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If you like heading off-road during adventures, a power station can be a really handy addition to your gear. These can keep your essential devices running when regular outlets are nowhere in sight, and even when you’re dealing with power outages at home. Anker makes some of the best, most versatile options around – one of which just got a nice price cut on Amazon. 
The Anker Solix C300 portable power station bundle that includes a 60W solar panel is now sitting at $270, after a 16% discount. That’s $50 less than what you’d normally pay for it. Just note that because this is a limited-time offer, we wouldn’t expect the deal to be around for too long. It’s better to grab it now to lock the discounted price in.
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Power stations come in a lot of shapes and sizes. This one features a built-in handle and is lightweight enough to carry around easily. The portable build – however – packs in a total output power of 300W, which is plenty to keep most, if not all your devices up and running when you’re out. 
You get seven versatile ports to power your tech, including a car socket (120W), two USB-C (140W) ports, one USB-C (100W) port, one USB-C (15W) port, and two USB-A (12W) ports. That’s enough to plug in your smartphone, tablet, laptop, earbuds, gaming console, and even a portable projector all at once. In fact, you’ll still have space for stuff like a drone camera or a camping light! Speaking of light, the Anker C300 also has one built right into it, so it can provide some illumination at night if you ever forget to pack one separately.
Recharging the power station is quick, since it can go from 0 to 80% in only 50 minutes with a wall outlet. When that’s not an option, the included 60W solar panel can top it up using sunlight. It takes about four hours to hit 100% with the solar panel, but it’s still pretty convenient for on-the-go use.
The package includes the Anker SOLIX C300 DC portable power station, a 60W solar panel, a solar-to-XT-60 charging cable, an extension cable, a 60 cm 140W USB-C to C charging cable, and a warranty card. The current offer drops the price of this bundle to $270 after taking $50 off. But since this is a limited-time discount, it won’t stick around for long. We’d recommend grabbing it now while you can. 
See at Amazon
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ENGIE has announced the full commissioning of its 250 MW Khaba solar project in Rajasthan and 200 MW Khavda project in Gujarat, adding a combined 450 MW of operational renewable energy capacity in India.
The projects strengthen the company’s renewable energy portfolio in the country. ENGIE said approximately 80% of the construction workforce was hired locally, supporting local communities and contributing to regional economic activity.
This milestone builds on ENGIE’s growing presence in India. The company secured its first battery energy storage project, a 280 MW/560 MWh BESS, in November 2025, followed by a hybrid project in January 2026 combining 200 MW of solar capacity with a 100 MW/600 MWh battery storage system.
With around 2 GW in operation or under construction in the country, the Group continues to grow its presence in India, bringing together renewable generation and flexibility solutions to help meet growing demand for reliable, low-carbon electricity.
“The commissioning of the Khaba and Khavda solar projects marks an important milestone for ENGIE in India, adding 450 MW of new renewable capacity to our operational portfolio. Delivering projects of this scale requires strong execution, operational discipline and close collaboration with local communities,” said Amit Jain, CEO & Country Manager India, Managing Director Renewables & Batteries SEA, ENGIE. “With the majority of our construction workforce hired locally, these projects also reflect our commitment to creating value beyond clean energy generation. As India’s energy needs evolve, we remain focused on building reliable, high-quality renewable infrastructure across solar, battery storage and hybrid solutions to support a cleaner, more resilient and energy-secure future for the country.”
Pedro Vasconcelos, ENGIE Executive Vice President in charge of Renewable & Flexible Power, said, “India is a key growth market for ENGIE, where we are continuing to build scale and momentum as we contribute to one of the world’s major energy transitions. As the market evolves, we also see increasing opportunities in corporate PPAs and in combining renewable generation with more sophisticated energy management and flexibility solutions. Our ambition is to build on this momentum and use these capabilities to create additional value for our customers and for ENGIE.”
Located in Barmer, Rajasthan, the 250 MW Khaba solar project has been developed through Khaba Renewable Energy Private Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of ENGIE. Each year, the project will generate approximately 650 GWh of electricity and avoid nearly 180 kilotonnes of CO₂ emissions.
Located within the Khavda Renewable Energy Park in the Rann of Kutch, Gujarat, the 200 MW solar PV park has been developed through Enren II Energy Pvt Ltd. The project, contracted to supply electricity to Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Ltd under a 25-year Power Purchase Agreement (PPA), will generate approximately 350 GWh of electricity annually.
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SEG Solar plans $950 million Tomball solar cell facility, will create 700 jobs  The Business Journals
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October 27, First Solar announced that it would inaugurate the first phase of its new facility in Gaffney, Cherokee County, South Carolina, on October 28. The approximately US$330 million facility handles final production processes for Series 6 Plus photovoltaic modules.
The facility currently employs approximately 500 people. The company expects employment to approach 700 when its second phase is completed in mid-2027. The inauguration is scheduled to be livestreamed from 13:00 US Eastern Time on October 28, with company executives, employees and community representatives attending.
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AXIAN, led by Madagascar billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee, has signed €30 million of financing to build four solar plants with 62 megawatts of capacity in Benin.
AXIAN Group, the telecommunications and energy company run by Madagascar billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee, has signed €30 million ($33.6 million) of financing to build four solar power plants in Benin, the West African country’s first privately developed solar project.
The International Finance Corp., the World Bank’s private-sector arm, and Proparco, the French development finance institution, are providing the money, part of which comes from IFC’s Clean Technology Fund, a pool of cheap loans for low-carbon projects. AXIAN and Benin’s state-owned Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations, known as CDC Bénin, also signed the agreements, which were announced in Cotonou, the commercial capital, on Oct. 29. Finance ministry officials, including Minister Hugues Oscar Lokossou, attended.
The plants, known together as IPP50, will cost about €45 million ($50.4 million). They will be built in the towns of Natitingou, Djougou, Parakou and Bohicon, with total capacity of about 62 megawatts of solar panels, or 50 megawatts of output to the grid. They are expected to produce about 110 gigawatt-hours of electricity a year, enough to serve about 383,000 people, and to avoid about 62,000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions a year.
Ownership and lenders
AXIAN Energy Green, a unit of Hiridjee’s energy division, owns 80% of the two companies building the plants, ParaBo SAS and NatiDjo SAS, according to IFC disclosure documents. Sika Capital, a Beninese investment company that is 60% owned by local firm Egnon Consulting and 40% by CDC Bénin, owns the other 20%.
IFC’s board approved up to €16.8 million for the project in October 2025, half of it in standard loans and half in concessional loans from the Clean Technology Fund. The financing was signed a year later.
“Today, we are not simply signing financing agreements. We are making a choice for the future,” said Nathalie Kouassi Akon, IFC’s regional director for West Africa. She said the project had survived “first thanks to the tenacity of the Beninese authorities.”
Power for the national grid
The plants will sell their power to Société Béninoise de Production d’Électricité, the state power producer, under long-term purchase agreements, and will run under 20-year concessions from the government. Commercial operation is due to start in the first quarter of 2028.
Benin awarded the four sites in 2022 to a group made up of French solar company GreenYellow and Egnon Consulting. AXIAN Energy came in after the original developer withdrew, and it launched construction with Sika Capital in August 2025. Benin wants renewable sources to supply 30% of its electricity by 2030.
AXIAN’s push into West Africa
The deal is the latest in a run of solar projects for AXIAN in West Africa this month. On Oct. 20, the group signed up to €55.5 million of loans from Dutch lender FMO for a 50-megawatt plant in northern Ivory Coast, and it has since joined a 50-megawatt solar project in Guinea. Earlier in October, AXIAN signed a deal for a 200-megawatt solar plant in Zambia.
AXIAN Energy, run by Chief Executive Officer Benjamin Memmi, is aiming for 2 gigawatts of installed renewable capacity by 2030. The wider group also runs mobile phone networks, banks and property businesses in about 20 countries.
Hiridjee was born in Antananarivo, Madagascar’s capital, and returned home from a career in French finance in 1997 to join Hirimix, a family business founded by his uncles. He renamed it AXIAN in 2015 and has since expanded it from the Indian Ocean islands into mainland Africa.
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Kenyan trucking tycoon Zedekiah Bundotich Kiprop, known as Buzeki, is teaming up with Olympic champion Asbel Kiprop to build a running shoe brand called AK.
Jaswant Rai's West Kenya Sugar plans a Sh4.2 billion factory in Nandi County, extending the Rai family's hold on Kenya's sugar industry.
Madagascar billionaire Hassanein Hiridjee’s AXIAN Energy has joined Guinea’s Khoumagueli solar project, with construction targeted for 2027.
A Kenyan court has reopened the fight over late tycoon Stanley Githunguri’s $14 million estate, overturning an order that protected the family’s properties.
Mark Zuckerberg paid $170 million for a Miami mansion next to Jeff Bezos, but a Meta board agreement keeps him a California resident for eight years.
Sterling Oil, owned by Indian tycoons Nitin and Chetan Sandesara, has bought Eni's Nigerian onshore unit and its 5% stake in the Renaissance oil venture.
American billionaire Josh Kushner’s Thrive Holdings has agreed to acquire ADT in a $15.3 billion transaction, expanding its technology focused investment strategy.
Dangote's refinery IPO has closed and Dangote Cement has hit a record, lifting his fortune to $55.4 billion on Forbes' real-time list. BUA Cement, Seplat and First HoldCo posted strong nine-month results. And Kenya launched a $539 million cement plant in Kitui.
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A Review of Floating Photovoltaic Systems: Prospects, Challenges, and Sustainability Considerations  Wiley Online Library
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SEG Solar secured land for a planned $950 million, 4 GW heterojunction (HJT) solar cell plant at its Tomball Industrial Campus in the greater Houston area. 
The multi-phase development is expected to create more than 700 local jobs and is scheduled to come online in two 2 GW phases, targeted for 2028 and 2029. 
The cell plant will sit directly adjacent to SEG’s operational 4 GW Tomball #1 module facility and its 4.6 GW Tomball #2 module facility, which is currently under construction. Co-locating the cell lines will bring cell, module, and balance of module production together in one location alongside warehousing, a research and development center, a certified testing laboratory, and planned EVA film and junction box manufacturing lines. 
The announcement represents the next step in the company’s domestic vertical integration strategy. Earlier this year, SEG opened its Tomball #1 assembly facility, scaling up crystalline-silicon production in Texas as part of a push to build out domestic supply capacity.
Following the site opening, the manufacturer launched production of its first commercial-scale HJT modules at the secondary facility, establishing the high-efficiency technology as a central component of its U.S. manufacturing footprint. 
Supplying Texas-assembled modules with domestic HJT cells will allow project developers and asset owners to meet federal domestic content requirements under the Inflation Reduction Act while securing dedicated supply chains.
“Bringing HJT cell manufacturing to the U.S. will give customers a more domestic supply chain with clearer sourcing and a single company standing behind the product,” said Jim Wood, chief executive officer of SEG Solar, who recently spoke on U.S. manufacturing expansion at pv magazine USA Week 2026. “As the only U.S. company dedicated to integrated domestic vertical manufacturing, SEG will continue to strengthen our U.S. operations and innovation.”
Founded in 2021, the Houston-headquartered manufacturer reported shipping over 7.5 GW of solar modules globally through the end of 2025, reaching an annual module production capacity of 6.5 GW.
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Simulated lead-free bilayer solar cell reaches 28.5% efficiency on paper
Researchers have designed a solar cell that contains no lead and no tin, pairing two light-absorbing materials with complementary bandgaps in a single bilayer stack, and their computer simulations predict a power conversion efficiency of 28.5%. The study, published in Discover Electronics, is entirely computational: no physical device was built or measured.
