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TCL Electronics Considers Spin-Off And Separate Listing Of Photovoltaic Business  TradingView
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US solar cell manufacturer ES Foundry is taking a cautious approach to the country’s shift towards n-type technologies, using established p-type passivated emitter rear contact (PERC) technology for its current manufacturing operations while preparing to transition to a next-generation cell technology.
Speaking to PV Tech Premium, ES Foundry CEO Alex Zhu said the company’s strategy is focused on delivering commercially bankable US-made cells today, while its eventual move to n-type technology will depend on intellectual property (IP), supply chain and equipment considerations.
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“We will move to n-type technology. However, we haven’t decided which n-type technology we will go with because this depends on multiple things like IP issues, the supply chain, and equipment availability,” Zhu said.
ES Foundry recently completed a 2GW expansion at its Greenwood, South Carolina facility, taking its total annual cell manufacturing capacity to 3GW. Its initial 1GW capacity began operations in 2025, with the expanded capacity expected to be fully ramped by October.
Zhu said the company’s focus on operating production capacity differentiates it from a US market that has seen numerous large-scale manufacturing announcements.
“In terms of actual production, we are the largest crystalline solar cell manufacturer in the US,” he said.
While tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon), heterojunction (HJT) and back-contact (BC) technologies have increasingly displaced PERC in international markets, Zhu said ES Foundry selected PERC because of its manufacturing maturity and established market acceptance.
“The reason we chose PERC is that it is very reliable and has a robust process window,” he said.
He added that PERC’s established track record provides greater familiarity for financial institutions and customers, while helping the company train a US manufacturing workforce with limited experience in large-scale solar cell production.
US trade measures are creating both challenges and opportunities. A recently announced 15% tariff on imported polysilicon and its derivatives under Section 232 is expected to increase ES Foundry’s wafer costs.
“Our current wafer cost is, for example, from 4 cents to 7 cents imported from overseas. And after that, our cost will increase to like 15 cents plus 2 cents tariffs,” Zhu said.
However, he expects stronger demand for domestic-content products could partly offset higher costs, particularly from projects supporting AI data centres.
“Even a domestic content module by itself is more expensive, but when you’re calculating into the whole formula, the total project cost will reduce,” he said.
The company currently expects demand to support its 3GW capacity, with offtake agreements extending through 2028.
Read our full interview with Zhu here.
The state of the US solar supply chain will be explored in detail at our annual PV CellTech USA conference in San Francisco on 13-14 October 2026. For full agenda and booking details, click the link above.

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Author: Solarplaza
De-risking Europe's water and power assets
Reservoirs across Southern and Central Europe lost visible volume again this summer. For water authorities, that means rationing plans and emergency pumping. For hydro operators, it means throttled turbines and lost generation hours. Floating Photovoltaics (FPV) usually gets pitched as a clean-energy play, measured in megawatt-hours. That undersells it. Sitting directly at the water-energy nexus, FPV is also an active drought-defense asset – one that protects raw water supplies while it generates power.
Key takeaways
Image credit: Evides
Evaporation: the clearest water case for FPV
Open water in direct sun and wind loses volume fast – that's simple physics, and it's the single biggest water-loss point for exposed reservoirs. Covering that surface with FPV panels cuts it substantially: research published in the International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies and MDPI Water puts the reduction at 40% to 70%, depending on panel density and the local microclimate.
Scaled across Europe's water bodies, that adds up to hundreds of millions of cubic meters retained annually. For a municipal water authority, every cubic meter kept in the reservoir is one less cubic meter of emergency pumping – and more resilience heading into the next heatwave.
Hydro-hybrid: buying time and flexibility for dam operators
Pairing FPV with existing hydropower solves a real operational headache: declining hydraulic head during drought. When inflow drops, hydro plants are often forced into curtailment just to protect minimum pool levels.
By keeping more water behind the dam, FPV helps operators hold head levels longer into the dry season. Instead of running turbines continuously at low efficiency to cover baseload, operators can lean on daytime FPV output and save the water – then dispatch hydro into the evening price spike once solar drops off. Rather than a straight loss, seasonal scarcity becomes more like a flexible, manageable asset.
Water quality: real research, not a settled story
Drought and warm water are a known recipe for toxic cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) blooms, which force drinking water utilities into costly chemical treatment or intake shutdowns. It's tempting to assume that shading the water with panels simply solves this – less sunlight, less algae. The reality on the ground is more complicated.
That's exactly the gap that field research is starting to close. Dr. Giovanni Sandrini, Microbiology Researcher at Evides Waterbedrijf, has been studying a floating solar system on a Dutch drinking water reservoir and found a more nuanced picture: some algae types declined under the panels, while benthic cyanobacteria actually increased in the shaded zone. It's a useful reminder that FPV's water-quality effects depend heavily on site conditions, coverage, and which organisms you're tracking – and it's precisely this kind of granular, evidence-based finding that utilities and developers need before they can bank water-quality benefits into a business case.
Permitting and public tenders: an underused argument
Land-use conflict and grid-connection pushback are slowing ground-mounted solar across Europe. FPV sidesteps the land fight by using artificial water bodies instead –  but developers who pitch it purely on clean energy output often still run into municipal skepticism about water impacts.
The developers getting ahead of that are the ones building quantified water-retention and quality data directly into their public Requests for Proposals. Framed well, that turns FPV from "another solar project" into a tangible co-benefit for the municipality – a stronger footing for winning concessions and moving faster through local permitting.
Where water management meets project finance
Turning these water-saving co-benefits into a bankable financial model takes real data and proven risk frameworks – which is exactly what's on the agenda at the Solarplaza Summit Floating PV Europe, taking place on 8 October 2026 in Amsterdam.
Two sessions worth planning your day around:
 
