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Nature Synthesis (2026) Cite this article
Self-assembled monolayers serve as hole-selective contacts in perovskite solar cells, but their scalable fabrication remains challenging. Here we report a rapid (≤5 min) soak-coating strategy for self-assembled monolayer fabrication, enabled by molecular design and solvent engineering. The unsymmetric self-assembled monolayer material (4-(10-methoxy-7H-benzo[c]carbazol-7-yl)phenyl)phosphonic acid was rationally designed with dual-functional molecular segments to inhibit molecular aggregation in solution and enhance interfacial charge transport. Concurrently, an ethanol-based solvent system containing 1.5 vol% water was engineered to improve material dispersity and strengthen surface anchoring on transparent conducting oxide substrates. The soak-coated self-assembled monolayers exhibit dense and uniform coverage, yielding perovskite solar cells with a certified power conversion efficiency of 27.23%. This methodology demonstrates good scalability, successfully extending to large-area devices, mini-modules and flexible architectures, all of which maintain stable operation. Notably, both the soak-coating solutions and modified transparent conducting oxide substrates can be reused, substantially improving resource efficiency. This work provides a scalable and cost-efficient route for fabricating stable perovskite solar cells.
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All data generated or analysed during this study are available within the paper and its Supplementary Information. Source data are provided with this paper.
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We acknowledge the SUSTech Core Research Facilities for technical support and X. Chen (SUSTech) for assistance with the grazing-incidence reflection Fourier transform infrared measurements.
Z.-X.X. discloses support for the research of this work from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant number 22479071) and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (grant number 20231115141039001). A.K.-Y.J. discloses support for the research of this work from the Lee Shau-Kee Chair Professor (Materials Science), the APRC Grants of the City University of Hong Kong (grant numbers 9380086, 9610419, 9610440, 9610492, 9610508), the MHKJFS grant (number MHP/054/23) and the TCFS grant (number GHP/121/22SZ) from the Innovation and Technology Commission of Hong Kong, the GRF grants (numbers 11307621, 11316422, 11308625) and the CRS grants (numbers CRS_CityU104/23, CRS_HKUST203/23] from the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, and City University of Hong Kong (grant number 9610739) through the project ‘Fostering Innovation for Resilience and Sustainable Transformation’, officially endorsed by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization under the International Decade of Sciences for Sustainable Development (2024–2033). F.G. discloses support for the research of this work from the Swedish Energy Agency (grant number P2023-01307). The other authors declare no relevant funding.
These authors contributed equally: Geping Qu, Siyuan Cai, Yuli Tao, Letian Zhang, Ying Qiao.
Department of Chemistry, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
Geping Qu, Siyuan Cai, Letian Zhang, Ying Qiao, Yuanjia Ding, Zicheng Zhang & Zong-Xiang Xu
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Geping Qu & Alex K.-Y. Jen
Institute of Solid-State Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science, Chinese Academy of Science, Hefei, China
Yuli Tao & Xu Pan
Department of Applied Physics, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Hong Kong, China
Ying Qiao
Henan Key Laboratory of Quantum Materials and Quantum Energy, School of Future Technology, Henan University, Zhengzhou, China
Jie Yang & Shi Chen
Department of Mechanical and Energy Engineering, SUSTech Energy Institute for Carbon Neutrality, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China
Jun Fang & Longbin Qiu
Department of Chemistry, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Xiaofeng Huang & Alex K.-Y. Jen
Department of Physics, Chemistry and Biology (IFM), Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden
Niansheng Xu & Feng Gao
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
Alex K.-Y. Jen
State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Alex K.-Y. Jen
Hong Kong Institute for Clean Energy (HKICE), City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
Alex K.-Y. Jen
Shenzhen MOLEC New Energy Technology Co., Ltd., Shenzhen, China
Zong-Xiang Xu
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G.Q., L.Z., S. Cai, F.G. and Z.-X.X. conceived of and designed the research. G.Q. carried out the fabrication and major characterization of PSCs. Y.T. and X.P. carried out the fabrication of PSMs. Y.Q. conducted theoretical simulations. L.Z., S. Cai and Z.Z. synthesized and characterized the SAM molecules. J.Y., Y.D. and X.H. performed GIWAX, SEM, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy and mass spectrometry measurements. J.F. and L.Q. conducted the photoluminescence mapping. S. Chen, N.X. and A.K.-Y.J. contributed to the analysis and provided advice. G.Q., Y.Q. and Z.-X.X. wrote the initial draft, and all authors contributed to the final paper.
Correspondence to Ying Qiao, Xu Pan, Feng Gao, Alex K.-Y. Jen or Zong-Xiang Xu.
The authors declare no competing interests.
Nature Synthesis thanks Ershad Parvazian and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer reviewer reports are available. Primary Handling Editor: Alexandra Groves, in collaboration with the Nature Synthesis team.
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Notes 1–15, Figs. 1–75, Tables 1–22 and Refs. 1–18.
SAM solubility comparison.
Source data for Fig. 1c–e,g.
Source data for Fig. 2a,d,e,j,i.
Source data for Fig. 3c–f,h.
Source data for Fig. 1a,c–h.
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Qu, G., Cai, S., Tao, Y. et al. A self-assembled monolayer via rapid and scalable soak coating for perovskite solar cells. Nat. Synth (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-026-01089-2
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Published: 04 June 2026
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s44160-026-01089-2
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industrialist Harsh Goenka’s video on X showing China’s vast floating solar panels installation calling it “mind boggling”, has triggered reactions online. The clip highlights China’s large-scale push into offshore solar energy, sparking conversations on innovation, clean energy expansion, and engineering scale.

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The world’s cheapest power source is scaling at warp speed, pushing coal, gas and nuclear aside.
Since the turn of the century, the expansion of solar power has surpassed expectations, more than any other energy source. 
Once extremely expensive and only used in remote regions, space travel or pocket calculators, today’s solar modules — easy to set up and operate — generate cheap electricity all over the world.
Global solar energy capacity has skyrocketed over the last decade:
​​​​​The energy source is still growing exponentially, and if it continues at current rates, global capacity could hit 9,000 GW by 2030 — enough to meet more than 20% of the world’s energy demand.
China is first in the world when it comes to solar capacity, by far. The country installed 315 GW of new panels in 2025, according to the Chinese energy authority, bringing total capacity to around 1,300 GW. More than 80% of all solar panels are currently produced in China.
Data from Taipei-based LowCarbonPower shows that 11% of China’s electricity now comes from solar energy. Over the last decade, the share of highly polluting coal power has dropped from 70% to 56%. That’s due in large part to the country’s strong expansion in renewable energy, especially solar and wind.
The European Union, with 406 GW capacity, ranks second in the world when it comes to solar energy expansion. In the EU, solar energy covers roughly 13% of the bloc’s electricity demand. Coal only meets 9%, a big drop from 2015, when it still generated a quarter of the EU’s power.
Leading the way in Europe are Greece, Cyprus, Spain and Hungary, each generating more than 20% of their electricity from solar. Even Germany, with fewer hours of sunlight, is at 18%. 
With its 119 GW, Germany is the European leader when it comes to installed solar modules, followed by Spain with 56 GW.
Even with renewable energy being undermined by the Trump administration, the US still ranks third in the world when it comes to solar energy expansion. 
With its 267 GW, the US can supply about 8% of its total electricity demand. In 2015, it was only at 1%. Over the last 10 years, the percentage of coal power has dropped by half, from 34% in 2015 to 17% in 2025.
India, in fourth place with 136 GW of solar, now generates some 8% of its electricity for its population of 1.45 billion. Japan follows in fifth place, with a solar capacity of 103 GW covering 11% of its electricity demand.
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Across the Pacific, Brazil is also building out its solar capacity and is now able to generate around 10% of its national electricity supply. Together with hydropower, wind and biomass, 88% of the country’s power comes from renewable sources. 
In 2015, Pakistan and South Africa each produced less than 1% of their electricity from photovoltaic panels. Ten years later, that has risen to 20% and 10% respectively.
In just one hour, the sunlight that hits the Earth delivers more energy than humankind would need for an entire year. By installing solar panels on less than 1% of the world’s surface, we could cover the world’s entire energy demand. And solar is getting ever cheaper. 
More efficient modules and mass production have pushed prices down by around 90%, meaning solar is the cheapest form of electricity in many parts of the world.
In sun-drenched regions, large-scale solar parks can produce electricity for around 1 euro cent (1 US cent) per kilowatt-hour. In Germany, it’s between 4 and 5 cents. 
Electricity from rooftop solar panels is often significantly cheaper than electricity from the common power grid, and in many European countries it now costs less than half the average electricity price. Storing solar energy in batteries adds an extra 2 to 3 cents per kilowatt-hour.
According to data from Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, the current price for nuclear power is between 14 and 49 euro cents per kilowatt-hour (16-56 US cents). Coal power costs between 15 and 29 cents per kilowatt-hour, while natural gas is between 15 and 33 cents. 
In 2024, power stations with a total capacity of 632 GW were added to the global grid. Of that, 72% was solar power, followed by wind at 18%, gas at 4%, coal at 3%, hydro at 2% and nuclear at 1%.
Inexpensive solar power is also changing the way we heat our homes and get around. Electric vehicles can be significantly cheaper to operate, when charged with solar energy from rooftop panels at home. In Germany, the savings can add up to more than 80% when compared with diesel or gasoline-powered cars.
Keeping a building warm with a heat pump is also generally more advantageous than heating systems that run on oil or gas. In the EU, households can usually save more than 30% on heating bills. If the electricity to run the heat pump comes from the owner’s own solar panels, those costs sink even further.
Many early forecasts greatly underestimated the growth of the solar industry. In its annual global energy analysis in 2020, the International Energy Agency wrote that worldwide solar expansion would hit around 120 GW in 2024. In reality, a whopping 597 GW were installed that year, nearly five times as much as predicted. 
Energy experts now believe that solar power will eventually become the world’s most important power source. It remains to be seen, however, how fast this shift will take place.
Researchers at the Lappeenranta-Lahti University of Technology in Finland that’s renowned for pioneering reasearch integrating technology, business and sustainability, have worked out what a globally cost-effective energy supply could look like. Based on their model, 76% of the world’s energy would come from solar. Wind power would make up an additional 20%, with the rest coming from hydro, biomass and geothermal energy.
Industry experts have said the transition to electric vehicles and the widespread use of electric heat pumps, among others, are likely to more than double the world’s demand for electricity by 2050.
This will require the expansion of electricity grids, including solar, and the development of battery storage for nighttime use. But the world will need significantly more storage capacity overall. Electric car batteries could eventually serve as intermediate storage, supplementing power grids.
Rapid digitalization will also be crucial for a cost-effective electricity supply, enabling optimal coordination of electricity consumption and generation. That would allow, for example, electric vehicles to automatically begin charging when there is a particularly high supply of inexpensive solar power in the grid.

This article was originally published in German.

This article was corrected on 14.04 to clarify that solar generated roughly 3% of global electricity demand in 2020, and 10% in 2025.
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Energy storage as a lifesaver for photovoltaic giants is not that easy to grasp.
Today is the first day of the opening of the SNEC Photovoltaic Exhibition.
The exhibition hall was full of people. One had to wait half an hour to get a 58-yuan meal package, which is called the “Shanghai money” box. When I sat down to eat, the young man opposite me said with a somewhat self-deprecating smile:
These boxes are sold much better than photovoltaic modules and batteries.
As is well known, photovoltaic modules are as cheap as cabbages today compared to the expensive boxes. Since the photovoltaic industry is difficult to operate, almost all photovoltaic giants have placed their energy storage products in the most prominent position at this year’s exhibition stand.
Integration of photovoltaics and energy storage, the second growth curve, GWh series delivery – these are the stories that the giants like to tell the most this year.
Two weeks before the opening of the exhibition, JA Solar Technology announced on its official WeChat account: Wang Junsheng will be appointed President of JA Solar Energy Storage Company, effective immediately.
The fact that JA Solar changed two leaders for the energy storage industry in two years clearly shows that JA Solar now values the energy storage industry. In 2025, the sales revenue of JA Solar Technology was 49.1 billion yuan, and there was a loss of almost 5 billion yuan. No specific figures about the energy storage industry were mentioned in the annual report.
The difficulties of JA Solar are a reflection of the photovoltaic giants in the energy storage industry.
Last year, almost all leading photovoltaic companies put the energy storage industry at the forefront of their strategies. The reason is simple: The core business no longer brings profits.
According to the statistics of China Energy Network, the total losses of nine photovoltaic giants such as Tongwei, TCL Zhonghuan, Longi and JinkoSolar in 2025 were over 43.5 billion yuan, at most 50 billion yuan. Some institutions predict that the total losses of all listed photovoltaic companies this year, including those in the second and third tiers, will exceed 60 billion yuan.
On the other hand, the annual reports of leading energy storage companies look quite different. In 2025, the net profit of Sungrow Power Supply reached about 13.5 billion yuan, an increase of 22% compared with the previous year; the net profit of Hyperstrong Energy Technology was 950 million yuan, an increase of 47%; and the sales revenue of the energy storage sector of CATL was 62.4 billion yuan.
When it has become the norm in the industry that components have negative margins, the energy storage industry seems to be a lifesaver.
But the problem is obvious – photovoltaic companies have channels, brands and customers. It seems logical to sell energy storage to those who have previously bought components from them. But this path is not smooth.
Why is it so difficult for the giants that have stood out in the fierce competition of the photovoltaic industry to be successful in the energy storage industry?
Perhaps the most apt explanation is the sincere statement of Shi Zhengrong, a photovoltaic tycoon, at a forum – “Each industry is like a world of its own.”

In fact, there is already a gap in the energy storage business of photovoltaic giants.
In this group, Canadian Solar and Trina Solar are the two companies that are relatively far ahead in the energy storage industry.
In 2025, the sales revenue of Canadian Solar from energy storage systems was 10.8 billion yuan, the profit margin was 28.6%, and the delivery of large-scale energy storage was 7.8 GWh. The energy storage industry accounted for 27% of the total sales revenue and was already a solid profit pillar. In the context of the industry’s overall loss, Canadian Solar achieved a net profit of 1.016 billion yuan.
However, this success did not come suddenly last year. Its subsidiary for energy storage, e-STORAGE, has been established in North America, South America and Australia for years and has already built independent sales, engineering and maintenance teams.
In June 2025, Canadian Solar’s SolBank 3.0 passed the Canadian CSA TS – 800 large – fire test – one of the few energy storage products in the world that could pass this test.
In other words, Canadian Solar is successful in the energy storage industry not because it sells many photovoltaic modules, but because it has invested enough time in this sector.
Trina Solar also deserves attention.
In 2025, the sales revenue of Trina Storage was 4.28 billion yuan, an increase of 83% compared with the previous year. The delivery was over 8 GWh, and the proportion of overseas income was over 60%. The energy storage industry has already made profits and has become an important profit growth point for the company. The goal for 2026 is to double the delivery to 15 to 16 GWh, and the existing overseas orders are over 12 GWh.
In contrast to Canadian Solar, Trina Solar pursues the strategy of “Full – Stack Self – Development” – everything from the battery cell to the system is self – produced. The three core systems BMS, EMS and PCS are all self – produced. It is not easy to source battery cells from outside, assemble them in a cabinet and sell them, but real investment is made in technology.
The other companies are obviously still in the exploration phase.
In 2025, the delivery of energy storage by JinkoSolar was 5.2 GWh, a very rapid increase of over 380% compared with the previous year. The existing orders are over 10 GWh, and the company plans to double the delivery in 2026. In the investor communication in the first quarter of 2026, it was stated that the profit margin of the energy storage industry in the first quarter was about 16%. But due to the delay in order implementation and the small amount of order implementation, there is still a certain loss in the energy storage industry.
There is still a long way between volume increase and profitability.
Longi Green Energy acquired a majority stake in Suzhou Jingkong Energy only in January this year. 6 GWh is only an operating target, and the actual delivery has not started yet. JA Solar has not separately published the sales revenue from the energy storage industry.

