Researchers have developed a new laser processing approach that enables LONGi heterojunction back contact (HBC) silicon solar cells to reach a certified power conversion efficiency of 27.27%, addressing a long standing manufacturing challenge that has limited the industrial deployment of the technology. The study titled ‘Harnessing and mitigating laser shock waves for 27.27% efficiency back contact silicon solar cells’, focusses on laser patterning, a key manufacturing process used to create the complex rear side structures required in high efficiency HBC solar cells. While laser processing offers exceptional precision and high throughput, it also generates powerful shock waves that travel through the silicon wafer and can damage the delicate front side passivation layers responsible for minimising energy losses. The challenge has become increasingly important as the solar industry seeks to move beyond the efficiency limits of conventional cell architectures. Traditional aluminium back surface field solar cells have reached efficiencies of around 19%, while passivated emitter and rear cell technologies have approached 23%. More recent passivating contact technologies, including TOPCon and silicon heterojunction cells, have surpassed 26%, bringing the industry closer to the theoretical maximum efficiency of approximately 29.4% for single junction crystalline silicon. Related news: Powered by LONGi HPBC 2.0 cell technology, redefining a new era of photovoltaic value – the HiMO X10 Among the most efficient designs currently under development, HBC solar cells have emerged as one of the leading technologies for pushing silicon photovoltaics toward the 28% efficiency threshold. The researchers found that the primary source of damaging shock waves originates from the laser ablation of a silicon nitride layer on the rear side of the solar cell. Through detailed simulations and microstructural analysis, the team identified what they describe as an “explosive removal” mechanism. During laser processing, the underlying polysilicon layer rapidly heats and vaporizes, creating enough pressure to mechanically eject the overlying silicon nitride film. While this process effectively creates the required rear side patterns, it simultaneously generates shock waves that can degrade the front side surface structure and reduce passivation quality. To address this issue, the team developed a redesigned front side texture consisting of submicron pyramids with rounded tops. Acting as a mechanical energy dispersing structure, the modified texture reduces stress concentrations caused by shock waves and prevents damage to the front side passivation layer. Simulation results showed that conventional pyramid textures experienced localised stresses exceeding the yield strength of silicon, increasing the risk of microcrack formation and long term damage. In contrast, the rounded top pyramid design reduced peak stress levels below the silicon yield threshold, significantly improving resistance to laser induced shock effects. The researchers also carried out extensive microscopic investigations of laser processed regions. These studies revealed that laser interaction with the silicon nitride layer causes mechanical fracture, localised melting, crystalline transformation and void formation within underlying layers. The findings provided critical insight into how laser generated shock waves propagate through the wafer and affect device performance. By combining precise rear side laser patterning with a shock wave resistant front side texture, the researchers successfully preserved passivation quality while maintaining the manufacturing benefits of laser processing. According to the study, the work resolves a fundamental contradiction in laser based solar cell manufacturing by allowing manufacturers to harness the benefits of laser generated shock waves for patterning while minimising their harmful effects on sensitive device structures. The researchers believe the approach offers an industrially viable route to the next generation of ultra-high efficiency silicon solar cells and could support wider commercial adoption of HBC technology as the photovoltaic sector continues its push toward higher performance and lower cost renewable energy generation. Link to the full paper HERE Author: Bryan Groenendaal
New Zealand gentailer Contact Energy has completed the installation of all solar modules at the 150MW Kōwhai Park solar PV power plant at Christchurch Airport. The 168MWdc, 150MWac solar PV power plant is being developed by Lightsource bp in partnership with Contact Energy on a 230-hectare site on the Christchurch Airport campus, with engineering, procurement and construction delivered by CHINTEC and infrastructure services provided by Ventia. Get Premium Subscription The facility is expected to generate over 275GWh of renewable energy per year and will connect to electricity distribution company Orion New Zealand’s 66kV distribution network. The module installation milestone follows a construction programme that began in late 2024. The project hit its Golden Row milestone in August 2025, when the first row of modules was fully installed and signed off, validating the installation process and allowing construction to scale across the site’s thousands of remaining rows. With all modules now in place, Contact Energy said the project is now moving into its final commissioning phase ahead of commercial operations. Kōwhai Park is the first solar project developed under the joint venture between Lightsource bp and Contact Energy, which the two companies have described as the first of a planned series of New Zealand solar PV power plants. The Kōwhai Park completion arrives as Contact Energy accelerates its wider renewable energy pipeline under the Contact31+ strategy announced in February 2026. As PV Tech reported at the time, the NZ$525 million (US$316 million) equity raise aims to advance a portfolio of projects, including a new 200MW battery energy storage system (BESS), pre-final investment decision drilling for the Tauhara 2 geothermal expansion. It also aims to support the development of the 150MWac Glorit solar PV power plant on the Kaipara Coast, being pursued with Lightsource bp at an estimated cost of NZ$305 million, with operations targeted for the third quarter of 2028. The NZ$525 million raise, comprising a fully underwritten NZ$450 million institutional placement and a NZ$75 million retail offer, was completed in February 2026. At the time of the announcement, Kōwhai Park had more than 50% of its solar modules installed and was on track to complete in Q2 2026. Contact Energy’s battery storage capacity has also expanded in parallel with the solar build. In April 2026, Contact switched on a 200MWh battery storage system in New Zealand, adding grid-scale firming capacity to complement the company’s growing renewable energy generation fleet. Kōwhai Park’s completion adds to a growing cohort of utility-scale solar projects now operating or under construction across New Zealand, a market that had virtually no grid-scale solar capacity as recently as 2022. The country’s high proportion of hydro generation has historically reduced the urgency of investing in new renewable energy generation capacity, but successive dry years, including the 2024 drought that drove sharp wholesale price increases, have accelerated the case for diversifying generation. Low rainfall, declining hydro storage reserves and natural gas shortages caused electricity prices to surge in 2024, prompting calls for greater generation diversity. In a bid to solve this and turn the country into the “simplest developed country for solar deployment”, New Zealand’s government ordered a sector review into the installation of residential and small-to-medium-scale solar, aiming to reduce what it describes as a “red tape nightmare” that can delay approvals for months.
Another day, another reason why fossil fuels are toast. Persistent innovation in the global solar industry has already sent the conversion efficiency of solar cells through the roof over the past 25 years, and there’s plenty more where that came from. Last week two more world efficiency records were set, one for solar modules made with triple III-V germanium cells, and the other for modules made with tandem perovskite-silicon cells. For those of you new to the topic, solar modules are the intermediate step between solar cells and solar panels. Typically, solar modules are comprised of 60-72 connected cells, though some use much less. Regardless of the number of cells, those connections can have a significant impact on the conversion efficiency of the finished module, with a ripple effect into the efficiency of the finished solar panel. CleanTechnica took note of the new germanium solar record over the weekend, consisting of a 34.2% conversion efficiency reported by the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany, for a module measuring 833 square centimeters made up of triple III-V germanium cells. To recap briefly, the Fraunhofer team used a new technique to connect its solar cells directly to each other, bypassing conventional module fabrication methods that deploy solder-coated copper ribbons. “By eliminating cell interconnects, no active cell area is shaded,” the researchers explain. “The resulting exceptionally high area utilization was a key factor in achieving the record efficiency,” they emphasize. Considering the topsy-turvy state of federal energy policy, it would not be a surprise to see US research institutions and private sector innovators lose funding for next-generation solar equipment like the new Fraunhofer module. Nevertheless, some projects continue to trickle through the pipeline, and the Department of Defense is one reason why. In a curious turn of events, the Trump administration has continued to support a germanium supply chain project initially funded by the Biden administration. Back in April of 2024, the DoD awarded $14.4 million from the Defense Production Act Investment Program to 5N+ Semiconductors. The firm was tasked with increasing the production of germanium substrates, for use in the solar cells deployed on military and commercial satellites. In January of this year, the Department of Defense — which now calls itself the Department of War — upped the ante with a Defense Production Act award of $18.1 million to the same company, focused on increasing “optics and solar germanium crystal supply chains” in the US. “Increasing domestic germanium production is one of the highest industrial base priorities for the DoW,” explained Assistant Secretary of War for Industrial Base Policy Mike Cadenazzi in a press statement. “Makers of defense applications use germanium in infrared optics, night vision systems, surveillance windows, individual thermal weapon sights, and other electro-optical/infrared (EO/IR) equipment. Germanium is also essential for solar cells that power military and civilian satellites,” the Defense Department added. Interesting! If you have any thoughts about that, drop a note in the discussion thread. Turning now to the tandem perovskite-silicon module, the world record in that category goes — at least for now — to the leading Chinese firm Trinasolar. It’s the latest in a string of notable achievements for the company, which claims a total of world 41 records set or broken in the solar industry. On June 9, Trinasolar announced a conversion efficiency of 29.2%, verified independently by the certification institute TÜV SÜD for its tandem perovskite-silicon solar module. The company also notes that the new module has a power output of 907 watts, a significant increase over its next-best effort of 808 watts last year. More to the point, Trinasolar also emphasized that the record-breaking module is sized for, and compliant with, industrial applications. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean the labwork is market-ready next week, it does indicate that commercial development is in the works. The Trinasolar news is also significant because it represents the steady march of perovskite technology into widespread use. Perovskite is a relatively inexpensive synthetic optical material with the potential to launch a new generation of lower-costing, higher-performing solar cells. With higher performance, solar developers can squeeze the same amount of clean kilowatts from less space, resulting in costs savings far beyond the factory walls. Land acquisition, site preparation, labor, and operating/repair expenses are among the factors that also shrink. All else being equal, end-of-life disposal, recycling, and recovery costs are also reduced. Though fragile in the raw, perovskites can be combined with other materials to support the durability factor. In a tandem perovskite-silicon setup, silicon adds the sturdiness while perovskites lend a conversion efficiency boost. The result is a more efficient, less costly product overall. Despite the sharp U-turn in federal energy policy, US innovators in the perovskite solar cell field have hardly been asleep at the wheel. A case in point is California-based Tandem PV. The startup is among the firms applying a thin layer of perovskite onto silicon solar cells to enhance performance and cut overall costs. In March, the startup celebrated its place on TIME’s America’s Top GreenTech Companies of 2026, its third consecutive such recognition. Tandem PV has also been a regular visitor to the pages of CleanTechnica over the years, most recently in January when former Energy Secretary (and newly tapped Tandem PV board member) Jennifer Granholm remarked that the company was on track to hit the 30% conversion efficiency mark for its perovskite-silicon solar panels. At present, the panels are at 29.7% efficiency, which Tandem states is 30% more powerful than typical silicon solar panels. “Solar has reached an inflection point where the market is demanding not just lower-cost clean energy, but bigger leaps in performance, resilience, and domestic capability,” Tandem CEO Scott Wharton explained in a press statement. Wharton wasn’t just talking out of his hat. In April, Tandem launched a demonstration factory in Fremont, California that places it one giant step closer to volume production for commercial markets. “The 65,000-square-foot Fremont site is producing tandem solar panels using state-of-the-art equipment. The line has approximately 40 MW of annual nameplate capacity, and the panels are roughly 60 times larger than Tandem PV’s R&D-scale devices,” the company reported. “The line is designed to demonstrate that perovskite-silicon tandem panels can be manufactured reliably in the United States at scale with high power density, durability, and lower costs,” Tandem emphasizes. Next steps for the company include validating a performance of 25 years or more, in accord with warranty requirements for utility-scale solar among other industry standards. Hold on to your hats. The Fremont factory is already turning out modules that will be sent to customers for validation trials later this year, towards the goal of closing the first sales before year’s end. If all goes according to plan, full volume production will begin in 2028. Photo: Despite the sharp U-turn in US energy policy, global innovators like China’s Trinasolar are continuing to set new records for solar conversion efficiency (screenshot, courtesy of Trinasolar). CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy Tina has been covering advanced energy technology, military sustainability, emerging materials, biofuels, ESG and related policy and political matters for CleanTechnica since 2009. Follow her @tinamcasey on LinkedIn, Mastodon or Bluesky. Tina Casey has 4209 posts and counting. See all posts by Tina Casey
