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DKEM aims to expand India operations with customized solar metallization pastes
October 12, 2026
Follow Mercom India on WhatsApp for exclusive updates on clean energy news and insights
India’s expanding solar cell manufacturing capacity and the rising preference for n-type TOPCon cells are creating significant opportunities for metallization paste and, particularly, technologies that can reduce both silver consumption and production costs.
In an exclusive interview with Mercom India, Weili Shi, Chairman and General Manager at DK Electronic Materials (DKEM), talks about the company’s India strategy, plans to expand customized silver pastes and local technical support team, and its development of low-silver-content, silver-coated copper, and pure copper metallization technologies.
Edited excerpts from the interview:
What are DKEM’s plans and priorities for its solar business in India?
DKEM is the world’s largest supplier and technology leader of metallization pastes for the solar industry and has supported the transition from p-type to n-type solar cells, as well as developments in Laser Enhanced Contact Optimization (LECO) and silver-coated copper metallization.
DKEM aims to support manufacturers with product technology and process engineering expertise while expanding its market presence. We are already engaged with Adani, Premier Energies, Avaada, Waaree, Tata Power Solar, Emmvee, RenewSys, Grew Solar, Alpex Solar, Goldi Solar, Saatvik Solar, Evervolt, Gopin and Jupiter.  Our local channel partner supports customer coordination and on-site service across manufacturing hubs.
How does DKEM assess the opportunity created by India’s expanding solar cell manufacturing capacity, and what are its plans for manufacturing, R&D, technical support, or other investments in the Indian market?
India’s solar cell manufacturing capacity is expected to grow from roughly 30 to 35 GW toward 100 GW by the end of 2027, increasing the demand potential for metallization pastes. The industry is also shifting from p-type PERC to n-type TOPCon. DKEM’s products are already in mass production at several Indian cell manufacturers. It has established India-focused sales and technical teams and works with a local channel partner for logistics and on-site coordination.
The company plans to deepen customer collaboration, expand local technical support, and set up a dedicated R&D team to develop process-specific customized pastes.
How are policies such as ALMM List-II and India’s broader push for domestic solar manufacturing influencing DKEM’s strategy for the Indian market?
ALMM List-II and India’s domestic manufacturing push are accelerating localization across the solar value chain. Equipment choices, process recipes, and material specifications may differ from other markets. DKEM plans to work more closely with Indian cell manufacturers and accelerate development of customized silver pastes for local process, performance, cost, and compliance requirements..
Silver paste remains critical to solar cell manufacturing. What technology developments is DKEM pursuing to reduce silver consumption while maintaining cell efficiency, reliability, and production yields?
DKEM is pursuing four silver-reduction pathways: fine-line printing, low-silver-content pastes, silver-coated copper pastes, and pure copper pastes. For G12R TOPCon cells, many Chinese lines use about 70 to 80 mg of silver paste per cell, while many Indian lines use about 85 to 100 mg. DKEM expects advanced fine-line printing and customized pastes to narrow this gap while maintaining efficiency, reliability, and yields. Its technical teams also support process optimization and qualification at customer sites.
Which of DKEM’s products are most critical for high-efficiency solar cell manufacturing today?
For TOPCon cells, DKEM highlights three products. The DK72E front-side finger paste is optimized for LECO technology and is designed to significantly reduce metallization-induced recombination while improving contact quality. The DK95E rear-side finger paste is compatible with PECVD and LPCVD poly-Si processes. The DK82E busbar paste is designed for solderability and reliability. The combination supports outstanding conversion efficiency, a wide process window, and long-term reliability.
As India adds new solar cell manufacturing capacity, which silver paste, low-silver, and copper-based metallization products does DKEM expect to see the strongest demand for in the Indian market?
DKEM expects near-term demand to focus on mature silver pastes and proven silver-reduction methods, particularly fine-line printing using advanced screen technologies and customized pastes. Copper-based solutions require additional capital expenditure, process changes, and longer validation cycles. DKEM therefore expects low-silver-content and silver-coated copper pastes to gain adoption as manufacturers progress through further efficiency and reliability validation.
With silver remaining a major cost component in cell manufacturing, how much can low-silver and silver-copper metallization technologies reduce cell production costs?
The savings depend on each production line’s starting silver consumption. Fine-line printing and customized silver pastes can reduce silver consumption per watt by more than 30% from current Indian baselines. Low-silver-content pastes can provide further reductions. Silver-coated copper metallization on the rear side of TOPCon cells can reduce silver use by about 50%.
What potential does DKEM see for copper-based paste to replace silver in solar cell metallization, and what technical challenges must be overcome for large-scale commercial adoption?
DKEM sees copper as a major long-term alternative to silver and divides the technology into silver-coated copper and pure copper pastes. DKEM’s silver-coated copper metallization solution is already in mass production on the rear side of TOPCon cells with a global customer. Broader adoption of copper-based metallization will require further progress in performance, cost, and reliability. Key technical areas include the synergistic optimization of paste formulations and sintering techniques to minimize copper oxidation and enhance grid line conductivity; the development of simpler, more cost-effective process equipment and conditions; and the assessment and management of copper diffusion risks. DKEM also identifies interconnectionand encapsulation as relevant to managing reliability risks.
How is silver price volatility influencing DKEM’s R&D priorities and the development of lower-silver or copper-based paste technologies?
Silver reduction has been a research priority even before the recent rise in silver prices considering the sustainability of the solar industry. Its roadmap covers fine-line printing, low-silver-content pastes, silver-coated copper pastes, and pure copper pastes. Higher silver prices have increased the urgency of commercializing these technologies, particularly for manufacturers seeking lower metallization costs.
Beyond current TOPCon applications, how is DKEM preparing its metallization technology for HJT, back-contact, tandem, and other next-generation solar cells?
Beyond TOPCon, DKEM has developed silver-coated copper pastes for heterojunction cells that are already used at industrial scale. For TBC ( TOPCon Back Contact) cells, it offers pastes for n-Poly, p-Poly, and busbar applications. For perovskite and silicon tandem cells, DKEM is developing and offering ultra-low-temperature curing pastes. Its conductive pastes and electronic adhesives can also serve semiconductor packaging, display, and advanced electronics applications in India.
This interview was sponsored by DKEM
Parth Shukla
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© 2026 by Mercom Capital Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

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Britain may be famous for grey skies and rainy days, but its sunshine could still help residents shave more than €1,000 a year off household electricity bills.
An analysis of more than 15 million UK homes by solar software company GreenSketch estimates that an optimised rooftop solar and battery system could save the average household around €1,100 a year – what the company calls a ‘sunlight salary’.
Even in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the average savings topped €930.
The findings show that household savings depend on more than sunshine alone. Electricity prices, the angle of your roof, when you use power, battery storage and payments for electricity sent back to the grid are all important factors.
Researchers used satellite imagery to model individual homes, accounting for the slope of rooftops as well as their orientation, local electricity use and hourly solar generation.
Southwest Wales had the highest average estimated savings at around €1,160 a year, followed by southeast England at about €1,150. In Northern Ireland, the best returns were found in the east rather than the south, which GreenSketch says shows that local weather and geography can affect solar generation as much as geolocation.
Those figures challenge the idea that solar panels only make financial sense in sunnier places. Although they generate more electricity in direct sunlight, solar panels still produce power on overcast days – good news for Europe’s less sunny stretches.
Solar can also cover the cost of installment relatively quickly. The Energy Saving Trust – an independent UK energy advice organisation – estimates that a typical system can pay for itself in 10 to 12 years.
The UK findings point to similar potential elsewhere around Europe.
If solar panels don’t need Mediterranean sunshine to cut electricity bills – especially when paired with batteries that let households store power generated during the day and use it later – they could make financial sense far beyond southern Europe.
A Joint Research Centre (JRC) study published earlier this year found that solar panels on rooftops could meet 40 per cent of the EU’s long-term electricity needs by 2050.
In Finland and Denmark, non-residential roofs alone could provide at least 95 per cent of the solar capacity targeted for 2030.
Still, just one in ten European rooftops has solar panels, according to the JRC, leaving enormous room for further expansion.


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Solar Energy Market to Surpass $606 billion by 2030 at 23% CAGR, Solar Cell Panels Accounting for 71%  EIN News
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I remember when solar gadgets died fast, flooded, or crumbled to dust. Years of long-term testing show today's cameras and panels are a different story.
Senior Contributing Editor
Senior Contributing Editor
October 8, 2026, 1:14 pm ET
Over the past few years, there’s been an influx of solar devices such as doorbells, surveillance cameras, and floodlights. They’re easy to set up because they don’t need cables run to them, and you don’t have to periodically take the unit off the wall to charge it (remember the early Ring doorbells?)
Also: How I avoided a $300 Wi-Fi bill on my cruise
You attach these solar-powered devices to the wall, connect them using an app, and the setup is done.
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Once they’re up and connected to Wi-Fi, they’re pretty self-sufficient. And because they harvest their own power from the sun, you’re hopefully helping make the planet last a little longer for those who will come after us.
But how long do these devices last? Because there’s no point trying to save yourself the effort of putting cables up and trying to be green if you’re chucking stuff away every year or so.
I have quite a bit of experience with solar, from large units that generate enough power to run a home to small panels that keep off-grid devices such as weather stations, trail cameras, Meshtastic nodes, and Raspberry Pi computers running.
In my experience, there are two failure points unique to solar devices — failures that are separate from the myriad ways that other consumer electronics can die.
Also: I found 6 forgotten cables that are still surprisingly useful
The first is the solar panel. Panels can be poor quality and just not up to the job right from the start. Or they can suffer from delamination, where the layers peel due to a combination of UV exposure from sunlight, daily and seasonal heat/cold cycles, and moisture. Finally, the electrical contacts can suffer from DC corrosion across wires and circuitry, damaging vital electrical connections.
The second failure point is the battery. It’s outside 24/7/365, exposed to heat and cold, being trickle-charged a lot in the summer months, and a lot less in the winter months. Once the battery can’t keep up with the device’s power draw, it’s game over.
If I were writing this five years ago, I’d say, “Don’t bother with solar stuff.” So much of what was on sale then was utter garbage. I lost count of the number of solar lights I took down that died as soon as the shorter autumnal days came, security cameras that stopped working because they’d filled with water (one time, I opened a camera and a tiny frog hopped out, looked at me, blinked, and hopped off), or solar panels that crumbled into something resembling Doritos as soon as I touched them.
Also: I tested the world’s first solar AMOLED sports watch
I know this because I was sent a lot of gear for testing and review, and almost nothing made it into the pages of ZDNET. Things have improved significantly in three areas.
First, solar panels have improved, and the smaller panels you typically find on doorbells and cameras can usually deliver enough power to keep the device running year-round. Another thing that’s improved is weatherproofing. I mean, if a frog could make its way inside a camera, that was something that desperately needed attention. I wish I had a photo or video of that!
Also: Will plug-in solar plus batteries solve your power problem? I did the math
Batteries have also improved. Not so much in the underlying chemistry (these devices still mostly use lithium-ion packs), but in component and build quality. Batteries just seem to last longer now than they did a few years ago.
So, what’s been my experience lately? Back in early 2023, I built a handful of environmental monitoring stations based on Pi Zero 2 W boards, each connected to sensors and a 4G cellular module for communication.
Built to last a few months, these are still working fine three and a half years on. OK, partly I put this down to the fact that I totally overbuilt these units, housing them in plastic ammo boxes and using copious amounts of silicone grease for weatherproofing. However, none of that would have mattered if the solar panels (super-tough 10W Voltaic panels) and batteries hadn’t also been able to withstand continuous usage.
Also: Run your Raspberry Pi off-grid with solar power. Here’s what you need
A couple of years ago, I installed a test surveillance camera — the Baseus S1 (if you want something similar but newer, take a look at the amazing X1 Pro — overlooking one of my outbuildings.
This camera has a sun-tracking solar panel designed to maximize solar harvesting, and while I’d initially thought that this motorized part of the panel would be a potential weakness, it’s worked flawlessly, without any care or maintenance whatsoever, since the day I put it up. I checked on the battery in this camera today, and it’s at 100%.
Also: Are online solar calculators accurate? I tested a 200W panel
Another example: earlier this year, I fitted a $17 solar panel to a surveillance camera (that sounds so dramatic every time I type it) used to keep an eye on an honor box. As the better-than-average summer has given way to a wet, overcast autumn, the panel is still delivering enough power to keep the camera fully charged.
When I fitted the panel, I went to great lengths to position it for the best results, but the orientation of the box was changed shortly afterward, leaving the panel pointing in a south-easterly direction rather than the optimal due south, yet it still does the job.
The other day, I wrote about my one-year test of a 200W solar panel. This panel had absolutely no problem coping with the UK weather for a year, and after cleaning, it looks new.
I could go on, but I’ll spare you. As solar-powered products and solar components such as panels and controllers have gone mainstream in the past few years, they’ve improved a lot. They’re now at a point where, unless there’s a reason you can’t use a solar product (it’s a shaded location, or you live at a latitude where the nights are particularly long), it’s hard to justify the hassle of running cables and such.
One category of solar products I still have reservations about is power banks with a built-in panel. I have tested a few that seem to work quite well (ToughTested makes some decent stuff), but overall, most of these are poorly constructed and gimmicky.
Also: Most solar power banks I’ve tested were gimmicks – this one is the real deal
So, if you’re thinking about getting yourself a solar-powered camera, doorbell, or floodlight (be careful if buying a solar power bank), I say go for it. If you can, look for a reputable brand; failing that, pick something with a decent number of good reviews, and you should have a product that will give you a few years of service.