The question is: Is delivery on a GWh scale already a success? A comparison with the real energy storage leaders shows it.
In 2025, the sales revenue of Sungrow Power Supply from energy storage was 37.3 billion yuan, the delivery was 43 GWh, and the profit margin was 36.49%. The sales revenue of CATL from energy storage was 62.4 billion yuan, the delivery was 121 GWh, and the profit margin was 26.71%.
Canadian Solar has achieved the best result in the photovoltaic group with 10.8 billion yuan, but compared with Sungrow Power Supply, it is still less than a third.
The huge difference in scale makes us can’t help but wonder where the difficult points for component companies in the energy storage industry lie?
The biggest advantage of photovoltaic giants in the energy storage industry is – the channels.
The logic sounds reasonable: I have global channels and brands, and there is a certain overlap in customers. If they have bought my components, it is natural to buy my energy storage systems too.
The problem is that components and energy storage are two completely different businesses.
Components are standard products. Customers look at efficiency, price, brand and delivery ability. Once a module is manufactured and installed, the manufacturer hardly needs to do anything during the module’s lifespan.
Energy storage is completely different.
From contract signing to the operation of a large – scale energy storage power plant, a series of inspections such as grid connection planning, fire protection certification, BMS and EMS settings, power trading strategy and long – term maintenance inspection must be passed.
Customers are not just buying a battery cabinet, but a system project that must constantly interact with the power grid, political measures and local regulations.
Photovoltaic channels can help companies open the doors of customers. But the questions that need to be answered after entering the door – such as how to set up the grid connection, who is responsible for safety, who undertakes maintenance and how to optimize power trading – are completely different from selling components.
Zhang Jianhui, the founder of Hyperstrong Energy Technology, said in an interview: “Energy storage is not simply a simple connection of standardized battery cells or PCS, but a customized solution based on the specific situation.”
This sentence means: Energy storage companies are not just selling devices, but a customized solution for a specific situation.
Let’s look at a series of data – the profits. Only a few photovoltaic giants make money in the energy storage industry.
The underlying logic is that the price of large – scale energy storage on the Chinese market is very low, and the profit margin is generally between 15% and 20%. To achieve a profit margin of over 25%, one must establish oneself in overseas income. And overseas income requires precisely the abilities such as grid connection experience, safety certification and long – term maintenance, which take time to accumulate.
Therefore, it is not easy to really make money in the energy storage industry and get a price premium.
Besides the differences in abilities, there is still a threshold that is difficult to overcome: the time window.
Sungrow Power Supply started its career with inverters and has almost 30 years of experience in power electronics and grid technologies. In 2025, the energy storage system was already its largest business segment, and the sales revenue proportion was over 41%.
CATL also did not start the energy storage industry recently. From battery cells to system integration, the company delivered over 70 projects worldwide in 2025, and the delivery volume increased by over 160% compared with the previous year.
All these are things that have been accumulated over the years – material systems, manufacturing processes, BMS algorithms, EMS platforms, safety certifications in different countries around the world, all must be acquired step by step.
Photovoltaic companies can quickly build capacities, produce products and get orders today. But the path from “producing products” to “producing good products” is not easy to bridge with money.
If there are problems with the grid connection of a power plant, who does the customer call first? Who is responsible if the battery weakens more than expected after three years? Can the EMS strategy respond promptly to price fluctuations in the power market?
These abilities must be acquired piece by piece through projects, and there are no shortcuts.
Longi Green Energy acquired a capacity of 31 GWh and global grid connection experience immediately by acquiring Jingkong Energy. The starting point is actually not low. But whether it can really assimilate the team, technology and customer relationships of Jingkong will only be shown in the future.
Yang Bao, the president of the energy storage department of Trina Solar, once said sincerely: “The competition in the energy storage industry is not only about price, but also about safety, maintenance and long – term compatibility with the power grid.”
This sentence applies to all photovoltaic companies entering the energy storage industry.
And there is still an important question: How long will the time window for latecomers in the energy storage industry remain? The safety requirements…
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Solar Power World
By Kelly Pickerel | June 4, 2026
California utility Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) announced it has surpassed 1 million customers with solar systems connected to its grid.
Customers have been making solar connections in PG&E territory for over 30 years. Solar adoption has evolved from limited activity in the 1990s, to steady growth in the 2000s, to rapid expansion in the 2010s, culminating in more than half a million new interconnections between 2020-2025 and more than 70,000 new solar installations annually over the past two years. PG&E’s solar connections across Northern and Central California include residential setups, commercial designs and utility-scale projects.
“PG&E supports solar at every scale and has enabled more solar adoption than any utility in the country,” said Jason Glickman, EVP of strategy and growth at PG&E. “Reaching one million interconnections is ultimately a story about our customers — but it’s also a story about what comes next. The future of solar is not just about producing clean electricity. It’s about integrating solar and storage in ways that deliver value for all customers by strengthening the grid and improving resilience.”
PG&E is already looking toward the future with its expansion of virtual power plants (VPPs) — networks of customer‑owned solar and battery systems that can be dispatched in coordination to support the grid during periods of high demand or local constraints. The utility has also been active in establishing bidirectional EV charging pilots.
Kelly Pickerel has more than 15 years of experience reporting on the U.S. solar industry and is currently editor in chief of Solar Power World. Email Kelly.

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Chinese PV module maker JinkoSolar launched its new Tiger Neo 5.0 module series at the SNEC 2026 trade show in Shanghai, China.
The company said the product represents an upgrade from its earlier 670 W Tiger Neo 3.0 module. It delivers up to 700 W of output at the same module size as the previous generation, with module efficiency of 25.91% and power density of more than 259 W/m².
The panel uses a high-purity homogeneous silicon substrate, broad-spectrum light-trapping structure, full-area passivation and gap-free cell-array encapsulation to improve conversion efficiency and module-level output.
The company is positioning the module for utility-scale ground-mounted projects, commercial and industrial bifacial applications and residential monofacial systems. In comparison to Tiger Neo 3.0, Tiger Neo 5.0 can reportedly increase power generation by 2.1% in utility-scale ground-mounted projects, 1.9% in commercial and industrial bifacial scenarios and 0.9% in residential monofacial applications.
The module has a bifaciality of over 85%, a temperature coefficient of -0.26%/C, first-year degradation of no more than 1% and annual linear degradation of 0.35%, according to the company.
JinkoSolar also said the module displayed stronger performance under partial shading in third-party testing, with lower power losses than comparable products under light and moderate shading conditions.
No further technical details about the new product were revealed.
Alongside the Tiger Neo 5.0, JinkoSolar introduced a scenario-based module portfolio covering six application categories. The portfolio includes its Dust-Resistant module, which uses a three-dimensional anti-dust design and nano-coated glass to reduce operation and maintenance costs, and its AIDC module designed for data centers, with the company claiming more than 3% higher lifecycle power generation and an 88.6% reduction in system risk costs.
The portfolio also featured the company’s Safety Guardian module designed for high-reliability applications, with resistance to 55 mm hail, dual Class A fire certification and high mechanical load capacity and its Anti-Glare module with a reflectance of 7% that targets transport hubs and other sites where light pollution is a concern.
The portfolio is rounded out by the LiteTitan module, which weighs 7 kg/m² for load-restricted rooftops, and the Mount Tai module, which features a strengthened frame for harsh environments such as deserts and wastelands.
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Dusty desert conditions may be better for solar energy, UTEP study suggests  KVIA
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Frontier Energy has secured firm commitments for an AU$110 million (US$78 million) equity raising from institutional and sophisticated investors to fund the 132MW first stage of its Waroona Renewable Energy Project in Western Australia (WA).
The ASX-listed developer said that the solar PV power plant in Stage One of the facility has grown from 120MW to 132MW through the adoption of higher-efficiency 660W modules, up from 610W, with approximately 200,000 modules and 1,855 trackers.
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Frontier also confirmed that the proposed battery energy storage system (BESS) has been extended from 80MW at 4.75-hour to 81.5MW at 6.9-hour duration, delivering 562MWh of storage.
The longer duration was required to comply with reserve capacity obligations, which impose a minimum 6-hour BESS requirement, while also allowing greater flexibility to maximise energy sales during peak demand periods.
The conditional placement comprises 550 million new shares at AU$0.20 per share, representing a 23.1% discount to the last closing price of AU$0.260 on 1 June 2026.
All Frontier directors have also committed AU$3.3 million to the raising, subject to shareholder approval at a general meeting scheduled for 10 July 2026. Canaccord Genuity is acting as lead manager, with Yelverton Capital and CPS Capital Group as co-managers.
The placement arrives after an extended development journey for the Waroona project, which has been through several iterations since Frontier first assembled the site by acquiring Waroona Energy in late 2023 to create a combined 335MW solar portfolio.
The project was temporarily halted in October 2024 after Frontier failed to secure Reserve Capacity Credits from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO), which had been expected to underpin up to AU$27 million in revenue per annum during the project’s first five years.
The loss of those credits effectively required the company to restructure the project’s financing and revenue assumptions before returning to market.
The updated total capital cost, including contingency, is AU$327 million. Stage one infrastructure will include an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract for the solar and BESS facility, an EPC contract for a new 330kV Waroona substation, and a Western Power Interconnection works contract.
Monford Group has been appointed as the PEC contractor, which has completed an early contractor involvement process to refine costs and minimise construction risk.
Credit-approved senior debt commitments are targeted for receipt in July 2026, with the debt facility expected to cover up to 70% of total stage one funding, carry a tenor of up to 20 years, and price at margins consistent with infrastructure project finance.
Executive Chairman Jamie Cullen said the raising would allow stage one to advance to financial close.
“We will then be ready to commence building Stage One and continue development work on Stage Two,” Cullen said, adding that the interest from new institutional investors and WA-based family offices “highlights both the quality of our Stage One project and the pipeline for future development at Waroona to create a major renewable energy precinct in the South West of WA.”
Frontier Energy is targeting commercial operations in October 2027 for the first stage of the renewable energy project, positioning it to contribute to Western Australia’s South West Interconnected System (SWIS) as ageing coal and gas capacity exits the market before 2031.
Frontier has outlined a multi-stage expansion to approximately 1GW of solar generation and 660MW of battery storage by 2031, with the development strategy designed to avoid reliance on major new transmission infrastructure by connecting via the existing Landwehr Terminal, 0.5km from the site.
Stage two, which holds development approval, mirrors the first stage by targeting approximately 120MW of solar and 80MW of battery storage, and is expected to advance its definitive feasibility study during 2026.
The AU$110 million equity placing, once settled, will also fund early works on the stage two expansion, ensuring development momentum continues in parallel with stage one construction.
A notice of general meeting is expected to be released in the coming days, with the settlement of new shares scheduled for 15 July 2026, subject to shareholder approval.