The global solar industry is entering a new phase in which value creation is taking precedence over manufacturing scale, according to a post event report released by InfoLink Consulting following the 19th SNEC International Photovoltaic Power Generation and Smart Energy Conference and Exhibition in Shanghai. One of the world’s largest solar industry gatherings, SNEC 2026 highlighted a market increasingly focused on integrated energy solutions, energy storage, artificial intelligence driven power demand, and emerging solar technologies, as manufacturers adapt to slower demand growth, persistent oversupply and mounting pressure on profitability. A notable milestone at this year’s event was the growing prominence of energy storage. For the first time, storage occupied more exhibition halls than solar PV, with six halls dedicated to storage technologies compared with four for photovoltaic products. The shift reflects the industry’s growing recognition that storage is becoming a central pillar of future energy systems rather than a supporting technology. Solar manufacturers are also expanding their business models beyond module sales. Companies are increasingly positioning themselves as providers of complete energy solutions, combining solar generation, battery storage and integrated system services to capture greater value across the energy supply chain. Artificial intelligence is emerging as another major growth driver for the sector. InfoLink estimates that data centres could generate between 85 GW and 100 GW of additional solar installation demand globally between 2025 and 2030 as operators seek reliable and low carbon power sources to support rapidly expanding computing infrastructure. At the same time, trade policy remains a significant challenge for the industry. India’s Approved List of Models and Manufacturers requirements for solar cells came into effect on 1 June, slowing project implementation and potentially reducing the country’s 2026 installation outlook to between 35 GWac and 40 GWac. In the United States, the industry is closely monitoring the possible implementation of Section 232 tariffs later this year. The report also identified space based solar power as a growing area of interest. Technologies such as heterojunction and perovskite solar cells are attracting attention because of their lightweight structure, high efficiency and resistance to radiation, characteristics that are well suited to space applications. Despite weaker short term demand in China, the long term outlook for the world’s largest solar market remains positive. China installed 50.91 GW of solar capacity during the first four months of 2026, representing a 51.48% decline from the same period last year. April installations alone fell by 78.95% year on year to 9.52 GW. However, China’s recently released 15th Five Year Plan continues to prioritise the development of a clean, secure and efficient energy system. Large scale renewable energy bases, distributed energy projects, green industrial parks and sustainable computing infrastructure are expected to provide long term support for solar deployment. Across the solar manufacturing supply chain, market conditions remain challenging as oversupply continues to weigh on prices. Polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules all experienced weak pricing conditions during the exhibition period, with many manufacturers operating close to cash cost levels. Module prices have softened further but appear unlikely to fall significantly below production costs. Premium products based on TOPCon 3.0 and back contact technologies continue to command higher prices due to stronger performance and product differentiation. Manufacturers of balance of materials components are also adapting to changing market conditions. Falling resin prices, volatile metal costs and pressure on solar glass inventories are accelerating efforts to reduce silver consumption and develop alternative materials. Suppliers are increasingly focusing on application specific products while expanding into overseas markets. Technology innovation remained a key theme throughout SNEC 2026. InfoLink analysed 108 solar module products from 18 leading manufacturers and found that TOPCon technology continues to dominate current market offerings. Modules based on 210R and larger wafer formats accounted for more than 90% of products on display. Perovskite technology emerged as one of the most closely watched areas of development. InfoLink recorded 18 perovskite products from 12 manufacturers, highlighting growing commercial interest in the technology. Perovskite silicon tandem solar cells are widely regarded as one of the most promising pathways to higher conversion efficiencies beyond conventional crystalline silicon. Their suitability for space applications is further strengthening commercial interest, particularly because aerospace markets can support higher value products before large scale terrestrial deployment becomes economically viable. According to InfoLink, the growing presence of perovskite based space solar technologies at SNEC 2026 suggests that aerospace applications could become an important stepping stone toward broader commercialisation, with future opportunities extending across utility scale solar projects, building integrated photovoltaics and next generation energy systems. Author: Bryan Groenendaal
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As more of our economy electrifies, power distribution becomes a bigger part of the story. Electric vehicles (EVs), batteries, data centres, smart buildings and digital devices all change what electrical infrastructure needs to do. They also change the way we should think about energy inside a site. For decades, alternating current (AC) has been the backbone of electricity systems. It remains essential, particularly for moving power over long distances. But many of the technologies now driving demand use direct current (DC) at the point of use. A phone, laptop or television takes AC from the wall and converts it to DC before it can use the power. An EV battery stores DC, and a fast charger delivers DC directly to the vehicle. Solar panels and batteries also operate in DC. However, the system is not without inefficiencies. Each time power is converted from AC to DC, there is typically a 5-10% energy loss. In a single device, that loss may not seem significant. Across a large facility, a bus depot, a hospital fleet, a data centre or a multi-site operation, it becomes part of the efficiency equation. This is why the shift from AC to DC should be understood as a practical infrastructure trend, not a distant technical debate. It’s not about replacing AC everywhere. It’s about designing the right architecture for the right application. Electric bus depots are a useful example. A depot is not simply a place where chargers are installed. It’s a working energy system. Buses need to return on schedule, charge within defined windows and be ready for service again. If the charging system fails, it becomes a public disruption – not a private inconvenience. In many electric depot environments, the traditional model distributes AC power across the site and converts it to DC at each charging point. Each conversion introduces energy losses – which, is significant when compounded across multiple chargers. As fleets scale, the opportunity to rethink the underlying architecture becomes increasingly compelling. If power can be converted from AC closer to where it enters the facility, then distributed as DC to the chargers, Schneider Electric analysis indicates, we can realise efficiency gains of up to 20–30%. The same principle will become relevant in other settings. Data centres are already accelerating this conversation because high-density computing pushes power requirements to power unprecedented levels – often exceeding 60 kW per rack and, in some cases, moving toward megawatt-scale systems. The investment going into AI infrastructure is helping advance technologies that can later support other sectors, from EV charging and commercial buildings to homes with solar, batteries and connected appliances. This is how energy technology often develops. A demanding use case pushes the technology forward. Over time, the learnings move into more everyday environments. For Australia, the opportunity is to prepare early. Electrification will not be accelerated by appliances alone. A charger, a battery or an EV is only the visible part of the system. Behind it sit switchboards, cabling, transformers, protection systems, software, load management and energy data. Those elements determine whether electrification is reliable, efficient and scalable. Load management will be especially important. A building does not have the same available capacity at every hour of the day. Solar output changes. Air conditioning demand rises and falls. Lifts, equipment and other systems draw power at different times. More fundamentally, energy is not used or delivered without loss – transmission and distribution losses alone typically range between 8% and 20%, reducing the effective capacity available at the point of use. Intelligent load management helps decide when and how much power can be directed to vehicles, batteries or other loads without overloading the site. That capability matters in critical environments. A hospital fleet vehicle may need priority charging. A bus may need to return to service quickly. A commercial fleet may need to charge when tariffs are lower. These decisions cannot be managed well through static infrastructure alone. They need digital visibility and control. The future of electrification will require electrification, automation and digitalisation to work together. It will require hardware that can handle changing loads, software that can optimise performance and partners that understand how energy moves from the grid connection through to the final application. There is also work to do beyond technology. Standards, product certification, switchboard design, installer capability and building design will need to evolve as DC applications expand. That is normal in any major infrastructure transition. The important point is to begin that work before demand is overwhelming existing systems. Australia has a strong foundation to build on. More than 4 million homes – around one in three households – already have rooftop solar, making Australia a global leader in distributed energy. Over 185,000 homes have battery systems installed, and EV vehicles account for more than 10% of new car sales. And investment in digital infrastructure is expanding significantly, with billions of dollars flowing into data centres and AI-driven infrastructure. The next step is to connect these pieces more intelligently. The energy transition will be easier to scale when every site is designed with the future in mind. That means thinking beyond the immediate appliance and considering the full electrical architecture. It means making room for new loads, new sources of energy and new ways of managing power. AC built the electricity system we rely on today. DC will play a growing role in the systems now being added to it. The task ahead is to bring those worlds together carefully, practically and at scale. That is how electrification moves from ambition to everyday operation. Author: Tim Pratt, Pacific Vice President, Power Products, Schneider Electric
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Halifax By Emma Amodio Posted Jun 14, 2026 11:32:47 AM. Last Updated Jun 14, 2026 11:35:51 AM. The Smiths Cove Fire Department in Digby County is making the switch to solar energy, backed by a $94,043 grant from the province. According to a release, solar energy will help save the department up to $600,000 over 30 to 35 years, the typical shelf life of solar panels. Solar panels are now anticipated to cover 97 per cent of the department’s energy needs. The funding was announced on June 11, by Jill Balser, Minister of Service Nova Scotia and MLA for Digby-Annapolis, on behalf of Timothy Halman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change.
“Volunteer fire departments are at the heart of so many Nova Scotia communities,” said Minister Balser. “They show up for us on our hardest days, and people depend on them. This funding will help the Smiths Cove Fire Department lower their energy costs and their carbon emissions by switching to clean, reliable solar power. That means more of their resources can go toward the essential services they provide.” The government’s Sustainable Communities Challenge fund helped supply this investment — it’s a grant program that helps Nova Scotians adapt to climate change and avoid its impacts. The fire department works in Smiths Cove and the area surrounding in Digby County while also providing a place residents can take refuge during power outages and host events in the community.