The proposed device stacks fluorine-doped tin oxide glass, a tungsten disulfide (WS₂) electron transport layer, a primary absorber of Cs₂TiI₆, a secondary absorber of La₂NiMnO₆, a PEDOT:PSS hole transport layer, and a gold back contact. Cs₂TiI₆ is a vacancy-ordered perovskite that avoids both lead and the Sn²⁺ ions that plague many lead-free alternatives, which oxidize readily and degrade devices. The authors selected it for its 1.8-electronvolt direct bandgap, high absorption coefficient, and resistance to oxidation. La₂NiMnO₆, a double perovskite with a narrower 1.4-electronvolt bandgap, adds strong light absorption, thermal stability, and low toxicity, and it captures the longer-wavelength photons that pass through the top layer.
The DFT work, performed within the CASTEP framework using the HSE06 hybrid functional, confirmed a direct bandgap of 1.8 electronvolts for Cs₂TiI₆ and a density of states plot showing a clean gap with negligible mid-gap states, which the authors interpret as intrinsic defect tolerance. The calculated absorption coefficient peaks at 2.7 × 10⁵ per centimetre at 15 electronvolts, indicating robust ultraviolet absorption with a moderate visible response. Reflectivity stays low, peaking at 0.38 at 14.9 electronvolts, the real part of the dielectric function reaches 8.2 at 0.7 electronvolts, and the refractive index peaks at 2.9, supporting light trapping. Notably, the electronic and optical parameters of La₂NiMnO₆ were not computed by the team; they were adopted from established literature because standard semi-local DFT functionals inadequately describe lanthanum-containing compounds.
On the device side, the researchers screened eight hole transport layers with WS₂ fixed as the electron transport layer, and PEDOT:PSS emerged as the most efficient choice, delivering a simulated 22.3% efficiency for the single-absorber cell. Doping optimization followed: for the Cs₂TiI₆ primary layer, performance was best at an acceptor density of 1.0 × 10¹⁹ per cubic centimetre and a relatively low donor density of 10¹⁶ per cubic centimetre. Varying the primary absorber thickness from 200 to 1400 nanometres raised the simulated efficiency from 16.7% to 24.3%, with the short-circuit current density climbing from 15.1 to 19.5 milliamperes per square centimetre while the open-circuit voltage held steady at 1.45 volts.
The decisive step was adding the La₂NiMnO₆ secondary absorber. With its acceptor density raised toward 10¹⁹ per cubic centimetre, the bilayer efficiency climbed to a peak of 28.5% and the fill factor improved to 90% in that sweep, while the short-circuit current density held near 25.4 milliamperes per square centimetre. Donor doping in the secondary layer worked in the opposite direction: efficiency peaked at 28.4% at the lowest donor density tested and degraded as doping increased, so the optimum sits below 10¹⁸ per cubic centimetre. Secondary-layer thickness mattered strongly, with efficiency rising from 17% at 200 nanometres to 28.5% at 1400 nanometres, and 1000 nanometres chosen as the operating optimum. Transport layer thicknesses were also tuned, with 50 nanometres of WS₂ and 250 nanometres of PEDOT:PSS selected.
The final optimized bilayer design delivers a simulated efficiency of 28.5%, a fill factor of 75.5%, a short-circuit current density of 29.98 milliamperes per square centimetre, and an open-circuit voltage of 1.26 volts under standard AM 1.5G illumination at 300 kelvin. The current density represents a 53.7% gain over the single-layer cell, driven by near-unity quantum efficiency across the 375 to 680 nanometre range. The authors verified internal consistency by numerically integrating the simulated external quantum efficiency spectrum against the AM1.5G photon flux, recovering 29.98 milliamperes per square centimetre to within 0.01% of the SCAPS-reported value.
Not every metric improved. The fill factor fell from 85.7% to 75.5% and the open-circuit voltage dropped from 1.45 to 1.26 volts relative to the single-junction cell. Band-offset analysis using Anderson’s rule identified the culprit: the internal Cs₂TiI₆/La₂NiMnO₆ junction carries a substantially larger offset than the other heterointerfaces, with a conduction-band offset of 0.70 electronvolts and a valence-band offset of 1.10 electronvolts. Thermionic emission modelling indicates this valence-band spike acts as a dominant barrier to hole transport, raising series resistance and lowering the fill factor, while the narrower bandgap of La₂NiMnO₆ and its higher dark saturation current constrain the voltage. The current gain outweighs these penalties in the power equation, but the barrier remains the device’s central weakness.
Temperature and spectrum sweeps added nuance. Simulating operation from 300 to 360 kelvin, the short-circuit current stayed invariant at 29.98 milliamperes per square centimetre, while the fill factor rose from 75.5% to 81.5% and efficiency rose marginally, because thermal energy helps carriers surmount the 1.10-electronvolt interfacial barrier. Under a representative visible indoor spectrum spanning 400 to 800 nanometres at an incident power of 1000 watts per square metre, the model produced an efficiency of 44.42%, but the authors caution that this intensity far exceeds real indoor lighting levels, and actual indoor operation would yield proportionally lower photocurrents and efficiencies due to low-intensity trap-assisted recombination.
The team also proposed a theoretical fabrication route: WS₂ deposited by chemical vapor deposition or liquid-phase exfoliation, Cs₂TiI₆ grown by co-evaporation of CsI and TiI₄ under high vacuum, La₂NiMnO₆ formed from a sol-gel and annealed at 600 to 800 degrees Celsius in oxygen with rapid thermal processing to protect the underlying layer, followed by spin-coated PEDOT:PSS and evaporated gold contacts. An alternative reverse deposition order would spare the temperature-sensitive Cs₂TiI₆ from the high-temperature anneal. Series and shunt resistance sweeps rounded out the optimization, with series resistance needing to stay below 2 ohm-square centimetres and shunt resistance of 1000 ohm-square centimetres chosen as adequate.
The authors are candid about the study’s limits. Beyond the absence of any fabricated device, they note that interfacial defect densities at the critical junction were held constant in the baseline model even though real devices would contain significant recombination centres, and that the optimization followed a one-factor-at-a-time approach that misses coupled parameter interactions. Potential applications in indoor energy harvesting for internet-of-things sensors and drone-mounted photovoltaics are described as purely prospective, requiring quantitative assessment and experimental validation. The study stands as a computationally optimized blueprint for lead-free, tin-free bilayer photovoltaics, with experimental fabrication, stability testing, and scalable synthesis identified as the necessary next steps before any real-world claim can be made.
Subject of Research: Computational modelling of a lead-free bilayer perovskite solar cell using Cs₂TiI₆ and La₂NiMnO₆ absorbers
Article Title: Modelling and optimization of a lead and tin free Cs₂TiI₆ and La₂NiMnO₆ bilayer photovoltaic cell
Article References: Mangla, H., Singh, S., Pant, D., Agrawal, R., Monga, K., Gupta, D., & Sharma, U. (2026). Modelling and optimization of a lead and tin free Cs₂TiI₆ and La₂NiMnO₆ bilayer photovoltaic cell. Discover Electronics, 3(1), Article 150. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44291-026-00302-y
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s44291-026-00302-y
Keywords: perovskite solar cells, lead-free photovoltaics, Cs₂TiI₆, La₂NiMnO₆, SCAPS-1D simulation, density functional theory, bilayer absorber, power conversion efficiency, band alignment, electron transport layer, indoor energy harvesting, solar cell modelling
News Source: Denise Maddox. (October 28, 2026). Simulated lead-free bilayer solar cell reaches 28.5% efficiency on paper. Scienmag.
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GREW Solar has received approval to include 2,407 MW of N-Type TOPCon G12R solar PV cell manufacturing capacity at its Narmadapuram, Madhya Pradesh facility under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) List-II for N-Type TOPCon Solar PV Cells.
The company said the approval is a step in its commitment to supporting India’s efforts to build a domestic solar manufacturing ecosystem. It added that as the country accelerates its clean energy transition, stronger indigenous cell manufacturing has become essential for energy security, supply-chain resilience and long-term manufacturing self-reliance.
Cell technology
Solar cells are the core building blocks of photovoltaic modules and play a critical role in determining the efficiency, reliability and long-term performance of solar projects. GREW Solar said that as India advances towards its renewable energy targets and the vision of Viksit Bharat, advanced cell technologies such as N-Type TOPCon can enable higher-efficiency solar solutions and strengthen India’s position in the global solar industry.
The company noted that the ALMM framework promotes quality, reliability and traceability across India’s solar sector. It said the inclusion of cell manufacturers under ALMM List-II further supports an integrated solar value chain and gives greater visibility on approved manufacturing capacity.
Management comment
Vinay Thadani, Director and CEO, GREW Solar, said: “The ALMM List-II approval for our 2.4GW N-Type TOPCon G12R cell manufacturing capacity is an important milestone. It reflects our dedication to advancing India’s solar growth journey and presents a significant opportunity to build world-class production capabilities alongside renewable energy deployment. Our state-of-the-art Solar PV cell manufacturing facility reflects our support for the nation’s vision of a sustainable energy future, technological advancement, and innovation. Strengthening domestic cell production abilities will be necessary for ensuring a robust solar industry for years to come.”
ALMM capacity
With the latest MNRE update, India’s enlisted solar cell manufacturing capacity under ALMM List-II is heading towards 45 GW. Besides GREW Solar, Ampin Solar One Pvt Ltd has been added with Mono-PERC capacity, and Avaada Electro Ltd has added close to 3 GW, taking its total to 7,117 MW, all of it TOPCon.
Avaada leads the list, followed by Waaree Energies Ltd at 5,349 MW (1,328 MW PERC and 4,021 MW TOPCon) and TP Solar Ltd at 4,533 MW. GREW Solar’s 2,407 MW is part of an 8 GW cell manufacturing plan at its Narmadapuram facility.
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for ReNew’s solar ingot and wafer manufacturing facility at Rambilli in Anakapalli district. The Rs 5,400 crore project is aimed at strengthening domestic solar manufacturing and reducing reliance on imports of upstream components. The facility, described as a 6.5 GW ingot and wafer plant,…
Read More AP lays foundation for ReNew’s Rs 5,400 crore solar wafer plant
The Rajasthan Renewable Energy Corporation Limited (RREC) has withdrawn its procedure for implementing wind and hybrid projects and will no longer register or verify wind turbine generator (WTG) coordinates on private land. Developers will now be solely responsible for maintaining mandatory spacing between turbines. The order, issued on October 15, 2025, revokes the “Procedure-cum-Guidelines for…
Read More RREC withdraws wind and hybrid project procedure
The Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has released the “Guidelines for Benchmarking of Operation & Maintenance (O&M) Norms for Distribution Utilities” to standardize O&M practices across the sector. The guidelines cover a wide range of areas, including equipment maintenance, cost optimization, and technology adoption. Key highlights: Benchmarking Process & Maintenance Practices: Defines the benchmarking process to…
Read More CEA issues guidelines for benchmarking operation and maintenance norms for distribution utilities
JSW Energy Limited has added 1,166 MW of renewable energy capacity since April 2026, taking its total installed generation capacity to 14,920 MW. The increase follows the recent acquisition of Maruti Clean Coal and Power Limited and has pushed renewables to 60% of the company’s installed capacity. The company has added more than 94% of…
Read More JSW Energy adds 1,166 MW renewable capacity since April
PVV Infra Limited has won two solar power projects with a total investment of Rs 7.99 billion in Uttar Pradesh.  Its subsidiary PVV EVTech has signed a 25-year power purchase agreement with the Uttar Pradesh New and Renewable Energy Development Agency for a 100 MW solar project across Baghpat and Moradabad districts. The project, developed…
Read More PVV Infra secures Rs 7.99 billion solar projects in Uttar Pradesh
Swedish clean technology company Hexicon has secured approval from the South Korean Electricity Regulatory Commission (KOREC) for the transfer of two of three electricity business licenses (EBLs) for the 1.1 GW MunmuBaram floating offshore wind project. This approval fulfils a key condition for finalizing the sale and purchase agreement (SPA) signed in February 2024 with…
Read More Hexicon secures majority stake in 1.1 GW MunmuBaram wind project
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Nowogrodziec Municipality wants to learn residents’ views on the possibility of building wind power plants and photovoltaic farms. An online survey has been launched, and information meetings will be held on November 7 and 8 in five localities where the most applications concerning such investments were submitted.
Many applications have been submitted to Nowogrodziec Municipality concerning the inclusion in the general plan of areas intended for wind power plants and photovoltaic farms. According to the local authorities, most were submitted by external entities that do not own the indicated plots.
The office stresses that submitting applications alone does not yet mean that the investments have been approved or that their locations have been decided.
Mayor of Nowogrodziec Joanna Świder wants to learn the local community’s position before further decisions are made concerning the municipality’s spatial development. Therefore, the local authorities decided to conduct an additional survey of residents’ opinions, going beyond standard planning procedures.
The first stage is a survey in which residents can express their views on wind power plants and photovoltaic farms. Then, on November 7 and 8, 2026, information meetings are scheduled in five localities: Gierałtów, Wykroty, Czerna, Zebrzydowa and Parzyce.
These are the localities where the most applications concerning potential investments were submitted. During the meetings, residents will learn the details contained in the submitted documents.