As climate pressure keeps building across Europe, water security is becoming part of the renewable energy business case, and not just a side note. Project developers, water utilities, hydro operators, and financial investors: join us at the Solarplaza Summit Floating Solar PV Europe in Amsterdam on 8 October 2026 to work out how to quantify, pitch, and finance the full value of floating solar.
To learn more about
join Solarplaza Summit Floating PV Europe on 8 October, taking place in Amsterdam.
Copyright © 2026 Solarplaza International
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Emerging projects suggest technologies that could supply the grid, datacenters, and other energy-hungry facilities with electricity from space could be here within five years.
Credit: bombermoon / Getty Images
It has taken the best part of a century, but the notion of collecting the Sun’s energy in outer space and beaming it to collectors on Earth to generate electricity 24 hours a day—an idea hatched by science fiction author Isaac Asimov in 1940—is edging towards reality and could arrive early next decade.
The realization of viable space-based solar power (SBSP) systems has long been stymied by a lack of enabling technologies, but thanks to a clutch of successful ground and orbital power-beaming tests, and advances in reusable, heavy-lift rocketry and in-space assembly robots, entrepreneurs and nation-states alike now believe SBSP is becoming economically and technically possible, and a number of varied power-beaming-from-space projects are now in the planning.
Startup Overview Energy (Ashburn, VA), for example, in late April announced plans^a for a constellation of SBSP satellites that, sometime in 2030, will begin beaming a gigawatt of power to Meta’s AI datacenters. Unlike other SBSP approaches, Overview’s technology beams power from space to existing solar panels on the ground, using a near-infrared, laser-based power beaming technique that it is currently patenting. This choice of wavelength lends Overview an ability to deliver energy to solar panels at night, giving companies like Meta extra hours of solar power from terrestrial infrastructure that normally lies idle when the sun is not out.
“Under our agreement, Meta has 24/7 access to the beam capacity,” said Laura Wetzel, an Overview Energy representative. “Since they have a lot of solar projects in different places around the world, they’ll be able to use the beam somewhere at any given time.”
Overview Energy also has struck a deal with the U.S. Air Force^b to supply power from space to remote bases in Alaska and the Pacific.
British startup Space Solar (Harwell, Oxfordshire), for example, plans to beam between 200 kilowatts and several megawatts of power from space to an isolated science research base in the Antarctic. Said Sam Adlen, co-CEO of Space Solar, “Our current baseline plan sees the polar power project going live in six years, followed by a 30-megawatt system for Iceland, but in practice it will depend on how financing comes together.”
Speaking of demand, Adlen said, “As AI workloads surge and datacenters proliferate globally, electricity demand is growing at a pace that threatens to outstrip supply. So the race is on to secure energy which can accommodate AI’s exponential growth.” He said space-based solar power satellites can provide datacenters the “continuous, clean, and abundant source of power” they’ll need, as ground antennas can be built on top of them, allowing them to receive “low cost, reliable, continuous gigawatt scale power directly.”
In the U.S., a raft of startups are focused on SBSP. John Bucknell, CEO of Virtus Solis (Troy, MI), is planning a full end-to-end service for energy suppliers. “We’ll deliver complete power plants, including the inverters, grid connection, space launch, everything. As we look like a solar farm from a construction perspective, any solar developer can stand up a SBSP ground station,” Bucknell said.
Others have more focused SBSP ideas. Cowboy Space Corp. (San Carlos, CA), for instance, formerly called Aetherflux, is planning a system to provide on-demand, beamed power to remote military bases, to populations suffering sustained power outages after natural disasters, and to datacenters in space. Mantis Space (Albuquerque, NM), aims to beam power from orbit to light-starved satellites that are eclipsed in Earth’s shadow.
On top of these private sector ventures, China,^c Japan,^d and the U.K.^e are investigating SBSP technology with the aim of launching kilometer-scale satellites in the mid-2030s and beyond as a means of generating gigawatts of power to help reach net-zero-carbon targets by 2050. The 27-nation EU is also undertaking feasibility studies.
The broad idea behind most SBSP projects is to harvest solar power in outer space, rather than on Earth. Thanks to the day-night cycle, clouds, rain, and the vagaries of the seasons, even the biggest commercial solar farms sprawled across fields and deserts on Earth can only deliver intermittent power, while in space, SBSP systems are expected to deliver power continually, as long as they have technology to beam energy through Earth’s moisture-laden atmosphere.
In most SBSP architectures, the idea is that a satellite with kilometer-long solar arrays in geostationary orbit harvests gigawatts of solar energy 24/7 and transmits it, in the form of a safe, low-intensity microwave power beam, to a five-kilometer-wide ground antenna, which converts it to electricity for the grid. As microwave wavelengths are not absorbed by water, the power beam always reaches the ground antenna, whatever the weather.
Key to making this an efficient process has been the integration of the SBSP spacecraft’s solar panels with semiconductor microwave amplifiers, so the combination operates as one so-called “sandwich” module—with low losses compared to previous designs that fed electricity from the solar panels to separate microwave oscillators.
The ground antenna is formally known in SBSP circles as a “rectenna”—short for rectifying antenna—as its role is to receive the alternating microwave signal by inducing currents in an array of simple, cheap dipole antennas. Diodes then rectify the AC to direct current, and the DC signal is then used to energize inverters that produce AC at the local grid frequency.
Explained Space Solar’s Adlen, “These antennas are comprised of a transparent, mesh-like structure. They can be sited to enable crops to grow underneath, or allow areas to be re-wilded, or they can be sited over a terrestrial solar farm or datacenter. They take up about 40% of the land area of terrestrial solar for an equivalent energy output.”
The microwave beam, spread out over 5km, has only 25% of the power density of the midday Sun at the Equator, which SBSP proponents say presents no risk to people, animals, or vehicles passing through it.
Asimov described the broad idea of SBSP in the 1941 short story Reason,^f but gave no clues on how it might be accomplished.
In a 1968 Science article^g, Peter Glaser, head of engineering sciences at Arthur D. Little (Cambridge, MA), proposed the use of a microwave power beam as the weatherproof downlink for SBSP. While actually putting it into practice was infeasible in 1968, advances in technology have yielded thinner, increasingly efficient solar cells, semiconductor microwave amplifiers, solid-state phased array transmitters, and carbon fiber spacecraft construction that make SBSP possible.
On the energy transmission front, NASA in 1975 demonstrated power beaming^h with a 2.4-GHz microwave signal transmitted 1.5 kilometers through air, delivering 34 kilowatts to a receiver fitted with gallium arsenide semiconductor conversion circuits. In 2021, researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory successfully tested conversion of solar-derived electric power to microwaves in an experiment mounted on a U.S. Space Force spacecraft.ⁱ
In 2023, an experiment successfully tested microwave beam generation and beam steering^j in space, using a system developed by a team at Caltech using phased array antennas. Caltech’s experiment also proved that a tension-loaded ultralight carbon-fiber structure designed to support solar panels and power beaming transmitters could self-deploy in orbit.
Recent developments in self-deploying large solar panel arrays^k by U.S.-based spaceflight contractor Redwire also look set to make SBSP satellites a feasible orbital build, as they unfurl themselves using stored strain energy in the material, rather than power-hungry motors.
SBSP proponents appear to have the hardware they need to ship and assemble in orbit kilometer-scale solar collecting and beaming spacecraft.
On the software side, autonomous guidance, navigation, and control algorithms will keep the spacecraft tracking the Sun so solar panels remain energized, but they will also have to securely seek out and lock onto ground antennas to steer power beams to them without spilling the signal outside them, wasting energy. Said Paul Jaffe, vice-president of systems engineering at Overview Energy, “We use a ground-based beacon the size of a shipping container to tell the satellite where to point, and coarse and fine tracking loops to home in on the receiver.”
Added Jaffe, who ran the SBSP orbital tests on the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane for the U.S. Defense Department’s Naval Research Laboratory, “There might be a challenge in making our computing resources both extremely cheap and [space] radiation-tolerant for long periods of time, but any challenge in that area is probably negligible compared to doing the same for the photovoltaics in orbit.”
What is the timeline for an active SBSP system? Space Solar plans to beam microwave power to the Rothera Research Station^l on Adelaide Island on the Antarctic Peninsula in the early 2030s. The hope is that Space Solar’s SBSP satellite, which will have 20,000 solar panel layers arranged in a helix, with a large solar reflector capping each end of a DNA-like spiral, will provide the base with a sustainable source of power, at least 200 kilowatts of electricity, possibly more.
If the Iceland installation works as planned, Space Solar will build a bigger satellite to feed a ground antenna 1.5 kilometers across with 30 megawatts of electricity for Reykjavik Energy. Both the Antarctic and Icelandic satellites will only deliver intermittent power because the elliptical orbits needed to reach their respective northern and southerly latitudes mean the satellites will only dwell over their targets for a few hours a day. Space Solar says that will be enough to charge batteries until the next orbital pass.
Overview Energy plans to beam near-infrared laser light to standard terrestrial solar farms. The company will offer power producers running conventional ground-based solar farms the ability to enable their arrays to continue to capture energy after the sun sets, since a gap in the atmosphere’s water absorption spectrum allows a small range of near-infrared wavelengths to cut through the moisture unharmed.
Cowboy Space has noticed this as well. The company is planning to beam energy from low Earth orbit SBSP satellites via near-infrared lasers to circa-10-meter-diameter ground receivers at military bases in remote areas where it is risky to deliver fuel, and also in disaster zones where hospitals, first-responder organizations, and cellphone networks need power.
Earth is not the only target for SBSP. Just as Mantis Space plans to beam laser light to satellites in the dark of Earth’s shadow to keep them powered up, an infrared-laser SBSP project in the works from Volta Space Technologies is targeting the Moon. During the two-week-long lunar night, temperatures plummet to minus 130 Celsius (-202 degrees F), which can embrittle and fracture batteries and critical electronic systems. Volta is planning a constellation of SBSP satellites in lunar orbit that will beam power to warm the electronics of lunar rovers, landers, and surface science equipment to help them survive the lunar night.
During an interview^m on Late Night with David Letterman in October 1980, Asimov took credit for inventing space-based solar power, and hinted at a lunar offshoot: “I talked about space stations getting energy down to Earth in 1940 and I got that almost right, but I put it in Mercury’s orbit, instead of the Moon’s orbit, to get it closer to the Sun. But maybe someday we’ll do that.”
AS SBSP PREPARES FOR LIFTOFF, SATELLITE
CONGESTION PRESENTS POTENTIAL THREATS
Plans for Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) satellites are being laid at an exceptionally challenging time in the history of spaceflight, as Earth orbits are becoming ever more dangerously congested with satellites thanks to the advent of the “megaconstellations” that now deliver broadband Internet to digitally underserved, remote areas from low Earth orbit. California-based SpaceX, a pioneer of this technology, has in the last five years launched 10,000 of the 42,000 satellites it says its Starlink orbital Internet service will ultimately require. That has increased the orbital population from 4,000 satellites five years ago to 14,000 today.
Starlink’s success has prompted commercial and nation-state rivals, such as Amazon, OneWeb, and the Chinese government, to plan their own large orbital Internet constellations—to the extent that the regulator, the UN’s International Telecommunication Union, says spaceflight operators have now applied to launch no less than 1.7 million satellites by 2030. This is regarded as unsustainable by astronomers at the European Southern Observatory, which has said that such numbers will have “devastating consequences.”
It does not end at broadband provision, however. On top of the orbital Internet, firms such as SpaceX, and startups Starcloud (Redmond, WA) and Orbital Compute (Los Angeles, CA), are planning to evade the power demands of datacenters on Earth by launching millions of small GPU compute clusters into orbit on what SpaceX founder Elon Musk called ‘AI satellites’. Each spacecraft alone does not pack much compute power, but by using laser links to connect them with other AI satellites, they might collectively be able to offer datacenter-like performance on inference tasks. Once again, the spacecraft numbers here are very high: SpaceX wants to fly 1 million AI satellites, Starcloud 88,000, and Orbital Compute 100,000.
Such vast satellite numbers raise a litany of so-far unresolved issues. First, they threaten the dark skies that optical astronomers need to scan the heavens, not least for potential incoming near-Earth asteroids. Second, the radio signals from these satellites can interfere with radio astronomy, too. Third, the end-of-life reentry of these satellites (they run out of fuel after five years) deposits aluminum oxide in the upper atmosphere which, ongoing research suggests,ⁿ could deplete Earth’s radiation-protective ozone layer. Fourth, the reentries present a threat to civil aviation, as debris could strike pressurized aircraft if a falling satellite does not burn up completely.
A fifth issue—possibly the space industry’s biggest fear related to having millions of satellites packed into low Earth orbits below 2,000 kilometers—is a runaway phenomenon called Kessler Syndrome. Named after a former NASA engineer, Don Kessler, who in 1978 predicted what could happen when a satellite in an overly-packed orbit suffers a failure and collides with another, or simply suffers an in-orbit breakup, perhaps due to a fuel tank explosion. This, Kessler predicted, would create a blizzard of space debris, which could then strike other satellites, creating a collision cascade in which more and more debris is created in a chain reaction that could leave low Earth orbit an unnavigable scrapyard of hypersonic metal, threatening not only commercial satellite operations but also the lives of astronauts in crewed spacecraft and space stations.
Research is ongoing into mitigating the threat to dark skies, reentry ozone depletion, civil aviation risks and the space situational awareness that could limit Kessler Syndrome risks, but whether regulation can be put in place in time in remains to be seen.—Paul Marks
Paul Marks is a technology, aviation, and spaceflight journalist, writer, and editor based in London, U.K.
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Emerging projects suggest technologies that could supply the grid, datacenters, and other energy-hungry facilities with electricity from space could be here within five years.
It’s taken the best part of a century, but the notion of collecting the Sun’s energy in outer space and beaming it to collectors on Earth to generate electricity 24 hours a day—an idea hatched by science fiction author Isaac Asimov in 1940—is edging towards reality and could arrive early next decade. 
The fruition of space-based solar power (SBSP) has long been stymied by a lack of enabling technologies, but thanks to a clutch of successful ground and orbital power-beaming tests, and advances in reusable, heavy-lift rocketry and in-space assembly robots, entrepreneurs and nation-states now believe SBSP is becoming economically and technically possible, and a number of varied power-beaming-from-space projects are now in the planning.
Startup Overview Energy (Ashburn, VA), for example, in late April announced plans for a constellation of SBSP satellites that, sometime in 2030, will begin beaming a gigawatt of power to Meta’s AI datacenters. Unlike other SBSP approaches, Overview’s technology beams power from space to existing solar panels on the ground, using a near-infrared, laser-based power beaming technique that it is currently patenting. This choice of wavelength lends Overview an ability to deliver energy to solar panels at night, giving companies like Meta extra hours of solar power from terrestrial infrastructure that normally lies idle when the sun is not out. 
“Under our agreement, Meta has 24/7 access to the beam capacity,” said Laura Wetzel, an Overview Energy representative. “Since they have a lot of solar projects in different places around the world, they’ll be able to use the beam somewhere at any given time.”
Overview Energy also has struck a deal with the U.S. Air Force to supply power from space to remote bases in Alaska and the Pacific. 
British startup Space Solar (Harwell, Oxfordshire), for example, plans to beam between 200 kilowatts and several megawatts of power from space to an isolated science research base in the Antarctic. Said Sam Adlen, co-CEO of Space Solar, “Our current baseline plan sees the polar power project going live in six years, followed by a 30-megawatt system for Iceland, but in practice it will depend on how financing comes together.”
Speaking of demand, Adlen said, “As AI workloads surge and datacenters proliferate globally, electricity demand is growing at a pace that threatens to outstrip supply. So the race is on to secure energy which can accommodate AI’s exponential growth.” He said space-based solar power satellites can provide datacenters the “continuous, clean, and abundant source of power” they’ll need, as ground antennas can be built on top of them, allowing them to receive “low cost, reliable, continuous gigawatt scale power directly.”
In the U.S., a raft of startups are focused on SBSP. John Bucknell, CEO of Virtus Solis (Troy, MI), is planning a full end-to-end service for energy suppliers. “We’ll deliver complete power plants, including the inverters, grid connection, space launch, everything. As we look like a solar farm from a construction perspective, any solar developer can stand up a SBSP ground station,” Bucknell said.
Others have more focused SBSP ideas. Cowboy Space Corp. (San Carlos, CA), for instance, formerly called Aetherflux, is planning a system to provide on-demand, beamed power to remote military bases, to populations suffering sustained power outages after natural disasters, and to datacenters in space. Mantis Space (Albuquerque, NM), aims to beam power from orbit to light-starved satellites that are eclipsed in Earth’s shadow.
On top of these private sector ventures, China, Japan and the United Kingdom are investigating SBSP technology with the aim of launching kilometer-scale satellites in the mid-2030s and beyond as a means of generating gigawatts of power to help reach net-zero-carbon targets by 2050. The 27-nation EU is also undertaking feasibility studies.
Why Use Space-Based Solar Power?
The broad idea behind most SBSP projects is to harvest solar power in outer space, rather than on Earth. Thanks to the day-night cycle, clouds, rain, and the vagaries of the seasons, even the biggest commercial solar farms sprawled across fields and deserts on Earth can only deliver intermittent power, while in space, SBSP systems are expected to deliver power continually, as long as they have technology to beam energy through Earth’s moisture-laden atmosphere.
In most SBSP architectures, the idea is that a satellite with kilometer-long solar arrays in geostationary orbit harvests gigawatts of solar energy 24/7 and transmits it, in the form of a safe, low-intensity microwave power beam, to a five-kilometer-wide ground antenna, which converts it to electricity for the grid. As microwave wavelengths are not absorbed by water, the power beam always reaches the ground antenna, whatever the weather.
Explained Space Solar’s Adlen, “These antennas are comprised of a transparent, mesh-like structure. They can be sited to enable crops to grow underneath, or allow areas to be re-wilded, or they can be sited over a terrestrial solar farm or datacenter. They take up about 40% of the land area of terrestrial solar for an equivalent energy output.”
The microwave beam, spread out over 5km, has only 25% of the power density of the midday Sun at the Equator, which SBSP proponents say presents no risk to people, animals, or vehicles passing through it.
SBSP’s Multi-Decade Technological Evolution
Asimov described the broad idea of SBSP in a 1941 short story “Reason,” but gave no clues on how it might be accomplished.
In a 1968 Science article, Peter Glaser, head of engineering sciences at Arthur D. Little (Cambridge, MA), proposed the use of a microwave power beam as the weatherproof downlink for SBSP. While actually putting it into practice was infeasible in 1968, advances in technology have yielded thinner, increasingly efficient solar cells, semiconductor microwave amplifiers, solid-state phased array transmitters, and carbon fiber spacecraft construction that make SBSP possible.
On the energy transmission front, NASA in 1975 demonstrated power beaming with a 2.4-GHz microwave signal transmitted 1.5 kilometers through air, delivering 34 kilowatts to a receiver fitted with gallium arsenide semiconductor conversion circuits. In 2021, researchers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory successfully tested conversion of solar-derived electric power to microwaves in an experiment mounted on a U.S. Space Force spacecraft.
In 2023, an experiment successfully tested microwave beam generation and beam steering in space, using a system developed by a team at Caltech using phased array antennas. Caltech’s experiment also proved that a tension-loaded ultralight carbon-fiber structure designed to support solar panels and power beaming transmitters could self-deploy in orbit.
Recent developments in self-deploying large solar panel arrays by U.S.-based spaceflight contractor Redwire also look set to make SBSP satellites a feasible orbital build, as they unfurl themselves using stored strain energy in the material, rather than power-hungry motors.
SBSP proponents appear to have the hardware they need to ship and assemble in orbit kilometer-scale solar collecting and beaming spacecraft.
On the software side, autonomous guidance, navigation, and control algorithms will keep the spacecraft tracking the Sun so solar panels remain energized, but they will also have to securely seek out and lock onto ground antennas to steer power beams to them without spilling the signal outside them, wasting energy. Said Paul Jaffe, vice-president of systems engineering at Overview Energy, “We use a ground-based beacon the size of a shipping container to tell the satellite where to point, and coarse and fine tracking loops to home in on the receiver.”
Added Jaffe, who ran the SBSP orbital tests on the U.S. Space Force’s X-37B spaceplane for the U.S. Defense Department’s Naval Research Laboratory,  “There might be a challenge in making our computing resources both extremely cheap and [space] radiation-tolerant for long periods of time, but any challenge in that area is probably negligible compared to doing the same for the photovoltaics in orbit.”
First Light for SBSP
What is the timeline for an active SBSP system? Space Solar plans to beam microwave power to the Rothera Research Station on Adelaide Island on the Antarctic Peninsula in the early 2030s. The hope is that Space Solar’s SBSP satellite, which will have 20,000 solar panel layers arranged in a helix, with a large solar reflector capping each end of a DNA-like spiral, will provide the base with a sustainable source of power, at least 200 kilowatts of electricity, possibly more.
If the Iceland installation works as planned, Space Solar will build a bigger satellite to feed a ground antenna 1.5 kilometers across with 30 megawatts of electricity for Reykjavik Energy. Both the Antarctic and Icelandic satellites will only deliver intermittent power because the elliptical orbits needed to reach their respective northern and southerly latitudes mean the satellites will only dwell over their targets for a few hours a day. Space Solar says that will be enough to charge batteries until the next orbital pass.
Overview Energy plans to beam near-infrared laser light to standard terrestrial solar farms. The company will offer power producers running conventional ground-based solar farms the ability to enable their arrays to continue to capture energy after the sun sets, since a gap in the atmosphere’s water absorption spectrum allows a small range of near-infrared wavelengths to cut through the moisture unharmed.
Cowboy Space has noticed this as well. The company is planning to beam energy from low Earth orbit SBSP satellites via near-infrared lasers to circa-10-meter-diameter ground receivers at military bases in remote areas where it is risky to deliver fuel, and also in disaster zones where hospitals, first-responder organizations, and cellphone networks need power.
Space-to-Space Energy
Earth is not the only target for SBSP. Just as Mantis Space plans to beam laser light to satellites in the dark of Earth’s shadow to keep them powered up, an infrared-laser SBSP project in the works from Volta Space Technologies is targeting the Moon. During the two-week-long lunar night, temperatures plummet to minus 130 Celsius (-202 degrees F), which can embrittle and fracture batteries and critical electronic systems. Volta is planning a constellation of SBSP satellites in lunar orbit that will beam power to warm the electronics of lunar rovers, landers, and surface science equipment to help them survive the lunar night.
During an interview on Late Night with David Letterman in October 1980, Asimov took credit for inventing space-based solar power, and hinted at a lunar offshoot: “I talked about space stations getting energy down to Earth in 1940 and I got that almost right, but I put it in Mercury’s orbit, instead of the Moon’s orbit, to get it closer to the Sun. But maybe someday we’ll do that.”
Paul Marks is a technology, aviation, and spaceflight journalist, writer, and editor based in London, U.K.