Joshua Snyder, Chief of the Smiths Cove Fire Department said this investment will help the volunteer fire service focus on improving their operations and keeping the community safe. The fourth round of applications for the fund opened on May 28, focused on projects that address drought and water shortages.
Nova Scotia is offering grants of up to $25,000 to community groups working to bring health care professionals to the province. This week, the provincial government announced that applications for the… 15h ago OTTAWA — A pilot immigration program to help rural communities find skilled workers for hard-to-fill jobs saw 800 people receive permanent residency in the first two months of this year — and hundreds… 11h ago The province has announced new funding for community trails, helping Nova Scotians connect with nature this summer. They announced $590,000 in investments aimed at expanding and repairing trails across… June 13, 2026 12:14 pm AST AST OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says the “strands” of a new world order could be woven at the G7 summit next week. Carney made the remarks during a discussion at Trinity College Dublin while on… June 13, 2026 5:03 pm AST AST Nova Scotia is offering grants of up to $25,000 to community groups working to bring health care professionals to the province. This week, the provincial government announced that applications for the… 15h ago OTTAWA — A pilot immigration program to help rural communities find skilled workers for hard-to-fill jobs saw 800 people receive permanent residency in the first two months of this year — and hundreds… 11h ago The province has announced new funding for community trails, helping Nova Scotians connect with nature this summer. They announced $590,000 in investments aimed at expanding and repairing trails across… June 13, 2026 12:14 pm AST AST OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney says the “strands” of a new world order could be woven at the G7 summit next week. Carney made the remarks during a discussion at Trinity College Dublin while on… June 13, 2026 5:03 pm AST AST The powerful earthquake also triggered tsunami warnings across several nearby countries. Rhianne Campbell reports. June 8, 2026 6:29 pm AST AST Astronauts were told to shelter on the docked Dragon spacecraft and prepare for potential evacuation ahead of repair work on an air leak. Erica Natividad with the details. June 11, 2026 1:48 am AST AST Russian President Vladimir Putin has rejected an invitation from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to meet in person to end the war. Erica Natividad with more on the open letter from Ukraine’s leader. June 11, 2026 1:48 am AST AST The war between Russia and Ukraine is expanding beyond the battlefield and it comes as a British-led operation targets oil shipments that help fund Moscow’s war efforts. Alessandra Carneiro reports. 47m ago In the Democratic republic of Congo the Ebola outbreak continues and Red Cross volunteers preparing bodies for burial have been targeted by families, Alessandra Carneiro reports. 23h ago Now New and Improved! Listen live to NewsRadio Halifax anytime and get breaking-news, traffic, and weather from CityNews Halifax – available for both Android and iOS.
Energy services company SUNation Energy and solar cell manufacturer Suniva announced the signing of a definitive merger agreement that will create an integrated platform aimed at strengthening solar manufacturing in the United States and expanding the presence of domestically produced energy solutions. The deal envisions Suniva merging with a subsidiary owned by SUNation, with the resulting company operating under the Suniva brand while maintaining SUNation’s listing on the Nasdaq Capital Market. The transaction, which is still subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, is expected to close in the second half of 2026. Currently, the United States has a significant capacity to assemble solar modules; however, local production of solar cells remains limited, forcing much of the industry to rely on imported components. In this context, the integration between the two companies aims to strengthen one of the most strategic segments of the photovoltaic supply chain. Suniva contributes its expertise as a US manufacturer of high-efficiency monocrystalline solar cells, while SUNation adds a robust network of installation, energy storage, and services for residential, commercial, and municipal customers. Likewise, the combined company aims to capitalize on the growing demand for domestic content within the US energy market and respond to the needs of manufacturers and installers seeking to reduce their dependence on foreign suppliers. One of the main assets of the operation is Suniva’s industrial infrastructure; the company currently operates a plant with a nominal capacity of approximately 1 gigawatt in Georgia and is developing an additional 4.5 gigawatt expansion in South Carolina. When both facilities reach full operation, the total production capacity could exceed 5.5 gigawatts per year, making the company one of the most relevant players in the US solar ecosystem. Suniva’s management believes that access to public capital markets will facilitate new investments aimed at expanding production and accelerating the development of industrial capabilities in the United States. The business combination unites two fundamental segments of the solar market: Suniva contributes specialized manufacturing capabilities, while SUNation brings strengthened businesses in residential and commercial solar installation, battery storage, maintenance services, and comprehensive energy solutions. Furthermore, SUNation’s presence in states with high electricity costs such as New York, Florida, and Hawaii provides a commercial base that could facilitate the adoption of equipment manufactured in the United States. According to the companies, this vertical integration will improve supply chain control, increase operational efficiency, and generate new long-term growth opportunities. The operation also comes at a time of growing interest in strengthening national industrial capacity in strategic sectors linked to the energy transition. The companies argue that the new corporate structure will help expand the availability of locally manufactured solar components and support the country’s clean energy expansion goals. Once the transaction is completed, current Suniva shareholders will control approximately 98.2% of the combined company, while SUNation shareholders will retain about 1.8%, subject to adjustments provided for in the definitive agreement. Source:Ir.sunation Photo:Shutterstock Analyst and writer of news specialized in industrial technology, with a solid background in engineering. My work focuses on curating and synthesizing complex information, transforming technical advances and regulatory changes into journalistic reports. The Crown Estate reopens the bidding process for the Morgan offshore wind farm with a potential capacity of up to 1.5 GW. FRV will develop 11 GWh of BESS storage in Italy to strengthen the electricity grid and promote renewable integration. The South Korean company signed memorandums of understanding with two European leaders for high-voltage submarine cable projects. How PTFE improves sealing in valves and gaskets, reduces industrial leaks, and supports critical asset integrity systems. Planning in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 transforms quality into a driver of resilience, requiring an understanding of the organizational context to avoid reactive decisions. NACE MR0175 establishes material selection requirements to prevent H₂S-induced cracking in sour service environments. Its application is essential for protecting the integrity of pipelines, vessels, and critical equipment in the oil and gas industry. The integration of Apparition will optimize seismic studies and improve the visualization of deep structures. PXGEO and Equinor begin trials in Norway to validate subsea inspections using autonomous technology. The new infrastructure expands gas supply and strengthens the development of Port Arthur LNG on the Gulf Coast. INSPENET LLC Houston, TX 77018 hola@inspenet.com
According to an analysis from Environment America and Frontier Group, permitting requirements can add a whopping $7,000 to the cost of a rooftop solar power system. $7,000?! That’s a crazy amount of extra money to add onto a solar power system just to get a permit. The good news in New York is that lawmakers are pushing to do away with complicated, costly permitting requirements and actually automate the permitting process in a streamlined way. Those of you who have been reading CleanTechnica for several years probably know how they plan to do that — using SolarAPP+. We’ve written about it several times, including when I interviewed someone behind the early implementation.
As one might expect, SolarAPP+ makes solar (and battery energy storage) permitting quicker, cleaner, and easier through an app-based system. “SolarAPP+ (Automated Permit Processing) is making clean energy more affordable through the automation of residential solar and energy storage permitting,” the company currently summarizes it. “Developed by the government with the solar industry, this online platform delivers compliant and quick plan review for local governments and contractors.” There are now more than 350 jurisdictions using the app, more than 150,000 permits have been issued through it, and it is estimated to have saved 150,000+ staff hours. Notably, this is not another get-rich-quick billionaire-wannabe scheme to make a founder and some venture capitalists a fortune. SolarAPP+ is managed by a nonprofit organization, SolarAPP Foundation, and its aim is simply saving people money and supporting the solar industry. As noted in the quote above, it was developed by the US government. It’s long been known that permitting is a disaster — or at least a major challenge — in the US for solar power, so people in service to the country tried to do something about it. The solution has been very useful, and now it may get deployed in New York on a large scale. In particular, the New York legislation would make it a requirement for any municipalities with more than 5,000 residents to automate their solar permitting process. They would have until June 30, 2027, to implement a platform for this. Though, SolarAPP+ is already sitting right there easy to use. The small city of Kingston, NY — which I actually happen to have some personal history with, funny enough — is on the verge of becoming the first jurisdiction in New York to start using SolarAPP+. Solar power costs much more in the US than in comparable economies such as Australia and some European countries, and part of that is arcane, irrelevant, and overly complex permitting processes. A few days ago, I wrote about the CEO of a large solar power manufacturer highlighting this point as a key thing that needs to be improved in the US. It has become a bigger problem on the large-scale solar side of the industry under the Trump administration due to their unhealthy and expensive preference for fossil fuels, but it’s a problem in the small-scale solar industry due to local and state regulations across the country. “Slow and complex permitting processes remain one of the largest non-hardware barriers to residential solar adoption. While module prices and other hardware costs have fallen over time, US residential solar costs remain elevated compared with peer markets. As hardware has come to account for a smaller share of total installed costs, policymakers and installers have increasingly focused on soft costs such as permitting, interconnection, customer acquisition, financing, and labor, making these barriers central to the cost discussion,” MaryElizabeth Q. Mooney of pv-magazinewrites. “Permitting and other bureaucratic hurdles can often add significant amounts to the total cost of a typical residential rooftop solar system, according to a report from Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group. The study found that navigating complex permitting and inspection processes can add an estimated $6,000 to $7,000 to the cost of a typical residential solar system. The report also found that these barriers can delay projects and discourage customers from completing installations.” Separately, previous research from NREL found that a significant 22% of projects that reached the point of submitting an application for permit, interconnection, or incentive — so, serious projects — never reached installation. That seems like far too high a percentage, and the counterproductive permitting processes in many places is the reason for that. “Kingston is setting the pace for New York by embracing automated permitting for residential solar and showing that cutting red tape is one of the most powerful ways to deliver affordable, reliable energy to homeowners,” said Jonathan Cohen, policy director for the New York Solar Energy Industries Association. “By eliminating delays and reducing unnecessary costs, automated approvals make it easier for families to access the long-term savings that solar provides, while also streamlining workloads for local governments and improving efficiency for municipal staff.” Indeed. It’s the smart way to go. Hopefully New York passes the legislation quickly and other states follow suit and keep growing SolarAPP+ adoption. CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy Zach is tryin’ to help society help itself one word at a time. He spends most of his time here on CleanTechnica as its editor-in-chief and CEO. Zach is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has presented about electric vehicles and renewable energy at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. Zachary Shahan has 9178 posts and counting. See all posts by Zachary Shahan
