Aula Energy, the renewables dedicated offshoot of finance giant Macquarie Asset Management, has unveiled plans to build a $350 million (USD 242 million) battery energy storage system (BESS) at the site of the 330 MW Wellington North Solar Farm in the New South Wales (NSW) Orana region. The proposal is for a 365 MW BESS with five hours of storage capacity that Aula said will enable excess power generated during peak production periods to be stored and dispatched when required, improving the overall efficiency of the PV plant while helping to strengthen grid reliability. “The proposed modification will support the optimisation of the solar farm and network electricity generation,” the company said, adding that “battery storage is an essential part of Australia’s renewable energy transition.” “Combining battery storage with solar farms helps overcome the intermittent nature of renewable energy by storing excess power when production is high and releasing it during peak demand. This ensures a steady supply of power at all times.” The Wellington North Solar Farm, located about seven kilometres northeast of Wellington within NSW’s Central West Orana Renewable Energy Zone, has been fully operational since mid-2024, generating about 778,654 MWh of renewable electricity per year. It is located alongside the 174 MW Wellington Solar Farm that commenced operations in late 2020. Both the Wellington North and Wellington solar farms are owned and operated by Aula following an acquisition earlier this year. Aula said the proposed BESS would be located within previously cleared land used for a laydown for the construction of the Wellington North Solar Farm. The system would include approximately 288 battery containers, 96 storage inverters, 96 transformers, 96 power conversion systems, and a new 33 / 330 kV substation. The battery would make use of the existing 8.3 km 330 kV high voltage transmission line that connects the solar farm to the Wellington substation. “By building on established infrastructure, the project is designed to strengthen the energy system while making better use of existing infrastructure,” Aula said. The Australian-headquartered renewable energy business is targeting financial close in early 2027, subject to regulatory and commercial considerations. Aula’s proposed battery is part of a growing move in the Australian utility-scale energy market with the standalone solar farm no longer the default project structure. The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) Connections Scorecard for the June quarter shows batteries are the dominant technology in the 75 GW development pipeline, representing 53% of capacity, while hybrid solar-plus-battery projects account for 18% of total capacity. At the same time, the developers behind 2.4 GW of solar projects commenced or completed processes to add a BESS, reflecting the industry’s growing interest in combining renewable generation with flexible storage. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. Comments Please login to comment Monday, November 23, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
(CNS): Premier André Ebanks has said that although he recently raised the idea of using liquefied natural gas (LNG) to reduce power bills, he would still prefer the Cayman Islands to convert to 100% renewable sources, such as solar. But he told the press last week that the government is looking at LNG because of frustrations, delays and challenges over rolling out both utility-scale and domestic solar. Since the country can’t seem to get switching to solar to happen, LNG could be a transition fuel to cut the cost of living, he said. But while LNG may be cheaper than diesel, it also has numerous problems, including cost, supply chain volatility, and the investment required, which would tie Cayman to fossil fuels for two more decades. Ebanks appears reluctant for the Grand Cayman to convert to LNG, but despite holding the reins of power, he admitted that he could not understand why it is taking so long to convert to solar. He also acknowledged that fuel prices are the main driver of Cayman’s cost-of-living crisis. Over the last few months, the premier has expressed his view that the government must bring down energy costs to help local families and businesses, but he is clearly concerned that there seems to be no quick way to do this. He made it clear that he did not have an answer for why Cayman, which currently generates just 3% of its power from solar, has struggled to transition to renewables. The delay appears to stem from a combination of issues related to CUC’s ownership and control of the grid on Grand Cayman and ongoing clashes between the power company and the regulator. There are also potential problems with the actual deal between government and CUC, and significant concerns that no administration has had the political will to force the hands of those involved. To reach 100% renewables in less than 20 years, as called for in the National Energy Policy, investment in utility-scale solar is clearly needed. But the constant restrictions on domestic or rooftop solar appear to stem from CUC’s position that renewables are unstable and could threaten grid security unless rolled out slowly. Part of the problem is that the information needed to understand the accuracy of CUC’s claims is contained in reports conducted by the power company, and those reports remain under wraps. An FOI request to the regulator, OfReg, for CUC’s solar reports was declined, and although the Office of the Ombudsman (OMB) ordered its release on appeal, CUC fought the disclosure in court. In June, the court ordered the OMB to rehear the appeal in relation to the FOI request for the reports, which CUC claims are commercially sensitive documents. That rehearing of the FOI appeal is understood to still be in process. Meanwhile, the question of how much domestic solar destabilises CUC’s grid is up for debate. James Whittaker, the president of the Cayman Renewable Energy Association, has said many times that this is simply not the case. The government should support the adoption of solar power, and no one should be stopped from using rooftop solar panels. “The idea that more solar is a safety issue for the grid doesn’t survive a look at the numbers,” Whittaker told CNS this week. He noted that the Cayman Islands generate around 3% of their electricity from renewables, whereas Kauai, an island with a grid smaller than Grand Cayman’s, runs at around 60%. South Australia produces more than 70% of its energy from wind and solar. “They enable high rates of clean energy penetration with battery storage, which is now standard on both large solar plants and home solar systems and makes a grid more stable and resilient, not less. At 3%, how much solar the grid can safely take is not the problem. The problem is who decides whether it gets built. “On Grand Cayman, almost every megawatt of solar runs through one company. It owns the grid; it is the only buyer of the power; it writes the technical rules for connecting; it sets and caps the rooftop solar programs; and it has information on how much solar the grid can carry, which the public has not seen.” Whittaker believes that since one company holds “almost every lever” and renewables generate such a small percentage of energy, that company’s motives are clear. “Thepeople being asked whether more solar is safe are the people who would have to compete with it,” he noted. “The government knows how to proceed. Its own plan in 2022 was for government and its partners to be the majority owner of utility-scale renewable plants, with the utility paid to operate and maintain all of them. “That model gets hundreds of megawatts built rapidly, puts the majority of the financial benefit with the public and local pension funds, and keeps the utility in a well-paid role without handing any single company control and ownership of the island’s clean energy for the next fifty-plus years. “Had it gone ahead then, Grand Cayman would likely already be above 50% renewable today and largely insulated from the fuel shocks on everyone’s bill,” he claimed. Whittaker pointed out that the best time to have done this was yesterday, but the next best time is today. However, the current situation means this won’t be happening tomorrow, next week, or even next year. “Two decisions are needed: build utility-scale solar and storage at scale under a structure that doesn’t lock in a monopoly over the sun, and put solar on every rooftop and parking lot that can take it, with broad financing so ordinary households can access it too. “Do those two things and Cayman is a world leader within five years. None of this is new. What has been missing is the decision, and waiting for a crisis to make it for us is not a plan,” Whittaker told CNS. He warned that the idea that LNG is a viable energy solution for Cayman is a trap and a waste of our resources. “All it does is lock the country into a new fossil fuel for the next several decades and increase our dependence on a source of energy even more volatile than diesel,” he stated. Back to article Easy for him to say, he can afford it. Solar is expensive to install and the payback in savings is years. It is out of reach for most people and limited space such as roofs make it an insurance liability and unlikely to survive even a mild hurricane. So Cuba and Pakistan can afford solar but Cayman can’t? I mean, dear god, Jamaica has wind turbines. This is all just proof that the Government is the primary obstruction (acting in collusion with the monopoly energy provider). As opposed to the ‘cheap’ LNG option which requires years in advance hundred-million-dollar investments in storage facilities. Modern solar panels can be securely attached to basically any surface and are often hurricane rated up to windspeeds equivalent to Cat 4-5s when installed correctly, they are also replaceable. Just like anything in a hurricane nothing is guaranteed but if your position is that we can’t adopt them because they may get damaged in a storm I expect that you live in a cave as houses are also susceptible to hurricane damage correct? Just vote out Andre. he had his chance. miss us all with the BS and excuses. You only get one term in Cayman now. NO MORE MCKEEVA’s, its ONE term only to prove that you should get 2 or 3. ONE! im so sick of West Bayers ruining this island with their vote. Cayman stand up and tell me im lying! Andre isn’t the problem. It’s ONOV that gets the likes of Jay Ebanks and Isaac Rankine in. It’s not easy when you’re tail is wagging you, not the the other way around is it Mr. Premier? It’s also not easy when you’re eye is on your next jaunt overseas to attend a much more critical financial affairs conference. Maybe if you’d stop talking out both sides of your mouth and start by demanding CUC actually achieve tangible milestones towards Cayman’s renewable energy targets rather than complaining that’s it’s difficult and complicated. OfReg is not doing its job once again, what a surprise? Amend CUC’s licence if need be, CUC needs to comply absolutely. Even a layperson can see it’s easier for CUC to let go the reins on solar than invest heavily into infrastructure for another fossil fuel. Besides how long are CUC’s current engines good for, 15 years maybe? Then what, more engines and we’ll still be paying for obsolete LNG infrastructure 30 years from now? You must be mad, the low pressure from altitude must have really gone to your head man! You don’t know what you’re talking about. CUC attempted to get massive utility-scale solar installed, and OfReg, appointed by CIG blocked them. Are you mentally subnormal? Does reality have any meaning to you? Reality is you most likely have imbibed way too much CUC Koolaid. Answer the question. Deal with the facts. Did CUC apply for the installation of massive utility-scale solar? Yes or no? Did OfReg block it? Yes or no? Where CUC was forced to take OfReg to court and did OfReg capitulate because they were acting unlawfully (and the subtext of this is that there was a crusade by CIG against CUC)? Truly, this is a third-world country with a significant number (not all) of third-world people who are easily manipulated. Your enemy is your politicians. They want to make CUC a bogeyman so they can whip up hatred like they do against expats generally. Please try to rub both of your brain cells together, and don’t fall for it quite so easily. 