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The Western Australian government has earmarked AU$17.8 million (US$12.7 million) in its 2026-27 State Budget to enhance the state’s ability to recycle solar modules and embedded batteries, as part of the Remade in WA programme.
This funding is allocated across three distinct areas. AU$13 million is designated for establishing new collection, transport, and processing routes for end-of-life solar modules from both residential and utility-scale solar PV plants. AU$3 million will assist local governments in implementing embedded battery collection at their facilities, covering batteries from eRideables and household devices. The remaining AU$1.8 million is set aside for ongoing programme delivery.
The AU$13 million solar module component aims to create the basis for a new local recycling industry by encouraging private-sector investment, generating employment, and ensuring that more value from clean energy infrastructure remains within Western Australia.
Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn stated that the programme seeks to cut waste sent to landfill, recover valuable materials, and enhance the management of complex waste streams. Energy and Decarbonisation and Manufacturing Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson characterized the investment as preparation for rising end-of-life infrastructure needs. Sanderson noted that an increasing number of solar panels and batteries are being used daily, requiring systems to handle them at end-of-life to minimize waste and foster a circular economy.
This Western Australian announcement follows the federal government’s AU$24.7 million national solar module recycling pilot, unveiled in January 2026, which will set up up to 100 pilot collection sites across the country to tackle the growing issue of end-of-life solar PV module management. The federal programme aims to create a sustainable national solution for managing the increasing volume of retired solar modules as Australia’s solar fleet ages. The federal government highlighted that only 17% of solar modules are currently recycled in Australia, despite the potential to unlock up to AU$7.3 billion in benefits through reduced waste and material reuse.
Supporting research infrastructure is also developing. As PV Tech reported earlier this year, UNSW Sydney opened Australia’s first dedicated solar module recycling research facility, the ARC Hub for Photovoltaic Solar Panel Recycling and Sustainability, supported by AU$5 million in Australian Research Council funding. Hub director Professor Yansong Shen emphasized the urgent need for domestic recycling capacity, as many of Australia’s 3.5 million solar installations near retirement, with PV waste projected to reach 100,000 tonnes annually by 2030. Shen stressed that solar recycling must be addressed now for panels being installed today, and because solar modules are low-cost electronics with very long lifespans—sometimes exceeding 30 years—recycling costs must be covered at the point of purchase rather than at disposal.
Western Australia’s state government has positioned the Remade in WA initiative as both an environmental and economic opportunity, citing the state’s existing metals processing and refining industry as a base for developing a domestic solar recycling sector. The state hosts major aluminium, copper, and lithium processing operations, providing the industrial capacity to handle material streams recovered from end-of-life modules at scale.
The Western Australia allocation complements rather than duplicates the federal pilot, which focuses on gathering national data on collection logistics, transport costs, and processing economics before the government transitions to a permanent product stewardship framework. It is also intended to establish the state’s own collection and processing routes independently, aiming to retain material value domestically rather than exporting modules for processing elsewhere.
The Approach to Market for the federal pilot administrator closed in April 2026, with an appointment expected once that process is finalized.
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This report provides a comprehensive view of the solar cells and light-emitting diodes industry in Australia, tracking demand, supply, and trade flows across the national value chain. It explains how demand across key channels and end-use segments shapes consumption patterns, while also mapping the role of input availability, production efficiency, and regulatory standards on supply.
Beyond headline metrics, the study benchmarks prices, margins, and trade routes so you can see where value is created and how it moves between domestic suppliers and international partners. The analysis is designed to support strategic planning, market entry, portfolio prioritization, and risk management in the solar cells and light-emitting diodes landscape in Australia.
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All data are normalized to a common product definition and mapped to a consistent set of codes. This ensures that comparisons across time are aligned and actionable.
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This report is designed for manufacturers, distributors, importers, wholesalers, investors, and advisors who need a clear, data-driven picture of solar cells and light-emitting diodes dynamics in Australia.
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Belgian logistics specialist WDP has deployed an 8.5 MW solar system on a warehouse in Heppignies, Belgium, near Brussels-Charleroi Airport, equipping about 5,000 of 12,000 modules with anti-glare films from German company Phytonics to meet air traffic safety regulations.
The installation was approved after potential glare effects were assessed during planning and mitigations implemented to comply with the Belgian air traffic control agency Skeyes and the Belgian Civil Aviation Authority (BCAA).
Approximately 40% of the module area was identified as potentially reflective, despite careful orientation of the panels. Phytonics’ films were applied on-site, though pre-coated modules or pre-cut rolls can also be used, with technical support recommended for optimal results.
The issue of glare has gained attention following the dismantling of roughly 78,000 solar modules at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in December 2024, and similar regulations exist near roads and railway lines in Germany.
Phytonics CEO Ruben Hüning said several other projects near airports are now using the films, which have been commercially available since 2024.
The films reduce glare while preserving performance. Perpendicular sunlight delivers 95% to 97% of nominal output, and oblique sunlight can slightly increase energy production. WDP said the annual difference in generation is minimal, while safety improvements for airport operations are significant.
Ruben Vandam, energy and sustainability manager at WDP, said rooftop PV systems are a fundamental part of the company’s renewable energy strategy and that full use of roof space, even at operationally complex sites such as airports, is critical to achieving sustainability targets.
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Enphase began using GaN technology last year with the launch of the IQ9N-3P system, a three-phase microinverter for commercial-scale solar projects. The company says the product enables faster switching, cooler operation, improved reliability and up to 97.5% conversion efficiency.
“GaN is expected to set us on a whole new trajectory for cost, performance and reliability, beginning with IQ9 microinverters,” co-founder and chief product officer (CPO) Raghu Belur told pv magazine. “GaN BDS is structurally far more cost-efficient than the back-to-back silicon approach, and as manufacturing scales and prices come down, we expect that advantage to keep compounding across the platform.”
“GaN is being rolled out progressively across our inverter portfolio. The same technology used in IQ9 systems today will extend into IQ10 microinverters that support next-generation batteries and bi-directional EV chargers, as well as into power modules for the IQ SST designed for AI data centers,” Belur added. “The long-term trajectory is an all-GaN architecture across the entire product range. This shift delivers both higher efficiency and greater compactness: GaN is already more efficient than silicon and operates at much higher switching frequencies, which reduces the size of magnetics and other passive components inside the inverter. As a result, improved efficiency and smaller, lighter designs go hand in hand, and the performance gap over silicon is expected to continue widening.”
Size and efficiency
The use of GaN in power electronic inverters is often misunderstood as being driven solely by efficiency gains. While GaN devices do offer lower switching losses compared with traditional silicon-based components, their primary value in inverter design lies in enabling a shift in system architecture rather than incremental efficiency improvements alone.
Because GaN transistors can switch at significantly higher frequencies with lower losses and faster transition times, they enable a substantial reduction in the size of passive components used in power conversion systems. Inductors, capacitors and filters can therefore be made much smaller at higher switching frequencies, reducing the overall volume, weight and cost of the inverter.
In addition, smaller passive components reduce the need for large heat sinks, complex liquid cooling systems and bulky protective housings. Mechanical structures can also be simplified due to lower mass and reduced thermal constraints.
Bidirectional switch
The white paper explains that traditional BDS implementations are typically built by connecting two unidirectional power transistors in a back-to-back configuration, enabling bidirectional current flow and voltage blocking through discrete devices. In contrast, a monolithically integrated GaN BDS, as used in Enphase’s devices, achieves the same functionality within a single device structure.
GaN HEMT BDS devices replace conventional composite switches with a single integrated structure capable of blocking voltage in both polarities, eliminating the need for oversized, series-connected devices that increase conduction losses in conventional designs. According to the company, the single GaN BDS also delivers around a fourfold reduction in die area compared with back-to-back transistor pairs, translating into lower costs and improved efficiency.
Substrate management circuits
The company said the main technical challenge in developing monolithically integrated GaN HEMT BDS devices is the design of a substrate management circuit, required to ensure the silicon substrate is correctly biased to the appropriate source terminal at all times. Unlike conventional GaN HEMTs with a single source connection, BDS devices feature two sources, meaning the substrate must dynamically follow the lower potential.
This requires continuous voltage monitoring and rapid switching to prevent incorrect biasing, which could otherwise cause the substrate to act as a back-gate and affect device behavior.
To ensure reliable operation, the control circuit is integrated on-die, simplifying system-level design and supporting scalable adoption of GaN BDS technology in commercial production.
“Although the GaN HEMT BDS structure represents a unique departure from traditional unidirectional GaN HEMT designs, it inherits all the performance and cost benefits of its predecessors, including enhanced efficiency, high-frequency switching performance and reliability, along with the cost advantages of the BDS architecture,” the white paper states.
Other technical advantages
The manufacturer also notes that GaN HEMT devices offer superior over-voltage performance compared with silicon MOSFETs, which rely on limited avalanche protection that is insufficient for real grid surge energy levels. As a result, silicon-based systems require extensive external surge suppression networks, while GaN’s defined voltage limits enable more robust intrinsic handling of transient events.
GaN also shows strong resilience to single event burnout (SEB), a radiation-induced failure mechanism that has historically affected silicon devices and driven higher voltage ratings to improve reliability. Its wide bandgap makes it significantly more SEB-resistant than both silicon and silicon carbide (SiC), supporting higher long-term statistical reliability.
In addition, material advantages such as higher bandgap, higher breakdown field and improved electron mobility enable significantly smaller die sizes, around three times smaller than silicon for comparable performance. With BDS architecture, this advantage increases to roughly ten times versus back-to-back silicon MOSFET configurations, while also reducing gate charge and enabling higher switching frequencies. This results in smaller magnetics, higher efficiency and more compact power converter designs, the company said.
“The significance of this technology extends beyond a single device substitution. By combining GaN BDS devices with Enphase’s modular architecture, embedded control and high-volume manufacturing platform, Enphase is building a scalable foundation for higher-power, higher-density and more flexible power conversion systems,” the white paper states. “As GaN device technology continues to mature, Enphase expects further improvements in cost, efficiency, switching frequency and power density.”

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2026-06-04

A vineyard owner in southwestern France has planted four hectares of vines under photovoltaic panels in a bid to protect his crop from heat waves, hail and late frost, a move that is drawing attention in the wine sector as climate risks grow and regulators weigh how far the practice should be allowed in protected appellations.
David Moreau, a 45-year-old cognac producer in Saint-André-de-Lidon, south of Saintes in Charente-Maritime, said repeated weather damage pushed him to try agrivoltaics, a system that combines farming with solar power generation. He said he loses 5% to 10% of his harvest each year because extreme heat scorches grapes. In hail events, he said, flattening the panels can save 70% to 80% of the vines, while the installation gives him a 90% chance of avoiding frost damage.
The project uses 6,000 remotely adjustable solar panels supplied and installed by Sun’Agri, the agrivoltaic unit of the Eiffage group. The company says the panels can be tilted to alternate shade and sunlight according to the plant’s needs. The installation cost €4 million, according to the company.
Under the metal structure, which rises about five meters above the ground, Moreau planted rows of ugni blanc, the main grape used for cognac. The agrivoltaic plant was inaugurated in early May and is presented as the first vineyard installation of its kind in the department. It comes at a difficult moment for the cognac industry, which has been facing a crisis and recently announced a broad vine-pullout plan.
The electricity generated by the site is sold by an investor, who pays the farmer annual rent of €600 over 30 years, according to Sun’Agri. The company says output from the installation is equivalent to the yearly electricity use of 800 to 1,000 households. Panel management is handled in real time through software that combines plant growth models with weather data collected by sensors in the plot, though the grower can take control directly if needed, including during hailstorms.
Sun’Agri says it has about 20 similar projects around the Mediterranean, in the Rhône Valley and in Nouvelle-Aquitaine. The company says the climate-protection case is less clear farther north.
The French market for agrivoltaics has been encouraged by the APER law, which aims to speed renewable energy production. At the same time, several research projects are testing how suspended solar panels affect vineyards. Among them are Vitivolt in the Loire Valley and Vitisolar near Bordeaux, both scheduled to run through 2028. In the Pyrénées-Orientales, Domaine de Nidolères is seen as an early example after planting 4.5 hectares of vines under an agrivoltaic system in 2018.
Supporters say these systems could become one tool for adapting vineyards to climate change. But their expansion faces a major regulatory barrier. Since 2002, French rules have barred any covering of vineyards producing wines under appellation d’origine contrôlée, or AOC, and indication géographique protégée, or IGP. Together those categories account for 95% of national wine production.
Christian Paly, president of the wine and spirits committee at France’s National Institute of Origin and Quality, or INAO, said exceptions are possible for experimental projects. He said photovoltaic systems should not be dismissed outright as part of a national climate adaptation strategy, but only if they are tested and tightly regulated.
Some appellations have already moved to block agrivoltaics in their own specifications. The Côtes-du-Rhône appellation did so last fall, citing concerns including landscape damage. In cognac, industry officials have not yet taken a final position and say they will wait for ongoing assessments on landscape effects, product quality, economics and regulation.
For now, Moreau knows his future harvest from the site will not qualify for a protected geographical designation and will instead be sold as wine without geographical indication. That trade-off shows how climate adaptation is colliding with one of French wine’s core principles: that place and production rules define value.
The debate is also widening beyond wine quality. Critics worry about visual impact in vineyard landscapes that are central to tourism and regional identity. Supporters argue that fears are outpacing reality. Olivier Dauger, a board member at France’s main farm union FNSEA and co-president of France Agrivoltaïsme, said there is caution and internal debate within appellations because there is still limited long-term evidence. But he said people should be reassured that panels will not spread everywhere.
Current projections point to agrivoltaics covering 0.5% of French agricultural land by 2050 across all sectors combined. Even so, what happens in vineyards may carry outsized weight because wine regions sit at the intersection of farming, heritage, energy policy and export value.
In places like Charente-Maritime, where growers are dealing with hotter summers and more volatile weather, that tension is becoming immediate. Moreau expects his first harvest from the new plot in 2029. By then, French regulators and wine bodies may have clearer data on whether solar canopies can protect vines without undermining appellation rules that have shaped the country’s wine industry for decades.
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Electrician James Moore, who installed solar panels on the roof of his Sydney home two years ago, said the green energy move has helped him halve his household power bills.
When told that the equipment came from China, Moore was not surprised. “It’s efficient and effective, very suitable for sunny Australia,” he said.
Moore’s words were fitting in more ways than one. The development of photovoltaic, or PV, technology, which converts sunlight into electricity and powers the growing use of solar energy in the country, can be traced to Australian research and innovation.
Ned Ekins-Daukes, head of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said the university’s pioneering PV research helped nurture ties with Chinese industry and academics that continue to place them at the forefront of the field.
“UNSW has this extraordinary story of where we invented some photovoltaic technologies a long way ahead of the market being ready to accept them. During that time, many students came from China to study at UNSW and took some of the ideas back to China,” the professor said.
Major contributions to the sector include work led by multiple-award-winning UNSW scientist Martin Green, who invented groundbreaking types of solar cells in the early 1980s. This helped fuel further research that has since accounted for more than 90 percent of worldwide silicon solar module production, according to the university.
One of Green’s doctoral students, Shi Zhengrong, subsequently implemented a low-cost manufacturing transformation and went on to set up the first commercial solar cell producer of its kind in China. Serving as the Chinese company’s chief scientist, Green and other research team members helped facilitate the rapid growth of the sector.
“What’s happened in China is that, because of the scale of the manufacturing that’s possible and the supply chain integration that’s been built up over the last 20 years, the costs of those technologies have dramatically reduced,” Ekins-Daukes said.
In China, there has been continuous improvement in the technology, he said. “In Australia, we demonstrated the concept, we demonstrated that these solar cell technologies could work well. But in China, the engineers have worked hard to actually (apply) those technologies for manufacturing and critically bring robotic automation into the manufacturing of silicon solar panels,” he said.
UNSW now works directly with major PV companies to help them improve the technology and its practical applications in Australia and beyond, Ekins-Daukes said.
This “loop of innovation” between Australia and China will continue, he added. “China has huge manufacturing strengths, and the opportunity for Australia … having a lot of space and a lot of sunshine, is to collaborate and help deploy solar at an enormous scale for the benefit of the Australian economy, in a partnership,” Ekins-Daukes said.
Complementary strengths
The success of the China-Australia partnership in the solar energy sector offers a model of cooperation to tap into complementary strengths amid the global green transition.
China is the main supplier of solar equipment to Australia, which also tops the world’s per capita uptake of rooftop solar, according to industry figures.
There were nearly 255,000 new rooftop solar installations across Australia last year, bringing the number of households using the systems to 4.3 million, according to the Clean Energy Council, the sector’s peak body in Australia.
In the second half of 2025, rooftop solar energy contributed 14.2 percent of the total electricity generated in Australia, nearly double the amount in 2020.
In 2024-25, Australian households saved about A$3 billion ($2.18 billion), or A$125 per capita, on electricity costs by installing rooftop solar, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
China continues to lead the world in PV supply chains. Its top manufacturers account for most of the global production, and have helped bring down costs and offered “multiple benefits for clean energy transitions”, according to the International Energy Agency. Industry analysts have also pointed to a shift toward high-quality growth through the leveraging of technology and scale to maintain global competitiveness.
With similar strengths in wind turbines and lithium batteries, China is cementing its leading role in renewable energy technologies that countries like Australia are increasingly keen to leverage as they face resource disruptions due to the Middle East conflict, while addressing other traditional fossil fuel challenges.
The federal government’s “Future Made in Australia” initiative includes a renewable energy focus on a more resilient, low-carbon economy through increased investments in research and manufacturing.
At the 64th Smart Energy Conference and Exhibition held in Sydney on May 6 and 7, Australia’s Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen highlighted the “era of clean power growth”, with “renewables overtaking coal in 2025 and record growth in solar meaning that renewable energy met the vast majority of new demand growth in 2025”.
Countries like China have similarly reduced fossil fuels’ share of electricity generation significantly, helping push against climate change inaction, he said.
The major two-day event covering fields ranging from solar and storage to transport and technology drew about 10,000 attendees, 120 main exhibitors and industry leader conferences covering the latest energy trends.
In a keynote speech at the conference, mining giant Fortescue’s chairman, Andrew Forrest, called for more to be done to adopt green technologies and electrification in a pillar sector still heavily reliant on diesel.
With most of Australia’s diesel imported, prices could go up significantly amid the supply risks from shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East, he said.
“So, for diesel, it’s all bad news,” Forrest said.
As part of its move away from fossil fuel dependence, Fortescue announced in April the acceleration of an integrated green energy grid rollout, including 1.2GW of solar capacity at the Pilbara area in Western Australia.
At a conference session on the importance of the Australia-China smart energy partnership, John Grimes, chief executive of Australia’s Smart Energy Council, said the solar and other advanced technologies developed by the Sino-Australian cooperation mark a deep relationship. The council is a nonprofit with more than 1,000 members.
“What I see in China … the engineers, the investors, the Australian connection is so strong. There is a massive opportunity for us to build on those firm and long-standing foundations,” said Grimes, adding that “every solar panel makes a difference” in the global energy crisis.
“We’re working with Chinese industry to take the world’s lowest-cost, best technology and accelerate that … throughout the Asia-Pacific region.”
Tim Buckley, founder and director of Climate Energy Finance, a think tank focusing on Australia’s green transition, told China Daily that it is “critical we work with China and learn from the best technology in the world”.
“I’m amazed by the robotic advances,” he said. “Australia worries about our high cost of labor, you don’t have that problem in China because you’re building the world’s best robots, which means we can learn from China about robotics, engineering and supply chains, and partner together,” he said.
“The more you build wind, solar, batteries and hydroelectricity toward energy efficiency, the less addicted to imported fossil fuels your country is. That’s a really important lesson for us.”
Dorothy Zhou, director at Chinese PV company Sunpro Asia, told China Daily that the Australian market offers significant investment opportunities with its various sectors like agriculture and resources suitable for energy projects.
“The energy transition for this market provides investment stability with clear demand, providing an upward trajectory,” she said.
Zhu Sha, executive secretary-general of the Jiangsu Energy Storage Industry Association, told China Daily that Chinese companies are well-prepared to cater to overseas market demand, backed by advanced technologies, complete industrial chains and low-cost manufacturing advantages.
Their pace of going global is accelerating and the way they expand overseas is also evolving, said Zhu, who led a delegation to the Australian conference. The association, based in the East China province, promotes green energy transition with its more than 1,000 member units, using expertise in fields such as research and manufacturing as well as green finance.
“China’s new energy industry is now shifting from products and trade-driven expansion to one-stop service and systems solution exports,” Zhu said, adding that companies are also actively exploring markets in Southeast Asia, Africa and South America.
The Australian market remains attractive because it can help open up broader areas of development, she said.
“With Australia as a base, companies can also extend their industrial chains, or further expand into the European and US markets,” Zhu said.
The next stage of development for Chinese energy storage products in Australia will focus on commercial and industrial use, grid-scale capabilities, and data center solutions, altogether presenting “both an opportunity and a challenge for Chinese companies”, she added.
Australia-China research and development collaboration is already extending beyond its PV partnerships to other growth opportunities such as green hydrogen, fertilizer and steel.
“There are a lot of areas we can work on, to keep building on the momentum,” Thomas Gao, senior manager at the Office of the Chief Scientist and Engineer, New South Wales, told China Daily.
“Many people play very important parts at different levels, taking us to where we are today. It’s a continual journey,” said Gao, whose organization helps bring academia, government and industry to drive the commercialization of research.
To that effect, a UNSW booth at the Sydney conference showcased the latest developments in the field that also continued its rich Australia-China partnership.
Professor Thorsten Trupke, a colleague of Ekins-Daukes at the university’s photovoltaic school, explained his work on a state-of-the-art photoluminescence imaging system that inspects industrial solar panels through drones.
“We can now take these luminescence images from aerial drones on a large scale in operating solar farms,” Trupke told China Daily.
Solar panels are made to last for about 30 years without any major degradation, but they can sometimes encounter problems, as with any mass-manufactured product, he said.
“We can detect those panels, and then necessary rectification can be done,” said Trupke, adding that Chinese companies support the project by providing specialized samples for testing.
“The best drones in the world are from China and the ones we use are also from there. We are configuring these drones specifically for our needs,” he said.
“Our school has collaborated with China for many years … this collaboration will probably expand into the future.”