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Veteran residents oppose proposed 3.8-megawatt solar farm  WETM
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September 7th, 2026
Policy status: On 5 August 2026 the Australian Government announced it intends to expand Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES) eligibility to qualifying solar PV systems above 100 kW and up to 1 MW, intended to apply to eligible installations from 1 October 2026. This is proposed, not yet in force. It remains subject to the necessary regulations and final eligibility, design, installation and compliance requirements.
Australian businesses installing commercial solar in 2026 can typically reduce upfront project cost through Small-scale Technology Certificates (STCs), state-based programs such as Victoria’s VEU and NSW’s battery incentive, and tax depreciation where applicable and subject to professional tax advice. For systems above 100 kW, the government’s own published estimates suggest the proposed SRES expansion could cut upfront costs by roughly 20%, with indicative discounts of around $68,000 on a 250 kW system and around $230,000 on an 850 kW system. The final value depends on system size, postcode zone, installation date, the applicable deeming methodology, certificate market price, agent fees and final scheme rules, and the scheme is not yet law.
This guide covers: what’s changing under the SRES, whether federal and state incentives stack, indicative costs and payback, how to size a system, how to compare panels, and how to choose an EPC or installer.
Commercial solar incentives up to 100 kW (current scheme)
Scheme: Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme (SRES)
How it works: Eligible solar PV systems with a total panel capacity of no more than 100 kW may create STCs. The system owner usually assigns the right to create STCs to a Clean Energy Regulator (CER)-registered agent, which may apply the agreed certificate value as an upfront invoice discount. The current small-scale rules remain in force unless and until the proposed expansion is implemented.
STC value: STCs are traded on an open market but are capped at a regulated ceiling of $40 (excl. GST) through the CER’s STC Clearing House. In practice this translates to an indicative discount of roughly $200–$300 per kW installed, depending on postcode zone and the certificate price on the day.
Eligibility basics:
Commercial solar incentives above 100 kW and no more than 1 MW
Scheme: Proposed mid-scale expansion of the SRES.
On 5 August 2026, Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen announced the government’s intention to expand SRES eligibility to qualifying solar PV systems above 100 kW and no more than 1 MW, with application intended for eligible installations from 1 October 2026, subject to the necessary regulations. Under current rules, an eligible system above 100 kW may seek accreditation under the Large-scale Renewable Energy Target and create Large-scale Generation Certificates from eligible metered generation.
How it works, if implemented as announced: Qualifying commercial, industrial and agricultural systems above 100 kW and no more than 1 MW would be eligible to create deemed STCs after an eligible installation, using the proposed fixed five-year deeming factor. The system owner may then assign the right to create the certificates to a registered agent in exchange for an agreed upfront invoice reduction.
Indicative value: Government estimates suggest the change could reduce upfront project costs by around 20%.
State-based commercial solar and battery rebates
In addition to federal certificate incentives, some states add their own incentives:
Victoria – VEU C&I solar discount
Victorian businesses may be eligible for commercial and industrial solar support through the Victorian Energy Upgrades program. The standard commercial and industrial solar activity applies to eligible non-residential premises installing solar PV systems between 30 kW and 200 kW. Projects larger than 200 kW may be assessed through the VEU project-based activity, subject to applicable rules, measurement requirements and approval processes.
The financial value is generally delivered through Victorian Energy Efficiency Certificates, known as VEECs. The VEEC value is not fixed and can change with market conditions and program requirements.
New South Wales – PDRS commercial battery incentives
From 1 September 2026, eligible NSW businesses may receive a battery incentive under the Peak Demand Reduction Scheme (PDRS). The NSW Government’s indicative support is approximately 20-30% of battery installation cost for a battery-only project and 30-40% when the battery is installed with qualifying new or additional solar. Eligible battery capacity ranges from 20 kWh to 30 MWh under the applicable BESS4 or BESS5 method; for larger BESS5 projects, the incentive calculation is capped at the first 10 MWh. For a combined project, new or additional solar must be at least 25% of battery capacity and installed within the applicable 90-day period. Customer, site, equipment, installer, planning and scheme requirements apply, and residential buildings, data centres and off-grid systems are excluded.
Read the full NSW C&I solar and battery incentive guide
Can commercial solar incentives be stacked?
In some cases, businesses may be able to access federal certificates and state-based incentives for different components of the same energy project. However, incentives should never be assumed to stack automatically. Ask your EPC or installer for a written incentive breakdown before signing a contract.
Commercial solar payback periods in Australia often fall within a broad range of approximately 3 to 7 years. The final result is driven less by the panel price than by how much solar electricity your business can use on site when it is generated. 
Businesses with consistent daytime load, such as manufacturing facilities, warehouses, cold storage, retail, food processing, schools and offices, often have stronger solar economics because they can avoid buying more expensive grid electricity during operating hours.
Considering a 250 kW project has a gross cost of $250,000, receives $68,000 in certificate value under the proposed rules and delivers $50,000 per year in net operating cash savings after recurring costs, the net upfront investment is $182,000 and simple payback is 3.64 years.
Simple payback = net upfront investment / annual net operating cash savings
That example is illustrative only. A good commercial solar business case should also consider electricity tariffs, demand charges, export value, degradation, maintenance, financing, insurance and future changes to energy consumption.
A well-designed system should be assessed not only on simple payback, but also on lifetime energy yield, net present value and the certainty of its projected savings.
The right size depends on daytime electricity consumption, usable roof area, network conditions, export limits, budget and future energy demand.
Example: A warehouse using approximately 1,200 kWh per day, including around 800 kWh during daylight hours, may warrant a feasibility assessment, but those daily totals alone do not justify a 250-300 kW array. Preliminary DC capacity must be tested against the interval profile, site-specific yield, tariffs, roof layout, export constraints, curtailment, storage strategy and future load.
A good commercial solar system is not necessarily the cheapest quote or the largest array that fits the roof. It is the system that generates electricity the business can use, reduces costs measurably and delivers a transparent, well-documented return.
Commercial solar modules should be evaluated on lifetime value, not just nameplate wattage or upfront price.
For commercial and industrial solar, module selection can influence installed capacity, lifetime energy yield, hot-weather performance, roof utilisation and long-term asset risk.
AIKO’s ABC (All Back Contact) technology is designed for high-efficiency generation and roof-constrained applications. Depending on the selected model, higher module efficiency can help a C&I project fit more capacity into the same available roof area.
More installed capacity on the same roof. AIKO ABC’s higher power density means more capacity fits into the same fixed roof footprint, module count and dimension  than a comparable standard TOPCon design, in verified fixed-footprint modelling, approximately 6-10% higher installed capacity from the same roof area, without needing extra space. 
More predictable lifetime returns. That additional capacity flows through to the financial case: in verified fixed-footprint modelling, the higher-capacity ABC system delivered a meaningfully higher 30-year revenue outcome, a shorter payback period and a higher IRR than the standard TOPCon comparator. 
Designed for Australian commercial rooftops. AIKO ABC’s −0.26%/°C temperature coefficient helps limit output losses as modules heat up, and the range carries Class A fire classification and TÜV-certified hail resistance, relevant considerations for large commercial rooftops exposed to heat, weather and ongoing maintenance activity. 
Is commercial solar worth it for Australian businesses?
It can be, particularly where a business has substantial daytime electricity use, suitable roof area, workable network conditions and a well-designed system. Financial outcomes depend on self-consumption, tariff structure, installed cost, incentives, export limits, financing and site conditions.
Can a business install more than 100 kW of solar in 2026?
Yes. Businesses can install systems above 100 kW under current arrangements. Depending on the project’s accreditation and timing, the system may use the LGC pathway. The proposed SRES expansion would allow qualifying systems above 100 kW and up to 1 MW to create upfront STCs from 1 October 2026, subject to regulations and final eligibility requirements.
Is the 1 MW commercial solar rebate confirmed?
No. The Government has announced its intention to expand SRES eligibility, but the change remains subject to regulations and final requirements. Until the regulations are made, it should be described as proposed or conditional rather than guaranteed.
Are STCs paid as cash?
Usually, the system owner assigns STCs to an installer, retailer or registered certificate agent. The certificate value is then applied as an upfront discount to the invoice. The contract should clearly identify the assumed value and who bears the risk if the claim is not approved.
How long does commercial solar take to pay back?
Payback varies significantly. Electricity use, tariffs, demand charges, system cost, incentives, export limits, roof complexity, financing and annual generation all affect the result. Request a project-specific model showing simple payback, IRR, NPV and sensitivity analysis.
Can commercial solar and battery incentives be combined?
Sometimes, but not automatically. Federal and state programs have separate eligibility rules. Confirm the exact position in writing with the installer, Accredited Certificate Provider or relevant program administrator before signing a contract.
Explore more from AIKO
Planning a C&I solar project? Speak with our team to see how AIKO ABC modules could help maximise system capacity, rebate value and ROI for your project
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Inheriting a Phoenix house sounds simple until a solar company's name appears on the title search and the buyer's lender starts asking questions the heir never knew to ask.
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His mother’s Phoenix house came to him with a roof full of solar panels she never owned. A solar company owns them, and its lease has 17 years left to run. When he lists the house, the buyer’s lender will almost certainly want that contract cleared before closing. The company’s payoff quote is $31,000.
A solar lease generally continues the homeowner’s death, and the heir takes on the contract along with the deed.
Rented panels usually come with a UCC-1 fixture filing. It is a public notice that someone other than the homeowner has a claim on equipment attached to the house. Title companies treat it as a cloud that must be cleared. Under Fannie Mae’s Selling Guide, the buyer’s lender must obtain and review copies of the lease, and the monthly payment becomes part of the buyer’s underwriting. A buyer taking on years of lease payments qualifies for less house.
Existing home sales ran at a 3.98 million annualized pace in August, down 2% from July. Prices held firm: the Case-Shiller national index hit 337.3 in July. If a deal collapses over solar paperwork, the next offer may take months.
For an inherited home, his tax basis is the fair market value on the date of his mother’s death. Any gain counts as long-term, regardless of how long you held the property. He gets lower capital gains rates even if he sells next month. If he sells soon, the price should land close to that stepped-up value, meaning little or no taxable gain.
The $31,000 payoff lowers his gain. He never lived there. A loss on the sale is a deductible capital loss, an advantage most home sellers lack, as losses on a primary residence are never deductible.
He should get a date-of-death appraisal now. If no estate tax return was filed, the IRS takes the appraised value at the date of death as basis. Without that appraisal, both the gain calculation and any loss claim rest on guesswork.
For most heirs, this is the right move. He should get the payoff in writing and ask whether it transfers ownership of the panels or just ends the lease and triggers removal. Owned panels convey with the house, and a buyer gets a working power system with no monthly bill, which helps recover part of the cost through the sale price.
The title company pays the lessor from sale proceeds. He should price the house knowing his net will be about $31,000 lower and state in the listing that the lease will be paid off at closing.
A transfer means the solar company approves the buyer, who then takes over payments, and that can work with a cash buyer or one whose lender signs off on the lease. Lessor approval takes weeks. Buyers often ask for a price cut close to the payoff anyway, and until the transfer is final, the estate remains on the hook. In a slow market, giving a buyer one more reason to walk away is costly.
The most common mistake is listing without mentioning the lease and letting the title search surface it weeks into escrow. Bring it up first and plan to pay it off from proceeds. If the lessor won’t give a written payoff or the contract has unusual escalation clauses, hire a real estate attorney. On a $31,000 obligation, that review will usually cost far less than a collapsed deal.
Contact [email protected] for any questions or corrections.
Jake has been been working in financial media for almost 15 years. He focuses on all things personal finance for 24/7 Wall St. with high hopes to educate and entertain. Most recently, Jake spent 12 years working various roles at The Motley Fool. He started copy editing fool.com content, worked on premium and marketing campaigns, and helped launch The Ascent, a personal finance brand.
His work has been featured on platforms like MSN, Yahoo Finance, USA Today, and more. He’s written about credit cards, social security, ETFs, savings accounts, and just about anything else you can imagine when thinking about money. Jake love to cook, play golf, and tell people he’s never had a cavity. (It’s true!)
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The rapid expansion of solar power in Europe is also increasing the electricity system’s exposure to cybersecurity risks linked to internet-connected photovoltaic installations.
According to a new report from the Smart Energy Expert Group (SEEG) cybersecurity working group, EU photovoltaic capacity increased from 86 GW in 2015 to 406 GW in 2025 and could reach 718 GWdc by 2030. As more inverters and solar installations become remotely monitored, configured and updated, the risk of coordinated cyberattacks affecting large volumes of generation also increases.
The report warns that attackers able to control large numbers of installations simultaneously could cause supply-demand imbalances, grid congestion or voltage disturbances, which in the worst case could lead to widespread power outages.
The document, reflects the consensus of experts within the SEEG cybersecurity group, although it explicitly states that it does not represent the official position of the European Commission.
The analysis divides PV installations into four categories: plug-in residential systems below 0.8 kW, residential installations between 0.8 kW and 10 kW, commercial and industrial projects between 10 kW and 1 MW, and utility-scale plants above 1 MW.
The group identifies three high-risk scenarios.
The first involves attacks on manufacturer platforms, particularly relevant for residential, commercial and industrial installations. A vulnerability in a central platform could allow an attacker to gain simultaneous access to large numbers of connected inverters.
The second is the deliberate introduction of backdoors in platforms, hardware or firmware by a manufacturer acting under the influence of a nation-state actor. The report considers this risk relevant across all categories of installations assessed.
The third concerns attacks on utility-scale PV plants through local networks, including remote-access firewalls used for operation and maintenance.