100% solar power is highly unlikely to be economically achievable in the near future. Around 75% would be a realistic target. Simply consider the quantity and cost of the battery storage required. The country will likely always require a fuel based reserve generation capability. Maybe one day when the cost of battery infrastructure is more realistic it can be achieved. You know, it is quite easy to have GTP do the research for you, so you can comment with facts. Off you go then and do 100% solar for your house for 100% of the time. That is, be disconnected from the CUC fuel power backup – which is allowed. That is what 100% solar means. See how economical it is just for your house. Now multiply that out for every residence and commercial property on the island. I set out who is to blame under the LNG story last week: https://caymannewsservice.com/2026/10/premier-backing-methane-gas-as-solution-to-fuel-crisis/#comment-735508 In short, CUC behaves exactly as the monopoly CIG licensed it to be – they are doing nothing wrong. Blame OfReg and CIG. OfReg threw out CUC’s own 100MW solar plan, reversed itself only when CUC went to court, and forced OfReg to admit it lacks the engineering expertise to regulate the company it is meant to oversees. CIG wrote a National Energy Policy and left it to rot. I would change one thing in my comment: my “kept it local” jibe was aimed at Michael Myles and the xenophobic hiring culture he champions, which keeps real overseas expertise out of jobs like this, and not at Sonji Myles. My apologies to Sonji. Now André tells us he cannot understand why solar is taking so long. His excuse of a government appoints the regulator’s board, owns the energy policy, and has CUC’s grid licence coming up for renewal in April 2028. Yet the man holding every lever has no answer. The 10:35am commenter supplies one: Wayne Panton announced a public solar ownership model in 2022, and CIG never turned it into policy. Announce, subsidise, blame someone else, repeat. A political system that rewards this level of singular incompetence will never deliver an effective solar power grid, and tinkering with OfReg won’t change it. Cayman needs complete electoral reform: https://caymannewsservice.com/2026/05/dubai-has-drone-strikes-cayman-has-beauty-queens-dubai-is-winning/ Wayne’s proclamation was never realistic. Government can barely deploy capital to core infrastructure under FFR – what made him think they had spare hundreds of millions sitting around for solar ownership stake and deployment? As for local pension funds partnering government to supply supplemental funding – typically most would (should) look to avoid double risk exposure by having concentrated capital exposed to our geographical risks. The government never turned it into a policy because it was a poorly-conceived idea to transplant into our context. The former Premier screwed us all over because he was convinced otherwise by certain parties and then destabilized the very entities he held the levers for by injecting all that uncertainty just when OfReg was finally starting to try to kickstart meaningful solar development. CIG needed to give CUC advance warning in 2023 if they intended to revisit their license. Guess what..? They didn’t do that, so we are automatically locked in to the same license for another 20 years. While the Cayman Islands benefits from abundant sunshine, relying on solar power for 100% of its electricity requirements is not realistically feasible under current technological and economic conditions. The fundamental challenge is that solar electricity generation is intermittent. Solar panels produce electricity only during daylight hours, and output can decline significantly during cloudy or stormy weather. Cayman requires a continuous, reliable electricity supply, particularly for essential services such as hospitals, water desalination, businesses and air conditioning. A fully solar-powered system would require enormous battery storage capacity to provide electricity overnight and during extended periods of poor weather. Grand Cayman consumes approximately 2.2 gigawatt-hours of electricity daily. Providing sufficient storage for even three days of electricity consumption could require battery investments approaching US$2 billion, before accounting for solar installations, grid upgrades and other infrastructure. Furthermore, batteries would need to be recharged after extended periods of reduced solar generation, creating additional capacity requirements and costs. Land availability presents another significant obstacle. Generating enough electricity to meet Cayman’s annual demand would require hundreds of megawatts of solar capacity, potentially occupying thousands of acres if installed primarily in ground-mounted solar farms. Given Cayman’s limited land area, high property values and competing residential, commercial and environmental priorities, constructing solar installations on this scale would be particularly challenging. Rooftop solar could reduce, but not eliminate, these constraints. Finally, Cayman’s exposure to hurricanes makes exclusive reliance on solar especially problematic. Major storms can damage solar installations, disrupt transmission infrastructure and substantially reduce solar generation for several consecutive days. A system dependent entirely on solar and batteries would therefore face significant resilience risks. A more realistic approach would be to maximise solar generation while retaining complementary energy sources, substantial battery storage and dependable backup generation. Cayman could potentially achieve a very high proportion of renewable electricity, but pursuing 100% solar without alternative generation would involve disproportionate costs and unacceptable risks to electricity reliability. You are entirely correct, but the morons downvoting you are too stupid to realise. Further, the intellectually retarded local politicians struggle to plan beyond their packed lunch, and therefore they just say whatever they think will sound good for the next 12 to 24 hours. André has no idea what he’s talking about. Fortunately for him, nor do his voters. Never mind, just free solar. He should promise free SUVs and free housing to everyone – perhaps about six months before the next election. Enough voters are stupid enough to vote for it. No. I voted the original comment down because this does not actually have to be done on a utility scale. It can be done by individual property owners, at their own expense, in $100K increments. All that is needed is quick and efficient regulatory approvals. Reduced import duties could be a great incentive. There is zero import duty on residential solar systems, which has been the case for more than the past five years. The National Energy Policy addresses all of those points. https://gov.ky/documents/35692/0/National+Energy+Policy+2024-2045_compressed.pdf/13330123-12b0-7663-7248-3bec69237410?t=1763404410542 You might disagree with their assumptions (as their document does with yours) re diesel costs saved vs expenses needed for batteries & panels, and the potential for distributed solar to reduce land need and disaster risk (a good lesson among others to learn from Puerto Rico), but at least they’ve thought of them too. This headline is misleading. Who and where on earth did anyone suggest methane as an alternative energy source? LNG as suggested is mostly methane. especially when you look at the production process and the damage that methane could do to a fragile island environment over 20 years. 28@12:19pm -It could be if one harnesses the amount of BS coming out of our House of Parliament. Major methane source! LNG is (mostly) methane. I agree an impolite headline, but it did get our attention didn’t it. It’s actually beyond a joke now how F’d up this country is when it comes to this. Solar should be mandatory on every new build, and cheap as F to install on existing structures, due to the demand there would be if CUC stepped the F back. There should be hundreds of containers of panels coming in yearly (reducing the costs to buy). But they block it all. I am a CUC shareholder and I can’t stand the policies they have. All this on a low lying island too. SMH! CUC needs to get with the program – instead of their top people jetting across the globe attending conference, gaining graduate degrees funded by the company, and feathering their own nests. I read about Board members and the company winning awards when they are basically incompetent and responsible for the financial strife of so many local people is criminal. The rich expats moving to this country can afford to pay $1500 a month for power, the rest of certainly cannot. The recent tragedy where a family’s power was cut off and they were using a generator is a prime example of why we all need solar – NOW not in 10 YEARS! So, majority of the overseas companies registered here are chinese registrations? Shein and so many others operate from Cayman. Now, this solar idea, with majority of panels being made by china, even the minerals and mines are chinese cornered; This would really give cayman government a great relationship with communist china. In addition to the risks cited by the premier (cost, supply chain volatility, and the investment required), there are other even more extraordinary risks, both to the environment and to anyone nearby, that come with an LNG facility. A very bad idea for Cayman. https://www.gexcon.com/resources/blog/the-7-essential-hazards-in-lng-facilities/ DUH Hon. Premier! But you just showed how flimsy you are…again. Flip-Flops how unprepared your Government is. It should be compulsory for every inch of every roof in Cayman to be covered with solar panels. They are now relatively cheap and make electricity for virtually nothing. It is a criminal that CUC and CIG drag their feet. “Its own plan in 2022 was for government and its partners to be the majority owner of utility-scale renewable plants, with the utility paid to operate and maintain all of them.” Does no one recall that the then-Premier Wayne Panton announced this at a conference in Miami alongside James Whittaker one week after the regulator started trying to procure utility-scale solar back in April 2022? And then his government never actually committed this to an official policy, but instead set back OfReg through indecision? Peter Gough, the interim CEO at OfReg at the time had to clarify that there was no actual policy directive from government. It is a shame most of the related records would likely be exempted under FOI, as it would be illuminating to see who talked to who and why, four years later, progress is still stalled. “Had it gone ahead then, Grand Cayman would likely already be above 50% renewable today and largely insulated from the fuel shocks on everyone’s bill,” he claimed. Had OfReg gone ahead without the political interference at that time, the irony is that this probably would be true. CUC does everything it can to make solar impractical and inefficient. There is no negative regulatory disincentive to propel CUC away from it’s fruitful and profit-guaranteeed client relationship with SOL. There is no competition allowed to bust in, and shake things up. Any expansion in grid-scale solar has been previously executed at 4-5x cost and reinvoiced to consumers at a 30% margin. Ofreg seem to believe they are a client service desk that work for the licensed utility operators and not as a government regulator officiating quality, modernization, good value, and proper service, on behalf of the people of the Cayman Islands. you lost me at “Since the country can’t seem to get switching to solar to happen” The government controls the regulator which controls the solar billing structure and rates. Those rates are the reason for poor ROI and therefor zero adoption. Have a backbone and implement net zero, or cost of solar pricing by law and it will tick up. One of the biggest VPs of CUC who talks endlessly about how great CORE is, just build an enormous house across the street from me: not a single solar panel to be found. So if it’s such a great deal…why do CUC staff and executives not use it??? i win i had ‘u-turn’ on my Cayman politics bingo card today Whittaker, as usual, is right. The failings – on something so fundamental and key to the cost of living – appear frightening. At the very least – start putting solar above large government car parks, and on rooftops of large government buildings. Install batteries – and then take whole buildings offline. Do it one at a time and do it now. That seems to fall within the existing legal framework and would start saving government, the Islands’ largest consumer of electricity, on its own bills. The public would quickly be better off. Private sector schools and warehouses can start doing the same. Anyone with a big roof and/or big car-park! Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *
First Solar Inc. has inaugurated the first phase of its new PV module manufacturing facility in South Carolina, cutting the ribbon on the manufacturing floor Oct. 28. Located in the small town of Gaffney near the Palmetto State’s northern border, the new facility will onshore final production processes of First Solar’s Series 6 Plus modules. The company’s international fleet with initiate manufacturing of those modules before bringing them to American soil to avoid further potential shipping tariffs or other FEOC concerns. “Less than a year after we selected Gaffney, this facility is ready to produce American solar technology, built by South Carolinian workers,” says First Solar CEO Mark Widmar. “That pace reflects what is possible when sound policy, strong state and local partners, and a committed workforce align. “Every module that leaves this facility is made without dependence on Chinese crystalline silicon supply chains, and it strengthens our ability to deliver the certainty our customers need as American electricity demand grows.” The two-phase plant is expected to support a total of 700 jobs once at full operation, the company says. First Solar officials say that its staffing team has already filled about 500 of those positions.
Moving on to the next phase
The second phase of the manufacturing plant project will see completion by mid-2027, according to company representatives. In total, the two-phase endeavor has a price tag of about $330 million, and will double the manufacturing plant’s annual nameplate capacity to 3.4 GW. The new facility “supports American energy dominance and affordability goals,” the company says. The upgrade came about in response to rising demand for domestically produced energy technology after the second Trump administration signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law in July 2025. Government officials from both the state and federal level attended the ribbon cutting ceremony, including South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster and U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick. The latter says First Solar’s module technology is “exceptional,” and that the company continues to win in the U.S. because it relies on its own proprietary technology. “Thanks to First Solar’s investment, South Carolinians are building American energy technology in Gaffney, with nearly 700 good-paying jobs expected to support this critical work,” Gov. McMaster says. “This is another example of why South Carolina continues to be recognized as a manufacturing powerhouse and a leader in our nation’s energy future.” By the end of 2026, First Solar officials expect to have invested more than $5 billion in American solar manufacturing and research and development infrastructure, since 2019. Additionally, the firm forecasts that it will have about 17 GW of U.S.-based module manufacturing capacity by 2027.
