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Income-Qualified Homeowners Among Those Eligible to Access Remaining State Solar and Battery Funds  Carmichael Times
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Solar O&M Market Reaches 348 GW, Top 15 Vendors Control 57%: Report Photograph: (AI)
The global solar photovoltaic (PV) operations and maintenance (O&M) market reached 348 GW of assessed capacity at the end of 2025, adding 61 GW during the year, as leading service providers continued to consolidate their position in the market amid divergent regional trends, according to Wood Mackenzie.
The top 15 O&M vendors collectively managed 200 GW at the end of 2025, accounting for 57% of the assessed global market. The companies added 41 GW to their portfolios during the year, highlighting the increasing concentration of the global O&M sector.
The findings are part of Wood Mackenzie’s Global Solar PV O&M Service Provider Dynamics 2026 report, which tracks fleet sizes, cost trends and service strategies across more than 130 O&M vendors operating in the Americas, Asia Pacific excluding China (APeC), and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA).
“The global O&M market is consolidating quickly around a core group of scaled providers, but the dynamics look very different depending on where you are,” said Khalif Ahmad Zikri, research analyst at Wood Mackenzie.
“In North America, a mature and competitive market is driving down costs while independent service providers strengthen their dominance. In the Middle East and Africa, we are seeing a near-doubling of volumes and a wave of new entrants chasing an underpenetrated opportunity. These are fundamentally different markets at very different levels of development,” he added.
Novasource Power Services retained its position as the world’s largest solar PV O&M provider, with 38.4 GW under management at the end of 2025. RES Energy Global Services, SOLV Energy, Solarig Energy Services and Recurrent Energy rounded out the top five providers. Several leading vendors expanded their portfolios across multiple regions as they sought to strengthen their market positions. BayWa r.e. Services and Origis Energy Services entered the global top 15, adding 2.6 GW and 1.8 GW, respectively, to their O&M portfolios.
The North American market continued to see strong competitive pressure, with full-wrap O&M contract costs declining 18% year-on-year. The decline reflects the maturity of the regional market and increasing competition among service providers. Independent O&M providers continued to strengthen their presence in North America, contrasting with the rapid expansion and entry of new players seen in less-developed markets.
O&M volumes in the Middle East and Africa nearly doubled in 2025, highlighting the region’s growing importance as solar installations expand and asset owners increasingly seek professionalized operations and maintenance services. The sharp increase in volumes has also attracted new entrants seeking to capitalize on what Wood Mackenzie describes as an underpenetrated O&M opportunity.
Engie and Sterling & Wilson recorded some of the strongest growth among individual vendors in 2025. Engie more than doubled its O&M portfolio, moving up six places to eighth in the global rankings. The growth was driven primarily by a 172% expansion in its Americas portfolio.
Sterling & Wilson recorded 53% year-on-year growth, taking its global O&M portfolio to 13.5 GW and moving it into sixth place globally. Its position was supported by a strong presence in the APeC region, where it leads the market with 12.2 GW under management.
Among second-tier vendors, megaom, FRV’s standalone O&M entity, recorded the fastest growth. Its portfolio expanded 243% to 3.8 GW globally, taking the company into the global top 30 for the first time. The overall growth of the solar PV O&M market, combined with increasing concentration among the largest providers, points to a sector undergoing rapid consolidation. At the same time, regional differences in market maturity, pricing and penetration are creating distinct growth opportunities for both established players and new entrants.
I have also *added the North America cost decline and Middle East & Africa growth as dedicated sections, because those are important news points from the original release and deserve more prominence in a news report rather than being buried in the opening bullets.
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What would happen if these trends continue? It’s tempting to picture a future where Australian homes and cities could power themselves using these two decentralised technologies.
But while rooftop solar and batteries can take us a long way, they aren’t enough to take most households off-grid – let alone run entire cities.
The real question is how much household power demand can be met by solar and batteries, at what times of day, and under what conditions. These five charts show what’s possible – and what’s not.
As of April 30, the National Energy Market had close to 26 gigawatts installed capacity of small-scale rooftop solar, which includes small-scale rooftop PV installed on homes, businesses and other eligible premises.
Solar panels never produce at their full capacity. Clouds cut output, and there’s no sun at night. As a result, that 26GW of panels produced 4GW of power on average from January to March this year.
That’s still significant. It’s equivalent to 16% of demand, and almost four times higher than the same quarter eight years ago. Solar-rich South Australia had 28% of underlying demand met by rooftop solar. During sunny, low-demand periods, rooftop solar can meet around 60% of National Energy Market demand.
Rooftop solar capacity has been increasing rapidly since 2017. But it could go much higher still. Australia’s energy market operator (AEMO) projects small-scale solar capacity (rooftop and other small systems) could almost triple by 2050 to around 87GW.
If all suitable household rooftops were fully used for solar, capacity could reach around 61GW. But homes are only part of Australia’s rooftop solar potential. Once commercial, industrial and other buildings are included, the technical potential is much larger – around 179GW.
This also helps explain why AEMO forecasts for small-scale solar capacity eventually rises above 61GW – its forecast includes rooftop and other small-scale systems on businesses and other premises as well as homes. When large-scale solar farms are also counted, Australia is likely to pass 61GW of total solar capacity within a decade.

This progress is significant. But it also changes the problem that the grid must solve.
Before the rise of wind, solar and batteries, coal plants supplied much of Australia’s electricity. These work best when running steadily, as they can increase or decrease output relatively slowly.
Solar changes this equation.
Power from rooftop solar first meets demand within homes and businesses. At times, solar can exceed local demand, requiring excess power to be exported to the grid, stored or curtailed. As the sun sets, solar output falls rapidly. Demand for grid-supplied electricity then rises sharply, often peaking in late afternoon or evening.
This pattern of low daytime demand and high evening demand is known as the “duck curve”. It poses challenges for grid operators, who have to manage very low grid demand during the day and then rapidly bring on other generation or storage as solar output falls and evening demand rises.
The problem can be partly solved by coordinating home batteries and other types of energy storage, as they can store excess solar and release it at peak times.
While rooftop solar and home batteries have clear promise, they’re not a simple substitute for the grid, especially during evenings, heatwaves or prolonged cloudy periods.
Heavy industry, data centres and other big power users require substantial and often continuous supplies of electricity which cannot be wholly met by small-scale energy production.
Home batteries are already reducing how much power households buy from the grid.
But their usable stored energy remains limited relative to the amount of rooftop solar generation available. They’re good at reducing how much expensive power households buy at peak times, but not so good at providing extended backup over an extended cloudy period or during evenings amid an intense heatwave.
What we’re likely to see is rooftop solar and household batteries operating alongside large-scale solar and wind farms to supply much of Australia’s electricity as conditions allow.
We will still need local networks to supply electricity when solar output is low, and carry surplus power in the opposite direction. New transmission lines are needed to better connect large scale renewable areas with cities and heavy industry.
Long-duration energy storage, such as pumped hydro and grid-scale batteries, will be necessary to keep Australia running through periods of low wind and sunlight. A few gas plants will have to be kept as backup.
As the renewable transition progresses, we will need to judge progress not by how many solar arrays and home batteries have been installed, but by how well we can make use of them alongside larger-scale renewables and storage.
We should not aim for a future where household after household quits the grid. Far better to build a resilient, integrated system where homes produce and store more electricity, power grids deal with two-way flows of power intelligently and large-scale renewables and storage cover the periods rooftop solar and batteries can’t respond to.
Author: Magnus Söderberg, Professor and Director, Centre for Applied Energy Economics and Policy Research, Griffith University
This article was initially published in The Conversation and is republished here under a Creative Commons Licence.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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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PUBLISHED ON August 31, 2026
CINCINNATI, Ohio — GoSun, a pioneer in solar-powered appliances and portable clean energy solutions, today announced the expansion of its off-grid lineup with the launch of its first-ever All-Electric Solar Tractor. This new electric vehicle is engineered to replace traditional diesel-fuel tractors, the new vehicle combines high-torque electric performance with GoSun’s signature optional integrated solar charging technology, offering an eco-friendly and cost-effective solution for modern agriculture, homesteading, and property maintenance.
Designed to handle tough field conditions without carbon emissions or noisy combustion engines, the GoSun All Electric Tractor delivers whisper-quiet operation and immediate, low-end electric torque. With the optional high-efficiency fold-out solar panels, the tractor continuously captures energy from the sun while working in the field or parked outdoors, significantly extending runtimes and reducing reliance on grid charging.
The tractor is manufactured by Moonrider in India. GoSun and Moonrider have signed a cooperation and marketing agreement to distribute the tractor in North America.
With a retail price of $19,995 this electric tractor is competitively priced with diesel tractors.
“At GoSun, our vision has always been to build solutions that allow people to live, work, and thrive off the grid using the power of the sun,” said Patrick Sherwin, Founder and CEO of GoSun. “Small-scale farming and property management have relied on noisy, costly diesel utility vehicles for far too long. With our new All-Electric Tractor, we are empowering farmers and land managers to literally work on sunshine—reducing operational costs while protecting the soil and air. Electric tractors are a key part of the future of farming “
See the video of the GoSun Moonrider here Electric Tractor: GoSun Moonrider 27

The GoSun All-Electric Solar Tractor will be available for early 2027 with reservations directly through GoSun’s website. For detailed specifications, and direct early-bird pricing, and reservations go to GoSun Moonrider.
About GoSun
Founded in 2016, GoSun is a Cincinnati-based solar appliance company dedicated to delivering clean energy, independence, and resilience to everyday life. Known for its breakthrough consumer solar technology—including solar cookers, portable refrigerators, water purification systems, and solar EV charging solutions—GoSun creates products that make sustainable living accessible anywhere. For more information, visit www.gosun.co
About Moonrider
Moonrider is an India-based manufacturing company that has developed electric tractors that can compete directly with diesel-powered tractors.
—GoSun
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — Several notable drivers poised to impact the future of agriculture are taking shape, and American farmers are already feeling the heat. Their future success depends on their ability to meet demands for increased sustainability while facing a severe labor shortage, rising input prices and increasingly unpredictable weather events. Producing more with less will […]
ONLINE (AP) — At Nature Fresh Farms in Leamington, Ont., there’s something new amid the rows of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers and strawberries. Using thousands of sensors in every greenhouse, artificial intelligence technology is helping the farm optimize aspects like lighting, irrigation and harvest timing. “We wanted to use technology to help us grow more, have […]
MILWAUKEE, Wis. — The Association of Equipment Manufacturers (AEM) and the European Agricultural Machinery Association (CEMA) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to enhance advocacy efforts for the agricultural equipment industry. The agreement aims to create a positive legislative and regulatory environment across the Atlantic and globally, ensuring alignment on key issues impacting manufacturers […]
EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — In the soft dirt of an indoor horseback riding ring last month, a group of farmers got ready to test drive a new piece of equipment: an electric tractor. As they took turns climbing in — some surprised by its quick acceleration — they gave real-time feedback to the Michigan […]
FFAR Research Explores Novel Approach to Protect Livestock From New World Screwworm
Europe’s Summer Drought Threatens Fish in Rivers, Lakes and Farms