Submit an Article to CACM
CACM welcomes unsolicited submissions on topics of relevance and value to the computing community.
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© 2026 ACM 0001-0782/26/5
News
Space-Based Solar Power Is On Its Way
Architecture and Hardware
News
Testing Asimov’s Idea for Power From Space
Architecture and Hardware
News
Solar Energy Turns a New Leaf
Architecture and Hardware
News
In Space, No One Can Fix Your Sign Errors
Architecture and Hardware
Advertisement
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LLMs Make Mathematics Easier. Now Raise the Bar
AI Monitoring of Animals Gets Wild
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Utility-scale solar project costs in India could increase by around 20% over the next six to eight months, according to ICRA, as developers face higher costs for domestically sourced solar cells and key raw materials. Domestic cells currently carry a premium of about INR 5–6 per watt over imported cells, while higher freight and supply-chain costs linked to the West Asia conflict are adding pressure. The Centre has extended a limited exemption from ALMM List-II requirements for solar cells to net-metering and open-access renewable projects until December 2026. More than 150 GW of renewable projects were under construction as of June 2026, adding to the importance of equipment and transmission availability.
Representative image
Utility-scale solar project costs in India could rise by around 20% over the next six to eight months as developers face higher domestic sourcing costs, elevated raw material prices and freight pressures linked to the West Asia conflict, according to ICRA. The increase comes as India continues to expand renewable capacity, with more than 150 GW of renewable energy projects under construction as of 30 June 2026. 
A major source of cost pressure is the widening difference between imported and domestically manufactured solar cells. ICRA estimates that a module manufactured by a domestic original equipment manufacturer using imported cells costs around 16 US cents per watt, compared with about 22.5 US cents per watt when domestic cells are used. This represents a premium of roughly 6–7 US cents per watt, or around INR 5–6 per watt. 
The pricing pressure is emerging as India increases requirements for domestic sourcing of solar equipment. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) has maintained the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) List-II policy for solar photovoltaic cells, while providing a limited exemption for certain projects. Under the decision announced in July, net-metering and open-access renewable energy projects can be commissioned without ALMM List-II compliance for solar cells until 31 December 2026. 
The Centre had previously allowed this exemption for the specified segment until 31 May 2026. MNRE said the extended window was intended to support standalone solar module manufacturers with existing inventories and provide additional time for projects to transition towards sourcing cells from manufacturers included in ALMM List-II. The ministry also said domestic solar PV manufacturing remains a key focus of its efforts to build self-reliance in the sector. 
Domestic manufacturing capacity has expanded, although cell production remains considerably smaller than module capacity. ALMM-registered module manufacturing capacity increased to 215.5 GW in July 2026 from 173 GW in March, while domestic solar cell capacity stood at 31.8 GW. ICRA expects the resulting module overcapacity to contribute to consolidation, with vertically integrated manufacturers likely to have greater resilience. 
The cost increase is also emerging alongside weaker renewable project award activity. Renewable capacity awards declined from 40.6 GW in FY25 to 14.7 GW in FY26, while only 4.7 GW had been awarded in FY27 up to 10 August. Unsigned power purchase agreement capacity remained at about 40–45 GW as of April 2026. ICRA said bidding has increasingly shifted towards firm, dispatchable and round-the-clock renewable power. 
Grid constraints are another concern for project economics. ICRA estimates that about 37% of capacity at affected substations in the northern, western and southern regions is operating under temporary General Network Access, with curtailment of 30–50% during solar hours. Peak curtailment has reached 8,617 MW in the western region and 5,573 MW in the northern region. 
Storage is consequently becoming more important for renewable integration. Battery energy storage system capacity that was operational, under construction or awarded stood at around 90 GWh as of June 2026. ICRA expects India’s renewable energy generation share, including large hydro, to exceed 35% by FY30, compared with 22% in FY25. Despite near-term cost and execution pressures, the ratings agency retains a stable outlook for the renewable sector. 
Source- PIB
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Over the last 10 years, solar PV has grown at an unprecedented rate. Since 2015, global PV installations have increased thirteenfold from 51 GW to 664 GW in 2025. By the end of 2025, global solar capacity reached
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Energys Group buys two firms in lighting and solar for buildings  Stock Titan
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Injured Rishabh Pant Smashes Massive Six, Damages Solar Panel In Colombo  NDTV Sports
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India Needs Batteries to Keep Its Solar Boom Going  Bloomberg.com
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The Pulse
Steel trusses cross a working irrigation canal in Stanislaus County, and rows of solar panels sit on them like a lid.
The water underneath keeps moving, shaded from the Central Valley sun.
The electricity goes to farms and homes on either side, which was the whole plan.
The second result was not planned at all.
It is the one that matters more to the people who actually run the canal.
Sun on open water drives two processes at once. It lifts vapor off the surface, and it feeds the plants growing in the channel.
Block the light and both slow down together.
The panels intercept radiation that would otherwise warm the top few inches, so less water leaves before it reaches a field. The same shadow withholds the light algae and submerged plants need to photosynthesize, a separate mechanism with a separate payoff.
Heat and wind matter as well, and a canal running fast loses less than one standing still. But sunlight is the input both processes share, and it is the only one a canopy removes.
One structure, two effects, and nobody has to touch a valve to get the second.
The pilot put solar canopies over two stretches of Turlock Irrigation District canal, one near Hickman east of Modesto and one near Keyes. The district is an unusual host, because it runs about 250 miles of canals and sells power directly to homes and farms.
So the electricity has somewhere to go without new transmission.
Those two channels were picked to be as unlike each other as possible. One is roughly 20 feet across, the width of an alley. The other runs about 110 feet, closer to an eight lane highway, spanned by a single truss with nothing standing in the water.
The hardware varies on purpose, from that clear span down to bank mounted frames and retractable sections that slide aside. Together the arrays come to roughly one and a half megawatts, small for a power plant and large for an experiment.
Sensors went into the water under the panels and into uncovered stretches nearby, then ran continuously through an entire irrigation season, not a few afternoons. Evaporation beneath the arrays fell by 50 to 70 percent against those open reaches.
Growth of algae and aquatic weed dropped by about 85 percent, and that is the figure with an operating budget attached. Weed control is a bill an irrigation district pays every summer, in crews, in machinery, and in water a clogged channel never delivers.
Roger Bales, professor emeritus of civil and environmental engineering at the university running the science, said his team had treated the canals as a living laboratory for three years.
Building it turned an estimate into a measurement. Those are different kinds of number.
The idea began as modeling work led by a postdoctoral researcher, whose paper ran in a sustainability journal five years ago. It put the prize at about 63 billion gallons a year if all of the state’s 4,000 miles of open canal were covered, comparable to the residential needs of two million people. Then somebody built a piece of it.
Cost is what stands in the way of the rest. Ground mounted panels on flat land already compete with conventional generation, while spanning a channel means steel, custom engineering and clearance for a maintenance rig.
The district’s director of external affairs has said that gap has to be closed by the combined value of saved water, land nobody buys, and weed crews nobody sends out.
That right of way brings a grid connection already attached, the same quiet advantage Arizona canals have been testing on tribal land. The channel carries the water, and if it also carries the racking, the interconnection point is a short run away.
A report to the state from the research team is the document the district is waiting on. It decides whether Turlock builds any more of this.
Maintenance access sits on the tracking list next to generation, evaporation, water quality and weed growth. Crews have to get machinery into the channel, and a canopy that seals off its own canal is not a solution at any price.
The agency running California’s largest water system is following the same results as it weighs canopies over its own aqueduct, and floating solar in New Jersey is working through the same tangle of wildlife and access.
Scale is the honest caveat. Even the full 63 billion gallons would be a fraction of one percent of what California agriculture uses in a year, and the researcher behind the estimate has called it unrealistic to assume every mile ever gets covered.
What the canal did show is that the shade holds in moving water on a surface that was already there, with no farmland displaced and no field scraped flat to make room.
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Spoiled groceries can mean wasted money and wasted food.
Photo Credit: TikTok
For some residents in Northwest Indiana, the hardest part of a prolonged power outage is not just sitting in the dark — it is hearing that the lights may stay off for several more days.
In a recent TikTok video, content creator and small-business owner Karen (@regionwaxstudio) captured that frustration as NIPSCO customers faced the possibility of an eighth day without power.
Karen said in the video: “It is day seven, 8 p.m. here in northwest Indiana, specifically Highland, Indiana. Still no power in my home.”
In an update on Aug. 20, NIPSCO said power might not be fully restored until the 25th, according to WGN9, leaving some areas without service for more than a week. For people already trying to sort out meals, work, sleep, and transportation, an estimate like that can turn a serious outage into a crisis managed one day at a time.
Commenters from nearby communities shared similar experiences. One wrote, “Girl I’m in Highland too, and we are still without power but our neighbors across the street do … torture.” Another added, “Merrillville day 9 just begun.”
With food at home already spoiled, the creator said they chose to get pizza rather than try to cook during the outage.
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Spoiled groceries can mean wasted money and wasted food, adding another burden for households already under stress. That can be especially hard on families living paycheck to paycheck, older adults, and small-business owners whose responsibilities do not stop when the power goes out.
The creator described the emotional toll, saying, “It is stressful. It is frustrating.”
One commenter expressed that same exhaustion, writing, “I live in Highland too. And my heart drop when I saw we won’t get power until next week. I’m exhausted and depressed ughhh.”
Clear communication is one of the most important needs during a lengthy outage. Utilities can reduce some of the uncertainty by providing more localized updates, more accurate restoration windows, and clearer explanations when estimates change.
At the household level, residents can document spoiled food and other outage-related expenses, keep phones charged whenever possible, and check on neighbors who may need additional support.
Local businesses can also become informal relief hubs, whether by offering hot meals, a place to recharge devices, or simply a temporary escape from the stress at home. Karen, who runs her own wax studio, offered free brow waxes for her community. While freshly groomed eyebrows may not be considered essential, that small gesture can bring a bit of relief during stressful times. 
When Karen offered the service in the comments, one person replied, “OMG, please let me know, I will need that.” And another added, “Same, I saw that update last night and wanted to just cry, I almost lost it this weekend, it was so hot and muggy.” 
The video ends with: “But praying for a better night. I hope. I hope that it’s a blessing and a miracle that NIPSCO just magically appears like the Tooth Fairy and fixes our light.”
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
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India Needs Batteries to Keep Its Solar Boom Going  Bloomberg
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There is a correct answer, but ambient temperature is just one of several variables.
Sunlight is a solar panel’s best friend. But heat, not so much.
The most common number you will see is 77 degrees Fahrenheit. That is 25 degrees Celsius, which is the temperature of the cell when manufacturers rate panels under standard test conditions, alongside irradiance of 1,000 watts per square meter. It’s a good indicator, but it’s not a magic outdoor temperature at which your roof achieves peak output.
So yeah, cold wins, technically. The efficiency of solar cells is typically higher at lower temperatures because the voltage decreases more than the current increases with temperature. The problem is that efficiency and total electricity production are not the same. A cold panel might generate more power from the same amount of sunlight, but a hot summer day might generate more power because there might be more sunlight.
The first wrinkle is that the temperature on your weather app isn’t necessarily the temperature of the panel. A module in direct sunlight can be much hotter than the ambient air temperature, and Sandia National Laboratories, a US Department of Energy lab, models module temperature based on ambient temperature, solar irradiance, wind speed and mounting configuration.
As soon as the cells get hotter than their rated reference temperature, output begins to drop according to the panel’s temperature coefficient. There isn’t one universal 0.5 percent penalty. REC Group, a leading solar panel manufacturer, has a maximum-power temperature coefficient of -0.24 percent per degree Celsius for its current Alpha Pure-RX, while solar manufacturer Qcells lists -0.29 percent per degree Celsius for its residential Q.TRON BLK M-G2+ series. If you live in a place that’s really hot, that’s something to consider.
Nor is 77 degrees Fahrenheit “too hot” in the sense that the panel is in danger. The Q.TRON model has a continuous operating range of up to 158 degrees Fahrenheit, according to Qcells. REC lists a T98 module operating temperature of 176 degrees Fahrenheit for the Alpha Pure-RX. The Department of Energy says extreme heat can still damage cells and other module materials and shorten their operating lifetimes.
This is where the simple hot vs cold answer gets complicated. While a bright, cold day can be great for solar efficiency, clouds, snow, roof orientation, sun angle and daylight hours may be more important to the amount of electricity your system can generate.
So the best time is not necessarily 10AM to 4PM. Output generally rises as more direct sunlight reaches the panels, then falls later in the day, but an east-facing array will be different from a west-facing array. Although panels can run hotter in the summer, the longer days and often stronger solar resources can result in more total electricity being produced.
That’s also why some homeowners size a solar system above their typical electricity needs. The 20 percent rule for solar panels is based on giving a solar system some breathing room when conditions aren’t ideal.
The National Laboratory of the Rockies’ PVWatts calculator (the lab’s free online estimator) allows you to input location and system information to estimate monthly and annual production, which gives you a more specific answer than “summer” or “midday.” NLR does not specify a single best month or time of day, and it cautions that PVWatts cannot account for all site-specific variations or differentiate between higher- and lower-performing PV technologies.
Its expected production range is based on 30 years of actual weather data.

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A record-breaking 9,700 solar installations were fitted in Yorkshire and the Humber in the first half of this year, the government has said.
According to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, this represents enough energy to power the equivalent of up to 16,300 homes.
It builds on the 9,300 solar installations fitted in the same period in 2025.
David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said: "Thousands of families and businesses across Yorkshire are benefiting from solar, helping to bring down their bills, build our county's energy security and put power back into the hands of local people."
York Minster is among the landmarks to be adorned with solar technology.
Alex McCallion, director of works and precinct at the minster, said the £400,000 project was "setting an example and a planning precedent in a restricted heritage environment".
He said: "This system is guaranteed for 30 years, its payback is just under eight years which gives us 22 years of free energy."
Earlier this year, BBC News reported that the government had awarded contracts to a record supply of renewables projects, including 157 solar developments across England, Scotland and Wales.
While welcomed by climate and clean energy groups, some communities faced with large developments have opposed such schemes.
During a visit to York last week, Climate Minister Katie White said the government wanted solar farms to be part of its Clean Power mission but that did not mean "every single farm should go through".
"We need to make sure we're working together, listening to people, but land for solar is a good opportunity for the UK and for farmers," she said.
"And as we've all seen in the summer we've just had, we want to make sure we're using the sun that is there, but also protecting ourselves against future climate change, which we can all see is happening now."
The government is hoping more households will be able to cut energy bills, with plug-in solar panels due to hit shops this week.
The panels are already widely used by households across Europe, with Germany seeing about half a million new devices plugged in every year.
White said: "When the Middle East crisis hit in March we were keen to look at all the options for consumers, so we've fast-tracked a process to bring them forward to market but the number one thing we've been looking at is safety.
"We've had an independent third party look at electrical safety and our standards are going to be higher than the Germans, so as of [this] week you can go to mainstream retailers, they're going to be having these plug-in solar."
The Department for Energy estimates that a typical UK home could save up to £500 a year from installing rooftop solar panels, based on the current energy price cap.
As of June, more than 2.1 million solar installations have been recorded across the UK.
Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Council leader Sean Matthews describes the decision as an attack on Lincolnshire's countryside.
The project has been approved by the government despite opposition from local people and their MP.
The site also provided 75% of New Cross Hospital's electricity between April 2025 and March.
The site will be checked for unexploded bombs before the solar farm near Messingham can be built.
A dispute over a solar panel plan is resolved, with the complainant now a proponent for the site.
Copyright 2026 BBC. All rights reserved. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.
 