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For homes, Gen 4 brings 500 W performance to all-black panels in both dual-glass and mono-glass designs. For commercial and utility projects, the same performance upgrade extends across larger 60-, 66- and 72-cell formats. Gen 4 reflects the growing maturity of back-contact technology. Over three generations, AIKO moved back contact from a premium niche into mainstream solar. With its fourth generation, the focus now shifts to maximising value for installers and customers on every roof. What’s new in Gen 4? In the new ABC 4.0 INFINITE Ultra cell, six process upgrades lift average production cell efficiency from 27.2% to 27.4%. At the panel level, zero-gap cells, hidden rear connections (InvisiRibbon) and tighter string spacing cut non-generating area by about 20%, so 97% of the surface now produces power. Every ABC INFINITE Ultra series format gains up to 20 W over the previous generation, at exactly the same size and weight. Against TOPCon panels of the same dimensions on the current market, that means up to 30 W more power per panel. In the 54-cell size used on most Australian homes, where AIKO released the world’s first 500 W, 25% efficient white-backsheet panel under 2 m² in 2025, Gen 4 pushes further to 510 W and 25.5% efficiency. AIKO Head of APAC Alex Hang said Australian households have had AIKO back-contact panels on their roofs for several years, and Australian installers have helped prove the technology in some of the toughest conditions in the world. “The INFINITE Ultra series gives them more power from every roof, more ways to mount it, and the confidence that comes from technology built to last for decades,” Hang said. “We never stop advancing, and we want Australia to be among the first to benefit.” The INFINITE Ultra series also comes in a choice of larger formats to suit different projects. The 60-cell panel (1,954 × 1,134 mm) reaches 560 W, and the 72-cell panel (2,382 × 1,134 mm) reaches 700 W at 25.9% efficiency, the highest in the range. Gen 4 also tackles back contact’s traditional weakness in rear-side generation, with the 66-cell bifacial panel now reaching up to 85% bifaciality and 670 W. This opens back contact to high-albedo sites, carports, ground-mounted systems and solar farms. All-black 500 W: extreme power and aesthetics for Australia’s premium homes For many owners of high-end homes, the look of solar has long been a reason to hold back. Visible gridlines, blue cell edges and uneven colour can clash with a carefully designed roof. And an all-black finish has historically come at the cost of performance, as older types of black panels typically run hotter and produce less power. Gen 4 removes that trade-off, bringing 500 W and 25.0% efficiency to an all-black panel in the standard 1,762 × 1,134 mm size, with no visible gridlines and the same black colour between cells. Homeowners are no longer forced to choose between a premium look and premium performance, and they can choose between two designs. Z Series is the premium choice, with a uniform pure-black finish front and back. Its sharp look is paired with a stronger frame, enhanced reliability and dual-glass construction, which together support a 40-year product and power warranty, matching the life of a new roof. Z Series is already open for orders in Europe and is expected to be available in Australia in 2027. Neostar Champion, part of the Gen 4 Neostar range, delivers the same 500 W all-black performance in a mono-glass design, backed by a 30-year product and power warranty. Designed with installers in mind As the industry races toward higher wattage, a common shortcut has been to simply make panels bigger or thinner. It produces an eye-catching number on the datasheet, but the cost falls on installers: heavier lifts, awkward non-standard sizes, and roof layouts and racking that must be reworked. AIKO chose a different approach. The INFINITE Ultra series gains power from better technology rather than a bigger frame. Each panel keeps the same size and weight as the matching previous-generation panel, and the 54-cell panels stay under 2 m² and 25 kg. Installers also get more ways to mount Gen 4, where approved in the installation manual: short-side or long-side clamping, with or without rails, and short-side or long-side insertion. On the Z Series, an optimised structural design boosts the four-corner front-side mounting load from 1,600 Pa to 2,400 Pa. More watts per panel also means fewer panels, clamps and rails for the same system size, and AIKO’s local Australian team backs installers with training and technical support. Value beyond wattage With AIKO, customers don’t have to trade one benefit for another. Alongside higher output, the INFINITE Ultra series strengthens fire safety, reliability and long-term energy performance, addressing the operating conditions and asset-life considerations that matter to installers, EPCs and system owners. Features vary by model. What it means for Australian homes Australia’s rooftops are being asked to do more than ever. Around 42% of homes already have solar, and more than 500,000 home batteries have been installed under the Cheaper Home Batteries Program since July 2025. As households add batteries, EVs and heat pumps, the question is no longer whether to go solar, but how much a roof can deliver: more energy from limited space, with a finish that complements the home, and the confidence that it will last for decades. Gen 4 is built around those priorities. With up to 30 W more per panel than TOPCon panels of the same size, homeowners can fit around 6% more solar capacity on the same roof. More generation means bigger savings, more solar to charge the home battery and fewer grid purchases in the evening. It also gives households the capacity to keep adding, from an EV to a heat pump or pool, on the path to a fully electrified home. What it means for businesses The expansion of the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme to systems up to 1 MW is a rare opportunity to bring more Australian businesses into commercial solar. By lowering upfront costs and improving project feasibility, it opens the benefits of renewable energy to a much broader segment of the economy. To make the most of it, businesses need to get the most from every square metre of roof. High-efficiency panels like AIKO’s ABC INFINITE Ultra series do exactly that, unlocking higher system capacity and, with it, greater STC value. For small or complex sites, that extra capacity can be the difference between a token installation and a system large enough to meaningfully support the business’s energy demand. And with multiple formats to suit different buildings, including a high power-to-weight ratio for weight-constrained roofs, more businesses can find the right fit. Never stop advancing: delivering more value with every generation Gen 4 reflects AIKO’s commitment to making high-performance back-contact solar accessible to every rooftop. Across its first three generations, AIKO focused on overcoming the technology and manufacturing barriers that had kept back contact in a premium niche. By making mass production commercially viable and bringing the technology to more accessible price points, it helped move back contact into the mainstream, helping more homes and businesses enjoy better performance and greater value from solar. Gen 4 builds on that foundation by addressing a wider range of customer needs and project constraints. Its significance goes beyond a higher number on the datasheet: it brings together output, installation flexibility, reliability, safety and design, rather than asking customers to choose one or two strengths. The ambition is not simply to make back contact more accessible, but to make it deliver more: greater productivity from every roof, stronger project economics and lasting value over the life of the asset. AIKO ANZ Head Thomas Bywater said the expanded scheme is a rare opportunity to bring more Australian businesses into solar, but it shouldn’t be wasted on poorly matched systems or short-term thinking. “For business owners, installing solar is never abstract. Behind every commercial project is a business trying to manage costs, protect jobs and build a more resilient future, and it needs a system that delivers real returns, not just an incentive claim,” Bywater said. “With the right technology and the right design for each site, the incentive will do more than reduce the cost of solar. It will help Australian businesses invest with confidence.” This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. 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Sign Up to Roofing Today The multi-site programme includes an 8.5MWp installation set to become the UK’s largest solar PV system on a single continuous roof. Work on a major 21.5MWp solar PV programme has begun across four of beverage producer Refresco’s UK manufacturing facilities,marking one of the largest commercial and industrial solar deployments undertaken in the UK. The investment supports Refresco’s efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its manufacturing operations, increase onsite renewable electricity generation, and strengthen the long-term resilience of its energy supply. Refresco, Bridgwater site mobilisation At the centre of the rollout is an 8.5MWp installation at Refresco’s Bridgwater facility, which is expected to become the UK’s largest solar PV system installed on a single continuous roof. The project will comprise more than 18,000 high-efficiency solar modules and is expected to generate approximately 7.5GWh of renewable electricity annually. Once operational, the system is expected to supply around 17% of the site’s annual electricity demand, providing a significant source of renewable power directly at the point of use and reducing reliance on grid-supplied electricity. Refresco appointed GB NRG to develop, design, engineer and deliver the four-site programme across its UK operations. GB NRG also took the portfolio to market on Refresco’s behalf, selecting Zestec Renewable Energy to fund and manage the solar infrastructure over the long term. The projects will be delivered through Zestec’s long-term Power Purchase Agreements backed by Octopus Energy Generation managed funds. Installation of the flagship project is already well underway. James Logan, Managing Director of Refresco UK, said: “Reducing the environmental impact of our manufacturing operations is an important part of Refresco’s long-term strategy, alongside maintaining the scale, efficiency and reliability our customers expect. “This programme will enable us to generate more renewable electricity directly at our production facilities, reduce our reliance on grid-supplied electricity and strengthen the long-term resilience of our operations. By reducing emissions from our manufacturing activities, we can also support our customers in achieving their own sustainability objectives and addressing emissions within their supply chains. “We are particularly excited by the scale of the flagship installation. We have worked closely with GB NRG to develop the programme and identify the right delivery and funding solution, and we are pleased to be moving forward with GB NRG and Zestec.” Delivering an installation of this scale on a live 24/7 manufacturing facility presents significant engineering and operational challenges. GB NRG has worked closely with Refresco to develop a solution that maintains uninterrupted production, protects roof integrity and ensures the highest standards of health, safety and long-term system performance throughout construction. The scale of the installation demonstrates the potential for major manufacturers and other large energy users to turn previously unused roof space into a significant source of onsite energy generation. Refresco, Bridgwater installation of solar panel mounting rails Jon Antoniou, Founder and CEO of GB NRG, said: “We are extremely proud to have been selected by Refresco to deliver what is a genuinely landmark solar programme. “An 8.5MWp installation on a single roof is an exceptional project in its own right, and across the four sites we expect to deliver 21.5MWp of onsite solar generation. “Being trusted to deliver the programme, following Refresco’s competitive process involving twelve solar providers, is a major endorsement of the GB NRG team and the expertise we have built over the past 16 years.” Toby Smith, COO of Zestec Renewable Energy, added: “We are delighted to be partnering with Refresco and GB NRG on such a significant portfolio of commercial solar projects. “Large-scale rooftop solar gives businesses such as Refresco the opportunity to make productive use of existing roof space, reduce reliance on grid electricity and make meaningful progress towards their sustainability objectives, without the need for upfront capital investment. “This programme demonstrates what can be achieved by bringing together an ambitious end user, an experienced delivery partner, and long-term investment capital. As the funding and asset management partner, we look forward to supporting Refresco over the long term.” >> Read more about solar in the news Stay up to date with all of the latest news from Roofing Today by signing up to our weekly Bulletins…
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Solar Power World By Michael Becker, Global Business Director, Energy Storage/Energy & Power, CSA | Access to plug-in solar is becoming increasingly available across North America. As more consumers explore technologies such as balcony solar and plug-in photovoltaic (PIPV) systems, these emerging solutions have the potential to make renewable energy more accessible and support broader participation in the energy transition. Solar remains one of the most accessible and promising renewable energy tools being added to the grid, and plug-in solar products may help expand that access to consumers who have traditionally faced economic barriers to participation. As adoption grows, however, products designed to be convenient and accessible must still be treated as electrical products that interact with a building’s infrastructure. Product design, connectors, wiring, system integration and installation practices all play an important role in safety and performance. Expanding access and maintaining confidence in emerging technologies are complementary goals, and achieving both will require continued attention to the frameworks that support responsible deployment. Clear safety standards, code-compliant installation practices and appropriate regulatory requirements will be essential to helping ensure that innovation can reach more consumers safely and responsibly. Solar-related issues are often associated not with the panels themselves, but with connectors, wiring and improper installation practices. A major misconception is that consumers can simply purchase a solar panel with a standard plug and connect it to a household outlet. Responsible deployment of PIPV systems depends on several complementary elements working together: products evaluated to appropriate safety standards, compliance with the National Electrical Code (NEC), qualified installation practices, and applicable state and local requirements. No single element alone can provide the framework needed to support broad and responsible adoption. An important emerging component of that framework is UL 3700, which is helping establish a product-safety benchmark specifically for plug-in photovoltaic systems. UL 3700 can provide manufacturers with a clearer benchmark for product development and evaluation, while giving regulators greater confidence as they consider how plug-in PV should be addressed within electrical codes and regulatory frameworks. Continued industry involvement in the development of UL 3700 will also be important as the standard evolves toward broader consensus and adoption. At the same time, UL 3700 is only one part of the overall approach. It does not replace NEC compliance, qualified installation practices or applicable state and local requirements that govern the deployment of electrical systems. Emerging safety benchmarks are already moving from concept to practice. CSA has certified a microinverter to UL 3700, providing an early example of how the standard can be applied to products entering the market. The certification demonstrates how a consistent benchmark can be applied as new technologies enter the market, while helping support confidence among regulators, manufacturers and consumers as plug-in solar continues to develop. The regulatory landscape for PIPV continues to evolve, with proposed changes to the NEC, state laws and local codes and ordinances aimed at facilitating the safe installation of these systems. As the industry works to establish appropriate requirements, keeping standards, codes and regulatory frameworks aligned with technological advancement will be critical to supporting the growth of PIPV products. Well-aligned requirements can help create a pathway for innovation while maintaining consistency in how emerging technologies are evaluated and deployed. Technology itself continues to advance rapidly. Improvements in inverter technology are helping make solar more affordable while enabling greater integration of renewable energy into the grid. As inverters become more energy-dense and cost-effective, they can help lower the overall cost of PV systems and support broader adoption. New inverter capabilities can also provide valuable grid-support functions that help integrate more renewable resources and contribute to a more flexible and resilient electric grid. As these technologies evolve, standards, codes and regulatory requirements must continue evolving alongside them so that innovation and deployment can advance together. Ultimately, greater accessibility brings greater responsibility. As plug-in solar technologies become easier for consumers to adopt, the safety frameworks that support them must keep pace with innovation. By developing appropriate product standards, maintaining NEC-compliant installation practices, utilizing qualified installers and advancing state and local requirements alongside technological progress, the industry can help expand access to renewable energy while maintaining the confidence of consumers, manufacturers, regulators installers and other stakeholders.