Source: Report from the Smart Energy Expert Group (SEEG)

The potential impact of a cyberattack depends directly on how much generation capacity an attacker is able to control.
The report uses the continental European synchronous area as a reference, where frequency containment reserves amount to around 3,000 MW. An attack capable of controlling more generation than that could have serious consequences for system operation.
Potential impacts include simultaneous disconnection of generation, congestion affecting lines and transformers, and voltage disturbances that could force system operators to disconnect generation or demand in order to keep the grid stable.
Among its main recommendations, the group calls for manufacturers of internet-connected devices used in PV installations to implement robust vulnerability management processes, with clear and enforceable timelines for security patches.
It also recommends encouraging bug bounty programmes to support independent security research and identify vulnerabilities before they can be exploited.
For utility-scale installations, internet communications from inverters should be systematically controlled. Traffic should be documented, encrypted and authenticated, while outbound connections should be restricted to approved servers located in the EU or jurisdictions offering an equivalent level of security.
The report also recommends blocking inbound communications from outside local networks and strengthening authentication requirements for remote access.
Firmware management is another central issue highlighted by the report.
For commercial, industrial and utility-scale installations, the group recommends replacing automatic firmware updates initiated directly by manufacturers with controlled manual updates carried out by qualified maintenance providers.
For critical infrastructure, it also suggests that firmware could be subject to code reviews or reverse engineering to identify potential backdoors before updates are installed.
The report also recommends that the use of certain components or software should be restricted where there is a serious risk that a supplier could deliberately introduce backdoors.
However, the experts warn that such measures could significantly affect the market if there is insufficient alternative supply. Any restrictions should therefore be based on a thorough risk assessment.
The report itself does not classify individual manufacturers or suppliers as high risk.
The report also assesses how far existing European legislation can address these risks, including the Cyber Resilience Act, the NIS2 Directive, the Network Code on Cybersecurity and the Network Code on Requirements for Generators.
The experts conclude that the Cyber Resilience Act already applies to PV inverters, but that its current verification framework is not strong enough to enforce all recommended mitigation measures.
They therefore propose developing a harmonised European cybersecurity standard for PV inverters and classifying inverters as Class II important products, which would require independent conformity assessment by a notified body.
The group also recommends aligning thresholds under NIS2 and the Network Code on Cybersecurity, strengthening coverage of installers, and introducing verifiable minimum cybersecurity qualifications for professionals working on PV installations.
One of the main gaps identified concerns intentional backdoors in the supply chain, which the experts say are not adequately addressed by existing regulation.
The report shows how cybersecurity in the photovoltaic sector is moving beyond the protection of individual devices.
With hundreds of gigawatts of solar capacity increasingly connected to digital platforms, aggregators and remote-control systems, a scalable vulnerability could become a system-level risk for electricity grid stability and operation.
For this reason, the group recommends that cyberattack scenarios involving PV generation also be incorporated into electricity system risk assessments, alongside preventive measures targeting manufacturers, operators, installers and asset owners.
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SECI Floats Solar Tender For Elevated Delhi-Dehradun Highway Under RESCO Mode Photograph: (AI)
The Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) has announced plans to select a project developer for a pilot solar power project with a minimum capacity of 4 MW on the elevated section of the Delhi-Dehradun Highway. The project will be implemented under the Renewable Energy Service Company (RESCO) mode as part of Phase I of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) solar power initiative.
According to a Notice Inviting Tender (NIT), SECI will select the project developer through a tariff-based competitive bidding process. The proposed project involves setting up a solar photovoltaic (PV) power plant on the elevated highway section, marking a pilot initiative to utilise highway infrastructure for solar power generation.
The tender is titled “Request for Selection (RfS) Document for Selection of Solar Power Developer for setting up Solar PV Power Project of minimum 4 MW capacity for NHAI under RESCO mode (Phase-I).” The initiative is intended to identify a developer responsible for establishing the solar generation project in accordance with the terms to be specified in the detailed bidding documents.
SECI stated that the bidding documents will be made available shortly on the ISN-ETS portal, the SECI website and the Central Public Procurement Portal (CPP Portal). Prospective bidders have been advised to monitor these platforms for the release of the RfS document and subsequent notices, amendments and clarifications, as separate notifications will not be issued. 
The solar project follows an earlier initiative to integrate renewable energy generation into the Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Highway. In November 2025, SECI and NHAI signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for installing solar power plants along the elevated portion of Package-1 of the highway in Delhi. The proposed 4 MW project is part of Phase I of this initiative, which aims to utilise highway infrastructure for clean energy generation.
The Delhi-Saharanpur-Dehradun Expressway is a 210-km highway corridor intended to improve connectivity between Delhi and Dehradun while easing congestion on existing routes. Solarisation of its elevated sections could provide an additional use for infrastructure already developed for road transport, allowing electricity generation alongside highway operations. The initiative also fits into NHAI’s broader efforts to incorporate solar power into highway infrastructure, including installations at toll plazas and interchanges.
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MATHESON, Colo. — Residents in Matheson, Colorado, are worried about two proposed solar projects right next to their farmland and what it could mean if they get approved.
Residents emailed Denver7 citing concern over the 6,000-acre sites and what they could mean for farmland in the area, water runoff, property values, and taking away the natural beauty some have called home for generations.
Watch Tyler Melito’s report in the video player below:
“Why take some of the best ground we have in Elbert County for producing wheat and millet and grazing ground for our cattle, and why just cover it in glass?” Clint Buhring told Denver7’s Tyler Melito. “We’ve got good people up here; good families, lots of history, and I mean, there’s families up here been farming this ground for 100 plus years.”
Wayne Brown, another resident whose family has also called the area home for generations.
“The land value is going to go straight in the toilet … it takes all the production right out of it. There’s a lot of things that the county’s not looking at, as far as the impacts of what these,” Brown said. “All they care about is that they get their money out of it; it’s money for Elbert County, so it’s good for them. They don’t care about what it’s going to do to the ground.”
Brown and Buhring both added that while they support renewable sources of energy, they don’t understand why it needs to be in their pocket of Colorado.
“If you’re going to implement this on us, you need to be in the middle of it. You need to live what we are,” Brown said.
“Why not a place like Crowley County down in Ordway?” asked Buhring. “They had their water stolen from another big operation several years ago, and nothing grows down there but rattlesnakes and hurt feelings.”
Terry Ashcraft, another long-time resident, added insight into the difference between solar panels and the already existing wind turbines in Elbert County.
“Unlike the wind farms — the wind farms included in the line — they included a lot of people, so they shared out that wealth, so to speak, and when they did that, it allowed them to get more land,” Ashcraft told Melito. “In this case, there might be — by the time the first three projects would be done — there’d be 12,000 acres, and these people surrounded will want to sell.”
He added that if the Elbert County Board of County Commissioners approves the project proposed by Staten Solar, it would open the floodgates.
“There will be a precedent set if they allow the first one to go,” said Ashcraft. “How are they going to tell the Hendricks one over there that they cannot have one?”
Melito reached out to Staten; they did not respond at the time of writing.
He also reached out to Elbert County. A spokesperson said per state law, the commissioners are not allowed to comment on a land-use application outside of the public hearing process.
During their Sept. 23 Land Use meeting, the commissioners voted unanimously to hold off on voting on the project in order to hear more about the effects a solar project like this could have on water.
That meeting is set for Oct. 14.

Denver7 is committed to making a difference in our community by standing up for what’s right, listening, lending a helping hand and following through on promises. See that work in action, in the videos above.

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COMMENTARY: Renewables help US power system survive summer stress test  Reuters
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Mostly cloudy skies early, then partly cloudy in the afternoon. High 73F. Winds NW at 10 to 15 mph..
Mostly clear skies. Low 52F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: October 12, 2026 @ 12:49 am
The Piedmont Environmental Council announced that the Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows is the co-recipient of the Solar Farm of the Year award.

Community Editor
The Piedmont Environmental Council announced that the Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows is the co-recipient of the Solar Farm of the Year award.
The Piedmont Environmental Council’s Community Farm at Roundabout Meadows is the co-recipient of the Solar Farm of the Year award, according to a news release.
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Karen Graham has worked at the Times-Mirror for over 15 years. Follow @loudountimes on Instagram or on Facebook. You can contact Karen at Kgraham@loudountimes.com
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Financial Journalist
The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) plans to begin construction of a solar project in the Eastern Cape at the end of 2027, with the estimated R1.5bn investment intended to supply electricity to businesses in its industrial zone and a logistics park in Kariega.
The 100MW project comprises an 80MW solar installation at the Coega special economic zone and a 20MW facility at the Nelson Mandela Bay Logistics Park in Kariega.
The project remains in the development phase, with feasibility, environmental impact and grid assessments expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2027. The CDC said it would seek funding after the studies are completed, with the project’s financing and ownership models still to be determined.
The CDC said the government had recognised the project as a strategic integrated project, a status intended to prioritise key infrastructure developments.
Strategic integrated projects are major national or regional initiatives designated to accelerate infrastructure delivery, economic growth, or environmental protection through co-ordinated planning and streamlined regulatory approvals.
A service provider appointed in March 2026 is conducting the assessments, along with a cost-benefit analysis.
The R1.5bn capital cost estimate is based on desktop feasibility studies conducted in 2024 and excludes battery energy storage. The CDC said the total investment, including storage, would be confirmed in the first quarter of 2027.
The solar farm is intended to supply businesses operating in the Coega special economic zone and the logistics park in Kariega. The CDC is also exploring other potential customers but has not disclosed how much electricity prospective customers may buy or what tariffs they could pay.
The project is part of the corporation’s broader plans to expand energy options for industrial users. The CDC has said its energy initiatives are intended to improve electricity security and reliability, diversify energy sources and make the zone more attractive to investors.
Alongside the solar project, the corporation is working with government and other stakeholders to support the development of gas infrastructure that could allow the Dedisa peaking power plant in Coega to switch from diesel to natural gas.
Dedisa, a 335-342MW open-cycle gas turbine power station in zone 13 of the Coega special economic zone near Gqeberha, supplies electricity to the national power system during periods of peak demand.
The CDC said the timing of a conversion would depend on the development of liquefied natural gas (LNG) import infrastructure, gas transmission networks, regulatory approvals and commercial arrangements. It did not provide a target date for the conversion.
The planned Ukwanda LNG import terminal at the Port of Ngqura is intended to supply natural gas to power generation plants and industrial users in the Eastern Cape. In May, the Transnet National Ports Authority signed a 25-year terminal operator agreement with Ukwanda LNG, a joint venture between Tamasa Energy Group and the state-owned Strategic Fuel Fund, to develop the facility.
The corporation also identified wind energy developments in advanced commercial negotiations and said it was working with partners to explore a small modular nuclear reactor in the Coega special economic zone. It did not provide investment estimates or implementation timelines for those initiatives.
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EU-funded researchers are developing tiny devices that could turn infrared sunlight and stray radio waves into extra energy for satellites.
By Jonathan O’Callaghan
Satellites waste energy in space. Some radio waves spill beyond their intended targets, while some of the sunlight reaching a spacecraft falls outside the range that conventional solar panels can effectively capture. Researchers from seven European countries are working together to see if some of that lost energy can be recovered.
The initiative, called POWERSAT and supported by the European Innovation Council, is developing tiny devices that could harvest stray radio waves and infrared sunlight, giving satellites an extra source of energy.
In space, every watt of power and every gram of mass matters. Satellites have limited room for power systems, while adding equipment can increase the weight and cost of a mission. Could recovering energy that would otherwise be lost provide a useful boost?
The POWERSAT team is exploring two ways to do this. One involves capturing radio waves that spill beyond their intended targets. The other aims to harvest infrared light from the Sun that conventional solar panels cannot use.
“There are different untapped regions of the electromagnetic spectrum that could be harvested,” said Dragos Dancila, an associate professor of microwave engineering at Uppsala University, Sweden, whose research focuses on antennas and radio-frequency systems.
Satellites communicate with Earth and with each other using radio waves. But not all of that energy reaches its intended destination. Some spreads beyond the target, rather like a torch beam spilling beyond the wall it is aimed at. This wasted energy, known as spillover, could instead be captured by a special antenna called a rectenna.
Rectennas already exist on Earth, where they can recover stray radio energy in fixed, ground-based settings. The challenge for the POWERSAT researchers is to shrink the technology and make it small and robust enough to survive in orbit, where temperatures can swing dramatically, while also operating on a constantly moving satellite.
“One aim is to take this energy that normally disappears and use it on the satellites,” said Afshin Ziaei, a project coordinator from Thales Research headquarters in France who specialises in radio communications and microwave systems.
The team envisages satellites carrying several centimetre-sized rectennas close to their communications antennas. These capture some of the spillover microwaves, harvest energy, and convert spillover radiation into a small but usable supply of electricity.
Using this technique, the researchers seek to boost the available power of a satellite by up to 10 per cent. That could help extend its working life or provide power for additional instruments without requiring a larger power system.
“It’s always a question of weight,” said Dancila.
The extra power could be particularly useful for low-power electronics such as sensors that monitor the spacecraft.
“You have all these sensors that could be installed, like for monitoring the communications antennas or for monitoring debris that could approach the satellite,” said Dancila.
The rectennas could also enable a low-power form of wireless communication called backscattering communication. By altering and reflecting existing signals, rather like using a mirror to flash sunlight towards someone, small sensors or neighbouring satellites could exchange simple messages while using very little energy.
Radio waves are only one source of energy the researchers hope to recover. The POWERSAT team is also looking at sunlight – specifically, the infrared part of the spectrum that conventional solar panels do not efficiently capture.
The researchers are developing antennas so small that millions could fit on a fingernail. These would sit on the sun-facing side of a spacecraft alongside conventional solar panels, harvesting infrared light and converting it into electricity.
Kristiaan Pelckmans, CEO of Swedish deep tech company FaDO and a partner in POWERSAT, said the approach could achieve efficiencies of up to 80 per cent or more, compared with around 30 per cent for a typical solar panel.
The tiny antennas are not intended to replace conventional solar panels. Instead, they are designed to work alongside them, allowing spacecraft to make use of a wider part of the sunlight reaching them.
“The promise is that it can be much more efficient, meaning more power,” said Pelckmans.
The approach could potentially have applications on Earth too, allowing solar farms to harvest more energy by adding similar devices alongside existing photovoltaic panels.
“Basically, everywhere where they use solar cells, these things could be used,” said Pelckmans.
The researchers are still working to demonstrate that the individual components can deliver on their promise. Developing the tiny antennas has proved challenging, particularly because of the complexity of fabricating diodes that work with the antennas.
“It was fabricated two times until we achieved what we wanted,” said Ziaei.
Towards the end of 2026, the researchers hope to demonstrate solar-energy harvesting, turning microwaves into usable electricity in this way for the first time. They will then test how microwaves can be harvested across four different parts of the spectrum using smaller rectennas.
Even if those demonstrations succeed, there may still be a long wait before the technology reaches orbit. Pelckmans estimates that it could take up to 10 years for the technology to be ready to fly. Space hardware must withstand launch and operate reliably for years in the harsh environment of orbit before it can be trusted on a real mission.
The research is due to run until the end of 2027, with the team planning to demonstrate that its approach works in the laboratory.
Satellites that rely on links between spacecraft for broadband and communications are a potential future application. The same antennas used for these links could potentially double as energy harvesters, providing a modest power boost without requiring a separate power system.
More broadly, recovering energy that would otherwise be lost could help make better use of increasingly sophisticated satellite systems.
The research comes as Europe expands its satellite infrastructure while looking to make space activities more resilient and sustainable. The EU’s IRIS² programme is developing a new satellite network for secure connectivity, while the proposed EU Space Act intends to establish common rules for safer, more resilient and environmentally sustainable space activities. 
In this context, technologies that can squeeze more useful energy from each satellite could offer another way to make spacecraft more efficient and potentially extend their useful lives.
For now, however, the goal is to prove that the technology works.
“We are here to show this works,” said Ziaei. “After that, it is in the hands of the industry to bring it to the market.”
This article was originally published in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation Magazine.
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With correspondents on the ground and a strong focus on public interest, we bring you the latest developments as they happen — alongside context that helps explain why they matter. Whether you are a resident, an expat or following Cyprus from abroad, Cyprus Mail keeps you informed with reliable news and real-time updates on the stories shaping the country.