Joanna Świder encourages residents to take part in the survey and share their views on the municipality’s future.
– I encourage the residents of our municipality to complete the survey and share their views on the future of our local space. Your voice is most important to me. This is our shared municipality. Nothing about you without you, dear residents! – the mayor says.
The survey is intended to help the local authorities learn residents’ expectations before making further decisions concerning spatial development.
The survey can be completed online: https://forms.gle/GGU6EpCNJnYCQ22YA
The further course of any potential investments will be determined by subsequent stages of the planning procedures. The submitted applications are not equivalent to a building permit, and the results of the residents’ opinion survey are intended to provide the authorities with additional information before further decisions are made.
We also encourage you to vote in the istotne.pl poll on this subject:
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Two seventh graders at Mount Vernon School in Sandy Springs just watched an idea they pitched as fifth graders come fully to life. Ocean Durden and David Song ceremonially flipped the switch on more than 500 new solar panels during an assembly Wednesday, capping a push that started two years earlier with a classroom research project.
According to Rough Draft Atlanta, Durden and Song researched solar energy’s environmental and financial benefits as fifth graders and then presented their recommendation directly to Mount Vernon School leadership. That proposal set off a chain of further exploration that ultimately led the school to partner with Atlanta-based commercial solar provider Cherry Street Energy to install rooftop panels on its Middle and Upper School buildings.
The panels have actually been humming along since August, well before Wednesday’s ceremonial flip. More than 500 of them now sit atop the campus roofs in Sandy Springs, and together the two systems are projected to produce more than 300,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, covering over 15% of the facilities’ total energy demand, per the same report. The systems are also expected to help the school avoid 200 metric tons of carbon emissions each year.
The idea didn’t come out of nowhere. Durden first discovered renewable energy technology while driving past a solar farm in south Georgia, and Song recalled asking his parents about solar panels when he was younger and learning they were sustainable, the outlet reported. Those sparks of curiosity eventually became a formal school project built around Mount Vernon’s Impact Summit, a program that has its fifth graders demonstrate critical-thinking, problem-solving and communication skills.
To build their case, the two students didn’t just write a paper. They met with Mount Vernon’s chief financial officer, visited Georgia Power headquarters, and even connected with the CEO of a Colorado-based solar panel manufacturer, according to Rough Draft Atlanta. Courtney Stillwagon, the school’s chief financial and operations officer, said solar energy offers Mount Vernon a meaningful return over time.
Kristy Lundstrom, Mount Vernon’s head of school and CEO, credited the students with pushing the project forward. She said Durden and Song researched and advocated for change, and that their idea became a lasting investment in the school’s future, the outlet reported.
Mount Vernon didn’t have to spend a dime of its own capital to get the panels installed. Cherry Street Energy fully financed the project and will operate and maintain both systems, selling the generated power back to the school at a fixed price. Michael Chanin, founder and CEO of Cherry Street Energy, said the students recognized the potential of the school’s roof and helped Mount Vernon make a lasting power-purchasing decision, per Rough Draft Atlanta.
Andrew Quigley, an account executive with Cherry Street Energy, said the company’s business model lets it serve as an alternative to providers such as Georgia Power, the outlet noted. That no-capital, fixed-rate structure mirrors a broader pattern across metro Atlanta, where Cherry Street has built what it describes as a network of more than 225 solar energy systems serving customers across the Southeast, according to a separate Rough Draft Atlanta report on the company’s planned Spanx headquarters installation.
Mount Vernon joins a growing list of metro Atlanta educational institutions working with Cherry Street Energy, including the Davis Academy, Decatur City Schools, Atlanta International School, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal and Woodward Academy, per Rough Draft Atlanta’s reporting. Each project looks a little different. Friends School of Atlanta, for instance, entered a 20-year energy purchase agreement with Cherry Street Energy that is projected to save the school more than $150,000 and offset over 55 metric tons of carbon dioxide annually, according to a Cherry Street Energy press release.
Woodward Academy went even further, becoming the first K-12 school in the country to provide solar-power shading over its athletic facilities, with a solar portfolio expected to deliver a 25% annual energy offset and avoid more than 790 metric tons of carbon emissions each year, the company said in a separate release. Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church signed its own 20-year agreement with Cherry Street Energy for a system expected to offset 23% of annual energy use and generate more than $300,000 in savings over the life of the deal, according to a PR Newswire release.
The workforce side of these deals is part of Cherry Street’s pitch too. The company has said that for every 1,000 kilowatts of new capacity it creates, it trains 25 new careers in solar power installation, and that at least 250 people have been trained through its Shine On program to date, according to a SaportaReport article. That same report quoted Chanin noting that Southern Company has committed to being 100% carbon-free in its consumption by 2050.
For Song, the project is still about more than the ceremony. He said he wants to know how much the panels will ultimately help communities save energy and reduce fossil-fuel burning, per Rough Draft Atlanta’s reporting. Durden, reflecting on the two-year journey from classroom research to a working rooftop system, advised other students that similar projects may take time and patience and should not be abandoned.
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The modules use N-type TOPCon cell technology and are designed to provide higher energy yields and stable performance under high-irradiance and high-temperature conditions. These characteristics are considered suitable for the climatic conditions of western Rajasthan, where the Thar region receives strong solar radiation.
RUVN Solar Park is part of Rajasthan’s continuing efforts to develop its solar energy potential and expand utility-scale renewable energy capacity. The project also contributes to the state’s wider solar power development initiatives and supports India’s growing renewable energy infrastructure.
The order strengthens Vikram Solar’s position in the utility-scale solar segment, where module quality, performance reliability and timely delivery are important requirements. It also adds to the company’s order book amid rising demand for high-efficiency, domestically manufactured solar modules, supported by India’s focus on strengthening local solar manufacturing capabilities.
Vikram Solar chief executive officer Sameer Nagpal said the order represented confidence in the company’s N-type TOPCon technology and its ability to deliver modules at utility scale. He said the company was expanding its integrated manufacturing capabilities while prioritising performance certainty and supply reliability for large solar projects.
The latest contract follows Vikram Solar’s continued participation in large-scale solar developments as India expands its renewable energy capacity. The company is also working to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities to meet changing technology, performance and supply requirements from utility-scale solar developers.
Vikram Solar has secured an order to supply 289.87 MWp of N-type TOPCon solar modules to NLC India, on behalf of NLC India Renewables (NIRL), for an 810 MW solar power project at RUVN Solar Park in Pugal, Bikaner, Rajasthan. NIRL is a wholly owned subsidiary of NLC India. The modules use N-type TOPCon cell technology and are designed to provide higher energy yields and stable performance under high-irradiance and high-temperature conditions. These characteristics are considered suitable for the climatic conditions of western Rajasthan, where the Thar region receives strong solar radiation. RUVN Solar Park is part of Rajasthan’s continuing efforts to develop its solar energy potential and expand utility-scale renewable energy capacity. The project also contributes to the state’s wider solar power development initiatives and supports India’s growing renewable energy infrastructure. The order strengthens Vikram Solar’s position in the utility-scale solar segment, where module quality, performance reliability and timely delivery are important requirements. It also adds to the company’s order book amid rising demand for high-efficiency, domestically manufactured solar modules, supported by India’s focus on strengthening local solar manufacturing capabilities. Vikram Solar chief executive officer Sameer Nagpal said the order represented confidence in the company’s N-type TOPCon technology and its ability to deliver modules at utility scale. He said the company was expanding its integrated manufacturing capabilities while prioritising performance certainty and supply reliability for large solar projects. The latest contract follows Vikram Solar’s continued participation in large-scale solar developments as India expands its renewable energy capacity. The company is also working to strengthen its manufacturing capabilities to meet changing technology, performance and supply requirements from utility-scale solar developers.
Bajaj Auto plans to raise monthly production capacity for electric two-wheelers to around 80,000 units by the end of March, as demand for its Chetak electric scooter continues to exceed available output. The company currently has capacity for around 60,000 electric two-wheelers a month. Joint Managing Director Rakesh Sharma said production had returned to the existing full capacity after a supply chain disruption affected output. The issue had reduced recent production to around 40,000 units, resulting in a shortfall of 20,000 vehicles despite strong demand. The company expects to remove produ..
India’s domestic air passenger traffic declined 6.49 per cent month on month to 11.8 mn in September, according to data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). IndiGo retained its leading position, carrying nearly two-thirds of domestic passengers, while the Air India Group remained the second-largest operator. IndiGo held a 65.4 per cent market share and transported 7.73 mn passengers during the month. The Air India Group accounted for 26.8 per cent of the market, carrying 3.165 mn passengers, based on data from the aviation regulator. Akasa Air ranked third with a 5.6..
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, is shifting India’s regulatory approach from permission-based administration to trust-based governance. The reforms seek to reduce business compliance, support startups, attract investment and simplify approvals across the country. According to an official statement, 47,957 compliance requirements have been reduced across Central Ministries and States and Union Territories. Of these, 22,290 have been digitised, 16,141 simplified, 5,255 decriminalised and 4,271 eliminated. The Jan..
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Jinko ESS shifts solar energy via storage in Germany to offset negative prices  Energy-Storage.News
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The European Union plans to mobilise €172 million to support two solar photovoltaic power plants in Tunisia, each with a capacity of 100 megawatts (MW), as part of efforts to strengthen the country’s energy security and attract private investment in renewable energy.
Announced by the European Commission on October 26, the support includes €92 million for the first plant and €80 million for the second, as well as the infrastructure required to transmit the electricity generated by the facilities.
The Commission has not yet disclosed the projects’ locations, implementation schedules or the specific financial instruments involved.
The €172 million represents the EU’s announced support rather than the total cost of the two projects.
The initiative forms part of the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy and Clean Tech Investment Platform (T-MED), launched in Brussels to facilitate investment in renewable energy and clean technologies across the Mediterranean region.
The platform aims to bring together project developers, financial institutions and private investors to accelerate the financing of energy projects. Its scope includes renewable electricity generation, green hydrogen, power grids, energy storage and electricity interconnections.
Under the initiative, the EU plans to provide up to €4.5 billion in guarantees through the European Fund for Sustainable Development Plus (EFSD+). These guarantees are intended to reduce investment risks and encourage private-sector financing.
By 2035, T-MED aims to mobilise up to €25 billion in investment and contribute to the training of 10,000 workers.
For Tunisia, the two solar projects are expected to support the diversification of electricity production, reduce reliance on imported natural gas and strengthen energy security. They also reflect efforts to increase private-sector participation in the country’s electricity system.
The announcement comes as Tunisia seeks to expand renewable energy capacity and reduce the financial burden associated with conventional energy sources. However, further details on the projects’ financing structures and implementation timelines have yet to be released.
The T-MED platform also covers projects in Egypt, including electricity grid upgrades, green ammonia production and additional wind power capacity in the Gulf of Suez.
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Planned $950 million HJT facility is expected to add 4 GW of annual solar cell manufacturing capacity and create more than 700 local jobs
 