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If Part 1 of this series established that the United States is not short of PV manufacturing capacity announcements, the second article asks a narrower and more useful question: where in the chain does that capacity exist, and where are the gaps? The answer is a domestic supply chain that gets stronger the closer it sits to the end customer and less established the further upstream you look. 
Module assembly is, by a wide margin, the most mature segment of the US domestic supply chain. PV Tech Research estimates US module capacity at 77.3GW (including thin film) and 61GW on a crystalline-only basis, with production reaching 51.5GW and 37.5GW, respectively. Current capacity is sufficient to meet total domestic module demand. For developers sourcing modules today, the “Made in USA” question is largely resolved. The critical question now is the supply chain feeding those modules. 
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Cell capacity tells a different story. Including First Solar’s thin-film lines, US cell capacity stands at 26.5GW against 19GW of production; on a crystalline-only basis, capacity drops to just 10GW with production at 5.2GW. Set against a module capacity of 61-77 GW, the mismatch is stark: even at full utilisation, domestic cell production covers only one-third to just over 40% of what domestic module lines can assemble. In practice, the module industry’s primary input, the cell itself, remains substantially import-dependent and will stay that way until cell capacity under construction (see Day 1’s 55.9GW pipeline figure) converts into shipped product. 
The wafer stage reveals the greatest imbalance. US wafer capacity is just 5GW, against production of 3.2GW, which currently covers less than 63% of the crystalline-only cell segment it feeds, and utilises only 20% of the polysilicon capacity sitting above it. More importantly, it will be insufficient to support the more than 40GW of additional cell capacity coming online in the next 18 months. The practical consequence is one of the more counterintuitive facts in the domestic supply chain today: with wafer capacity this constrained, a US-produced polysilicon ingot often must be shipped abroad to be sliced into wafers, then returned to the country for processing into a cell. Domestic wafering capacity, not domestic polysilicon or cell capacity, is the tightest bottleneck in the chain, and it is the stage that has attracted the least investment relative to the gap it needs to close. 
Polysilicon sits at the top of the chain and has drawn some of the most significant capital commitments in the sector, with 36GW of capacity against 15.5GW of PV-allocated production. As covered in Day 1 of the series, part of that gap reflects capacity shared with semiconductor-grade output rather than genuine idle capacity, but even accounting for that, the shortfall relative to downstream demand remains substantial. Polysilicon is the one segment where the investment case is clearly being made; the question is whether it converts into PV-allocated tonnage fast enough to fill the gap. 
For manufacturers, the picture is one of uneven opportunity. Module producers are operating in a market that is close to domestic saturation, while cell and, especially, wafer producers are sitting on some of the least-contested capacity gaps in the industry. For equipment suppliers, the wafer and cell stages represent the clearest near-term demand signal, since this is where the largest build-out is still needed to match existing downstream capacity.  
For developers, the import dependency at the cell and wafer stages means full supply-chain traceability, and FEOC compliance in particular, will remain challenging to guarantee for several more years, regardless of how domestic the final module assembly is. For investors, the wafer stage in particular looks underpriced relative to its strategic importance: it is the smallest segment in absolute capacity terms, the most exposed to offshore round-tripping. 
The investment pattern raises a question: if domesticating the entire value chain is the policy priority, why does most of the capital under construction still sit at the cell and module stages rather than upstream, where the gaps identified above are largest? Should the policy go further to incentivise build-out specifically targeted at these gaps?  
Section 232’s polysilicon investigation and the broader push toward domestic content suggest intent, but the signal is muddied by the accelerated phasing out of the 45Y production tax credit and the 48E investment tax credit, both of which had underpinned deployment-side economics for renewables more broadly. Removing that in December 2027 raises legitimate questions about how committed policymakers are to the deployment side of the equation, even as they tighten the screws on component sourcing. 
What has survived, and what matters most for the manufacturers this series is focused on, is the 45X manufacturing production credit, which remains intact. Section 232 reinforces it directly through the Minimum Import Price, which will function as a price floor across solar components and insulate domestic producers from the kind of import-driven price collapse that has undercut manufacturing investment in the past. Taken together, this is not a coherent industrial strategy so much as a set of overlapping instruments that happen to favour manufacturers even as they leave deployment economics more uncertain. But for the manufacturers themselves, particularly at the cell and wafer stages, where competition has been most directly curtailed, the opportunity to scale into a protected, still-underbuilt market is real. 
The next article in this series will map the capital commitments behind this build-out: which segments are attracting investment, where the money is coming from and whether the announced capacity additions are sufficient to close the gaps identified here. The opportunity is real, but execution will determine whether domestic manufacturing scales fast enough to meet both policy ambitions and market demand. 
Many of the subjects explored in this article will be under further discussion at our PV CellTech USA conference in San Francisco on 13-14 October. For details and booking, click here.
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ElectroFlex® Ultra-Thin Flexible Solar Measures 0.85mm with 24.4% PCE Cells, Built for OEM Production Line Integration
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Sept. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — SolarWindow Technologies, Inc. (Symbol: WNDW), today released specifications for the Company’s ElectroFlex® product — ultra-thin, high-power, ‘peel-and-stick’ flexible solar, commercially launched last week.
CEO Amit Singh Demonstrates
ElectroFlex® Ultra-Thin Flexible Solar
For OEM manufacturers, ElectroFlex® transforms passive surface areas that are otherwise dead weight into active sources of onboard power, extending range and reducing generator, shore-power, and grid dependence.
Thinner than a dime, ElectroFlex® measures 0.85 millimeters, and is available in sheets up to 22 square feet, as large as a standard pool table. ElectroFlex® is up to 40 times thinner and generates up to 7.5 times more power than a traditional solar panel (watts per pound). Standard ElectroFlex® sheets weigh as little as 3.2 ounces per square foot.
ElectroFlex® is built on high-efficiency interdigitated back-contact monocrystalline silicon cells rated at up to 24.4% power conversion efficiency. Because the cells carry no front-side busbars, ElectroFlex® is able to wrap around the contour of a surface without the micro-cracking that fractures conventional cell interconnects. ElectroFlex® generates electricity on curved and flat surfaces traditional solar could never reach.
ElectroFlex® is configured to the customer’s exact product specifications, including dimensions, geometry, mounting, power, and color requirements. There are no standard panels sizes or configurations.
Seamless Flush-Mount PV. Built for OEM Integration
ElectroFlex® offers Tier-1 OEM partners (original equipment manufacturers which build vehicles, buildings, and devices) a seamless flush-mount solar system with no racks to engineer, no structures to reinforce, and no penetrations to seal.
ElectroFlex® is ultra-thin, light, and flexible, and bonds directly to the product on the manufacturer’s own production line in one single step. Conversely, traditional solar panel mounting requires multiple steps, and inefficient, costly, with staggered installation.
Unlike ElectroFlex®, traditional solar requires aluminum frames, mounting racks, roof penetrations, structural reinforcements or supports to carry the load, freight shipping for heavy palletized goods, and heavy lifting equipment. ElectroFlex® eliminates these categories of cost for OEMs and their customers.
Integrated Into the Production Line, Not Bolted on Afterward
ElectroFlex® is applied by the manufacturer on its own production line as part of assembly. There is no separate installation event, no crew scheduled after the product is built, and no second handling of a finished unit.
For qualified OEMs, SolarWindow will engineer, design, and model the energy system for each product application. SolarWindow supplies all wiring, harnessing, electrical systems balancing, and power delivery. SolarWindow then develops the application process for that specific product, adapts it to the manufacturer’s existing line, and trains the manufacturer’s own personnel to apply ElectroFlex® in production.
Availability
ElectroFlex® is initially available exclusively to America’s Tier-1 OEM manufacturers, expanding to select North American and Asian markets in the upcoming quarters. ElectroFlex® is targeting transportation, marine, aerospace, architectural, agricultural, infrastructure and utilities, and specialty vehicle markets.
Tier-1 OEM manufacturers evaluating ElectroFlex® for their own applications can request specifications, samples, and integration support via the Company’s website at http://www.solarwindow.com or by calling +1 (800) 213-0689.
A New SolarWindow
Alongside the ElectroFlex® launch, SolarWindow unveiled a completely redesigned website at http://www.solarwindow.com. The new site reflects the Company’s evolution from a single-technology developer into an energy technology platform with a portfolio of products, and gives a clear view of each product line, its stage of development, and its market applications.
Interested parties are encouraged to visit http://www.solarwindow.com to explore ElectroFlex® and the SolarWindow product portfolio.
ElectroFlex® Product Specifications
Electrical
Cell technology
Interdigitated back-contact (IBC) monocrystalline silicon
Cell architecture
No front-side busbars. All contacts on the rear of the cell
Cell power conversion efficiency
Up to 24.4%
Nominal power density
Approximately 200 to 220 watts per square meter (approximately 18.5 to 20.5 watts per square foot) at standard test conditions
Electrical balance of system
Wiring, harnessing, electrical systems balancing, and power delivery engineered and supplied by SolarWindow
Physical
Total stack thickness
0.4mm – 1.2mm
Layer construction
Composite laminate embedding the photovoltaic cell matrix
Weight
0.2 – 0.4 lbs. per square foot
Sheet format
Configured to the customer’s exact dimensions, geometry, mounting, and power requirements. No standard panel sizes
Front surface
No glass. No aluminum frame
Installation and Integration
Mounting method
Bonds directly to the surface: factory-applied adhesive with protective liner, pressure-sensitive adhesive tape, one-component structural silicone, two-component polyurethane adhesive, others
Installed profile
Lies virtually flush to the surface
Mounting hardware
None. No racks, rails, frames, ballast, or roof penetrations
Structural requirement
No structural reinforcement or engineering load assessment
Surface compatibility
Flat, curved, contoured, and irregular surfaces.
Application method
Applied by the manufacturer on its own production line as part of assembly. No separate installation event
System engineering
Each application engineered, designed, and modeled by SolarWindow
Process integration
Application process developed by SolarWindow and adapted to the manufacturer’s existing production line
Training and qualification
SolarWindow trains manufacturer personnel and qualifies the application process on the customer’s line
Environmental
Operating temperature range
-40°C to +85°C
Outdoor exposure
Engineered for sustained outdoor exposure including rain, hail, snow, humidity, UV light, and salt spray
ElectroFlex® Compared to Conventional Rigid Solar
ElectroFlex®
Conventional rigid silicon panel
Thickness
0.85 mm
Approximately 40 mm including frame
Weight
0.2 – 0.4 lbs per square foot
2.4 to 2.7 lb per square foot
Construction
Flexible adhesive-backed sheet
Rigid glass module in an aluminum frame
Mounting
Bonds directly to the surface
Racks, rails, ballast, or roof penetrations
Structural work
None
Load assessment and reinforcement commonly required
Surfaces served
Flat, curved, contoured, irregular
Planar only
Cell efficiency
Up to 24.4%
Comparable range
Thickness and weight comparisons are stated against a conventional 40 mm framed solar panel
SolarWindow Technologies, Inc.
SolarWindow Technologies, Inc. (Symbol: WNDW; http://www.solarwindow.com) is an energy technology company developing and commercializing solar products designed to generate electricity on the surfaces of everyday products and buildings, including surfaces that conventional solar panels cannot serve.
The Company’s portfolio currently spans two product lines:
ElectroFlex® is an ultra-thin, ultra-lightweight, flexible solar product available today for manufacturers, bonding directly to flat and curved surfaces without racks, frames, or mounting hardware, across transportation, marine, aerospace, agricultural, infrastructure, and specialty vehicle applications.
LiquidElectricity® is a proprietary transparent coating that generates electricity when applied to glass and plastics, producing power under natural, artificial, low, shaded, and reflected light conditions.
The SolarWindow Promise: Engineer, design, and ultimately manufacture and deliver products which reward customers with affordable clean energy for a healthier, safer, and more sustainable planet. SolarWindow is ClearlyElectric®.
SolarWindow Contacts
For additional information on SolarWindow, please call Amit Singh at 1 (800) 213-0689, or visit http://www.solarwindow.com, follow us on X @solartechwindow or on Facebook.
To receive future press releases via email, please visit: https://solarwindow.com/news/.
To view the full HTML text of this release, please visit: https://www.solarwindow.com/2026/09/solarwindow_releases_product_specs_electroflex_bendable_solar/.
Social Media Disclaimer
SolarWindow stockholders, investors and others should note that we announce material information to the public about the Company through a variety of means, including our website (https://www.solarwindow.com/investors), through press releases, SEC filings, public conference calls, via our corporate X account (@solartechwindow), Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/SolarWindowTechnologies) and LinkedIn page (https://www.linkedin.com/company/solar-window-technology/) in order to achieve broad, non-exclusionary distribution of information to the public and to comply with our disclosure obligations under Regulation FD. We encourage our investors and others to monitor and review the information we make public in these locations as such information could be deemed to be material information. Please note that this list may be updated from time to time.
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains information about SolarWindow that may constitute “forward-looking statements” as that term is defined under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and other securities laws. These forward-looking statements are based upon current expectations or beliefs, as well as a number of assumptions about future events. We intend the forward-looking statements to be covered by the safe harbor provisions for forward-looking statements in those laws as applicable. Although SolarWindow believes that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements and the assumptions upon which they are based are reasonable as at the time made, no assurance can be given that such expectations and assumptions will prove to have been correct.
Generally, we have identified such forward-looking statements by using such words as “aim,” “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “forecast,” “future,” “goal,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “project,” “should,” “target,” “will,” and similar expressions or by using future dates in connection with any discussion of, among other things, statements expressing general views about the future development, manufacture, production, marketing, or sale of SolarWindow products, or the execution of manufacturing, licensing, or partnership agreements, that we expect or anticipate will occur in the future, as well as anticipated cost savings, potential capital and operational improvements, and changes in the global economic environment. However, the absence of these words or similar expressions does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. Forward-looking statements include all statements that are not historical facts, but instead represent only our beliefs regarding future goals, plans and expectations about our prospects for the future and other events, many of which, by their nature, are inherently uncertain and outside of our control. It is possible that actual results may differ, possibly materially, from the anticipated results indicated in these forward-looking statements.
Caution should be taken not to place undue reliance on any such forward-looking statements because such statements speak only as of the date when made and are subject to numerous factors and uncertainties, including but not limited to adverse economic conditions, intense competition, lack of meaningful research results, entry of new competitors and products, adverse federal, state and local government regulation, inadequate capital, unexpected costs and operating deficits, increases in general and administrative costs, termination of contracts or agreements, technological obsolescence, technical problems relating to manufacturing methodologies, price increases for supplies and components, litigation and other proceedings, adverse publicity and news coverage, inability to carry out research, development and commercialization plans, loss or retirement of key executives and research scientists, failure to obtain required regulatory approvals, inflationary factors, and other risks. All information in this press release is as of the date set forth above. SolarWindow does not undertake any duty to update any forward-looking statement to conform the statement to actual results or changes in its expectations, whether because of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law. No statement herein should be considered an offer or a solicitation of an offer for the purchase or sale of any securities.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/cf79b471-f42e-4938-8c28-422b20e6f0de
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ARENA has expanded its solar R&D commitment to AUD 105.6 million across 20 projects 
The portfolio combines advanced cell research with efforts to cut construction and operating costs 
Several projects are testing technologies that could move beyond today’s conventional silicon PV designs 
Australia is putting more money into the next generation of solar technology, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) committing up to AUD 105.6 million, the agency’s largest single investment in solar PV research and development.  
The funding for the Ultra Low-Cost Solar PV Research and Development Funding Round was initially set at AUD 60 million. ARENA’s Acting CEO Chris Faris said the agency increased the funding to support a broader portfolio of projects and accelerate progress toward its ultra-low-cost solar goal. 
ARENA aims to bring the installed cost of large-scale solar to 30 cents per watt and achieve 20% module efficiency by 2030 under its ultra-low-cost solar plan. The aim is to reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for solar PV to under AUD 20/MWh, but it flags evolving market conditions and deployment challenges in achieving these aims (see ARENA: Lower Solar Module Prices Not Enough For 30-30-30 Goal). 
“Achieving ultra low-cost solar requires innovation across the entire value chain. From the solar cells and modules themselves through to the way solar farms are built, operated and maintained, these projects will help unlock practical solutions that support a faster, more affordable energy transition,” added Faris. 
The 20 projects selected for the latest funding support have been divided into two streams. The first focuses on cells and modules, with projects aimed at improving efficiency, reducing costs and increasing stability. The second covers balance-of-system (BoS) costs and operations and maintenance (O&M), including ways to lower deployment and maintenance expenses and improve the output of utility-scale solar plants. 
Several projects are targeting the performance and durability of next-generation solar cells. The Australian National University (ANU), for example, will receive AUD 6 million for a project on TOPCon back-contact (TBC) silicon cells. The work involves ANU, UNSW, the University of Melbourne, PV Lab Australia, and JinkoSolar. The project will examine cell fabrication, surface passivation, photon management, lower-cost metallization, and longer-life module designs. Their target is to develop TBC cells with efficiencies above 28% and assess whether the technology can move toward pilot-scale manufacturing. 
Another ANU project will investigate low-cost parallel-connected perovskite/silicon tandem cells, receiving AUD 7.1 million from ARENA. 
At the University of Sydney, Prof. Anita Ho-Baillie and her team will receive funding to work on the stability of silicon-perovskite tandem cells. The project has been awarded AUD 7.4 million and will be carried out with Australian solar manufacturer Unison Solar Energy. The research will focus on whether the cells can retain their efficiency over a solar panel’s lifetime. The project is scheduled to run for five years, starting in 2027. 
The University of Sydney said the team has already achieved 30% conversion efficiency in silicon-perovskite tandem cells on both small and large areas, with the results independently confirmed by recognized testing centers.  
The ARENA funding is not limited to cell technology. Projects in the second stream (BoS and O&M) include work on AI-enabled reliability and yield improvements for utility-scale PV, lightweight bifacial laminate systems, and software platforms designed to optimize solar farm O&M. 
UNSW will work on site-tailored modules intended to reduce utility-scale deployment costs, alongside projects using machine learning, risk mapping, and AI-enabled technologies to improve O&M.  
Among the projects selected in this category is one by Sunspence Pty Ltd, which counts UNSW and Energus as project partners. It plans to deploy AUD 3.6 million in ARENA proceeds to develop a lightweight solar farm system for utility-scale solar using bifacial solar laminate, instead of conventional glass modules and heavy structures. It will test a 44-kW scale prototype to validate the system’s performance.  
Together, the selected projects cover the solar value chain from cell design to how large solar farms are built and operated. ARENA said this broader approach is necessary because reducing the cost of solar electricity will require improvements beyond the cells and modules themselves. 
A list of all the winning projects is available on ARENA’s website.  
TaiyangNews 2024

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Westchester Torah Academy in New Rochelle, New York installs solar panels with help from Jewish Solar Challenge.
LOS ANGELES, Sept. 01, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The Jewish Solar Challenge (JSC) is excited to announce the opening of its 2026 grant application cycle on Sept. 1. All Jewish nonprofits that own their buildings, including synagogues, Jewish schools and Jewish camps, are eligible for matching grants up to $50,000 for the installation of solar panels. First-round applications are due by Sept. 25, and JSC will announce winners toward the end of the year.
The Jewish Solar Challenge plans to award another $300,000 in grants, bringing the total amount awarded for solar panels to $1.5 million since the organization launched in 2021. Organizations with existing quotes for solar – those ready to start installation immediately – receive priority.
“This grant cycle is an opportunity for Jewish institutions to turn interest in solar into a concrete plan,” said Mitchell Schwartz, founder of the Jewish Solar Challenge. “Through grants and hands-on guidance, we help communities take practical steps to lower long-term energy costs, strengthen their sustainability efforts and invest in a more resilient future.”

Veteran communications executive and environmentalist Mitchell Schwartz founded the Jewish Solar Challenge in 2021 with the dream of putting solar panels on the rooftops of every Jewish organization in North America. So far, the Jewish Solar Challenge has awarded matching grants to over 20 organizations across the U.S. and to one Jewish community in Uganda.
The Jewish Solar Challenge has supported over $10 million in solar projects, with a total estimated capacity of 3 MW. These installations generate approximately 4.6 million kWh of clean power per year, preventing the release of 1,700 metric tons of CO₂ into the atmosphere.
Prior to working with the Jewish Solar Challenge, Camp Gilboa – a remote Jewish summer camp in the Big Bear area of California – relied on propane generators around the clock. After receiving a JSC grant last year, the camp installed solar panels that now fully power its dining hall and kitchen.
“Environmental justice is central to who we are,” said Michael Auerbach, Executive Director of Camp Gilboa. “This solar project brings those values to life in a tangible way – both through how we operate and what our campers see every day. It reflects hagshama, one of our core pillars: the practice of actualizing our values, and is a meaningful step toward a more sustainable camp community.”
As electricity demand rises nationwide – driven in part by the rapid growth of AI and data centers – solar offers Jewish institutions a practical way to help lower long-term energy costs while advancing their sustainability goals.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Jewish Solar Challenge for helping make solar possible at WTA,” said Rose Just-Michael, Director of Communications and Development at Westchester Torah Academy, which was awarded a grant last year and recently installed its solar panels. “The solar installation is already helping reduce our energy costs, allowing us to direct more resources toward providing an excellent and affordable Jewish education. It has also created a meaningful opportunity for students to see our commitment to achrayut – responsibility for the environment – in action.”
Winners of the JSC grant are required to demonstrate a broader commitment to sustainability, extending beyond the installation of solar panels. Qualified applicants will move on to the final round of the grant process. Before final applications are due, experts at JSC will work directly with the organizations to curate specific initiatives aimed at making their community more sustainable. Second-round applications will be due Oct. 30. Interested Jewish organizations can apply at www.jewishsolarchallenge.com.
ABOUT JEWISH SOLAR CHALLENGE: Jewish Solar Challenge (JSC) is a nonprofit organization that addresses the climate crisis by facilitating the fiscal and environmental sustainability of Jewish community institutions through solar. JSC provides financial support for the installation of solar panels, as well as training, education and advocacy of community members.
A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/6bae5141-310c-4acc-bcce-7a097a335085