The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal to create a solar farm near Timberville at a meeting Wednesday evening. Summit Ridge Energy, a solar developer based in Arlington, requested a special use permit to build a solar farm on land zoned for agriculture near the Legion Hills neighborhood, about a quarter-mile from Plains Elementary School. The board of supervisors voted 4-0 to deny the request. Board chair Leila Longcor was absent. Several Timberville residents came to oppose the request. Many were residents of the Legion Hills neighborhood and said they were concerned that stormwater runoff or other pollution could negatively impact the area’s soil, which is prime for agricultural use. David Mewellski, who lives in Legion Hills, said the work required to build the solar farm would be slowed by the area’s rocky terrain. He also said that if the board approved the project, it would run counter to the county’s stated goal of supporting local agriculture. “They’re not going to be able to just pound poles in the ground,” Mewellski said. “The property they’re planning on putting it on is on nothing but rock. This is going to be, literally, in my backyard.” Jim Johnson, of Timberville, said solar projects also tend to use large quantities of municipal water. “I’ve also seen some of these projects; what they don’t say upfront is that they require substantial amounts of municipal water, because they have to keep the system cool to keep it running properly.” Johnson said. Don Driver, who owns a farm about 150 feet away from the proposed solar site, was worried about how the project could affect property values in the area. “You hear a lot of folks talking about how nice it is to see the cattle, the corn fields and so forth,” Driver said. “Those are all values that are important to us. I began wondering, a little down the road from that, how do those values then turn into dollars?” Driver cited a Virginia Tech study showing that homes and other real estate near solar projects often lose more value than at other sites, which could result in less revenue for the county. Ben Gillespie, director of project development for Summit Ridge, said there would be no significant impact on property values in the area. “We have a third-party analysis, a comprehensive tool,” Gillespie said. “They concluded that the proximity to solar farms does not negatively change the property values of properties close to the project.” Contact Richard H. Hronik III at rhronik@dnronline.com, 540-208-3278, or on Twitter @rhronikDNR Manage your newsletter subscriptions in your user dashboard. Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup. Error! There was an error processing your request. Most read stories from the week; delivered Saturday morning. Have the latest local news delivered every morning, Monday through Friday. We’ll send breaking news and news alerts to you as they happen. A weekly roundup of local sports, delivered Saturday morning. Get our expert short-term forecast, summary of the weather details and news of any severe weather. Delivered every morning. Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks. We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
Home – Tech – Solar panels were blamed for wiping out fields, but birds and insects are now rewriting the story beneath them For years, the fear around solar farms has been easy to picture. Rows of dark panels, wide open fields, hot metal under the sun, and barely a bird in sight. New data from Spain is now pushing back against that image. In several solar plants studied in 2025, researchers found more bird species inside the facilities than in nearby agricultural control areas, suggesting that well-managed solar farms can sometimes become unexpected refuges for wildlife rather than empty industrial spaces. That does not mean every solar project is automatically good for nature. The real lesson is more practical, and maybe more important: solar panels can help biodiversity when the land under and around them is managed with care, not treated like a lifeless power station. The clearest figures come from work cited by Spain’s solar industry association UNEF and carried out in different photovoltaic plants by the independent environmental consultancy EMAT. In Minglanilla, researchers identified 32 bird species inside the solar plant, compared with 19 in the agricultural control area outside. The pattern appeared elsewhere, too. In Revilla Vallejera, 39 species were recorded inside the facility and 34 outside, while in Trujillo, 31 species were found among the panels compared with 25 outside. Those are not small details. For people used to seeing solar farms as a threat to the countryside, the numbers tell a more complicated story. The key is what the solar farm is replacing. A photovoltaic site is not usually being compared with an old-growth forest or a wetland full of life. In many cases, the land was previously used for intensive agriculture, with repeated soil disturbance, heavy mowing, herbicides, pesticides, and little shelter for wildlife. Once a solar farm is operating, that pattern can change. Hunting is often restricted, human traffic falls to occasional maintenance visits, and the soil is no longer worked in the same way. That quieter environment can give grasses, wildflowers, insects, small mammals, and birds room to return. UNEF’s Martín Behar said the combination of no fertilizers, insecticides, or herbicides, along with natural vegetation management through directed grazing, is producing very positive results for biodiversity. In simple terms, the land gets a break. The Spanish findings are especially interesting because the birds recorded were not only the usual species that adapt to almost anything. UNEF says observers documented species of ecological interest, including stone-curlews, little bustards, European rollers, little owls, kestrels, lesser kestrels, and red-necked nightjars. There is also a food-chain effect at work. When vegetation grows, insects and rabbits can increase. When prey becomes more available, raptors such as eagles, vultures, kites, harriers, falcons, and owls may begin using the area, too. It is a simple chain, but an important one. A field that once looked productive for crops can still be poor for wildlife, while a solar site with messy edges and living ground cover can become a small pocket of habitat. Spain is not alone in seeing this potential. In the United Kingdom, research by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and the University of Cambridge found that solar farms in the agricultural landscapes of East Anglia had more bird species and more individual birds than nearby arable farmland when measured acre for acre. The best results came from solar farms managed for nature. Sites with mixed habitats, hedgerows, and more flowering plants had nearly three times as many birds as nearby arable land, according to the RSPB and Cambridge reporting on the study. Scientists have started using the term “conservoltaics” for this idea, which combines solar energy production with active conservation. It sounds strange, but the point is down-to-earth: clean power and wildlife habitat do not always have to fight for the same acre. There is also an agricultural side to the story. In Australia, Lightsource bp reported promising results from wool testing at its Wellington solar farm in New South Wales, where merino sheep grazing at a solar site were compared with sheep in a regular paddock. The company said the arrangement did not hurt wool production, even where quality was already high. Some measurements even suggested improvement, although Lightsource bp also noted that longer-term data is needed before drawing firm conclusions. Why might that happen? The panels create shade and a gentler microclimate, giving animals more options during hot days. Any farmer, or anyone who has looked for shade in a parking lot in July, can understand why that matters. Still, there is a warning tucked inside the good news. Solar farms do not become wildlife sanctuaries just because panels are installed. A site that is cut short, stripped of varied plants, and managed as a simple fenced lawn will not deliver the same benefits. The strongest results appear when developers keep vegetation cover, protect or plant hedgerows, use native plants along margins, create ecological corridors, and rely on sheep as natural lawn mowers where appropriate. That means designing the site as a living landscape, not just as an electricity machine. UNEF’s Sustainability Excellence Seal points in that direction. Its certification includes standards related to environmental integration, biodiversity protection, circular economy, local social impact, and governance, with audits for projects and plants in operation. The argument over solar farms is not going away. Communities still worry about views, land use, food production, local control, and the speed of renewable energy buildout. Those concerns deserve attention. But the new evidence changes the frame. The question is no longer whether every solar farm destroys nature or saves it. The better question is how these projects are placed, designed, and managed once they arrive. At the end of the day, solar panels are tools. Used carelessly, they can deepen land-use conflicts. Used wisely, they can produce electricity while giving birds, insects, sheep, and soil a little more breathing room. The official statement was published on UNEF.
Photovoltaic solar panels on residential roof. Photovoltaic solar panels on residential roof. Sign blocking entry to trail to Tarzan Swim Hole. Taking a break at the Tarzan Swim Hole. Tarzan Swim Hole. Enjoying the Tarzan Swim Hole. Land clearing that leads to erosion and siltation near the Ylig River and Tarzan Swim Hole. Massive land clearing for solar panels near Tarzan Swim Hole. Lotz
Lotz Photovoltaic solar panels on residential roof. Photovoltaic solar panels on residential roof. Sign blocking entry to trail to Tarzan Swim Hole. Taking a break at the Tarzan Swim Hole. Tarzan Swim Hole. Enjoying the Tarzan Swim Hole. Land clearing that leads to erosion and siltation near the Ylig River and Tarzan Swim Hole. Massive land clearing for solar panels near Tarzan Swim Hole. Guam has recently experienced a rash of at least nine locations selected for photovoltaic solar plant facilities scattered about our island in surprising and odd locations. These are only permitted under the Guam Zoning Code under a “Zone Change” or “Conditional Use,” which essentially means an exemption to the acceptable uses from the designated zoning for the locations. One photovoltaic solar plant location of note is north of Cross Island Road, Route 17, just east of the Cotal Conservation Area, the location of the hiking trail to Tarzan Falls. Drive by and be shocked as the area has been extensively cleared and certainly subject to erosion that will result in heavy siltation of the Ylig River. The public used hiking trail to the Tarzan Swimming Hole that crossed this land is now closed by the project. The application for conditional use failed to state this public hiking trail exists and of the existence of the Tarzan Swim Hole. Apparently, this valid public use has just been ignored. Logically, failure to accurately state existing conditions in the application should invalidate the application and resulting approval. Did any Government of Guam agency, including the Department of Parks and Recreation, Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Statistics and Plans, or the Yona mayor, express this concern about Tarzan Swim Hole and the trail closing? Further, will this project impact and destroy the probable execution and burial site for three US Navy men, CMM L. L Krump, AGC L. W. Jones, and YN1 A. Yablonsky, by the Japanese on September 20, 1942? Is the Guam State Historic Preservation Officer aware of this historic site and has he commented on any government approvals or permits required? Then there is the former Guam International Country Club golf course in Dededo that received approvals to be converted to another photovoltaic solar plant and is opposed by the nearby community for impacts on water wells and their water recharge areas. An overall concern, is why are our lands, that should be and could be better utilized for CHamoru residences and for agriculture, now being used for photovoltaic solar plant facilities? Guam should have a program to place the solar panels on roof tops of building and residences, as illustrated by the accompanying photographs, and to construct vehicle parking shelters to protect the vehicles while placing solar panels on the shelter tops. This would serve two purposes on already developed land. The old system still used to notify residents of pending Guam Land Use Commission hearings and meetings no longer functions as intended. A while back notices were placed in the island’s newspaper that virtually everyone read first thing in the morning. This is no longer the case so the public notification requirement should change. The Department of Land Management should and can easily post applications to the GLUC to seek public comments and have a database for emails to use to notify interested residents of these postings, but this is obviously not being done. We need to have a community discussion on our solar contribution to power and their locations as compared to the current piecemeal government decisions that are not in the best interests of our community. Dave Lotz, a U.S. Navy veteran, is a vocal advocate for protecting Guam’s unique heritage, knowledgeable and long-time hiking enthusiast and environmental advocate, and critic of inept government. Lotz Your comment has been submitted.