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AIKO and Infinity Power Partner for South Africa’s Solar Projects  SolarQuarter
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Surat-based Gopin Semicon has entered the MNRE’s ALMM List-II with 402 MW of N-type TOPCon solar cell capacity, taking the total listed cell manufacturing capacity to 37,795 MW.
October 12, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

GPI Targets 45 CBG Projects in Three Years, Says GPI Business Head Vipin Malhotra

India’s Domestic Solar Cell Base to Mature by 2028–29: Ishver Dholakiya, Goldi Solar

EVERTA’s Manasvi Sharma Says Uptime, Utilisation Matter More Than Charger Deployment Numbers

India’s Grid Needs to Become More Intelligent and Responsive: AVEVA

India Needs Grid-Forming Inverters to Integrate More Solar, Wind

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Waaree Renewable Technologies Secures 5 MW Solar Project  SolarQuarter
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© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.
With 13.5 kW already installed, the focus was on improving outage resilience rather than putting up more solar.
Photo Credit: FranklinWH
A Pacific Northwest homeowner turned to Reddit for advice on adding blackout backup to an existing 13.5-kW grid-tied solar setup with both APS and Enphase microinverters.
As explained in their Reddit post, the issue centered on two existing microinverter arrays — one APS and one Enphase — and whether they could add a battery system so the home keeps making electricity during outages while also charging batteries.
With 13.5 kW already installed, the focus was on improving outage resilience rather than putting up more solar.
Adding battery storage is one of the best ways to protect your home during outages. It can also save money on energy and give homeowners more energy independence, especially when a large existing solar setup is already in place. Homeowners comparing options can explore EnergySage to learn about home battery storage solutions and get competitive installation estimates.
EnergySage has teamed up with electrification brand Qmerit to help homeowners get the best price on home battery storage solutions. 
In the Reddit discussion, the leading recommendation was FranklinWH’s aPower 2 battery paired with an aGate.
Because the home combines two microinverter brands, the question was whether to add storage to the current setup instead of starting over. “Can I use any batteries (ac) wired into the panel to provide that capability or do I have to go with [Enphase]?” the OP asked.
In other words, the homeowner wanted to add backup to the existing rooftop solar equipment, not replace it. The goal was to keep producing and storing power during an outage instead of having a 13.5-kW system go unused when the grid is down.
FROM OUR PARTNER
Want to go solar but not sure who to trust? EnergySage has your back with free and transparent quotes from fully vetted providers in your area.
To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
Solar panels can save you more than $50k over their 25-year lifespan, and EnergySage can help you save as much as $10k on installation. Which begs the question — isn’t that worth an email or two?
Homeowners with a similar grid-tied setup can ask installers about battery systems that can be added at the panel as a retrofit. In this discussion, the clearest community pick was FranklinWH’s aPower 2 battery with an aGate.
A setup like that can keep essential power available during blackouts and help homeowners get more out of the solar system they already own.
For people who do not need a whole-home setup, Pila is another company offering strong battery backup options. Pila’s plug-and-play batteries cost a fraction of a whole-home backup system.
If you’re trying to add backup to an existing solar setup, these stories dig into the same challenge many homeowners face when the grid goes down. 
• Solar owners say whole-home battery backup keeps daily life running through blackouts.
• Homeowners are replacing gas generators with battery systems paired with solar for cleaner backup.
• Tesla faces tougher competition as homeowners choose next-gen backup alternatives built for blackouts.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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U Mobile has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Malaysian renewable energy developer HLGY Energy to explore the deployment of private 5G connectivity for smart solar farms in Malaysia.
The collaboration aims to combine U Mobile’s ULTRA5G network with artificial intelligence (AI) and industrial automation to improve the monitoring, management and maintenance of large-scale solar energy facilities.
HLGY Energy is involved in developing and operating utility-scale solar and integrated energy solutions under Malaysia’s Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS), including the Kedah Rubber City Solar Power Plant.
Under the MoU, U Mobile and HLGY Energy will explore deploying a dedicated private 5G network to serve as the communications backbone for smart solar farm operations.
U Mobile will take on the role of innovation, automation and communications infrastructure provider, enabling several applications including autonomous drone inspections, AI-powered analytics and smart CCTV surveillance.
These technologies are intended to support remote monitoring of solar farm infrastructure, allowing operators to detect potential issues earlier and respond more quickly to maintenance requirements.
According to HLGY Energy, they are also exploring integrating AI with solar generation and BESS to help optimise when energy is stored and supplied, which would help reduce electricity costs while extending equipment lifespan.
U Mobile Chief Business Officer How Lih Ren said “This collaboration will demonstrate how U Mobile’s ULTRA5G network can enable the next generation of smart and sustainable infrastructure. By combining private 5G connectivity with AI and industrial automation, we
aim to help HLGY Energy develop renewable energy assets that are safer, more efficient and increasingly autonomous.”
He added, “Beyond connectivity, our ambition is to be a trusted digital solutions partner to enterprises across Malaysia. We look forward to applying our network and technology capabilities to support the country’s renewable energy aspirations, including the Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS).”
Meanwhile, HLGY Energy Chairman and Executive Director, Kenneth Yap said, “Malaysia’s green energy transition needs renewable energy infrastructure that is reliable, efficient and built for the future. Our collaboration with U Mobile brings together solar energy expertise and private 5G connectivity to explore how AI and automation can improve the way we operate and manage our solar assets.”
“Integrating AI with solar generation and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) operations can optimise when energy is stored and supplied, help reduce electricity costs and extend equipment life. As we advance our ambitions under CRESS, we aim to make clean energy a dependable choice for businesses, helping Malaysian industries decarbonise and contributing to the nation’s sustainable growth,” he added.