China’s renewable energy capacity to grow in 2026 despite slight dip in wind utilization
China’s 2025 marked by record heat and mixed renewable energy outlook

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The Western Australian government has allocated AU$17.8 million (US$12.7 million) in its 2026-27 State Budget to build the state’s capacity to recycle solar modules and embedded batteries, under its Remade in WA programme.
The AU$17.8 million will be divided across three streams. AU$13 million will establish new collection, transport and processing pathways for end-of-life solar modules from both households and utility-scale solar PV power plants.
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 AU$3 million will support local governments in rolling out embedded battery collection at facilities, covering batteries from eRideables and household devices, with the remaining AU$1.8 million to support ongoing programme delivery.
The AU$13 million solar module component is designed to lay the foundations for a new local recycling industry by unlocking private-sector investment, creating jobs, and ensuring more of the value from clean energy infrastructure is retained in Western Australia.
Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn said the programmes aim to reduce waste to landfill, recover valuable materials, and improve management of complex waste streams.
Energy and Decarbonisation and Manufacturing Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson framed the investment as preparation for growing end-of-life infrastructure demand.
“More solar panels and batteries are coming into use every day, and we need systems to manage them at end-of-life, reducing waste and supporting a circular economy,” Sanderson said.
The Western Australia announcement follows the federal government’s AU$24.7 million national solar module recycling pilot, announced in January 2026, which will establish up to 100 pilot collection sites nationwide to address the growing challenge of end-of-life solar PV module management.
The programme aims to develop a sustainable national solution to manage the growing volume of retired solar modules as Australia’s solar fleet ages, with the federal government noting that only 17% of solar modules are currently recycled in Australia, despite the potential to unlock up to AU$7.3 billion in benefits through reduced waste and material reuse.
The research infrastructure supporting that ambition is also taking shape. As PV Tech reported earlier this year, UNSW Sydney opened Australia’s first dedicated solar module recycling research facility, the ARC Hub for Photovoltaic Solar Panel Recycling and Sustainability, backed by AU$5 million in Australian Research Council funding.
Hub director Professor Yansong Shen said there was an urgent need for domestic recycling capacity as many of Australia’s 3.5 million solar installations approach retirement, with PV waste forecast to reach 100,000 tonnes annually by 2030.
Speaking exclusively to PV Tech Premium, Shen warned that without improved recycling infrastructure, silver, a critical input in solar cell manufacturing, faces supply constraints of growing severity, with current consumption trajectories raising the prospect of supply limitations within years if recovery rates remain low.
Sonia Dunlop, CEO of the Global Solar Council (GSC), recently spoke with PV Tech Premium, noting that the time to address solar recycling is now.
“Solar recycling has to be dealt with today, for the solar panels being installed now,” Dunlop emphasised. “Due to our nature as a low-cost form of electronics with an extremely long lifespan – sometimes 30+ years – recycling has to be paid for at the point of purchase rather than at the point of disposal.”
Western Australia’s state government has framed the Remade in WA initiative as both an environmental and economic opportunity, pointing to the state’s existing metals processing and refining industry as a foundation for building a domestic solar recycling sector.
The state hosts major aluminium, copper, and lithium processing operations, giving it the industrial base to handle, at scale, the material streams recovered from end-of-life modules.
The Western Australia allocation complements rather than duplicates the federal pilot, which is focused on building national data on collection logistics, transport costs and processing economics before the government moves to a permanent product stewardship framework.
It is also designed to establish the state’s own collection and processing pathways independently, with an eye to retaining material value domestically rather than exporting modules for processing elsewhere.
The Approach to Market for the federal pilot administrator closed in April 2026, with an appointment expected once that process is finalised.

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If you feel like your electricity bill just keeps climbing, you aren’t imagining it. Since 2020, U.S. residential energy prices have surged by about 30%, making power the largest household energy expense behind gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
But for residents like Alex Curtis, the days of feeling powerless against rising costs are coming to an end. Curtis is waging a war on his electric bill, and his new weapon of choice is a lightweight, thin-film solar panel.
“Oh, it’s super light too,” Curtis remarked as he unboxed the kit on the balcony of his condo in Sunnyvale, California. It weighs just about 10 pounds. 
Unlike traditional rooftop solar, which requires thousands of dollars in upfront costs, specialized mounting hardware, and professional electricians, this system is designed for the everyday consumer. It’s a $400 kit from Bright Saver, a non-profit advocating for “plug-and-play” solar that works for renters and homeowners alike.
The setup is deceptively simple: you hang the panel on a balcony or prop it up in a backyard and plug it directly into a standard wall outlet.
“I did some rough math and this might save me like $30 to $50 a month,” Curtis said.
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The magic happens behind the scenes. Once plugged in, a small inverter syncs the solar energy with the home’s existing electrical infrastructure. It took about 15 minutes to get it all set up. Bright Saver’s Rupert Mayer then pointed to a light on the inverter: “Ah, here it is, it’s blue.”
“This is it. Easy,” Curtis replied. Within minutes, he was generating his own clean energy. He estimates it will be enough to power an appliance like his refrigerator. 
Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, believes this technology is key to democratizing the green energy transition. It not only cuts an individual’s planet-warming pollution but also their electric bill. 
“Clean energy actually is the cheapest form of energy around,” Stryker said, “and we the consumers should be benefiting from that.”
Learn more: Find out which climate action best fits into your life.

While these panels won’t take a home entirely off the grid, Stryker says the units can trim monthly costs by 10% to 25% depending on how many panels a user installs. More savings can be had if the panels are paired with batteries that can store excess solar energy. 
“They cover a part of your energy bill and then you do need to draw the rest from the grid as you do now,” Stryker explained. 
While the technology is just gaining a foothold in the U.S., it is already a cultural phenomenon in Europe. In Germany, these systems are so common they have a specific name: Balkonkraftwerk, or “balcony power plant.”
An estimated 4 million balcony solar units are currently installed in Germany. The U.S., however, has been slower to adopt the tech, largely due to a patchwork of utility regulations and bureaucratic red tape. Utilities in some states have pushed back against the use of these systems citing potential hazards to the safety of the grid and line workers. 
“And that is patently ridiculous for these little systems,” Stryker said. “Those laws were intended for rooftop systems 5 to 20 times as large.”
The tide is quickly turning. In 2025, Utah became the first state to officially authorize plug-in solar. Overall, 34 states and Washington, D.C., have introduced legislation to allow for use of the technology. It has passed in Colorado, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, and Virginia. 
For advocates like Stryker, it’s a matter of personal liberty: “It’s kind of like ‘don’t tell me what to do in my own backyard and on my own balcony.’”
As for Alex Curtis, he knows his Sunnyvale neighbors might have questions when they see the sleek panel hanging from his railing, but he’s focused on his newfound taste of energy independence. 
“I think that’s what gets me excited,” Curtis said. “Being able to power my own stuff and be self- sufficient like in baby steps which is pretty cool.”
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Solar is helping to rescue Europe from the crippling costs of fossil fuel imports, as the war on Iran continues to keep oil and gas prices sky-high.
Brent crude, which is used as the worldwide benchmark for oil prices, remains particularly volatile due to Iran’s stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital passage which usually carries around one-fifth of global oil supplies.
Yesterday (Thursday 4 June) Brent crude was trading at $95 (€81) per barrel – a €20 increase compared to the day before the war began (27 February). The benchmark Dutch TTF natural gas price has also surged since conflict began, spiking by almost 50 per cent during parts of March.
However, new analysis by SolarPower Europe reveals that harnessing sunlight for energy has saved Europe €12.8 billion as of 2 June – averaging out at €136 million per day.
“Citizens in Europe are turning to solar in this moment of crisis,” says Walburga Hemetsberger, CEO of SolarPower Europe.
“Lessons from the past 100 days [of war] should sharpen the focus on delivering the non-fossil fuel flexibility, such as battery storage, that can amplify the benefits of Europe’s renewable power generation.”
Hemetsberger argues this can help reduce Europeans’ energy bills and deliver a “more secure and competitive” Europe – but warns that concrete measures and financing tools from the bloc are needed to keep momentum.
Several European nations have already demonstrated the benefits of revolutionising their energy systems by focusing on green technology prior to the war on Iran.
Since 2019, Spain has doubled its wind and solar capacity, adding more than 40GW to its energy mix. To put that into perspective, a power plant with a capacity of 1 GW could power approximately 876,000 households for one year, if they consume the average of 10,000 kWh of electricity per year.
“Spain’s wind and solar growth has reduced the influence of expensive fossil generators on the electricity price by 75 per cent since 2019,” energy think tank Ember said in a report published last year.
“This decline in the hours where the electricity price was tied to gas power cost was faster than in other gas-reliant countries, such as Italy and Germany.”
In European power markets, the most expensive generator operating to meet demand, which is typically fossil fuels, sets the hourly wholesale electricity price. However, as generation from lower-cost technologies like wind and solar grows, it displaces gas and coal, meaning fossil fuels determine the price less often.
Record wind has also helped the UK break a new renewable record, despite “fantasy” claims that the country needs to drill the North Sea for oil.
On 26 March, British wind energy generation hit a new high of 23,880 megawatts, enough power to cover 23 million homes.
“Wind provided more than half of Britain’s electricity during this record period, and it’s highly significant that earlier in the day low-cost wind and solar squeezed expensive gas off our energy system – with gas falling to its lowest level of generation for nearly two years, providing just 2.3 per cent of our electricity,” says RenewableUK’s Tara Singh.
“That’s what the energy transition looks like in practice, and it shows why we need to continue to build out an ambitious pipeline of new clean energy projects now and in the years ahead.”
In 2025, wind and solar generated more EU electricity than fossil fuels for the first time ever, marking what experts described as a “major milestone” in the transition to clean power.
A report from Ember found that wind and solar accounted for a record 30 per cent of EU electricity, overtaking fossil fuels by just one per cent.
In 2024, Austria led the way as the country with the highest green electricity use rate (90 per cent) – spearheaded by its 16 hydroelectric power plants.
Sweden came a close second at 88 per cent, powered mainly by wind and water, while Denmark was ranked third with 80 per cent of its energy coming from renewable sources.
This was followed by Georgia (68.4 per cent), Portugal (65.8 per cent), Spain (69.7 per cent) and Croatia (58 per cent). Malta was ranked last, with just 10.7 per cent of renewable energy use.