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Solar panels are extremely expensive, which is why you don’t often see this technology used on automobiles. Some cars have incorporated small solar panels onto the body panels, but large-scale use is cost prohibitive. Lightyear’s solar car with 300-mile range didn’t survive because production cost more than funding, and Sono Motors ran into the same issue. Looking to overcome cost, a team of automotive engineering grad students from Clemson University may have come up with a solar-powered car that’s actually profitable. Partnered with BMW, the Clemson University International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) created its Deep Orange 17 solar car prototype, designed to collect more solar energy than it consumes during a standard commuting day.
Clemson’s students first considered how a car is used in urban settings, factoring in sunlight conditions and commuting routines in cities such as Madrid, Mumbai, Frankfurt, and Greenville, South Carolina (where CU-ICAR is located). Nicknamed Luminetta, this prototype is able to collect 5.7kWh of energy in a single day, while the average 12-mile commute expends just 1.6 kWh. Under those modeled conditions, the car can produce enough surplus energy for an extra 31 miles of travel.
The Deep Orange 17 prototype is expected to be on display at the 2027 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), and it will also be used as a research test bed at Clemson’s CU-ICAR campus where future automotive engineering students will use it as a platform for new ideas. They may want to start with the windshield, because thanks to a new breakthrough, your windows could soon generate electricity.
The Luminetta is essentially a driving solar panel with an exterior that integrates 1,781 photovoltaic cells. German research institute Fraunhofer ISE helped develop the ingenious shingled solar system. It arranges small solar-cell strips into a shingled matrix. The strips overlap like roof shingles. They’re covered with a durable outer film that conforms to curved surfaces. It can keep collecting sun when portions of the car are shaded because the matrix lets current flow around those areas. Even the vehicle’s orange-bronze color is high-tech. Fraunhofer’s MorphoColor paint is structured to allow 95% of usable light to reach the panels. In that way, the paint is different from Mercedes’ solar paint that could lead to nearly unlimited EV range.
To produce the kind of results the Clemson team saw, they had to look beyond solar panels. Luminetta weighs 1,212 pounds. Compare that to Lightyear’s solar car, which weighed more than 3,400 pounds. The chassis mixes steel, aluminum, carbon fiber, and 3D-printed metal joints to cut weight while preserving strength. Using the boxfish as an inspiration, the team created a vehicle that looks like a pixelated video game car come to life, but it actually reduces drag. Internal upgrades included regenerative braking, intelligent torque distribution, and tightly managed drivetrain controls.

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“Our medicine was saved. Our food was saved. It was a godsend. It was amazing.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Ann Arbor, Michigan, is testing whether neighborhood-scale solar and battery systems can make blackouts less disruptive and electric bills less painful.
In Bryant, a neighborhood on the city’s southeast side, residents can have the equipment installed at no upfront cost and use it for backup power and lower bills.
Resident Bruce Schauer said he enrolled as soon as he got the chance, a decision that affects the four generations of people living in his home. As Marketplace reported, the Ann Arbor Sustainable Energy Utility is putting rooftop solar panels and batteries on homes in Bryant.
Power interruptions have been a familiar problem for Schauer’s family. Schauer told Marketplace that, “About a year ago, we had a blackout here, and I lost a freezer full of meat and a refrigerator full of meat.” During a later two-day outage tied to a summer heat wave, the home’s battery kept the power on, protecting refrigerated medicine and food.
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To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
April Adkins, Bruce’s granddaughter, told the outlet that “our medicine was saved. Our food was saved. It was a godsend. It was amazing.”
The program’s setup is not based on ownership. The city retains ownership of the equipment, while participating households pay a service fee of about $600 per year. Marketplace also reported that most of the residents enrolled in the program are low-income, and many are considered energy-burdened, meaning utility bills can consume as much as a third of household income.
Yet, Shoshannah Lenski, executive director of the Ann Arbor Sustainable Energy Utility, said that this model still lowers electric bills by roughly $700 to $1,000 annually, per Marketplace, making it financially worthwhile and helpful when the power does go out.
For homeowners outside Ann Arbor, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. You can explore EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes. Those who do save up to $10,000 on their solar projects.
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Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers that can help you save as much as $10k on installation.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best local options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Beyond lowering costs, neighborhood solar and battery systems are helping homes stay powered during storms or larger grid failures while also reducing pressure on the broader electric system.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. It can also keep essentials like refrigerators, lights, and medical supplies running when the wider grid fails. 
Homeowners can also explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
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Enviromena, the UK-based independent power producer, has begun construction at the 68MWp Longpasture solar farm in County Durham and launched a £100,000 community benefit fund to support local groups and initiatives.
The start of construction at Enviromena’s second largest UK project to date marks a major milestone for Longpasture, which Enviromena acquired from Bluefield Solar and Lightrock Power last summer. Energisation of the project is targeted in Autumn 2027
Once energised Longpasture will become one of the largest operational solar farms in the north of England and will provide homegrown renewable electricity, helping to reduce the UK’s reliance on imported fossil fuels while strengthening energy security. The solar farm is expected to generate enough clean electricity to power around 14,000 homes each year.
In addition, the project features several ecological enhancements creating significant benefits for nature alongside the generation of clean energy.
The £100,000 community benefit fund will be delivered in two parts. £80,000 will be administered by Point North, the official community foundation for County Durham and Tees Valley, through an application process open to local groups. A further £20,000 will support smaller groups and grassroots initiatives, including sports clubs across the North East, with some funding already allocated.
Lee Adams, Chief Commercial Officer at Enviromena, said, “We want the benefits of Longpasture to extend well beyond the clean electricity it will generate and the community fund will provide direct support to organisations and grassroots groups doing important work locally.
“Longpasture will play its part in delivering more homegrown renewable energy, strengthening energy security and supporting the transition to a cleaner energy system, while creating a lasting positive legacy for the community around the site.”
Marius Biedka, Senior Investment Manager at Bluefield, said, “We are delighted to see Bluefield’s commitment to the community fund being brought to life by Enviromena. Successful infrastructure is about more than delivering essential renewable energy assets, it’s also about helping communities thrive. We look forward to seeing the opportunities the fund will create for local organisations, projects and residents.”
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Zelestra first to file renewable project under Colombia’s new government  BNamericas
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Global Standards: How China Leading Solar Light Tower Manufacturer RiteVolt Powers Remote Industrial Sites  EIN News
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Australian investment firm Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners has advanced its plans to develop a polysilicon production facility in the Townsville area of Queensland, Australia.
The company signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Townsville City Council via its subsidiary, Solquartz, to “advance” the Northern Quartz Campus at the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Precinct. The project will process quarts into “higher value silicon products” for solar PV and semiconductors. The company did not specify the annual production capacity for the site.
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The MOU “establishes a pathway to finalise a Project Development and Infrastructure Agreement by the end of the year,” the City of Townsville said. The site is earmarked to be operational by 2030, having been identified as a “Prescribed Project” by the Queensland state government and a “Major Project” by the Australian government, in acknowledgement of its significance to the regional and national economies.
In addition to the planned polysilicon production facility, the Lansdown Eco-Industrial Project will feature a long-duration battery energy storage system (BESS) developed by Quinbrook. The Supernode North BESS is “intended to provide reliable, flexible power to support energy-intensive, low-carbon manufacturing,” the City authority said.
“The Northern Quartz Campus, Supernode North and our renewable energy projects are complementary investments that can help establish Townsville and North Queensland as a hub for energy-intensive advanced manufacturing,” said Quinbrook senior vice president Vignesh Bandi.
“We see a compelling opportunity to combine Queensland’s renewable energy and natural resources to build more of the value chain here at home and manufacture higher-value products for domestic and global markets,” Bandi continued.
Quinbrook first voiced its plans for a polysilicon production facility near Townsville in 2023, having won a council-run tender process that awarded a 200-hectare plot.
Earlier this year, a study from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) said that Australia could establish a 50,000MT annual polysilicon production base with the potential to export to other markets in the next decade. The Australian Silicon (AusSi) Study published in May focused on the Hunter Energy Hub in New South Wales and found that AU$2.5 billion – AU$3.5 billion of capital expenditure could enable a credible facility.
The study relied on a potential growth in demand for non-Chinese polysilicon in the coming years, to meet growing solar PV demand and support supply resilience measures in the US, EU and India. China currently dominates global polysilicon supply and major producers have massive inventories in excess of current demand; however, the report suggests that by 2040 policy changes may result in a shortfall in supply for non-Chinese polysilicon.

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MPA Completes 780,000 kWh Solar Power System At Singapore’s Marina South Pier  SolarQuarter
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Covering the business and politics of space
SALT LAKE CITY — A startup has developed large deployable structures that could enable small satellites to generate large amounts of power.
Beyond Reach Technologies announced Aug. 24 its Flarewing line of rigid deployable structures. Those structures can be used to mount solar panels, enabling satellites to carry large arrays that can be tightly stowed for launch.
The Flarewing-S, the smallest of the three configurations of the product, has dimensions of 1 x 0.25 x 0.08 meters when stowed but deploys to provide a surface area of 30 square meters. That can provide between five and eight kilowatts of power, depending on the type of solar cells used. The largest, Flarewing-L, has dimensions of 6 x 0.29 x 0.13 meters when stowed but deploys to provide a surface area of 625 square meters, generating up to 200 kilowatts of power.
The concept for Flarewing has its roots in a NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts, or NIAC, study that co-founder and Chief Executive Mitch Fogelson worked on while a graduate student at Carnegie Mellon University. The NIAC study examined how to deploy kilometer-scale structures on a single launch.
That study led to the development of a truss design that stows flat but pops up into a triangular shape when deployed. A key aspect of the design is the high stiffness of the deployed structure, which reduces bending modes that can be a problem for pointing accuracy and during maneuvers.
“I think what’s unique about our structure is as it deploys out, it grows and it gets stiffer,” said Pele Collins, co-founder and chief technology officer of the company, in an interview.
The deployable structure, he added, also supports changes in satellite design as companies optimize for SpaceX’s Starship and its slot-shaped payload dispenser. “People are going from building giant boxes to more like the SpaceX Starlink style,” he said.
The deployable structures don’t require composite materials and can be made of aluminum and “a variety of novel joints,” said Fogelson. “We can manufacture at scale and produce at scale to support the hundreds of thousands of satellites that some of these companies are proposing over the next five years.”
Beyond Reach went through the Y Combinator accelerator program earlier this year and generated $350 million in letters of intent for using its structures for power generation and heat dissipation.
“It was everything from orbital data centers and commercial space stations to in-space manufacturing and satellite defense,” he said.
The company, focusing for now on deployable structures for solar arrays, has two contracts with undisclosed customers doing what he called “deeper investigations” into the technology. It has raised a little more than $11 million to date, including a $10 million seed round it announced in July.
Beyond Reach has 14 people working in a 16,000-square-foot facility in Brooklyn, New York. “We have a lot of strong opinions about bringing aerospace to the Northeast and the amazing talent and capabilities that the Northeast offers as a new aerospace hub,” Fogelson said of the company’s decision to locate in New York.
Fogelson and Collins met as undergraduates at the University of Pennsylvania. “What we see a lot, and what I experienced myself, is that if you’re a mechanical engineer and you want to work in aerospace and go to school in the Northeast, you end up having to move west because that’s where the jobs are,” said Collins, who worked at SpaceX for seven years on the Dragon spacecraft’s parachute system before co-founding Beyond Reach.
Basing the company in Brooklyn, they said, is a deliberate effort to help build up a space industry in the region and allow engineers who go to school in the region to stay there after graduation. While that industry is currently small, they said they can tap into an extensive network of machine shops and suppliers in the area to help them. The company is based in Industry City, a manufacturing hub that offers room for significant expansion.
“When we’re thinking about building the biggest structures,” Collins added, “New York City is the place for big structures.”

Jeff Foust writes about space policy, commercial space, and related topics for SpaceNews. He earned a Ph.D. in planetary sciences from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree with honors in geophysics and planetary science… More by Jeff Foust
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The Indian solar sector is at a crucial juncture. From the rapid pace of scaling up solar capacity, it is now all about sustainability in building a value proposition that offers quality, reliability and longevity. Despite having some of the most ambitious renewable energy targets in the world, the future growth of the Indian solar sector would be about manufacturing prowess, dependable execution and resilient supply chains rather than MWs added per year.
The figures speak for themselves. India has now become the third-largest solar market in the world, adding an unprecedented capacity of 44.6 GW in FY26, taking total installed solar capacity to nearly 150 GW as of March 2026. The government has set a target of 500 GW of non-fossil fuel power by 2030 and of all forms of renewable energy, it is now only solar energy that is going to make the biggest contribution.
India has also emerged as a major solar manufacturing hub. The country has scaled up domestic solar module manufacturing capacity from just 3 GW a decade ago to over 200 GW today, while solar cell manufacturing stands at approximately 32 GW. According to the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM), module manufacturing capacity under certification has crossed around 217 GW, supported by PLI funding, basic customs duty, and localisation policy. As of 2025 alone, India has added significant new module and cell manufacturing capacity, with total solar cell capacity projected to rise to around 100 GW and module capacity expected to exceed 165 GW by December 2027.
Such success needs to be appreciated, yet manufacturing capacity alone does not translate into a healthy solar ecosystem. The most difficult part in the solar industry is making sure that all the solar assets installed in recent times will continue to perform optimally for the next 25 years. There is no doubt that price-led procurement has made a big contribution in accelerating the adoption of solar power, but there is too much emphasis on minimizing the upfront cost, thus resulting in poor lifecycle performance of the solar systems.
That is exactly why the next playbook for the industry needs to be focused on quality. Initiatives by the government are moving along these lines. ALMM being expanded to include ingots and wafers apart from modules and cells shows the conscious strategy to add more value domestically, increase traceability, and improve quality all along the manufacturing chain. The requirement of compulsory domestic manufacturing of solar cells from June 2026 is yet another landmark initiative in making the chain self-reliant and resilient.
Quality is not confined only within the factory premises. According to industry estimates, poor installations continue to be one of the major reasons behind sub-standard performance of solar assets. Design flaws, wrong cable size, mounting issues, improper commissioning, and lack of regular maintenance despite high-quality materials can lower plant efficiency. As rooftop solar plants rise in numbers under the PM Surya Ghar scheme, India’s demand for qualified installers, trained technicians, and standard EPC services will rise manifold.
It has become equally important from the perspective of the investor as well. In today’s world, financial companies have started looking at projects not on the basis of project cost but the long-term energy generation capacity, operational reliability, and guarantee-based bankability. There is a demand for increased transparency through digital monitoring technologies which can help track energy generation, identify performance deterioration, and provide predictive maintenance.
Thus, digitalisation emerges as the new frontier of competition in the solar industry. The use of artificial intelligence (AI) in monitoring, remote diagnostics, predictive maintenance, and intelligent asset management can increase the plant availability and reduce operation costs. Those companies which will be able to leverage their high-quality hardware with life cycle management through data will build more trust and profits among the customers.
Another crucial aspect needing urgent attention is the upstream manufacturing process. Although module manufacturing has scaled up rapidly, yet India still depends on imports for vital inputs like polysilicon, wafers, and certain specialized parts. Recent policy decisions to encourage local manufacturing of these products are highly significant – both from economic as well as national energy security perspectives.
The importance of having a more resilient solar ecosystem cannot be understated, especially in the context of increasing electricity demand in India. India’s peak power demand is set to hit 300 GW, thanks to rapid industrialization, electric vehicles, increased air conditioning demand and growth of data centers. Satisfying this demand in a sustainable manner would need not just an increase in solar capacity, but also a reliable production mechanism backed up by good manufacturing, storage, grid infrastructure and operations.
India has already shown its capability of deploying solar in volumes at an unprecedented rate. What remains to be seen now is whether this development would be based on quality engineering apart from just low-cost advantage. Success in the coming decade will depend upon which companies focus on engineering excellence instead of volume advantage alone.
The nation’s ambition toward clean energy is too big to be gauged simply in terms of gigawatt-hours installed. It needs to be gauged also in terms of uptime, consumer confidence, efficiency, and asset life. While India has succeeded in creating scale in its solar industry, it needs to create trust next. This will change India from being a fast growing solar market into a highly dependable solar ecosystem.