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Bangladesh’s push to accelerate rooftop solar deployment is facing scrutiny over implementation, with a parliamentary standing committee seeking detailed information from the government after reported additions fell far short of its stated ambitions.
At its first meeting on October 10, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on the Ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources asked officials to provide a detailed account of rooftop solar electricity supplied to the national grid, monthly installation progress, project costs and imports of solar panels and inverters.
Committee members raised questions about the government’s target of adding 4,000 MW of rooftop solar capacity by February 2027. According to reports in Bangladeshi media, ministry data showed that just 60 MW had been added to the grid over the preceding 30 days.
The figures raise questions about the pace of implementation, the availability of equipment and the effectiveness of the financial incentives introduced to encourage households and businesses to install solar systems.
Bangladesh has made renewable energy a policy priority as it seeks to reduce its exposure to imported fossil fuels and meet rising electricity demand. Its renewable energy strategy envisages a substantial expansion of solar generation, including rooftop systems, alongside ground-mounted projects and other renewable technologies.
The government has also introduced incentives for rooftop solar with battery storage. Under a scheme announced in September, qualifying systems installed by February 28, 2027, can receive Tk10.50 per unit for surplus electricity supplied to the grid, subject to the scheme’s conditions. Import duties on panels have also been reduced to just 1%, as we reported earlier. 
The policy is intended to improve project economics by allowing consumers to offset their own consumption and earn revenue from excess generation.
However, the reported installation figures suggest that incentives alone may not be enough to deliver the targeted scale within the available timeframe.
The committee’s request for detailed data could help clarify whether the principal barriers lie in financing, equipment procurement, installation capacity, grid connections or the reporting of distributed generation.
The distinction matters. Rooftop systems serving their owners directly can reduce grid purchases without necessarily appearing in statistics that count only electricity exported to the network. Conversely, weak installation and interconnection rates would indicate a more fundamental implementation problem.
For solar developers, equipment suppliers and financiers, Bangladesh offers a potentially significant market. But the credibility of its deployment targets will depend on transparent monthly reporting, workable incentives and a clear route from installation to grid connection.
The government’s next progress update will be an important test of whether the rooftop programme can move from policy ambition to installations at scale.
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New figures have revealed that solar panel fire have reached an eight year high for Dorset’s fire service.
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service attended 12 incidents involving solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in 2025, up from five the previous year and marking the highest annual total since at least 2018.
Of the 12 incidents last year, seven took place at domestic properties, two at industrial sites, two at commercial premises, and one at a solar farm.
Despite the rise in incidents, solar panel-related fires remain relatively rare.
A spokesperson for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said the drive towards net zero emissions and the use of alternative and renewable energy sources inevitably comes with “some challenges”.
However, the fire service said that increased reports of fires involving solar PV installations “must be considered in light of the significant increase in the number of installations”.
In comparison, the service attended two incidents in 2018, three in both 2019 and 2020, five in 2021, two in 2022, four in 2023, and five in 2024.
The figures were revealed through a Freedom of Information request and highlighted by the Energy Incident Register, which tracks incidents involving renewable energy and electricity infrastructure.
The register notes that where a specific cause was identified, fires were more often linked to electrical components such as inverters, cabling, isolators, and fuse boards rather than the solar panels themselves.
A separate FOI response identified 11 solar panel-related fires in 2025, with the discrepancy attributed to a different search of incident records.
The fire service stressed the importance of proper installation and ongoing maintenance.
The spokesperson said: “Solar PV systems are an increasingly common feature on homes and businesses, and, as with any electrical installation, it is important that they are correctly maintained and used safely.
“Our advice to homeowners and businesses is to ensure solar PV systems, and any associated batteries, are installed by a competent, appropriately qualified installer and in accordance with relevant standards and manufacturers’ instructions.
“It is important to remember that good quality components are an essential part of any safe system or installation.”
Businesses are advised to include solar installations in their fire risk assessments, while residents in multi-occupied buildings should consult building managers before installing plug-in solar PV systems.
The editor of the Energy Incident Register said: “Fires involving solar panels are still rare, but the service’s records show them rising as installations grow.
“Where a part is named it is usually the electrics, the inverter, the isolator or the cabling, and those are the parts that inspection and maintenance can check.”
Incidents recorded in Dorset include a roof-space fire involving a solar inverter in Ferndown in 2023 and a fire at a Travelodge in Poole in 2024.
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Oswal Pumps Board Approves 1.2 GW TOPCon-Based Solar Cell Plant In Karnal Photograph: (AI)
Haryana-based Oswal Pumps Limited, a manufacturer of solar pumping systems, solar modules and electric motors, has approved plans to set up a 1.2 GW solar cell manufacturing facility. This facility uses Tunnel Oxide Passivated Contact (TOPCon) technology.
In a press release, Oswal Pumps said that it decided at a company’s Board of Directors meeting to develop the facility through its subsidiary, Oswal Solar Energy Private Limited (OSEPL). Production is expected to commence by April 2028, with the entire output intended for captive consumption at the company’s in-house solar module manufacturing lines.
Through this facility, Oswal Pumps aims to secure a steady and reliable supply of cells compliant with domestic content requirement (DCR) norms. The investment is also expected to reduce the company’s exposure to spot-market price volatility and supplier-driven commercial terms.
At the meeting, the Board inter alia approved changes to the objects and terms of utilisation of the initial public offering (IPO) proceeds, along with a revision to the timeline for their utilisation. These changes are subject to the requisite statutory and regulatory approvals, including approval from the company’s shareholders.
Oswal Pumps estimates the total project cost at ₹456 crore, which it plans to finance through a combination of debt and unutilised IPO proceeds. Of the total, approximately ₹296 crore is proposed to be funded through debt, while the remaining ₹159.85 crore would be financed through unutilised IPO proceeds of ₹163.04 crore.
The company has decided to redirect funds originally earmarked for its Aluminium Frame Facility. It also plans to deploy the remaining capacity of 300 MW at its EVA Encapsulant Facility and 500 MW at its Solar Module Facility by infusing funds into OSEPL. The company proposes to utilise the net proceeds towards the solar cell manufacturing facility by the financial year 2028.
The reallocation shifts limited IPO capital away from aluminium frames, a relatively low-value-added component whose manufacturing capacity can be deferred, as well as surplus module and EVA encapsulant capacity. Instead, the funds will be directed towards solar cells, a critical part of the value chain where supply security has become increasingly important to business operations.
With a planned capacity of 1.2 GW, the facility is expected to meet approximately 75% of OSEPL’s overall cell requirements. The remaining demand will continue to be met through external sourcing in the near term.
Oswal Pumps’ existing and planned module manufacturing lines, comprising an approximately 570 MW line and an additional 1 GW line currently under development, are considered sufficient to meet its requirements. Further expansion of module capacity could increase the company’s dependence on externally sourced cells, particularly amid supply constraints associated with DCR requirements.
Aluminium frames, by comparison, are standardised components that can be procured from the market in the near term. With frame technology continuing to evolve, investing in manufacturing capacity at this stage could expose the company to the risk of capital expenditure becoming obsolete. Solar cells, however, are critical to securing supply and protecting margins, making them a higher-priority investment within the value chain.
Oswal Pumps’ decision builds on its objective of securing assured access to cells compliant with List-II of the Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM). The proposed facility is expected to reduce dependence on third-party suppliers and imported cells at a time when domestic cell availability is constrained.
The facility will also enable the company to use TOPCon cells, which offer higher efficiency and energy yield, supporting the production of higher-wattage, premium solar modules.
These modules are intended for deployment under PM-KUSUM, PM Surya Ghar, rooftop solar projects and other government-linked programmes, helping the company maintain its eligibility to supply projects under these schemes. Lower input and freight costs are also expected to strengthen its competitiveness in price-sensitive government tenders.
Furthermore, end-to-end control over cell and module quality is expected to improve the reliability and warranty performance of the company’s solar pumping systems.
Continued dependence on external cell suppliers would leave the availability and cost of a critical input outside the company’s control, creating strategic exposure for a business that relies on DCR-dependent programmes such as PM-KUSUM and PM Surya Ghar. According to the company’s assessment, a comparative evaluation found captive cell manufacturing to be the more economically viable option.
The proposed facility directly addresses these concerns by securing cell supplies, reducing OSEPL’s exposure to spot-price volatility and deposit demands, and extending value addition beyond module assembly to cell manufacturing. It is also expected to improve margins and profitability at the consolidated level.
The 1.2 GW of EVA encapsulant capacity being retained is considered largely sufficient to serve the company’s module manufacturing operations, with only a small incremental quantity expected to be sourced externally. Investing in the remaining 300 MW of capacity would tie up capital in an encapsulant manufacturing stage that is not the primary constraint on the company’s solar manufacturing economics, unlike solar cells.
All three alternatives involve allocating capital to lower-value activities or areas where existing capacity is considered sufficient. In contrast, the proposed cell manufacturing plant addresses the most critical supply-chain gap and strategic priority within OSEPL’s integrated manufacturing operations.
Commenting on the order, Vivek Gupta, Chairman and Managing Director, Oswal Pumps Limited, said, “The decision to set up a 1.2 GW TOPCon solar cell facility marks a defining step in Oswal Pumps’ journey from a pump manufacturer to a fully integrated solar solutions company. Over the years, we have built strong capabilities in solar modules, pumps, and complete solar pumping systems. Bringing cell manufacturing in-house completes that value chain and gives us greater control over quality, cost and
timelines.”
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Trinasolar Powers Western Sydney Airport with 4.5 MW Rooftop Solar  SolarQuarter
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Moorabool wind farm. Photo: Goldwind
Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) has experienced another remarkable sequence of renewable energy records, highlighting both the growing contribution of rooftop solar and the changing opportunities for making use of available wind and solar generation.
Over five days, from 7 to 11 October 2026, new rooftop photovoltaic (PV) output records were established in South Australia, Victoria, New South Wales and across the NEM, Australia’s main grid.
The sequence culminated on Sunday 11 October, when NEM rooftop PV output reached 17,488 MW at 12:00 AEST, surpassing the previous record of 16,993 MW set on 20 September 2026.
That represents an increase of 495 MW (+2.91%) in just three weeks. Compared with the corresponding historical benchmark of 15,100 MW on 4 October 2025, rooftop PV output was 2,388 MW (+15.81%) higher.
NSW had already established a new record of 6,346 MW on Friday 9 October, following new highs in South Australia and Victoria earlier that week.
Yet alongside this growing solar contribution came another set of records: substantial renewable energy curtailment, prolonged negative wholesale electricity prices and marked differences in how much surplus energy could be absorbed by flexible electricity demand.
On Sunday 11 October, Victoria recorded an instantaneous renewable curtailment peak of 5,709 MW at 12:15 AEST, just 15 minutes after the NEM rooftop PV record.
This exceeded Victoria’s previous record of 5,279 MW, set on 20 September 2026, by 430 MW (+8.15%). Against the historical comparison of 4,798 MW on 10 October 2025, the increase was 911 MW (+18.98%).
Other records included NEM wind curtailment of 6,425 MW, Victoria wind curtailment of 4,229 MW, Victoria solar curtailment of 1,554 MW and South Australia wind curtailment of 1,910 MW. These peaks occurred at different five-minute intervals and should not be interpreted as simultaneous. Together, however, they illustrate the scale of available renewable generation that was not dispatched during the day.
The GPE NEMLog Energy Source chart illustrates the midday curtailment profile through the pink Dolphin Curve, showing how much available renewable generation was not dispatched. The shape provides a useful visual counterpart to the familiar Duck Curve, drawing attention to renewable energy availability beyond dispatched generation. The concept is explored further in the NEMLog explanation and RenewEconomy’s Dolphin Curve feature.
Across the NEM, renewable curtailment totalled approximately 82.3 GWh on 11 October, ranking as the fifth-highest daily total in GPE NEMLog’s historical series extending back to 2018. Victoria accounted for approximately 48.8 GWh, followed by South Australia at 17.9 GWh. Together, the two regions contributed about 81% of the NEM total, illustrating how concentrated the day’s curtailment was geographically.
An estimated 72.4 GWh, or 87.9% of the day’s curtailed renewable energy, occurred during negative-price intervals. South Australia experienced prolonged negative wholesale prices, reaching -$414.98/MWh at 12:10 AEST. At that interval, regional demand was just 301 MW, while AEMO network demand was -74 MW. Grid-scale batteries were consuming 338 MW, renewable curtailment was 2,139 MW and net exports were only 27 MW. Victoria’s wholesale price simultaneously reached -$365.23/MWh.
The Victorian historical summary provides an important distinction between instantaneous peaks and sustained daily conditions. Sunday’s 5,709 MW curtailment peak ranked first historically, while its daily mean of approximately 2,037 MW ranked third. The NEM-wide daily total was exceptional, but it did not surpass the previous daily record.
GPE NEMLog’s absorption fingerprint provides another perspective on Sunday’s conditions by examining observable flexible electricity consumption alongside renewable curtailment. Across the day, flexible load totalled 25.1 GWh, comprising approximately 19.2 GWh of grid-scale battery charging and 5.9 GWh of pumping consumption.
There were substantial regional differences. Flexible-load absorption accounted for approximately 51% of combined observable flexible load and curtailment in NSW and 59% in Queensland. The corresponding figures were only 12% in South Australia and 10% in Victoria, indicating quite different balances between the flexible demand observed and the renewable energy curtailed.
These figures should not be interpreted as the proportion of curtailment that could automatically have been recovered through additional storage. The timing and location of renewable availability, network access, operating constraints and the economics of storage all influence what can realistically be absorbed. The comparison is useful for understanding regional conditions, rather than establishing an optimal level of flexibility.
The scale of Sunday’s curtailment raises an important question: how much renewable energy should the NEM seek to capture, and when does allowing some to go unused make economic sense? It is tempting to regard every curtailed megawatt-hour as a missed opportunity, but that does not necessarily follow from the data.
As explored in an earlier GPE NEMLog analysis, How Much Curtailment Is Enough?, curtailment is not necessarily evidence of market failure or inadequate investment. Some curtailment can be an economically rational outcome when the additional cost of storage, transmission or flexible demand exceeds the value of recovering the energy. The relevant question is therefore not simply how much energy has been curtailed, but what opportunities exist to use more of it productively and at an economically justifiable cost.
This also means that high curtailment and increasing flexibility are not necessarily contradictory observations. Renewable availability can grow faster than the capacity or economic incentive to absorb it, even while storage and flexible demand continue expanding. Understanding that relationship requires more than a single record or a daily total.
Rooftop PV is increasingly shaping conditions across the NEM by reducing demand supplied through the operational grid. On Sun 11 Oct 2026, combined utility-scale solar and rooftop PV output also established a new record share of NEM consumption, reaching 72.29%, compared with 70.80% on 12 Sep 2026.
The GPE NEMLog Energy Source dashboard illustrates the changing generation mix and solar contribution throughout the day. This growing consumer-side contribution is changing the conditions experienced by grid-connected generators and other market participants.
However, another dimension remains less visible. While GPE NEMLog provides estimates of rooftop PV output and tracks grid-scale renewable curtailment, it cannot separately quantify rooftop solar energy curtailed behind the meter through export limits, inverter controls or other mechanisms.
Similarly, the growing contribution of household and consumer batteries is not fully observable in the same way as grid-scale battery charging and discharging.
This visibility gap matters as consumer energy resources become an increasingly important influence on operational demand and wholesale market conditions.
Better information would help distinguish changing patterns of consumption, generation, storage and curtailment, while recognising that consumer-owned assets serve household and business priorities as well as potential wider system needs.
The October records are not simply a story about renewable generation growing faster than the electricity system can accommodate. They reveal a changing set of opportunities and choices. Some available renewable energy can be moved through transmission, stored for later use or consumed by flexible demand, while some may be more economically left unused.
At the same time, the rapid growth of rooftop solar and consumer batteries is changing where electricity is produced, how consumers respond and how much of that activity is visible to the wider market.
These developments raise questions that cannot be answered by curtailment figures alone. How effectively is the NEM responding to periods of renewable abundance? Which additional opportunities for flexibility are genuinely valuable? And how do we recognise the choices and priorities of consumers whose assets may increasingly influence the wider system?
Eliminating curtailment is not necessarily the objective. The more useful question may be whether the NEM is becoming better at recognising and making use of the opportunities renewable abundance creates, while understanding when allowing some energy to go unused is the sensible outcome.
Source: GPE NEMLog analysis of NEM generation, rooftop PV, dispatch, pricing, renewable curtailment and flexible-load data. All times AEST. Curtailment values represent GPE NEMLog estimates of available renewable output not dispatched.
Geoff Eldridge is a National Electricity Market (NEM) and Energy Transition Observer at Global Power Energy.
In "Chart of the day"
In "Chart of the day"
In "Chart of the day"
Geoff Eldridge is a National Electricity Market (NEM) and Energy Transition Observer at Global Power Energy.
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Brisbane-based LGI has entered into a binding agreement with the IIG Solar Asset Trust to acquire the 34.5 MW Brigalow and 19.9 MW Chinchilla solar farms in Queensland, adding 54 MW of solar generation to it hybrid energy generation and storage platform.
The company said the $22 million (USD 15.37 million) purchase price equates to approximately $500,000 per MW and is “materially below greenfield development cost for comparable assets.”
“Chinchilla and Brigalow are proven, operational assets acquired well below replacement cost that complement our existing distributed grid-connected footprint,” LGI Chief Executive Officer Jarryd Doran said, noting that the deal significantly expands the company’s renewable generation base and strengthens its position in utility-scale solar.”
“With this acquisition, the company upgrades its medium-term strategic pipeline target to over 120 MW of distributed, renewable, dispatchable capacity, while remaining fully committed to developing the 80 MW high-conviction pipeline previously announced,” he said.
Chinchilla Solar Farm, located about 10 kilometres northwest of the town in Queensland’s Western Downs region, has 19.9 MW installed and 14.7 MW export capacity and commenced commercial operations in 2019. The Brigalow Solar Farm at Yarranlea, 42 km southwest of Toowoomba, has 34.5 MW installed and 27.3 MW of export capacity and began operating in 2021. The farms generated 20,981 MWh and 33,229 MWh respectively in 2025. Both facilities have more than 30 years remaining on their land leases, and both sell all their output into the spot market.
LGI, which develops and operates landfill gas energy recovery projects across Australia, said the purchase of the solar farms is a natural extension of the company’s strategic objective to grow its renewable generation base.
“Both solar farms align with our existing operational model, being inverter-based assets connected directly to regional networks,” the company said in a statement, noting that it has intensified its assessment of solar opportunities over the past year “as valuations have softened in line with energy prices.”
LGI said its focus coincides with rising demand in the National Electricity Market, driven by electric vehicles, industrial electrification and merging high-consumption sectors such as data centres.
“At the same time, the supply side is undergoing rapid structural change as variable renewable generation enters the market and conventional thermal generation approaches end-of-life, with declining reliability,” LGI said.
“Against this backdrop, the company sees positive medium to long term tailwinds for electricity markets, underpinned by rising demand and a fundamentally shifting supply mix.”
LGI said it intends to transition the maintenance and operation of the Chinchilla and Brigalow solar farms in-house and will apply its proprietary Dynamic Asset Control System (DACS) across both sites to optimise energy dispatch and improve price outcomes.
The company said preliminary studies on battery energy storage system (BESS) integration have been initiated at both sites with early viability supporting a case to consider expanding these sites with batteries over time.
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Energies Media
A low loader hauled the site’s main transformer into Horsham on a record breaking run through grain country.
It arrived in the Wimmera, a flat farming plain most Australians picture with silos and harvest trucks.
Not high voltage switch rooms and tracker rows.
On September 3, 2026, the team closed the switch.
And 212,296 solar panels sent current into the state grid for the first time.
So what does a dry, wind driven grain belt actually do to a solar farm once it is standing in it?
The Wimmera’s summer wind is the first thing every panel has to reckon with. Strong northerlies cross the plain at speed after harvest, lifting fine dust, chaff and pollen off bare paddocks. A soiled panel surface in a dry Australian summer can cut output by several percent within days, and flat ground gives the dust nothing to slow it down.
So soiling is a seasonal certainty here rather than an occasional inconvenience. The same geography that delivers roughly 2,200 sunshine hours a year to the Wimmera also guarantees the dust that follows. That is why the site’s exceptional solar resource came bundled with a cleaning schedule no coastal installation ever needed.
Tracker arrays compound the problem. Each row pivots through the day, so a cleaning vehicle cannot find the same surface angle twice in a morning. Managing that cycle is a discipline flat land operators are still developing.
From the Western Highway at Horsham, the array is almost invisible until a driver is nearly on top of it, because the plain is so flat the tracker rows hide behind their own boundary fence until the last moment. Then the panels appear, row after row, tilted northeast in the morning and rolling slowly west through the afternoon.
The completed site covers the panels, a tracker system, the transformer, a switch room substation and the cables and earth grid needed to carry power off the land. Getting that heavy transformer load down a regional highway without closing the road required a specialist multi axle convoy, a pre dawn operation farmers noticed long before the project reached any news feed.
The tracker rows give the farm a quality a fixed tilt array never has. It looks different every hour, swinging almost vertical by late afternoon to catch the last western light against the dry paddocks beside it.
The farm connected to the grid for the first time in early September 2026, marking the shift from mechanical completion into commissioning, a staged process of testing the electrical infrastructure before generation begins. The switch room was closed for the first time with live current on the incoming side, a step that cannot be reversed without a full planned shutdown.
Combined with a 100 MW two hour battery system, the project is expected to power more than 51,000 Victorian homes each year once it reaches commercial operation. The battery sits on the same land parcel, built to absorb the Wimmera’s midday surplus and release it into the early evening peak.
More than 400 people worked on the project, and around 20 apprentices gained hands on experience in Victoria’s renewable sector. For Horsham, a regional center of roughly 13,000 people, that workforce represented a material share of non agricultural employment during construction.
The state grid operator’s executive general manager for assets, Lane Crockett, described the moment plainly: “What we are marking today is one of the most important milestones on any renewable energy project as it moves from construction to contributing renewable energy to the grid.”
The battery is where the location introduces its sharpest tension. A two hour battery paired with a solar farm is meant to shift generation into the late afternoon and capture higher evening prices. But if panels lose output to soiling before the dispatch window opens, the shift shrinks.
That interaction is sharper here than in a wetter climate, because Wimmera mornings rarely carry the dew that coastal humidity provides elsewhere. A panel carrying chaff dust on a Tuesday may still carry most of it by the weekend unless a crew intervenes.
Access is the secondary complication. Unsealed farm tracks turn soft after heavy rain, which in a wet winter can lock maintenance crews away from tracker pivots for days. As covered in this desk’s floating solar study, placing panels on non land surfaces is one way operators sidestep the access problem entirely.
The Horsham farm is the first state backed solar park in the Wimmera and the largest industrial object the plain has carried in its modern history. Its position on the corridor linking South Australia’s wind heavy grid to Melbourne means a 119 MW injection point here tightens a line never designed to carry this much renewable output.
That transmission value is separate from the household figure and arguably more significant for the grid’s long term architecture. For neighboring grain farmers, the project has already changed the horizon of a plain that looked the same for decades. The state operator’s own project page confirms commercial operation is targeted for 2027, with battery modules still to arrive and hot commissioning tests ahead.
As broader evidence from Asian markets confirms, solar deployment is reshaping the economics of land once valued purely for what it could grow. Commissioning will test every assumption about soiling and battery efficiency under real conditions.
What September 3 settled is the simpler fact. The cable is live, the current is moving, and the wheat fields beside the park are still standing exactly where they were.
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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Premier Energies secured ₹4,001 crore worth of orders in Q2 FY27, driven by 2,308 MW in solar cell and module supply agreements. The strong commercial momentum coincides with significant capacity expansion, as module capacity nearly doubled to 11.1 GW and solar cell capacity expanded to 10.6 GW.
Market snapshot: Premier Energies Limited secured new order wins aggregating to ₹4,001 crore during Q2 FY2027. The order inflows encompass 2,308 MW of solar cell and module supplies alongside EPC project execution, supported by recent manufacturing capacity expansions.
Premier Energies' substantial order intake highlights growing market share for integrated domestic manufacturers amidst India's expanding renewable energy buildout. By aligning aggressive capacity expansion in TOPCon cells with large-scale off-take agreements, the company is fortifying multi-quarter revenue visibility across execution cycles.
Strengthens revenue visibility for upcoming financial periods and underlines the structural advantages enjoyed by vertically integrated solar component makers under domestic sourcing requirements.
Market Bias: Bullish
Order additions of ₹4,001 crore in Q2 FY27 alongside cell manufacturing capacity expansion to 10.6 GW provide strong operational tailwinds for revenue trajectory.
Overweight: Renewable Energy Equipment, Solar Manufacturing, Capital Goods
Trigger Factors:
Time Horizon: Medium-term (3-12 months)
Demand for domestic solar manufacturing remains buoyed by policy frameworks such as Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) regulations and domestic content requirement schemes, pushing project developers toward large integrated domestic suppliers.
In September 2026, Premier Energies commissioned its 7 GW TOPCon solar cell plant in Naidupeta, Andhra Pradesh, incorporated a wholly-owned subsidiary in Singapore, and announced a joint venture with RCT India to establish a 12 GWh battery storage facility.
With ₹4,001 crore in Q2 order wins and expanded cell and module manufacturing scale, Premier Energies is well-positioned to solidify its position in the domestic solar infrastructure ecosystem.
High Performance Trading with SAHI.
Disclaimer: This news section may include AI-generated or AI-assisted news, summaries, drafts, or insights. All content is subject to human review before publication. While we aim for accuracy, readers should independently verify information before relying on it.
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New figures have revealed that solar panel fire have reached an eight year high for Dorset’s fire service.
Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service attended 12 incidents involving solar photovoltaic (PV) systems in 2025, up from five the previous year and marking the highest annual total since at least 2018.
Of the 12 incidents last year, seven took place at domestic properties, two at industrial sites, two at commercial premises, and one at a solar farm.
Despite the rise in incidents, solar panel-related fires remain relatively rare.
A spokesperson for Dorset & Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said the drive towards net zero emissions and the use of alternative and renewable energy sources inevitably comes with “some challenges”.
However, the fire service said that increased reports of fires involving solar PV installations “must be considered in light of the significant increase in the number of installations”.
In comparison, the service attended two incidents in 2018, three in both 2019 and 2020, five in 2021, two in 2022, four in 2023, and five in 2024.
The figures were revealed through a Freedom of Information request and highlighted by the Energy Incident Register, which tracks incidents involving renewable energy and electricity infrastructure.
The register notes that where a specific cause was identified, fires were more often linked to electrical components such as inverters, cabling, isolators, and fuse boards rather than the solar panels themselves.
A separate FOI response identified 11 solar panel-related fires in 2025, with the discrepancy attributed to a different search of incident records.
The fire service stressed the importance of proper installation and ongoing maintenance.
The spokesperson said: “Solar PV systems are an increasingly common feature on homes and businesses, and, as with any electrical installation, it is important that they are correctly maintained and used safely.
“Our advice to homeowners and businesses is to ensure solar PV systems, and any associated batteries, are installed by a competent, appropriately qualified installer and in accordance with relevant standards and manufacturers’ instructions.
“It is important to remember that good quality components are an essential part of any safe system or installation.”
Businesses are advised to include solar installations in their fire risk assessments, while residents in multi-occupied buildings should consult building managers before installing plug-in solar PV systems.
The editor of the Energy Incident Register said: “Fires involving solar panels are still rare, but the service’s records show them rising as installations grow.
“Where a part is named it is usually the electrics, the inverter, the isolator or the cabling, and those are the parts that inspection and maintenance can check.”
Incidents recorded in Dorset include a roof-space fire involving a solar inverter in Ferndown in 2023 and a fire at a Travelodge in Poole in 2024.
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Neighbors weigh impacts on views, businesses and safety as developer outlines potential benefits
Anna Watson
Sunday, Oct 11, 2026 5:00 AM MT