HOUSTON, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SEG Solar (“SEG”), a leading global vertically integrated solar manufacturer, today announced that it has signed a land agreement for a planned $950 million, 4 GW heterojunction (HJT) solar cell plant at its Tomball Industrial Campus in the greater Houston area.
 

Rendering of SEG Solar’s Planned 4 GW HJT Solar Cell Facility in Texas
 
The facility is expected to create more than 700 local jobs and is planned to come online in two 2 GW phases, targeted for 2028 and 2029. It would make the SEG Tomball Industrial Campus one of the only U.S. manufacturing locations where HJT cells, modules, and key components are made in one place.
 
The facility will be located adjacent to SEG’s existing 4 GW Tomball #1 module manufacturing facility and its 4.6 GW Tomball #2 module manufacturing facility currently under construction. Once completed, the HJT cell facility will bring solar cell, module and key component manufacturing together at SEG’s Tomball campus, alongside warehousing, an R&D center, a certified testing laboratory, and planned EVA and junction box production lines.
 
SEG’s Texas-made modules, built with U.S.-produced HJT cells, will help developers and asset owners meet domestic content requirements while improving project economics. They will also provide something increasingly valuable in today’s market: a dependable source of U.S.-manufactured supply.
 
Jim Wood, chief executive officer of SEG Solar, said “Bringing HJT cell manufacturing to the U.S. will give customers a more domestic supply chain with clearer sourcing and a single company standing behind the product. As the only U.S. company dedicated to integrated domestic vertical manufacturing, SEG will continue to strengthen our U.S. operations and innovation.  American-made cells, American-made modules, one company accountable.”
 
About SEG Solar
 
Founded in 2021, SEG is a leading vertically integrated PV manufacturer headquartered in Houston, Texas, U.S., and is dedicated to delivering reliable and cost-effective solar modules to the utility, commercial, and residential markets. By the end of 2025, SEG had shipped over 7.5 GW of solar modules worldwide and reached a module production capacity of 6.5 GW.
 
PR Newswire Asia Ltd.
 

 
PR Newswire
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SEG Solar secures land for 4GW HJT solar cell plant in Texas  PV Tech
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Salt-assisted crystal growth boosts perovskite solar cell and LED performance  Nanowerk
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PGE reveals $1.7B projects, deal to power controversial Salem data center  The Business Journals
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US-based think tank RAND in collaboration with RMIT University, Victoria have published a policy brief on the urgency for Australia to implement a circular economy policy for solar technologies.
Following research sponsored by the federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources, the report says cumulative end-of-life (EoL) solar waste in Australia is projected to reach 1.1 million tones by 2035 and could triple by 2050.
However, the infrastructure, regulation and market mechanisms needed to manage the waste stream do not yet exist at scale, with the report suggesting it is a now-or-never scenario.
Authored by RAND Adjunct Senior Policy Researcher Benjamin Lee Preston in collaboration with RMIT Universit Circular Economy Research Fellow James Bond, the research found three barriers exist to cementing EoL solar panel circularity, which are:
Recommendations
The ‘Towards an Australian Circular Economy for Solar Photovoltaics Technologies’ policy brief also offers three actions, which include the establishment of a national PV circularity framework by mid-2027.
Inconsistencies across states and territories also contribute to gaps for circularity and the paper calls on extending the Product Stewardship Act to cover solar panels, to set a minimum recycling efficiency standard and establish liability indemnification for panel reuse.
The paper also recommends the federal government should finance commercial-scale recycling and reuse infrastructure by 2028 to support the development of necessary infrastructure.
By 2027, it recommends a national solar panel reuse certification and digital marketplace be established to connect panel supplies with secondary market demand.
“Reuse must be the first-priority circular pathway. Additionally, the marketplace needs to generate provenance and condition data to underpin downstream recycling efficiency. To do so, leasing business models—identified as commercially promising—should be developed alongside the certification framework,” the paper says.
Critical minerals
Recoverable silver from Australia’s solar waste could be worth more than $6 billion (USD 4.2 billion) per year by 2035, with copper recovery adding $600 million annually, the paper proposes.
“Recovered PV materials could meet up to 100% per cent of Australia’s domestic silver and aluminium demand by 2050, directly supporting national critical mineral security,” the research found.
Regional hubs were found to be the best model to activate a solar circular scheme and were research identified they consistently outperform centralised facilities across financial, logistical and operational metrics, where a techno-economic modelling of a 2,500 tonne per year recycling facility could be financially viable in five Australian states, with payback periods of 7.2 to 8 years.