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Ferrari has entered the all-electric vehicle market with the Luce, which debuted in early June and left a lot of people scratching their heads in confusion. Whatever you think of the Ferrari Luce, it’s a tech powerhouse, all the way down to famed Apple designer Jony Ive being involved. With that in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that Ferrari is pushing hard on some tech-forward thinking, and CarBuzz recently found a patent that showcases an interesting idea. While having a solar panel on the roof of a car to keep batteries topped up is an old idea, Ferrari’s patent takes it a step further to try and maximize the solar panel’s effectiveness. The first time we saw a solar panel built into the design of a mainstream car, it was an option for the 2018 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid in the form of solar cells built into its roof. While a solar-equipped roof is becoming more common, Ferrari’s idea for solar panels is a lot more sophisticated. The patent is based around a roll-up photovoltaic panel that can be retracted and extracted from a chamber inside the roof through a slot. The reason Ferrari gives for extending the panel is that it can create shade to help keep the passenger compartment cooler when parked, as well as charge a battery. A new idea from Stellantis could literally blow up the performance on your future Dodge. Not only can the extendable solar panel be drawn out to shade the front window, but the patent drawings show a solar panel being drawn up from a compartment under the rear window at an angle. Crucially, it appears that Ferrari wants to hide and not use the solar panels when the car is moving, using sensors and weather data to automate how the panels react when the car is parked outside. According to Ferrari’s patent, the panel uses a U-shaped member and two support rods to extend the photovoltaic panel out from its roller. Compared with the idea of turning the roof of a car into a solar panel, this solution is complicated, and the photovoltaic panel can only convert sunlight into energy when the car is parked outside. The internet didn’t respond well, and it seems neither did investors. While the average Ferrari is unlikely to be parked outside in the sun often, the Luce is different, as it’s clearly designed to be a daily driver – although the car Ferrari shows in the drawings looks much sportier. While this looks like a bit of a throwaway idea, it shows Ferrari is actively thinking about the future of electric and hybrid vehicles. Solar panels aren’t the most efficient way of charging a car, but they’re getting better each year. Hyundai claims its solar roof can charge 30% to 60% of the battery per day, which is substantial. In ideal conditions, that would cover the average journey to and from work, assuming the battery has a range of over 200 miles when fully charged. Of course, the keywords there are “ideal conditions.” The effectiveness of solar power and charging are variable depending on weather conditions. But the real reason we suspect this won’t suddenly appear as a feature on Ferrari models is because adding weight (and complexity) to the roof of a car and affecting the center of gravity is antithetical to Ferrari’s pursuit of handling perfection and clean design. Patent filings do not guarantee the use of such technology in future vehicles and are often used exclusively as a means of protecting intellectual property. Such a filing cannot be construed as confirmation of production intent. Source: US Patent & Trademark Office We want to hear from you. Share your perspective in the comments below, and please keep the conversation respectful. Your comment has not been saved This space is open for discussion. Be the first to share your thoughts.
Please contact our Customer Service Team if you are unable to log in at clientservices@accessintel.com or 1-888-707-5814. Darrell Proctor Technology giant Meta said it has expanded its partnership with major renewable energy developer RWE through a long-term corporate power purchase agreement (PPA) for the 298-MW Rabbit’s Foot Solar installation in North Texas. The companies on June 11 said it is the fourth PPA they’ve signed together since 2024. The Rabbit’s Foot project in Bowie County, Texas, began onsite construction earlier this year. Meta on Thursday said once Rabbit’s Foot comes online, expected by year-end 2027, it will support Meta’s goal of matching its operations with 100% clean energy. RWE and Meta have previously signed PPAs for projects totaling 574 MW of generation capacity, including the 274-MW Emily Solar project (formerly County Run Solar) in Illinois, the 100-MW Lafitte Solar project in Louisiana, and the 200-MW Waterloo Solar facility in Texas. The companies said that with Rabbit’s Foot Solar, they have now signed agreements totaling 872 MW over the past two years. “Our partnership with Meta continues to grow as we work together to deliver reliable power that supports their energy commitments. This agreement for the Rabbit’s Foot Solar project demonstrates how collaboration can drive meaningful economic growth and community benefits,” said Ingmar Ritzenhofen, chief commercial officer for RWE Americas. “By investing in Bowie County, we’re not only creating approximately 200 local construction jobs, but also generating substantial long-term tax revenue that will help support schools, technical education programs, emergency services, and critical road maintenance and infrastructure improvements across the community.” Amanda Yang, head of Clean and Renewable Energy for Meta, said, “Through our continued partnership with RWE, the Rabbit’s Foot Solar project will bring new generation to the Texas grid while creating local jobs and delivering lasting economic benefits to Bowie County. We’re proud to deepen our collaboration with RWE with our expanded portfolio.” RWE is a leading power company in the U.S. with 13 GW of generation capacity in operation across 27 states. The company on Thursday said it plans to add 9 GW of net new capacity by 2031.
—Darrell Proctor is a senior editor for POWER. Modern process industries are experiencing fluctuating market conditions and tight operational margins, leading chemical engineers to rely on real-time data to boost efficiency and reduce costs. Yet, many organizations are at different stages in their digital transformation journey. Some are just starting, while others are looking to optimize existing solutions. This webinar explores practical ways […] Sponsored by dataPARC Sponsored by RENTECH Sponsored by technosylva
Partly cloudy. High 72F. Winds NW at 10 to 20 mph.. Clear skies. Low 47F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Updated: June 14, 2026 @ 11:48 am Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reporting—but good journalism isn’t free. Please support us by subscribing or making a contribution. This image depicts what these solar panels could look like once built.
Editor This image depicts what these solar panels could look like once built. The Pine County Historical Society is working with All Energy Solar, a company based out of St. Paul, to install solar panels at the Pine County History Museum. Approval At the Askov City Council meeting, Pine County Historical Society President Roger Wallace and a representative of All Energy Solar, Danielle, explains to the council how these solar panels would benefit the museum. “We are working with the Pine County Museum for a ground-mount solar array to be located on the west side of the main building, just south of the maintenance shed,” Danielle says to the council. According to the plans, 194 solar panels, split into two arrays adjacent to each other, will be installed in what used to be the football field of the school. These panels will stand at nine and a half feet tall, pending approval with the utility company. “The system is designed just to offset the site’s electrical load, so it’s used for just having a clean, green resource for electricity,” Danielle adds. Wallace explains the historical society has a donation to go towards this project, and by doing the project at this time, they could get a 40% rebate. The total project amount would cost the museum around $350,000. “Right now,” Wallace says. “Our electric bill at the museum runs about $30,000 a year. This should take care 90% of the bill.” The panels will be facing the south but will be offset as to not block the train mural on that side of the building. City Council member Elinor Auge, who covers planning and zoning, says she has been poring over the zoning ordinances and regulations for the City of Askov about solar panels. She even attended the Finlayson City Council meeting where she had posed the question to the Pine County Zoning director about these types of projects. “I did ask if somebody wants to put up solar panels, do they need permits, and he said absolutely.” Danielle agrees with Auge, saying if the city itself would have any permitting requirements, the museum and All Solar Energy will abide by them. “Our zoning laws are very welcoming to solar, and it’s written in [the planning and zoning manuals] to do what we can do make solar as much as possible,” Auge adds. Auge recommends having an inspector come from either the county or Sandstone to inspect the building, land, and project area. This recommendation is to ensure everything is done correctly and for this project to begin. The council motions to approve the project and allow solar panels to be installed at the Pine County History Museum. Benefits All Energy Solar’s Director of Business Development Michael Thalhimer states on-site solar projects like the system for the Pine County History Museum are designed to primarily help properties consume less energy from the grid–and for a long time. “By being less reliant on power provided by outside sources, not only will the museum enjoy generating clean energy to satisfy most of its electrical needs, but the reduced delivery of utility power will also save the museum significant operating costs.” With a useful life of over 40 years, systems like these solar panels are set up to provide decades of operational value. Pine County Historical Society’s Treasurer Paul Olesen says there’s been times the board wondered where they were going to get the money to pay the fuel bill. This would be a way to take the stress of the electrical bill away. The Project According to Wallace, the idea to utilize solar panels at the museum came from a grant search for non-profits. During that search, they contacted Mora’s historical society who told them about solar projects. “Paul, another board member, and I went to Osprey Wilds [in Sandstone] because they put up [solar panels]. They recommended this company [All Energy Solar]. That’s why we went with them.” Wallace reached out to Thalhimer for a quote. “We first connected with the museum back in July 2024,” explains Thalhimer. “Over a series of meeting with Roger and other members of the board in the year or so that followed, we ultimately settled on a plan for the current project in late 2025.” Thalhimer adds the installation of the 194 solar panels will take place this summer of 2026. Challenges With a project of this size, challenges are inevitable. According to Thalhimer, one of the challenges this project has to overcome is going from concept to a construction plan that is ready for installation. “[That] can always introduce challenges, especially related to obtaining the necessary local permits and securing the utility’s approval to interconnect the system.” Generally, Thalhimer states, once the project is past the stage of finalizing that design and those permissions, the main obstacle is working with mother nature. “We typically install ground mounted solar arrays like the museum’s systems between March/April and November here in Northern Minnesota.” Since the installations are entirely outdoors, the installation crew must work around the conditions of nature, which are somewhat unpredictable. Outcome With the goal of the solar panels to be completed and working by the end of summer 2026, the museum aims to eliminate 90% of their electrical bill, which will ultimately put money back into the museum’s operation and improvements. For more information on All Energy Solar, visit https://www.allenergysolar.com or by calling 1-800-620-3370. For more information on the Pine County History Museum, visit https://pinecountyhistory.org or by calling (320) 838-1607. Editor {{description}} Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items. Your comment has been submitted.