A proposal for a utility-scale solar and battery storage project about five miles east of Cortez and south of U.S. Highway 160 has drawn opposition from some nearby residents and business owners, while others close by say they support the development.
Members of the group NoValleyRange say the project’s location and scale could alter the scenery near Mesa Verde National Park and hurt property values, tourism and surrounding business operations. They also question the safety of the proposed battery energy storage system.
Supporters, including other homeowners, say the proposed Valley Range Energy Park would bring benefits to the community and that the developer, Accelergen Energy, has responded to their concerns.
Accelergen is applying for a high-impact and special-use permit from Montezuma County to build a 125-megawatt solar energy generation facility. The designs include 900 acres of panels and a 62.5-megawatt battery energy storage system on the project site’s northwest corner.

The proposed site lies south of the Montezuma County Fairgrounds in a tract of high-desert terrain between U.S. 160 and County Road H. It would be about three miles northwest of Mesa Verde, according to an estimate from Accelergen project developer Matt Ryan.
County Road H residents Bryan and Joanne Davis, a married couple who co-own and operate the Dolly Wampus Chocolate Factory south of the proposed site, are leading the opposition group NoValleyRange and manage its website. Brandi and Kent Atkinson, who own and operate Bright Star Campground and reside on Road H, also participate in the group.
They said the group consists of residents from two nearby neighborhoods and has launched a petition that garnered a significant number of signatures from the larger Cortez community. The group has also organized neighborhood meetings, attended town halls and plans to attend upcoming public hearings.
“We are sheep farmers, chocolate shop owners, campground owners, retirees and ordinary folks. NoValleyRange is not a partisan group, our members span the political spectrum. However, we are united in our effort to stop this project,” a NoValleyRange statement reads.

Bryan Davis said while nearby residents and businesses fear the project could decrease home values or put adjacent businesses at risk, its proximity to Mesa Verde is a primary concern.
He said the solar array would impede views from overlooks on the park’s north side in a way that harms the visitor experience. The group describes Mesa Verde, home to a well-preserved concentration of Ancestral Pueblo dwellings, as “a cultural treasure” that drives the local economy through tourism.
“The giant scale of the solar facility, given the location, is the number one issue,” Davis said.
National Park Service officials from Mesa Verde have not responded to a request for comment despite phone and email requests to the news media office and superintendent Amanda McCutcheon.

Brandi Atkinson said unobstructed views of the La Plata Mountains, Sleeping Ute Mountain and Mesa Verde draw campers to Bright Star, at 30261 County Road H. She said guests come for vacationing and to host retreats, school activities, weddings and other events.
She said she worries construction would disrupt the experience and threaten their ability to continue operating.
“Our business would be completely gone,” she said. “We wouldn’t survive the construction.”
The developers say they acknowledge onlookers would be able to see the solar installation from Mesa Verde overlooks, but say it doesn’t damage the view because visitors already look over the city of Cortez.
Ryan said he initiated meetings with neighbors starting in December 2025. Several voiced concerns about proximity, the visual impact, noise and dust and in response he said he shifted the project layout further east, creating 1,500- to 2,000-foot setbacks for the Cielo Bonito Ranches.
“We weren’t able to make as many concessions for the neighbors further south,” he said.
For residents sharing a property line or living within 1,000 feet of the solar panels, Ryan said Accelergen is negotiating formal agreements that cover up to $75,000 of the difference if a neighbor decides to sell their property but cannot receive fair market value if determined by an independent assessor.
He said those draft agreements were sent to the Bright Star Campground, the Desert Mesa Estates nearby subdivision, Crooked Sky Ranch, and a fourth resident whose home sits at the end of County Road H on the elevated butte, giving him a bird’s-eye view of the solar installation.
“I hope everyone understands I am not trying to stiff-arm anyone and ignore what they’re saying. These projects are planned years in advance so they can take into account different considerations,” Ryan said.
Other property owners nearby support the proposal.
Eve O’Neill and Richard Garrard own two properties in the Cielo Bonito subdivision, including one that would share a fence with the project. O’Neill said they have no affiliation with Accelergen but began participating in its public outreach campaign after the project was announced.
Garrard said his support for solar stems from his career, which was with the Department of Veterans Affairs before he retired. His last project involved a traumatic brain injury center for veterans returning from Iraq, an experience that shaped his views on the human costs of war and a national dependence on oil.
“Here we are: in another war for oil. No one is talking about the soldiers, no one is talking about global warming and how it causes fires that kill our firefighters and wipe out our water,” Garrard said.
He said those experiences lead him to support renewable energy projects such as Valley Range.
“We believe that it’s important everybody do what they can to take care of the problems that we’re creating,” Garrard said.
O’Neill said early on, they raised concerns with Accelergen about lighting and the project’s effects on the area’s dark skies when the developer initially proposed motion-detected lights.
After they questioned whether wind would repeatedly activate them, Accelergen agreed to use light switches instead, she said.
“They have been very responsive to our concerns,” O’Neill said.
Valley Range is seeking a permit with Montezuma County, and Accelergen submitted the application in early September. The planning department is reviewing the 21-sectioned proposal, said county attorney Stephen Tarnowski.
Tarnowski said if the application moves forward, a review will be scheduled before the Planning and Zoning Commission, and the full proposal will be available to the public through the county’s Public Notices portal.
The planning commission makes a recommendation of approval or denial to the county commissioners. An application recommended for approval moves to the commissioners for review. If the planning commission recommends denial, Accelergen can still petition for a hearing before the commissioners, Tarnowski said.
Both the planning commission and commissioners’ hearings would involve public comment. Tarnowski said the planning department is expected to present a procedures resolution to the commissioners next week to clarify the process.
“Most pertinently, their intent is to create a public comment opportunity through the planning portal on the county website, and allow the public to submit written comments there up to seven days before a hearing,” Tarnowski wrote in an email.
If implemented, no written comments would be accepted at the hearings, he said. Verbal comments would follow the same format as typical board meetings.
The commissioners consider the application, staff reports, planning commission recommendations, applicable regulations and public testimony as part of the official hearing process, according to the county.
Accelergen says the project would power 50,000 homes. Locally, the developers also say it would bring additional electricity for local cooperatives and annual tax revenue for schools, the county and other entities designated in the site’s tax district. The project’s capital expenditures budget, meaning the amount the company invests, ranges from $240 to $300 million, according to Ryan.