Waaree Energies Ltd has reported a total order book of approximately INR 59,200 crore as of Sep. 30, 2026, with solar modules accounting for 89% of outstanding orders. The order book comprises solar modules, EPC–renewable, transmission and distribution (T&D)–renewable, and other businesses. EPC–renewable accounted for 6%, T&D–renewable for 4%, and other businesses for 1% of the total order book. Waaree’s module order book reached 25.6 GW in Q2 FY2027, compared with 25.2 GW in the preceding quarter. However, the company flagged uncertainties related to Section 232 developments in the United States, stating that a significant portion of export orders had been deemed cancelled. H1 FY2027 revenue rises 47.3% Waaree Energies reported revenue of INR 15,449.5 crore for the first half of FY2027, up 47.3% year on year. H1 PAT was INR 1,645.5 crore, marginally down around 0.3% year on year, despite revenue growth of 47.3%. For Q2 FY2027, revenue increased 23.9% year on year to INR 7,517.7 crore, compared with INR 6,065.6 crore in the corresponding quarter last year. PAT declined 14.2% year on year to INR 753.6 crore. Solar module production in H1 FY 2027 reached 6.3 GW, compared with 4.9 GW in H1 FY2026. Q2 FY2027 module production stood at 3 GW. Solar cell production rose to 1.9 GW in H1 FY2027 from 0.8 GW a year earlier. Quarterly cell production increased to 1.1 GW in Q2 FY2027, compared with 0.6 GW in Q2 FY2026, with capacity utilisation reported at 81%. Retail constituted 37.2% of the revenue mix for H1 FY2027, up from 18.8% in the corresponding period last year. Retail accounted for 46.1% of the Q2 FY2027 revenue mix. Waaree has PV module manufacturing capacity of 25.8 GW, including 1.6 GW in the United States, and solar cell manufacturing capacity of 5.4 GW. Q2 FY 2027 highlights The company’s board approved $37 million to expand the Meyer Burger facility in Arizona, United States, by an additional 0.6 GW. The expansion is expected to increase its total US capacity to 4.8 GW by March 2027. During the quarter, the company’s board of directors approved the Scheme of Amalgamation of subsidiary Indosolar Ltd with the company. Waaree also commenced advanced automated battery energy storage system (BESS) container manufacturing at its facility in Rola, Gujarat, with an annual capacity of 5.15 GWh. “We are particularly encouraged by the strong momentum in our retail business and domestic US manufacturing, which recorded revenue growth of 191% and 113%, respectively in H1FY 2027. These businesses are becoming important contributors to our growth trajectory,” said Jignesh Rathod, Whole Time Director & CEO, Waaree Energies Ltd. “As we continue to expand our capabilities and strengthen our presence across the clean energy value chain, we expect our battery energy storage system (BESS), transformers, inverters, EPC T&D and Green Hydrogen businesses to contribute to future growth.” Rathod said, “As we will enter FY28, Waaree will be full ready to execute on capacities, namely, 29 GW of solar PV, 15.4 GW of solar cell, 5 GWh of BESS pack & container, 3.5 GWh battery cell manufacturing, 4GW of inverter, 20,000 MVA of transformers and a larger integrated EPC entity (projects + T&D).” This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. Comments Please login to comment Monday, November 23, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Thursday, October 29, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Toyo Co. said US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has released shipments of solar cells made at its factory in Ethiopia after reviewing supply chain documentation that included polysilicon and wafer sourcing. The Japanese manufacturer did not say how many shipments were released, when, or under which authority they had been held. In a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Toyo said CBP issued detention notices on May 27 and May 28 for two cell shipments totaling about 0.094 MW, valued at $13,770, which CBP indicated were suspected of being associated with forced labor. Toyo has not said whether those are the shipments now released. Toyo said it is pursuing certification under CBP’s Customs Trade Partnership Against Terrorism program and has expanded the import compliance program that supports its US manufacturing operations in Humble, Texas. Chief Executive Officer Takahiko Onozuka said customers need confidence in where their solar products come from and that the company intends to provide it across its full supply chain. The US Department of Commerce opened a country-wide circumvention inquiry on July 17 into solar cells and modules completed in Ethiopia using Chinese components. It followed a request filed in May by eight US manufacturers naming Toyo and Origin Solar Manufacturing. A preliminary determination is due within 150 days of the inquiry’s start, putting it in mid-December unless extended. Toyo has denied the allegations, saying its Ethiopian cells use polysilicon from the United States and Malaysia. Toyo operates 4 GW of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) cell capacity in Hawassa, Ethiopia, and completed an expansion of its Humble module plant to 2 GW in October. It plans a 1.5 GW heterojunction cell line at the Texas site, with pilot production targeted for the first quarter of 2028. CBP has previously released detained solar imports after supply chain reviews, including cells bound for Qcells’ Georgia factories in 2025. Separately, Commerce in September finalized antidumping and countervailing duties on solar cells and modules from India, Indonesia and Laos, after manufacturers there became major suppliers to the US market following duties on Southeast Asian imports. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. Comments Please login to comment Venerdì, 19 Novembre 2026 11:00 – 12:00 CET, Roma pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead. Thursday, October 29, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid As a media partner of Genera 2026, pv magazine will organize and moderate a session in Spanish in Madrid, during International Electrification and Decarbonization Week. Monday, November 2, 2026 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026? Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage. Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Monday, November 23, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
First Solar has opened its new solar module facility in Gaffney, South Carolina, holding a celebration to inaugurate the first phase of production at what is slated to become a 3.4 GW plant. The event featured company executives, community leaders and politicians from several levels of government. The company plans to use the facility to onshore the final production processes for Series 6 Plus thin-film modules initiated at its international facilities. First Solar says the investment was driven by rising domestic demand for U.S.-made energy equipment following recent federal trade policies and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed into law in July 2025. The second phase of the $330 million plant is expected to be complete by mid-2027, bringing the facility’s capacity from 1.7 GW to 3.4 GW of modules featuring the company’s CuRe technology. First Solar says it has already filled 500 jobs at the facility and expects to bring on nearly 200 more as the facility reaches full production. Guests at the inauguration included South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, U.S. Senator Darline Graham, U.S. Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, South Carolina Senator Harvey Peeler, South Carolina Representatives Dennis Moss and Brian Lawson and Gaffney Mayor Lyman D. Dawkins III, who joined plant workers and First Solar CEO Mark Widmar in the ribbon-cutting ceremony. “Thanks to First Solar’s investment, South Carolinians are building American energy technology in Gaffney, with nearly 700 good-paying jobs expected to support this critical work,” said McMaster in a statement. “This is another example of why South Carolina continues to be recognized as a manufacturing powerhouse and a leader in our nation’s energy future.” Widmar added his own thoughts about the new plant: “Less than a year after we selected Gaffney, this facility is ready to produce American solar technology, built by South Carolinian workers,” he said in a statement. “That pace reflects what is possible when sound policy, strong state and local partners, and a committed workforce align.” U.S. and global production capacity The Gaffney plant is First Solar’s sixth U.S. manufacturing facility, joining three existing plants in Ohio and single facilities in Alabama and Louisiana, alongside research and development centers in California and Ohio. The company also operates a distribution center in Duncan, South Carolina, and maintains a partnership with Inland Port Greer for shipments of its products. During its second-quarter 2026 earnings call in July, company executives noted that relocating production equipment from Southeast Asia to support the South Carolina finishing operation leaves the company with roughly 1.8 GW of end-to-end, fully finished module capacity across Malaysia and Vietnam, while the remaining international Series 6 lines supply unfinished modules to the Gaffney plant. First Solar has said it expects its cumulative investment in U.S. manufacturing and R&D infrastructure since 2019 to exceed $5 billion by the end of 2026. By 2027, once the second phase of the Gaffney plant is complete, the company forecasts its total domestic module manufacturing capacity will reach approximately 17 GW. Across its entire global fleet, First Solar forecasts total actual module production of 16.5 GW to 17.5 GW in 2026, rising to between 18.9 GW and 20.5 GW in 2027. The company is scheduled to report its Q3 2026 financial results after the market closes on Oct. 29, 2026. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. Comments Please login to comment Monday, November 2, 2026 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Thursday, October 29, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026? Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
JinkoSolar’s shares slipped 3.2% in the latest session, dragged down by a sector-wide selloff after Enphase Energy posted weaker-than-expected third-quarter 2026 results and a disappointing outlook for the closing quarter, according to media reports. The read-across from Enphase hit solar names broadly, and JinkoSolar was no exception. On the corporate side, subsidiary Jinko ESS said Tuesday it is pushing ahead with a portfolio of standalone battery storage projects in Germany totaling 20 MWh. The package spans three sites earmarked for marketing electricity on the power market — two with 5 MWh of capacity each and a larger 10 MWh installation. The storage drive extends beyond that initial batch. Media reports indicate Jinko ESS is also advancing a 135 MWh battery project in Germany, tied to a photovoltaic plant and structured to support a hybrid power purchase agreement. Should investors sell immediately? Or is it worth buying JinkoSolar? Earlier, on October 22, Jinko ESS delivered lithium-ion battery storage systems for three German agri-photovoltaic projects, combining 20.06 MW of power with 66.33 MWh of storage capacity. Those installations bring farming, solar generation and storage together under one roof. At the holding level, the renaming of JinkoSolar Holding Co., Ltd. to Jinko Holdings Limited took effect on October 23, following shareholder approval at the general meeting on October 21. The American depositary shares continue to trade on the NYSE under the ticker JKS, with the CUSIP left untouched. On the product front, JinkoSolar unveiled its all-black Tiger Neo 5.0 residential module — announced on October 17 — which delivers up to 510 Wp of output at an efficiency of 25.52%, according to company figures. Jinko Holdings has slated the release of unaudited third-quarter 2026 results for October 30, with the figures due before US markets open. A conference call to discuss the numbers is set for 8:30 a.m. US Eastern time the same day. Ad JinkoSolar Stock: New Analysis – 29 October Fresh JinkoSolar information released. What’s the impact for investors? Our latest independent report examines recent figures and market trends. Read our updated JinkoSolar analysis…
October 29, 2026. By News Bureau Que:Dhash has grown from a PV junction-box manufacturer into a broader solar-component company covering junction boxes, connectors, cables and PV ribbons. How would you describe the company's evolution? Ans: Dhash has evolved from a specialised PV junction box manufacturer into an integrated and backward-integrated solar component manufacturing company. Our journey has been guided by a clear objective: to develop reliable, technology-driven solar components in India that strengthen the rapidly expanding solar manufacturing ecosystem and contribute meaningfully to the vision of a self-reliant India (Aatmanirbhar Bharat).
Today, our portfolio spans PV junction boxes, connectors, solar cables, PV interconnect ribbons and busbars. Composite frames are also emerging as an important addition to our broader product offering.
The evolution is not just about adding products. It is about building manufacturing depth, technology capability and supply-chain integration. We are investing in in-house manufacturing and quality systems so that Dhash can become a dependable partner to module manufacturers in India and global markets. Que:The government's localisation push has created many opportunities for Indian solar-component manufacturers. Do you think India's ancillary PV ecosystem is developing quickly enough to support the country's module and cell manufacturing plan Ans: India's solar manufacturing ecosystem has made significant progress, but the ancillary ecosystem still needs to grow at a much faster pace.
Cell and module manufacturing capacity can scale rapidly only when the supporting ecosystem of junction boxes, connectors, cables, ribbons, frames, backsheets, glass and other components develops alongside it.
The localisation push has created the right environment for this transition. However, the next phase needs greater investment in technology, capacity, quality certification, R&D and supply-chain resilience.
India has the manufacturing capability and entrepreneurial ecosystem to build this base. The focus now should be on creating globally competitive component manufacturers rather than simply replacing imports with local production. Que:What are the biggest gaps that still exist in India's domestic solar-component supply chain? Ans: There are three broad areas that require attention.
First is technology and R&D. As module technologies become more sophisticated, components must evolve at the same pace. We need more investment in product engineering, testing and material science.
Second is scale. India's module and cell manufacturing ambitions require component manufacturers to operate at comparable levels of capacity, consistency and delivery reliability.
Third is raw-material localisation. While significant progress has been made, certain specialised materials, machinery and components still have import dependence. Developing these upstream capabilities will make the entire ecosystem more resilient.
At Dhash, we see this as both a challenge and an opportunity. Building a stronger domestic supply chain is central to our long-term strategy. Que:As TOPCon, HJT and other high-efficiency technologies become more prominent, how are junction-box requirements changing? Ans: Junction boxes are becoming increasingly important as module power and operating requirements continue to rise.
Higher-efficiency technologies such as TOPCon and HJT bring higher current levels and increasingly demanding electrical and thermal requirements. This places greater emphasis on current-carrying capability, thermal management, reliability, insulation performance and long-term field durability.
Our approach has been to develop junction-box solutions that are designed around the next generation of modules rather than simply adapting legacy products.
For example, our TRIO Pro 35A junction box has been developed for high-current applications, with a 35A rating, 1500V capability and IP68 protection, making it suitable for advanced module architectures. Additionally, with higher system voltage requirements in place, Dhash is ready with the next generation of Junction Box, popularly known as Trio Pro Max, rated at 35A and suitable to operate under the system voltage of up to 2000V DC.
The junction box is no longer a commodity accessory. It is an important electrical and reliability component of the module. Que:Dhash expanded into PV interconnect ribbons with its LYNC range. It was launched with 6.5 GW of annual production capacity, with plans to scale to 25 GW. What is the current status of that expansion? Ans: The LYNC expansion is progressing as part of Dhash's broader strategy to build a stronger PV component manufacturing platform.
We launched LYNC with 6.5 GW of annual production capacity, with a planned scale-up towards 25 GW. The expansion is being approached in phases, allowing us to align capacity additions with customer requirements, technology development and market demand.
Our objective is not simply to add capacity. We want LYNC to become a technologically capable and quality-focused Indian alternative for PV interconnect ribbons and busbars, serving both domestic and international module manufacturers.
As module technologies evolve, ribbon specifications are also changing. Therefore, our expansion strategy is being built around both volume and product development capability. Que:Dhash has emphasised in-house manufacturing across its product portfolio. How much of your raw-material and component supply chain is currently localised? Ans: Localisation is one of the fundamental pillars of Dhash's manufacturing strategy.
A significant portion of our manufacturing processes and critical component production is carried out in-house in India. This gives us better control over quality, consistency, product development and delivery timelines.
At Dhash, we do not view localisation as a one-time target, but as a continuous journey. While certain specialised raw materials and technologies still require global sourcing, the majority of the child components comprising our junction box bill of materials are manufactured in-house, reflecting our sustained commitment to backward integration over the past nine years since the company’s inception. We continue to progressively expand domestic manufacturing capabilities wherever technically and commercially viable, strengthening supply-chain resilience and advancing India’s solar manufacturing self-reliance.