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By: Luis Reyes Published: Jun 14, at 12:00pm ET Getting a new power line approved in the US is a multiyear slog of hearings, permitting, and the occasional lawsuit, all before a single steel tower goes up. China is running the opposite playbook, and the results are visible from orbit. Along the northern edge of the Kubuqi Desert in Inner Mongolia, solar panels are filling in a strip that planners want to run 250 miles end to end, part of a build the Chinese press has taken to calling a “solar great wall.” NASA’s Earth Observatory lined up two satellite frames of the same ground, one from December 2017 and one from December 2024, and the change between them barely needs a caption. Where there were bare dunes, there are now grids of panels wide enough to pick out from space. The full plan, which Chinese officials expect to wrap around 2030, calls for a band roughly 250 miles long and 3 miles wide with a maximum capacity of 100 gigawatts. NASA frames that as enough to power Beijing. As of the most recent official count, late in 2024, about 5.4 gigawatts of it was actually installed. So the wall is real, the satellite evidence is real, and the gap between what is built and what has been promised is real too. The images come from the Operational Land Imager on Landsat 8 and its successor on Landsat 9, shot over the same band of dunes just south of the Yellow River, between the cities of Baotou and Bayannur. Side by side, December 2017 and December 2024, they show the footprint going from a few scattered blocks to a near-continuous mosaic. It is the rare infrastructure project where the construction timeline is legible from low Earth orbit. One feature in the frames is hard to miss once you know to look for it. The 300-megawatt Junma Solar Power Station, built by State Power Investment Corporation and finished in 2019, was laid out in the shape of a galloping horse. It holds a Guinness World Record for the largest image ever made out of solar panels, and it pushes out roughly 2 billion kilowatt-hours a year, enough for the annual needs of 300,000 to 400,000 people. Junma means “fine horse” in Mandarin, which is the kind of detail that sounds like marketing until you see it from space and realize they actually built a horse the size of a small city. The single biggest chunk of the wall is the Three Gorges Kubuqi base, near Ordos, developed by state-owned China Three Gorges together with Inner Mongolia’s Mengneng energy group. Ground broke at the end of 2022 on an 80 billion yuan ($11.6 billion) project, and the detail that complicates the “green wall” branding is the fuel mix. As Power magazine reported, the base was designed as a 16-gigawatt hybrid, with 8 gigawatts of solar, 4 gigawatts of wind, and 4 gigawatts of coal-fired generation, plus storage. The sun does the headline work. The coal is there to keep the grid steady when the sun is not cooperating. Progress on the flagship has been steady rather than instant. The first gigawatt of solar came online at the end of 2023. By 2025, a second 1-gigawatt phase had been connected, which Na Guiting, a deputy president at the Three Gorges Mengneng joint venture, described to Xinhua as turning more than 4,200 hectares of dunes into panels. That puts about 2 gigawatts of the flagship in service today, with reporting from EnergiesMedia putting it on track to reach 7,000 megawatts during 2026 as additional phases switch on. When the whole base is finished, the developer expects it to send roughly 40 billion kilowatt-hours a year east to the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, more than half of that from clean sources. Power was never the only goal. Mounted a few feet off the ground and lined up in rows, the panels work as windbreaks. They slow the wind that pushes the dunes around, they cut evaporation by throwing shade on the sand, and that combination gives grass and crops a foothold where there was not one before. NASA points to published analysis of Landsat data showing solar projects have contributed to the greening of dry land elsewhere in China, so this is not a one-off claim from a press release. On the ground, the people nearby put it in plainer terms. One local farmer, Han Rongkuan, told Xinhua that “these projects shield us from wind and sand,” and that his village had cultivated more than 600 hectares (about 1,500 acres) of high-standard farmland in a single year, land that can bring in roughly 900 yuan ($128) per mu if it is leased out. China has run a version of this before, on the Tibetan Plateau, where a solar complex turned near-total sand into working grassland and ended up needing thousands of sheep to keep it in check. That is a different desert and a different story, but the underlying move, generate power up top and restore the land underneath, is the same one being scaled across the Kubuqi. No spam. Unsubscribe anytime. Privacy policy (opens in new window) The scale gap is not subtle. As of mid-2024, China led the world in operating solar capacity with about 386,875 megawatts, roughly 51 percent of the global total, according to Global Energy Monitor’s tracker. The US sat second at 79,364 megawatts, around 11 percent. Between 2017 and 2023, China was adding solar at an average pace of nearly 40,000 megawatts a year. The US averaged about 8,137 megawatts over the same stretch. Those are not numbers that close on their own. Building the panels is only half the job, though, and arguably the easy half. A gigawatt sitting in a remote stretch of Inner Mongolia does nothing for a city 800 miles away unless you can move it, which is why China has been stringing ultra-high-voltage lines from these bases toward the populated east and south. It is the same bottleneck that has US grid operators and Texas regulators arguing over transmission for years, just with a very different tolerance for how fast steel goes up. And because solar only works when the sun is out, the gigawatts need firming, which is its own engineering problem. China’s answer there runs from batteries to enormous pumped-storage “water batteries” that hold power behind a mountain and let gravity hand it back on demand. There is also a stranger wrinkle to covering this much ground with dark panels. A field this size can nudge the local environment in ways that go beyond shade and windbreaks. German researchers modeling large arrays have found that a big enough installation could shift rainfall patterns over a desert, and they are now running field tests in the UAE to see whether the atmosphere behaves the way the simulations say. None of that is settled, and none of it is specific to the Kubuqi, but it is a reminder that a wall of panels this size is not a neutral object dropped on empty land. The satellite images are the part of this story that needs no spin. Two frames, seven years apart, bare dunes turning into a grid you can resolve from orbit. The round numbers are softer. The 100-gigawatt figure is a 2030 target, the 5.4 gigawatts is what was counted as built more than a year ago, and the flagship that anchors the whole thing is a 2-gigawatt machine with a coal plant attached, climbing toward seven. “Enough to power Beijing” is a design spec, not a meter reading. What is already in the ground is a 250-mile test of whether you can generate serious power and hold back a desert with the same hardware, and the early frames suggest the answer is yes on both counts. Getting all those gigawatts to the cities that actually need them is the harder problem, and it is the one nobody bothers to photograph. Don’t bite your tongue. Speak up. Olivia Richman · Jun 4, 2026 Luis Reyes · May 24, 2026 Olivia Richman · May 25, 2026 Luis Reyes · May 20, 2026 Luis Reyes · Jun 7, 2026 Luis Reyes · Jun 12, 2026 Luis Reyes · Jun 14, 2026 Luis Reyes · Jun 14, 2026 Luis Reyes · Jun 14, 2026 Luis Reyes · Jun 14, 2026 Olivia Richman · Jun 13, 2026 Autonotion is the English-language automotive editorial by Autonocion.com — car news, reviews, and industry analysis for American readers. Other links Company Subscribe Get the latest car news in your inbox: By submitting your email you allow autonocion.com to send you news or promotions. More info
MANIKGANJ, Bangladesh — In a rice field in central Bangladesh, farm worker Dilip Kumar Biswas tends crops growing in the shade of solar panels, part of an experiment to see if one of the most densely populated countries can produce food and clean power on the same land. The nation of 175 million relies on imports for about 95% of its energy needs, a dependence made worse by rising costs caused by the war in the Middle East. One of the ways it is looking to diversify its energy supply is through more renewable energy. Solar is by far the biggest source of renewable energy in Bangladesh, but only accounts for about 4.5% of its total generating capacity. The problem is that solar panels are either installed on rooftops or on the ground, but roof space is limited and ground systems take up land that could be used for farming or housing. “For land-scarce Bangladesh, balancing the needs of food and energy is critical,” said Sohanur Rahman, executive coordinator of YouthNet Global, a climate justice campaign group. Researchers are now looking at the emerging technology of “agrivoltaics” where crops and livestock share space with solar panels. The Bangladeshi development organization BRAC and research organization the Institute of Governance and Development (BIGD) this year launched a research project to mount solar panels above farmland in Manikganj, some 50 km west of the capital Dhaka. The project is funded by the H&M Foundation, a non-profit linked to the Swedish clothing brand H&M. Unlike India and Pakistan, which have built large photovoltaic power parks in arid regions, Bangladesh has little non-agricultural land available for utility-scale solar. Previous proposals for solar parks have been scrapped due to concerns over loss of land and livelihoods. But at Manikganj, solar panels are mounted more than 2 meters above the ground, allowing varying amounts of sunlight to filter through to the crops below. Researchers measure rainfall, wind speed and other microclimate data and will compare yields with nearby control plots to assess which panel height, spacing and crop combinations best balance food production and power generation. Farm workers are paid about $7 a day, a normal wage for farm workers Bangladesh, to grow rice, coriander, pumpkins, bottle gourds and onions. “The shade helps preserve soil moisture while also making it comfortable for workers during hot summer days,” saidBiswas, one of the farm workers. Shade-tolerant vegetables like ginger and turmeric have performed well in agrivoltaic pilots in Manikganj run by the German development agency GIZ as well as in Chuadanga in western Bangladesh by the Wave Foundation, a non-governmental organization (NGO) working on poverty and climate challenges. Rearing goats and poultry has also been tested in agrivoltaic experiments in Chuadanga. But farmers in Bangladesh are more interested in growing rice, the country’s main staple, which requires a lot of sunshine, so the ongoing project is focusing on how to grow rice under solar panels, said BIGD assistant professor Rohini Kamal. Flood-tolerant rice varieties are needed in low-lying lands like Manikganj that are submerged during the monsoon, while the solar mounting structures have to be robust enough to withstand the strong storms that sometimes hit these areas, he said. The economic viability of agrivoltaic systems depends on a number of variables. Although agrivoltaic systems usually cost more to install than conventional ground-mounted solar, a 2024 pilot study in Chuadanga estimated that revenue from both crops and electricity could shorten the payback period for the panels from five or six years, to about three years under favorable conditions. Panels that are lower and closely spaced are cheaper to build, but cast more shade, while higher and more widely spaced structures cost more, but may be better suited to sun-loving crops such as rice, said Mehedi Hasan Bappy, an agronomist working on the Manikganj project. The rice yield so far looks good, Bappy said, but more data from more crop cycles were needed. Workers on the project are paid a daily wage, while the electricity generated is used to irrigate the nearby farmland. Once connected to the national grid, the project could export its surplus electricity, but existing rules would need to change for farmers or operators to receive direct payments for power generated by solar panels on their land, Ms. Kamal said. To ensure farming communities benefit from such projects, agreements should spell out the land lease terms, payment and profit-sharing policies, said Dipal Chandra Barua, the chairman of Bright Green Energy Foundation, a Bangladeshi NGO that installs small-scale renewable energy systems in rural communities. For now, researchers are waiting to see whether the rice harvest can match the promise of the solar panels installed above the crops. If the model works, Ms. Kamal said, the harder test may be scaling up agrivoltaics with arrangements that allow solar power companies, farmers, landowners and rural workers to share the benefits fairly. — Thomson Reuters Foundation
Qcells took a significant step in expanding U.S. solar manufacturing by beginning solar cell production at its Cartersville, Georgia, facility. The facility will become the nation’s first and only vertically integrated solar factory, where all the major components of a solar panel, from ingots and wafers to the finished module, will be manufactured under one roof. The company expects to reach full operating capacity during the third quarter of 2026. Once the expansion is complete, the facility will become the largest operating solar cell factory in U.S. history. With the start of cell production, Qcells is advancing its strategy to build a national solar supply chain capable of reducing dependence on imported components. According to Andy Park, global CEO of Qcells, the project will allow the main components of a solar panel to be manufactured in Georgia. The initiative aims to offer greater price stability, supply availability, and product traceability for developers, energy companies, and industrial customers. Furthermore, vertical integration allows control of each stage of the production process, from the manufacture of ingots and wafers to the final assembly of solar modules. Currently, the module assembly line in Cartersville is operating at full capacity and producing approximately 16,700 solar panels per day. The company estimates that by the third quarter of 2026 the plant will produce 3.3 GW of ingots, wafers and solar cells annually, along with 3.5 GW of photovoltaic modules. The installed capacity will also be complemented by the Dalton, Georgia plant, whose expansion increased module production to 5.1 GW annually. Together, both facilities will reach a capacity of 8.6 GW per year, equivalent to approximately 47,000 panels per day. According to the company’s estimates, that production could supply enough energy for approximately 1.3 million US homes for a year. Qcells’ investment in Georgia will also have a significant effect on skilled manufacturing employment. The company expects the Cartersville and Dalton operations to generate approximately 4,000 jobs. Of that total, around 3,800 will be direct jobs in Bartow and Whitfield counties. This growth strengthens Georgia’s image as one of the leading solar manufacturing centers in the United States and contributes to the development of industrial capabilities linked to the energy transition. The modules manufactured in Cartersville will allow developers and asset owners to more easily access the incentives associated with domestic content contemplated in the Investment Tax Credit. By producing the main components of each module in the United States, projects will be able to more clearly demonstrate compliance with the requirements demanded by federal programs. Furthermore, domestic manufacturing reduces exposure to international logistical disruptions, tariff volatility, and equipment supply delays, factors that have affected the solar sector in recent years. The Cartersville plant represents the first facility of its kind built in the United States in more than a decade. It will also house the largest ingot and wafer production plant developed to date in the country. Thanks to this infrastructure, Qcells seeks to strengthen an integrated solar manufacturing platform capable of supplying residential, commercial, industrial and utility projects using locally produced components. The company believes that the growing demand for solar equipment manufactured in the United States will continue to promote new investments in production capacity, strengthening the competitiveness of the national solar industry and expanding development opportunities for the country’s energy supply chain. Source and photo:Us.qcells Analyst and writer of news specialized in industrial technology, with a solid background in engineering. My work focuses on curating and synthesizing complex information, transforming technical advances and regulatory changes into journalistic reports. The GreenH2Atlantic project received conditional environmental approval to develop a 100 MW green hydrogen plant in Sines. ExxonMobil awarded Shearwater a DAS seismic program to monitor the Yellowtail offshore development in Guyana. Serica expands its offshore portfolio with stakes in Catcher and Golden Eagle in the North Sea. How PTFE improves sealing in valves and gaskets, reduces industrial leaks, and supports critical asset integrity systems. Planning in accordance with ISO 9001:2015 transforms quality into a driver of resilience, requiring an understanding of the organizational context to avoid reactive decisions. NACE MR0175 establishes material selection requirements to prevent H₂S-induced cracking in sour service environments. Its application is essential for protecting the integrity of pipelines, vessels, and critical equipment in the oil and gas industry. The integration of Apparition will optimize seismic studies and improve the visualization of deep structures. PXGEO and Equinor begin trials in Norway to validate subsea inspections using autonomous technology. The new infrastructure expands gas supply and strengthens the development of Port Arthur LNG on the Gulf Coast. INSPENET LLC Houston, TX 77018 hola@inspenet.com
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By: USA Today Network//June 12, 2026// By DUKE BEHNKE USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect The rooftop solar array planned for the Appleton Public Library is about to double in size.