Empire Electric Association and three other cooperatives signed a letter of intent to purchase power from the project if it receives county permitting approval, according to a Monday, Oct. 5, joint news release. 

In follow-up answers from Accelergen and Empire, they stated a power purchase agreement is being negotiated.
The other cooperatives are Gunnison County Electric Association, San Luis Valley Rural Electric Cooperative and San Miguel Power Association.
The cooperatives plan to purchase 96.5 megawatts of the project’s expected 125-megawatt capacity, with Empire’s share totaling 39 megawatts, according to the follow-up statement. Accelergen said it hopes to sell the remaining 28.5 megawatts to another local utility, but a buyer has not been identified.
The battery storage system is a valuable asset, allowing grid stability and for power to stored until periods of high demand then sold to Tri-State Generation and Transmission at a markup.
EEA Valley Range News Release 10.5.pdf (Download PDF)
EEA Valley Range News Release 10.5.pdf
Empire said it intends to purchase a share of the power supplied by the solar and a share of the battery storage capacity and sell both at a markup. Empire said the revenue generated from the project would slow rate increases for its members and allow for long-term infrastructure upgrades through generating a source of revenue other than from its members.
Examples provided by the utility include replacing aging substations and repairing utility lines in high-risk areas for fire.
Commissioners of Wyandotte County in Kansas City, Kansas, in May approved a special use permit for battery storage facility by Accelergen, with a $250 million capital expenditures budget, which is for the energy storage component and does not include solar panels, according to reporting from the Kansas City Star.
Both Davis and Atkinson raise concerns about the battery energy storage system, commonly referred to as BESS. They fear a battery failure could lead to a dangerous fire that’s difficult to suppress.

Davis pointed to fires elsewhere, including the fire at California’s Moss Landing Power Plant, as a reason for scrutiny.
A January 2025 fire at the Vistra Corp-owned battery storage facility damaged about 55% of its batteries, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. More than 1,300 residents were evacuated.
The EPA is overseeing the lithium-ion battery removal from the Moss Landing site, stating battery fires can release harmful gases that pose health risks. The damaged lithium-ion batteries also pose an ongoing risk of fire and more flames ignited 1,300 damaged battery modules at the Moss Landing site Sept. 18.
Davis, who previously lived near Moss Landing, said he fears a fire of the Moss Landing magnitude would devastate the county, contending the widespread, resulting news coverage would discourage tourists from coming to Montezuma County and hurt businesses.
Emily King Kinsey, a Valley Range representative, said Moss Landing is not a comparable example because of differences in battery chemistry and facility design. The proposed battery storage containers would take up an acre, with the overall fencing and access roads for the entire BESS site spanning roughly 10 acres, according to the project developer Ryan.
King Kinsey said the proposed Valley Range battery system would use lithium-iron phosphate batteries, which she described as more stable than the nickel-manganese-cobalt chemistry used at Moss Landing.
The EPA states lithium battery fires across facilities have raised legitimate safety questions for communities. Those incidents raise important questions for installation and management guidance, the agency states, such as for considerations for fire suppression and first responders’ safety, emissions and the environmental impact within proper cleanup if an incident were to occur.
The agency also notes despite recent high-profile incidents, improvements in battery storage quality and design standards that have led to a decrease in the number of failures for the rate they are deployed.
The Electric Power Research Institute tracks BESS failures and the root cause, where available.
Davis said he asked the commissioners during a town hall Monday to consider a moratorium on BESS until the failure rate is lower for any project’s total lifespan.
Roy Wilkinson, fire chief for Cortez Fire Protection District, said the department is evaluating the potential hazards and associated risks of a BESS, including the likelihood and potential consequences of incidents that could impact emergency response operations or public safety.
“Our review is intended to provide a better understanding of the risks associated with the proposed system and to identify appropriate prevention, mitigation, and emergency response considerations,” he said.
Ryan said Accelergen submitted a draft of an emergency response plan to Wilkinson around a month ago.
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The Pulse
Solar panels can change the water beneath them — and that’s just the start.
Scientists began trying to find out what would happen if large parts of a lake surface became covered by floating solar panel systems.
Very little was known about how those installations might affect the water below.
This was due to more than just the sun shining down on the water.
Almost 3 full years of monitoring took place at one of the world’s largest floating solar parks located on a sand extraction lake in Oudehaske, Netherlands.
These conclusions came from a larger research project aimed at understanding the impact of floating solar on aquatic ecosystems.
As floating solar is now being installed on lakes and reservoirs worldwide, questions regarding its influence on aquatic ecosystems have become more relevant.
There are some benefits to using floating solar.
The use of floating solar greatly reduces the amount of land required for a solar array.
There are also areas where floating solar provides shade over bodies of water.
Therefore, determining the implications of this additional shading for the lake below the solar panels is the primary goal.
 
A model was developed using field data from the floating solar installation.
It combined information on primary production, light availability, and water temperature to determine how these factors affected the aquatic system.
One factor received particular attention.
When a section of a lake becomes shaded by floating solar panels, less light enters the water below.
To gain further insight into how much light actually penetrated through the water under floating solar panels, almost three years’ worth of monitoring data were collected at the floating solar location.
The analysis indicated significant variations existed in the water quality beneath the floating solar installation.
Concentrations of dissolved oxygen were notably lower beneath the floating solar arrays.
Primary production in the top layer of water exhibited a marked decrease.
These results demonstrated that alterations occurring near the surface impacted conditions in deeper layers of the lake.
While there were notable changes in light penetration associated with floating solar, other concerns emerged from monitoring efforts.
Dissolved oxygen levels are often used as an indicator of aquatic ecosystem health.
Primary production is another important measure.
As highlighted by ASLO, it supports zooplankton, nutrient cycling, and higher levels of the food web.
As a result, declines in primary production can affect much more than the organisms producing it.
Understanding the scale of those effects requires long-term monitoring.
Previous studies concerning floating solar systems have typically examined physical variables or monitored lake conditions over relatively short durations.
Observations taken over longer durations provide insights into changes occurring in aquatic ecosystems during multiple seasons.
Monitoring programs conducted in Oudehaske lasted over multiple years as opposed to focusing on seasonal trends.
Deltares found that combining long-term monitoring with modeling revealed patterns that may have been missed during shorter studies.
With many countries actively developing floating solar technology, the number of inquiries about environmental impacts is increasing accordingly.
These findings do not imply that all floating solar projects will produce similar results.
They do illustrate why continuous ecological monitoring is necessary.
One of the clearest conclusions was the importance of conducting multi-year monitoring programs and collecting baseline data before and after installation.
A combination of modeling techniques with field-based observations was used to estimate light penetration and assess water quality at the floating solar installation.
Through such combinations of modeling and monitoring, it became possible to move past simple assumptions in addressing changes related to floating solar.
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Multi-parameter collaborative optimization design of photovoltaic power plants considering electricity spot market trading  Frontiers
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California boasts some of the highest retail electricity rates in the country, second only to Hawaii, despite being the fourth-largest electricity producer.
California’s high energy prices are the direct consequence of a misguided policy that pushes renewables ahead of fossil fuels. An “all of the above” approach that combined fossil fuels with renewables would naturally lower prices, prevent rate spikes, and ensure reliability. Such a balance is sorely needed. 
Since the 2002 inception of California’s Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS), which mandated that renewable energy would encompass 20% of all energy production in the state by 2017, the goalposts have moved further to the extreme.
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The goal was first expanded in 2015 to 50% by 2030, then in 2018 to 60% by 2030, with an ultimate goal of 100% by 2045. These rules require utilities to get a rising share of their power from renewables, at a cost higher than the market would otherwise choose. Utilities recover those extra costs by jacking up rates for consumers.
The California Independent System Operator (CAISO) operates the wholesale electricity market for about 80% of California and a small portion of Nevada. In doing so, it supports Sacramento’s renewable energy push, even as it creates reliability and pricing challenges.
CAISO is supposed to provide the cheapest electricity available at any given time from the nearest, most affordable, and available source possible. Solar and wind are made to appear cheaper than natural gas and other traditional fuels, thanks to government subsidies to solar and wind. Despite having its market share forcibly diminished by renewables, natural gas still provided 31% of California’s total net electricity generation in 2025.
For example, the California Solar Initiative provided billions in rooftop solar subsidies before shuttering in 2016. Those without solar energy paid billions in costs until reforms were made in April 2023. .
Curtailment is another problem. It forces to utilities to buy excess solar energy even when consumers aren’t using it. Consumers absorb this loss and pay higher rates for wasted energy.
And since solar energy is prioritized during the day, natural gas plants are forced to limit production even to the point of remaining idle. However, when the sun sets and demand increases substantially, natural gas power plants must ramp up production, which can be more costly than producing at a consistent rate.
To address that issue, California has deployed large-scale utility battery storage to absorb excess midday solar energy, releasing that energy at night to reduce reliance on gas ramping. So far, 21,860 MW of storage has come online, and California also uses batteries located out-of-state.
But battery capacity is being stretched beyond the 4-to-8 hour capability of current storage. That’s because solar and wind are intermittent, and so gas plants are needed to cover seasonal lulls or multi-day periods when solar and wind are low. That increases maintenance costs, and makes gas power more expensive to maintain on a unit basis, even while the state depends on it for a reliable electricity supply.
California’s “cap-and-invest” program to fight climate change adds significant compliance costs for producers. These costs are inevitably passed on to consumers as higher rates. To offset these cost increases, California started the California Climate Credit, essentially a dividend returned to consumers. However, in California fashion, this does nothing to address the notoriously high rates and the policies that cause them; it simply puts a band-aid on a growing problem instead of providing meaningful financial relief.
Despite the costs, Sacramento continues its years-long campaign to force consumers to accept a manipulated market that prioritizes environmental politics over affordability and reliability.
Californians regularly pay unnecessarily high rates. The solution is simple: let the market provide all kinds of energy, and stop the renewable mandates and subsidies that drive costs higher.
Caleb Jasso is a Senior Policy Advisor at the Institute for Energy Research.
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Universal’s Newest Theme Park Has a Floating Solar Farm, and It’s Already Being Used  Yahoo Tech
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In Murcia, Spain, photovoltaic arrays track the sun’s path while providing cover for an array of crops that includes bell peppers, wine grapes and dragon fruit. This sun-drenched southeastern area, whose economy leans heavily on farming, is testing whether agriculture and solar power can share the same ground instead of vying for it.
Silvia Tomasi, a senior researcher at Eurac Research, defines agrivoltaics as the pairing of food cultivation with renewable power generation. In practice, she notes, this means placing solar modules over, among or along the edges of productive farmland.
Research published in 2023 calculated that agrivoltaics, sometimes called agri-PV, could allow Europe to produce 25 times the electricity it currently consumes.
Solar energy, however, carries its own social and environmental burdens. Because it needs more surface area than other generation methods to yield the same output, it has triggered disputes over how land is used, particularly in the countryside.
Tomasi sees strong economic and ecological promise in agrivoltaics, though she cautions that outcomes hinge on how the technology is deployed and who ultimately gains.
In January, Elon Musk gave the notion of making southern Europe a solar hub a prominent boost, stating that thinly populated parts of Spain and Sicily could in theory produce sufficient solar electricity for the whole continent.
Major technology companies are already involved. Amazon and Apple have agreed to buy electricity from sizable agrivoltaic installations in southern Italy, with a total capacity exceeding 150 megawatts, which could cover the annual consumption of about 100,000 Italian homes.
Public money is flowing in as well. The AGRISOL initiative, backed by the EU, plans to channel EUR1.9 million into agrivoltaic ventures in countries such as Italy and Spain, and Italy by itself has obtained EUR1.7 billion in state support for the effort.
Angelo Gentili, national secretary of Legambiente, Italy’s biggest environmental group, describes agrivoltaics as a tiny contributor at present, but predicts it will deliver a substantial push toward decarbonisation if it grows.
Rules at both EU and national levels increasingly demand that farming stay a substantial component of any land hosting solar panels. French projects must keep at least 90 per cent of crop output relative to locally set benchmark yields, while Italy requires that no less than 70 per cent of the surface remain in agricultural use.
Specialists argue that merely combining solar and farming should not automatically count. Pilar Flores, who leads an EU-funded agrivoltaics effort at the Murcian Institute for Agricultural and Environmental Research and Development, contends that a classification system matters more than a definition. In her view, safeguarding agriculture ought to guide any such classification, with the central aim being to keep losses of arable land to a minimum.
Why put panels on farmland when vacant or derelict parcels exist? Flores explains that the criteria overlap: land that is fairly level and close to the grid is preferred. She also points out that unused land can carry ecological importance, so the decision is not merely a matter of tallying up available acreage.
Studies have shown that agrivoltaics can, in certain situations, boost water-use efficiency, shield crops from severe weather and raise the productivity of the land. Solar arrays may also assist farmers coping with a changing climate. Gentili notes that heavy rain and heat have badly harmed fields, driving growers to give up farming, and argues that agrivoltaics offer a valuable tool for preventing both abandonment and income shortfalls.
The shade from panels can cut evaporation, assist soil in holding moisture and bring comfort to workers and livestock. It can also shield crops from hail. Growers may use the electricity for their own needs and feed surplus into the grid, or lease the airspace above their land to power companies.
Flores cautions, however, that such advantages cannot be taken for granted. She observes that these possibilities are often described as though they inevitably occur, when in reality they depend on the particular agrivoltaic setup and the traits of the site. Her team in Murcia discovered that peppers under water stress thrived more under panels than those that were well irrigated. Every situation and every place, she says, requires its own assessment.
Some farmers remain sceptical. Fabrizio Garbarino, who heads the Italian farmers’ union Associazione Rurale Italiana, believes agrivoltaics sidestep the underlying difficulties growers confront. He argues that the sector is exploiting the crisis in Italian farming, when the real priority should be genuine remedies to stop farmland from being abandoned, calling the approach a mere shortcut.
He says startups acting for bigger corporations, data centre builders among them, are pressuring farmers to hand over their land. Even when the electricity is clean, he contends, land is being diverted from farmers to serve energy-hungry businesses.
Technology giants maintain that agrivoltaic power-purchase agreements assist them in meeting net-zero commitments. Yet a PPA does not guarantee that power from a given solar farm physically reaches a specific company site, and the precise carbon impact of AI data centres stays unclear.
A 2025 study co-authored by Tomasi, drawing on expert interviews in four European regions, concluded that agrivoltaics can tilt benefits toward big farmers, landowners and investors at the expense of smaller growers and nearby communities. It further found that shutting residents and ecosystems out of decisions can entrench existing power disparities.
Because of steep initial expenses and lengthy grid connection waits, large ventures financed by multinationals tend to control the industry. A 2025 review by the Italian outlet Today.it revealed that roughly 86 per cent of about EUR775 million in public funding for agrivoltaic schemes went to large-scale projects, some of them owned by foreign multinationals.
In September, an agrivoltaics development in Tuscany bankrolled by an Israeli firm provoked broad anger and prompted questions about who stands to gain.
Tomasi insists that local populations need a say to guarantee a fair transition. In her view, large investors entering unfamiliar places with a top-down mindset and capturing the financial rewards from the energy-generation side of agrivoltaics should not have their projects called agrivoltaics at all.
Flores suggests that authorities can assist by providing farmers with financial support and granting agrivoltaic systems preferential grid access.
Another unresolved matter is what sort of farming the revenue sustains. One study has observed that if the environmental pledge is to be honoured, the kind of agriculture financed by rental income from agrivoltaics must not be treated as an afterthought. The author proposes that such rent could instead fund agroecological methods or assist farmers in moving away from industrial agriculture.
Agrivoltaics could prove advantageous to both growers and the renewable energy industry. It may help safeguard farmland, aid farmers dealing with climate change and advance Europe’s decarbonisation targets. Yet it also carries the danger of turning into a greenwashing tool, a prop for unsustainable farming, or a means of satisfying rising corporate power needs on productive soil. By itself, it is no cure-all. A great deal rests on how systems are engineered, who holds ownership and, in the end, who gains.
Flores states that agrivoltaics exists to protect farmland and the whole ecosystem, and that this is its guiding principle. She adds that it must be possible to tell that apart from other agendas.
The Magma Environmental Reporting Fellowship made reporting for this story possible.
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Pakistan’s solar boom has happened largely because ordinary people took matters into their own hands. Faced with expensive, unreliable electricity, households and businesses have put solar panels on rooftops and batteries in basements.