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Norwegian independent power producer (IPP) Scatec has reported quarter-on-quarter growth in revenue and operational solar PV capacity in its latest financial results.
The company’s Q2 2026 results include total revenues of US$245.3 million (NOK2.2 billion), an increase from US$176 million in the first quarter of this year, but down from the US$350 million reported in the fourth quarter of last year. Expansion of operational renewable energy capacity has become a priority for the company, which brought online the second and final phase of its flagship Obelisk solar-plus-storage project in Egypt earlier this month, and started commercial operations at solar PV projects in Brazil and Tunisia earlier this year.
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As a result, the contribution of the company’s development and construction work to its total revenues has increased considerably, reaching US$132.1 million in the second quarter of this year, almost double the US$74.6 million reported in the first quarter of this year. Development and construction revenues also accounted for more than half of total revenue in the most recent quarter.
The graph above shows how Scatec’s revenue began to improve in the second quarter of this year, as the company’s total operational solar PV and hydropower capacity has increased consistently. In its report accompanying its financial statements, Scatec attributed the growth in revenues to “construction revenues of NOK255 million (US$27.4 million) related to Scatec’s Joint venture in South Africa, the Lyra Energy 255MW Thakadu project”, and that “revenue growth was further supported by new projects commencing operation”.
This increase in the second quarter does not include the additional capacity brought online at the Obelisk project, which will add a further 1.1GW of solar PV capacity to this total.
Scatec also announced today that it has issued a US$107.3 million bond to “refinance Scatec’s most expensive corporate debt”. Between the first and second quarters of this year, the company reduced its gross corporate interest-bearing debt from US$826.4 million to US$686.9 million.
The uptick in operational renewable energy capacity and the strong financial performance from development and construction work means that Scatec has reaffirmed its forecasts made earlier this year. The company expects power production to reach 5.05-5.35TWh for the full year and proportionate earnings from power production to reach US$386.4-418.6 million, both forecasts that were made in the first quarter of this year.
“We delivered a solid second quarter with continued good progress across our construction portfolio and strong financials from our growing asset base,” said Scatec CEO Terje Ilskog. “New projects are contributing meaningfully to production and revenues, and we remain on track to deliver on our full-year targets.”

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Homeowners installing residential solar or battery storage will pay $225 to their utility.
Photo Credit: iStock
Massachusetts is set to curb one of the most aggravating costs in home solar: an unexpected utility fee that has sometimes added more than $10,000 to a project.
A newly approved cost-sharing plan, supporters say, should make rooftop systems easier for many households to afford and easier to budget for.
According to CommonWealth Beacon, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities finalized the plan. For some homeowners, it is expected to significantly reduce surprise interconnection expenses.
Previously, a homeowner seeking to hook up solar panels could be charged for a transformer upgrade if the added power would push nearby equipment beyond its capacity. Even though that equipment often served multiple homes or businesses, the bill could still climb into the thousands.
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
That arrangement also made timing a major factor: If one neighbor had already used most of a transformer’s remaining room by installing solar, the next person could be stuck paying the full upgrade cost.
Going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy over time. Homeowners considering the switch can explore EnergySage to get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
Massachusetts has a lot riding on the policy. Electricity rates in the state are roughly twice the national average, and officials are trying to expand clean energy while also meeting climate goals. But as CommonWealth Beacon reported, the state has been falling behind on new solar additions and on its 2028 target of 10 gigawatts.
CommonWealth Beacon reported that the problem affects about 3% of smaller solar additions in the Bay State. One homeowner, Abe Walters of Bellingham, lives in an environmental justice community and was hit with a $12,000 transformer-upgrade charge after securing financing and moving through other parts of the solar process.
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James Manzer, regional vice president of ReVision Energy, said those surprise charges can be highly disruptive for both customers and installers: “And you may need to tell the customer, ‘Oh hey, by the way, we need to upgrade your transformer, and that’s $7,500 extra. This is your new return on investment.'”
Rather than leaving those costs up to chance, the new system sets a standard fee. Homeowners installing residential solar or battery storage will pay $225 to their utility, and that pooled money will cover grid-related costs up to $10,000 for Eversource and National Grid customers and up to $1,450 for Unitil customers.
Supporters say the new approach should be fairer and allow more projects to move ahead. Brendan Moss, a spokesperson for National Grid, said the policy will “create a more predictable, transparent, and equitable path to interconnection.”
For homeowners weighing solar, EnergySage’s free services can also help take some of the guesswork out of the process. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, along with details on solar incentives in each state, helping readers find the best price for rooftop panels and access available savings.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. Homeowners interested in backup power can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
Department of Public Utilities Commissioner Staci Rubin said the change is intended to remove a cost hurdle that can keep people from lowering their bills and taking part in the clean energy transition: “People who are eager to help participate and contribute to the clean energy transition can do so without these major cost barriers on the interconnection side.”
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Tesla has officially ended its Solar Roof project six years after predicting it would be installing 1,000 units per week. The most the company ever installed, at its absolute peak, was 32.
Indeed, it’s only installed 3,000 in total. For context, if the company had achieved Elon Musk’s 1,000 per week goal, it should have installed around 345,000 solar roofs by now.
There was no press release or regulatory filing that accompanied the shutdown. Journalists simply noticed that the webpage, tesla.com/solarroof, now redirects to a separate solar panels webpage.
Solar Roof has also disappeared from the Tesla Energy menu.
One source said Tesla had concluded an internal review that the product was “not financially viable.”
Below is a timeline of the company, from its early days and $2.6 billion acquisition, through an incredible series of government subsidies, litigation, and its final chapter this month.
Read more: Tesla Diner’s struggles accelerate as chef speeds away
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Solar power is a great tool that homeowners can use to supplement utility costs or in some cases even power their entire home, but, for the most part, this source of clean energy has not been available to renters. Renting comes with rules that prevent tenants from modifying a home or apartment, and even if that weren’t the case, the cost to add solar panels on a property you do not own didn’t make sense. But that is changing.
Unlike relying on giant solar panels that are placed on the roof like ones typically seen on homes, there are now portable solar power stations to take advantage of the benefits solar provides without having to modify the building. This includes portable plug-and-play panels, balcony-mounted arrays, and solar generator kits. It’s important to note that not all states allow solar power to be used, so make sure it is legal to run solar power in the state you reside in before you invest in a system.
While there are portable power stations that punch above their price bracket, expect a larger generator to cost a bit more. The Anker Solix F3800 portable solar power station is one such option, providing 3,840Wh of power for around $1,999. Make sure to get a solar panel for it as well so you can charge it. A 400W solar panel with the portable charger will cost around $2,399, again depending on where you look. These prices were on Amazon at the time of writing.
There also is the EcoFlow Delta Pro 3. It includes 4,096Wh, but has been listed at nearly $3,700 on sites like Amazon. Both are powerful enough to keep the lights on, run ceiling fans, power the internet, and even keep the fridge running. That’s enough to get you through a storm with several hours of use before needing to recharge. Keep the larger stuff on a bigger portable charger and smaller devices you can power like laptops on smaller portable stations.
Both portable power stations include several connections for devices and appliances. Once charged, all you need to do is plug in the appliances you need and then turn it on to power them. The portable solar power stations listed are just a few examples as there are several other options available. It’s worth taking the time to research what works best for you and if it’s legal to use where you live.
Whether or not a portable solar power station can save you money depends on how you use it, but the most effective way is to store the solar energy and use it during peak hours. The savings vary by region and it may take a while for the savings to offset the upfront cost of the unit, but you will notice a difference in your electric bill. The biggest factor, of course, depends on your specific electricity rates.
To cut down on your monthly bill, you could intermittently swap between electricity and a portable solar power station. You could also see which devices draw the most power and when they do so, then use the solar station to offset that cost strategically. You may even want to invest in a large power bank and a solar charger to further offset your energy costs. A portable station may be expensive, but can save you money in the long run as you don’t need to rely on using the power provided by a service provider, not to mention how beneficial it can be in case of an emergency due to a power outage.
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The U.S. solar industry is still assessing the impact of the Section 232 tariffs on polysilicon and its derivatives, according to a report from Solar Power World. The tariffs, set to take effect on December 4, 2026, impose a general 15% duty on imported silicon wafers, cells, and finished panels, along with minimum import prices on polysilicon and related materials.
Jim Wood, CEO of SEG Solar, a module assembler with two Texas factories and a third under construction, expressed concern that panels will become more expensive, noting that his company is currently quoting prices significantly higher than a month ago. He described the situation as negative for U.S. module makers without domestic cell production, saying it makes it harder to compete against imported modules and feels like a no-win situation for those who have already invested in U.S. module factories.
The tariffs are intended to encourage domestic manufacturing by setting floor prices and adding duties on imports, but many panel manufacturers point out that they also face higher costs for upstream components needed to produce solar panels. This pushes domestic panel prices higher, potentially making them more expensive than foreign panels at the minimum import price of 38 cents per watt.
Manufacturing incentives in recent policies have helped the U.S. solar panel industry grow from megawatts of capacity to over 70 gigawatts annually in just five years. However, upstream production of silicon ingots, wafers, and cells has been slower to develop, with only about 4 gigawatts of cell manufacturing currently available domestically.
Alex Zhu, CEO of ES Foundry, which operates a 3-gigawatt cell factory in South Carolina, also sees downsides to the tariffs. He noted that his company, as a smaller player, faces challenges because the economics favor integrated facilities. According to his calculations, the minimum import price on wafers at $100 per kilogram, plus the 15% tariff, brings his wafer costs to about 17 cents per watt, while the minimum import price on finished cells is 22 cents per watt. This leaves only 5 cents per watt as margin, which he says is insufficient to sell in the U.S. market, even with the 4 cents per watt manufacturing tax incentive (45X) for cell companies.
Zhu indicated that an integrated company producing its own cells for its own modules could fare better, as the final panel would only compete with the 38 cents per watt minimum import price and qualify for the higher 7 cents per watt 45X credit. He said that while a module company could cover costs and earn a profit, a cell company would lose money, prompting his company to consider moving into module production.
The possibility of government aid for domestic manufacturers remains uncertain. President Donald Trump has suggested that companies investing in building, expanding, or refurbishing facilities could receive incentives such as tariff breaks or additional production tax credits. However, Zhu noted that many details are still unclear, including whether existing investments would qualify or if incentives would only apply to new investments.
SEG Solar is also considering building a cell factory in the U.S., with Wood saying the need feels even more important now. He expressed hope for more clarity on how to negotiate with the Commerce Department and for helpful carveouts.
For project developers, the tariffs add another layer of complexity. Justin Johnson, CEO of Arevon, described the tariffs as a negative overall because they increase module prices. He said his company already contracts with domestic producers like First Solar to ensure supply, viewing U.S. manufacturing as a hedge against supply disruptions, even if project economics are less favorable on paper.
Despite the tariffs, domestic modules were already being purchased before they took effect. Both SEG Solar and ES Foundry report being sold out through next year. Seth Adams, senior VP of EPC at Standard Solar, said the tariffs will push procurement strategies to focus less on cost and speed and more on long-term bankability and overall project economics.
The full impact of the tariffs may not be felt for some time. Adams estimated that commercial market effects could appear within six months, while Johnson said utility-scale projects might not see effects for up to two years. He noted that projects with 2029 commercial operation dates are currently stalled as the industry waits for clarity.
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Enviromena starts Longpasture solar construction  reNEWS
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https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/electrical-performance-measurements-photovoltaics-and-wide-band-gap-semiconductors
A significant source of generated power for residential, commercial and small-system applications today are supplied by solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. PV offers a great choice for powering needs of small or large systems due to ease of integration, reliability, long safety track record and significantly reduced costs in recent years. Growth of PV, especially for space and internet-of-things (IoT) power applications requires new measurement scales and characterization methods. Furthermore, semiconductors for power applications, such as rectifiers, inverters, and voltage converters require more testing and characterization to assess their reliability in critical applications such as microinverters, traction motors [1] and artificial intelligence (AI) servers. Recently, we created a PV calibration service to help aid industry in performing SI-traceable low-uncertainty electrical performance measurements of photovoltaic cells and modules. Relying on lessons learned from this measurement service, we will pursue developing other measurement services and will participate on standard committees to help craft new standards on PV characterization, particularly under non-standard reporting conditions. In addition to maintaining and providing this measurement service, research work will focus on defect-related characterization of both PV and semiconductor materials for power electronics applications. A variety of novel characterization methods, including luminescence imaging techniques on materials such as perovskites, silicon carbide (SiC), and gallium nitride (GaN) will be deployed for this purpose. What will be learned from these measurements can be applied to defect metrology for all sorts of semiconductors of the future and will be important for understanding reliability issues in these materials.  
A NIST-fabricated/calibrated reference photovoltaic device (SRI 6014)
Objective 
To develop or improve the electrical and optical measurement science of photovoltaic and power semiconductor materials and devices by: (1) providing a calibration service to allow industry and academia to accurately assess device performance under a range of operating conditions, (2) exploring the impact of defects in semiconductors using the novel techniques of electroluminescence and photoluminescence with two world-class NIST hyperspectral imagers, and (3) investigating performance and reliability of power electronics systems based on new wide bandgap semiconductors. 
Technical Idea
To improve and implement state-of-the-art methods for characterizing power electronics components and PV cells and modules. The focus is to understand the role of defects on overall device performance, understand device reliability, and develop standard reference instruments, measurement services and new standards for the latest challenges in this field. NIST has been successful in developing a variety of advanced opto-electronic characterization techniques that have led to offering the PV SRI 6014 (see  NIST SRI 6014.) and related measurement services. More recent technical work is related to advanced electrical characterization, and novel hyperspectral imaging techniques such as electroluminescence and photoluminescence. These techniques allow for visualization of the location and extent of electronic-grade defects within the semiconductor active layer in semiconductor devices and determine the nature and impact of their presence. Therefore, this project offers both measurement services to NIST customers and high-quality, high-impact journal articles and other publications to advance the current knowledge in these areas.
Research Plan
The PV SRI and calibration service continues to grow and generate interest in the community, particularly in the new areas of indoor photovoltaics and space PV. We offer this calibration service by maintaining the measurement systems, performing regular calibrations of equipment, and publicizing the NIST PV reference cells to a greater degree, highlighting the great selection of reference PV materials that are now available for customers. For indoor PV, further work can be done in standards and codes, particularly in tandem with external collaborators. A recently approved IEC standard has been shown to be inadequate and deficient in many ways [2], and we would like to continue working with several collaborators in authoring papers and reports that outline these deficiencies and propose improved solutions. We have had recent dialogues with other national metrology institutes, discussing ways we can work together to improve measurement protocols or standards, and we will pursue some of these topics in FY26. Also, at least one interlab-comparison will be organized and conducted with an international partner. 
In FY 20, our new hyperspectral imaging system was used extensively for the first time to measure PV luminescence data on (mostly) multijunction solar cells in electroluminescence mode. The results of these early measurements were encouraging, and we performed baseline calibration measurements to obtain absolute electroluminescence data. In FYs 21 through 24, we focused on performing extensive electroluminescence and photoluminescence measurements using the hyperspectral imager on a variety of PV materials including GaAs and CdTe PV films or devices. With the delivery of a new optical cryostat in FY 21, we have been able to carry out these measurements as a function of temperature down to 77 K using liquid nitrogen. Measurements at such low temperatures have revealed novel, previously unexplored phenomena in some devices that could be important for understanding reliability issues for these materials in cold conditions such as deployment in space satellites. We intend to continue these temperature-dependent measurements into FY26 with new perovskite solar cells provided to us by two important collaborators, the University of Toledo and the Korea Research Institute of Chemical Technology. These new measurements will increase our scientific understanding of defects and shunts in these materials and will shed light on charge carrier transport phenomena in these devices.
Another research topic where electroluminescence imaging is important for understanding of defects, local damage, and failure modes in materials is tied to a study started in FY 25 on field-aged and/or damaged photovoltaic modules. We obtained several 10-year-old, hail-damaged PV modules from a local field to build a database of the electroluminescence imaging and full electrical characterization of these modules. In FY26, we intend to continue to build this database and work on modeling and image analysis techniques to develop a quantitative picture of degradation and failure modes with these and other aged modules. The goal of this study is to inform life cycle analysis models as it relates to longevity and reliability of these products in the market. 
In FY24 and 25, we designed and built an apparatus for testing and characterization of power semiconductor transistors and diodes using a pulsed, high-power current-voltage setup. We also designed and built an inverter power module for testing of DC power to AC power conversion. Our plan in FY26 is to further automate our measurement setup and build additional monitoring and data acquisition channels. Also, we will build new circuitry for reliability testing of individual transistors under pulsed operating conditions and characterize failure modes. The goal of this work is to obtain a better understanding of failure mechanisms inside these devices by collaborating with other NIST researchers and explore whether we can correlate electrical characterization with materials characterization and modeling.
REFERENCES:
[1] Definition of a traction motor 
[2] For example, see this recent work
Building Integrated Photovoltaic Testbed
Mobile Solar Tracker Facility
Roof Photovoltaic Test Facility 
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European Energy has commenced construction of an AC-coupled 40 MW / 80 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) intended to unlock the full potential of its Mokoan Solar Farm near Winton in northern Victoria.
The 58 MW solar farm has been fully operational since early last year, generating approximately 113 GWh of electricity annually.
Catriona McLeod, managing director for European Energy in Australia, said the two-hour BESS, which will share the same grid connection as the solar farm, is expected to commence operations by the middle of next year, adding that battery energy storage is a key element of the company’s development strategy.
“Batteries are crucial for EE and the whole industry,” she said. “They will truly unlock the full potential of wind and solar and provide more renewable energy when it’s needed most.”
“We’ll be doing a lot in this space in the back end of 2026 and into 2027 so there are plenty more announcements to come.”
Financial close on the battery project was achieved last month after German lender Deutsche Bank provided a non-recourse package to refinance the existing debt on the solar farm and to support construction and operation of the battery.
The progress on the Mokoan battery project follows European Energy’s recent announcement of financial close for the Winton North Solar Farm with battery project.
Both the Winton North and Mokoan solar farms are backed by a power purchase agreement (PPA) with global technology provider Amazon Web Services.
 European Energy Australia currently has a renewable energy pipeline of approximately 10 GW, with projects at various stages from early investigation through to fully operational. 
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Austria plans to reshape its solar PV subsidies from 2027, with greater emphasis on storage and EMS 
A ministry-commissioned study sees up to 8 GW of useful market-oriented battery capacity by 2030 
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said storage growth will depend not only on financial support but also on network charges and regulatory conditions 
Austria has announced its ‘storage offensive’ as rising solar generation creates a growing gap between cheap midday electricity and more expensive evening power. The government plans to put greater emphasis on batteries, energy management systems (EMS) and other storage options as part of a broader shift in its energy policy.  
High temperatures, low precipitation and strong solar PV generation have put pressure on the power system, according to the Ministry of Economic Affairs. In the summer of 2026, while hydropower output dropped, solar PV production has been gaining ground and regularly reached its daily peak around noon. 
The ministry pointed to data from a recent Saturday, August 15, 2026, when Austria recorded 120.1 GWh of electricity consumption and 117.8 GWh of generation. About 30% of generation came from solar PV as its output reached 4.3 GW around midday, while the country’s daily load peaked at 6.1 GW in the evening, when PV generation had almost disappeared. 
The difference was also reflected in wholesale prices. Between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m., the average wholesale electricity price was €14/MWh, compared with about €180/MWh during the evening. 
Austria’s Minister of Economy, Wolfgang Hattmannsdorfer, said the focus should therefore be on storing low-cost electricity when solar generation is high and making it available later in the day, during ‘more expensive evening hours’. 
The ministry has outlined the following measures under the storage offensive: 
A new PV support scheme with a stronger focus on storage 
Inclusion of storage infrastructure in the new grid infrastructure plan 
Faster approval procedures for battery storage projects under the Renewable Energy Expansion Acceleration Act (EABG) 
A dedicated support program for smart EMS for households and businesses
The government also plans to change the country’s PV support system from 2027. Under the proposed reform, the Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) investment subsidy would no longer operate on a first-come, first-served basis. Applications could instead be submitted after installation and invoicing. 
Broad support for conventional small-scale PV systems would also be phased out, and focus would shift toward EMS and smart storage designed to increase self-consumption and reduce pressure on the grid. 
Storage could also be supported when added to existing PV systems, provided it is combined with an EMS. This would allow storage to be added without installing a new PV system. 
Some forms of PV would remain eligible for support, according to the ministry, including building-integrated PV (BIPV), agrivoltaics, parking-lot canopies, floating PV, and PV installed on noise barriers. The new funding approach will continue to include a bonus for projects that use European production for key components. 
A storage study commissioned by the ministry estimates that up to 8 GW of market-oriented battery capacity could be economically useful in Austria by 2030. Depending on the scenario, additional batteries could lower wholesale electricity prices by up to €2/MWh in 2030, the study found. 
The ministry said that, based on a half-year electricity consumption of about 34 TWh, this could represent savings of up to €68 million for H1 2026. Austria currently has more than 3.2 GWh of installed battery storage, according to industry forecasts. Most of the systems have storage capacity below 50 kWh. The country also has 6.2 GW of installed pumped-storage capacity. 
The ministry added that storage growth will depend not only on financial support but also on network charges and regulatory conditions. It called for a review of the number and design of criteria proposed by E-Control for system-supporting storage. It said the rules should be broad and practical enough to avoid slowing storage deployment. 
Hattmannsdorfer said, “Our goal is clear: to make affordable, locally produced electricity available when we need it. For this, we need more intelligent storage solutions – from household units to large-scale storage facilities. It’s unacceptable that we have a significant economic need for storage while simultaneously hindering its development with overly restrictive regulations. E – Control needs to tighten its rules here.” 
Lawmakers from Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ), Axel Kassegger and Paul Hammerl, criticized the government’s storage offensive, saying the measures largely repeat earlier proposals. 
Austrian Photovoltaic & Battery Association (PV&B Austria) welcomed the storage push but urged the government to move quickly from announcements to implementation, particularly by clarifying the planned 2027 funding framework. 
“From the association’s perspective, simply changing the funding structure isn’t enough. Discussions about tax breaks must continue. E-Control is also called upon to create appropriate, practical framework conditions for electricity storage. And grid operators must also integrate electricity storage more effectively into their grid development plans in the future,” said Vera Immitzer of PV&B Austria. 
TaiyangNews 2024