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Atul Mathur is a Senior Assistant Editor at The Times of India with over 27 years of experience in journalism. Based in Delhi, he has spent much of his career reporting on governance, public policy and politics, churning out researched, data-driven stories that impact daily lives. Atul is known for investigative depth and strong human-interest narratives as he strives to bring clarity and context to complex issues. He currently tracks the energy sector, writing on power, renewable energy, coal and mines.Read More

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Jun 04, 2026 19:38
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Naturgy’s international generation subsidiary Global Power Generation (GPG) has commissioned two utility-scale solar PV power plants in Australia with a combined capacity of 360MW.
This brings the Spanish group’s total installed capacity in the country to 1.3GW.
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The larger of the two projects, Glenellen, is a 260MW solar PV plant located in Greater Hume Shire, southern New South Wales, approximately two kilometres north-east of Jindera. The plant covers 300 hectares and houses close to 373,000 solar modules. It was acquired from Trinasolar in February 2024.
GPG said it will generate approximately 450GWh of electricity annually. Glenellen is Naturgy’s largest solar project to date in Australia and has been designed as an agrivoltaic facility, integrating renewable energy generation with agricultural activity.
The second plant, Bundaberg, is a 96MW project in Queensland and marks Naturgy’s first solar installation in that state. It is forecast to generate around 200GWh annually.
Both projects have secured sales of their energy output through long-term power purchase agreements, providing revenue visibility throughout their operational lives.
The two commissioning announcements follow a period of active capacity growth at GPG Australia.
At the time of a AU$2.3 billion portfolio financing completed in December 2024, the company’s Australian portfolio comprised eight operating assets, including six wind farms, a battery storage system in the Australian Capital Territory, and the Cunderdin solar-plus-storage hybrid project in Western Australia. The two new plants now bring the total to ten operating assets.
GPG has been active in Australia for more than fifteen years, building a portfolio that now spans wind, solar, and battery storage across multiple states.
Its wind fleet includes the 218MW Ryan Corner and 180MW Berrybank 1 in Victoria, alongside Berrybank 2, Crookwell 2, Crookwell 3 and Hawkesdale.
As PV Tech reported last year, GPG inaugurated the Cunderdin solar-plus-storage project in Western Australia, the first large-scale grid-connected hybrid solar and battery project in the state, combining a 128MW solar plant with a 55MW/220MWh battery storage system supplied by Sungrow.
The Glenellen project had a lengthy approvals history, having been referred to the NSW Independent Planning Commission in late 2023 after more than 50 objections were received during the public exhibition phase.

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India’s clean energy targets could create over 44 lakh jobs by 2030; rooftop solar to lead hiring: CEEW-NRDC study  ANI News
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FREELAND, Mich. — MBS International Airport in Freeland celebrated two milestones, including the completion of the state’s largest airport solar array.
There are multiple car canopies covered in solar panels, plus ground-mounted solar arrays.
The airport said the move saves over $26,000 in energy costs a year.
“It’s saving the airport and the taxpayers that support it a great deal of money over the year on electrical savings,” said Dr. Jeff Studebaker, account manager at Veregy.
The second milestone it is celebrating is the airport’s recognition as MDOT’s Commercial Airport of the Year and Project of the Year.
The airport also unveiled electric vehicle charging stations.
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Insider Spotlight
Jackery is promoting portable power stations as a space-saving backup power solution for urban Filipino households 
The company said its SolarSaga panels can generate energy from diffuse sunlight even during cloudy weather
Jackery positions its battery-powered stations as a safe indoor alternative to fuel-powered generators prohibited in many condominiums

The company said in a statement modern condominium and apartment living presents unique challenges, including limited floor space and restricted access to electrical outlets. 
Portable power stations, it added, can provide a flexible source of electricity without requiring permanent installation or fuel-based generators.
The big picture
Heavy rains and severe weather events often bring power disruptions that can affect productivity and household comfort. 
For residents living in high-rise buildings where gasoline- and LPG-powered generators are typically prohibited, battery-powered alternatives offer a practical backup option.
Jackery highlighted several products in its lineup, including the Explorer 100 Plus, Explorer 300 Plus, and Explorer 1000 v2. 
According to the company, the units can power essential devices such as lamps, fans, laptops, and select kitchen appliances while remaining compact enough for storage in small homes.
Why it matters
Beyond emergency preparedness, Jackery is also promoting solar-powered energy generation for everyday use. 
The company's SolarSaga series uses monocrystalline solar cells designed to capture ambient and diffuse light, allowing users to generate power even when skies are overcast.
Jackery said the panels can be positioned near windows or balcony doors to collect available sunlight and recharge portable power stations. The setup can help reduce dependence on grid electricity while supporting more energy-efficient household habits, it added.
What's next
The campaign reflects a broader effort by Jackery to expand the role of portable power stations beyond outdoor recreation and emergency use cases. 
The company is increasingly positioning the products as a household utility for urban consumers facing unpredictable weather conditions and growing energy resilience concerns.
Founded in California in 2012, Jackery specializes in portable power and solar energy solutions. In the Philippines, its products are distributed by Cognetics Philippines and are available through major e-commerce platforms including Shopee and Lazada. —Vanessa Hidalgo| Ed: Corrie S. Narisma

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Vertical bifacial rooftop PV systems can outperform conventional tilted monofacial rooftop PV systems across seasons in the U.K, a year-long study has found.
Research by the University of York has performed the first empirical assessment of a vertical bifacial rooftop PV system belonging to Norwegian-headquartered vertical solar specialists Over Easy Solar in a British climate. The full findings are presented in the paper “Comprehensive study of the efficiency of vertical bifacial photovoltaic systems: a UK case study,” published in the journal Scientific Reports.
The study assessed the performance of Over Easy Solar’s vertical bifacial PV system installed on the rooftop of the university’s physics tower. It encompasses 22.5% efficiency heterojunction cells and utilizes white gravel to bounce light onto the rear side of the system, something traditional panel setups are unable to utilize.
The system was monitored over a full annual cycle in 2023 and compared against a vertically-mounted monocrystalline silicon monofacial PV system and a traditional tilted monofacial PV system. Over Easy Solar’s system demonstrated a 26.91% higher output than the tilted system during the morning hours between 05:30 and 09:00 and a 22.8% higher output in the hours between 17:00 and 20:30.
Keelin Currivan, international customers solutions advisor at Over Easy Solar, explained to pv magazine how these results highlight the double peak advantage offered by vertical bifacial PV.
“While traditional tilted panels struggle with midday saturation, peaking when the grid is often full and prices are low, our vertical bifacial system shifts production to when it is needed most,” Currivan said. She added that these peaks align with residential spikes caused by demand for heating, cooking and electric vehicles, in turn reducing the need for battery storage and mitigating grid congestion.
Over Easy Solar’s vertical bifacial PV system outperformed both other test systems across the four seasons. It had a 14.77% comparative gain on the traditional tilted system in summer, increasing to 19.32% in spring, 20.27% in autumn and 24.52% in winter. 
“Vertical orientation is the superior geometry for the UK and Irish climates because it is optimized for low-angle winter sun and diffused light,” Currivan explained. “Even against a vertical monofacial system, the bifacial version gains an extra 12.45% in winter, proving that capturing rear-side reflection is critical.”
On one particularly high-performance day, May 7, Over Easy Solar’s system produced 4.92 kWh, around 25.38% more energy than the tilted system across the day. The authors of the research paper, based at the University of York, add that their findings “underscore the vertical bifacial PV system’s unparalleled ability to harness solar energy efficiently, irrespective of seasonal variances.”
“Its design not only maximizes land use but also integrates seamlessly with modern architectural landscapes, adding an aesthetic value to its functional benefits,” their conclusion says. “The system’s bifacial technology, capable of capturing solar radiation from both sides, significantly boosts its energy yield, making it a potent solution for regions with variable sun exposure and reflective environments.”
Currivan added that the higher yield in high-priced months also leads to a faster payback period despite a higher initial cost. She estimated the initial costs of a vertical bifacial PV system at GBP1,200 ($1,630)/kW, compared to GBP900/kW for a traditional system. “The increased yield results in an estimated GBP1,221.13 in additional annual savings per 1,500 kWh baseline in the UK, based on GBP0.28/kWh pricing,” Currivan explained.
Over Easy Solar’s vertical bifacial system was also subject to computational fluid dynamics simulations during the testing. The system maintained negligible lift forces at wind speeds of approximately 98 kmh, which Currivan said is a critical structural advantage for high-wind coastal regions across the UK and Ireland.
Currivan told pv magazine Over Easy Solar is using the research findings to drive expansion into the UK and Irish markets. “It surprised me just how applicable these systems are to the UK and Irish markets,” she said. “In Norway and colder climates, these systems are the only viable ones because of the amount of snow, but even in this climate it’s hitting multiple key points, from seasonal gains to mitigating grid issues to giving the double peak.”
Earlier this month, Over Easy Solar installed its first rooftop vertical solar installation in the U.S. market. A previous case study analysis from the company found vertical rooftop panels are capable of outperforming conventional rooftop systems during snowy months.
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Thursday, July 9, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, June 18, 2026
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EL PASO, Texas (June 4, 2026) – Solar energy developers eyeing parts of southern New Mexico may have less to worry about than expected when it comes to dust. A new study led by University of Texas at El Paso researchers concludes that photovoltaic panels in Alamogordo — a region battered by frequent dust storms carrying particles from the White Sands gypsum dune field — lose only about 2 to 3 percent of their power output to dust accumulation, a rate far lower than that of solar facilities in comparable desert regions worldwide.
The findings, published in the journal Atmosphere in April 2026, carry direct implications for the economics of solar energy in the Chihuahuan Desert, the team said. Because dust-related losses at the study site are modest, and because light rainfall proved sufficient to restore panel performance, operators of solar facilities in the area may be able to clean their panels far less frequently than those at sites in the Middle East, Iran, or China — where soiling losses can reach 10 to 80 percent.
“What we found is that this location is genuinely favorable for solar energy, not just because of its abundant sunshine but because of how the dust behaves here,” said German Rodriguez Ortiz, the study’s lead author and a doctoral graduate of UTEP’s Environmental Science and Engineering Program. “The wind that brings dust from White Sands also helps clean the panels, and the gypsum itself appears to be less harmful to performance than the types of dust studied at other sites globally.”
Two natural factors appear to work in the region’s favor. Prevailing south-to-southwest winds strike the front face of south-facing panels directly, physically dislodging accumulated particles in a passive cleaning effect. Additionally, rainfall as light as 2.2 millimeters per hour was sufficient to restore panels to near-baseline performance — a lower cleaning threshold than has been documented in California, India and other solar markets. The anti-reflective coating on the panels studied may have contributed to rain’s effectiveness, pointing to a potential design consideration for future installations.
The study also found that gypsum — the distinctive mineral blown from White Sands — absorbs less light than other common dust minerals, meaning its optical interference with panel performance is inherently limited. That characteristic, combined with the region’s wind patterns and responsiveness to rain, positions the southern Tularosa Basin as a location where the solar resource and the operating environment are better aligned than previously understood, Rodriguez Ortiz said.
These factors lead to a reduced cleaning frequency, which translates into lower water consumption, less labor and meaningfully lower long-term operating costs, the team said.
“This research demonstrates the kind of place-based science UTEP is uniquely positioned to conduct,” said Thomas E. Gill, Ph.D., professor of earth, environmental and resource sciences, co-author of the study and Rodriguez Ortiz’s doctoral advisor. “Our location in the Chihuahuan Desert is not just a backdrop — it is a living laboratory, and this work shows how deeply understanding your local environment can generate insights with real economic and energy consequences for the region.”
The study was conducted at the United States Bureau of Reclamation’s Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility in Alamogordo, where the team monitored six solar panels across three sampling periods from late 2022 through spring 2024, recording 22 dust events in the process. Co-authors include assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry Jose A. Hernandez-Viezcas, Ph.D.; UTEP researcher Alejandro J. Metta-Magana; and alumna Malynda Cappelle, Ph.D., of the Bureau of Reclamation.
The researchers recommend longer-term monitoring to capture seasonal variation through the summer monsoon and more and less dusty periods, and more detailed investigations into optimal cleaning practices.
About The University of Texas at El Paso
The University of Texas at El Paso is America’s leading Hispanic-serving university. Located at the westernmost tip of Texas, where three states and two countries converge along the Rio Grande, 84% of our 26,000 students are Hispanic, and more than half are the first in their families to go to college. With respect to research, UTEP is in the top 5% of universities in America and offers 169 bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs at the only open-access, top-tier research university in America.
Last Updated on June 04, 2026 at 12:00 AM | Originally published June 04, 2026

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A Bright, Sun-splashed Future for Renewable Energy  American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
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Texas-based solar module manufacturer SEG Solar has announced its third domestic manufacturing facility, a 100,000 m2 building housing a warehouse and module assembly factory with a planned production capacity of 4.6 GW per year.
The newly-planned facility would expand the company’s total annual domestic module capacity to 10.6 GW, supported by its n-type cell factory in Indonesia and its upcoming silicon ingot and wafer facility.
Construction on the newly-announced facility is expected to be completed by March 2027, with commercial production beginning two months later.
The latest announcement comes less than one month after the SEG announced its second U.S. site, a 4 GW factory near the company’s Houston, Texas headquarters, for which it plans a grand opening on August 7, 2026.
In addition to the two recently-announced module assembly facilities, the company says it is also evaluating potential U.S. sites for a dedicated heterojunction (HJT) cell manufacturing facility.
SEG’s continued expansion is part of a broader domestic solar module manufacturing trend, with up to 15 GW in total manufacturing capacity expected in Texas in 2026. In fact, the Lone Star state is listed as number one for GDP from clean energy manufacturing, largely due to 30 existing facilities responsible for over $4.2 billion in total GDP, according to a recent report from the American Clean Power Association.
The practicalities of this rapid growth will be a key topic of discussion at the Solar Manufacturing USA conference, presented by pv magazine USA in partnership with Finlay Colville, which takes place on September 22 and 23, 2026 in Austin, Texas.
While many of SEG’s commercially-available products use either the n-Type TOPCon cells it manufactures in Indonesia or PERC cells, the company announced the 740W SIERRA N module, its first module using HJT cells, at RE+ 2025. 
At the time, the company said the new bifacial module made using large-format 210x105mm HJT cells would offer up to 23.82% efficiency, a temperature coefficient of –0.24%/°C, and exhibit an annual degradation of less than 1% in the first year and under 0.3% each year thereafter. 
The company has not announced a date for the commercial availability of the SIERRA N modules.
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Thursday, July 9, 2026
11:00 am – 12:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, June 18, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Be part of the high-level European conference on solar and energy storage, exploring bankable BESS projects, warranties, and energy management for residential and C&I sectors
Monday, June 1, 2026
5:30 pm – 6:30 pm CEST, Berlin, Madrid, Paris
Wednesday, June 3, 2026
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Monday, June 15, 2026
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Tuesday, June 16, 2026
6 am – 7:00 am CEST, Berlin
The new pv magazine Global May issue is now available!
Mountains to climb
Available in print and digital formats.
Entries open in seven categories: Modules, Inverters, BoS, BESS, Manufacturing, Sustainability, Projects.
April 01 – August 31, 2026
A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
Saudi Arabia is accelerating its clean energy transition—join the SunRise Arabia Clean Energy Conference 2026 in Riyadh to explore how solar PV and energy storage are powering its digital economy.
Showcase your brand across all our platforms: from 13 websites in 7 languages to our magazines, daily newsletters, industry events and more. Reach your audience the right way!
We are participating in Intersolar 2026 again this year! Visit us at our Booth Hall 2 A2.250 to discuss the latest trends within the photovoltaic industry with the pv magazine team.
June 23-25, 2026 | MUNICH, GERMANY