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The quantum process that decides whether a solar cell captures or wastes absorbed light now has a face. Physicists at the University of Graz in Austria, Philipps-Universität Marburg in Germany, and Forschungszentrum Jülich in Germany published findings on August 28, 2026 in Physical Review X showing that they directly filmed — for the first time — the full quantum-mechanical structure of the particle responsible for converting light into electricity, and watched it shrink by roughly 25 percent in less than 400 femtoseconds (a femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second). The University of Graz announced the result on September 1, 2026.
The particle in question is called an exciton — a quantum-mechanical pair formed when light knocks an electron out of its normal resting state and leaves behind a positively charged vacancy, or “hole.” Electron and hole attract each other through the same Coulomb force that holds electrons in atoms, forming a neutral bound pair that carries energy but not net charge through the material. In organic solar cells, excitons are everything: they are the first product of absorbed sunlight, and the efficiency with which they travel to the interface where they can split apart into free electricity-carrying charges determines how much of that sunlight becomes current. Every exciton that self-destructs before reaching that interface is wasted energy.
Until this paper, no one had ever directly measured the full quantum-mechanical structure — the “wave function” — of an exciton in an organic semiconductor. Researchers could infer energy levels, lifetimes, and diffusion distances through indirect spectroscopic probes, but the exciton’s actual spatial shape, its internal phase structure, and how both evolved over time were accessible only through theoretical models. The new work, led by Marcel Theilen and colleagues, changes that fundamental limitation.
Before understanding what was measured, it helps to understand what a wave function is and why it matters. In quantum mechanics, a particle’s wave function is a mathematical description of the probability distribution of its possible states — where it is likely to be found, how it is moving, and in the case of complex particles like excitons, how the quantum state varies from location to location within the material. The phase of a wave function is analogous to the crest-and-trough pattern of an ocean wave — it describes the relative quantum-mechanical “orientation” of the electron-hole pair across adjacent molecules in the material, and it determines how the exciton interacts with its surroundings and whether it can coherently spread across multiple molecules or must collapse to a single one.
In organic semiconductors, this distinction — between an exciton that is delocalized (spread across several molecules) and one that is localized (confined to one) — has enormous practical consequences. Delocalized excitons can travel farther and reach charge-splitting interfaces more easily; localized ones tend to self-trap and dissipate their energy as heat. The Graz–Marburg–Jülich experiment directly measured both the spatial extent and the phase structure of a newborn exciton in a model organic semiconductor, alpha-sexithiophene (α-6T), and tracked both as the exciton aged.
The technique the team used is called femtosecond time-resolved photoemission orbital tomography (trPOT). It works in two steps separated by a precisely controlled time delay.
First, an ultrashort laser pulse — just 45 femtoseconds long — strikes a thin film of α-6T held at 24 Kelvin (−249°C or −416°F) inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber, creating an exciton. The cryogenic temperature suppresses thermal noise that would otherwise smear the quantum signal; the vacuum prevents surface contamination that would quench the exciton before it could be observed.
Second, after a variable delay, a second high-energy laser pulse at 21.7 electron-volts — generated by a nonlinear optical process called high-harmonic generation — ejects a photoelectron from the exciton. The energy and three-dimensional momentum direction of that ejected electron are recorded by a time-of-flight momentum microscope, an instrument that captures the full angular distribution of emitted electrons simultaneously. Varying the delay between pump and probe pulses yields different temporal snapshots; strung together, these form a quantum-mechanical film of the exciton’s evolution.
The critical breakthrough came from Graz: the team, led by Peter Puschnig, developed a quantitative theoretical model that translates the momentum-space images into the real-space wave function of the exciton. “Using our model, it is possible to deduce the spatial shape and the internal quantum-mechanical phase of the exciton wave function directly from measured photoelectron images,” explained Siegfried Kaidisch, a PhD student who made key contributions to the theory work.
This is a tabletop experiment — the high-energy probe pulse comes from a laboratory laser system rather than a synchrotron particle accelerator, meaning the technique can in principle be adopted by any well-equipped ultrafast laser lab. That accessibility matters: if trPOT is to become a standard characterization tool for organic semiconductor design, it cannot require large-facility access.
One indicator of the experiment’s difficulty: each individual time-delay point required approximately 25 hours of continuous data collection. Mapping the exciton’s evolution at multiple delays — the equivalent of multiple frames in the quantum film — is an extraordinary logistical feat. The α-6T films were grown at Jülich by Monja Stettner (whose sample preparation was part of her PhD dissertation) and transported to Marburg under ultra-high vacuum to preserve their quality. “The precise alignment of the molecules and their targeted decoupling from the substrate are important for maintaining the exciton long enough to make its formation visible,” Stettner told the university press office.
The reconstruction produced three findings that the theoretical community had predicted but could not directly verify until now.
An exciton spread across three molecules, not one. Conventional textbook descriptions of excitons in organic molecular crystals — known as “Frenkel excitons” — treat them as tightly confined to a single molecule. The new data showed that the exciton in α-6T was coherently spread across approximately three molecular units, with an initial spatial width of about 8.8 ångströms (roughly 0.88 nanometers, or about 0.035 millionths of an inch). This puts α-6T’s excitons in an intermediate category between purely localized Frenkel excitons (single-molecule) and the large-radius Wannier-Mott excitons found in inorganic semiconductors like silicon. The PRX paper documents this finding in quantitative detail.
A characteristic quantum phase pattern. The wave function showed a near-π phase shift between adjacent molecules along the molecular stacking direction — a signature of a coherent intermolecular quantum interaction, predicted by GW/BSE many-body theory and now confirmed in the PRX paper for the first time in any organic semiconductor system. This phase structure is what makes the multi-molecule delocalization coherent rather than accidental.
Self-trapping in 400 femtoseconds. Within less than 400 femtoseconds of its birth, the exciton contracted from its initial 8.8 Å width to approximately 6.9 Å — a roughly 25 percent shrinkage — as the surrounding molecular lattice responded to its presence and tightened its grip. This process, called exciton self-trapping driven by exciton-phonon coupling, had been predicted theoretically and is believed to reduce exciton mobility and limit organic solar cell efficiency, but had never been directly observed in real time before. The team also observed a shift in the exciton’s energy over the same period, consistent with the increased binding energy that accompanies self-trapping.
“We have now succeeded for the first time in experimentally reconstructing the spatial distribution and temporal evolution of an exciton’s wave function in the very first moments of its existence,” said Peter Puschnig, Professor of Electronic Structure of Nanomaterials at the University of Graz, who led the theoretical side of the work. “The measurements show that, after its formation, the electron-hole pair extends across approximately three molecules and then shrinks by around 25 percent within the first 400 femtoseconds.” The full Puschnig quote was released through the university’s official press office.
The self-trapping process revealed here is exactly what photovoltaic engineers have long suspected but could not directly measure: a rapid localization event that reduces how far an exciton can travel before it reaches the charge-splitting interface, and therefore caps how efficiently a solar cell can convert absorbed light into current.
Standard models of exciton transport in organic solar cells — particularly those based on Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) — assume that excitons hop incoherently from molecule to molecule as localized, single-molecule Frenkel particles. The new data shows that in α-6T, at least, the exciton begins its life delocalized across three molecules with a coherent quantum phase structure before self-trapping collapses it. This initial delocalization window — a few hundred femtoseconds — is the period during which the exciton is most mobile and most likely to reach a heterojunction before trapping. FRET-based design models that ignore this window may systematically underestimate exciton mobility and point engineers toward suboptimal junction geometries.
A separate June 2026 study from researchers at Linköping University and the University of Potsdam, published in Nature Photonics, independently found that longer exciton lifetimes improve fill factors — suggesting the field is converging on the exciton dynamics problem from multiple angles.
Alpha-sexithiophene is a model system, chosen for its well-understood structure and tractable experimental properties. The physical principles that make trPOT work — photoemission from an oriented molecular film, combined with quantitative wave-function reconstruction from momentum-space data — are broadly applicable. Puschnig identified the next target directly: “In the next step, we want to observe the separation of electrons and holes in so-called donor-acceptor systems. This process determines how efficiently light can be converted into electrical current and is therefore central to future developments in organic photovoltaics.” The donor-acceptor next steps are the primary focus of the team’s planned follow-on work.
Beyond photovoltaics, the technique is directly applicable to biological light-harvesting complexes (where exciton transport governs photosynthetic efficiency), quantum-coherent excitonic devices, and hybrid organic-two-dimensional-material systems — any setting where the real-space quantum structure of a correlated electron-hole pair matters.
The research is the most significant milestone to date in the EU-funded Orbital Cinema project, an ERC Synergy Grant worth approximately €11.35 million (approximately $13.2 million USD at September 2026 exchange rates) that runs through June 2029. The project, which funds four research groups in Austria and Germany, aims to produce the equivalent of slow-motion video footage of electrons moving in quantum-mechanical orbitals with sub-femtosecond time resolution — and the exciton film published this week is precisely that ambition realized for the first time.
The photoemission orbital tomography technique itself was pioneered in 2009, when Puschnig and colleagues published a landmark paper in Science demonstrating that molecular orbital densities could be reconstructed directly from photoemission data. The extension to time-resolved measurements was demonstrated in 2021, and the current paper represents the first application to delocalized, multi-molecular excitons with full phase resolution. The theoretical framework developed for this experiment — validated against the most sophisticated available quantum chemistry calculations — is now ready to be applied to the broader class of materials that will determine how much of the world’s rooftop solar energy is actually captured.
Currency conversions in this article are approximate and based on exchange rates as of September 1, 2026.
An exciton is a short-lived quantum particle formed when light knocks an electron out of its resting state in a semiconductor, leaving a positively charged “hole” behind. Electron and hole attract each other, forming a neutral bound pair that carries energy through the material. In an organic solar cell, sunlight first creates excitons; those excitons must then travel to a specially designed interface where they can split into free charges that generate current. If an exciton self-destructs before reaching that interface — either by radiating energy as light or by becoming trapped in the lattice — that portion of absorbed sunlight is lost. The efficiency of an organic solar cell is therefore heavily determined by how far excitons travel and how quickly they self-trap. Until now, the quantum physics of how excitons form and self-trap could only be modeled, not directly filmed. For a primer on exciton basics and organic semiconductors, Ossila provides a detailed introduction.
A regular camera detects photons of visible light reflecting off a surface. Photoemission orbital tomography (trPOT) works at quantum scales and femtosecond timescales by firing a high-energy laser pulse at a material, ejecting electrons whose direction and energy encode information about the quantum-mechanical state of the particle they came from. A sophisticated detector called a time-of-flight momentum microscope captures the full three-dimensional distribution of those ejected electrons simultaneously. A theoretical model then reverses the calculation, reconstructing the spatial shape and quantum phase of the exciton wave function from the electron distribution data. Each “frame” of the resulting quantum film took approximately 25 hours of continuous data collection. The Wikipedia article on photoemission orbital tomography covers the technique’s history and foundations in further detail.
Standard models of exciton energy transport in organic solar cells — particularly those based on Förster resonance energy transfer — treat excitons as localized, single-molecule particles hopping randomly between molecules. The new data shows that in alpha-sexithiophene, newly born excitons are coherently spread across roughly three molecules before self-trapping collapses them. During that brief delocalized phase — a few hundred femtoseconds — an exciton may travel significantly farther than localized models predict, suggesting that FRET-based design rules for donor-acceptor junction distances may be systematically too conservative in materials with strong π-orbital overlap. Directly measuring this delocalized phase for different organic semiconductor candidates may help identify materials whose excitons stay delocalized long enough to improve charge-generation efficiency. The Theilen et al. preprint provides technical detail on the wave function reconstruction methodology and the implications for energy transport models.
Yes — trPOT requires only that a material can be deposited as a thin, ordered molecular film and that a high-energy ultrashort laser pulse (generated by high-harmonic generation) can be applied to eject photoelectrons. These are conditions met by a broad class of organic semiconductors, two-dimensional materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides, and hybrid organic-inorganic systems. The same research team at Graz has already extended the photoemission tomography framework to periodic 2D systems in theoretical work published in late 2025. The next planned experiments involve directly observing how electron-hole pairs separate at donor-acceptor interfaces — the critical step that determines organic solar cell efficiency.
ⓒ 2026 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

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Sunshine and clouds mixed. Hot. High 91F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph..
Mostly cloudy with scattered thunderstorms mainly during the evening. Gusty winds and small hail are possible. Low 72F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 60%.
Updated: September 1, 2026 @ 10:07 am

PRINCESS ANNE, Md. — A proposed solar project in Somerset County is drawing differing opinions from neighbors as state officials review whether the project can move forward.
Old Princess Anne Community Energy Initiative, LLC is seeking approval to build a 2.25-megawatt solar generating facility on about 15 acres of a roughly 29-acre property at 10410 Old Princess Anne Road.
The project would generate energy for community solar subscribers within Delmarva Power and Light’s service territory.
The Maryland Public Service Commission held a public comment hearing Monday at the Princess Anne Library as part of its review of the proposal.
The hearing included a presentation from the applicant, along with recommendations from the Power Plant Research Program of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Commission’s Technical Staff.
Neighbors were also given an opportunity to share their views about the project.
Arlene Deras of Princess Anne says she believes the project could benefit the community, particularly if it creates opportunities for local students and graduates.
“I believe it would be good if it brings jobs,” Deras said. “We have a college here in the community, and we have high school kids and stuff that would be graduating. It’d be a good, you know, commitment to them, to, you know, for their education.”
Deras also says she hopes the public discussion can help bring people together.
“Anything working with the community will bring us closer,” Deras said. “There is so much division. That’s what I worry about a lot.”
Michael Edwards, who operates Wood Duck Landing Farm in Princess Anne, says he has solar panels on his own home but believes large-scale solar projects should not take up agricultural land.
“It is the wrong place to put solar,” Edwards told WBOC. “Solar belongs overtop parking lots on top of buildings. That kind of thing.”
Edwards says he supports using solar technology but believes it should be placed in locations that minimize its impact on farmland.
“It would be nice to see that technology applied with common sense,” Edwards said. “Let’s not give up our good agricultural land that is in demand. Let’s feed our people, and not put solar on top of that.”
Christion Quillen of Fruitland, who works in construction and closely with farmers, also expressed concerns about using agricultural land for the project.
“The land that they’re, they want to use is just, you know, it’s for, in my opinion, it’s just more for agricultural needs, like crops, you know, corn, chicken houses, you know, things we need for food,” Quillen said.
The proposed project is still under review by the Maryland Public Service Commission. A decision on the application has not been announced.
WBOC reached out to Old Princess Anne Community Energy Initiative, LLC for comment on the proposal, but the applicant declined to comment.
Written comments on the project can be submitted to the Maryland Public Service Commission through Sept. 30, 2026, and must reference Case No. 9822.

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US-based SolarWindow Technologies has announced the commercial launch of ElectroFlex, an ultra-thin, flexible solar product designed to generate electricity on flat and curved surfaces.
The product targets applications where conventional PV modules face limitations due to weight, rigidity, or mounting requirements.
The company describes ElectroFlex as a “peel-and-stick” solution that can be applied directly to various surfaces without frames, rigid glass, or conventional support structures. Its size and color can be customized to meet customer specifications.
The new product consists of a five-layer composite laminate measuring 0.85 mm in total thickness. The stack comprises a 0.10 mm front encapsulant, 0.16 mm high-efficiency solar cells, a 0.04 mm copper cell backing, a 0.30 mm composite laminate and a 0.25 mm rear substrate.
ElectroFlex is 0.85 mm thick and integrates interdigitated back-contact (IBC) cells with a power conversion efficiency of 24.4%, according to the manufacturer. It has a power-to-weight ratio of approximately 73 W/kg.
SolarWindow said it also supplies wiring, harnesses, electrical systems, and power-balancing components needed to integrate the product and deliver the electricity it generates.
The company is targeting applications in the transportation, marine, aerospace, architecture, agriculture, infrastructure, utility, and specialty vehicle sectors.
Potential applications include data centers and buildings, roofs of commercial trucks and fleet vehicles, curved train surfaces, and drone and aircraft structures, according to the manufacturer.
ElectroFlex is initially available to Tier 1 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in the United States. SolarWindow said it plans to expand sales to selected markets in North America and Asia over the coming quarters.
The company is also developing LiquidElectricity, a transparent coating designed to turn glass and plastic surfaces into electricity-generating elements. SolarWindow claims the technology, which remains under development, could generate electricity from natural and artificial light, as well as low-intensity, shaded, and reflected light.
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What about farm land being lost due to climate change? – Yorkshire Post Letters  Yorkshire Post
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The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), an Australia-based renewable energy agency, has announced new funding for solar research and development. ARENA will provide up to AUD 105.6 million (~$74.98 million) for 20 projects focused on advancing ultra low-cost solar. This represents the agency’s largest single investment in PV research and development to date. The selected projects are divided between research on cells and modules and work covering BOS, O&M. Across the two categories, each covering three focus areas, the program will address cell and module efficiency, cost and stability, alongside deployment costs, O&M expenses and solar yield. ARENA initially allocated AUD 60 million (~$42.60 million) before increasing the total funding pool to AUD 105.6 million (~$74.98 million). The program supports ARENA’s ambition to reduce installed solar costs to 30 cents per watt by 2030.
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A rare Mojave Desert plant unexpectedly flourished inside Nevada’s massive Gemini Solar Project. Researchers found threecorner milkvetch plants inside the facility produced eight times more flowers and ten times more fruit than plants outside, with altered soil moisture and microclimate conditions potentially helping reproduction.
In 2024, Nevada filled 1.8 million solar panels across the Mojave Desert; a rare milkvetch plant growing inside the farm started to produce 8 times more flowers and 10 times more fruit than plants outside

8,500-year-old handmade scallop bead found 68 km from California coast became evidence that marine shell ornaments were reaching inland communities thousands of years ago