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The global solar PV manufacturing landscape is evolving rapidly, with technology roadmaps diverging across regions. While China advances beyond first-generation TOPCon into back-contact (BC) and hybrid architectures, hubs like India, Europe, and North America are balancing TOPCon expansion, HJT, and tandem concepts.
To help you navigate these shifts, TaiyangNews is hosting the Cell & Module Production Equipment & Processing Materials Conference, bringing together top equipment manufacturers, material suppliers, and PV makers.
Markus Fischer, the Steering Committee Chair of ITRPV, will elaborate on the latest trends in c-Si PV technology discussed in the ITRPV 17^th edition.
The virtual conference is scheduled for tomorrow, August 25, 2026, from 09:30 to 13:00 CEST. Register for free here.
Sungrow subsidiary Sungrow Renewables has developed and commissioned a 200 MW/400 MWh energy storage plant in Hefei, Anhui Province. The facility can discharge at full power for two hours and will coordinate with wind and solar power plants in central Anhui to enhance grid peak-shaving capability and renewable energy integration during summer peak demand.
The plant uses Sungrow’s PowerTitan 3.0 liquid-cooled energy storage system (ESS), equipped with 600 Ah-plus stacked cells and modular liquid-cooled PCS. It also integrates Sungrow’s self-developed PowMart power trading decision-support system, which uses AI-based electricity price forecasts to dynamically generate spot-market bidding strategies. The system is expected to increase charging and discharging arbitrage revenue by more than 15%.
Sungrow New Energy, a subsidiary of Sungrow, recently joined a RMB 1 billion equity investment fund alongside Huatai Asset Management and Huatai Baoli Investment (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
HJT solar cell and module maker Golden Solar has disclosed a private-placement prospectus, seeking to raise up to RMB 2.431 billion from no more than 35 specific investors. About RMB 1.687 billion of the proceeds will be invested in an AI computing center in Beijing, RMB 43.82 million will go toward an office and R&D center in Shanghai, and RMB 700 million will be used to replenish working capital and repay debt.
Golden Solar said overcapacity and falling prices in the PV industry have pressured its core business. The fundraising will support a dual-business structure spanning HJT PV and computing power, while exploring direct green-power connections between its PV assets and computing centers to reduce electricity costs and mitigate the impact of cyclical fluctuations in the PV industry.
Earlier this year, Golden Solar signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Gold Stone and Tongwei Solar to advance hybrid back-contact (HBC) cell technology (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) has launched a framework procurement tender for PV modules for its projects in 2026-2027, with an estimated procurement volume of 3 GW and a delivery period running through December 31, 2027.
According to Gessey, the tender covers n-type TOPCon bifacial dual-glass modules measuring 2,382 × 1,134 mm, with a conversion efficiency of at least 23.2% and a power output of at least 630 W per module. Bids are scheduled to open on September 11, 2026.
According to the latest data from the Silicon Industry Branch of the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association, solar wafer prices rose by 10.91% to 40% over the past week. The average price of n-type G10L monocrystalline wafers measuring 182 × 183.75 mm reached RMB 1.12/piece, up 40% week on week. G12R wafers rose 26.67% to RMB 1.14/piece, while G12 wafers increased 10.91% to RMB 1.22/piece. Mainstream cell prices also rose 23.64% to RMB 0.33-0.35/W.
The industry body attributed the sharp increase in wafer prices to strong overseas demand. Overseas cell manufacturers accelerated wafer purchases during a policy window to mitigate potential trade risks arising from US Section 232 tariffs (see US Announces 15% Tariff On Imported Polysilicon Under Section 232). The start of India’s traditional peak installation season further drove a surge in wafer export orders.
The price surge was also observed in the TaiyangNews PV Price Index last week, where wafer prices were up 9.1-12.5%, while cell prices rose 22-31% (see TaiyangNews PV Price Index: CW33 2026).
The Guangdong Provincial Energy Bureau has released its assessment of grid hosting capacity for distributed PV for the third quarter of 2026. The data show that the province has 51.188 GW of grid-connected distributed PV capacity, with another 24.21 GW of capacity available for new grid connections.
Guangdong has been among China’s fastest-growing distributed PV markets in recent years, adding 16.24 GW in 2025 to bring cumulative distributed PV capacity to 46.39 GW. At the province’s 2025 installation rate, the remaining capacity would represent less than two years of new additions.
TaiyangNews 2024

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Homey Adds Solar Forecasting And Export Pricing  Currently.com
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Increasing the stability and efficiency of EU-made perovskite photovoltaic technology brings us closer to switching on the clean energy revolution.
Generating electricity with almost no CO2 equivalent emissions, photovoltaic (PV) technology offers an attractive green energy solution. Yet, there is currently very little European solar cell or module production, necessitating imports with their carbon footprints and supply risks. “It has become increasingly difficult to compete with Asian countries, mainly China, to manufacture PV technology. The real barrier to rolling out PV solutions is, however, mostly not technological, but political priorities,” says Uli Würfel, coordinator of the EU-funded DIAMOND(opens in new window) project. DIAMOND’s printable PV architectures – scalable for production – help boost the maturity of European solutions.
Most solar panels are made from silicon, thanks to its abundance and reliability, but perovskites offer easier fabrication and potentially lower costs. Perovskites(opens in new window) for PVs are a class of synthetic crystalline materials made from a range of sources including lead, tin, bromine and chlorine. To increase the durability and efficiency of perovskite solar cells, DIAMOND first identified the best combination of materials for key PV components. The researchers developed perovskite PV devices with conventional metal back electrodes, alongside carbon-based ones. They also investigated the use of lead-tin based absorbers to reduce lead content. Three key innovations were combined to give DIAMOND’s solution more stability than previous PV solar cells. Firstly, a carbon-based back electrode (electrical contacts collecting and transporting photogenerated charge to external circuits), was developed. “These versions improve long-term stability compared to conventional metal electrodes,” adds Würfel from the Fraunhofer Society(opens in new window), the project host. Mitigating the use of toxic lead, sequestration layers were developed from a novel metal organic framework which, rich in chelating groups, immobilise lead ions. Lastly, an innovative design sealed the solar unit. This so-called ‘hermetic encapsulation’ is tricky because the glues typically used to bond the glass solar panels which sandwich the temperature-sensitive materials, increase risks of contamination and heat damage. “We substituted glue with a printed layer of glass frit materials, melted to bond them to the glass plates, offering environmental protection for over 25 years,” explains Würfel.
Testing to compare DIAMOND’s power conversion efficiency (PCE) – how much sunlight is converted into electrical power – with silicon PV, returned encouraging results. The perovskite solar cell with a lead/tin mixed absorber returned a PCE of 25.86 %; while the perovskite solar cell with carbon-based back electrode achieved a PCE of 21.5 % (22.9 % shortly after project completion). With mini solar cell modules (panels), a PCE of 23.28 % was reached on an area of 29 cm2. While a larger module of over 100 cm2 with a carbon-based back electrode processed in air (as opposed to using more expensive inert atmospheres such as nitrogen), realised a PCE of over 18 %. “We were also delighted to record a solar cell PCE rate of just above 27 %, actually beating the world record for crystalline silicon solar cells at the time of proposal submission,” notes Würfel.
The team pursued device designs, components and processes with the lowest CO2 footprints and the highest recycle potential. For example, when fabricating modules, each layer was analysed for potential environmental impact, with a fully recyclable module created as a proof of concept. “Our results reinforce the potential of perovskite PV technology, which when transferred to industry, will create new jobs and reduce dependency on imports of PV panels and ultimately energy itself,” concludes Würfel. Towards this end, the team are now scaling up the size of their PV modules, while continuing to enhance PCEs and operational lifetimes.
Each project (from H2020 onwards) is attributed a Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
The total amount of money invested in the project. The total cost includes EU contribution as well as other project costs not covered by EU funding. It is expressed in euros.
Amount of money, by way of direct subsidy or donation, from the EU budget to finance an action intended to help achieve an EU policy objective or the functioning of a body, which pursues an aim of general EU interest or has an objective forming part of, and supporting, an EU policy. The sum of the EU contributions of all participants in a project is equal to the grant amount.
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21 August 2026
Last update: 9 April 2026