Our long-term objective is to build an increasingly integrated Indian supply chain while maintaining the quality standards required by global customers. Dhash’s Bhupendra Singh Rawat on Building India’s Solar Component Ecosystem Kimbal Targets Australia and Southeast Asia for Global Expansion Prassann Daphal, CEO, Recyclekaro, on Building India’s Critical Mineral Recycling Ecosystem Evolving Climate Risks Are Reshaping RE Insurance: Amitabh Dewan, Policybazaar for Business Power Asset Management is Shifting from Capacity to Performance: Kota Bhanu Prakash
Rough Draft® Local news for Atlanta and beyond SUBSCRIBE: Our daily newsletter >> Two seventh graders, Ocean Durden and David Song, ceremonially flipped the switch on more than 500 new solar panels at the Mount Vernon School in Sandy Springs during an Oct. 28 assembly. As fifth graders, Durden and Song researched solar energy’s environmental and financial benefits for a fifth-grade project and presented their recommendation to school leadership. Their proposal sparked further exploration and ultimately led to a partnership with Cherry Street Energy to bring their idea to reality.
Mount Vernon partnered with Atlanta-based commercial solar power provider Cherry Street Energy to install solar panels on the rooftops of Mount Vernon’s Middle and Upper School buildings. WEEKLY ON FRIDAY | Subscribe for free
Since August, more than 500 solar panels have been operating on the roofs of the middle and upper schools thanks to Durden and Song’s project, which began two years ago. Cherry Street fully financed the project and will operate and maintain the two systems, covering associated maintenance costs, while selling the energy to Mount Vernon. Andrew Quigley, an account executive with Cherry Street Energy, said the company’s unique business model allows it to act as an alternative to energy providers like Georgia Power. Other metro Atlanta educational institutions have partnered with Cherry Street, including the Davis Academy, Decatur City Schools, Atlanta International School, Holy Innocents’ Episcopal, and Woodward Academy. Combined, the systems produce more than 300,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually, providing more than 15% of the facilities’ energy demands. The estimated annual energy production is equivalent to the electricity needed to power 25 homes and will help avoid 200 metric tons of carbon emissions. After the assembly, Durden and Song spoke with Rough Draft Atlanta about their project. Mount Vernon has its fifth graders complete an Impact Summit, where they demonstrate their critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. During their project, the duo met with the CEO of a Colorado-based solar panel manufacturer, the chief financial officer of Mount Vernon, and took a trip to Georgia Power headquarters. They thought it was over, but school leadership was inspired and pursued a local partnership. Durden said he first discovered the renewable energy technology while driving past a solar farm in South Georgia. Similarly, Song said he learned that solar panels were sustainable after asking his parents about them when he was younger. Song said he wants to know how much the solar panels will help communities save energy and reduce the need to burn fossil fuels. Durden said other students interested in similar projects should know the project took two years and didn’t happen overnight. “It may take time and patience,” he said. “Don’t always give up on a project.” Courtney Stillwagon, chief financial and operations officer at Mount Vernon, said solar energy offers the school a meaningful return over time. “Not just in dollars saved, but in the values we model for our students,” Stillwagon said. “When we invest in clean energy, we are also investing in the next generation of leaders.” Michael Chanin, founder & CEO of Cherry Street Energy, said fifth graders at Mount Vernon saw a power plant where most people saw a school roof. “Today, that roof produces electricity that Mount Vernon buys from Cherry Street Energy at a fixed price, without putting up its own capital,” Chanin said. “These students helped their school make a lasting decision about how it buys power.” Kristy Lundstrom, Head of School and CEO of Mount Vernon said Ocean and David started with a question, did the research, and made a case for change. “Their idea moved beyond the classroom to become a lasting investment in our school and our future,” Lundstrom said. “That’s the power of giving students the agency to act on what matters to them and create positive change for others.” Rough Draft is focused on serving our communities with non-sensational news and information. Support responsible local journalism by becoming a member today! Or support us with a one-time gift. Your contribution is appreciated. Hayden Sumlin is a staff writer for Rough Draft Atlanta, covering Sandy Springs, Fulton County, Norcross, and real estate news. More by Hayden Sumlin
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Shares of Enphase Energy (ENPH), the major US microinverter and energy storage equipment maker, were hammered on Wednesday, closing down $4.77, or 16.03%, at $24.99. The key blow to investor confidence was not the prior quarter’s results themselves but the company’s fourth-quarter guidance, which came in far below Wall Street estimates — effectively an admission that US residential solar demand shows no sign of recovering in the near term. Enphase reported third-quarter 2026 revenue of $293.3 million, below the market estimate of $303.9 million and down about 28.5% from $410.4 million a year earlier. Adjusted earnings per share came in at $0.41, also short of the $0.51 analysts expected and well below $0.90 a year earlier. Quarterly shipments totaled about 1.42 million IQ microinverters, while battery storage system shipments reached 129.9 megawatt-hours. What truly triggered the selloff was the fourth-quarter outlook. The company forecast revenue of $225 million to $255 million, and at the $240 million midpoint, the shortfall versus the roughly $300 million consensus exceeds 20%. Management also warned that fourth-quarter global channel sell-through would fall another roughly 10% sequentially, and said it plans to deliberately ship about $20 million less to distributors to bring inventory down before the seasonally slow first quarter of next year. Tax Credit Exit Drains Cash-Purchase Market CEO Badri Kothandaraman attributed the headwinds on the earnings call to “higher interest rates and the expiration of the federal 25D tax credit.” The 25D credit, a US federal tax incentive for homeowners who buy residential solar systems with cash or loans, expired on December 31, 2025. He said plainly that the policy removed “a substantial portion of the cash and loan market,” leaving third-party ownership arrangements such as leases as one of the few remaining options for homeowners in a high-rate environment. The data confirm the structural blow. Third-quarter US revenue was $233.5 million, down 33% year over year, and the company’s quarterly report pointed directly to the 25D expiration as the main cause. US residential solar end-market sales plunged 35% from a year earlier, while global channel sell-through rose only about 1% sequentially, far below the 10% originally expected. In Europe, revenue fell 11% sequentially and end-market sales dropped 12%, with France particularly weak, reflecting both seasonal factors and softening demand. The CEO conceded on the conference call: “We are not seeing any meaningful recovery in US demand.” Management also expects distributors to remain cautious through the end of 2027. The interest-rate environment is another constraint. The Federal Reserve raised rates by a quarter point on September 16 to a range of 3.75% to 4%, and the US 10-year Treasury yield reached 4.99% on October 27, 0.8 percentage points higher than at the start of the year, markedly increasing the repayment burden on households that finance solar installations. The market broadly expects the Federal Reserve to hold steady at this meeting, but expectations for another rate hike in December remain high. Cash Flow Turns Negative; JPMorgan Cuts Price Target Earnings quality also raised eyebrows among institutional investors. Third-quarter operating cash flow was only about $100,000, and free cash flow was negative $11.37 million. Cash and marketable securities totaled $931.8 million at quarter-end, which remains ample. In addition, a $26.5 million investment impairment dented adjusted earnings per share by about $0.14. JPMorgan analyst Mark Strouse noted that Enphase’s fourth-quarter guidance came in far below consensus, reflecting continued weakness in US residential demand, and cut his price target to $29 from $35 while maintaining a Neutral rating. He also said the weakening in Europe is a negative signal for peer SolarEdge as well. AI Data Centers and Commercial Storage: Betting on the Next Growth Wave Facing a residential market winter, Enphase is pinning its growth hopes on storage and commercial markets. The company expects residential battery shipments to grow 50% from 450 megawatt-hours in 2026 to 675 megawatt-hours in 2027, with the next-generation IQ Battery G5 slated for volume ramp in the first quarter of 2027. About 3 million US households that already have solar installed, along with roughly 500,000 customers in the Netherlands who have solar panels only, are seen as potential battery attach opportunities. In the commercial market, US commercial solar permits rose 13% in the first nine months of the year. The company targets commercial battery sales of 100 megawatt-hours and commercial revenue of more than $100 million in 2027, far above roughly $30 million in 2026. The most closely watched initiative is the AI data center power conversion business. Enphase’s IQ SST solid-state transformer has engaged more than 50 potential customers, including a hyperscale cloud provider and a global AI computing company. Pilot programs are scheduled for 2027, with commercial shipments not until 2028, and management sees the business contributing $1 billion in annual revenue by 2030. Still, that front is far from harvest and will be hard-pressed to offset the bleeding in the residential business in the near term. Enphase holds about a 50% share of the US residential solar inverter market but only 15% to 20% of the residential battery market. Whether its transformation succeeds will be key to whether the stock can stem its decline. Note: Revenue and earnings per share figures in the table are adjusted numbers; fourth-quarter guidance ranges are as published by the company. The news and data on this website are for reference only and do not constitute investment advice or an offer to buy or sell. Information is sourced from exchanges and public sources, and may be delayed, interrupted, or updated. While we strive for accuracy, we do not guarantee timeliness, correctness, or completeness. Content may include external links for which we are not responsible. By using this site, you agree that we and our partners are not liable for any losses. Investment carries full responsibility; please carefully assess risks and consult professionals. If there are errors in the content, please contact us for correction.
Smarter Weather Inputs Cut Day-Ahead Solar Power Forecast Errors in Half Photovoltaic power is notoriously hard to schedule a day in advance. The sun may be predictable in principle, but clouds, haze, and shifting weather patterns turn solar output into a moving target, and the numerical weather prediction (NWP) data that grid operators rely on are often too coarse to describe conditions at a single power station. A new study published in Results in Engineering tackles this problem from the input side, proposing a two-stage framework that first corrects the weather forecasts themselves and only then predicts how much electricity a solar plant will deliver the next day. The research team, led by Jian-Hong Zhu of the study’s affiliation network alongside co-authors including Jun Zhang and Chenghong Gu, tested their approach on data from a 20 MW photovoltaic station in Hebei Province, China. The dataset spans 30 June 2018 to 12 June 2019 at a 15-minute sampling interval, producing 96 data points per day and more than 32,900 entries in total. The station uses a fixed south-facing array tilted at 31 degrees with polycrystalline silicon modules, a typical utility-scale fixed-tilt configuration equipped with instruments measuring both global and diffuse irradiance. The scale mismatch at the heart of the problem is striking. Standard NWP products describe weather averaged over grid cells measured in kilometers, while a megawatt-scale solar plant occupies a footprint far smaller than a single forecast grid square. In the sampled week used for illustration, the mean absolute deviations between NWP values and on-site measurements reached 161.26 W/m² for global horizontal irradiance, 1.79 °C for temperature, and 3.28 m/s for wind speed. Wind speed was systematically overestimated, partly because forecast grids cannot resolve the local terrain and surface roughness that shape the wind field at the station. The first stage of the proposed framework, called VMD-CNN-BiGRU-AM, does not correct the raw weather variables directly. Instead, it computes the error sequence between each NWP variable and the corresponding measured value, then applies variational mode decomposition (VMD) to break that error sequence into several intrinsic mode functions with distinct frequency characteristics. Each component is modeled separately by a hybrid neural network: a convolutional layer extracts local temporal fluctuation features, a bidirectional gated recurrent unit captures temporal dependencies within the historical window, and an attention mechanism weights the most informative time steps. The predicted components are summed back together, and the reconstructed error is added to the original NWP value to yield corrected irradiance, temperature, and wind speed. A key design choice is that the correction runs in a rolling manner without peeking at the forecast day. For the first time point of the target day, the model uses the latest six historical error values, corresponding to 1.5 hours of information at the 15-minute resolution. For subsequent points, previously predicted errors are fed back into the input window, so all 96 daily points can be generated using only information available before the forecasting day. Normalization parameters come exclusively from training data, and no measurements from the target day enter the procedure, avoiding future information leakage. The corrected weather variables then feed a second-stage forecasting model, BOCNN-LSTM, which combines a convolutional feature extractor, two stacked LSTM layers, and Bayesian optimization to automatically tune the number of hidden units, the learning rate, and the L2 regularization coefficient. The authors are careful to note that this stage applies well-established components rather than claiming a new forecasting mechanism; its role is to map corrected meteorological inputs and historical power output to a day-ahead power forecast. The framework produces deterministic point forecasts only, without prediction intervals or probabilistic distributions. The correction stage delivered substantial improvements on its own terms. Compared with raw NWP data, the complete VMD-CNN-BiGRU-AM model reduced mean absolute error and root-mean-square error by 71.3 percent and 74.5 percent for irradiance, 84.2 percent and 82.0 percent for temperature, and 89.2 percent and 87.5 percent for wind speed. Ablation experiments showed that VMD contributed the largest share of the gain: removing it increased irradiance correction errors by roughly 63 to 68 percent, while removing the CNN or attention modules produced smaller but consistent degradations. The bidirectional recurrent unit was retained in all variants as the common temporal backbone, so its individual contribution was not separately quantified. Downstream, the effect on power forecasting was equally clear. When forecasts built on CNN-BiGRU-AM-corrected inputs were compared with those built on the full VMD-corrected inputs across four one-month seasonal samples, average normalized RMSE fell from 0.1619 to 0.0759 per unit and MAE from 0.1173 to 0.0580 per unit, reductions of about 53.1 and 50.6 percent. The correlation coefficient rose from 0.9327 to 0.9823, the accuracy rate climbed from 83.81 to 92.41 percent, and the qualification rate, the share of intervals where error stayed within an acceptable band, rose from 88.76 to 99.44 percent. For the 20 MW station, the average normalized bias of 0.0201 per unit corresponds to roughly 0.402 MW of systematic underprediction, a directional tendency the authors flag as relevant to day-ahead scheduling and balancing decisions. Against selected baselines trained and tested under identical conditions, including support vector regression, LSTM, Transformer-LSTM, and TCN-ECANet-GRU, the proposed framework achieved the lowest errors on the four randomly selected seasonal test days, with RMSE values ranging from 0.0236 to 0.0468 per unit. The added computational cost of the correction stage was modest in absolute terms: the full VMD-based correction averaged about 26.76 seconds per run versus 7.61 seconds without VMD on the study hardware, though the authors stress this covers only the correction stage, not total training or deployment time. The authors are explicit about the limits of their evidence. Validation rests on roughly one year of data from a single station, with four one-month samples rather than continuous rolling-origin evaluation, so seasonal transitions, rare weather events, and interannual variability remain untested. The benchmark set excludes newer architectures such as PatchTST and TimesNet, and no strictly controlled comparison against an architecturally matched single-stage end-to-end model has yet been performed. Future work, the team writes, will extend the framework toward probabilistic forecasting through quantile, ensemble, or conformal prediction methods, and toward multi-year, multi-site validation to establish whether the gains reported here generalize beyond one plant and one year. Subject of Research: A two-stage deep learning framework combining NWP error correction with Bayesian-optimized forecasting for day-ahead photovoltaic power prediction. Article Title: Day-ahead BO CNN-LSTM PV prediction based on input of NWP forecasting reconstruction by VMD and CNN-BiGRU-AM network Article References: Zhu, J.-H., Zhang, J., Tang, J., Zhang, X., Zhang, Q., Luo, K., Ge, Y., & Gu, C. (2026). Day-ahead BOCNN-LSTM PV prediction based on input of NWP forecasting reconstruction by VMD and CNN-BiGRU-AM network. Results in Engineering, 32, Article 113747. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2026.113747 Image Credits: AI Generated DOI:10.1016/j.rineng.2026.113747 Keywords: photovoltaic power forecasting, numerical weather prediction, variational mode decomposition, CNN-LSTM, Bayesian optimization, attention mechanism, NWP bias correction, day-ahead scheduling, renewable energy, deep learning, solar power, error correction News Source: Faith Mcneil. (October 29, 2026). Smarter Weather Inputs Cut Day-Ahead Solar Power Forecast Errors in Half. Scienmag. We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website. Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.