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In an effort to provide power efficiency and cost savings, the City of Palm Coast has recently installed solar panels on four of its major facilities, which include the Palm Coast Community Center, Southern Recreation Center, Fire Station 26, and new Fire Station 22 – the latter of which is soon to complete construction.
In an effort to provide power efficiency and cost savings, the City of Palm Coast has recently installed solar panels on four of its major facilities, which include the Palm Coast Community Center, Southern Recreation Center, Fire Station 26, and new Fire Station 22 – the latter of which is soon to complete construction.
For those that utilize these facilities, from residents who frequent both community centers, to firefighters that live at the respective Fire Stations, these enhancements will help power their lives, whether it’s a day of play or a workday.
“With the installation of these solar panels, we are making an investment in our community, our residents, and our public safety that will propel a tremendous savings for our taxpayers, while still providing the same efficiency that our community is accustomed to,” said Palm Coast City Architect Eric Gebo. “These 4 facilities are among the most frequently utilized and so the return on investment in this case is something that we will see sooner rather than later.”
The Southern Recreation Center (Completed in early 2023) was the first of the facilities to receive the solar panels, which were installed shortly after construction was completed. The Palm Coast Community Center was next with installation taking place in 2025. Both Fire Station 26 (Completed in July 2026) and new Fire Station 22, saw the latest installations – both of which took place in the last few months. The two fire stations alone are expected to save up to $25,000 in power usage each year, and the collective savings between the 4 facilities are New estimated to be up to $75,000 annually with a collected generated, with all current solar panels capable of producing over 500,000 kWh for the city each year.
For more information on our city facilities, amenities, and current projects, visit palmcoast.gov
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Princess Anne, Md. — Members of the public participated in a hearing Monday evening on a proposed 2.250-megawatt solar energy station in Princess Anne. The proposed building site is 10410 Old Princess Anne Road in an industrial zoned property.
The developers, Old Princess Anne Community Energy Initiative LLC, submitted their application for the building in October 2025 to receive a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN), which would allow them to build an energy generation station in Maryland. The hearing is part of the process for the certificate to be granted and is one of the final hurdles as the organization looks to begin construction.
ECA Power, the company behind the project, said the estimated construction timeline is around six months, and they are hopeful to being operations during Q1 2027. Developers say the project would be part of Maryland’s requirement to have half of its power converted to renewable energy credits by 2030.
They added that 40 percent of the project off take will go to low-income Delmarva Light and Power customers, providing a minimum ten percent discount on their energy bills through Maryland’s community solar program.
ECA says the station will not create noise pollution, be visible to the public, and would reduce Maryland’s CO2 output by roughly 150 million tons per year.
At the conclusion of the hearing, Public Utility Law Judge Kyle Kushner reminded the public that they are able to submit written comments until Sept. 30.
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After being stalled for years, giant KCI solar farm is ‘on pause indefinitely.’ Here’s why  The Business Journals
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Why India’s increased solar module output is a cause for concern  Business Today
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More than 600 solar panels can be installed on rooftops at a mental health hospital in West Yorkshire after planners approved the scheme.
The project will see 614 panels fitted to five buildings at Fieldhead Hospital in Wakefield as part of a government-backed drive to cut NHS energy costs.
The panels will be installed on the Horizon Centre, Learning and Wellbeing, Newhaven, Unity Centre and Ryeburn buildings at the site, which provides mental health, drug and alcohol, and learning disability services.
Wakefield and Rothwell MP Simon Lightwood said the investment was "a big step towards a more sustainable and cost-effective NHS".
Fieldhead Hospital was among a number of local NHS sites awarded funding through a £180m national solar energy investment programme announced last year.
Nearby Pinderfields Hospital and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service headquarters, in Carr Gate, were also selected to benefit from the scheme, which is backed by the government's state-owned energy company, Great British Energy.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service said the initiative aims to cut energy bills at the sites, allowing savings to be reinvested in frontline patient services.
A Wakefield Council report said the development did not require prior approval, allowing the scheme to proceed.
When the funding was announced, Lightwood said: "I'm proud that Pinderfields, Fieldhead and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service in my constituency are benefiting from this government funding."
Listen to highlights from West Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Harry's dad, Gary, had to lose six stone and follow a strict diet for months to make sure he healthy enough to donate.
Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust's rating improves from "requires improvement" to "good".
This year's jab has a few tweaks, including changes to better combat last year's Super-K strain.
The trust says people have been coming into the building to sleep.
The new centre at Musgrove Park in Taunton hopes to increase capacity and improve patient flow.
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Saatvik Solar Industries, a material subsidiary of Saatvik Green Energy, has applied for enlistment of its 2.4 GW solar cell manufacturing facility in Ganjam, Odisha, under the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s (MNRE) Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) List-II for solar PV cells. 
The facility is designed to manufacture high-efficiency, n-type TOPCon G12R solar cells under the Domestic Content Requirement (DCR) category. The application covers Model No. SS-NTP-210R-16BB-BF.
Subject to MNRE’s approval and enlistment, the facility will be eligible for deployment in projects requiring compliance with applicable domestic sourcing requirements.
Prashant Mathur, CEO, Saatvik Green Energy said, “The advancement of our Odisha cell manufacturing facility towards ALMM List-II enlistment is an important milestone in our ambition to build advanced and competitive solar manufacturing capabilities in India. With a planned capacity of 2.4 GW and a focus on high-efficiency N-TOPCon technology, the facility will strengthen our ability to offer domestically manufactured solar cells while supporting the industry’s broader localisation journey.”
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Tuesday, September 1, 2026
Last Thursday, plug-in solar became legal in Great Britain. The week before that, New Zealand announced it would do the same within 12 months. Germany passed a million installed units years ago and is now well past three million. 
In Australia you can buy a plug-in kit today, but you cannot legally plug it in.
I sit on the two Standards Australia committees this technology runs into. EL-005 writes the battery rules. EL-042 writes the inverter and solar installation standards. I have been in those rooms for fifteen years, so I want to be precise about what the obstacle actually is, because it is not what most people assume.
The obstacle is not that plug-in solar is unsafe. The obstacle is that nobody in this country has the authority to say yes.
Here is the tangle. 
Standard AS/NZS 4777.1 says a grid-connected inverter is part of the fixed wiring of the installation, on its own circuit, connected by a licensed electrician. 
Standard AS/NZS 5033 says the same about the panels. 
Standard AS/NZS 3000 treats a socket outlet as a place where you take power out, not a place where you put power in. 
The Clean Energy Council approved product list, which is what networks and rebates actually rely on, has no category for a plug-connected inverter, so a compliant product cannot even be listed. Above all that sit eight state and territory electrical safety regulators, each with its own Act, and every distribution network with its own connection rules.
None of those bodies can move first. Standards Australia writes standards, it does not legalise anything. The CEC cannot list a product that no standard describes. A state regulator will not approve something the standards do not permit.
The networks say, reasonably enough, that they will connect anything that complies with AS/NZS 4777 and is CEC listed, which is a door that cannot currently be opened. Everybody is waiting for somebody else. 
The solution to this red tape quagmire – our energy ministers need to hand the job to the regulators with a deadline, which is exactly what the UK did.
Solar Citizens is leading a consumer push for Plug-in Solar regulation to be on the agenda for the next Climate and Energy Ministerial Council, when all the state and territory energy ministers meet on September 11.
The technical questions are real but small, and other people have already answered them.
The first is the socket itself. When you unplug a generator, the pins are live for as long as the inverter keeps producing. The fix is a product requirement that the inverter shut down in well under a second on loss of the socket, and the plug design that goes with it. This is testable and it is tested.
The second is the circuit. A final subcircuit is protected at 16 or 20 amps and the breaker only sees current coming from the switchboard end. Inject power halfway along and in theory you could load the cable past its rating without the breaker knowing. Germany and now the UK solved this by capping the output at 800 watts, about 3.5 amps, which is small enough that it cannot happen on any normal circuit. One kit per household, and that is the end of the problem.
The third is anti-islanding, and it is the easiest. Australian inverters have done this for 20 years and we have a well-proven test regime for it.
The fourth is metering, and this one is genuinely ours. Plenty of apartment blocks still run old accumulation meters and embedded networks that will either spin backwards or bill exports as consumption. That is a metering conversation, not a safety one, and it should not hold up the rest.
Then there is strata and tenancy law, which will block plenty of people even after the electrical rules change. Germany fixed that too, by saying landlords and bodies corporate cannot unreasonably refuse.
Meanwhile the plug-in solar vacuum is doing its own damage. Kits are being sold here right now and people are quietly plugging them in, with no product specification, no output cap, no testing and no notification to anyone. Doing nothing is not the safe option. It is the option that leaves uncertified hardware on Australian circuits with no rules at all.
The case for acting is straightforward. More than a third of Australians rent or live in apartments, and for most of them this is the only form of solar they will ever own.
An 800 watt system on a balcony or in a backyard makes around 1,000 kilowatt-hours a year in most of the country. It runs the fridge, the router, the standby loads and whatever else is on during the day.
At current tariffs that is $300 to $400 off the bill. A kit that costs about $1,000 pays for itself in three years and keeps working for 20. When you move house, it comes with you.
Australia has the highest rooftop solar penetration on earth because we wrote sensible rules early and let people get on with it. We know how to do this for plug-in solar. We are just not doing it.
Glen Morris is director of Smart Energy Lab and represents the Smart Energy Council on Standards Australia committees EL-005 and EL-042.
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Solar Power World
By Kelly Pickerel | August 13, 2026
ForeFront Power has reached commercial operation of a new solar system for the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Plant in Fresno, California, that uses the Erthos solar system. Erthos’ Earth Mount Solar system places modules directly on the earth, which allows solar project developers to eliminate all the costs required to procure and install structural steel.
ForeFront Power approached Erthos in 2023 when a combination of inflation and supply shocks caused the price of labor and materials to increase, making the project payback period unattractive for the city of Fresno.
“After conducting our due diligence and vetting Erthos technology, we discovered that the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Plant was an optimal site for an Erthos application,” said Erinne Davis, senior project manager at ForeFront Power. “Erthos helped us avoid significant, expensive civil upgrades, as well as the cost of steel for racking and the labor to install that racking. Realizing these savings on the installation is what enabled the project at this site to move forward.”
The Erthos Earth Mount Solar system is one portion of a solar and battery storage portfolio that ForeFront Power developed for Fresno’s Dept. of Public Utilities (DPU) at three sites: the Northeast Surface Water Treatment Facility, the Southeast Surface Water Treatment Facility, and the Fresno-Clovis Regional Wastewater Reclamation Facility. At a combined 27 MW-DC in size, the DPU projects are expected to save over $122 million in ratepayer dollars by 2045.
Since the Erthos system entered commercial operation in late March 2026, the system has outperformed expectations, operating at an average of 101% of expected energy production and has already delivered 862 MWh of energy to the city. ForeFront Power and Erthos continue to work closely together to optimize system performance.
In addition to avoiding material and labor costs from structural steel, ForeFront Power was able to achieve a higher generating capacity per acre thanks to the unique architecture of Erthos systems. With no row spacing, Erthos offers the highest energy density of any solar architecture in the industry. Another unique feature of Erthos Earth Mount Solar system is that, although the solar modules are mounted flat on the earth, they can follow contours up to 15% slope, meaning they were adaptable to the natural topography of the Fresno site.
ForeFront Power and Erthos have entered into an energy services agreement in which Erthos will maintain the solar energy system, including regular cleanings of the solar array by the proprietary ErthBot PV array cleaner, a dry nylon brush autonomous cleaning robot.
News item from ForeFront
Kelly Pickerel has more than 15 years of experience reporting on the U.S. solar industry and is currently editor in chief of Solar Power World. Email Kelly.

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They raised their combined share to 57% of the global market.
The global solar photovoltaic (PV) operations and maintenance (O&M) market reached 348 gigawatts (GW) of assessed capacity at the end of 2025.
This marks a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 61 GW, according to Wood Mackenzie’s Global Solar PV O&M Service Provider Dynamics 2026 report.
The report tracks fleet sizes, cost trends, and service strategies across more than 130 vendors operating in the Americas, Asia-Pacific (excluding China), and Europe, Middle East and Africa.
The top 15 global O&M vendors collectively added 41 GW in 2025, bringing their combined portfolio to 200 GW and raising their share of the total market to 57%.
Novasource Power Services retained its position as the world’s largest solar PV O&M provider, ending 2025 with 38.4 GW under management.
RES Energy Global Services, SOLV Energy, Solarig Energy Services, and Recurrent Energy held their top five positions, with several pursuing active cross-regional expansion to defend their standings.
BayWa r.e. Services and Origis Energy Services entered the top 15, adding 2.6 GW and 1.8 GW, respectively.
Engie and Sterling & Wilson recorded the “most striking” individual performances of 2025.
Engie more than doubled its O&M fleet, surpassing six competitors to reach eighth in the global rankings, driven primarily by a 172% expansion of its Americas portfolio.
Sterling & Wilson recorded 53% annual growth to reach 13.5 GW, climbing to sixth place globally on the back of its dominant position in the Asia-Pacific excluding China region, where it leads the market with 12.2 GW under management.
Amongst second-tier vendors, megaOM—FRV’s standalone O&M entity—posted the most dramatic growth rate, expanding its portfolio by 243% to 3.8 GW globally and entering the top 30 for the first time.
Full-wrap O&M contract costs fell 18% YoY in North America, whilst Middle East and Africa O&M volume nearly doubled in 2025.
“The global O&M market is consolidating quickly around a core group of scaled providers, but the dynamics look very different depending on where you are,” said Khalif Ahmad Zikri, Research Analyst at Wood Mackenzie.
Zikri added that the mature and competitive market in North America is driving down costs, whilst independent service providers strengthen their dominance.
“In the Middle East and Africa, we are seeing a near-doubling of volume and a wave of new entrants chasing an underpenetrated opportunity. These are fundamentally different markets at very different levels of development,” he said.
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GREW Solar, one of India’s fastest-growing solar PV module manufacturers, today announced a new channel partnership with PS Cube Industries Private Limited in Faridabad, strengthening its presence in the distribution market and expanding access to its solar solutions across the region.
This collaboration marks another step in GREW Solar’s efforts to extend its distribution network across key markets and make its products and technologies more accessible to customers, installers and businesses. Faridabad, with its rising industrial and commercial ecosystem and increasing adoption of renewable energy, represents an important market for the company’s regional expansion.
Under the new arrangement, PS Cube Industries Private Limited will support the distribution of GREW Solar’s solar modules in the region, including its Domestic Content Requirement (DCR)-compliant products, helping meet the increasing demand for domestically manufactured solar technology.
Commenting on the development, Mr. Cecil Augustine, President – Sales & Business Development, GREW Solar, said, “Our association with PS Cube Industries Private Limited is an important step in deepening our presence in Faridabad and the surrounding markets. As solar adoption continues to rise across commercial, industrial and other segments, a strong and accessible distribution network will be critical to meeting this demand. We are focused on forging strong relationships that make it easier for customers to access GREW Solar’s offerings while supporting the continued growth of India’s domestic solar ecosystem.”
GREW Solar’s channel strategy focuses on developing long-term relationships that support its surging customer base and enable convenient access to reliable, high-quality solar products. The company plans to continue scaling its partner network across strategic markets as part of its broader progress.
Founded in 2022 and backed by the Chiripal Group’s manufacturing legacy, GREW Solar has rapidly established its solar manufacturing capabilities. The company currently operates a 6.5 GW module manufacturing facility at Dudu, Rajasthan, with plans to scale its total capacity to 11 GW by the end of 2026, alongside investments in solar cell manufacturing and backward integration. 
As GREW Solar broadens its reach, its channel network will play an important role in making its reliable, high-performance offerings more readily available across India.

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By Canary Media

By Canary Media
Canary Media
1 September 2026
The Obama Presidential Center, which opened on Chicago’s South Side in June, features a museum full of mementos to democracy and the famous family, native prairie landscaping, an indoor basketball court, and other amenities. It will also be powered entirely by clean energy. Solar panels sit on the roof and on a garden pavilion, and a geothermal system heats and cools the complex. But the bulk of its power will be produced by community solar — the center will pay a set ​“subscription” fee to arrays located off-site.
The Obama Presidential Center will be the anchor tenant for several community solar projects that the Chicago-based company Reactivate is in the process of developing, slated to go online in 2027. Reliable anchor tenants are crucial to the success of community solar: They pay for large amounts — often 40% to 50% — of a project’s output, and can be key to persuading banks or other lenders to help finance a community solar array. The center’s subscription will cover about 6 gigawatt-hours of solar power annually, enough, along with its rooftop panels, for the entire campus.
The Obama Foundation, which runs the center, says community solar is a way to make clean energy accessible to renters, residents in multifamily housing, and those who aren’t able to afford or install solar panels on their own properties. That includes many people who live on Chicago’s South Side, where Obama cut his teeth as a community organizer decades ago.
Community solar delivers significant bill savings to households, especially in Illinois, where a state program guarantees robust benefits to low-income participants. 
But in order to reap these savings, residents need to sign up. And too few of the people in marginalized neighborhoods who could benefit most do so, many solar advocates say.
Obama Foundation CEO Valerie Jarrett and Reactivate CEO Utopia Hill hope the Obama Presidential Center’s foray into community solar will raise awareness of, and trust in, the model so that it can help more residents struggling with their energy bills on the South Side and beyond.
They also expect the Obama Presidential Center will set an example for other mission-driven nonprofit organizations and companies to become anchor tenants. 
“The foundation sought to use its buying power to catalyze the development of new renewable-energy generation sources,” Jarrett said. 