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KATHMANDU, June 3:  Nepal and Germany on Tuesday jointly launched three development initiatives in Dhulikhel aimed at improving healthcare services, strengthening community infrastructure and promoting renewable energy.
The projects were inaugurated by representatives of the Government of Nepal, Dhulikhel Municipality, Dhulikhel Hospital, the German Embassy and German development agencies during a programme attended by German Ambassador Udo Eugen Volz, local officials and community stakeholders.
The first initiative involved the inauguration of the rehabilitated Dhulikhel Drinking Water Supply System. The system, which serves more than 20,000 residents as well as key institutions including Dhulikhel Hospital and Kathmandu University, was restored after suffering significant damage from floods and landslides in September 2024.
According to officials, the rehabilitation was financed by the German government through a programme implemented by the German development agency GIZ, with additional support from Dhulikhel Municipality. The work included reconstruction of damaged intake structures, stabilization measures and repairs to transmission pipelines.
The programme also marked the inauguration of a new healthcare waste management treatment facility at Dhulikhel Hospital. The facility includes an autoclave system designed to improve the safe treatment of infectious medical waste and strengthen waste management practices in line with Nepal’s national standards.
German development cooperation has been supporting the hospital since January 2026 to improve waste segregation, transportation, treatment and disposal systems. Hospital officials said the facility will help protect healthcare workers, patients and surrounding communities while supporting plans to establish Dhulikhel Hospital as a national training center for healthcare waste management.
A third initiative launched during the event was a rooftop solar project at Dhulikhel Hospital financed by Germany through the KfW Development Bank. The project includes a 500-kilowatt solar photovoltaic system with battery storage that is expected to be completed later this year.
Officials said the solar system will provide more reliable electricity for critical services such as operation theatres, emergency care units and pathology laboratories. The project is expected to generate around 778 megawatt-hours of electricity annually and reduce the hospital’s energy costs by approximately Rs 9.5 million each year.
Germany has been a longstanding development partner of Nepal in healthcare, renewable energy and sustainable development. German agencies, including KfW, GIZ and PTB, continue to support Nepal’s efforts toward climate-resilient and inclusive development, officials said.
 
 
 
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Each year, the monsoon exposes Nepal’s fragile highway network, turning vital routes into accident-prone and unreliable passages.
Since the inception of the SAFF Women’s Championship in 2010, Nepal has reached the title-deciding match six times in seven editions. However, the team has always fallen short in the final.
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Thursday, June 4, 2026
By adault@mihomepaper.com | on June 04, 2026
ASK DR. UNIVERSE
What is a solar panel and how does it work?
— Jake, 8, Wisconsin
Dear Jake,
Right now, Washington state uses water through dams to make most of our electricity. But we’re also working hard on another kind of renewable energy: solar.
I asked my friend Allie Higginbotham about solar panels. She’s a scientist who works with the Energy Program at Washington State University.
She told me that a solar panel is a device that uses the sun to make electricity.
“A solar panel is made of smaller units called photovoltaic cells, or solar cells,” Higginbotham said. “They’re arranged in a grid on a solar panel—like you see on rooftops. A bunch of panels strung together is a photovoltaic array. Its job is to convert light into electricity.”
Each solar cell is about the size of a cell phone. But it’s super thin— like two sheets of paper stacked together. A solar panel contains many solar cells.
If you could zoom in on a solar cell, you’d see gobs of teeny, tiny silicon atoms—many septillions of them.
Those silicon atoms sandwich together in two layers in a solar cell. Each layer has little bits of other elements added to it. That helps create an electric field that pushes electrons in one direction.
If you look up silicon on a periodic table, you’ll see its atomic number is 14. That means a silicon atom has 14 protons. It usually has 14 electrons, too. They whizz around it like a cloud.
When the sun’s light hits a solar panel, the bits of light—called photons— bang into the silicon atoms. They knock some electrons loose. That leaves empty spots where the electrons used to be.
The solar cell’s electric field pushes the loose electrons up to the top. Then metal parts on the solar cell collect the electrons.
When electrons flow together in one direction, that’s an electric current.
The electric current moves out of the solar panel. It flows into copper wire. Then it travels off the roof and into a machine that changes the type of current from DC to AC. That makes it usable by the outlets in your home.
The electrical current travels through more wire into your breaker box. Then, it’s sent out to your electrical outlets. You use that electricity to power your lights and devices.
Electricity always needs a complete path to flow. That complete path is called a circuit—because the electric current moves through a whole loop.
If it’s super sunny, your solar panel might make more electricity than you can use. Your system might save some in a big battery. It might push some into the shared electrical grid. Your neighbors can use it. The power company tracks how much electricity you shared. Then you can use electricity from the shared grid when you need it—like if it’s a very cloudy day.
When it comes to making electricity, solar panels really shine.
— Dr. Universe
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A research team from China has developed a novel approach to mitigate the self-aggregation of self-assembled molecules (SAMs) in co-deposited inverted perovskite solar cells.
Co-deposited inverted cells are fabricated by mixing SAM directly into the perovskite precursor, but SAM tend to aggregate, leading to poor interfacial coverage and reduced device performance. To address this issue, the researchers designed an asymmetric SAM, PhBr-4PACz, which suppresses aggregation and promotes SAM accumulation at the bottom interface, improving adhesion and coverage. They also introduced the grain-boundary crosslinking additive 1-allyl-3-vinylimidazolium chloride (AVIMCl) to suppress SAM diffusion and improve device stability.
Their work is presented in the paper “Co-deposited inverted perovskite photovoltaics towards 27% efficiency via vertical redistribution of self-assembled molecules and in-situ crosslinking,” published in nature communications.
Corresponding author Chun-Chao Chen told pv magazine the work introduces a dual strategy that combines the design of an asymmetric self-assembled molecule with in-situ grain boundary crosslinking.
“The bulky phenyl and bromine groups in PhBr-4PACz suppress self-aggregation and promote vertical redistribution of SAMs, enhancing its adhesion at the buried interface while reducing excess at the top surface of the perovskite layer,” Chen explained. “We further used a crosslinkable ionic liquid, AVIMCl, that penetrates grain boundaries and crosslinks at low temperature, reducing residual stress and suppressing upward diffusion of SAMs.”
Chen added the approach enabled a certified power conversion efficiency of 27.03% (quasi-steady-state 26.50%) in co-deposited inverted devices, which he said is currently the highest reported for this architecture to date. “Unencapsulated devices retained >90% efficiency after 2,000 hours at 85 C and 96.6% after 2,000 hours under maximum power point tracking at 65 C,” he added.
The team mixed the PhBr-4PACz directly into a perovskite precursor solution containing formamidinium iodide (FAI), lead iodide (PbI₂), caesium iodide (CsI), methylammonium chloride (MACl), and formamidinium chloride (FACl).
The resulting solution was spin-coated onto fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrates, followed by antisolvent treatment and annealing at 100 C to form the perovskite absorber layer while simultaneously enabling SAM deposition. A solution of AVIMCl containing was spin-coated onto the perovskite surface and annealed at 100 C for 30 min, allowing the additive to diffuse along grain boundaries and undergo in situ crosslinking. The researchers coated the device with two electron-transport materials, PCBM and BCP, and then deposited a thin 120-nm copper electrode by thermal evaporation.
The resulting device architecture was FTO/perovskite(PhBr-4PACz)/AVIMCl/PCBM/BCP/Cu. The device was compared with co-deposited devices based on the widely used reference SAM Me-4PACz, as well as devices incorporating PhBr-4PACz without AVIMCl. To demonstrate the versatility of the approach, the researchers fabricated devices on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates, achieving a maximum efficiency of 26.55%. Devices on flexible PET/ITO substrates reached 25.03%, and an 8.905 cm² mini-module with an efficiency of 23.68%.
Chen said two notable findings emerged from the study. “First, co-deposited SAMs were observed to migrate not only to the top interface but also to the bottom interface during crystallization. Second, PhBr-4PACz significantly enhances buried interface coverage and adhesion, as evidenced by XPS, C-AFM, and peel tests,” Chen explained. “Additionally, thermal aging induces significant upward diffusion of SAMs along grain boundaries, and AVIMCl crosslinking almost entirely suppresses this effect, as confirmed by ToF-SIMS 3D profiling.”
Chen added his team plans to scale the co-deposition strategy to large-area modules and adapt it to industrial coating techniques such as slot-die and blade coating. The researchers also aim to optimize the SAM and crosslinker further to increase open-circuit voltage and reduce recombination losses and are conducting studies to better understand the mechanisms of SAM redistribution and crosslinker penetration.
Scientists from China’s Shanghai Jiao Tong University and Shandong Normal University contributed to the study.
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MSolar Manufacturing is committing $23.8 million toward the development of a new 56,000-suqare-foot solar manufacturing facility in Shenandoah County.
The startup announced the move, and its plans to produce high-efficiency solar modules designed for large-scale energy projects, on Thursday.
The project will create 150 jobs in the Shenandoah County region.
MSolar, launched in 2018, will focus its new manufacturing operation, to be based in Mount Jackson, on the production of solar glass, silicon cells, and heterojunction (HJT) cells, as well as the assembly of completed solar modules.
Once operational, the facility is expected to manufacture more than half a million HJT solar panels annually for utility-scale and commercial energy projects across the United States.
“We’re building the foundation of a vertically integrated solar manufacturing platform here in Virginia,”  MSolar CEO Michael O’Connor said. “This factory represents the first step in our long-term strategy to expand domestic solar production and deliver high-performance technology for energy projects. We believe the future of solar will be defined by performance, domestic content, energy security, and top customer service, and MSolar is positioning itself at the center of that transition. We’re excited to grow alongside the Commonwealth as we scale our platform.”
“Shenandoah County is strategically positioned as a great location for manufacturing, as is evident through MSolar’s decision to locate their facility in Mount Jackson,” Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tim Taylor said. “MSolar will add to our diverse array of local businesses, of which manufacturing is a key target sector as outlined in our Economic Development Strategic and Comprehensive Plans.”
“MSolar’s decision to grow in the Shenandoah Valley is a testament to our region’s strong workforce, supply chain, and ability to serve the next generation of American manufacturing,” Shenandoah Valley Partnership Executive Director Dr. Jay A. Langston said. “With a pro-business climate supported by experienced business and local leaders, the Shenandoah Valley Partnership is thrilled to welcome anyone who shares our drive to innovate, adapt, and build a stronger future for the Commonwealth.”






Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].
A Lynchburg man who fled a courtroom on Monday as he was being sentenced was taken into custody on Wednesday night in Appomattox County.
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Inox Clean to acquire Vena Energy India’s 6 GW renewable portfolio  Business Standard
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FORT MILL, S.C., June 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Silfab Solar, North America’s leading PV module and cell manufacturer, has received a “high achiever” award as a top-tier solar module manufacturer for outstanding quality, performance, and reliability.
The distinction was given by the Renewable Energy Test Center (RETC), which conducts some of the most comprehensive testing in the photovoltaic (PV) industry. The annual evaluation methodology—which assesses modules over a 12-to-18-month cycle—forces panels to undergo severe simulated stresses that far exceed standard IEC certification parameters.

Silfab Solar PV modules continue to earn high marks for performance, durability from independent testing labs.
“Independent testing of our modules affirms what the industry already knows—that Silfab Solar remains a top choice because of our commitment to quality, implementing next-generation solar technology and our in-house superior engineering,” said Paolo Maccario, Silfab President and CEO.

Silfab Solar’s comprehensive lineup of made-in-America solar panels for residential and commercial applications has consistently earned high-performance and superior quality rankings from independent testing organizations. Silfab’s superior-quality solar products deliver maximum power density, long-term reliability and are backed by one of the most trusted warranties in the industry. Silfab’s lineup includes Silfab Elite, Silfab Prime, Silfab Commercial and Silfab Utility.
For more information about Silfab’s superior solar products, visit: www.silfabsolar.com
About Silfab Solar
Silfab Solar is the North American leader in the design, development, and manufacture of high-efficiency, premium quality PV modules and cells. Silfab leverages more than 40 years of solar experience and best-in-class technologies to produce the highest-rated solar products. Silfab has locations in Burlington, Washington; Fort Mill, South Carolina; and Toronto, Canada. Each operating facility features multiple automated production lines, an ISO 9001:2015-accredited quality management system, and just-in-time manufacturing to deliver BABA-approved solar products specifically designed for and dedicated to the North American market. www.silfabsolar.com
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Silfab Solar, North America’s leading PV module and cell manufacturer, today announced the appointment of Greg Brabec as Chief Legal Officer….
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Electrician James Moore, who installed solar panels on the roof of his Sydney home two years ago, said the green energy move has helped him halve his household power bills.
When told that the equipment came from China, Moore was not surprised. “It’s efficient and effective, very suitable for sunny Australia,” he said.
Moore’s words were fitting in more ways than one. The development of photovoltaic, or PV, technology, which converts sunlight into electricity and powers the growing use of solar energy in the country, can be traced to Australian research and innovation.
Ned Ekins-Daukes, head of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said the university’s pioneering PV research helped nurture ties with Chinese industry and academics that continue to place them at the forefront of the field.
“UNSW has this extraordinary story of where we invented some photovoltaic technologies a long way ahead of the market being ready to accept them. During that time, many students came from China to study at UNSW and took some of the ideas back to China,” the professor said.
Major contributions to the sector include work led by multiple-award-winning UNSW scientist Martin Green, who invented groundbreaking types of solar cells in the early 1980s. This helped fuel further research that has since accounted for more than 90 percent of worldwide silicon solar module production, according to the university.
One of Green’s doctoral students, Shi Zhengrong, subsequently implemented a low-cost manufacturing transformation and went on to set up the first commercial solar cell producer of its kind in China. Serving as the Chinese company’s chief scientist, Green and other research team members helped facilitate the rapid growth of the sector.
“What’s happened in China is that, because of the scale of the manufacturing that’s possible and the supply chain integration that’s been built up over the last 20 years, the costs of those technologies have dramatically reduced,” Ekins-Daukes said.
In China, there has been continuous improvement in the technology, he said. “In Australia, we demonstrated the concept, we demonstrated that these solar cell technologies could work well. But in China, the engineers have worked hard to actually (apply) those technologies for manufacturing and critically bring robotic automation into the manufacturing of silicon solar panels,” he said.
UNSW now works directly with major PV companies to help them improve the technology and its practical applications in Australia and beyond, Ekins-Daukes said.
This “loop of innovation” between Australia and China will continue, he added. “China has huge manufacturing strengths, and the opportunity for Australia … having a lot of space and a lot of sunshine, is to collaborate and help deploy solar at an enormous scale for the benefit of the Australian economy, in a partnership,” Ekins-Daukes said.
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Thornova Solar, a global PV module manufacturer, announced a cooperation agreement with Nextpower to integrate US-manufactured steel frames into its domestically produced solar modules. The steel frames are designed for compatibility with both tracker and fixed-tilt mounting systems. According to the companies, the frames reduce module deflection, lower glass breakage risk, and improve uplift resistance in high-wind regions. Steel frames can increase allowable panel loading by up to 125% in tracker applications while reducing mounting hardware requirements. In some projects, the design enables the use of 400 mm mounting rails across up to 100% of installations. Thornova plans to deploy the frames across selected utility-scale and commercial and industrial (C&I) module series as it expands U.S. manufacturing capacity.