Solar Power World By Billy Ludt | DTE Energy’s 132-MW Fish Creek Solar Park near Sheridan, Michigan, is now operational. The $268 million development was fully funded by customers who voluntarily participate in DTE’s MIGreenPower program. The solar park can generate enough energy to power approximately 30,000 homes. “Our customers expect us to keep the lights on and keep bills as affordable as possible, and bringing new generation like Fish Creek online is part of how we deliver on that commitment,” said Matt Paul, president and COO of DTE Electric. “Fish Creek adds more Michigan-made energy to our system while supporting local jobs, generating new tax revenue and delivering lasting benefits for the communities that helped make this project possible.” Fish Creek will generate tax revenue, supporting regional infrastructure, such as schools, first responders, road maintenance and veteran and senior citizen services. The solar park also created hundreds of local jobs during construction and will provide participating landowners with supplemental income. In addition, Bushnell and Evergreen townships each received $330,000 through Michigan’s Renewables Ready Communities Award, a grant available to local governments that host large-scale renewable energy projects. The townships plan to invest the funding in town hall and fire station renovations, along with other community improvements. Fish Creek is part of DTE’s broader plan to meet Michigan’s growing energy needs with a mix of resources. DTE currently has 20 wind parks and 37 solar parks across Michigan, which together generate enough clean energy to power nearly 1 million homes. DTE’s 2026 Integrated Resource Plan includes an additional 15 GW of renewable energy by 2042. News item from DTE Energy Billy Ludt is managing editor of Solar Power World and currently covers topics on mounting, inverters, installation and operations.
Searching for your content… Oct 29, 2026, 09:00 ET Share this article Planned $950 million HJT facility is expected to add 4 GW of annual solar cell manufacturing capacity and create more than 700 local jobs HOUSTON, Oct. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — SEG Solar (“SEG”), a leading global vertically integrated solar manufacturer, today announced that it has signed a land agreement for a planned $950 million, 4 GW heterojunction (HJT) solar cell plant at its Tomball Industrial Campus in the greater Houston area. The facility is expected to create more than 700 local jobs and is planned to come online in two 2 GW phases, targeted for 2028 and 2029. It would make the SEG Tomball Industrial Campus one of the only U.S. manufacturing locations where HJT cells, modules, and key components are made in one place.
The facility will be located adjacent to SEG’s existing 4 GW Tomball #1 module manufacturing facility and its 4.6 GW Tomball #2 module manufacturing facility currently under construction. Once completed, the HJT cell facility will bring solar cell, module and key component manufacturing together at SEG’s Tomball campus, alongside warehousing, an R&D center, a certified testing laboratory, and planned EVA and junction box production lines. SEG’s Texas-made modules, built with U.S.-produced HJT cells, will help developers and asset owners meet domestic content requirements while improving project economics. They will also provide something increasingly valuable in today’s market: a dependable source of U.S.-manufactured supply. Jim Wood, chief executive officer of SEG Solar, said “Bringing HJT cell manufacturing to the U.S. will give customers a more domestic supply chain with clearer sourcing and a single company standing behind the product. As the only U.S. company dedicated to integrated domestic vertical manufacturing, SEG will continue to strengthen our U.S. operations and innovation. American-made cells, American-made modules, one company accountable.” About SEG Solar Founded in 2021, SEG is a leading vertically integrated PV manufacturer headquartered in Houston, Texas, U.S., and is dedicated to delivering reliable and cost-effective solar modules to the utility, commercial, and residential markets. By the end of 2025, SEG had shipped over 7.5 GW of solar modules worldwide and reached a module production capacity of 6.5 GW. SOURCE SEG Solar SEG Solar ("SEG"), uno de los principales fabricantes estadounidenses de módulos solares, anunció hoy sus planes para construir su tercera planta de… SEG Solar (« SEG »), l'un des principaux fabricants américains de modules solaires, a annoncé aujourd'hui son intention de développer son troisième… Alternative Energies Environmental Products & Services Utilities General Manufacturing Do not sell or share my personal information:
Sydney-based SMA Australia, a subsidiary of German solar and battery inverter manufacturer SMA Solar Technology AG, has unveiled a new grid-forming solution at All Energy in Melbourne, which tackles the challenges of securing grid connections and attracting investment. The solution enables renewable generation to actively support electricity system stability through services including synthetic inertia, fast frequency response and voltage support. Its DC-coupled architecture can capture solar energy otherwise lost through inverter clipping and storing it for dispatch during periods of higher electricity demand or more favourable market conditions. It combines power conversion technology, intelligent plant controls and engineering support, helping reduce system integration complexity and the challenge of coordinating equipment and control systems from multiple suppliers. It also incorporates advanced silicon carbide semiconductor technology, enabling DC-side conversion efficiencies of up to 99.%. SMA Australia Managing Director John Alexander, who will address All Energy on Wednesday 28 October in a presentation titled ‘From megawatts to megabankable: How grid stability is reshaping renewable energy finance’, said the next phase of Australia’s energy transition won’t be measured by how many projects are announced but by how many actually connect to the grid, perform reliably and deliver a return. “Grid stability is no longer just an engineering issue. It goes directly to investment confidence and long-term project value,” Alexander said. “Developers and investors need confidence that their assets can perform reliably today and adapt to the needs of tomorrow’s electricity system. That means designing for Australia’s unique grid conditions, managing risk from the outset and preparing for evolving grid requirements and future market opportunities.” Alexander said Australia has some of the most demanding grid connection requirements in the world and developers need more than technology that performs well in isolation. “They need integrated solutions designed for Australian conditions, backed by local engineering expertise and long-term support,” Alexander said. Medium voltage power station Also on display at All Energy, SMA will showcase its 40-foot Medium Voltage Power Station (MVPS) 6400–10000 range. Its integrated architecture, featuring redundant inverter technology, is designed to improve plant availability and support reliable operation of large-scale renewable energy projects. Other power infrastructure solutions for artificial intelligence (AI) and hyperscale data centres displayed at the SMA Australia exhibit include GridAssist, GridLink AC and the planned GridLink DC architecture. Key SMA Australia projects include Origin Energy’s 300 MW / 650 MWh Mortlake Battery in Victoria (116 SMA Sunny Central Storage inverters) and FRV Australia’s 100 MW / 200 MWh Terang Battery in south-west Victoria (38 SMA inverters This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. Comments Please login to comment Monday, November 23, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
DTE Energy’s 132-MW Fish Creek Solar Park near Sheridan, Michigan, is now operational. The $268 million development was fully funded by customers who voluntarily participate in DTE’s MIGreenPower program. The solar park can generate enough energy to power approximately 30,000 homes. “Our customers expect us to keep the lights on and keep bills as affordable…
A group of Chinese scientists have developed a molecular locking strategy for organic solar cells. The team’s strategy involves using a vacuum-deposited indium chloride (InClx) interlayer to stabilize the interface between the electrode and the hole-transport layer in organic solar cells. The interlayer works by triggering ligand exchange, forming a robust, multidentate indium-oxygen-phosphorus (In-O-P) coordination network capable of densely and uniformly anchoring self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The scientists’ work is presented in the research paper Chloride-mediated SAM locking via ligand-exchange reaction enables 18.8% active-area efficiency and stable organic solar modules, available in the journal Joule. The paper explains that while organic solar cells have reached impressive laboratory efficiencies, the difficulty in forming dense and stable SAM contacts on indium tin oxide surfaces is holding the technology back from forming commercially-viable modules. It adds that the In-O-P coordination network “increases the binding energy and promotes near-ideal monolayer coverage, even on large-area substrates with excellent batch-to-batch reproducibility”. The research team developed small-scale organic solar cells featuring the molecular locking strategy that achieved a power conversion efficiency of 20.4%. Professor Liu Quan, corresponding author of the study, added the team then scaled the technique to modules with an aperture area of 15.6 square centimeters. These larger-area devices achieved an active-area power conversion efficiency of 18.8%, which Liu said is a record. Additional findings from the research paper reveal the devices retain more than 85% of their initial efficiency after 2,000 hours of maximum power point tracking under continuous operation at 25 C. “Our approach provides a generalizable interfacial platform that overcomes the efficiency-stability-scalability trilemma,” the research paper concludes. The research team consisted of scientists from the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. The work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the key program of the Ningbo Public Welfare Research Plan. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. Comments Please login to comment pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead. Thursday, October 29, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid As a media partner of Genera 2026, pv magazine will organize and moderate a session in Spanish in Madrid, during International Electrification and Decarbonization Week. Monday, November 2, 2026 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026? Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage. Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Monday, November 23, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Greenvolt Group, through its subsidiary Greenvolt Next, has signed an agreement with Carrefour Property to develop solar photovoltaic installations across parking areas at up to 120 retail locations in France, with a combined estimated capacity of 25 MWp. The project involves the installation of approximately 45,000 solar panels and forms part of Carrefour’s strategy to increase renewable electricity consumption across its commercial properties. The agreement follows a national tender launched by Carrefour Property to select a partner responsible for developing, financing, constructing, operating and maintaining the solar carport installations. The systems will be deployed primarily at retail locations in central France, with designs adapted to the technical and operational requirements of each site. Greenvolt Next will oversee the development of the photovoltaic installations under an integrated model covering initial technical assessments, financing, construction and subsequent operation. The company will adapt each installation to the specific conditions of the retail sites, considering parking layouts, underground infrastructure, grid connection requirements and permitting procedures. Construction activities will also need to remain compatible with normal store operations and customer access. The objective is to generate renewable electricity for local consumption at Carrefour’s retail facilities, reducing dependence on external electricity supplies and supporting the decarbonization of its property portfolio. Although Greenvolt has not disclosed an annual electricity generation estimate in MWh, the company expects the installations to cover a significant share of electricity consumption at the participating stores. Under the agreement, Greenvolt Next will assume responsibility for financing, technical studies, project development, construction, operation and maintenance of the photovoltaic systems. The arrangement will allow Carrefour to integrate renewable electricity generation into its retail properties without directly managing every technical and operational stage of the projects. For Greenvolt, the agreement represents an expansion of its distributed generation business serving commercial and industrial customers. João Manso Neto, CEO of Greenvolt Group, highlighted the company’s experience developing similar projects for major European retail operators. Meanwhile, Evan Linker, Carrefour’s Global Energy Director, emphasized that the partnership would accelerate the integration of photovoltaic generation across the group’s French property portfolio while helping improve long-term energy cost predictability. The solar carport deployment supports Carrefour Group’s ambition to achieve 100% renewable electricity consumption globally by the end of 2030. Installing photovoltaic structures over parking areas will allow the retailer to use existing commercial spaces for electricity generation without requiring additional land exclusively dedicated to solar development. These installations also combine renewable power generation with the continued use of parking facilities. For Greenvolt Next, the agreement strengthens its presence in France’s distributed generation market and expands its portfolio of photovoltaic solutions for large electricity consumers. The 25 MWp capacity and up to 120 retail locations represent the planned scope of the agreement, rather than installations already built or operational. Greenvolt has not disclosed a detailed construction schedule or a definitive commissioning date for the full portfolio. Sé el primero en comentar…