“It is the foundation’s hope that this partnership with Reactivate will encourage other equity-focused organizations to consider community solar as a cost-effective way of procuring renewable energy.”

While Reactivate and other community solar developers in Illinois have signed up thousands of subscribers for their projects, they agree that people are often skeptical of the concept — especially in low-income and Black communities that have sometimes been targeted by predatory lenders and other unscrupulous businesses. Illinois lawmakers and consumer watchdogs, for example, have long struggled to rein in retail electric suppliers that offer residents energy plans under terms that end up being exploitative.

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Hill, who grew up in a working-class Chicago suburb, said that people often respond to an offer of guaranteed savings with ​“What’s the catch?”

​“There is no catch. It’s just an opportunity,” Hill said. ​“Having a well-established name [with the Obama Presidential Center] will hopefully help people understand that community solar is a real program that will provide savings.”
A series of Illinois state clean energy laws created robust incentives for community solar development, with particularly generous support for low-income residents and those in environmental justice communities, who are guaranteed savings equal to at least half of the value of the energy generated from their solar subscription.
The program has spurred the installation of community solar arrays located in and serving communities like Waukegan in northern Illinois, a heavily industrial area where community solar built on a landfill provides clean energy and savings to about 1,000 households and the local school district.
A community solar project developed by Reactivate — which focuses on marginalized and underserved communities — in a Chicago suburb provided a total of $186,000 in savings last year to its 650 subscribers, 44% of whom earn less than $20,000 a year.
Mercy Housing, a national nonprofit affordable housing developer, is the anchor tenant for two Reactivate community solar projects that went online in 2024. 

The benefits go to two Chicago-area Mercy buildings, with 96 and 65 living units. Mercy Housing senior environmental analyst Max Stewart said they’ve seen significant savings on energy bills, money that can be reinvested into energy efficiency or resident services, and help keep affordable housing projects sustainable. He noted that it can be hard to find organizations willing to make such a big commitment to community solar. 

The opportunities available to anchor tenants should get ​“more awareness,” Stewart said. ​“It always helps to have someone leading the way.”

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Kari Lydersen is a contributing reporter at Canary Media who covers Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin.
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Energies Media
France is experimenting with the merger of solar generation and traditional aquaculture.
Worldwide, large-scale renewable energy infrastructure is mainly a major competitor with other industries.
This often leads to immense opposition from local communities, especially when clean power displaces food production.
Fortunately, increasingly more nations are addressing these conflicts by harmonizing the two sectors.
Will the French innovation “aquavoltaics” inspire the global adoption of a new form of seasonal farming?
The world’s green energy capacity has exceeded 4,400 gigawatts.
This marks a major milestone in the global renewable energy transition.
Photovoltaic installations have driven over 75 percent of the latest annual additions.
However, to meet both rising electricity demands and international climate targets, clean capacity must scale to almost 11,000 gigawatts.
The urgent need for growth is spurred by transport and industrial electrification, and expanding data centers.
Without more large-scale green infrastructure, the world will continue to rely on fossil fuels, worsening climate change.
But this need for rapid expansion comes with its own set of unique challenges.
Utility-scale facility development, such as solar plants, requires thousands of acres of land.
This often leads to direct competition with other sectors, particularly agriculture.
Consequently, this land-use conflict typically sparks local pushback from rural communities.
For them, transforming productive farmland into industrial power plants is not worth the potential food insecurity and economic losses.
Rural community opposition primarily stems from the risk of higher food prices.
The displacement of crop fields and food production threatens agricultural livelihoods.
Some could lose out on capital investments in fertilizer, seeds, and farming equipment.
Others face unemployment and loss of their primary source of income.
Furthermore, land fragmentation can lower overall productivity and lower the viability of farming practices.
Fortunately, innovators developed agrivoltaics to overcome these land-use conflicts.
This approach promotes dual land use for solar production and agriculture.
Beyond maximizing land efficiency, it offers dual income, market resilience, and reduced energy costs.
It also offers benefits like biodiversity support and heat stress relief.
Nonetheless, developers are pushing for even greater capacity growth, leading to offshore solar expansion.
The shift toward ocean deployment has caused concerns about marine biodiversity conservation and aquatic food production.
French company SolarinBlue addressed these concerns using its robust platforms that combine two practices.
Coastal regions are increasingly turning to floating solar systems to reshape their clean power generation.
For France, the world’s largest oyster producer and consumer, these platforms have led to food production concerns.
However, SolarinBlue’s aquavoltaic prototype in the Thau Lagoon overcomes this.
The project uses a 170-by-60-foot floating platform that mirrors local oyster-farming tables.
The prototype has integrated solar arrays to generate green electricity for local operations.
Underneath the platform, 11 tons of oysters can be supported per growing season. This is similar to standard regional yields.
SolarinThau will undergo an 18-month growing trial to cultivate and mature oysters directly in the panels’ shade.
The yield will be harvested for commercial distribution and local consumption.
The primary goal is to prove that offshore renewable energy infrastructure can successfully coexist with local aquaculture practices.
The success of the trial will confirm that floating solar power generation comes with a list of benefits.
Not only does it overcome coastal land-use conflicts, but it can also be integrated with existing offshore wind infrastructure.
Furthermore, it promotes sustainable food production and clean electricity production offshore.
The floating platforms also shelter shellfish farms without harming fragile marine ecosystems.
Ultimately, aquavoltaics points toward a more sustainable future where offshore solar production coexists with unique food production practices.
Anke Maree is a writer with a clear and engaging editorial style. Her work focuses on making complex topics accessible, informative, and relevant for readers across different areas of interest.
Anke Maree is a writer with a clear and engaging editorial style. Her work focuses on making complex topics accessible, informative, and relevant for readers across different areas of interest.
Anke Maree is a writer with a clear and engaging editorial style. Her work focuses on making complex topics accessible, informative, and relevant for readers across different areas of interest.

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Assessing overcapacity risk in India’s solar PV manufacturing market  Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA)
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India’s Solar Module Manufacturing Capacity Reaches 233 GW Amid Growing Overcapacity Risks  SolarQuarter
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India is preparing a new production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme for polysilicon, the high-purity silicon used to make solar cells. It is the part of the solar supply chain that India still buys almost entirely from abroad, mostly from China, and closing that gap has become a priority as the country pushes towards its aim of 500 gigawatts (GW) of non-fossil power by 2030.
The ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) secretary Santosh Kumar Sarangi said last month that the government was aiming for at least 30 GW of domestic polysilicon capacity by 2030, an addition that could draw about ₹25,000 crore in investment.
A single gigawatt of polysilicon capacity, along with metallurgical-grade silicon, costs about ₹850 crore to build, Sarangi had said.
An earlier PLI round that covered polysilicon, wafers, cells and modules is expected to deliver only a small amount of upstream capacity, which is why a dedicated scheme is being drawn up, he said.
Also Read: Solar manufacturing at a critical juncture
India has built more than 200 GW of solar module capacity and over 32 GW of solar cell capacity, and another 100 GW of cell capacity is due within a year, Sarangi told a Confederation of Indian Industry event in New Delhi on August 7, according to a Reuters report. The government is also targeting at least 80 GW of ingot and wafer capacity by June 2028.
Wafers, ingots and polysilicon, the three stages that feed cell production, are still imported almost entirely from China. India’s polysilicon import dependence stands at close to 100%, and wafer import dependence at above 90%, according to a NITI Aayog report. That leaves the Atmanirbhar Bharat pitch for solar largely a downstream one.
India was the world’s second-largest solar growth market in 2025, adding 37 GW of capacity behind China’s 315 GW and ahead of the US’s 34 GW, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). India’s installed solar capacity was 162 GW as of June 2026, MNRE data shows, making solar the country’s largest source of renewable power. That scale makes the upstream gap harder to ignore.
Also Read: Trying to diversify supply chains, reduce dependence on China: Ajay Mathur
Polysilicon is produced by refining ordinary quartz or silica sand through smelting and chemical vapour deposition, a capital-intensive process that runs on continuous electricity. The refined material is cast into solid ingots, sliced into thin wafers, processed into solar cells, and finally wired together into modules.
Progress on the domestic PLI has been slower at this upstream end because the chemistry is harder, the plants cost more to build, and they need very large, uninterrupted volumes of power. China’s share in the key manufacturing stages of solar panels — including polysilicon, ingots, wafers, cells and modules — exceeds 80%, according to the International Energy Agency, with production clustered in provinces where power is cheap and continuous.
Also Read: Solar sustainability as a path to an energy independent future
A NITI Aayog report published on August 13, titled Key Sectors to Position India as a Global Manufacturing Hub, said China’s dominance of the polysilicon market poses both a supply-chain and a national-security risk for India, and that Chinese cost advantages make commercially viable Indian capacity difficult to build without government support. The report puts China’s 2024 share at 93–98% of installed and new polysilicon production capacity, 95% of wafer capacity, 91% of cell capacity and 82% of module capacity.
The government has already committed about ₹240 billion in PLI outlays for solar modules and cells. A 30 GW polysilicon build at ₹850 crore per GW would be of comparable scale.
Polysilicon has another use that strengthens the case for local production. It is also a feedstock for semiconductor manufacturing, a sector the government is separately pushing under its Atmanirbhar Bharat programme.
Krithika Iyer is a Senior Content Producer with the Explainer Desk at Hindustan Times, bringing a deep passion for rigorous, accessible journalism to every story. With a strong drive for breaking down complex topics, Krithika focuses on clear narratives that answer the critical questions of why stories matter and what happens next. Before joining Hindustan Times, she worked with the Reuters Dotcom team, navigating fast-paced global news environments with precision and speed, mainly covering US legal news. Krithika holds a Master's degree from the University of Westminster, combining rigorous academic grounding with international newsroom experience. Deeply curious and endlessly adaptable, Krithika loves exploring new beats and learning continuously, believing that growth comes from trying one's hand at everything. Outside the newsroom, she is an avid reader who also enjoys experimenting with cooking and expressing creativity through art as a way to unwind. Bringing curiosity, sharp editorial insight, and a commitment to clarity, Krithika continues to shape compelling digital narratives that resonate with audiences across platforms.Read More

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by Matthew Silber, CT Mirror
September 1, 2026
Anyone who’s walked through Connecticut’s woods has seen them: the seemingly random stone walls that zigzag through the trees. Most of us don’t give them a second thought, but take a moment to ponder: why on earth would someone build a stone wall in the middle of the forest?
No one would, because those woods used to be farms. If you took a time machine to 1826, those groves of oak, birch, and maple would dissolve into fields of barley, oats and corn —separated by the same stone walls. Two hundred years ago fewer than 10% of Americans lived in urban areas —almost everyone survived through subsistence agriculture. As planters dredged rocks from the soil, the stones provided ready-made construction material for property markers: the walls you can still see to this day.
Many Nutmeggers perceive our forest cover to be eternal, edenic —the natural order of things. In actuality, less than 0.00007% of our state’s land area actually consists of old-growth forest. In 1826, three quarters of state land was used for agriculture, but today, more than half of it is forested. What happened?  
Industrialization happened. Innovations in agricultural efficiency, Midwestern competition, and new jobs in factories pushed Connecticut farmers into the cities. Little by little, over decades and centuries, our forests crept back and now thrive. 
This history lesson illuminates a fundamental truth: we interact with our landscape in different ways when there are new social and economic developments, and these changes can actually be quite beneficial. 
The most pressing development of the 21st century is climate change. Electric power generation accounts for about one-quarter of American greenhouse gas emissions. It is time to take our climate goals seriously, and we can do that by expanding Connecticut’s renewable energy sources. Solar has emerged as one of the cheapest, most efficient options on the market. 
Despite rising energy costs and climate-related health threats, many Nutmeggers still mistrust solar power, and oppose the construction and expansion of solar farms across the state. Some raise concerns regarding environmental or aesthetic impacts, while others suspect malfeasance on the part of energy companies. I sympathize with these concerns, but believe them to be misguided and ultimately dangerous.  
Some fear that as solar panels age, the heavy metals in their components will leach into the soil and surrounding water table, poisoning neighbors. There is little evidence to support such catastrophizing, and while challenges certainly exist regarding panel disposal, they are surmountable. When we evaluate these concerns related to solar power, they must be contextualized by the alternative: right now, millions are killed by fossil fuels every year.  
Some support solar energy in the abstract, but believe its infrastructure should only be installed on existing structures, rather than in open spaces. Many of our cities are already making tremendous progress in this area, but unfortunately, the process of retrofitting stores and parking lots with solar panels is expensive and time-consuming. I unequivocally support an expansion of solar capacity in urban areas, but rooftop solar alone will not get us to net-zero.
I am most troubled by the argument that solar farms threaten our agricultural heritage. As fields give way to arrays, some believe that farmers are being ‘pushed out’ by predatory energy companies. This misrepresents reality. Solar leases are voluntary agreements made by landowners who, facing challenging economic times, are leveraging their assets to preserve their finances. It is the same economic calculus that convinced Connecticut farmers in 1826 to abandon their plows and stand on the assembly line. Green energy opponents believe they are protecting farmers—are they willing to let farmers make their own decisions about how they utilize their land? 
There is great beauty in the bucolic. It has inspired poets for millennia, from Virgil to Tim McGraw. I understand the distress one may feel, seeing family farms replaced by sterile scaffolding. But every decision we make has an opportunity cost. Whatever we wish to preserve, we have to consider what our preservation forces us to give up in return. 
When we demand solar moratoriums in order to protect croplands and woodlands, we are still putting them in harm’s way. When we say ‘no’ to a 50-acre solar array in the Connecticut River Valley, we are saying ‘yes’ to poisonous smog from Canadian wildfires, and inviting the flames to creep closer and closer to our own borders. When we focus too much on the local, we begin to lose sight of the bigger, global picture. 
Many of us have a vision in our head of what Connecticut ‘should’ look like, but our landscape has already changed greatly over the past few centuries. Paradoxically, this fact is so self-evident that most of us forget it entirely. It sits in plain sight but unrecognized, like a mysterious stone wall puncturing a silent wood.
Matthew Silber is a resident of Norwalk.