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ENGIE adds 450 MW of solar power to India portfolio  Manufacturing Today India
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Construction News
30 October 2026
XFASTINDEX
At the centre of the rollout is an 8.5MWp installation at Refresco’s Bridgwater facility, which is expected to become the UK’s largest solar PV system installed on a single continuous roof. The project will comprise more than 18,000 high-efficiency solar modules and is expected to generate approximately 7.5GWh of renewable electricity annually.
Once operational, the system is expected to supply around 17% of the site’s annual electricity demand, providing a significant source of renewable power directly at the point of use and reducing reliance on grid-supplied electricity.
Refresco selected GB NRG following a competitive procurement process involving twelve leading commercial solar providers, appointing the company to develop, design, engineer and deliver the four-site programme across its UK operations.
GB NRG also took the portfolio to market on Refresco’s behalf, running a competitive process that resulted in Zestec Renewable Energy being selected to fund and manage the solar infrastructure over the long term.
The projects will be delivered through Zestec’s long-term Power Purchase Agreements backed by Octopus Energy Generation managed funds.petitive procurement process involving twelve leading commercial solar providers, appointing the company to develop, design, engineer and deliver the four-site programme across its UK operations.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
4 hours Procure Partnerships Framework has opened tenders for its first National Developer Framework, valued at £12bn and set to go live in March 2027, with a structure that aims to encourage bids from local developers.
4 hours Manitou has released its third quarter results to September 20, showing order intake up 19.3% to €512m, with revenue for the quarter up 13% at €642m. The manufacturer highlighted ‘dynamic’ sales of telehandlers in Europe as driving growth.
3 hours Lucion Survey has appointed Kyle Jones as principal building performance consultant, to deliver a new in-house New Build Energy Assessment service.
3 hours Peri UK is offering the mandatory Health, Safety and Environment Operatives test alongside its CISRS-accredited scaffolding course or formwork training.
3 hours Xeden Energy has ordered its first Cat excavators from Finning UK & Ireland, to support work on ground-mounted solar projects.
3 hours Blaenau Gwent County Borough Council and Torfaen County Borough Council have appointed a Willmott Dixon Developments and Cityheart joint venture to help unlock regeneration, investment and development opportunities across South East Wales.
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T1 Energy Announces More Than 1.58 GW of New Solar Module Offtake Deals  Quiver Quantitative
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First Solar has opened its new solar module facility in Gaffney, South Carolina, holding a celebration to inaugurate the first phase of production at what is slated to become a 3.4 GW plant. The event featured company executives, community leaders and politicians from several levels of government.
The company plans to use the facility to onshore the final production processes for Series 6 Plus thin-film modules initiated at its international facilities. First Solar says the investment was driven by rising domestic demand for US-made energy equipment following recent federal trade policies and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law in July 2025.
The second phase of the $330 million plant is expected to be complete by mid-2027, bringing the facility’s capacity from 1.7 GW to 3.4 GW of modules featuring the company’s CuRe technology. First Solar says it has already filled 500 jobs at the facility and expects to bring on nearly 200 more as the facility reaches full production.
Guests at the inauguration included South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, US Senator Darline Graham, US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, South Carolina Senator Harvey Peeler, South Carolina Representatives Dennis Moss and Brian Lawson and Gaffney Mayor Lyman D. Dawkins III, who joined plant workers and First Solar CEO Mark Widmar in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.
“Thanks to First Solar’s investment, South Carolinians are building American energy technology in Gaffney, with nearly 700 good-paying jobs expected to support this critical work,” said McMaster in a statement. “This is another example of why South Carolina continues to be recognized as a manufacturing powerhouse and a leader in our nation’s energy future.”
Widmar added his own thoughts about the new plant: “Less than a year after we selected Gaffney, this facility is ready to produce American solar technology, built by South Carolinian workers,” he said in a statement. “That pace reflects what is possible when sound policy, strong state and local partners, and a committed workforce align.”
The Gaffney plant is First Solar’s sixth US manufacturing facility, joining three existing plants in Ohio and single facilities in Alabama and Louisiana, alongside research and development centers in California and Ohio. The company also operates a distribution center in Duncan, South Carolina, and maintains a partnership with Inland Port Greer for shipments of its products.
During its second-quarter 2026 earnings call in July, company executives noted that relocating production equipment from Southeast Asia to support the South Carolina finishing operation leaves the company with roughly 1.8 GW of end-to-end, fully finished module capacity across Malaysia and Vietnam, while the remaining international Series 6 lines supply unfinished modules to the Gaffney plant. 
First Solar has said it expects its cumulative investment in US manufacturing and R&D infrastructure since 2019 to exceed $5 billion by the end of 2026. By 2027, once the second phase of the Gaffney plant is complete, the company forecasts its total domestic module manufacturing capacity will reach approximately 17 GW.
Across its entire global fleet, First Solar forecasts total actual module production of 16.5 GW to 17.5 GW in 2026, rising to between 18.9 GW and 20.5 GW in 2027.
The company is scheduled to report its Q3 2026 financial results after the market closes on Oct. 29, 2026.
From pv magazine USA
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AMEA Power Signs Memorandum of Understanding With Benin for a Solar Plant With Batteries  energynews.pro
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PV module manufacturer GCL SI, along with Soochow University, Yangzhou University and other industry-chain partners, has established the Suzhou Space Photovoltaics Innovation Consortium. The consortium will focus on R&D and commercialization of space PV technologies, including module lightweighting, radiation resistance in space environments, and high specific power. Its objectives include advancing technology development, in-orbit validation, and commercialization.
GCL SI has previously conducted R&D on space PV technologies. In July 2026, its flexible crystalline silicon-perovskite tandem solar cell achieved a conversion efficiency of 33.44%, with device-level specific power exceeding 2,000 W/kg. The company has also developed space-grade thin crystalline silicon solar cells with an AM0 conversion efficiency exceeding 21.5%.
In addition, the company’s coverglass-interconnected cell (CIC) simulation testing, conducted at an energy of 1 MeV and a fluence of 1 × 10¹⁴ e/cm², combined with thermal cycling and UV exposure, resulted in cumulative degradation of no more than 20%.
On the topic of space PV, the 3-day TaiyangNews High-Efficiency Technologies Conference 2026 dedicates a full day to it. The conference also dedicates a day each to TOPCon and xBC technologies. It is scheduled for November 11, 20, and 25, from 09:30 to 12:30 CET. Agenda and free registration here.
Connector and PV mounting component maker Wenzhou Yihua Connector Co., Ltd., which operates under the CZT brand, has postponed the planned completion of its PV mounting core component production base in Yueqing, Zhejiang province, from December 2026 to June 2027. This is the second time that the company has delayed its completion, which was originally scheduled for April 2026 (see China Solar PV News Snippets)
The project has a total investment of RMB 404.84 million, including RMB 373.71 million in proceeds earmarked for it. The company said only the completion date would change, while the project entity, investment scale, construction scope, and use of proceeds would remain unchanged.
The delay is attributed to limited supporting infrastructure in the surrounding area, which slowed initial construction and affected the overall schedule.
The first construction section of the 2 GW Tianwan offshore tidal-flat PV demonstration project in Lianyungang, Jiangsu province, has achieved full-capacity grid connection, with 301.7 MW now online. Built by Energy China (CEEC), the project covers more than 1,867 hectares in the warm-water discharge area and surrounding tidal flats of the Tianwan nuclear power plant. It includes offshore PV arrays, an onshore substation and an energy storage facility.
Described as the world’s first multi-energy complementary demonstration project combining nuclear heat, solar, and storage, it is expected to generate about 2.234 billion kWh of electricity annually when complete. Together with the Tianwan nuclear power plant, it is expected to form a clean energy base with total installed capacity exceeding 10 GW. In April 2026, CNNP Rich Energy announced it had begun initial grid connection for the 7^th section of this project (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
Zhejiang province has launched its second 2026 mechanism price bidding round for renewable energy projects, covering a total electricity volume of 13.325 billion kWh. This includes 13.070 billion kWh for solar PV and 255 million kWh for wind power. Bid prices must range from RMB 0.242/kWh to RMB 0.393/kWh, and the mechanism price will apply for 12 years.
The auction follows Zhejiang’s first 2026 bidding round, whose results were announced in April. That round allocated 4.29 billion kWh of electricity volume under the mechanism at RMB 0.3812/kWh across 31,024 projects.
Major Chinese energy developer China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) has launched the first batch of its 2027 centralized procurement for PV modules, string inverters, and fixed mounting structures. The framework agreements will run through June 30, 2027.
The module procurement covers an estimated 5,241.5 MWp. Modules must meet Grade 3 or higher under GB 47834-2026, which sets minimum conversion efficiencies of 23.2% for TOPCon, 23.2% for HJT, and 23.5% for BC modules.
The inverter procurement covers 6,666.3 MW of string inverters rated from 300 kW to 500 kW. These must achieve Grade 1 efficiency, with a minimum average weighted overall efficiency of 98.50% and maximum conversion efficiency of at least 99.00%.
All three procurement categories will use framework agreements, with actual volumes subject to project requirements. The fixed-mount procurement category excludes fixed-adjustable, tracking, and flexible mounting structures.
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TOYO secures CBP release of solar cell shipments from Ethiopia  PV Tech
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Avaada Electro Limited, the solar manufacturing arm of Avaada Group, has secured enlistment for 7,117 MW (7.117 GW) of N-type TOPCon solar cell manufacturing capacity under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) List-II. The capacity has been included in the 13th revision of the list, dated October 28, 2026, and relates to the company’s manufacturing facility at Butibori in Maharashtra.
The enlistment covers the facility’s advanced G12 N-type TOPCon solar cell technology. According to manufacturer-declared specifications, the cells have a maximum efficiency of up to 26.8%, while the highest listed average cell efficiency is 25.89%. The G12 full-cell model has a declared maximum power output of 11.81 watts per cell.
TOPCon technology is used to improve the conversion of sunlight into electricity. Higher cell efficiency enables greater power generation from a given area of silicon and supports the production of higher-output solar modules. These improvements are important for solar manufacturers and project developers seeking to optimise land use, materials and installation costs.
The 7.117 GW annual nameplate capacity adds to India’s domestic solar manufacturing base at a time when the country is expanding its renewable energy capacity and seeking to strengthen local supply chains. The Butibori facility will serve the requirements of module manufacturers, renewable energy developers and engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) companies.
Actual production and saleable output from the facility will depend on operating utilisation, manufacturing yields and product mix. The ALMM enlistment provides recognition of the listed manufacturing capacity and models under the applicable MNRE framework.
Avaada Electro said its manufacturing strategy focuses on improving cell efficiency, production yields, product reliability and manufacturing productivity. The company follows three operating principles: “First Time Right”, aimed at building quality into production processes; “Every Time Right”, focused on consistency; and “Everything Right”, covering product performance, operational standards and customer requirements.
Commenting on the development, Vineet Mittal, Chairman and Whole-time Director, Avaada Electro Limited, said, “India’s clean energy future cannot depend only on how much solar power we install. It must also depend on how much technology we develop, how much we manufacture ourselves, and how effectively we compete with the world. Our 7.1 GW TOPCon solar cell manufacturing enlistment is an important milestone in that journey.” He added that the company’s focus would remain on product quality, efficiency improvements and consistent manufacturing performance, with the aim of serving customers in India and competing in international markets.
The development supports India’s efforts to expand domestic manufacturing, strengthen energy security and reduce dependence on imported solar components. Avaada Electro plans to build its manufacturing operations around advanced technology, production efficiency and product reliability.
Avaada Group is an Indian energy transition company with businesses spanning renewable power generation and solar manufacturing. Through Avaada Electro, the Group is developing domestic solar photovoltaic cell and module manufacturing capabilities, with a focus on N-type TOPCon technology, product reliability and manufacturing efficiency. The Group aims to contribute to India’s clean energy transition and domestic manufacturing sector.
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WUC Invites EOI for Floating Solar Projects Across Reservoirs And Dams In Botswana  SolarQuarter
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T1 Energy secures 1.58GW in solar module supply contracts  Investing.com
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Solarcentury Africa to build 112MWp Zambian solar PV project  PV Tech
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“I’m struggling to understand the economics …”
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After running his home’s numbers, one U.K. solar owner concluded that spending £2,500 (about $3,300 at current exchange rates) on a second home battery might cut costs by only about 90 pence ($1.21) on a bad solar day.
The homeowner explained in a Reddit thread on r/SolarUK that he installed 18 panels rated at 485 watts each and a 9-kilowatt Sigenstor system. The OP said he is on Octopus Go, which lets him charge overnight at 7 pence (9 cents) per kilowatt-hour, and that the setup already covers almost all of his peak-rate electricity use.
He clarified that his household averages about 15 kWh per day. Using one low-generation day as an example, he said an overnight charge plus roughly 2 kWh of solar got the home into late afternoon, leaving about 3 kWh to be used during peak-rate hours.
For him, the question came down to this: “I’m struggling to understand the economics of paying £2.5k for a battery,  which can only raise a few pence per KWH of export?”
Adding battery storage is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and gain more energy independence. Homeowners comparing systems can explore EnergySage for home battery storage options and competitive installation estimates, and EnergySage has teamed up with electrification brand Qmerit to help homeowners get the best price on home battery storage solutions.
A common point in the replies was that a bigger battery makes far more sense for homes with heavier electricity demand. One commenter said their house imported around 20 kWh per day and ended up with a bill close to £2,000 ($2,658), so shifting the rest of that usage from 26p (35 cents) to 7p (9 cents) per kWh made added battery capacity worthwhile.
Another commenter cited yearlong modeling from October 2025 through September 2026 using real smart-meter data from 20 homes, along with 4-kWp solar systems and batteries ranging from 5 to 20 kWh. Their takeaway was: “Going from 9.5 to 20 kWh saved an extra £114 ($151) a year on average.”
In the same analysis, homes using less than 4,000 kWh annually gained only about £30 ($40) in extra savings from the larger battery, while homes using more than 6,000 kWh saw about £260 ($346). Since the original poster appears to use roughly 15 kWh per day, his household seems to fall between those two groups, making more storage less compelling before export payments are enabled.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
Commenters said the best way to size a battery is based on a home’s actual electricity use, not what other solar owners install. The original poster said, “My usage matches my storage and generation really quite well,”
Rather than adding hardware, several people suggested enabling export payments first, checking export tariffs such as Agile Export, and considering battery-dispatch programs such as Axle Energy. One commenter said they had made “an additional £165 ($219) exporting to Axle since July” and added, “Each session earns me about £7 ($9.30).”
Adding battery storage can also give homeowners more control over when they buy electricity, when they use their own solar power, and how prepared they are for outages. For people who want backup without jumping straight to a whole-home system, Pila offers another option. Pila’s plug-and-play batteries cost a fraction of a whole-home backup system.
These stories show how other U.K. homeowners are weighing battery storage against tariff savings and export income. 
• One homeowner weighed battery-only storage to dodge peak rates and hit G98/G99 hurdles.
• Battery owners called off-peak charging without solar a no-brainer under the right tariffs.
• On Octopus Go, one homeowner found what five cheap hours buys with an EcoFlow battery.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
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ML System has received a patent decision from the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland for a photovoltaic structural element with a textured layer and a manufacturing method. The company reported the development in a release dated October 6, 2026, published on its official website.
According to ML System, the patented solution combines a photovoltaic cell with textured glass and a durable ceramic coating. The resulting products are designed to generate clean energy while also serving structural or protective functions and meeting architectural requirements.
The company says the technology can be used in photovoltaic facade panels, roof tiles and glazing. It is already incorporated into the PhotonWall facade range, PhotonRoof photovoltaic roof tiles and other building-integrated photovoltaics, or BIPV, solutions. ML System’s website also lists a separate October 15 update titled ML System Expands Photonroof. Another Patent and Over 23,000 sq m of Photovoltaic Roof Tiles in Orders.
The patent expands the documented technology portfolio, but the release does not quantify the direct financial contribution of the protected invention. Investors therefore need to distinguish the intellectual-property announcement from future sales, margins and cash flows.
Lang & Schwarz showed ML System at 3.20 euros on October 29, 2026, at 23:00 Berlin time. The quote is dated and valid, while no verified Xetra closing basis was available for a same-session comparison. A real-time quote of ML System stock is available separately.
The broader Polish equity market can be followed through the WIG 20; its direction does not establish a causal link to ML System’s patent announcement.
Current market reports provide additional context for trading conditions.
More news and analyses on ML System stock are available in the topic overview.

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ACME Marigold Urja, a wholly owned subsidiary of ACME Solar Holdings, has signed a long-term power purchase agreement (PPA) with NTPC Ltd for a 400 MW firm and dispatchable renewable energy (FDRE) power project.
The project was awarded under NTPC’s FDRE Tranche-I tender for the selection of renewable energy power generators to supply 1,200 MW of firm and dispatchable power, with assured peak power supply, from interstate transmission system (ISTS)-connected renewable energy projects anywhere in India.
The projects are to be developed on a build-own-operate (BOO) basis.
Under the agreement, ACME Marigold Urja will supply the contracted capacity of 400 MW at a tariff of INR 4.37/kWh.
Power supply is scheduled to commence on June 30, 2028, and the PPA will remain in effect for 25 years from the scheduled commencement of supply date.
From pv magazine India
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The vast majority of commercial solar panels in use today rely on single-junction solar cells to absorb and convert sunlight into energy we can use to power our homes, cars, giant holiday decorations, and other gadgets. However, a physics theory known as the Shockley-Queisser limit states that a single-junction solar cell can only convert a maximum of 33.7% of incoming sunlight into energy. This theory has been broadly accepted as fact ever since it was first defined back in 1961. But now, scientists at the Institut de Ciències Fotòniques (ICFO) in Barcelona, Spain may have finally broken the efficiency ceiling.
A research team led by ICFO Professor Jordi Martorell discovered a way to make solar panel cells more efficient by limiting their photon emissions. Here’s why it works: After a cell absorbs sunlight, it then emits light back out in all directions. That process means it’s losing potential energy. The ICFO researchers converted the solar cell into a specially designed optical cavity that can still receive sunlight, but has less of an opening from which the energy can escape.
According to Dr. Francisco Bernal Texca, author of the team’s research article, their work may enable solar cells to reach efficiencies close to 43% (via ICFO). Bernal Texca further explains that “the simplicity of the cavity cell design does not introduce any additional fabrication complexity, unlike many of the approaches currently being explored to surpass the Shockley–Queisser limit.” This method is still experimental, though, so you’ll have to rely on other ways to make your home’s solar power more efficient in the meantime.
Widespread improvements to solar panel efficiency would solve many energy problems we currently face. But it’s still a long way from landing on our roofs. 
Despite recent solar panel innovations that have increased reliability, many of today’s solar panels achieve less than 25% efficiency, largely due to physical limitations alongside mass manufacturing material constraints, sun reflection, and potential shading. It’s difficult to reach the 33% ceiling dictated by the Shockley-Queisser limit, and it’s reasonable to assume that reaching the new theoretical maximum of 43% will be equally rare. It certainly doesn’t help that fossil fuels are ruining solar power by blocking out a portion of the sunlight, too.
But what if every solar panel actually could operate at 40% efficiency or higher? According to Prof. Martorell, “Achieving higher efficiencies is essential, because they directly translate into a lower cost per watt and more efficient use of land and materials for solar energy deployment.” That’s a modest way of describing an innovation that could potentially change the world. Another way to describe it would be to say that someday, consumer-grade solar panels may even be able to generate enough solar power for your home to go completely off-grid.