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Solar Photovoltaic Glass Market (By Type: Photovoltaic Glass, Multifunctional Glass, AR Coated, Tempered, Others; By Grade of Transparency: Low Transparency, Medium Transparency, High Transparency; By Application: Curtain Walls, Facades, Skylights, Solar PV Panels, Glazing, Wind Shield, Others; By End Use: Building and Construction, Automotive Industry, Solar Energy, Infrastructure, Others) – Global Industry Analysis, Size, Trends, Leading Companies, Regional Outlook, and Forecast 2026 to 2035
The global solar photovoltaic glass market size is valued at USD 17.09 billion in 2025 and is predicted to increase from USD 22.43 billion in 2026 to approximately USD 236.29 billion by 2035, expanding at a CAGR of 30.04% from 2026 to 2035. The solar photovoltaic glass market is driven by rising global investment in solar energy projects and supportive government incentives.

Transparent semiconductor-based photovoltaic cells, often known as solar cells, are used in solar photovoltaic (PV) glass, a technology that makes it possible to convert sunlight into energy. These thin film or crystalline silicon solar cells, which are sandwiched between two panes of glass, are utilized for PV applications. While thin film solar cells employ very transparent float glass as its cover, crystalline silicon solar cells use ultra-clear figured glass. The power produced by the solar PV cells guarantees energy cost reductions while lowering carbon footprints and greenhouse gas emissions.
Additionally, the growing preference for renewable energy sources as a result of growing environmental concerns is anticipated to support the growth of the solar PV glass market throughout the course of the projected period. During the forecast period, favourable government regulations such as the Kyoto Protocol Act, which promotes the use of solar PV panels by lowering carbon emissions, are also anticipated to drive the market for solar PV glass. Buildings and rooftop systems may readily include solar PV glass, resulting in the production of renewable energy through the efficient utilization of solar energy and innovative architectural design.
Additionally, it is estimated that the market for solar PV glass would expand over the course of the projected period due to consumers’ increasing preference for renewable energy sources as a consequence of growing environmental concerns. Favourable government laws like the Kyoto Protocol Act, which encourages the use of solar PV panels by reducing carbon emissions, are also expected to propel the market for solar PV glass throughout the projected period. Solar PV glass is easily incorporated into buildings and rooftop systems, enabling the generation of renewable energy through the effective use of solar energy and creative architectural design.
Advances in artificial intelligence and automation are increasingly impacting the solar photovoltaic glass sector by improving manufacturing precision, lowering defects, and enhancing throughput. AI determines the most efficient way to cut glass sheets, reducing material waste and saving expenses. AI-driven optical sorters sort glass cullet by color and composition, enhancing recycling rates and decreasing energy for new glass production. AI models forecast degradation rates and even support efficient material recovery at the end of a panel’s life, thus supporting circular economy goals.
The market for solar PV glass is expanding as a result of rising PV installations and supportive government policies. The utilities sector is anticipated to present significant potential for solar PV glass over the forecast period because to the rising power needs and relatively cheaper costs associated with solar PV installations compared to traditional energy sources. The market for solar PV glass is also anticipated to grow during the projected period due to expanding awareness of the advantages of renewable energy sources and the pressing need to reduce emissions.
During the projection period, more PV installations in the residential sector are anticipated due to rising disposable incomes. This would significantly increase the demand for solar PV glass throughout the anticipated period.
Hotspots on the panels can restrict the solar photovoltaic glass market
The hot spots are areas of the plates that are overworked and get moist. Hotspots on panels are typically the consequence of poorly lost connections or a structural flaw in solar cells. Low resistance is caused by bad solder joints in the area of the panel that receives the electricity generated by the cell. This occurrence will ultimately result in a short circuit, which will lower the PV panel’s efficiency and longevity. We have discovered hot spots in certain solar parks, necessitating the replacement of solar panels and significantly raising the projects’ Opex expenses.
Renewable Energy and Green Building Construction Technology is restraining the growth of the solar photovoltaic glass market
Additionally, governments in several nations have worked to promote the use of renewable energy sources in order to provide lucrative chances to market participants throughout the projected period of 2023 to 2032. The development of green building construction methods, which increasingly use solar photovoltaic glasses as a component of sustainable construction, also contributes to the market’s future growth.
Development of off-grid electricity systems
It offers producers in the solar photovoltaic glass market sector enormous expansion prospects. Off-grid technology is viewed as the most practical way to fixing power concerns in deep pockets across important developing countries in the globe, where more than a billion people live without access to electricity. This includes offering fundamental heating and lighting services to some of the most isolated regions of the globe where grid connections are impractical. Off-grid electricity systems are commonly powered by solar energy, and nations like China and a few others in the South East Asia Pacific region have taken use of the potential of small-scale solar technology applications to bring electricity to residents in isolated rural locations.
In 2025, the solar photovoltaic glass market’s highest market share belonged to photovoltaic glass. Solar photovoltaic (PV) glass is a type of glass that uses solar cells to convert solar energy into electricity. This is installed inside a building’s roof or façade area to generate electricity for the entire home. These glasses feature a special resin filler, and between the two glass panes are solar cells. The solar cells are securely bound by these polymers on all sides. A frame that is linked to other cells is created by joining each cell to two electrical connections.
Other reasons boosting the market for Solar PV glass include government assistance for the development of Solar PV facilities. In addition, the market for solar PV glass is expanding due to the rising demand for home, business, and utility-scale solar systems. Solar photovoltaic glass is still not in high enough demand on a worldwide scale. Opportunities for market expansion are anticipated to result from the increased demand for renewable energy.
In 2025, the Solar photovoltaic glass market’s highest share belonged to high transparency. 61% of the sunlight they get is absorbed by high transparency solar photovoltaic glass. Performance of these glass panels is 7.2% as opposed to standard solar photovoltaic panels’ performance of 12.2%. Because the panel only absorbs 60% of the light and transmits the other 40% via the screen, the output is reduced. Invisible wavelengths of sunlight are absorbed by organic molecules in transparent windows to produce solar panels. These clear solar windows have a lot of promise.
In the US alone, there are up to 7 billion square meters of glass surfaces. Surface space that has to be transparent might be used by these materials integrated in windows. In fact, if the transparency of the material can be adjusted, they may also be utilized as illumination to keep people inside buildings cooler, helping to save the costs associated with air conditioning.
In the Solar photovoltaic glass market, Facades is anticipated to have the largest share in 2025. Because they reduce the cost of cement or adhesive purchases and are energy efficient, facade panels are also economical. Due to the increasing increase in the building of residential, commercial, and industrial structures worldwide, the global facades industry is expanding rapidly. The need for such energy-efficient materials has expanded as a result of the technological developments in the building and infrastructure sectors. Over the past five years, the commercial building sector has experienced phenomenal growth.
The expansion of infrastructure investment continues to fuel the building and construction industries, which in turn fuels the need for facades. Due to the many advantages the facade system offers, including acoustic insulation, thermal insulation, and natural ventilation, the commercial application was the area with the highest demand for facades. The commercial sector continued to develop throughout 2019, but recently it has slowed as the possibility of a slowdown in global construction rises as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which temporarily shut down all economic activity throughout the world.
The solar photovoltaic glass market is dominated by building and construction, which hold 32% market share. The need for solar photovoltaic glass for all types of buildings is anticipated to increase due to the expanding construction sector and its demand, notably in the areas of Asia-Pacific, North America, and Europe. Due to increased penetration from undeveloped markets, the residential application category is growing. In this application industry, first-mover advantage in unexplored regions and relatively cheap acquisition costs continue to be important driving drivers.
Additionally, R&D in solar photovoltaic glass will aid in the market’s expansion. The ability for windows to produce energy is going to enter the architectural glazing industry. Solar cells built into glass window panels will make it possible to use the sun’s energy to insulate buildings from the cold while controlling the interior light levels. In a similar vein, Tesla has shown its residential solar roof tile. The market for solar photovoltaic glass will grow as a result of technological advancements.
The Asia Pacific solar photovoltaic glass market size is evaluated at USD 7.52 billion in 2025 and is predicted to be worth around USD 105.28 billion by 2035, rising at a CAGR of 30.2% from 2026 to 2035

Growth In Building Construction Fuels APAC Solar Glass Market
The solar photovoltaic glass market was headed by Asia-Pacific (APAC), which saw a share of around 44%, followed by North America and Europe. The building sector in APAC will likely remain one of the biggest and fastest-growing in the world. In the upcoming years, it is anticipated that large and established markets like China, India, Japan, and South Korea would expand more. China, followed by India and Japan, is the country driving the majority of the demand for solar photovoltaic glass in the Asia-Pacific area. All of the Asian nations, including China and India, which are important drivers of the demand for construction investment in these regions, make up the five fastest-growing construction regions outside of the United States. The increasing middle class and expanding population are factors that tend to fuel the development of the APAC residential building industry and, by extension, the solar photovoltaic glass market.
In the APAC area, the number of buildings using lighted solar photovoltaic glass is rapidly increasing. The market has been further boosted by the surge in rehabilitation projects and the number of new building builds. Currently, the COVID-19 epidemic has had an impact on the construction sector since the majority of industrial activity has been temporarily halted. In turn, this has had an impact on the demand and supply chain, which has been limiting growth in 2021.
China Market Trends
China accounts for the largest share of the solar photovoltaic glass market in Asia-Pacific in 2025. The growth is driven by its extensive solar module manufacturing base and strong domestic demand. The country benefits form large scale renewable energy investments, favourable government policies and the continued expansion of utility scale and rooftop solar projects. The country has the ability to produce high quality and cost efficient solar PV glass, which positions the country as a strong supplier in the market. The growing export demand further boosts the market in China.