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Stephen Castling's Rock Farm home will get supplementary power from 20 solar panels in a field near Llandenny
A FARMER has been given the green light for 20 solar panels on a small part of a field near his home.
The panels, which will be in two 12 metre long rows of 10 and 1.3m high and spaced one metre apart, will be used to provide supplementary power to Stephen Castling’s Rock Farm home up an isolated track at Llandenny in Monmouthshire.
Monmouthshire County Council said planning policy intends for renewable energy schemes to be permitted when there is no unacceptable adverse impacts on the landscape, townscape and historic features, biodiversity and amenities of nearby residents and when the wider economic, social and community benefits outweigh potential adverse impacts and the “distinct identity of Monmouthshire” isn’t compromised.
Using agricultural land for renewable energy has been a hot topic in Monmouthshire recently. Conservative opposition leader, Cllr Richard John, has publicly stated that covering car parks and other non-farming areas could be a better solution to finding the best place for them. Meanwhile, Reform UK’s Laura Anne Jones MS has also criticised larger developments of solar farms in the Sir Fynwy Torfaen constituency.
Meanwhile, planning officer Helen Etherington, whose report approved the application, said the use of best and most versatile agricultural land also had to be considered, with Welsh planning policy has a presumption in favour of protecting such land including from development of solar arrays.
But Ms Etherington said while the land does meet the best value criteria the panels could be allowed as they will only take up a small space of around 40 square metres. She stated: “The rest of the field will remain agricultural land therefore the installation of the array within the field is acceptable.”
Find out about planning applications that affect you by visiting the Public Notice Portal.
A condition will require the panels are removed from site if they are no longer needed or operational.
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JA Powers Fisher & Paykel Healthcare’s Green Transition with New Zealand’s Largest Rooftop PV System  finance.yahoo.com
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Saatvik Green Energy Advances 2.4 GW N-TOPCon Solar Cell Facility in Odisha for ALMM List-II Enlistment  SolarQuarter
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Grant Township trustees and Grand Traverse County commissioners will meet separately this week to explore options for responding to a proposed 375-megawatt solar project spanning Grand Traverse and Wexford counties. The project highlights zoning control tensions after a 2023 Michigan law change allowed solar developers to bypass local boards and go directly to the state for approval – a path developer Ranger Power is now pursuing after running into local resistance.
Ranger Power, under the affiliate name Shipyard Solar LLC, began appearing before local boards this spring to present the project. Primarily located in northern Wexford County – with parts of the infrastructure planned for Grant Township in Grand Traverse County – the project was initially presented as a 300-megawatt facility with solar panels on 1,800 fenced acres. Representatives said the company had “partnered with several local farmers through long-term lease agreements to include land in the project,” acquisition work that started in 2023.
When describing the site selection process, Ranger Power emphasized it only partners with landowners who voluntarily participate and doesn’t use eminent domain. Projects are located near existing transmission infrastructure, avoid wetlands/streams/endangered species, and are based near load centers like Traverse City, representatives said. Ranger Power touted the proposal’s economic benefits, saying it could “generate tens of millions of dollars in personal property tax revenues during its lifespan” and “create hundreds of construction jobs.”
Representatives also noted that the state’s Renewable Ready Communities Award offers communities up to $5,000 per megawatt for the portion of projects they permit. The company said the project uses permanent vegetative ground cover that allows farmlands to regenerate and would “provide supplemental income to local farmers,” diversifying their revenue streams. But at multiple public meetings, dozens of residents including farmers pushed back on the proposal. Several said they supported renewable or solar energy but were firmly against converting valuable farmland for such projects.
Ranger Power said its goal was to work with local communities to design a project that addressed their concerns. But it also pointed out that if it didn’t receive local approval, it could go directly to the state instead. That’s because Public Act 233, which was passed in 2023, gives the state instead of townships the power to approve large-scale renewable energy projects. The controversial law was recently upheld by the Michigan Court of Appeals, but 79 townships and counties across Michigan are challenging it to the Michigan Supreme Court.
Under the law, developers can directly seek Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) approval unless a local unit of government has a compatible renewable energy ordinance (CREO) in place that is “no more restrictive” than state requirements. Many communities began creating CREOs after the law change. However, MPSC later issued an order limiting the conditions CREOs could address, which rendered many of them non-compliant.
The order, which says a CREO can only address setbacks, fencing, height, sound, and other express requirements and not anything beyond that, is one of the issues being challenged in the lawsuit. Communities have argued the order is overly limiting and that MPSC has exceeded its authority by narrowing local oversight beyond what was intended by legislators.
Ranger Power initially sought to work through the local approval process by applying for a zoning amendment to the Wexford Joint Planning Commission (WJPC). The WJPC represents nearly a dozen townships across Wexford County. Its zoning ordinance does not allow for utility-scale solar projects in the Ag-Forest Production zoning district where the proposed facility would be located. Ranger Power promised to provide sound and glare studies, a decommissioning plan, and a community benefits agreement as part of a special use permit if the zoning amendment was approved.
However, the WJPC unanimously voted on July 27 to recommend that townships deny the zoning ordinance amendment for being too broad. Shortly after, Ranger Power began notifying local governments that the company plans to apply to MPSC directly. The project is now described as a 375-megawatt instead of 300-megawatt facility. That would make it one of Ranger Power’s largest projects, as the company previously said its developments range in size from 50 to 400 megawatts.
Developers must get written acknowledgement from each affected jurisdiction as to whether a local CREO is in place before they apply to the state. Under the recent Michigan Court of Appeals ruling, affected jurisdictions include not only townships but any counties, villages, or cities where the project is located. Grant Township trustees will meet tonight (Tuesday) at 5:30pm to discuss the acknowledgement request and will consider hiring special legal counsel to guide them through the process. Grand Traverse County commissioners will discuss the request at their 9am meeting Wednesday.
County Administrator Nate Alger says this is a new issue for county officials, so they’re “relying heavily on legal counsel” for advice. That includes a deadline for responding, which the courts have interpreted would be within 30 days of meeting with developers – not just receiving their letter, which Ranger Power sent on August 14. Commissioners  will vote Wednesday on having the county’s attorneys work with Alger to respond to Ranger Power and set up a meeting.
The solar project could have ramifications beyond zoning control and land use. Just last week, MPSC approved its first application under Public Act 233 – a 90-megawatt facility in Ingham County also led by Ranger Power. A settlement agreement outlined detailed construction requirements for Ranger Power as well as financial benefits for the townships. Ingham County worked out a separate agreement with the developers for funding benefits. “That’s an option that’s available to us,” says Alger of financial compensation.
In an emailed statement to The Ticker, Ranger Power said: “We remain fully committed to open dialogue and active collaboration with local leaders as we evaluate the next steps for the Shipyard Solar project. While we determine the path forward, our core priority has not changed. We will continue working with community members and stakeholders to ensure a positive, meaningful outcome.” Ranger Power previously said that it hopes to begin construction on the northern Michigan project in late 2028, with the facility operational by mid-2030.
Recess is BACK with a new format for 2026 featuring four events per year – one per quarter – to make each event bigger and better than …
In this week’s Northern Express — sister publication of The Ticker — Traverse City Area Public Schools (TCAPS) educators and leadership share their perspectives on AI in the …
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Japan’s Ministry of the Environment said conventional silicon solar panels, whose installation costs have declined significantly, will be excluded from newly implemented subsidy programs beginning in fiscal 2027.
The ministry said the shift is intended to focus support on next-generation solar technologies, including perovskite solar cells, citing industrial competitiveness alongside environmental policy goals. It noted that Japan controls roughly 30% of global iodine supply, a key perovskite raw material.
Perovskite solar cells are lightweight and flexible, making them suitable for locations where conventional panels are difficult to install.
Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) said in November 2024 that it plans to deploy around 20 GW of new PV systems based on perovskite technology by 2040.
In October 2025, Japan’s New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) launched a six-year R&D program to advance large-scale manufacturing and field testing of tandem perovskite solar cells. NEDO also outlined 24 research themes for a 2025-29 program covering next-generation solar cells, system integration, grid stability, and recycling, and published a solar strategy supporting Japan’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
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Martedì, 22 Settembre 2026
11:00 – 12:00 CEST, Roma
Monday, October 26, 2026
10:30 am – 11:30 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, September 10, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Our special edition for Intersolar South America 2026 is here!
Discover the latest insights into the Brazilian solar market – in Portuguese.
A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
Saudi Arabia is accelerating its clean energy transition—join the SunRise Arabia Clean Energy Conference 2026 in Riyadh to explore how solar PV and energy storage are powering its digital economy.
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
Thursday, October 7, 2026
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India has gone from relying on imports for more than 90% of its solar modules to becoming the world’s second-largest solar module manufacturing hub, with 233 GW of production capacity as of June 2026. However, manufacturing capacity has expanded faster than market demand, leaving factories operating at just 35% to 40% utilization, below the 50% to 65% generally considered necessary for sustainable operations.
A new report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) and JMK Research, “Assessing overcapacity risk in India’s solar PV manufacturing market,” finds that manufacturing expansion has been heavily concentrated in modules.
India’s module manufacturing capacity is now nearly seven times its cell capacity and 116 times its ingot and wafer capacity, according to the report. This has left upstream segments such as cells, wafers and polysilicon relatively underdeveloped and the supply chain dependent on imported inputs, predominantly from China.
“India has added module capacity faster than the market can absorb it,” said Prabhakar Sharma, senior consultant at JMK Research and lead author of the report. “With around 135 GW more already planned or under construction and factories running at 35–40%, the pressure on utilization, margins, and returns will only intensify. Standalone module manufacturers face a real risk of stranded assets.”
The report says the imbalance is unlikely to ease by 2030. Solar deployment in India is expected to grow strongly, but not quickly enough to absorb the manufacturing capacity already committed.
Additional demand from data centers, green hydrogen and ammonia production, and exports could add 17 GW to 22 GW by 2030, according to the report. Green hydrogen represents the largest potential source of additional demand because of the dedicated renewable energy capacity required for its production. However, the researchers said this additional demand would be insufficient to fully absorb planned manufacturing expansion.
Exports could therefore play an increasingly important role. India’s module exports are highly concentrated in the United States, which accounted for around 97% of export volumes in fiscal 2026, according to the report.
That market has been disrupted by combined US duties exceeding 200% for most Indian manufacturers. The report says the measures have contributed to a 44% to 47% decline in exports to the United States from their fiscal 2024 peak. The European Union could provide a medium-term alternative as its supply-chain and sourcing policies increasingly encourage diversification.
“India may have the opportunity to unlock new export markets, provided Indian solar PV manufacturers can effectively compete with Chinese manufacturers by investing in R&D and the manufacturing of polysilicon, ingots, wafers, and cells,” said Charith Konda, lead energy specialist at IEEFA and a contributing author of the report.
“But market access alone will not be enough,” Konda added. “Sustained export growth depends on closing the cost and technology gap with China through scale, integration, and operational efficiency.”
The report expects the widening gap between manufacturing capacity and demand to drive changes across the industry. Smaller, non-integrated manufacturers are likely to face greater pressure, while larger, vertically integrated producers could be better positioned to withstand lower utilization rates.
The researchers also expect Indian manufacturing to move further upstream, from modules into cells, wafers and eventually polysilicon, reducing dependence on imported inputs.
“The challenge is no longer building capacity; it is using it well and deepening the value chain,” said Chirag H. Tewani, senior research associate at JMK Research and a co-author of the report.
Tewani said incentives should be distributed more evenly across cells, wafers and polysilicon rather than concentrated on modules, alongside stronger industry-research collaboration and targeted, time-bound support for exporters.
“India’s entry into the Pax Silica coalition is a real opportunity to diversify silicon inputs and cut its reliance on China,” said Pulkit Moudgil, senior research associate at JMK Research and a co-author of the report.
The report also calls for faster transmission development and right-of-way (RoW) clearances to support domestic solar deployment, as well as a framework for repowering aging solar projects.
The researchers conclude that the current module manufacturing surplus could be a transitional feature of India’s rapidly expanding solar industry. They said stronger demand, industry consolidation and more disciplined investment in upstream manufacturing could help rebalance the sector over the coming decade.
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Martedì, 22 Settembre 2026
11:00 – 12:00 CEST, Roma
Monday, October 26, 2026
10:30 am – 11:30 am CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, September 10, 2026
2:00 pm – 3:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Tuesday, September 15, 2026
5:00 pm – 6:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Our special edition for Intersolar South America 2026 is here!
Discover the latest insights into the Brazilian solar market – in Portuguese.
A two-day conference in Austin, Texas, bringing together leaders in US solar manufacturing, equipment specification, and factory execution.
Saudi Arabia is accelerating its clean energy transition—join the SunRise Arabia Clean Energy Conference 2026 in Riyadh to explore how solar PV and energy storage are powering its digital economy.
pv magazine USA hosts its multi-day virtual event on U.S. solar and energy storage, covering domestic manufacturing, distributed energy and the growing role of solar-plus-storage in meeting AI-driven power demand.
Thursday, October 7, 2026
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PHOSGO has launched the Go5 Solar E-Bike Series on Indiegogo, introducing two solar-assisted models designed for camping, multi-day touring and other trips where plug-in charging may be inconvenient or unavailable. The Shenzhen-based company presents the Go5 as the world’s first mass-produced solar-powered e-bike series for global consumers.
The Go5 integrates four photovoltaic panels directly into its wheels. Each wheel carries two 50-W panels, providing a combined rated peak capacity of 200 W. The panels use back-contact solar cells rated at more than 26% conversion efficiency, with electrical contacts positioned behind the cells to keep the light-facing surface clear.
Electricity travels from the rotating wheels through a custom conductive hub to a solar controller built into the frame. While the bike is moving in sunlight, the generated energy can support the motor and reduce battery depletion. When the bike is parked at a campsite or trail stop, the system directs solar energy to the battery.
In an internal PHOSGO test, the system generated approximately 138 Wh over four effective hours of sunlight. Based on PHOSGO’s average consumption figure of 8 Wh per mile, this represents up to 17 miles (27 km) of recovered range in one sunny day. The estimate accounts for practical factors including panel angle, wheel rotation and system losses. Actual recovery and riding range will vary with sunlight, shade, cloud cover, terrain, assist level, speed, rider and cargo weight, tire pressure and riding style.
PHOSGO Founder and CEO John Wang describes the Go5 Series as a way to extend outdoor mobility beyond the charging network. “Outdoor mobility should not be limited by the location of the next wall outlet,” he says. “The Go5 Series is designed for riders who camp, explore, and travel beyond the grid. By harvesting solar energy during the journey and at camp, it reduces charging anxiety and gives riders greater freedom to go farther.”
The Go5 Ultra uses a Bafang M430 mid-drive rated at 750 W and 150 Nm of torque in its US configuration, with motor assistance up to 28 mph (45 km/h). Its 720-Wh battery uses LG cells and is estimated to provide up to 90 miles (145 km) before solar recovery is included. Under PHOSGO’s defined multi-day test conditions and favorable sunlight, the estimated combined riding range is approximately 140 miles (225 km), supporting up to three days of outdoor travel. The Ultra also pairs an eight-speed Shimano drivetrain with EDS electronic shifting.
The Go5 Pro is designed for weekend camping, day trips and lighter outdoor use. Its US configuration uses a Bafang M430 mid-drive rated at 500 W and 140 Nm, with assistance up to 20 mph (32 km/h). A 480-Wh battery using LG cells provides an estimated base range of up to 60 miles (97 km), or around 110 miles (177 km) when multi-day solar recovery is included under favorable conditions. The Pro uses a conventional Shimano eight-speed drivetrain.
Both models will be offered with Step-Over and Step-Through frames at the same price within each model. Regional configurations are also planned. EU versions use 250-W pedal-assist systems limited to 25 km/h, while Australian specifications will follow the requirements of the relevant state or territory.
A CAN bus connects the bike’s electronic systems, supported by 4G, GPS and Bluetooth modules. The PHOSGO app displays battery and ride data, helps riders locate the bike, provides anti-theft alerts and activates an electronic motor lock. For commuting, PHOSGO estimates that solar recovery could extend plug-in intervals to as much as 20 commuting days for the Pro or 30 for the Ultra. That estimate assumes a fully charged battery, a 20-mile daily round trip and favorable sunlight.
The Go5 project follows nine years of work by the founding team in advanced photovoltaics. The team previously built Mangoal, a consumer-electronics brand focused on dash cams and intelligent vision systems. PHOSGO states that Mangoal became the best-selling OEM LOOK dash-cam brand on Amazon in 2025, providing experience in product development, manufacturing, supply-chain management and global customer support.
The PHOSGO Go5 campaign is currently live on Indiegogo, with Super Early Bird pledges starting at US$1,899 for the Go5 Pro and US$2,499 for the Go5 Ultra. The stated retail prices are US$2,799 and US$3,799, respectively. Availability is limited to eligible countries and regions. Campaign specifications, schedules, availability and delivery information are listed on the Indiegogo campaign page and may be updated during the campaign.

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ARENA has expanded its solar R&D commitment to AUD 105.6 million across 20 projects 
The portfolio combines advanced cell research with efforts to cut construction and operating costs 
Several projects are testing technologies that could move beyond today’s conventional silicon PV designs 
Australia is putting more money into the next generation of solar technology, with the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) committing up to AUD 105.6 million, the agency’s largest single investment in solar PV research and development.  
The funding for the Ultra Low-Cost Solar PV Research and Development Funding Round was initially set at AUD 60 million. ARENA’s Acting CEO Chris Faris said the agency increased the funding to support a broader portfolio of projects and accelerate progress toward its ultra-low-cost solar goal. 
ARENA aims to bring the installed cost of large-scale solar to 30 cents per watt and achieve 20% module efficiency by 2030 under its ultra-low-cost solar plan. The aim is to reduce the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) for solar PV to under AUD 20/MWh, but it flags evolving market conditions and deployment challenges in achieving these aims (see ARENA: Lower Solar Module Prices Not Enough For 30-30-30 Goal). 
“Achieving ultra low-cost solar requires innovation across the entire value chain. From the solar cells and modules themselves through to the way solar farms are built, operated and maintained, these projects will help unlock practical solutions that support a faster, more affordable energy transition,” added Faris. 
The 20 projects selected for the latest funding support have been divided into two streams. The first focuses on cells and modules, with projects aimed at improving efficiency, reducing costs and increasing stability. The second covers balance-of-system (BoS) costs and operations and maintenance (O&M), including ways to lower deployment and maintenance expenses and improve the output of utility-scale solar plants. 
Several projects are targeting the performance and durability of next-generation solar cells. The Australian National University (ANU), for example, will receive AUD 6 million for a project on TOPCon back-contact (TBC) silicon cells. The work involves ANU, UNSW, the University of Melbourne, PV Lab Australia, and JinkoSolar. The project will examine cell fabrication, surface passivation, photon management, lower-cost metallization, and longer-life module designs. Their target is to develop TBC cells with efficiencies above 28% and assess whether the technology can move toward pilot-scale manufacturing. 
Another ANU project will investigate low-cost parallel-connected perovskite/silicon tandem cells, receiving AUD 7.1 million from ARENA. 
At the University of Sydney, Prof. Anita Ho-Baillie and her team will receive funding to work on the stability of silicon-perovskite tandem cells. The project has been awarded AUD 7.4 million and will be carried out with Australian solar manufacturer Unison Solar Energy. The research will focus on whether the cells can retain their efficiency over a solar panel’s lifetime. The project is scheduled to run for five years, starting in 2027. 
The University of Sydney said the team has already achieved 30% conversion efficiency in silicon-perovskite tandem cells on both small and large areas, with the results independently confirmed by recognized testing centers.  
The ARENA funding is not limited to cell technology. Projects in the second stream (BoS and O&M) include work on AI-enabled reliability and yield improvements for utility-scale PV, lightweight bifacial laminate systems, and software platforms designed to optimize solar farm O&M. 
UNSW will work on site-tailored modules intended to reduce utility-scale deployment costs, alongside projects using machine learning, risk mapping, and AI-enabled technologies to improve O&M.  
Among the projects selected in this category is one by Sunspence Pty Ltd, which counts UNSW and Energus as project partners. It plans to deploy AUD 3.6 million in ARENA proceeds to develop a lightweight solar farm system for utility-scale solar using bifacial solar laminate, instead of conventional glass modules and heavy structures. It will test a 44-kW scale prototype to validate the system’s performance.  
Together, the selected projects cover the solar value chain from cell design to how large solar farms are built and operated. ARENA said this broader approach is necessary because reducing the cost of solar electricity will require improvements beyond the cells and modules themselves. 
A list of all the winning projects is available on ARENA’s website.  
TaiyangNews 2024

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News Flash
DHAKA, Sept 1, 2026 (BSS) – The country’s rooftop solar market holds potential for nearly $2 billion in material demand by 2030, while wider household adoption could add up to 21,300 megawatts of capacity and meet as much as 35 percent of national electricity demand, according to Distributed Renewable Energy Platform (DREP). 
The opportunity is being driven by the residential sector, which accounted for 57.2 percent of total national electricity consumption in 2024-25, using 51.94 terawatt-hours (TWh), while 35.6 million, or 88.5 percent, of the country's 40.3 million households live in self-owned homes. 
Under a constrained adoption scenario in which 10 percent of households install 1 to 5 kilowatt-peak (kWp) rooftop solar systems, the country could achieve 8,600 megawatt-peak (MWp) of capacity by 2030, generating 13,937 gigawatt-hours (GWh) annually and meeting about 15 percent of current national electricity demand, said the DREP, a platform of five non-government organizations. 
Coastal Livelihood and Environmental Action Network (CLEAN) Chief Executive Officer Hasan Mehedi said a moderate adoption trajectory could unlock 21,300 megawatts (MW) of total capacity, generating 34,518 GWh annually to cover 35 percent of national demand.
 