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The World Bank now ranks off-grid solar as the cheapest way to bring electricity to at least 398 million people who still live without it. A joint report released this week by the World Bank’s Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the off-grid solar industry association GOGLA treats the technology as permanent infrastructure. Systems once sold as a stopgap until the grid arrived now power households, businesses and factories, and 95% of surveyed customers still had working solar home systems four or more years after buying them. The report estimates that bringing reliable off-grid electricity to those 398 million people will take $11.4 billion between 2027 and 2030. That includes $1.3 billion a year in grants and affordability subsidies and $1.6 billion a year in equity, debt and receivables financing. It is a small but critical slice of the $3 trillion to $5 trillion in average annual energy transition investment the world needs by 2030.
The sector already supports 219,000 jobs in the companies tracked by GOGLA, with full-time employment up 29% between 2021 and 2025. Some 7.4 million people use off-grid solar to run microenterprises or other income-generating activities, generating an estimated $28 billion in additional income and savings over 15 years.
According to the report, the number of people using off-grid solar products such as solar home systems, water pumps, generators and lanterns rose by 26% over the past two years, from 118 million to 149 million. Uptake has been lopsided. In Sub-Saharan Africa, 47% of all solar home system sales in 2025 occurred in Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia, while most markets in West and Central Africa are not growing. 
Kenya remains the largest market among tracked countries, with sales jumping 61% between 2023 and 2025 to roughly 2.4 million units. High upfront costs remain the main hurdle for poorer communities. Only about a third of unelectrified households can afford an entry-level Tier 1 pay-as-you-go system, another third can do so only at a stretch, and the rest are priced out.
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That said, solar adoption has been surging across the globe thanks largely to falling costs. Chinese-made solar panels have dropped to 12 cents per watt, down from $5 to $6 per watt at the turn of the millennium, a 40- to 50-fold collapse that has reshaped the economics of energy access. 
Africa, especially, is experiencing an unprecedented solar surge, with the continent on track to install a record 17 gigawatts (GW) of capacity in 2026. That is a 45% increase year-on-year and the third consecutive record year. Some 36 of Africa’s 54 countries are expected to hit record installation volumes, and 19 countries are recording triple-digit growth, led by the Democratic Republic of the Congo at 544% and Zimbabwe at 282%. About 94% of the panels installed across Africa still come from China, though the continent’s solar panel manufacturing is set to quadruple to about 3.5 GW in 2026.
Similarly, India is undergoing a solar revolution, with installed solar capacity reaching 164.59 GW as of July 31, 2026. India is also rolling out ambitious household solar programs. PM Surya Ghar (Muft Bijli Yojana) targets rooftop solar for 10 million households and had reached about 5.16 million by mid-August. The program pairs capital subsidies with low-interest financing to deliver up to 300 units of free electricity a month. It provides up to ?78,000, about $820, in subsidies for residential systems of 3 kW or larger, along with access to collateral-free loans at roughly 7% interest.
India’s neighbor, Pakistan, is undergoing one of the fastest consumer-led solar revolutions in the world, and it is reshaping the national power grid. Driven by soaring grid tariffs and an influx of ultra-cheap Chinese photovoltaic panels, industrial giants, small businesses and millions of households are defecting from the national grid to secure affordable, stable power. Pakistan’s cement giant Bestway Cement has deployed 26 MW of solar capacity at its Chakwal plant, where solar now supplies more than a quarter of the facility’s power, with another 6.34 MW due by the end of the year.
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DTE Energy starts commercial operations at 132MW Fish Creek Solar Park in Michigan  PV Tech
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Low-Cost Dual-Axis Solar Tracker Boosts Energy Yield 45 Percent in Ethiopian Field Tests
Engineers in Ethiopia have built and field-tested a dual-axis solar tracker that follows the sun using satellite positioning and an inertial sensor instead of the light-dependent resistors found in most low-cost designs, and their prototype harvested roughly 45 percent more energy per day than a fixed-tilt panel over a fifteen-day outdoor campaign. The work, carried out at Bahir Dar Institute of Technology in Bahir Dar, Ethiopia, and published in Discover Energy, describes a complete system built from an Arduino Uno microcontroller, a NEO-7M GPS module, an MPU6050 gyroscope, and two NEMA 17 stepper motors driving a 25-watt monocrystalline panel. The full prototype cost about 14,580 Ethiopian birr, roughly 94 US dollars, a figure the authors argue places the design within reach of the low- and middle-income contexts where conventional trackers remain too expensive or too maintenance-intensive to deploy.
The central problem the researchers set out to solve is the angular mismatch that limits every stationary photovoltaic array. Because the sun’s position relative to a fixed panel changes continuously through the day and across seasons, a fixed-tilt installation spends much of its operating life pointed away from the optimal orientation, and the resulting cosine losses cut directly into energy yield. Dual-axis trackers address this by rotating a panel on two independent axes, azimuth and elevation, to keep the surface nearly perpendicular to incoming radiation. Published studies generally report gains of 30 to 45 percent over static installations and 8 to 15 percent over single-axis trackers, but these systems bring greater mechanical complexity, more actuators, and higher initial and maintenance costs, a trade-off that has slowed adoption in resource-constrained regions.
Existing low-cost trackers mostly fall into two camps, and each carries a distinctive weakness. Light-sensor-based closed-loop systems use pairs of light-dependent resistors to find the brightest direction, but they perform poorly under the dusty, humid, and overcast conditions common in sub-Saharan environments. Purely astronomical open-loop systems compute the sun’s position from location and time, making them weather-independent, but they accumulate mechanical pointing errors because nothing checks where the panel actually is. GPS-only designs lack orientation feedback, GPS-LDR hybrids retain the fragile optical components, and inertial systems corrected by Kalman filtering demand computational resources beyond what an 8-bit ATmega328P microcontroller, with its 32 kilobytes of flash memory and 2 kilobytes of SRAM, can deliver. The Bahir Dar team’s contribution is a closed-loop hybrid that fits entirely on that inexpensive platform.
The architecture works in two layers. The NEO-7M GPS module, which delivers latitude, longitude, and UTC time at one hertz, feeds a solar position algorithm executed on the microcontroller roughly once per second. The algorithm computes reference solar azimuth and elevation angles with sub-degree theoretical accuracy, and because it depends only on orbital mechanics rather than on measured light, it remains stable under cloud cover, dust, or diffuse radiation. In the second layer, the MPU6050 inertial measurement unit samples angular velocity along three axes at 50 hertz, and the firmware numerically integrates those readings to estimate the panel’s actual orientation. The difference between the computed solar reference and the estimated panel angle becomes an error signal, which a proportional correction law with an empirically tuned gain of 0.2 converts into corrected motor targets for the stepper drivers.
Gyroscope integration on cheap MEMS sensors drifts, typically at 0.1 to 1.0 degrees per minute for uncorrected angular rate integration, so the team applied gravity-vector corrections from the accelerometer to partially mitigate cumulative drift, and the periodic SPA-referenced correction pulls the estimate back toward the true solar position. The authors are explicit that this reduces but does not eliminate drift, and that long-term drift behavior over extended outdoor periods has not been fully characterized. Limit switches on both axes prevent over-rotation and define the home position, and micro-stepping at one-sixteenth resolution improves positioning while reducing motor vibration. A worked example from solar noon on September 29 shows the controller correcting a 1.5-degree elevation error and a 1.6-degree azimuth error with motor adjustments of roughly eleven steps.
Tracking accuracy was validated against reference solar positions from the United States Naval Observatory for the Bahir Dar site. Across the fifteen test days, mean signed tracking error was minus 0.53 degrees in elevation and minus 0.32 degrees in azimuth, with maximum absolute deviations of about 2.07 degrees and 5.00 degrees respectively, figures drawn from a representative single-day comparison on September 29. The team also distinguishes these error metrics from a separate statistical quantity, the mean angular position magnitude, which for the dual-axis tracker reflects its broader two-dimensional operating range of 22.67 degrees with a standard deviation of 2.70 degrees, indicating more consistent angular coverage throughout the day rather than larger error.
The energy results came from simultaneous measurement of three collocated systems, the dual-axis tracker, a single-axis tracker, and a fixed-tilt panel, all using identical 25-watt modules of the same age at the same GPS location. Data were recorded from 09:00 to 16:00 local time at five-minute intervals, yielding 84 samples per day, on fifteen test days spanning September 29 to December 14, 2025. Energy was computed by integrating measured power over those samples. On the representative first day, the dual-axis system harvested 180.14 watt-hours against 110.89 watt-hours for the single-axis tracker and 104.63 watt-hours for the fixed panel. Averaged across all fifteen days, the dual-axis tracker improved daily energy yield by 45.53 percent over the fixed installation and 29.12 percent over single-axis tracking, and it frequently operated near the panel’s 25-watt rated output for extended periods.
The tracker’s own energy appetite proved small. Measured under controlled repositioning trials and scaled proportionally, the two stepper motors consumed between 0.0367 watt-hours for three daily movements and 0.952 watt-hours for 78 movements, while the control electronics, the Arduino, GPS module, and gyroscope, drew about 6.8 watt-hours over the eight-hour operating window. Total daily overhead ranged from 6.84 to 7.75 watt-hours, or 3.71 to 4.37 percent of the 177.46 to 184.15 watt-hours harvested, leaving the net gain substantial. An illustrative economic scenario, linearly scaled to a hypothetical 200-watt system with a performance ratio of 0.85 and diesel displacement at 117 birr per liter, suggested annual savings of about 5,218 birr and a base-case payback of roughly 3.1 years, with sensitivity analysis spanning about 2.7 to 4.7 years. The authors stress this is a preliminary illustration, not a validated projection, resting on unverified assumptions of linear scalability, stable fuel prices, and constant irradiance.
Several important caveats frame the findings. Because no calibrated pyranometer was available, irradiance-normalized metrics such as performance ratio or specific yield could not be computed; all comparisons rest on absolute energy yield measured under simultaneous, identical conditions at one site. The validation used a small 25-watt prototype over fifteen days distributed across four months, so seasonal variability, component aging, and year-round performance remain untested. The 3D-printed PETG structural parts were not evaluated for long-term ultraviolet degradation, thermal cycling fatigue, or mechanical creep, and the authors state that extended validation, reliability testing, and comprehensive economic sensitivity analysis are required before any scalable deployment recommendation can be confirmed. Even with those limits, the demonstration that a sub-degree-accurate, weather-independent, closed-loop dual-axis tracker can be assembled from locally available components for under a hundred dollars is a concrete data point for off-grid photovoltaics in low- and middle-income countries, and the team recommends future work on multi-season field trials, fuller environmental monitoring, larger-capacity and networked multi-panel configurations, and advanced sensor-fusion control strategies.
Subject of Research: Design and field validation of a low-cost GPS and gyroscope dual-axis solar tracker in Ethiopia
Article Title: A hybrid cost effective dual axis tracking system for enhanced solar yield in Ethiopia
Article References: Wondafrash, F. T., Nagarajan, S., Fentaw, B. A., Umamaheswaran, S., & Degu, B. B. (2026). A hybrid cost effective dual axis tracking system for enhanced solar yield in Ethiopia. Discover Energy, 6(1), Article 67. https://doi.org/10.1007/s43937-026-00190-z
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s43937-026-00190-z
Keywords: solar tracker, dual-axis tracking, photovoltaics, GPS, gyroscope, MPU6050, Arduino, Ethiopia, Bahir Dar, energy yield, off-grid power, renewable energy
News Source: Faith Mcneil. (October 30, 2026). Low-Cost Dual-Axis Solar Tracker Boosts Energy Yield 45 Percent in Ethiopian Field Tests. Scienmag.
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While India is scaling TOPCon, Perovskite and tandem technologies are emerging as the next frontier in efficiency. As the industry looks at the path from laboratory breakthroughs to commercial production, Energetica India spoke to industry stakeholders to understand how manufacturers are preparing for this next phase of solar PV.
October 30, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