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Sungrow announces the commercial operation of a 110 MW solar and 20 MW/40 MWh battery storage hybrid plant in Myanmar, completed in seven days, claimed as a new benchmark for the region.
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This week has seen significant developments in the Philippines’ solar-plus-storage sector, with Levanta and ib vogt securing finance for projects set to come online next year and ACWA Power leasing 500 hectares for a project that could have a solar capacity of as much as 500MW.
Singaporean independent power producer (IPP) Levanta Renewables has secured financial close for a 166MW solar PV project to be developed in the Philippines, which will be co-located with an 80MW battery energy storage system (BESS).
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The Barotac project will be built in the Visayas island group, now that the developer has secured finance from two “leading banks”; Levanta did not name the banks involved in the transaction. The company was awarded a power purchase agreement (PPA) for the project as part of the Fourth Round of the Green Energy Auction Program (GEA-4) completed by the Philippines government last November.
The auction saw 10.19GW of new energy capacity awarded, with both standalone solar and solar-plus-storage big winners in the auction; a total of 4.19GW of ground-mounted solar PV capacity received awards, alongside 1.19GW of co-located renewables-plus-storage. With the offtake agreement and project finance in place, and the China Energy Engineering Group (CEEC) appointed to complete engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) work at the project, Levanta expects to start commercial operations at the project in mid-2027.
“The achievement of financial close marks an important milestone for the Barotac Solar Power and BESS project,” said Levanta CEO Pramod Singh. “We are pleased to move into the execution phase and appreciate the support of our financing partners and project stakeholders.”
German IPP ib vogt has secured finance for its own solar-plus-storage project in the central province of Iloilo, the 99MW Luca solar project that will be co-located with a 4MW BESS.
The latest round of financing comes from the Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation, with the bank’s capital corporation acting as the lead arranger, and comes to US$75 million (PHP4.5 billion) in senior debt financing. Construction at the project began earlier this year, and ib vogt expects to begin commercial operations at the project in the second quarter of next year.
The integration of storage into these Visayas projects is no surprise, considering that the Visayas grid has seen enough new renewable energy capacity brought online to create significant downward pricing pressure. According to Clean, Affordable and Secure Energy for Southeast Asia (CASE), power prices fell from around US$119/MWh to US$81/MWh in Visayas between 2023 and 2025, the most striking change in a country that saw power prices, on the whole, decline over this period.
In response, the Philippines government mandated that all renewable energy projects with a capacity of 10MW must have BESS integrated into their operations, and this is reflected in the increasing number of protect proposals that include both renewable energy generation and storage.
Saudi developer ACWA Power is also advancing a solar-plus-storage project in the Philippines, having secured a lease for a 500-hectare site in New Clark City, a planned city currently under development in the northern Philippines.
The developer signed a contract of lease for the land with the state-owned Bases Conversion and Development Authority (BCDA), which is leading construction on New Clark City. The project, which is currently unnamed, will have a maximum solar generation capacity of up to 500MW, and ACWA Power noted that it could cost up to US$200 million.
The developer did not specify the size of the project’s BESS component, nor provide a timeline for construction, but noted that the project is still subject to “final design, regulatory approvals and future expansion phases”.
“Anchoring ACWA inside New Clark City is a defining moment for the estate,” said BCDA president and CEO Engr. Joshua M. Bingcang. “It tells global investors that this is where the Philippines’ next wave of sustainable infrastructure gets built.” 

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A special report in issue 45 of PV Tech Power, released on June 4, 2026, examines the solar industry’s preparedness for a predicted wave of end-of-life photovoltaic projects and equipment. The source material for this article is the PV Tech Power publication.
As solar power plants constructed during the industry’s initial expansion phase reach the end of their operational lives or are retired prematurely, questions regarding dismantling procedures and the handling of resulting waste materials are becoming more urgent. Estimates indicate that the volume of end-of-life modules could amount to tens of millions of tonnes over the next two decades.
The cover report explores how the industry should address this challenge, beginning with the creation of best practices for decommissioning end-of-life projects. It also examines various technologies and processes being developed globally for recycling waste modules and recovering valuable materials they contain.
With the annual Intersolar Europe event in Munich approaching, the edition also reviews obstacles facing Europe’s photovoltaic industry. Following several record years, the growth rate of new installations has moderated slightly over the past year and is expected to remain subdued for at least another couple of years. The report analyzes structural challenges that must be resolved to support the next phase of the continent’s energy transition.
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By: Andrew Seale June 4, 2026
Soaring silver prices and surging solar demand are forcing panel manufacturers to rethink how much of the white metal goes into every cell. But analysts warn the efficiency gains may not be enough to offset a structural squeeze. 
Silver demand has been consistently outpacing supply for the last six years, with the Silver Institute’s World Silver Survey 2026 projecting a 46.3-million oz. deficit. Tightened physical supply alongside geopolitical uncertainty and investment demand helped silver briefly top $120 per oz. in January from $30 an oz. a year earlier before pulling back. The price was around $74 per oz. on Thursday. 
“Silver at $80 really encourages a very aggressive move for thrifting [and] outright substitution in favour of copper,” Philip Newman, managing director of London-based consultancy Metals Focus, which researches the World Silver Survey, said in an interview. Thrifting refers to using less silver per panel without reducing performance. 
According to the Silver Institute, which published the World Silver Survey 2026, silver use in photovoltaics fell 6% last year to 186.6 million oz. and is forecast to decline a further 19% in 2026 to around 151 million ounces. 
Photovoltaics, the largest industrial source of silver consumption, have emerged as a key driver of demand growth in recent years, helping push the market into repeated deficits. Between 2020 and 2024, silver use in photovoltaic applications more than doubled to roughly 197 million oz., up from about 82 million ounces.  
That surge also triggered a rapid response from manufacturers. The rise in silver prices pushed the metal’s share of solar cell costs from roughly 8% to more than 20%, accelerating efforts to reduce silver loadings and preserve margins. 
However, thrifting may not be enough to curb demand. In North America, policy support and utility-scale buildout drove photovoltaic installations in 2025. U.S. demand for silver powder used in solar manufacturing rose 4% year over year, according to the World Silver Survey. 
Momentum is expected to slow in 2026 as global installations flatten, with some banks and insurers also pulling back financing and coverage amid uncertainty over subsidy eligibility and evolving trade rules tied to China-linked supply chains. 
China remains the key swing factor. The country accounts for roughly 80% of global solar manufacturing capacity, while firms including LONGi and Trina Solar expanded aggressively into the U.S. after the Biden administration’s 2022 clean-energy incentives helped trigger roughly $43 billion in announced solar manufacturing investment and an estimated 48,000 jobs. 
However, new U.S. rules limiting Chinese ownership and control in subsidized factories have created regulatory uncertainty, prompting some buyers, lenders and insurers to avoid China-linked projects. 
Installations in China hit a record 315 GW in 2025, though activity was heavily front-loaded as developers rushed to meet policy deadlines before slowing later in the year amid grid constraints and weaker pricing conditions. 
On the manufacturing side, some Chinese producers shifted capacity offshore in response to U.S. tariffs and trade restrictions, while demand from emerging markets continued to support output growth. China’s solar market is expected to cool in 2026 as policy support normalizes and overcapacity pressures persist. 
Thrifting has played a major role in moderating solar demand for the precious metal in panel manufacturing. “It varies considerably by year, but even when prices were very low, there was an element of thrifting,” metals consultant Newman said. 
However, the process has accelerated over the last two years. Manufacturers are refining how silver paste is applied inside solar cells and adjusting cell layouts to reduce the amount needed, cutting silver use by around 10% compared with earlier designs. New “zero busbar” techniques and ultra-fine printing methods can reduce silver use by another 10% to 20%. 
Production has also shifted towards TOPCon cells, a newer high-efficiency solar technology now dominant in China. The technology improves electrical efficiency inside the cell. 
Other companies are developing copper electroplating and pure copper pastes that could further reduce silver use. 
The industry expects average silver loadings in mainstream photovoltaic cells to fall below 5 milligrams per watt by 2027, according to World Silver Survey data. 
While there are ways to reduce silver use, Robert Godin, co-lead of the University of British Columbia Okanagan’s solar energy research cluster, said the technology remains difficult to scale. He said that while substituting with copper could decrease the amount of silver per module by tenfold (90%), silver is still relatively cheap compared with more advanced alternatives. 
The properties of silver make it good at this job, Godin told The Northern Miner. “It works, it’s cheap, and people are not looking too hard at changing that process.” 
Godin said that while reducing silver amid rising prices and supply deficits is driving the thrifting and substitution narrative, removing silver from the process is a low priority on the research and development side. There are also design barriers to how far efficiency can be pushed. 
“There are some hard physical limits that we’re getting pretty close to,” he said. “But [panels] can definitely be twice as cheap.” 
Policy signals in the U.S. have added another layer of uncertainty, as the Trump administration moves to scale back parts of the federal energy transition agenda while maintaining support for domestic industrial buildout and grid reliability.  
The result is a more selective policy environment, with clean-energy projects increasingly shaped by financing conditions, subsidy eligibility and trade exposure rather than broad deployment targets. 
Ian Lange, an economist at the Colorado School of Mines’ Payne Institute for Public Policy, said that disconnect is often missed in transition planning. Most models assume deployment targets are met and then work backwards into material demand, Lange said. In reality, he said, higher input costs feed directly into build decisions.  
“If silver is higher, we just don’t install as many solar panels,” Lange said. 
That creates a feedback loop between commodity markets and deployment that is often absent from energy transition forecasts, where mineral inputs are treated as scalable rather than price sensitive. For silver, that means demand is not a straight line from installed capacity. 
Thrifting and substitution are reducing the metal intensity per panel, but price signals are also shaping how many projects get built in the first place. Outside solar, structural demand growth is still coming from grid expansion, automotive applications and AI-driven power demand, which continue to underpin industrial consumption. 
Lange said silver’s designation as a critical mineral should drive research and innovation. “Within the U.S. federal system, the criticality is really supposed to be a marker for let’s find a substitute,” Lange said. “That’s supposed to direct federal research dollars [but] I’ll say I haven’t seen good evidence that it actually does that.” 
The World Silver Survey forecasts industrial fabrication to decline by 2%this year, to a four-year low of around 650 million ounces. Newman points out that photovoltaics are the most volatile area of silver demand. 
The policy backdrop has also shifted the tone of the solar buildout itself. What was once largely framed through decarbonization is increasingly being driven by energy security and supply-chain resilience.  
“When we put the survey together back in late March, we had to make an assumption about the war in Iran being short-lived,” Newman said. 
With the Strait of Hormuz still closed as of late May, and energy prices astronomically high, Newman said the market could respond by investing in alternative energy solutions like solar. 
“That security standpoint carries a lot of momentum — there’s more investment going on,” he said. “Even if installations go to the races, I don’t see it getting back to what we saw the past three years.” 
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By XIN XIN and ALEXIS HOOI in Sydney | China Daily | Updated: 2026-06-05 07:41
Electrician James Moore, who installed solar panels on the roof of his Sydney home two years ago, said the green energy move has helped him halve his household power bills.
When told that the equipment came from China, Moore was not surprised. “It’s efficient and effective, very suitable for sunny Australia,” he said.
Moore’s words were fitting in more ways than one. The development of photovoltaic, or PV, technology, which converts sunlight into electricity and powers the growing use of solar energy in the country, can be traced to Australian research and innovation.
Ned Ekins-Daukes, head of the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, said the university’s pioneering PV research helped nurture ties with Chinese industry and academics that continue to place them at the forefront of the field.
“UNSW has this extraordinary story of where we invented some photovoltaic technologies a long way ahead of the market being ready to accept them. During that time, many students came from China to study at UNSW and took some of the ideas back to China,” the professor said.
Major contributions to the sector include work led by multiple-award-winning UNSW scientist Martin Green, who invented groundbreaking types of solar cells in the early 1980s. This helped fuel further research that has since accounted for more than 90 percent of worldwide silicon solar module production, according to the university.
One of Green’s doctoral students, Shi Zhengrong, subsequently implemented a low-cost manufacturing transformation and went on to set up the first commercial solar cell producer of its kind in China. Serving as the Chinese company’s chief scientist, Green and other research team members helped facilitate the rapid growth of the sector.
“What’s happened in China is that, because of the scale of the manufacturing that’s possible and the supply chain integration that’s been built up over the last 20 years, the costs of those technologies have dramatically reduced,” Ekins-Daukes said.
In China, there has been continuous improvement in the technology, he said. “In Australia, we demonstrated the concept, we demonstrated that these solar cell technologies could work well. But in China, the engineers have worked hard to actually (apply) those technologies for manufacturing and critically bring robotic automation into the manufacturing of silicon solar panels,” he said.
UNSW now works directly with major PV companies to help them improve the technology and its practical applications in Australia and beyond, Ekins-Daukes said.
This “loop of innovation” between Australia and China will continue, he added. “China has huge manufacturing strengths, and the opportunity for Australia … having a lot of space and a lot of sunshine, is to collaborate and help deploy solar at an enormous scale for the benefit of the Australian economy, in a partnership,” Ekins-Daukes said.

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Patel Greentech Private Limited (PGPL), a subsidiary of Patel Infrastructure Limited (PIL), has invited proposals from eligible solar companies for EPC works on 700 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic projects in Gujarat. The tender announcement was published on June 2, 2026. The company is seeking experienced and qualified organizations to participate in the project. The request for proposal (RFP) opened on June 1, 2026, at 18:00 hrs. Bid submissions will close on June 10, 2026, at 12:00 hrs. The projects are expected to support large-scale solar power deployment in Gujarat. Patel Infrastructure aims to partner with EPC contractors for the execution of the solar developments.