He said every megawatt of installed rooftop solar could save the national exchequer Tk 3.1 crore annually by curbing reliance on imported furnace oil, while mitigating 8,100 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions per MW.
 
A complete residential solar unit currently costs between Tk 80,000 and Tk 250,000 or more. 
The broader rooftop solar ecosystem could also support substantial industrial activity, covering market demand for 10 types of hardware accessories, including solar PV panels, inverters and battery storage solutions, and five core professional categories ranging from installers to trainers and entrepreneurs, Hasan Mehedi said.
 
Meeting the installation targets carries an estimated material market value of US$ 1,973 million, including US$ 628 million for solar panels and US$ 335 million for inverters, he added.
The expansion could also generate substantial employment. Around 1.37 million green jobs were created by December 2021 through the installation of 543 MW of solar systems, with each 1 kW of off-grid solar power creating an average of 2.52 green jobs.
Even at 50 percent job intensity, the expansion of rooftop solar could create around 1.5 million new jobs, according to a World Bank report.
Despite the market potential, current capacity remains at an early stage. CPD Research Associate Md Mehadi Hasan Shamim said Bangladesh presently has 4,551 net-metered installations totalling 213.3 MW, with the Dhaka division accounting for 60.4 percent of all installations.
 
The government raised its 2030 rooftop solar target to 5,500 MW from 3,000 MW in the Renewable Energy Strategy Paper (RESP) issued in July 2026, he said.
 
Consumer and industry-level barriers, however, remain significant. While public awareness stands at 87 percent, only 21 percent of citizens believe solar energy is economically beneficial, while 28 percent believe that solar panels lack long-term durability, according to a CLEAN survey.
 
ActionAid Manager Abul Azad said high upfront equipment costs, irregular family income streams and limited awareness of available credit options were constraining wider uptake.
 
On the regulatory side, expansion is constrained by complex loan procedures, high Advance Income Tax (AIT) rates on imported components, and operational delays in utility inspections and grid interconnection, he added.
 
CPD advocated simplifying residential net-metering eligibility and deploying a unified digital application platform across all utilities to accelerate approvals.
 
It also recommended dedicated lending windows, partial credit guarantees and "pay-as-you-save" financing mechanisms.
 
CPD, Bangladesh Sustainable and Renewable Energy Association (BSREA) and SOLshare recommended moving essential equipment such as PV panels and Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) batteries to a zero-duty category to lower capital barriers for households.
 
They also recommended launching a National Rehabilitation Programme to identify, assess and restore underperforming rooftop solar systems to improve generation and rebuild consumer confidence.
 
The recommendations also include providing full duty waivers on imported accessories for small-scale distributed renewable energy projects and repowering legacy Solar Home Systems by integrating them into hybrid, grid-tied installations so that these assets do not remain stranded.
Managing Director and Chief Editor : Muhammad Kader Gani Chowdhury
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India has moved from near-total import dependence in solar photovoltaics (PV) to emerging as one of the world’s major solar manufacturing hubs. However, this rapid expansion is creating a new challenge: making sure the country’s growing production base is actually utilised. The issue has been highlighted in the latest report by the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).
India’s capacity build-out has been particularly pronounced in modules, with India’s domestic nameplate capacity — the maximum annual production capacity — reaching approximately 233 GW by June 2026. IEEFA’s analysis estimates that Indian solar manufacturers are operating at just 35–40% capacity utilisation, well below the 50–65% range generally considered necessary for sustainable operations. The pressure is particularly acute at the module level, where production capacity has expanded significantly faster than demand.

India currently has approximately 135 GW of future capacity additions backed by firm investment commitments and near-certain commissioning schedules. According to the research, this pipeline raises a clear risk of overcapacity in the near term. As demand catches up gradually, manufacturers could face growing pressure on utilisation, margins, and investment returns, increasing the risk of stranded assets, particularly for standalone players.
Against this backdrop, exports could become critical to absorbing the country’s expanding production capacity. The timing could also favour Indian manufacturers, with leading Chinese producers absorbing losses amid persistent oversupply, while their Indian counterparts have remained profitable. This provides an opportunity to channel capital towards upstream integration, manufacturing efficiency, and research and development (R&D).
While this has established India as a major solar manufacturing destination, upstream segments such as cells, wafers, and polysilicon remain comparatively underdeveloped. The resulting mismatch has become one of the sector’s central challenges.
The gap is evident across the manufacturing value chain. Module assembly is the easiest segment to enter, requiring relatively modest capital, shorter commissioning timelines, and limited process complexity. Cell and wafer manufacturing, by comparison, require significantly larger investments, longer build-out periods, and specialised expertise.
India’s heavy reliance on the US, which currently absorbs the bulk of its solar shipments, has also increased exposure to trade-policy risks and underscored the need to diversify export markets.
Europe offers the most structured medium-term opportunity, as its policy frameworks increasingly favour supply-chain resilience and diversified sourcing. However, securing market access alone will not be enough; Indian manufacturers will also need to remain competitive on cost and technology.
The current Production Linked Incentive (PLI) framework primarily incentivises manufacturers based on their level of integration, rewarding those producing multiple stages of the solar PV value chain, including Polysilicon, Wafer-Ingot, Cell & Module (PWCM), Wafer-Ingot, Cell & Module (WCM), or Cell and Module (CM). However, capacity additions across these components have remained uneven, with module manufacturing growing much faster than upstream segments.
IEEFA suggested that a more targeted approach could restructure incentives at the component level, providing meaningful rewards for PWCM manufacturing independently through future PLI iterations. This would allow upstream investments without requiring manufacturers to achieve full vertical integration, lowering the entry barrier for companies seeking to specialise in a particular stage of the value chain.
Such a model could distribute supply-side incentives more evenly across the manufacturing chain, encouraging a broader and more resilient domestic industry.
The narrowing gap between Indian and Chinese solar module production is creating an opportunity for Indian manufacturers, but converting that opportunity into higher export volumes will depend on how effectively they can compete with China, the world’s dominant solar supplier.
Cost and technology remain the two major competitive gaps. However, financial conditions are currently creating a more avenenues for Indian manufacturers. This opportunity is arising for India as some leading Chinese module producers witnessed operating under sustained financial stress, with the top five reporting combined net losses exceeding USD 4–4.7 billion (approximately ₹37,800–44,415 crore) in 2025, driven by persistent oversupply.
Indian manufacturers, in contrast, remained profitable through 2025 and the first quarter of (Q1) 2026, supported by domestic policy protection and higher export margins. But, solar module remain more expensive modules than Chinese products, the domestic policy support and market protection is attemting to reduce this. This is despite the narrowing price gap of roughly 28.6% from its earlier 2024 level.

Further additions in cell and wafer manufacturing are expected to reduce import dependence and improve cost competitiveness over time. Together with greater upstream integration, these investments could help Indian manufacturers strengthen their position in overseas markets and make exports a more important outlet for the country’s rapidly expanding solar manufacturing capacity.
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The City of Cape Town in South Africa has signed two 20-year power purchase agreements (PPAs) totaling 70 MW with independent solar power producers. The agreements will supply 30 MW from JEMPEC in Atlantis and 40 MW from Make A Difference LLC in Philippi. The city said the power will cost 19% to 21% less than current Eskom rates, with price increases linked to the Consumer Price Index rather than Eskom tariff increases. The two agreements are expected to cover about R8 billion of electricity purchases over 20 years. The city said that the deals are part of a competitive procurement program targeting up to 200 MW from independent power producers (IPPs), with additional agreements expected in the coming months. 
“The deals will help reduce reliance on Eskom, provide greater price predictability through CPI-linked increases and support Cape Town’s transition to cleaner energy,” stated the City of Cape Town. 
CrossBoundary Energy’s solar PV and battery energy storage project for the Kamoa-Kakula copper mine in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is now online. The project includes 233 MW of solar PV and a 526 MWh battery energy storage system (BESS). It is designed to provide at least 30 MW of firm baseload power to the mine under a PPA with Kamoa Copper, a joint venture between Ivanhoe Mines, Zijin Mining Group, and the DRC government. The project reached commercial operation on August 12, 2026, and will enable Kamoa-Kakula to produce low-carbon copper.  
SEPCOIII Electric Power Construction Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of POWERCHINA, has announced the full commercial operation of the Saudi Red Sea Utility Infrastructure Project, an integrated energy and utility development in Saudi Arabia. SEPCOIII delivered the project under an EPC contract, and it is part of the country’s Vision 2030 program. The project combines solar PV generation, energy storage, power grid systems, seawater desalination, water supply, wastewater treatment, solid-waste treatment, communications, and district cooling. SEPCOIII describes it as the world’s first large-scale commercial utility facility integrating multiple complementary energy and utility systems, without specifying their individual capacities. 
Earlier in 2021, SEPCOIII had announced Huawei Digital Power as the BESS supplier for 1,300 MWh capacity to be integrated with a 400 MW solar PV system for the Red Sea Project. At the time, it called this the world’s largest energy storage project of its kind (see World’s ‘Largest’ BESS In Saudi Arabia). SEPCOIII said the project also set a Guinness World Record in 2025 for the world’s largest off-grid battery energy storage project by capacity.  
Canadian renewable energy company JCM Power has entered Mozambique with a 30 MW solar project. The Manje Solar PV Project is located in Tete Province. It won the project under Mozambique’s PROLER renewable energy tender program, which is supported by the European Commission and Agence Française de Développement (AFD). JCM Power said it will work with the Mozambican government and state utility Electricidade de Moçambique (EDM) to advance the facility. 
Lunsemfwa Hydro Power Company (LHPC) has announced the commissioning of a 27 MW solar PV plant in Zambia’s Central Province. It claims this is the country’s first solar-hydro hybrid facility. The plant operates alongside LHPC’s existing 56 MW hydropower capacity and is connected to the national grid. The solar plant is designed to generate during daylight hours, allowing water in the hydropower reservoir to be conserved and used to increase hydropower generation during evening peak demand. Construction of the solar power plant began in September 2025 and was completed ahead of schedule. The commissioning follows Globeleq’s acquisition of a 51% stake in LHPC from Norfund in March 2026. LHPC operates two hydropower plants with a combined capacity of 56 MW and is developing additional solar and hydropower projects.
CEI Africa has invested €2 million in Spark, a Netherlands-based provider of modular solar home systems and off-grid energy solutions. The funding will support Spark’s financing initiatives and expansion of services for distribution partners across sub-Saharan Africa. The investment will also support the initial rollout of Spark Catalyse and Spark Connect through which it aims to strengthen financing and connections across the off-grid energy sector. 
Niger has signed a public-private partnership agreement with Niger Electricity Power Production (NEPP) to construct a 200 MW solar PV plant with battery storage in Niamey. According to the Nigerian Press Agency, the project is valued at 126.1 billion FCFA, and will be developed under a 20-year build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement. Construction is expected to take 24 months, including additional studies. Electricity generated by the plant will be sold to Niger’s national utility, NIGELEC, at 35 CFA francs per kWh. The project is expected to help improve electricity availability and reduce the country’s reliance on imported power.  
TaiyangNews 2024

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Energies Media
A slow worm in rough grass beneath
The survey method is a square of roofing felt.
You lay them out across a site, leave them for weeks, then lift each one and write down what is underneath, which is how almost all reptile counting in Britain is done.
Under one of them was a slow worm.
Not a rarity in itself, but the fourth species logged on that site, and the list did not stop there, which is where an ordinary power station became a record.
Outside the fence, arable.
Ploughed, drilled and sprayed on the usual cycle, which is the condition most of the surrounding county is in and the reason the fence line matters at all.
Three things, and farmland supplies none of them.
Bare warm ground to raise body temperature in the morning, rough cover within a body length of that spot, and soil that is not turned over between one year and the next.
Cultivation removes all three at once.
Open ground with rough grass, scrubby margins and bare patches of warm soil has been ploughed, built on or tidied away across most of lowland Britain, which is why five of the six native species are in decline.
A solar site accidentally rebuilds them.
The land is fenced, taken out of cultivation on the day it is energised, and then left, so rough grass accumulates while the panel edges and the post bases supply exactly the warm bare patches that were missing.
The designation is not a rarity award.
A site enters the national register if it holds three or more reptile species, or two snake species, or an exceptional population of a single one, and any of those alone is enough.
This Dorset site held five.
Adder, grass snake, common lizard, slow worm and sand lizard, which is every native British reptile except the smooth snake, on ground nobody set out to manage for them.
That is the part worth sitting with.
Clearing a conservation threshold by nearly double is not what anyone was aiming at when the racking went in.
The Dorset farm is one entry in a national monitoring set.
The latest edition covers about 6 percent of British solar farms and was launched in Parliament in June alongside policy guidelines from a bird charity and two universities.
The counts are substantial.
259 plant species including endangered wild chamomile, more than 2,800 birds across 77 species with nearly half of them of conservation concern, and 27 butterfly species.
One number reads differently.
The 2,500 bumblebees recorded came from just five species, which is a large count of a narrow group rather than evidence of a rich bee assemblage.
Farmland birds in the UK are down 62 percent since 1970.
Corn buntings are among the worst hit, and at a community owned site in Oxfordshire researchers followed five nests inside the fence where every one fledged, against roughly four in ten failing outside it.
The mechanism is simple enough.
A ground nest fails when something disturbs it during incubation, and a fenced field with no machinery crossing it removes most of what does the disturbing, from the combine down to the dog off its lead.
The sample is the caveat.
Monitoring is submitted voluntarily, so the dataset leans heavily toward operators who already care about biodiversity, which is not the same as a random selection of solar farms.
That limit is stated openly at the launch and in the report itself, which is more than most coverage of it manages.
It does not cancel the result.
It means the figures describe what a well run site can hold rather than what the average one does hold, and those are two different questions.
Not every group does better inside the fence.
A study of 19 English solar farms found bat activity falling by over half compared with matched control sites, with the sharpest drop in the middle of the arrays rather than at the boundaries.
Placement decides more than management.
A site dropped onto species rich grassland or ancient heath destroys habitat that took centuries to assemble, and no seed mix put down afterward gets it back.
The honest reading is conditional.
Solar farms three times richer in bird species than the crop fields beside them are real, and so are the ones that are green deserts under glass.
Which makes the Dorset result a demonstration rather than a rule.
Five reptile species turned up on a solar farm because the ground under the panels was left alone for years, and leaving ground alone is a management choice that any operator can decline to make.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.

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ZAGREB, 1 September 2026 – Croatian households will be able to apply for a share of €38 million in government-backed renewable energy subsidies from Wednesday, with battery storage included in the scheme for the first time. 
Applications open at 9am on 2 September through the electronic system of the Environmental Protection and Energy Efficiency Fund (FZOEU).
The programme supports the installation of heat pumps, photovoltaic systems for household consumption and battery storage systems.
Households can receive up to 50% of eligible investment costs, while households at risk of energy poverty can receive up to 70%.
Depending on the investment, subsidies can reach up to €6,250 for a heat pump, €6,000 for a photovoltaic system and €5,600 for a battery storage system. For households at risk of energy poverty, the maximum combined support can be considerably higher.
The introduction of battery subsidies is one of the main changes this year. Batteries can be financed only together with a photovoltaic installation and are intended to allow households to store excess electricity for later use.
The Fund says applications will be accepted electronically and has urged potential applicants to prepare their documentation and ensure they have the required NIAS electronic identification credentials.
The scheme is part of Croatia’s wider efforts to increase household energy independence and renewable energy use.