Valeo’s Vaibhav Mutha on Scaling India’s Domestic PV Ribbon Manufacturing

Dhash’s Bhupendra Singh Rawat on Building India’s Solar Component Ecosystem

Kimbal Targets Australia and Southeast Asia for Global Expansion

Prassann Daphal, CEO, Recyclekaro, on Building India’s Critical Mineral Recycling Ecosystem

Evolving Climate Risks Are Reshaping RE Insurance: Amitabh Dewan, Policybazaar for Business

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SEG Solar Secures Land for Planned 4 GW HJT Solar Cell Facility in Texas  ACROFAN USA
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Automotive tier 1 supplier MAHLE has fully commissioned a photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) system at its manufacturing site in Vaihingen an der Enz, Germany, marking the largest installation of its kind in the country.
The 2,000-square-metre facility comprises over 1,000 PVT hybrid modules supplied by Dresden-based startup Sunmaxx, integrated with a geothermal borehole field and a heat pump system. The installation delivers over 430 kWp of electrical capacity and a projected annual output of 1,086 megawatt-hours of thermal energy, meeting almost the entire heating demand of the site previously supplied by fossil fuels.
The geothermal borehole field acts as a seasonal thermal storage unit, storing excess heat generated during summer months for winter use by the heat pump.
The modules utilise cooling plates developed by MAHLE, based on its automotive thermal management technology used in electric vehicles. Positioned at the rear of the PVT modules in full-surface thermal contact, the cooling plates absorb heat from the solar cells to reduce temperature-related power losses and transfer thermal energy to the heat transfer fluid.
Established in 1979, the Vaihingen facility employs 200 workers and serves as MAHLE’s sole European plant manufacturing Visco fans and pumps for engine cooling systems.
Martin Wellhoeffer, Member of the MAHLE Group Management Board, responsible for the business unit Thermal and Fluid Systems, said, “With our PVT system in Vaihingen, we are creating a unique bridge from proven automotive technology to pioneering energy technology, underscoring the consistent implementation of our sustainability strategy.”
Joachim Wulff, Plant Manager, MAHLE, said, “We are particularly proud to have installed this forward-looking technology here at the site, using existing structures and without interrupting ongoing operations.”

Maruti Suzuki India has partnered with Adobe to modernise its digital ecosystem across marketing, sales, service and vehicle ownership lifecycle touchpoints.
The initiative integrates legacy systems to unify customer profiles and content delivery platforms. The automaker utilises Adobe Experience Manager Sites as a Cloud Service alongside Edge Delivery Services to manage brand web portals, including NEXA and ARENA, achieving reduced page load times and incorporating 3D showroom interfaces.
Additionally, Adobe Experience Platform consolidates customer data to support campaign orchestration, loyalty initiatives and service workflows. The manufacturer is also integrating artificial intelligence capabilities through journey orchestration tools and content optimisation solutions.
Sunil Kakkar, Director of Corporate Planning and Executive Committee Member at Maruti Suzuki India, said, “This collaboration has enabled us to respond to the market shifts very effectively, innovate faster and create a meaningful experience that strengthens our leadership in the quickly evolving digital landscape, so we can deliver superior products with high value while shaping the future of the automotive ecosystem.”
Shobhit Mittal, Executive Vice-President of Digital Enterprise, Maruti Suzuki India, said, “One of the biggest challenges during Maruti Suzuki’s website revamp was integrating multiple legacy systems. We had to ensure data consistency and smooth connectivity across platforms while delivering a modern, intuitive interface. Adobe’s live “See-to-Believe” proof of concept was a game changer. It allowed us to experience the platform’s capabilities in real time, demonstrating how their solutions could handle complex integrations and deliver personalized experience at scale. Adobe’s consultative approach, involving global experts, showcased strong commitment for us and assured us that they were the right partner to deliver a seamless, future-ready digital experience.”
Tapan Sahoo, Senior Executive Officer of Digital Enterprise, Maruti Suzuki India, said, “Transformation is about people coming together with a shared vision, collaborating across teams and co-creating value for customers.”

KUKA Mexico has opened its Innovation and Technology Development Centre in Monterrey, expanding operations in Northern Mexico.
The R&D setup is located within the Centre for Innovation, Research and Technology Development at the Universidad Autonoma de Nuevo Leon within the Technological Research and Innovation Park.
Spread across the 500-square-meter facility, it provides automation technologies, training programmes, technical support and product demonstrations for sectors including automotive, intralogistics, electronics and metalworking.
The facility houses educational cells from the KUKA College training initiative, autonomous mobile robots for intralogistics and industrial robots for welding applications.
Through a collaboration with the university, the centre aims to double KUKA Mexico’s annual training capacity from approximately 550 engineers to support technicians, students and partners in robotics and automation deployment. The opening coincides with KUKA marking 30 years of operations in Mexico since its establishment in 1996.
Christopher Hernandez Moya, MD, KUKA Mexico, said, “Opening this new facility marks an important step in KUKA Mexico’s continued growth. By establishing a stronger presence in Northern Mexico, we are working more closely with our customers, partners and educational institutions to expand robotic automation training. At the same time, we are providing greater access to KUKA technologies, services and technical expertise. We are excited to continue supporting the development of automation and manufacturing talent in the region.”

Hyundai Motor India, one of the leading passenger vehicle manufacturers, has formally inaugurated its manufacturing plant in Talegaon, Pune.
The Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis, accompanied by Hyundai Motor Group Executive Chair Euisun Chung and Hyundai Motor India Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Tarun Garg inaugurated the new facility.
The plant operates with an installed annual production capacity of 170,000 units, which the company plans to scale to 320,000 units by 2030 through a phased investment of up to INR 110 billion.
Combined with Hyundai’s Chennai facility, total manufacturing capacity in India for the company will reach approximately 1.14 million units annually by 2030. The Talegaon facility incorporates artificial intelligence (AI) quality control systems, automated assembly platforms and an engine plant producing 150,000 units per year. To support plant operations, 55 supplier partners have invested nearly INR 46 billion in the state.
“The inauguration of Hyundai Motor India’s Pune plant and the company’s achievement of 4 million cumulative passenger vehicle exports reflect India’s growing strength as a global automotive manufacturing hub. Hyundai’s continued investments in advanced manufacturing technologies, innovation, localization and skill development will contribute significantly to economic growth, employment generation and development of a robust automotive ecosystem in Maharashtra. We welcome Hyundai’s long-term commitment to the state and the nation. The Government of Maharashtra shall extend our full support to Hyundai’s future growth journey,” said Devendra Fadnavis.
Euisun Chung said, “India remains one of Hyundai’s most important and strategic markets globally. The inauguration of the Pune plant reflects our long-term commitment to India’s growth and our confidence in its bright future. HMIL’s milestone of 4 million cumulative vehicle exports demonstrates the global competitiveness of Indian manufacturing and highlights India’s growing role within Hyundai Motor Group’s worldwide operations.”
Tarun Garg, MD and CEO, Hyundai Motor India, said, “The inauguration of our Pune plant marks the beginning of HMIL’s next chapter of growth in India. We will invest INR 110 billion in phases at this facility. Beyond expanding manufacturing capacity, the facility will drive industrial development, innovation and employment generation in the region. Supporting this vision is a strong regional supplier ecosystem, with 55 supplier partners having already invested nearly INR 46 billion in the state. Together with tier-II vendors, the ecosystem has created more than 18,000 employment opportunities in Maharashtra, reinforcing the region’s emergence as a key automotive manufacturing hub. As we celebrate 30 years in India, we remain committed to creating long-term value for our customers, partners and communities. We sincerely thank the Government of Maharashtra, under the leadership of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the Government of India, for fostering a progressive ecosystem that continues to strengthen manufacturing, investment and economic growth in India.”
The ceremony also marked Hyundai Motor India’s milestone of 4 million cumulative passenger vehicle exports from India since 1999, alongside domestic sales approaching 10 million units. The Venue model produced at the Pune facility will be exported to more than 35 countries as part of the company’s global supply chain strategy.

Automotive technology firm Six Sense Mobility has opened its first manufacturing facility in Noida, Uttar Pradesh, following an investment of over INR 150 million. The launch coincides with the company’s fourth anniversary and supports a target revenue of INR 5 billion backed by an INR 1.6 billion order book.
The company, supported by IIT Delhi and funded by Piper Serica and investor Ashish Kacholia, currently supplies automotive devices to markets in India and Europe. Six Sense Mobility plans to expand operations into North America and Southeast Asia, while tripling its workforce over the next two years by adding approximately 300 engineering and manufacturing positions.
The new 40,000-square-foot plant features integrated electronics manufacturing and assembly capabilities with an annual installed capacity exceeding one million units. The facility brings hardware development, firmware engineering, software integration and serial assembly under one roof to manufacture connected-vehicle electronics, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication devices, radar systems, and advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Sumit Roy, Co-Founder 7 CEO, Six Sense Mobility, said, “Four years ago, we set out to build automotive electronics with full control over the hardware and software. This facility gives us the capacity to support larger customer programmes and take technologies like V2X from the lab into vehicles at scale. Designing and manufacturing them here in India is our contribution to Make in India and the journey toward Viksit Bharat”.