The 2026 Appleton budget allocated $350,000 for the solar array, which is a collection of solar panels that are wired together to generate electricity. The city Finance Committee unanimously recommended on June 8 that another $350,000 be transferred to the project. Both amounts would be drawn from a $2.5 million elective pay reimbursement that Appleton received through the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 for the installation of the library’s geothermal system for heating and cooling.
“We weren’t expecting quite that much, so that was really nice to see,” Parks and Recreation Director Tom Flick said of the federal money. The $700,000 will pay for the installation of a 280-kilowatt solar system, estimated to cost $675,000, and for targeted energy-efficiency adjustments and upgrades at the library, estimated to cost $25,000. Flick said Appleton expects to receive a $200,000 rebate on the solar array, lowering the net cost to $475,000. The solar array and efficiency upgrades will reduce the library’s utility costs by an estimated $72,100 annually, resulting in payback period of 6.9 years. The solar panels have an estimated life of 30 years. If the city were to stay with a smaller $350,000 solar array, the savings would be $31,500 annually, and the payback period would be 7.8 years. Appleton Project & Resiliency Manager Steven Schrage said the library’s solar system will include about 500 solar panels and will generate about 364,000 kilowatt-hours annually. That’s the equivalent of powering about 35 homes, he said. The Common Council will consider the $350,000 transfer on June 17. “While it does have an upfront cost, it’s going to allow us to have lower operational costs and does really have the benefit both financial as well as the environmental impact,” council member Brad Firkus said. With council approval, Schrage said the installation could begin later this year, depending on the lead time for the solar panels. “I would love to have it done by the end of the year, but that’s being really optimistic,” Schrage told The Post-Crescent. A rooftop solar array was part of the planning for the new library, which opened in 2025, but it wasn’t included in the construction. Early on, officials had expected We Energies would fund, own and maintain the solar array as part of the company’s Solar Now program, but the program was at full capacity, and the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin voted not to expand it. The new solar array will be owned by the city. Flick said the library construction finished $300,000 to $400,000 over its $40.4 million budget. The money received through the Inflation Reduction Act will cover the overrun. “The rest of the money was not allocated to go toward any specific project or improvement” other than the solar array, Flick said. Share this! Tom Boldt, who joined the family business in 1976, officially retired in June. He was among the fourth generat[…] June 12, 2026 Maxon Industries, Inc. will buy land from the city to support a $2.8 million expansion, where it plans to more[…] June 11, 2026 A hotel planned for downtown Milwaukee’s west side is no longer happening, the owner of the proposed project s[…] June 11, 2026 A delayed affordable apartment building planned for Milwaukee’s Harbor District is proceeding, despite not sec[…] June 10, 2026 Glendale officials paused zoning changes for plans to redevelop the North Shore Library, sharing concerns over[…] June 10, 2026 Kaeding Development Group’s 12-story, 200-unit apartment building at 234 S. Water St. in Milwaukee’s Third War[…] June 9, 2026 Sign up for your daily digest of The Daily Reporter Daily News.
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Scientists are always pushing the boundaries of solar cell efficiency – how much of the available sunshine gets turned into electricity – and a new approach to the technology has resulted in an astonishingly high 130 percent ‘quantum yield‘. It’s important to note that this is a quantum-level energy return, so we’re not talking about a solar panel converting sunlight into electricity at a 130 percent rate. However, the breakthrough is an efficiency improvement in terms of how often a specific event occurs per photon absorbed by the system. To break through the 100 percent barrier, the new approach splits the energy harvested from a single incoming light photon into two, which then powers two excited states (known as excitons) in the receiving material. It’s a process known as singlet fission, and as the international team behind the research explains, it prevents excess energy from being lost as heat. That loss is part of the reason that solar cells typically max out at around the 33 percent mark in terms of overall efficiency, a restriction known as the Shockley-Queisser limit. “We have two main strategies to break through this limit,” says chemist Yoichi Sasaki, from Kyushu University in Japan. “One is to convert lower-energy infrared photons into higher-energy visible photons. The other, what we explore here, is to use singlet fission to generate two excitons from a single exciton photon.” The researchers used an organic molecule called tetracene to act as the splitting material here, through which singlet fission can work. Its properties make it suitable for splitting one high-energy packet into two lower-energy packets through electron excitation. Singlet fission isn’t a completely new concept, though, and is only half of the story here. A major stumbling block in previous experiments had been giving singlet fission enough time to work before the energy was lost or transferred elsewhere. This is where the metallic element molybdenum comes in, again chosen for its particular properties. By mixing it with tetracene, the team was able to catch the split excitons in the molybdenum compound. At the tiniest quantum level, the molybdenum acts as what’s called a spin-flip emitter. First, it locks in energy, and then it uses a quantum spin-flip to turn the invisible states into light. That gave the team the breakthrough result: 1.3 molybdenum-based metal complexes excited per photon absorbed. “The energy can be easily ‘stolen’ by a mechanism called Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) before multiplication occurs,” says Sasaki. “We therefore needed an energy acceptor that selectively captures the multiplied triplet excitons after fission.” It’s worth emphasizing again that these are early lab tests. The next steps are to convert the liquid solution used here into a solid form that can be fitted to a solar panel, reliably and effectively – which the researchers themselves admit will be quite a challenge. There’s also the issue of the molybdenum complexes hanging onto the energy long enough for it to be useful, as well as capturing it in the first place. This “decay process” is something else the study addresses. Related: New Solar Panels Can Heal Themselves From Damage in Space However, those future practical concerns shouldn’t take away from the excitement of the research: It clearly sets out a path towards solar panels that can go above and beyond the efficiency limits of today, and there are multiple ways that this proof-of-concept can be tweaked and experimented with going forward. With solar energy a vital part of reducing our reliance on fossil fuels and slowing down climate change, being able to substantially improve conversion rates on solar panels would potentially be transformative for the energy industry – especially when paired with new energy storage mechanisms. “This work represents a significant step toward developing exciton/photon amplification materials by combining singlet fission materials with transition-metal complexes, advancing the application of singlet fission beyond conventional limitations,” write the researchers in their paper. The research has been published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Sunshine early followed by cloudy skies this afternoon. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. High 89F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.. Cloudy skies this evening will become partly cloudy after midnight. A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible. Low around 60F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph. Updated: June 14, 2026 @ 11:13 am
The Rockingham County Board of Supervisors rejected a proposal to create a solar farm near Timberville at a meeting Wednesday evening. Summit Ridge Energy, a solar developer based in Arlington, requested a special use permit to build a solar farm on land zoned for agriculture near the Legion Hills neighborhood, about a quarter-mile from Plains Elementary School. The board of supervisors voted 4-0 to deny the request. Board chair Leila Longcor was absent. Several Timberville residents came to oppose the request. Many were residents of the Legion Hills neighborhood and said they were concerned that stormwater runoff or other pollution could negatively impact the area’s soil, which is prime for agricultural use. David Mewellski, who lives in Legion Hills, said the work required to build the solar farm would be slowed by the area’s rocky terrain. He also said that if the board approved the project, it would run counter to the county’s stated goal of supporting local agriculture. “They’re not going to be able to just pound poles in the ground,” Mewellski said. “The property they’re planning on putting it on is on nothing but rock. This is going to be, literally, in my backyard.” Jim Johnson, of Timberville, said solar projects also tend to use large quantities of municipal water. “I’ve also seen some of these projects; what they don’t say upfront is that they require substantial amounts of municipal water, because they have to keep the system cool to keep it running properly.” Johnson said. Don Driver, who owns a farm about 150 feet away from the proposed solar site, was worried about how the project could affect property values in the area. “You hear a lot of folks talking about how nice it is to see the cattle, the corn fields and so forth,” Driver said. “Those are all values that are important to us. I began wondering, a little down the road from that, how do those values then turn into dollars?” Driver cited a Virginia Tech study showing that homes and other real estate near solar projects often lose more value than at other sites, which could result in less revenue for the county. Ben Gillespie, director of project development for Summit Ridge, said there would be no significant impact on property values in the area. “We have a third-party analysis, a comprehensive tool,” Gillespie said. “They concluded that the proximity to solar farms does not negatively change the property values of properties close to the project.” The request came before the board shortly after the opening of a controversial battery facility near Craney Island Road. Vice Chair Matt Dale was critical of Summit Ridge, asking the applicant’s representatives whether they planned to use new state regulations to convert the solar site into a battery facility. After the meeting, Dale also questioned the motives of Dewey Ritchie, supervisor for District One, which includes Timberville and the site for the proposed solar farm. Dale said Ritchie had been a strong supporter of agriculture in the past, but now was attending openings for solar and battery facilities. “I was happy that Mr. Ritchie decided to motion to deny this,” Dale said. “However, I didn’t think that was going to happen, because he has voted in favor of all 466 acres worth of large solar facilities in the county. This morning, he spoke at the ribbon-cutting for the largest battery storage facility on the east coast, which is 24 acres worth of batteries.” Dale criticized Ritchie for supporting utility-scale energy storage and solar power projects while not supporting additional funding for Rockingham County Fire and Rescue, which he said could struggle to contain a fire at a facility like the one on Craney Island Road. “Our firefighters have neither the tools, training, nor resources to contain such an emergency on a parcel that size,” Dale said. “Mr. Ritchie is highly against using additional resources to fund anything, as evidenced by his disposition during our budgeting process and tax rate hearing. My question is: why are you in favor of large-scale utility solar and large battery installations while allegedly being in favor of our farming communities and public safety? That doesn’t add up.” Ritchie could not be reached for comment. Contact Richard H. Hronik III at rhronik@dnronline.com, 540-208-3278, or on Twitter @rhronikDNR An unscientific take on an issue in the news. A YouTuber and his wife recently ended a pregnancy after a Down syndrome diagnosis, kicking off intense ethical debates on social media. Does terminating a Down syndrome fetus constitute eugenics? Find the best the Valley has to offer, as voted in the Best of the Valley, with Valley Hometown Guru. For Sale: Matching couch & love seat, $250. 540-246-4325 after 5pm. 2016 Toyotal P/U 4×4, V6, automatic, off-road pkg, 111K miles, extra cab, rear access doors, $18,000 or $17,000 cash.… Church Street, Timberville Older Victorian home for the fixer-upper loaded with charm! Sitting on 1.457 acres with pu… Lot E, Church Street, Timberville 0.906 acre building lot zoned for duplex lots. Lots of possibilities for this prope… Your browser is out of date and potentially vulnerable to security risks. We recommend switching to one of the following browsers:
By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Curating Life’s Luxuries Since 1976 Subscribe for full access to Robb Report. Includes the digital edition. Sign up for our newsletter and go inside a world of luxury. By providing your information, you agree to our Terms of Use and our Privacy Policy. We use vendors that may also process your information to help provide our services. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA Enterprise and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Digital Editor Pioneer Yachts will make a very quiet entry into the marine industry next month. The new German shipyard, founded by engineer and entrepreneur Mike Frank earlier this year, has announced that the first unit of its new solar-electric catamaran is entering the final stages of construction. The inaugural PY60, christened Pioneer One, is set to hit the water in July, with a full debut scheduled for the Cannes Yachting Festival in September.
Frank established Pioneer with the goal of creating a reliable solar-electric yacht for continuous use at sea. Rather than convert a traditional motor yacht to electric propulsion, the team developed a unique catamaran centered on efficiency, autonomy, and simplicity. The practical platform was designed around energy generation and storage, with the propulsion system a clear focus, rather than an afterthought. Designed by two Italian firms—Cossutti & Ganz for the exterior, Micheletti + Partners for the interior—but engineered and built in Germany, the 60-footer balances form and function. It combines advanced German tech with elegant Italian style for an upscale emissions-free cruising experience. The yacht features an expansive solar roof that generates clean, green energy from the sun. That power is stored within the onboard battery banks and used to run the electric propulsion system or the hotel load. Pioneer says the “48-volt electrical backbone” is designed to support long-term operation at sea. The multihull can run purely on electricity for “typical cruising distances,” though the yard didn’t give an exact range. Diesel generators can, of course, kick in if more grunt is needed. The hull and superstructure were engineered specifically to support the propulsion system, with designs that reduce energy consumption while improving performance and comfort. The PY60 can smoothly and quietly sail to a top speed of 11 knots and a cruising speed of 7.5 knots. Simplified onboard systems and intuitive controls mean the owner can handle the yacht, too, reducing the need for a professional crew.
As for the interior, the multihull features what Pioneer says is the largest cockpit door in its class, which creates a seamless connection between the aft deck and salon. The expansive, single-level living area is decked out with large panoramic windows that invite light in and provide views out. Pioneer One will double as a flagship and a demonstrator. Frank plans to use the yacht personally, with his own experiences shaping future models. “Pioneer One will be more than a showcase yacht; it will become our operational reference platform,” Frank said in a statement. “By using the yacht ourselves and monitoring its performance under real conditions, we can continue refining the concept and ensure that future boats are shaped by practical experience.” Pioneer One will be on show at Cannes from September 8 to 13. Digital Editor Rachel Cormack is a digital editor at Robb Report. She cut her teeth writing for HuffPost, Concrete Playground, and several other online publications in Australia, before moving to New York at the… July 18-20, 2026 Join Robb Report at Crockfords Las Vegas to experience the electric energy of a World Cup watch party like no other.
Avaada Group is set to begin operations at its state-of-the-art solar cell manufacturing facility in Nagpur, marking a significant milestone in India’s journey toward self-reliance in renewable energy manufacturing. The upcoming facility, developed by Avaada Electro, will become the country’s largest solar cell manufacturing plant, further strengthening India’s domestic solar supply chain and clean energy ambitions. Largest Solar Cell Production Capacity in India The facility will have a solar cell manufacturing capacity capable of supporting the generation of 6,000 MW of solar power. This scale makes it the largest solar cell production unit currently being established in India. The project forms a key component of Avaada’s broader strategy to create a fully integrated solar manufacturing ecosystem and reduce the industry’s dependence on imports. Building a Fully Integrated Solar Manufacturing Hub The Nagpur complex already houses a solar module manufacturing facility with a capacity of 7,000 MW. Going forward, Avaada plans to progressively expand the site by adding polysilicon, ingot, wafer and cell manufacturing capabilities over the next year. As a result, the company aims to establish a complete value chain—from ingot production to finished solar modules—by December 2026. This integrated approach will not only enhance manufacturing efficiency but also strengthen supply chain resilience for India’s rapidly growing solar sector. Expanding Localisation Through Solar Glass Manufacturing In addition to expanding upstream manufacturing capabilities, Avaada is planning to set up a dedicated solar glass manufacturing unit in Nagpur. The move will further localise critical components used in solar module production, helping the company reduce import dependence while supporting the government’s “Make in India” and clean energy initiatives. Investment Fuels Growth The integrated solar manufacturing project represents a total planned investment of approximately ₹13,000 crore. Of this, nearly ₹5,000 crore has already been invested in developing the manufacturing infrastructure and associated facilities. As reported by projectstoday.ai, the substantial investment underscores Avaada’s commitment to creating a world-class renewable energy manufacturing platform in India. By combining large-scale manufacturing, supply chain integration and advanced solar technologies, the company aims to play a pivotal role in India’s transition toward a sustainable and energy-secure future.
MUSCAT, JUNE 13 Chinese investors unveiled ambitious plans to establish a major solar manufacturing complex and a regional cybersecurity hub in Oman, underscoring growing international confidence in the Sultanate of Oman's industrial, digital and clean-energy ambitions under Oman Vision 2040. The announcements were made during the Oman Future Fund (FFO) investment showcase on Tuesday, where officials from Orion Solar and XCyber outlined projects that are expected to strengthen Oman’s position in renewable energy manufacturing and digital resilience while creating high-value employment opportunities. Speaking at the event, Mark Jiang Pengjing, Deputy General Manager of Orion Solar, said the company had chosen Oman as the location for one of its most significant overseas investments because of the country’s clear vision, commitment to sustainability and favourable investment environment. “In a world full of opportunities, we have chosen Oman because we firmly believe it will be one of the greatest success stories of the next decade,” Pengjing said. The Orion Solar project, one of the largest industrial investments announced by the Fund, involves the establishment of an integrated solar cell and module manufacturing facility in Sohar Freezone. According to project details presented during the event, the venture will involve an investment of approximately RO 220 million and produce 6 gigawatts of solar cells and 3 gigawatts of solar panels annually. “This is far more than an ordinary factory. It will serve as a powerhouse of clean-energy innovation and one of the largest and most advanced facilities of its kind across the globe,” Pengjing said. He added that the project would create thousands of jobs, support technology transfer and generate more than RO 20 million annually in local procurement spending. “We are not only manufacturing high-quality products, we are building industry capabilities, empowering future opportunities and shaping a new era of the renewable energy industry right here in Oman,” he noted. The company also pledged to collaborate closely with local universities, research institutions and industries to develop skills, knowledge and expertise in renewable energy technologies. Meanwhile, cybersecurity firm XCyber announced plans to strengthen Oman’s digital security ecosystem through investments in sovereign cybersecurity capabilities, local talent development and advanced AI-powered security solutions. Fan Zhang, Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer of XCyber, described Oman as an ideal location for the company’s regional expansion, citing the country’s rapid economic transformation and commitment to digital development. “As a company backed by OIA, we are committed to building a world-class security hub right here,” Zhang said. XCyber, the international arm of China’s QAX cybersecurity group, recently joined the Oman Investment Authority ecosystem through a partnership with EW Partners and the Future Fund Oman. The company outlined a three-pronged strategy focused on establishing national-level cybersecurity monitoring capabilities, developing localised cybersecurity products and strengthening Oman-based cybersecurity services. “Our collaboration with OIA will focus on building national-level cybersecurity and monitoring capability, developing localised cybersecurity products and strengthening localised cybersecurity service capabilities,” Zhang said. She revealed plans to establish local security operations centres, digital forensic laboratories and emergency response capabilities to help Oman manage cyber threats independently while protecting critical infrastructure. “We are not just operating here in Oman; we are supporting Oman, serving Oman and growing with Oman,” Zhang added. The projects reflect the Future Fund Oman's strategy of attracting foreign direct investment into strategic sectors while promoting technology transfer, industrial localisation and job creation. Together, the solar and cybersecurity ventures demonstrate how Oman is leveraging international partnerships to accelerate its transition towards a diversified, knowledge-based economy centred on clean energy, advanced manufacturing and digital innovation. Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
May 20, 2026 
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