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The Asia Pacific Photovoltaics Market was valued at $381580 Million in 2025 and projected to reach to $632870 Million by 2030, representing a compound annual growth rate of 10.6%. Asia Pacific’s photovoltaics market is poised for exceptional growth, expanding from USD 381,580 million in 2025 to USD 632,870 million by 2030.

Asia Pacific Photovoltaics Market Trends and Insights

• In 2025, Asia Pacific’s photovoltaics market is estimated at USD 381,580 million, driven by aggressive renewable energy policies, declining solar panel costs, and massive infrastructure investments across the region.
• By 2030, Asia Pacific is projected to reach USD 632,870 million, reflecting a compound annual growth rate of 10.6%, significantly outpacing global growth trends. The Asia Pacific photovoltaics market benefits from favorable government incentives, grid modernization initiatives, and rising electricity demand across emerging economies.
• Asia Pacific countries including China, India, and Japan are leading solar installations, supported by manufacturing scale and technological innovation.
• Between 2025 and 2030, Asia Pacific is expected to capture increasing market share as energy transition accelerates and battery storage integration becomes mainstream. Asia Pacific’s competitive landscape features both established manufacturers and emerging players leveraging cost advantages and regional supply chains.
• The region’s photovoltaics market growth is underpinned by corporate renewable commitments, utility-scale projects, and distributed solar adoption across residential and commercial segments throughout Asia Pacific..

Asia Pacific commands the largest share of global photovoltaics capacity, with China alone accounting for nearly 40% of worldwide solar installations. The region’s 10.6% CAGR significantly outpaces the global average of 9.6%, solidifying its position as the engine of solar energy growth.
Declining solar panel manufacturing costs across Asia Pacific, particularly in China and India, have made photovoltaic systems the most cost-effective renewable energy solution. This cost advantage drives rapid adoption across residential, commercial, and utility-scale projects throughout the region.
Aggressive renewable energy targets, government subsidies, and massive infrastructure investments across Asia Pacific nations are accelerating solar deployment. Countries like India and Indonesia are implementing ambitious solar capacity expansion programs to meet energy demands and climate commitments.
Asia Pacific’s rapid urbanization and industrialization create substantial demand for distributed solar solutions. Large-scale solar farms, rooftop installations, and grid-connected systems are expanding rapidly, supported by improving grid infrastructure and energy storage integration.

• This 10.6% CAGR reflects the region’s commitment to renewable energy transition, driven by declining technology costs, supportive government policies, and increasing electricity demand from emerging economies.
• China’s manufacturing dominance and India’s aggressive solar targets will continue to propel regional expansion. The outlook is further strengthened by technological advancements in panel efficiency, energy storage integration, and smart grid solutions.
• Southeast Asian nations are emerging as high-growth markets, while established players like Japan and South Korea focus on advanced solar technologies.
• Investment in manufacturing capacity, supply chain resilience, and grid modernization will sustain the region’s leadership in global photovoltaics through 2030 and beyond..

5 segment dimensions are covered across the global market.
Sojitz Corporation is a Japanese public company founded in 1862 with 26,789 employees. It operates as a diversified trading and investment company serving global markets.
Alfa Laval AB is a Swedish public company established in 1883 with 24,832 employees. The company specializes in heat transfer, separation, and fluid handling technologies.
OCI Company Ltd. is a Dutch public company founded in 2013 with 761 employees. The company operates in the chemical and materials sector.
Borealis AG is an Austrian private company founded in 1994 with 5,887 employees. The company is a leading provider of polyolefins and base chemicals.
Zumtobel Group AG is an Austrian public company founded in 1950 with 5,148 employees. The company is a leading provider of lighting solutions and components.
JA Solar Technology Co., Ltd. is a Chinese public company founded in 2000 with 25,260 employees. The company manufactures photovoltaic products and solar cells.
Tongwei Co., Ltd. is a Chinese public company founded in 1995 with 44,798 employees. The company operates in feed production, aquaculture, and photovoltaic materials.
Canadian Solar is a Canadian public company founded in 2001 with 12,587 employees. The company designs, develops, and manufactures solar photovoltaic modules and systems.
First Solar is an American public company founded in 1999. The company manufactures thin-film photovoltaic solar modules and provides solar energy solutions.
Hanwha Q Cells is a South Korean public company. Insufficient employment and founding data available for complete description.
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation is a Japanese public company founded in 1921 with 150,386 employees. The company manufactures electrical and electronic equipment across multiple industries.
Sharp Corporation is a Japanese public company founded in 1912 with 34,549 employees. The company manufactures electronics, displays, and solar energy products.
Sungrow is a Chinese public company founded in 1997 with 19,006 employees. The company manufactures power conversion and energy storage systems for solar applications.
SMA Solar Technology AG is a German public company founded in 1981 with 3,659 employees. The company develops and manufactures solar inverters and energy management systems.
SolarEdge is an Israeli public company founded in 2006 with 3,576 employees. The company designs and manufactures power optimizers and inverters for solar photovoltaic systems.
HowAsia Pacific compares to the other 3 regional blocs covered in this market.
Asia Pacific’s photovoltaics market is projected to reach USD 632,870 million by 2030, up from USD 381,580 million in 2025.
Asia Pacific photovoltaics market is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 10.6% from 2025 to 2030.
China, India, and Japan are the primary drivers of Asia Pacific’s photovoltaics market, accounting for the majority of regional solar capacity installations and manufacturing output.
Key growth drivers in Asia Pacific include government renewable energy mandates, declining solar panel costs, grid modernization investments, and rising electricity demand across emerging economies.
Asia Pacific’s 10.6% CAGR significantly exceeds the global photovoltaics CAGR of 9.6%, reflecting the region’s strategic importance and accelerating energy transition.
The study involved major activities in estimating the current size of the photovoltaics market. Exhaustive secondary research was done to collect information on photovoltaics. The next step was to validate these findings, assumptions, and sizing with industry experts across the value chain using primary research. Different approaches, such as top-down and bottom-up, were employed to estimate the total market size. After that, the market breakup and data triangulation procedures were used to estimate the market size of the segments and subsegments of the photovoltaics.
Secondary sources for this research study include government sources, corporate filings (annual reports, investor presentations, and financial statements), trade journals, articles, white papers, industry news, and business and professional associations. The secondary data has been collected and analyzed to arrive at the overall market size, which has been further validated through primary research. A few important secondary sources referred to for this research study are the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), the American Solar Energy Society (ASES), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the Indian Solar Manufacturers Association (ISMA).
Extensive primary research has been conducted after understanding and analyzing the photovoltaics market scenario through secondary research. Several primary interviews have been conducted with key opinion leaders from the demand and supply sides across four major regions—North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and RoW. Approximately 30% of the primary interviews were conducted with the demand side and 70% with the supply side. Primary data was mainly collected through telephonic interviews, which comprised 80% of the overall primary interviews; questionnaires and emails were also used to collect the data.
Note: Other designations include sales and marketing executives and researchers, as well as members of various photovoltaic technology organizations.
Sales, business development, and product managers are covered under the “managers” category.
Three tiers of companies are defined based on their total revenue as of 2024: tier 1: revenue more than or equal to USD 500 million, tier 2: revenue between USD 100 million and USD 500 million, and tier 3: revenue less than or equal to USD 100 million.
To know about the assumptions considered for the study, download the pdf brochure
In this report, we have implemented top-down and bottom-up approaches to estimate and validate the size of the photovoltaics market and various other dependent submarkets. Key players in the photovoltaics market have been identified through secondary research, and their market shares in respective regions have been determined through primary and secondary research. This entire research methodology includes the study of annual and financial reports of top companies, as well as interviews with experts (CEOs, VPs, directors, and marketing executives) for key insights (quantitative and qualitative). All percentage shares, splits, and breakdowns have been determined using secondary sources and verified through primary sources. All the possible parameters that affect the market covered in this research study have been accounted for, viewed in detail, verified through primary research, and analyzed to obtain the final quantitative and qualitative data. This data has been consolidated and supplemented with detailed input and analysis from MarketsandMarkets and presented in this report. The figures below show the overall market size estimation process employed for this study.
Bottom-Up Approach
Top-Down Approach
After arriving at the overall market size through the process explained above, the overall market has been split into several segments. To complete the overall market engineering process and arrive at the exact statistics for all the segments, the data triangulation procedure has been employed wherever applicable. The data has been triangulated by studying various factors and trends from the demand and supply sides. The market has also been validated using the top-down and bottom-up approaches.
According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), photovoltaic (PV) devices generate electricity directly from sunlight via an electronic process that occurs naturally in certain types of materials called semiconductors. Electrons in these materials are freed by solar energy and can be induced to travel through an electrical circuit, powering electrical devices or sending electricity to the grid.
With the market data given, MarketsandMarkets offers customizations according to the company’s specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:
Full forecast, segment splits, and company analysis for all Photovoltaics Market.
Customize this report to your needs
Get 10% FREE Customization
MarketsandMarkets is a competitive intelligence and market research platform providing over 10,000 clients worldwide with quantified B2B research and built on the Give principles.
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Swedish solar energy company Midsummer halts its plans for a factory for the production of solar cells in Sweden and declines the EU grant the company has been awarded for this purpose. Instead, Midsummer wants to focus on continued international expansion with a different, significantly less capital-intensive business and financing model for new factories.
Midsummer has decided to put previously communicated plans for a solar cell factory in Flen, Sweden on hold. The commercial opportunities for expanding production capacity are considered to be greater outside Sweden and together with partners rather than local self-financed facilities.
“We are happy to establish a new factory in Sweden in the future when the commercial and financial conditions allow it, but it will not happen within the framework of the specific project we have been awarded time-limited EU support for. A major reason is that we have strategically decided to choose other financing models for new factories than self-financing,” said Midsummer's CEO Eric Jaremalm.
The financing of the factory in Flen was negatively affected when Midsummer was denied financial support from the Swedish Energy Agency's Industriklivet program. Subsequently, new attractive and significantly less capital-intensive opportunities for establishing factories abroad in collaboration with established global and very large industrial players have opened up.
“Asset light” model for new factories
Midsummer has changed its long-term production strategy to a so-called asset light model that is based on collaboration with large industrial partners. Instead of owning and operating all the factories itself, the company supplies machinery, raw materials and know-how to enable local production of solar cells on different continents. This provides significant early income in the form of machine orders and also ongoing income after the factory is operational.
Last year, Midsummer was commissioned to deliver machinery with operational responsibility to a solar cell factory in Colombia, with an annual production capacity of at least 100 MW. So far, the company has received machinery orders worth approximately SEK 380 million [EUR 34.5m] for this purpose. Midsummer also continuously expands production in its own factory in Bari, Italy, which, fully operational, produces 50 MW annually.
“Even with the EU grant, self-financing a completely new factory of this size in Flen would have cost us several hundred million SEK, and we do not find it responsible to take such large loans or ask our shareholders for such amounts when we have found other ways to finance our expansion, which in addition to being financially more advantageous are also geographically closer to the fastest growing markets today”, commented Mr. Jaremalm.
Links to images and other press material: Press – Midsummer.
For additional information contact:
Eric Jaremalm
CEO, Midsummer
Email: eric.jaremalm@midsummer.se
Tel: +46 8 525 09 610
Robert Sjöström
Chairman of the Board, Midsummer
E-mail: robert.sjostrom@midsummer.se
Tel: +46 708 705308
About Midsummer
Midsummer is a Swedish solar energy company that develops, manufactures, and sells solar cells to construction, roofing and solar cell installation companies and also manufactures, sells and installs solar roofs directly to end customers. The company also develops and sells equipment for the production of flexible thin film solar cells to strategically selected partners and machinery for research. The solar cells are of CIGS technology (consist of copper, indium, gallium and selenide) and are thin, light, flexible, discreet and with a minimal carbon footprint compared with other solar panels.
The solar roofs are produced in Sweden using the company’s own unique DUO system which has taken the position as the most widespread manufacturing tool for flexible CIGS solar cells in the world. The Company’s shares (MIDS) are traded on Nasdaq First North Growth Market. The Company’s Certified Adviser is Tapper Partners AB. For more information, please visit: midsummer.se
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Midsummer shelves plans for new Swedish solar cell factory in Flen and declines EU grant
Select market data provided by ICE Data Services. Select reference data provided by FactSet. Copyright © 2026 FactSet Research Systems Inc.Copyright © 2026, American Bankers Association. CUSIP Database provided by FactSet Research Systems Inc. All rights reserved. SEC filings and other documents provided by Quartr.© 2026 TradingView, Inc.

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Ireland has surpassed 3 GW of installed solar capacity, driven by rapid growth in utility-scale and rooftop solar (Irish government press release, 27/08/2026). The milestone comes just over a decade after the country had only 2 MW of solar capacity. The announcement follows a new record for solar generation on Ireland’s grid, with utility-scale output exceeding 1.3 GW earlier this week and supplying more than one-third of national electricity generation at the time. According to EirGrid, solar generation first exceeded 1 GW in April 2026, enough to supply around 500,000 customers.
Solar deployment has also accelerated in the residential sector, with more than 200,000 homes installing solar panels and over 120,000 households receiving Solar PV grants. The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland received more than 31,000 solar PV applications in the first seven months of 2026, up 76% from 2025.
The country continues to target 8 GW of solar capacity by 2030, supported by the Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (RESS), the Small-Scale Renewable Electricity Support Scheme (SRESS) and the Microgeneration Support Scheme (MSS).
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Headquartered in San Diego, EDF Power Solutions North America, a renewable energy developer active since 1987, has signed two 25-year PPAs with NV Energy for the Winston Energy Project. This includes a 400 MW AC solar farm on private land in Lyon County, Nevada, paired with a co-located 400 MW/1,600 MWh battery. The project is expected to begin delivering electricity in October 2029 and generate about 1,110,000 MWh of renewable power annually. While enough for roughly 100,000 Nevada homes, it also avoids CO2 emissions equivalent to more than 187,000 passenger vehicles driven for a year. Peak construction is expected to employ more than 400 workers, with about $100 million in local tax revenue projected over the project’s operating life. EDF Power Solutions North America has developed 26 GW of wind, solar, and storage projects across the region to date. 
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Editor | Quantity Surveyor
China’s installed solar power capacity has overtaken coal power for the first time, making photovoltaics the country’s largest power source by installed capacity, the National Energy Administration (NEA) announced on Tuesday.
As of the end of July, installed solar capacity stood at 1.286 billion kilowatts, narrowly ahead of coal power’s 1.285 billion kilowatts, according to figures released by the administration. The gap between the two sources remains small, but the milestone marks a symbolic shift in a power system long dominated by coal.
Newly installed photovoltaic capacity added in July alone totalled 13.73 million kilowatts, a 43 per cent increase compared with the same month last year. That pace of installation has been a major driver behind solar’s rise to the top of China’s generation mix.
Photovoltaic power generation reached 802.4 billion kilowatt-hours in July, up 15.5 per cent year-on-year. That growth rate ran 10.8 percentage points ahead of the increase in overall social electricity consumption over the same period, indicating solar’s expanding share of the country’s total power supply.
Solar power accounted for 13 per cent of total social electricity consumption last month, according to the NEA, a rise of 1.7 percentage points compared with the full-year figure recorded in 2025.
The NEA said installed solar capacity and generation output have both maintained rapid growth in recent years, playing an increasingly central role in securing electricity supply while supporting the country’s broader transition toward green energy sources.
China has spent much of the past two decades building out renewable energy infrastructure at a scale unmatched globally, driven by a combination of industrial policy, manufacturing capacity in solar equipment and rising domestic electricity demand.
Coal has historically anchored the country’s power system, prized for its reliability and existing infrastructure, even as pollution and carbon emissions concerns pushed policymakers toward cleaner alternatives.
Despite solar’s new lead in installed capacity, the shift does not immediately translate into a coal-free grid. Installed capacity measures the maximum output a power source could theoretically generate, not the electricity actually produced.
Coal plants typically run at higher and more consistent utilisation rates than solar installations, which depend on weather and daylight hours, meaning coal is likely to continue supplying a substantial share of China’s actual electricity generation even as its capacity lead narrows or disappears.
Even so, the milestone reflects the scale of China’s renewable buildout. Total installed power-generating capacity across the country reached 3.99 billion kilowatts by the end of April this year, according to earlier NEA figures, marking continued growth across the power sector as a whole.
China’s rapid solar expansion has occasionally drawn criticism from some Western commentators over curtailment, the practice of intentionally reducing renewable output when grid capacity or demand cannot absorb it. Chinese state media has pushed back on that framing, arguing it understates the pace and scale of the country’s clean energy transition.
The NEA did not indicate in its announcement whether it expects the gap between solar and coal capacity to widen in the months ahead, though the current trajectory of installation growth suggests solar’s lead is likely to continue expanding.
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