic (FPV) systems allow for the deployment of PV over large areas with greatly reduced land-use competition compared with convention land-based PV.
The proximity of FPV to water surfaces and exposure to potentially greater wind speed allow for improved cooling of the PV modules, increasing the module efficiency relative to land-based units.
FPV modules are generally installed at tilt angles up to 20° to increase mechanical stability, and therefore reliability, but reduce the total incident sunlight on the PV modules at higher latitudes.
Balance-of-system components for FPV systems require ruggedization in response to the increased moisture exposure and continuous mechanical motion, which are not typical of conditions in conventional land-based PV installations.
Degradation rates of FPV modules over 5 years are similar to those of land-based PV modules; however, durability over the 25-year expected lifetime remains unproven and necessitates longer-duration degradation studies.
Long-term environmental impact studies are needed from a diverse range of water body types to provide the basis for robust regulation, which can increase investor certainty and encourage further deployment.
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This work was supported by the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). SERIS is supported by NUS, the National Research Foundation Singapore (NRF), the Energy Market Authority of Singapore (EMA) and the Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB). T. Rahman acknowledges support from EPSRC grant EP/X033333/1.
These authors contributed equally: Oktoviano Gandhi, Carlos D. Rodríguez-Gallegos.
Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS), National University of Singapore (NUS), Singapore, Singapore
Oktoviano Gandhi, Lokesh Vinayagam, Huixuan Sun, Jaffar Moideen Yacob Ali, Gokhan Mert Yagli, Fen Lin & Thomas Reindl
RINA Tech Renewables Australia, RINA Consulting, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Carlos D. Rodríguez-Gallegos
Department of the Built Environment, College of Design and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
Shi An Ting
School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
Tasmiat Rahman
Facultad de Ingeniería en Electricidad y Computación (FIEC), Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral (ESPOL), Guayaquil, Ecuador
Manuel S. Alvarez-Alvarado
Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Doha, Qatar
Dhanup Somasekharan Pillai
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O.G. and C.D.R.-G. conceived, organized and contributed equally to the article. O.G., C.D.R.-G., S.A.T., T. Rahman, L.V. and H.S. wrote the article and contributed substantially to discussion of the content. All authors reviewed and/or edited the manuscript before submission.
Correspondence to Oktoviano Gandhi.
O.G., L.V., H.S., J.M.Y.A., G.M.Y., F.L. and T. Reindl work for SERIS, a research institute in Singapore, which also provides consultancy services, including in floating solar. C.D.R.-G. works for RINA, a consultancy company, which also provides services in the floating solar industry. S.A.T., T. Rahman, M.S.A.-A. and D.S.P. declare no competing interests.
Nature Reviews Clean Technology thanks Josefine Selj, Sarah Jordaan and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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A fracture or splitting in the protective rear layer of a photovoltaic module that can expose internal components to moisture and lead to electrical degradation or failure.
(BOS). This can also include inverter and floats. All the physical components of a photovoltaic system excluding photovoltaic modules, including inverters, mounting structures or floats, wiring, monitoring and electrical equipment.
The unwanted accumulation of microorganisms, algae or other aquatic organisms on surfaces (for example, floating photovolatic floats and anchors), which can increase structural weight and drag or degrade the components of floating and marine energy systems.
The separation of bonded layers within a photovoltaic module (for example, encapsulant from glass or backsheet), often caused by thermal stress or moisture, which leads to optical and performance degradation.
The rate used to convert future cash flows (and energy generation) into present value, reflecting the time value of money and project risk.
(FiTs). A policy mechanism that guarantees renewable energy producers a fixed payment per unit of electricity generated and supplied to the grid over a defined period.
An electrical enclosure attached to a photovoltaic module (typically at the back) that houses the output wiring connections and bypass diodes to protect the module’s circuitry.
(PPA). A long-term (typically 10–25 years) contractual agreement between an electricity generator and a buyer (offtaker) that defines the terms, price and duration for the sale of electricity.
A tradable certificate representing the environmental and other non-power attributes of 1 megawatt hour of electricity generated from renewable sources.
A measure of thermal transmittance or heat loss of a material or structure, typically expressed in W per m²K, where a higher value indicates greater thermal conductivity.
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Gandhi, O., Rodríguez-Gallegos, C.D., Ting, S.A. et al. Design and implementation of floating photovoltaics. Nat. Rev. Clean Technol. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-026-00171-4
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Accepted: 22 April 2026
Published: 27 May 2026
Version of record: 27 May 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44359-026-00171-4
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