Avaada Group has unveiled a 745 Wp domestic content requirement (DCR) N-type TOPCon solar module at Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo 2026, held from October 22 to 24 at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida. The module was unveiled by Heeralal Nagar, Rajasthan’s Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Energy. The glass-to-glass module delivers up to 745 Wp at an efficiency of 23.98%. It uses a 132 half-cell configuration and an 18-busbar architecture, designed to improve power density and energy generation. Manufacturing base Avaada has 6 GW of solar cell manufacturing capacity, of which 3 GW is operational, while an additional 3 GW line is at an advanced stage of commissioning. It also has 8.5 GW of operational module manufacturing capacity. At the exhibition, the company showed N-type TOPCon glass-to-glass modules rated at up to 640 Wp with efficiencies of up to 23.7%, alongside G12R and G12 DCR modules rated at up to 745 Wp. According to the company, the modules offer low light-induced degradation, low-light performance, favourable temperature coefficients and bifacial energy generation. Rooftop and storage Avaada also showcased ready-to-install rooftop solar kits for residential, agricultural and commercial consumers. The kits combine solar inverters, electrical protection systems, earthing equipment and connectors to simplify installation. The company presented Avaada HALO, an integrated battery energy storage system (BESS) that combines a hybrid inverter, lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery technology and monitoring through the Avaada mobile application. The modular system supports up to four stacked units and delivers up to 10 kW of continuous power. During outages, it can provide up to 11.5 kW with solar support, subject to operating conditions. Pavilion The pavilion received visits from John Swinney, First Minister of Scotland, and Ravi Kishan, Member of Parliament from Gorakhpur and actor. It featured an interactive clean-energy quiz titled Energy Unplugged – Discover What You Know and a virtual reality experience showcasing the company’s solar manufacturing operations. Management view Heeralal Nagar said: “India’s clean-energy transition is being supported by advances in solar technology, energy storage and decentralised power solutions. It is encouraging to see companies such as Avaada Group bring advanced solar modules, rooftop solar solutions and storage technologies to the market.” He added that such innovations could support renewable energy adoption and strengthen energy security. Vineet Mittal, Chairman, Avaada Group, said: “India should not just be one of the world’s largest consumers of solar technology. India must become one of the world’s leading creators and manufacturers of solar technology.” He added that the 745 Wp DCR TOPCon module reflected the company’s ambition to manufacture globally competitive solar products in India. Mittal also said: “Our vision goes beyond manufacturing solar panels. We want to enable every home, business and industry to generate, store and intelligently use clean energy.” He said the company was building an integrated energy ecosystem spanning solar cells, modules, rooftop systems and battery storage. Schneider Electric Infrastructure Limited (SEIL) recorded its highest-ever quarterly order intake of Rs 915 crore in the first quarter ended June 30, 2026, supported by strong demand from established businesses and emerging segments such as data centres and semiconductors. Revenue for Q1 FY27 stood at Rs 651 crore, up 4.8% year-on-year (YoY) and 10.4% from… Read More Schneider Electric Infrastructure posts record Rs 915 crore Q1 orders NLC India Limited has announced a Rs 1.25 trillion investment plan to increase its power generation capacity from 6.7 GW to 20 GW by 2030. The expansion will span across renewable energy, thermal power, and mining. Out of the total capital outlay, Rs 650 billion is earmarked for renewable energy and green initiatives. This includes… Read More NLC to invest Rs 1.25 trillion to triple power capacity Suzlon Energy Limited has won its first wind energy order from the ArcelorMittal Group, securing a 248.85 MW project in Gujarat. The order takes Suzlon’s cumulative contribution to green steel projects to around 1,156 MW. On 28th January 2026, Suzlon informed the stock exchanges that it had received an order from ArcelorMittal through the group’s… Read More Suzlon secures 248.85 MW wind order from ArcelorMittal in Gujarat The Ministry of Power has revised its Standard Bidding Documents (SBDs) for Inter-State Transmission Services. Announced on June 5, 2025, the amendment now permits bidders to submit Insurance Surety Bonds (ISBs) and Payment on Order Instruments (POIs) instead of relying solely on traditional bank guarantees. The revised bid security norms expand the definition of a… Read More Power Ministry allows ISBs and POIs for transmission bid security China’s clean energy investments in 2024 totalled 6.8 trillion yuan ($940 billion), approaching the $1.12 trillion global investment in fossil fuels, according to a new analysis by UK-based Carbon Brief. Despite a slowdown in growth from 40% in 2023 to 7% in 2024, Reuters reports that China’s clean energy sector remains a key economic driver…. Read More China’s clean energy investment reaches $940bn in 2024 The National Committee on Transmission (NCT), in its 22nd meeting on August 23, 2024, recommended the tariff-based competitive bidding (TBCB) route for four interstate transmission system (ISTS) schemes, with a total project outlay exceeding Rs 100 billion. These projects are aimed at strengthening India’s power transmission infrastructure, particularly for renewable energy zones and green hydrogen… Read More NCT approves TBCB route for Rs 100 billion interstate transmission projects Your email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *
Botswana’s Water Utilities Corporation (WUC) has opened a tender for the development of floating PV systems to be located at dams belonging to the state-owned water and wastewater utility. Available details explain the tender begins with an expression of interest phase, with eligible and qualified companies, joint ventures and consortia invited to submit bids. Successful bidders will be responsible for the design, development and operation of the floating PV plants. Full tender details are available to download on WUC’s website. The deadline to submit expressions of interest, which must be delivered by post, is November 19. WUC tendered a feasibility study for floating solar on its dams in 2024. At the time, it held site visits to its Gaborone and Bokaa dams, Lotsane dam and Letsibogo and Dikgatlhong dams, all located within the eastern part of the country. The Dikgatlhong and Gaborone dams are the two largest in Botswana. The Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) has tracked 190.5 MW of operational solar in Botswana, according to figures available in its project database. Earlier this year, a groundbreaking ceremony took place for a 500 MW solar project, the largest of its kind under development in the country, to be paired with 500 MWh of battery energy storage. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. Comments Please login to comment pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead. Thursday, October 29, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid As a media partner of Genera 2026, pv magazine will organize and moderate a session in Spanish in Madrid, during International Electrification and Decarbonization Week. Monday, November 2, 2026 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026? Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage. Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Monday, November 23, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
News Western Australia is preparing to become the first state to legalise plug-in solar panels and batteries, potentially giving renters and apartment residents access to rooftop-style energy savings for the first time. The systems, commonly known as balcony solar, can plug directly into a standard household power outlet and feed electricity into a home network through a small inverter. Unlike traditional rooftop solar, they can be portable and generally do not require permanent installation. The WA Government has begun consultation on technical and safety standards that could allow solar combinations of up to 2 kilowatts and inverter capacity of up to 800 watts. No maximum battery-storage capacity is currently proposed. The government estimates a typical system could reduce annual electricity bills by around A$240, rising to about A$500 when paired with a battery. The technology is already widely used across Europe, particularly in Germany, where millions of households have installed small plug-in systems. Its introduction in Australia could be particularly significant for renters and apartment residents who have largely missed out on the rooftop solar boom. More than 40% of homes connected to Western Australia’s main electricity network already have conventional solar panels. The government will now work through safety concerns including circuit overloads, equipment standards and rules affecting landlords and strata properties. Consultation closes in December, with technical work expected to continue into early 2027. If the scheme succeeds, other Australian states could follow, potentially opening a large new residential energy market while giving households another tool to offset rising electricity prices. Thursday 29 October News By Ephrem Joseph News By Ephrem Joseph News By Ephrem Joseph News By Ephrem Joseph
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Enter your password Published on 10/29/2026 at 06:21 am EDT MAHLE has fully commissioned the largest photovoltaic-thermal (PVT) system in Germany to date at its site in Vaihingen an der Enz. The plant can now meet nearly all of its heat demand, previously covered by fossil fuels, with locally generated solar heat. The 2,000-square-meter system consists of more than 1,000 PVT hybrid modules, a geothermal borehole field, and a heat pump. In addition to heat, it also generates solar electricity for the site. The hybrid modules are supplied by Dresden-based startup Sunmaxx. MAHLE contributed its established thermal management expertise from the automotive sector to the development of the cooling plates for the PVT modules. As a reference project for supplying industry with solar-generated electricity and heat, the system is attracting strong interest from companies in the region. “With our PVT system in Vaihingen, we are creating a unique bridge from proven automotive technology to pioneering energy technology, underscoring the consistent implementation of our sustainability strategy,” said Martin Wellhoeffer, Member of the MAHLE Group Management Board, responsible for the business unit Thermal and Fluid Systems. With more than 430 kWp of electrical capacity and a projected annual output of 1,086 megawatt-hours (MWh) of thermal energy, the system covers almost the entire heating demand of the site. The geothermal borehole field serves as seasonal thermal storage. Heat stored during the summer is available to the heat pump as a heat source during the winter. The cooling plates developed by MAHLE are located at the back of the PVT modules. They absorb heat from the solar cells and limit temperature-related power losses. The technology is already used in series production of MAHLE components for electric vehicles and is now being used for the first time to regulate the temperature of PVT modules. The cooling plate is in full-surface thermal contact with the PV module. This transfers the heat generated in the solar cells across the entire surface to the heat transfer fluid, where it can then be used. Compared with conventional PVT modules that use a rear-mounted finned heat exchanger and are connected to the PV module only at specific points, the full-surface thermal contact provided by the cooling plate used in Vaihingen enables significantly better heat transfer and more efficient use of the heat generated in the solar cells. “We are particularly proud to have installed this forward-looking technology here at the site, using existing structures and without interrupting ongoing operations,” said Plant Manager Joachim Wulff. The MAHLE plant in Vaihingen an der Enz was established in 1979 and employs around 200 people. It is the only MAHLE plant in Europe producing Visco® products such as the Visco® fan and the Visco® pump. These components are used for engine cooling. They automatically and continuously adjust their output to the actual cooling requirements of the engine, helping to reduce fuel consumption and noise emissions while extending engine life. Press Officer Head of Media Relations 4 photos Attachments Disclaimer MAHLE Metal Leve SA published this content on October 29, 2026, and is solely responsible for the information contained herein. Distributed via Public Technologies (PUBT), unedited and unaltered, on October 29, 2026 at 10:19 UTC. Trader This super rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (4 months), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions. Investor This super composite rating is the result of a weighted average of the rankings based on the following ratings: Fundamentals (Composite), Valuation (Composite), EPS Revisions (1 year), and Visibility (Composite). We recommend that you carefully review the associated descriptions. 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Western Australia is consulting on a draft technical standard that would class plug-in solar and battery systems as ordinary electrical appliances, opening them up to renters and apartment dwellers. In an Australian first, Western Australia is on the path to legalizing plug-in solar panels and batteries based on German standards. The systems plug into a household wall outlet, offering clean energy for homes and apartments unable to benefit from rooftop solar installations, and can be moved when a resident changes address. Western Australian Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson said the benefits of cheap solar have been out of reach for anyone who doesn’t own their roof. “I’m proud that our state is leading the nation on this issue – millions of European households already use these systems every day, and WA families should be able to do the same,” said Sanderson. The state’s Department of Energy and Economic Diversification (DEED) and the Building and Energy Division of the Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety (LGIRS) are consulting on the proposed legalization pathway and a new technical standard. The proposal would class plug-in systems as standard electrical appliances through a new Technical Bridging Standard (TBS). The draft is based on DIN VDE V 0126-95, the German technical specification for plug-in solar devices, with local changes for Australian plugs and wind loading. It would allow systems with a combined solar and battery output of up to 2 kW (DC) and inverters of up to 800 VA (AC). The TBS does not propose to set an upper limit on plug-in battery storage capacity, but limits batteries to lithium iron phosphate or sodium-ion chemistries. It also allows only one plug-in system per household and none at homes that already have a fixed installation such as rooftop solar. Heidi Lee Douglas, chief executive of Australian solar advocacy group Solar Citizens, said the group agrees it isn’t fair that the benefits of cheap solar are out of reach for anyone who doesn’t own their own roof. “WA’s announcement starts a ‘race to the top’, and puts a rocket up the need for the federal government to announce a nationally coordinated approach for the release of this money-saving technology across Australia by July next year,” Douglas said. “We support the Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen announcing a date for the legal safe sale of these money saving devices that are already legally and safely available in the United Kingdom, Germany and 10 states of America.” “Plug-in solar and batteries are an anti-inflationary energy reform. They put downward pressure on household electricity bills, allow more Australians to use cheap solar power, and can reduce demand for expensive electricity during peak periods,” Douglas said. According to the state’s plug-in solar and batteries consultation website, DEED and LGIRS will continue to work with safety experts, other states and territories, and the Australian government to support nationally consistent requirements for plug-in systems. “For this reason, the final TBS is likely to have two separate parts, one each for product-specific requirements and another for installation requirements. This would make the TBS more consistent with AS/NZS technical documents,” the site says. The departments will also work on other changes that might be needed to support renter access to the systems once they are available. From pv magazine Australia This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected]. Comments Please login to comment pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead. Thursday, October 29, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid As a media partner of Genera 2026, pv magazine will organize and moderate a session in Spanish in Madrid, during International Electrification and Decarbonization Week. Monday, November 2, 2026 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026? Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage. Thursday, November 5, 2026 10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid Monday, November 23, 2026 11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
From specialised solar markets, to farmers abandoning diesel-powered irrigation, an unreliable grid is driving a new economy in Pakistan’s Dera Ismail Khan – but not everyone can afford to join it.