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We’ve secured two exclusive deals from Wellbots giving you the chance to pick up the Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus Portable Power Station down at $1,399 shipped, after using the code 9TO5JAK300 at checkout, or get that same station with a 500W solar panel for $1,999 shipped, after using the code 9TO5JAK400 at checkout. The deal starts with both units already down from $2,799 and $3,499, which we’ve seen go as low as $1,599 and $2,199 from Amazon and directly from Jackery. Our exclusive codes give you combined $1,400 and $1,500 markdowns that land the costs at the second-lowest prices we have tracked, only beaten out by former exclusive deals from New Years.
The Jackery HomePower 3600 Plus power station brings along significant backup support for devices and appliances anywhere – at home or while off exploring the world. It provides you with a starting 3,584Wh LiFePO4 battery capacity that you can invest in down the road to expand up to a max 21kWh capacity. There are nine output ports here (4x ACs, 2x USB-Cs, 2x USB-As, and a TT-30R port for RV backup) that steadily deliver up to 3,600W and can surge as high as 7,200W.
It brings plenty of recharging options along, too, including the typical AC outlet charging, connection to a gas generator, plugging into a vehicle auxiliary port, choosing the bundle for 500W towards the max 1,000W of solar panel input, or you can use both AC and DC charging at the same time.
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MSolar Manufacturing is committing $23.8 million toward the development of a new 56,000-suqare-foot solar manufacturing facility in Shenandoah County.
The startup announced the move, and its plans to produce high-efficiency solar modules designed for large-scale energy projects, on Thursday.
The project will create 150 jobs in the Shenandoah County region.
MSolar, launched in 2018, will focus its new manufacturing operation, to be based in Mount Jackson, on the production of solar glass, silicon cells, and heterojunction (HJT) cells, as well as the assembly of completed solar modules.
Once operational, the facility is expected to manufacture more than half a million HJT solar panels annually for utility-scale and commercial energy projects across the United States.
“We’re building the foundation of a vertically integrated solar manufacturing platform here in Virginia,”  MSolar CEO Michael O’Connor said. “This factory represents the first step in our long-term strategy to expand domestic solar production and deliver high-performance technology for energy projects. We believe the future of solar will be defined by performance, domestic content, energy security, and top customer service, and MSolar is positioning itself at the center of that transition. We’re excited to grow alongside the Commonwealth as we scale our platform.”
“Shenandoah County is strategically positioned as a great location for manufacturing, as is evident through MSolar’s decision to locate their facility in Mount Jackson,” Shenandoah County Board of Supervisors Chairman Tim Taylor said. “MSolar will add to our diverse array of local businesses, of which manufacturing is a key target sector as outlined in our Economic Development Strategic and Comprehensive Plans.”
“MSolar’s decision to grow in the Shenandoah Valley is a testament to our region’s strong workforce, supply chain, and ability to serve the next generation of American manufacturing,” Shenandoah Valley Partnership Executive Director Dr. Jay A. Langston said. “With a pro-business climate supported by experienced business and local leaders, the Shenandoah Valley Partnership is thrilled to welcome anyone who shares our drive to innovate, adapt, and build a stronger future for the Commonwealth.”






Chris Graham is the founder and editor of Augusta Free Press. A 1994 alum of the University of Virginia, Chris is the author and co-author of seven books, including Poverty of Imagination, a memoir published in 2019. For his commentaries on news, sports and politics, go to his YouTube page, TikTok, BlueSky, or subscribe to Substack or his Street Knowledge podcast. Email Chris at [email protected].
Waynesboro Police arrested a city man on Tuesday on multiple felony drug and firearm charges following a drug interdiction assignment.
The 2025 Annual Homelessness Assessment Report from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development released last week tells us that 745,652 people were homeless on the night of the Point-In-Time Count in the final week of January 2025.

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Qualitas Energy, a leading global investment and management platform with a dual focus on both funding and developing renewable energy, energy transition, and sustainable infrastructure, has announced the acquisition of a development-stage solar photovoltaic (PV) project in the United States, with a planned capacity of 164 MWp.

Qualitas Energy acquires 164 MWp solar PV project in the United States

The asset, located in Illinois within the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO) market, has been acquired from Bechtel Enterprises. Notice to Proceed (NTP) is expected in the second quarter of 2028, with Commercial Operation Date (COD) targeted for the third quarter of 2029. The project has 100% site control, is fully permitted and benefits from strong local community support, having received unanimous approval as part of the county permitting process.
Qualitas Energy will leverage its integrated investment, development and asset management capabilities to further de-risk the asset and advance it into its next phases, including the optimisation of offtake strategy, procurement, construction planning and financing. The project also offers additional value creation potential through the future integration of up to 64 MWac of battery energy storage capacity, which could support the structuring of a bundled solar-plus-storage power purchase agreement (PPA), enhancing its commercial flexibility and long-term revenue profile.
In addition, the asset benefits from a favourable interconnection position within the MISO market and offers strong commercial optionality, with access to both the Minnesota and Illinois hubs. This provides a broad range of potential offtake routes, including corporate and industrial customers, hyperscalers, traditional utilities and public renewable energy procurement programmes.
This transaction was undertaken through Qualitas Energy Fund VI, the firm’s latest flagship vehicle, launched at the end of 2025.
'This acquisition reflects Qualitas Energy’s disciplined investment approach and its ability to identify high-quality renewable energy assets with strong value creation potential. The project combines advanced development status, strong fundamentals and multiple commercialisation pathways in one of the country’s most attractive power markets. This transaction also underscores the strategic relevance of the United States for Qualitas Energy,' said Alejandro Ciruelos, Partner – US at Qualitas Energy.
Qualitas Energy was advised by Norton Rose Fulbright (legal), Sargent & Lundy (technical), and Leo Berwick (financial and tax).
Original announcement link
Source: Qualitas Energy

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UNSW Scientia Professor Martin Green was this week recognised as Honorary Chair for Life in acknowledgement of his pioneering contributions to global solar technology innovation at the annual SNEC PV Power Expo and Conference in Shanghai, China. Here, he also presented the latest advancements and future direction of silicon solar cell technologies, including improving the stability of perovskite solar cells for large-scale application.​
Credit: UNSW Sydney
Out on a patch of land near Sydney’s northern beaches, a new generation of solar panels are sitting out in the salt air, heat, humidity and rain. They are facing the harsh tests of nature and time. And if they fail, that could be quite useful.
For UNSW Sydney’s Scientia Professor Martin Green – who is often described as the father of modern photovoltaics – the future of solar power now depends not on an efficiency world record but on whether the next generation of solar cells can survive outside the lab.
Prof. Green has spent more than five decades helping solar power become a cheap source of electricity, with the technology he developed today underpinning 90% of the world's solar technology.
Now, he is helping establish an independent field-testing facility at UNSW’s Water Research Laboratory in Manly Vale, where the newest solar tech – perovskite solar modules – will be subjected to durability testing under real-world conditions.
Green says while these modules are already on the market, the expectation is that failed modules can simply be replaced as production scales and costs continue to fall.
“Silicon modules are routinely sold with warranties of 25 to 40 years,” Prof. Green says.
“While the perovskite modules offer similar warranties, the likelihood of a module surviving for that long is very small.”
Perovskites are a class of crystalline materials that can be stacked on top of silicon solar cells to harvest more sunlight and push solar performance further – the next generation of solar technology.
The new technology performs impressively in lab but is yet to survive for decades in the real world.
In the latest international solar cell efficiency tables – published last week in Joule –  Prof. Green records a large-area silicon cell reaching 28.1% efficiency and a tiny perovskite cell – not a full-size commercial module – reaching 28.0%. This is the first time the best single-junction perovskite result has effectively matched the highest silicon result.
The same report includes a 35.2% efficiency result for a perovskite-on-silicon tandem cell.
In a solar cell, a few percentage points make a massive difference. Higher efficiency means more electricity from the same rooftop, less land required for solar farms, with lower installation and infrastructure costs across entire energy systems.
The report’s latest numbers suggest solar is edging towards another technological shift – if the cells can last.
“Silicon, the workhorse of the global solar revolution, is now very efficient, but increasingly close to its limits,” Prof. Green says.
“And anyone who’s made a perovskite cell knows how unstable they are.”
Testing the future
Can perovskites make the same leap silicon did from promising technology to reliable infrastructure?
This question is what shapes the field-testing facility.
Prof. Green says perovskite-on-silicon tandem cells are the most likely large-scale commercial pathway for next-gen solar technology.
“All the silicon manufacturers have their own perovskite-on-silicon programs,” he says.
When his group first began setting records with silicon cells, he insisted any claims be certified by recognised testing laboratories.
“If you’re claiming a record, you’ve got to have it independently certified,” he says.
That insistence on verification became a foundation of the modern solar industry. And it persists today through the independent field-testing facility Prof. Green is helping establish alongside his former student, UNSW’s Dr Jessica Jiang.
The facility will be able to install up to 160 modules, catering to all manufacturers and generations of products.
Many perovskite manufacturers are part of China’s rapidly expanding solar industry – and Prof. Green’s former students.
One of the largest perovskite manufacturers, Microquanta, was started by two former students.
Another former student is the founder of Suntech, Dr Zhengrong Shi, whose commercialisation of modern solar technology helped catalyse China’s rise as a global solar manufacturing powerhouse.
“Jessica has really good contacts within the Chinese industry, largely because they’re former students who now have important jobs in the industry,” Prof. Green says.
“She can WeChat them and the next day they’ll put a module in the mail.”
By comparing modules from different companies, the UNSW team hopes to identify which failure mechanisms are widespread and which are specific to individual designs.
“We’ll be able to provide an authoritative opinion about just how good the commercial ones are,” Prof. Green says.
“Once they fail in the field, we’ll find out why and provide that information back to the manufacturer,” he says.
“We really think we can push things along a bit.”
From oil shocks to world records
When Prof. Green began working on solar cells in the early 1970s, photovoltaics were niche and expensive.
The cost didn’t matter so much in the space industry, which had been using solar cells in spacecraft since the late 1950s. But back down on Earth, they were too expensive to be taken seriously as an everyday power source.
Then, the oil crises of that decade forced governments to think seriously about energy security – particularly after embargoes disrupted fuel supplies across the Western world.
“There were queues at service stations, cars running out of petrol – in a world suddenly worried about oil dependence,” Prof. Green says.
He says solar then “got a guernsey” in efforts to reduce dependence on imported oil.
“They had to bring the cost down by a factor of a thousand or more from what they cost to put on satellites,” he says.
At the time, nuclear power dominated much of the energy imagination. Prof. Green says one nuclear advocate dismissed solar as likely to have “all the impact of a flea on an elephant’s back”.
But, he says, the political and scientific mood began to shift. A US program helped set the international tone. Japan launched its Sunshine Project. Europe followed with its own efforts. And Australia began its own solar program in 1978.
Prof. Green joined UNSW as an academic in 1974 and set up a solar research group soon after. By the early 1980s, his group was known internationally.
In 1983, he and his team invented Passivated Emitter and Rear Cell (PERC) technology. This led to them then producing the world’s first officially confirmed 18% efficient silicon solar cell, beating the previous record of 16.5%.
That result pushed UNSW to the front of a field that included major US companies, NASA-linked programs, Japanese laboratories and other universities – with Prof. Green’s research team holding the record for silicon solar cell efficiency for much of the past four decades.
And last year, solar generated more electricity worldwide than nuclear for the first time, with the gap rapidly increasing.
Faster than expected
The role of solar today has expanded to being a resource that combats climate change. But its appeal still sits with its 1970s roots – as a technology tied to energy security, economic resilience and independence from volatile fossil fuel markets.
In Australia, solar already supplies a substantial share of electricity. Prof. Green says the contribution from solar is now doubling every few years and could become the dominant source of electricity far sooner than many expect.
“We’ll be generating most of our electricity from solar by about 2032,” he says.
He says conservative energy forecasts have repeatedly underestimated renewable deployment. Even projections that now speak positively about renewables, he says, often still assume they will play a smaller role than growth trends suggest.
For someone who has spent more than five decades not just watching, but helping solar outperform expectations, he is reluctant to underestimate what comes next.
“Things have exceeded even my projections as an optimistic person in the field.”
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
Media Contact
Melissa Lyne
University of New South Wales
m.lyne@unsw.edu.au

University of New South Wales


Copyright © 2026 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Copyright © 2026 by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

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From pv magazine India
Solarium Green Energy, a rooftop solar engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) company in India, has commissioned a fully automated solar module manufacturing facility with an annual production capacity of 1 GW in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
The facility, equipped with advanced manufacturing machinery, was set up with capital expenditure of around INR 900 million ($9.6 million), excluding working capital.
“The plant is capable of manufacturing large-format G12 solar modules of up to 725 Wp. It will produce high-efficiency crystalline silicon solar PV modules using technologies such as TOPCon cells, half-cut cells, and bifacial modules, supported by high-precision imported equipment including tabber-stringers, laminators, and sun simulators,’ said the company.
Solar modules account for 50% to 60% of total EPC project costs. With the commissioning of this facility, Solarium expects to strengthen its supply chain, reduce dependence on third-party suppliers, accelerate execution timelines, and improve margins through captive consumption. This move also positions Solarium as an integrated solar solutions provider.
Solarium said that at approximately 85% plant utilization, the facility has the potential to generate annual revenues exceeding INR 10 billion, subject to prevailing market conditions and module pricing, if modules are sold externally. The facility is expected to serve both internal requirements and external customers, including other EPC players and the broader business-to-business (B2B) market.
“The commissioning of this facility marks a significant milestone in our growth journey. Delivered in under nine months, the plant reflects our strong execution capabilities,” said Ankit Garg, chairman and managing director of Solarium Green Energy Ltd. “With a fully automated line capable of producing high-efficiency G12 modules of up to ~725 Wp, this facility strengthens our supply chain, enhances execution capabilities, and supports margin improvement across our EPC business.”
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The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy has directed all ALMM-listed solar cell and module manufacturers to report monthly price ranges of domestically manufactured products to the National Institute of Solar Energy, aiming to enhance market transparency and prevent profiteering amid the implementation of ALMM List-II from June 1, 2026.
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WATERVILLE, Maine (WABI) – The Alfond Municipal Pool Complex in Waterville cut a ribbon Thursday on a new feature that will save money for the taxpayer through a grant, costing them nothing.
The city’s pool unveiled solar panels that offset about 40% of the pool’s energy costs after seeking out innovative ways to both save money for Waterville and reduce greenhouse gas emisisons.
The grant came out of the governor’s office with installation coming around two months ago ahead of the summer season.
The project used $25,000 of the $70,000 dollar grant and organizers are hoping this inspires to families and municipalities to the use of renewable energy in the future.
“I think this is a great project to show other municipalities and folks that live in other municipalities that come to the pool, the potential of this stuff and I think it’s great for other businesses,” commented Community Development Specialist for AYCC Nate Bernard. “That they can see you don’t need to put it in a place that can obstruct anyone’s view. It’s not going to hurt the countrysides. You can put it right on a rooftop, existing infrastructure, and I think that a lot of other municipalities can look at this and see what they can do for themselves to reduce emissions but also save themselves money.”
The pool will officially be open for the season on June 13th.
Copyright 2026 WABI. All rights reserved.

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Hoymiles Microinverters Certified with BEE Rating, Setting a New Benchmark for Solar Efficiency in India  SolarQuarter
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