North America is the fastest-growing market in the forecast period, as modern solar energy adoption, helpful government guidelines such as the Inflation Reduction Act, and an increasing demand for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). The increasing integration of solar glass into building materials for both new construction and retrofits contributes to the growth of the market.
United Kingdom Market Trends
The United Kingdom represents the largest share of the solar photovoltaic glass market in Europe. The UK government has released guidelines to encourage renewable energy, like supporting rooftop solar installations and enacting rules to curb carbon emissions. Novel solar PV glass technologies, like anti-reflective coatings, are improving panel efficiency, which drives the growth of the market. Favourable government incentives for clean energy and grid modernization and increasing investment in energy efficient buildings are further supporting the growth of the market.
Europe is experiencing substantial growth in the market, driven by government initiatives like the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and national objectives, such as Germany’s carbon reduction targets and the UK’s plan to phase out fossil fuel plants. The region is emphasizing diversification of energy sources to lessen reliance on fossil fuels, with solar energy becoming vital for energy security, thereby fueling market expansion.
UK: Technological advancements
The UK government has released guidelines to encourage renewable energy, like supporting rooftop solar installations and enacting rules to curb carbon emissions. Novel in solar PV glass technologies, like anti-reflective coatings, are rowing panel efficiency, which drives the growth of the market.
Latin America’s market shows notable growth during the forecast period. This is due to strong government support for renewables, such as Brazil’s net metering, abundant sunlight, falling solar tech expenses, and increasing need for clean energy, driving acceptance in rooftop solar, utility-scale projects, along with green buildings, funded by tech advancements and strategic collaborations for wider application.
Argentina Solar Photovoltaic Glass Market Trends
Argentina’s solar PV glass market shows strong growth, driven by supportive regulations, growing energy needs, and technological shifts towards bifacial and integrated PV systems. With major trends including increased need for ultra-clear, anti-reflective coatings and even sustainable materials, fostering investment in manufacturing and innovation. Stringent environmental standards and government incentives are major drivers, pushing adoption in both utility-scale and residential sectors.
MEA’s market shows a rapid growth rate during the forecast period. It is driven by ambitious renewable energy targets to decrease reliance on oil, high solar irradiance, and the demand for durable, heat-resistant, and even self-cleaning materials in harsh desert environments. Growth is driven by strong solar energy potential across the region, particularly in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, North Africa, and parts of East Africa, where high irradiance levels make PV glass solutions, such as building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) and agrivoltaics, more attractive.
UAE Solar Photovoltaic Glass Market Trends
The UAE’s push to raise the share of clean energy, such as the UAE Energy Strategy 2050, fuels solar adoption. Businesses are now increasingly installing rooftop and ground-mounted solar, demanding more PV glass. Trends aim at advanced glass, like bifacial, patterned, and even BIPV-compatible glass for better efficiency, aesthetics, and integration into buildings.
Raw Material Sourcing:
Raw material sourcing for solar photovoltaic (PV) glass involves acquiring high-purity supplies like soda ash, silica sand, and limestone to make specialized glass for solar panels.
Package Design and Prototyping:
Package design and prototyping for solar photovoltaic (PV) glass includes creating particular, protective, and often custom services for the harmless transport, handling, and incorporation of the fragile glass components that make up solar panels.
Recycling and Waste Management:
Recycling and waste management for solar photovoltaic (PV) glass contributes to a many-step process to separate and recover materials such as aluminum, glass, and silicon from end-of-life panels.
The solar photovoltaic glass market is highly competitive, with manufacturers competing through production capacity, product quality and technological innovation. The leading companies in the market include First Solar Inc., Yingli Green Energy Holding Company Ltd., Hanwha Q CELLS Co., Borosil Glass Works Limited, Xinyi Solar Holding Ltd., Nippon Sheet Glass Co. Ltd. and Guardian Industries. The companies are investing in larger manufacturing facilities and advanced coating technologies to improve panel efficiency. Strategic partnerships and geographical diversification help companies to strengthen market position.
To strengthen future growth in the solar photovoltaic glass market, companies should focus on developing high efficiency photovoltaic glass, improving energy efficient manufacturing processes and expanding the supply chain to widen product reach globally
Company
Headquarters
Key Strengths
Latest Info (2025)
AGC Glass Europe
Belgium
Operational excellence
In October 2025, AGC Glass Europe and SOLAR MATERIALS announced a strategic partnership to advance PV flat glass circularity.
Nippon Sheet Glass Co., Ltd.
Japan
Incorporation of plastomer.
In January 2025, NSG Group is pleased to announce the warm-up of a newly converted TCO (transparent conductive oxide) facility in the United States.
Taiwan Glass Industry Corporation
Taiwan
Integrated production process
Taiwan Glass Industry Corporation manufactures glass products. The Company’s products include float glass, glass fibers, and fabrics.
Xinyi Solar Holdings Limited
China
Vertically integrated business model
Xinyi Solar Holdings Limited is one of the world’s leading photovoltaic glass manufacturers and specialises in research and development, manufacturing, and sales.
Sisecam
Turkey
Highly diversified industrial base.
In September 2025, Sisecam commissioned novel energy glass lines in Tarsus. With an investment of €200 million, the company’s goal is to meet the increasing demand for glass in the solar energy industry and enhance export potential.
By Type
By Grade of Transparency
By Application
By End Use
By Geography
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Laxmi Narayan is a strategic research analyst with five years of hands-on experience in market intelligence, encompassing primary research, secondary research, and consulting engagements. He specializes in the semiconductor, automotive, transport & logistics, and machinery & equipment sectors, providing actionable insights on evolving industry trends,technological advancements, regulatory shifts, and competitive landscapes. Laxmi’s research helps global clients identify growth opportunities, optimize operational strategies, and make informed investment decisions. Known for his analytical rigor and strategic foresight, he translates complex market data into practical recommendations that drive business impact and long-term value.
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Advocates are pushing for legal standards instead of a free-for-all.
Photo Credit: iStock
Retail plug-in solar kits are attracting attention in Yukon as residents contend with a 34% increase in electricity rates.
Even so, Canadians cannot legally use the systems because they are not certified there, though supporters said they could give households more say over escalating energy costs.
According to CBC News, the Yukon Conservation Society has been encouraging residents to look into plug-in solar panels.
Sebastian Jones, a fish, wildlife and habitat analyst for the Yukon Conservation Society, said anger has been building over both climbing power costs and the Yukon government’s open-ended freeze on its microgeneration program.
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Community Services spokesperson Wayne Potoroka said plug-in solar is uncertified in Canada, which makes installing that type of electrical equipment illegal. That hurdle comes after Yukon halted permits for residential solar hookups in 2023, when quick weather-related swings in solar production started creating grid problems.
For households that can legally install it, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy over time. If you’re weighing a rooftop system, exploring EnergySage can help you get free solar installation estimates and compare quotes.
Jones described plug-in solar as a simple workaround.
“As long as you have a dedicated circuit that your solar panel is hardwired onto, you can just go and pick up a couple of solar panels and an inverter at Canadian Tire, and you’re off to the races,” he said.
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Plug-in solar first took off in Germany, where renters without roof access used small panels to cut energy costs. The government created policies that encouraged the technology and protected tenants’ access to solar power.
The idea has also spread in the U.S. Utah was the first state to allow plug-in solar, and nine more states followed suit.
When small-scale solar is blocked, residents can be left with higher bills, fewer options during outages, and less ability to participate in a cleaner energy future.
That burden can fall especially hard on renters, condo residents, and lower-income households that may not be able to afford full rooftop systems.
💡Go deep on the latest news and trends shaping the residential solar landscape
Still, there are legitimate safety and grid concerns. As CBC News reported, retired former Yukon Energy senior engineer John Maissan warned that improper plug-in setups could create fire or circuit issues.
He also said he hopes Yukon Energy’s Whitehorse battery project could help absorb excess power and make future solar expansion easier.
Advocates are pushing for legal standards instead of a free-for-all. Joe Vipond, co-chair of Calgary Climate Hub, said his group began a national effort in June to push Canadian lawmakers toward plug-in solar systems that meet safety requirements, arguing it could help millions of apartment and condo residents join the energy transition.
For readers considering conventional rooftop solar, EnergySage’s free services can make comparison shopping much easier. With EnergySage’s help, the average person can save up to $10,000 on solar purchases and installations. And EnergySage’s solar map shows the average cost of a home solar panel system on a state-by-state level, plus details on solar panel incentives for each state, which together can help readers get the best price for rooftop solar panels and access available incentives.
Adding battery storage to a solar setup is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. You can explore EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
Vipond said the public interest is already there: “People need to give this time. We do need to have legislators and the utilities catch up to where the popular sentiment is. … But I can tell you that people are really excited.”
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Zelestra, a global renewable energy company, has brought its 27.5 MW DC Klevenow solar plant in Germany into full commercial operation. The Mecklenburg-Vorpommern plant is Zelestra’s first operational project in Germany and was awarded through the country’s EEG tenders. The plant includes approximately 42,300 solar panels, and installation was completed in under six months. Klevenow is expected to generate 28,700 MWh annually, with the electricity supporting C&I demand in the nearby Pomeranian Triangle. Zelestra said the plant will also help avoid around 9,500 tonnes of CO₂ emissions each year. The company expects two more solar projects and its first German BESS project to enter construction in H2 2026. Together, these projects are expected to take Zelestra’s operational and construction-stage capacity in Germany above 200 MW, while its German pipeline now exceeds 2 GW.
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Battery storage can offer benefits like backup power, lower utility costs, and more control over energy use.
Photo Credit: Reddit
A small beach shack in Saint Barthélemy offers a glimpse of just how much a compact solar-and-battery setup can handle. At a local watersports center, one portable power station and two solar panels are helping run day-to-day operations while also supporting a public weather dashboard for riders.
According to a post on Reddit, the owner of a small watersports center in Saint Barthélemy has been relying on an EcoFlow Delta Max 2 paired with two 220-watt solar panels. The system covers basics such as a fridge, coffee machine, and microwave, and it also recharges electric pumps, phones, and tools.
Another part of the setup sends conditions to a public dashboard that local riders can check before heading out. It includes a solar-powered weather station, a display console, a live camera, a Power over Ethernet switch, and a Starlink connection, and the poster said they were “aiming to be energy self-sufficient.”
That kind of setup highlights why adding battery storage is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages, save money on energy, and go off-grid. If you’re curious about doing something similar at home, it’s worth exploring EnergySage for information about home battery storage options, including competitive installation estimates.
EnergySage has also teamed up with the electrification brand Qmerit to guarantee you get the best price on home battery storage solutions.
The dashboard is also giving the owner a better way to track solar performance. The poster said the feature logs “the last 30 days of solar energy generation along with a live report of the day,” helping provide historical information that the EcoFlow app does not.
Not everything is seamless, though. Networking equipment adds to the energy demand, and shade from palm trees remains a practical issue — something one commenter pointed out by writing: “Great use of EF, just a shame about the tall palm tree for the shade.”
The original poster replied with a practical fix: “Yeah, I need to prune a bit those trees but it is what it is. Instead, I might put the panels at a slightly higher angle east to be more efficient earlier in the day.”
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Solar panels can save you more than $50k over their 25-year lifespan, and EnergySage can help you save as much as $10k on installation. Which begs the question — isn’t that worth an email or two?
For households, small businesses, and off-grid hobby setups, battery storage can offer many of the same benefits: backup power, lower utility costs, and more control over energy use. It can also make everyday life easier by keeping essentials running during blackouts, from refrigerators and internet service to phones and medical devices.
For people not ready for a full system, Pila is another company offering excellent battery backup options. Its plug-and-play batteries cost a fraction of the price of a whole-home backup system.
One commenter also suggested that better cloudy-day performance might be possible through overpaneling that stays within the proper voltage range, offering a way to improve output without fully rebuilding the setup.
“Pretty cool setup all things considered,” one commenter wrote. “And to many of us, this is the dream.”
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BEIJING, Aug. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Recently, JA powered Fisher & Paykel Healthcare’s step toward a more ecosystem-friendly future by supplying New Zealand’s largest rooftop photovoltaic (PV) power station in Auckland. The 5.3 MWp system, featuring JA’s high-efficiency modules from their deep blue series, is helping transform healthcare manufacturing toward greener, lower-carbon practices.

To support the Fisher & Paykel project, JA supplied and installed 8,273 modules — demonstrating its ability to deliver at scale and manage multi-party construction, both of which require precise scheduling and on-site coordination. This success was underpinned by JA’s extensive experience in global projects and its warehouse network, which further ensured high-quality, on-time delivery.
In response to the global energy volatility crisis, New Zealand faced the need to increase energy independence and accelerate low-carbon transformation. As the exclusive module supplier, JA offers high-efficiency modules that are fully adaptable to challenging rooftop environments. Accordingly, these modules deliver an annual average of 6,600 MWh of power generation, reducing carbon emissions by 486 tons per year. This data suggests the modules’ ability to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and set a standard for a sector-wide low-carbon transition.
Thus far, the DeepBlue series has operated with zero commissioning failures, achieving excellent power-generation efficiency and stable output. This reliability is rooted in JA’s position as one of the first PV companies to enter the New Zealand market and its willingness to listen and grow in line with local demand. In support of this, research on Chinese customs export data suggests that China’s PV exports to New Zealand rose to 365.5 MW at the beginning of 2025 and continued to expand to 735.5MW one year later. This suggests a growth of 101.26%, effectively doubling the market size. This surge unequivocally confirms JA’s strategic market foresight and the timing of its calibrated expansion.
Sunergise is New Zealand’s leading renewable energy developer and the EPC for this project; their CEO, Paul Makumbe, describes the collaboration with JA as “When you’re rolling out New Zealand’s largest rooftop solar, you need a partner who is reliable, who has the technical capability to deliver, has know-how and understanding of the challenges that you would face doing a project of this scale.”
Rooted in the global market, JA prioritized product reliability, delivering stability and commitment to full-cycle quality. The DeepBlue series high-efficiency module has proven its value by performing in complex environments worldwide. Moving forward, JA will continue to collaborate with global partners, supporting industries across sectors to accelerate low-carbon transformation — delivering reliable power for the journey ahead —and helping the world pave the way toward a zero-carbon future.
SOURCE JA
JA ESS launched JAPlanet Fusion, its latest 125kW/261kWh commercial and industrial (C&I) hybrid solar-plus-storage system. Designed for factories,…
Am 2. Juni fand in Shanghai die JAx2026 JA Brand Renewal Launch & Eco-Partner Conference statt. Auf der Veranstaltung wurden eine neue…
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European Energy has commenced construction of an AC-coupled 40 MW / 80 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS) intended to unlock the full potential of its Mokoan Solar Farm near Winton in northern Victoria.
The 58 MW solar farm has been fully operational since early last year, generating approximately 113 GWh of electricity annually.
Catriona McLeod, managing director for European Energy in Australia, said the two-hour BESS, which will share the same grid connection as the solar farm, is expected to commence operations by the middle of next year, adding that battery energy storage is a key element of the company’s development strategy.
“Batteries are crucial for EE and the whole industry,” she said. “They will truly unlock the full potential of wind and solar and provide more renewable energy when it’s needed most.”
“We’ll be doing a lot in this space in the back end of 2026 and into 2027 so there are plenty more announcements to come.”
Financial close on the battery project was achieved last month after German lender Deutsche Bank provided a non-recourse package to refinance the existing debt on the solar farm and to support construction and operation of the battery.
The progress on the Mokoan battery project follows European Energy’s recent announcement of financial close for the Winton North Solar Farm with battery project.
Both the Winton North and Mokoan solar farms are backed by a power purchase agreement (PPA) with global technology provider Amazon Web Services.
 European Energy Australia currently has a renewable energy pipeline of approximately 10 GW, with projects at various stages from early investigation through to fully operational. 
From pv magazine Australia
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“The risk you run is…that leak becoming a full blown gusher.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A leaking water heater can go from a minor inconvenience to a costly home disaster in very little time.
When one homeowner noticed water dripping from the bottom of a 13-year-old gas unit and asked whether it could stay on until a service visit, the response was immediate.
That kind of breakdown can also create an opportunity to lower future utility costs.
A homeowner turned to Reddit for advice about whether a leaking gas heater could stay in service until it could be serviced.
In the post, they wrote: “My question is how safe is it to leave on until we can get it serviced during normal weekday hours?”
The same post explained, “This water heater is 13+ years old. Noticed the bottom leaking out this morning.”
(Click here if the embedded video does not appear.)
The replies largely focused on shutting the unit down rather than letting it keep running.
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“Not a good idea to leave it running with an active leak. Turn off the gas and shut off the water to the tank,” one commenter wrote.
Another warned, “The risk you run is…that leak becoming a full blown gusher. Turn off the water and gas to it.”
Several people pointed to the heater’s age as a sign replacement was likely due, with one commenter saying 13 years is about the expected lifespan.
Others urged extra caution by suggesting the tank be drained so “you don’t end up with 40 gallons of water on your floor.”
A failing water heater often shows up at the worst possible time, and many people may be tempted to push it for another day or two to avoid cold showers, emergency service fees, or the hassle of replacement.
The poster noted, “I’ve only shut off water to the water heater, not the entire house. Cold is still flowing.”
In the discussion, they had said the unit was in an unfinished basement and added, “Not a gambling man but also juggling wife and daughters. It’s summer so a colder shower might be refreshing.”
Shutting off the supply to the tank does not necessarily mean losing all water service in the home, but continuing to run a leaking tank can lead to much bigger expenses if the leak gets worse and causes flooding, flooring damage, or cleanup bills.
For an actively leaking water heater, the typical advice is to isolate it from both its fuel or power source and its water supply, then call a licensed plumber. If it can be done safely, draining the tank can also lower the chance of a major spill.
For homeowners replacing an old unit anyway, it may make sense to consider a more efficient model instead of making a like-for-like swap.
Cala makes customizable smart heat pump water heaters that help homeowners decrease their energy bills by heating water exactly when it’s needed. That approach can reduce wasted energy while still meeting a family’s hot-water routine.
A smarter replacement can help soften the blow of an unexpected repair. Heat pump water heaters already offer the potential for substantial bill savings, and a system that responds to actual household demand can add even more value over time. For families hoping to avoid both water damage and high monthly utility costs, a closer look at Cala could be worthwhile.
For anyone weighing whether to keep a leaking tank going a little longer, one commenter summed up the concern this way: “It’s not worth having hot water if there is a chance to flood your house. You can live without it.”
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