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Türkiye’s 2027 Presidential Annual Program sets AI-supported certification of green transformation in industry and broader access to AI tools for manufacturers as goals, according to a compilation by Anadolu Agency (AA).
The program focuses on “twin transition,” the term for combined green and digital transformation, across all areas of manufacturing. Priority sectors include chemicals, pharmaceuticals and medical devices, machinery, electrical equipment, automotive, electronics and rail system vehicles.
The stated aim is higher competitiveness and productivity and a shift to higher value-added production.
Facilities that report reduced emissions and improved energy and resource efficiency are planned to receive certification showing these results. Work will be carried out to develop an AI-based system for certifying green transformation in industry.
R&D activities and technology transfer will be supported to adopt sustainable production and green transformation technologies.
Investments approved under the Green Transformation and Digital Transformation programs will receive either priority investment status or high-intensity support under the Strategic Move Program, depending on their amounts.
The program includes sectoral analyses in manufacturing and encourages integrating AI, big data analytics, and advanced automation into production processes. Support for company investments under the Digital Transformation Program will continue. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) will receive consultancy on digital maturity assessments in particular.
European Digital Innovation Hubs, supported under the Digital Europe Program, are planned to offer SMEs infrastructure, access to finance, business development consultancy and training in digitalization.
The KOSGEB AI Credit Program, provided through the GO Digital Wallet, will support access to high-performance computing resources, secure data storage and AI tools for holders of the Techno-Venture Badge (“Teknogirisim Rozeti”). KOSGEB is a state agency, the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Organization. Model factories will also develop the physical and human infrastructure for digital transformation.
The Türkiye Green Industry Project, carried out by the Ministry of Industry and Technology, KOSGEB, TUBITAK (the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye) and the World Bank, has a total budget of $450 million.
As of September 2026, the Green Transformation Program has 186 active applications, 139 from large-scale companies and 47 from SMEs. The projected investment of these applications reached about 165.5 billion liras ($3.34 billion).
A total of 3,456 enterprises applied to KOSGEB calls on solar energy investments, resource efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation and sustainable production methods. Support payments of 6.9 billion liras ($139 million) went to the 1,987 enterprises whose projects were accepted.
Under the TUBITAK Green Innovation Technology Leadership Support, support was approved for 1,482 projects as of Sept. 28, and about 231.7 million liras ($4.7 million) was paid to solution partners.
The Green Transformation in Industry Support approved 372 projects, with about 1.6 billion liras ($32 million) paid to the organizations involved. The Green Transformation Support of the R&D and Innovation Networks for Industry (SAYEM) approved 10 platforms, with about 203 million liras ($4.1 million) paid.
As of September, 85 enterprises from the machinery, automotive, textile, chemicals, food, and electronics sectors applied to the Digital Transformation Program. The total investment amount of the applications is about 21 billion liras ($424 million).
Under the SME Digital Transformation Support Program, 284 applications worth 3.5 billion liras ($71 million) were approved. Of these, 139 enterprises used loans totaling 1.4 billion liras ($28 million).
The DDX Digital Transformation Assessment Model, developed by TUBITAK’s Türkiye Industrial Management Institute, measured the digital maturity level of 1,036 enterprises across Türkiye.

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Parksun, a French solar mapping service for car parks, has published the first national, store-by-store survey of 16,790 food retailers and specialist stores in France. Three months after a July 1, 2026, deadline set by the APER law, 85% of large supermarket car parks still had no visible solar canopies, according to the survey.
France’s APER law requires outdoor car parks larger than 1,500 square meters to cover half their area with photovoltaic canopies.
“Until now, nobody had measured its implementation,” said Matthieu Mazzega of Parksun. The share of car parks equipped with solar canopies increased from 4.5% in 2023 imagery to 6.7% in 2025 imagery and 9% in 2026 imagery. “We can therefore see that the pace accelerated as the July 2026 deadline approached, and the actual share today is around 8% to 10%.”
Among food retailers, 1,456 of the 1,713 car parks measuring at least 10,000 square meters had no visible solar canopies, representing 85% of the total. Some may have signed contracts before June 30, 2026, allowing them to defer the deadline to Jan. 1, 2028.
A further 5,960 supermarket car parks measure between 1,500 and 10,000 square meters and face a solarization deadline of July 1, 2028.
Non-compliance can result in annual fines of up to €40,000 for the largest car parks and €20,000 for smaller ones, following a formal notice from the prefect.
Progress varies among retailers. E.Leclerc had solar canopies at 16.3% of its car parks, while Système U had equipped 15%, around twice the average. Among specialist retailers, Feu Vert and Norauto were among the stronger performers. Carrefour, Netto, Grand Frais, Castorama and Conforama were among the least advanced, at around 3%.
Parksun estimates that covering half of the 62.8 square kilometers of supermarket car parks covered by the survey would provide around 6.3 GW of solar capacity and generate approximately 7 TWh of electricity annually. Existing solar canopies covered around 146 hectares at the survey’s cutoff date.
Parksun measured each store individually using publicly available data, including retailer store locators, the open-source All The Places project and OpenStreetMap. Car park boundaries were drawn from France’s National Institute of Geographic and Forest Information (IGN) BD TOPO database or OpenStreetMap, including access roads. Solar canopies were identified using IGN’s high-definition LiDAR data and individually checked against the most recent aerial imagery. Only photovoltaic canopies were counted.
The aerial images date from 2023 to 2026, depending on the department, so canopies installed after the images were taken are not included. The survey does not identify exemptions or deadline extensions granted through contracts. Parksun describes the results as a measurement of deployment, not a finding of regulatory non-compliance.
From pv magazine France
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Investors seem to have lost some confidence in First Solar (FSLR), and I think the reaction has gone too far. Revenue declined 4% last quarter, contract cancellations have raised concerns, and a large portion of earnings comes
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Computer-designed P3CPenT molecules point to better perovskite solar cell materials
Perovskite solar cells have raced past many rivals in the photovoltaic world, with device efficiencies now exceeding 26 percent and drawing level with conventional silicon technology. Yet a persistent bottleneck sits inside every cell: the layer that ferries positively charged holes away from the light-absorbing perovskite and toward the electrode. A new computational study published in Discover Electronics examines whether a relatively unexplored molecular framework, known as P3CPenT, could be engineered into a better hole transport material, and reports that three newly designed derivatives show electronic and optical properties that look markedly more promising than the parent molecule.
The work, led by Nida Fatima and Khuram Ali, is purely theoretical. Rather than synthesizing new chemicals and measuring them in a laboratory, the researchers used density functional theory, or DFT, and its time-dependent variant, TD-DFT, to model the behavior of molecules on a computer. They took the reference molecule P3CPenT and designed three donor–acceptor derivatives, named P3CPenT-1, P3CPenT-2, and P3CPenT-3, by modifying the terminal acceptor groups. All calculations were performed at the PBEPBE level with the 6-311G(d,p) basis set, a combination the authors selected after comparing five different exchange–correlation functionals against experimental absorption data for the reference compound.
The central finding concerns the energy gap between a molecule’s highest occupied molecular orbital, the HOMO, and its lowest unoccupied molecular orbital, the LUMO. In organic semiconductors, a narrower gap generally means easier charge transfer and better electronic communication across the molecule. The reference P3CPenT showed a gap of 3.00 electron volts, but the three designed derivatives came in substantially lower, at values between 2.00 and 2.30 electron volts. The authors attribute this narrowing to the donor–acceptor architecture, in which electron-rich donor sections push charge toward electron-poor acceptor ends, extending π-electron delocalization along the molecular backbone.
Optical behavior shifted in parallel. When the researchers simulated the electronic absorption spectra, the maximum absorption wavelength of the reference molecule sat at 369.84 nanometers, deep in the ultraviolet. The designed derivatives moved dramatically into the visible range: P3CPenT-1 absorbed at 551.07 nanometers, P3CPenT-2 at 539.51 nanometers, and P3CPenT-3 at 620.20 nanometers. This bathochromic shift, the authors explain, arises from stronger donor–acceptor interactions and extended conjugation, which lower the energy needed to excite electrons. Because a solar cell can only harvest photons its materials actually absorb, pulling absorption into the visible spectrum is a meaningful step toward capturing more of the sun’s output.
Geometry matters as much as energy levels in these systems, and the optimized structures offered encouraging signs there too. The bond lengths between the donor core, the thiophene π-bridge, and the acceptor groups ranged from 1.417 to 1.507 angstroms, consistent with partial double-bond character and active conjugation. Dihedral angles between the bridge and the acceptor units fell between 179.19 and −179.52 degrees, meaning those fragments lie almost flat relative to one another. Near-planar geometry reduces steric hindrance, favors charge delocalization, and supports the intermolecular stacking that efficient hole transport demands. Thiophene, the bridging unit in all these molecules, is already prized in the field for its high hole mobility and strong optoelectronic performance.
To probe how charge actually moves within each molecule, the team deployed a battery of complementary analyses. Frontier molecular orbital maps showed HOMO density concentrated on the donor core while LUMO density extended toward the acceptor segments, the classic signature of intramolecular charge transfer. Density of states calculations, performed with PyMOlyze 1.1, confirmed the donor–acceptor character of the electronic structure. Transition density matrix heat maps, generated with Multiwfn, revealed efficient spatial separation of electron–hole pairs and strong donor-to-acceptor charge-transfer character. Molecular electrostatic potential surfaces highlighted electron-rich regions around the nitrogen- and oxygen-bearing acceptor units. The authors caution that an apparent population of mid-gap states in the density of states spectra is an artifact of Gaussian broadening used in visualization, not a real electronic feature.
The study also assessed how well the designed molecules would align energetically with MAPbI3, the archetypal methylammonium lead iodide perovskite absorber, whose valence band maximum and conduction band minimum lie near −5.4 and −3.9 electron volts respectively. For a hole transport layer to work, its HOMO must sit close enough to the perovskite’s valence band to pull holes out, while its LUMO must be positioned to block electrons from leaking back. The calculated HOMO levels of the three derivatives, at −5.3264, −5.1718, and −5.1937 electron volts, fell within the range considered suitable for hole extraction and comparable to established materials such as Spiro-OMeTAD and PTAA, the costly and dopant-dependent workhorses that currently dominate high-efficiency devices.
Among the three candidates, P3CPenT-1 emerged as the standout. Using a constant short-circuit current density of 21.3117 milliamperes per square centimeter adopted from the literature, the researchers estimated an open-circuit voltage of 1.0965 electron volts, a fill factor of 89.02 percent, and a theoretical power conversion efficiency descriptor of 20.80 percent. P3CPenT-3 followed with a predicted efficiency of 18.05 percent, while P3CPenT and P3CPenT-2 both landed near 15.08 percent. The authors are careful to frame these numbers: they derive from simplified theoretical relationships and a 0.3 electron volt empirical energy-loss factor, and they represent qualitative, comparative indicators of relative photovoltaic potential rather than experimentally validated device efficiencies or certified power conversion figures.
That caution runs throughout the paper, and it matters. The authors note that the PBEPBE functional, while matching experimental absorption data reasonably well for the reference molecule, can underestimate long-range charge-transfer excitations, so all calculated absorption wavelengths should be read comparatively rather than as absolute predictions. They also emphasize that the entire investigation is a first-principles molecular screening exercise, intended to identify promising candidates and illuminate structure–property relationships, not to forecast real-world performance. Experimental synthesis, stability assessment, detailed charge-transport characterization, and full device-level validation remain necessary before any of these molecules can be judged as practical hole transport materials.
Even with those limits, the study offers a useful template for how computational screening can narrow the search for next-generation solar cell materials. The perovskite field still wrestles with charge recombination losses, interfacial instability, and long-term durability, and the hole transport layer sits at the heart of several of those problems. By showing that terminal acceptor engineering on the P3CPenT framework systematically narrows energy gaps, red-shifts absorption, and tunes energy-level alignment, the work gives experimentalists a concrete, ranked shortlist, with P3CPenT-1 at the top, and a set of design principles for extending the approach. The datasets behind the calculations, including DFT output files, have been deposited in a Zenodo repository, allowing other groups to reproduce the models or push the same framework further before anyone commits to the synthesis bench.
Subject of Research: Computational design of P3CPenT-based hole transport materials for perovskite solar cells
Article Title: Optimization of P3CPenT-based hole transport layers to boost efficiency in perovskite solar cells
Article References: Fatima, N., & Ali, K. (2026). Optimization of P3CPenT-based hole transport layers to boost efficiency in perovskite solar cells. Discover Electronics, 3(1), Article 133. https://doi.org/10.1007/s44291-026-00283-y
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1007/s44291-026-00283-y
Keywords: perovskite solar cells, hole transport materials, P3CPenT, DFT, TD-DFT, donor–acceptor molecules, MAPbI3, charge transfer, power conversion efficiency, molecular design, photovoltaics, computational screening
News Source: Denise Maddox. (October 30, 2026). Computer-designed P3CPenT molecules point to better perovskite solar cell materials. Scienmag.
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