Dawn View all posts by Manzoor Ali → Aerial view of Dera Ismail Khan city around the city centre, known as Chowgalla, in June 2026. PHOTO: DAWN October 29, 2026 ISLAMABAD – In May 2026, Islamabad-based vlogger Muhammad Mobeen filmed Dera Ismail Khan’s famous Chowgalla, the British-era town centre where four bazaars intersect, using a drone. The video glides over the crowded bazaars in the heart of Dera Ismail Khan before pulling back to reveal buildings packed tightly together. As the camera pulls back, rooftops fill the frame, covered not in the usual clutter of water tanks and laundry lines but in sleek black and blue solar panels, stretching as far as the eye can see. The video has garnered roughly a million views and more than 25,000 likes on TikTok alone. Its popularity has spawned a host of copycat videos, with some content creators dubbing the city “Solar Ismail Khan.” The city’s urban area covers approximately 40 square kilometres and has a population of roughly 210,000, according to the 2023 census. Beyond the spectacle of thousands of solar panels covering the city’s rooftops, Dera Ismail Khan’s solar transition is beginning to reshape the local economy. It is creating new opportunities while making some traditional trades less viable in this dusty, conflict-affected city in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, roughly 300 kilometres from Peshawar. A SOLAR BOOM Over the past few years, three specialised solar markets have emerged in the city, at Khushal Market, Bannu Adda and Tank Road. Circular Road alone has up to 70 shops dealing exclusively in solar equipment, serving as a major distribution hub for neighbouring Tank, and Upper and Lower South Waziristan. The boom has extended beyond retail, creating work in solar installation, electrical wiring and the supply and maintenance of batteries, tube wells and related equipment. Muhammad Saeed, a local solar appliances dealer, says that, by his estimates, the majority of households in the city have adopted solar power. “Those who installed solar [systems] earlier are now upgrading to lithium batteries as prices fall,” says Saeed. The solar transition has also created ancillary jobs in supply chains and logistics, as well as work for solar-panel cleaners and wiring technicians. At the same time, traditional electricians are seeing a decline in conventional electrical-appliances repairs. “If consumers use solar energy instead of grid electricity, there is less need for repairs,” electrician Muhammad Naveed tells Eos. To supplement his income, Naveed now also takes on jobs involving solar systems, including for tube wells, alongside specialised wiring work. THE PRICE OF POWER Saeed and other solar traders say the city’s crippling, year-round power outages are the biggest driver of the transition. Data from the Peshawar Electric Supply Company (Pesco) show that 43 of the city’s 83 electricity feeders record line losses of at least 80 per cent. Pesco also identifies widespread electricity theft as a problem in the area. A spokesperson for the power utility tells Eos that such areas may face outages lasting 16 to 18 hours a day. Rising temperatures add to the pressure on residents. During summer, daytime temperatures in Dera Ismail Khan frequently reach 40–45 degrees Celsius, adding to the incentive to seek alternatives. Dera Ismail Khan’s solar boom is part of a wider shift across Pakistan, driven in part by falling prices for Chinese-made panels and rising electricity tariffs over the past four years. A report by the UK-based energy think tank Ember, titled The Solarisation of Pakistan’s Energy Economy, estimates that Pakistan’s solar power generation rose by 21 terawatt-hours (TWh) in just two years, taking the total increase to 33 TWh. Distributed solar accounted for 28 per cent of Pakistan’s electricity generation in FY25, up from 10 per cent in FY23, the report says. Eight 585-watt panel solar systems have a combined rated capacity of 4.68 kilowatts (kW). According to local traders, a system of this size can power an air conditioner, refrigerator, lights and fans, with battery storage providing back-up when solar generation is insufficient. According to solar trader Ali Jan, an individual panel that sold for Rs75,000 not long ago now costs roughly Rs16,000, following a global glut that drove down solar-panel prices. The price per watt has fallen from Rs128 to around Rs28, he says. The cost of an eight-panel set-up fell to around Rs220,000, says Jan, adding that households could recoup the investment within one to two years through savings on electricity. The imposition of general sales tax on solar imports last year, along with geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, has pushed prices back up, Naveed explains. “Today, solar panels sell for up to 32 rupees per watt in Dera Ismail Khan, bringing the cost of an eight-panel installation to approximately 280,000 rupees,” he says. THE UNEVEN DIVIDENDS Dr Aijaz Ahmed has had small solar panels installed at his home and clinic for more than a decade. “In most months, I do not have to pay for electricity,” he tells Eos. “At the clinic, too, the electricity bill is a fraction of what it used to be,” he says. The savings extend beyond households. Small industries and commercial enterprises, facing high grid-electricity tariffs and rising fuel costs, have also embraced solar power. One businessman estimates that running a stone-crushing plant on a diesel generator costs up to Rs1.8 million a month. Converting it to solar would require an initial investment of around Rs10.5 million, he says, which could be recovered in just under three years. Commercial markets and wedding halls are also installing solar systems, with some businesses seeking to reduce or eliminate their dependence on grid electricity. Farmers are following a similar trend. A solar-powered irrigation system, capable of serving 10 acres of farmland, now costs around Rs9 million, according to Ali Jan. Rising fuel costs are also encouraging farmers to switch to solar-powered tube wells, reducing their dependence on diesel-powered irrigation. Local solar-equipment prices are now closely tied to those in Karachi. Dealers say that a one-rupee-per-watt increase in Karachi is quickly reflected in local prices. Freight charges from Karachi to Dera Ismail Khan have also risen, from around Rs270,000 to Rs350,000 per container since the conflict involving Iran began. The city’s newer commercial markets, including Gomal, Khyber, Anarkali, Mian Commercial and Gulf Plaza, also face the challenge of keeping shops lit and cooled. Their enclosed spaces and cooling requirements make reliable electricity particularly important. Rising electricity tariffs and fuel costs have made diesel generators increasingly expensive to operate, encouraging businesses to invest in solar power. WHO GETS LEFT BEHIND But the transition has also created a divide between those who can afford solar installations and those who cannot. While households and businesses with sufficient resources can reduce their dependence on an unreliable grid, poorer residents remain reliant on electricity they may struggle to afford — or continue to endure long power outages. Amir Khan, a social worker who runs the “Amir Bhai” Facebook page to help families in need, says poor single women are particularly disadvantaged when it comes to accessing solar power. Khan, who has more than 500,000 Facebook followers, began financing his welfare work himself in 2018. He says he now receives numerous requests from low-income families seeking help with solar installations. The solar panels that now dominate Dera Ismail Khan’s rooftops tell only part of the story. Beneath them, new businesses are emerging and old trades are adapting, while families unable to afford the transition remain dependent on an unreliable grid. In a city increasingly known as “Solar Ismail Khan”, access to electricity is becoming a question not just of supply, but of purchasing power. From landlord pioneers to TikTok tutorials: Inside the off-grid solar boom in Pakistan’s Punjab Double-click to read
Access to plug-in solar is becoming increasingly available across North America. As more consumers explore technologies such as balcony solar and plug-in photovoltaic (PIPV) systems, these emerging solutions have the potential to make renewable energy more accessible and support broader participation in the energy transition. Solar remains one of the most accessible and promising renewable…
Renewable energy developer Jinko Power has established an AI infrastructure business unit as it expands from green power supply into green computing services. The company said the unit will draw on its renewable energy asset operations and listed-company capital platform to oversee the development, O&M, R&D, and commercialization of its intelligent computing business. It will advance artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) projects in China and develop overseas intelligent computing nodes. The move follows Jinko Power’s acquisition of a controlling stake in NetBank earlier this month. NetBank provides data center operations, server hosting and GPU computing services, and operates three self-built data centers in Hangzhou and surrounding areas. Jinko Power has experience supplying green power to computing facilities, including through renewable energy microgrids built for Tencent’s Huailai Ruibeiyun data center in Hebei province and Gaoxinyun data center in Tianjin. In July, Jinko Power signed a strategic cooperation agreement with AI software company SenseTime to jointly develop ‘Green Power + Intelligent Computing’ projects (see China Solar PV News Snippets). PV tracker maker Arctech (previously Arctech Solar) plans to build a 15 MW PV project in Changyi, Shandong province, as a demonstration site for its flexible trackers. The company plans to use RMB 63.12 million in remaining proceeds from its previously terminated Western Tracker Manufacturing and Demonstration Base project in Inner Mongolia. The new project is expected to achieve full-capacity grid connection by December 31, 2027. The company said it will use the demonstration site to test and validate the power-generation gains, reliability, stability, and environmental adaptability of its tracker products. Arctech reported Q3 2026 revenue of RMB 2.40 billion, up 78.77% year on year (YoY). Net profit attributable to shareholders excluding non-recurring items reached RMB 5.29 million, compared with a loss of RMB 37.47 million a year earlier. For the first nine months of 2026, revenue declined 1.28% YoY to RMB 5.31 billion. The company reported a net loss excluding non-recurring items of RMB 205.85 million, compared with a profit of RMB 103.26 million in the same period last year. The company also reported a net loss for the first half of 2026 (see China Solar PV News Snippets). Perovskite solar manufacturer Renshine Solar has completed a Series B financing round worth more than RMB 100 million. The round was led by the Jiangsu Strategic Emerging Industries Fund, with participation from Suzhou Venture Capital Group and other local industrial funds and investment institutions. The company plans to use the proceeds to support its future production-line plans, improve mass-production efficiency for perovskite PV, expand capacity, and advance core technologies for space photovoltaics. Renshine Solar is targeting applications in power-station PV, building-integrated PV (BIPV), and space-based PV. On the technology front, Renshine reported achieving a certified power conversion efficiency of 26.4% for a large-area all-perovskite tandem module last month (see China Solar PV News Snippets). Energy storage battery maker Energy Infinity has begun construction of an energy storage battery manufacturing project in Chuanshan district, Suining, Sichuan province, with a planned investment of RMB 5.5 billion. According to local media, the project includes two production lines compatible with lithium-ion and sodium-ion energy storage cells, along with supporting facilities. Once complete and fully operational, the facility is expected to generate over RMB 8 billion in annual output value and create about 1,000 jobs. TaiyangNews 2024
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