SOLAR POWER
Pakistan’s solar boom has happened largely because ordinary people took matters into their own hands. Faced with expensive, unreliable electricity, households and businesses have put solar panels on rooftops and batteries in basements.
What began as a way to reduce electricity bills has created something truly remarkable: millions of people are now producing some of their own electricity. However, the solar revolution has come about without a plan to share its benefits with everyone, especially those who may not have access to it.
Pakistan’s electricity debate is still largely about the old system: whether the national grid should be abandoned or reformed. At the same time, the country waits for a new electricity market that would allow large power producers and large users to buy and sell electricity more directly. But even when that market opens, it will deal mainly with large-scale electricity trading. It will not solve how ordinary households can trade electricity with one another, especially since Pakistan’s solar boom has already changed how electricity is produced.
By 2025, Pakistan had imported more than 50GW of solar panels. Estimates put the country’s distributed solar capacity at around 33GW at the time, and it has since grown to around 38GW. The important point is not simply that Pakistan now has a lot of solar panels on rooftops; it is that millions of electricity consumers are becoming electricity producers too.
During the day, many homes and businesses produce more solar electricity than they need. Much of that extra electricity goes unused. At the same time, many households cannot afford solar panels and batteries and remain dependent on an expensive, unreliable electricity supply. This has created two very different experiences of electricity generation and consumption: those who can afford solar can produce their own power and reduce their dependence on the grid, while those who cannot remain tied to the same system.
Imagine, then, a neighbourhood where homes with solar panels can share their extra electricity with homes that need it. A household doesn’t have to consume or produce all the electricity it needs on its own. Instead, people in the neighbourhood can use what they have collectively.
This is the basic idea behind what is called a swarm-grid, or peer-to-peer electricity trading. In such a network, if one house produces more electricity than it needs, it could sell the extra power to another nearby house instead of wasting it. Batteries could also be shared in this way, allowing electricity produced during the day to be stored for later use.
Significantly, we would not have to build an entirely new electricity system to do this. Pakistan already has millions of solar panels, batteries and inverters sitting on rooftops. The question is whether we can connect them into a swarm-electrification system so entire communities can benefit, not just those who can afford solar. The principle behind such a network is simple: many small electricity systems can work together as one larger local system.
This could also make solar more accessible. A household would not necessarily need a large solar installation to participate in such a network. Smaller systems could contribute what they produce and receive electricity when they need it. As simple and logical as that sounds, and as economically sensible as it is, transitioning to such a system is not easy without political will. The system, its design and rules, do not favour this.
At present, the electricity system is built largely around a relationship between individual consumers and electricity companies. It does not provide a clear and present mechanism for one household to sell electricity directly to another household using the existing electricity network. Importantly, the Nepra Microgrid Regulations, 2022 do not mention ‘peer-to-peer’ energy sharing anywhere. The closest provisions deal with the definition of a microgrid, its connection to the national or provincial grid, and the non-exclusive nature of a licence, rather than peer-to-peer electricity sharing.
Regulation 2(1)(e)(iii), for instance, defines a microgrid as one that “is not connected directly or indirectly to the national grid,” while Regulation 3(6) states that a microgrid shall not be connected to the national or provincial grid, directly or indirectly, except as provided under Regulation 7. Regulation 3(3) further provides that a licence is granted on a non-exclusive basis. None of these provisions establishes a framework for households or other small producers to trade electricity directly with one another.
Pakistan, therefore, needs a separate regulatory framework for swarm grids and peer-to-peer energy sharing if such systems are to move beyond the conceptual or pilot stage.
That does not mean Pakistan should simply open the market and let everyone start selling electricity tomorrow. Important questions must be settled first. How would electricity be measured? Who would maintain the local network? How would people be charged for using it? What happens when something goes wrong? How do we protect consumers?
These questions can be answered by starting small. Pakistan could allow carefully controlled projects in neighbourhoods where solar panels and batteries are already widely used. These projects could test different ways to buy and sell electricity and show what works before the system expands. Work is already underway to develop such models for both urban and rural communities in the country. The Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development (PRIED), for example, has developed a model for local electricity networks in which households and businesses can share electricity and private investors can earn from providing the service. The model is designed for different kinds of communities, but it still needs a regulatory framework to operate.
Shared swarm-electrification also matters for another reason. Pakistan’s solar boom has been largely paid for by citizens themselves. People have invested their own money because the existing electricity system has not met their needs. We should now allow them to get more value from those investments.
Connecting these systems could make better use of electricity that is currently going to waste. It could make electricity more reliable in some communities and create new opportunities for local businesses to install, manage and maintain these systems.
All this, of course, does not mean abandoning the national grid. The national grid could remain the backbone of Pakistan’s electricity system. But underneath it, local networks could let communities make better use of the electricity they are already producing, creating opportunities to decentralise power consumption and production for more just and equitable access.
The country does not need to start its solar transition from scratch. Pakistanis have already done much of the work themselves. They have bought the panels, installed the batteries and created a vast new source of electricity. The next step is to connect them. The solar revolution can become a panacea for the power woes of people deprived of access to electricity by sharing it.

The writer is a researcher at the Policy Research Institute for Equitable Development (PRIED).
Date:

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© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.
If a project involves a fear you cannot get past it may be best to call in a pro.
Photo Credit: iStock
Moving into a first home can make every scuff mark, switch plate, and overgrown patch of yard feel urgent. For one new homeowner, the house needed help, raising the familiar question of which projects are worth doing yourself and which are better left to a professional.
On the r/FirstTimeHomeBuyer subreddit, a poster in a Reddit thread wrote that they had “just moved into my new house and am a bit overwhelmed by the amount of things that need some TLC” and wanted to know which jobs people were glad they handled on their own, versus the ones that made them wish they had hired a pro.
Much of the advice centered on straightforward changes that can quickly refresh a room.
“Painting, curtains, blinds are all things that can really brighten and change a room,” a commenter offered.
One couple said the payoff from small interior updates was bigger than they expected, saying they were “surprised at the difference these made in the overall ‘feel’ of the house.” Their list started with interior painting done “just one room at a time,” then expanded to “easy fixtures like knobs, lights, curtains, and blinds,” along with “light switches, outlet covers, and even a few ceiling fans.”
For anything more technical, commenters stressed checking local rules first. As one person noted, “HVAC, electrical, plumbing, etc. can require permits” whether the work is DIY or done by a professional, adding that the original poster should “check your city website or call and ask.”
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Overall, the thread separated low-stakes cosmetic upgrades from higher-risk work. Bigger repairs seemed to depend more on experience, available tools, and the downside if something went wrong.
The do-it-yourself equation can also change depending on equipment. One commenter said professionals often have “the right tools,” which can affect whether taking on a project yourself actually saves time or money.
Some replies pointed to projects beyond the basics. One homeowner said yard work “became my jam after tackling my yard of weeds” and said it eventually helped create “the nicest lawn in the neighborhood.” The same commenter also described installing “vinyl floors and upgrading sump pump with a battery backup” as worthwhile DIY projects.
Across the responses, the clearest starter list included painting a room, hanging curtains or blinds, and replacing knobs, lights, outlet covers, or even a ceiling fan.
Before moving on to more complicated work, commenters said it’s worth checking permit requirements. One person said, “We pulled a permit for our fence that I did myself.”
That same commenter said the town asked whether an inspection was needed after the post holes were dug to confirm depth, but that “nobody ever once came out to inspect anything.” 
Another commenter offered a more personal rule. If a project involves a fear you cannot get past it may be best to call in a pro.
“None of it is rocket science,” they wrote. “Don’t do anything that REALLY scares you (example, I’m afraid of heights so I’m not getting on the roof no matter how trivial).”
For homeowners sorting out which projects to tackle first, a few practical steps can help.
• One homeowner learned that changing your HVAC filter can freshen the air and cut costs.
• A new homeowner asked Reddit whether transforming a yard with wildflowers would violate housing rules.
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© 2025 THE COOL DOWN COMPANY. All Rights Reserved. Do not sell or share my personal information. Reach us at hello@thecooldown.com.

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MIT Study Pushes Back On One Of The Biggest Solar Energy Myths  Yahoo
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US President Donald Trump is pulling out all the stops in a supposed attempt to save farmers from the high cost of fuel, but he’s shooting at the wrong target. Instead of wheedling a measly few shiploads of diesel from Russia he should be working to help farmers take advantage of new cash crop opportunities in the agrivoltaic movement. Agrivoltaics is where farmers get solar panels and — oops! We lost him at solar panels. Oh, well…maybe Trump doesn’t like farmers after all…
CleanTechnica has been following the agrivoltaic movement since 2017, when researchers began to compile evidence that arrays of solar panels can be designed to make room for grazing animals and crops, enabling farmers to continue using the land for agriculture. Scaleup has been slow, but indications of a breakthrough began to surface in 2022 when the firm Doral Renewables broke ground on the 1.3 gigawatt Mammoth solar power plant spread among land leased from more than 65 families in Starke and Pulaski counties, in the northwest region of Indiana (see more agrivoltaic background here).
The project was constructed in phases. With the final 900 megawatts taking just 18 months to build, Mammoth checks the speed-to-power box demanded of today’s surging thirst for more electricity.
“In the world of economic development right now, every project is looking for speed to electrons. With demand for electricity skyrocketing, we need every electron we can get on the grid,” Indiana Secretary of Energy Suzanne Jaworowski enthused in a press statement marking the start of commercial operations for the 900-megawatt phase on October 7.
While solar panels take some space from agriculture, other opportunites emerge. By the time the first 400 megawatts were commissioned, Mammoth was playing host to 2,000 head of grazing livestock including sheep, donkeys, alpacas, and small pigs called kunekunes. The grazers serve as natural vegetation managers, keeping plants from overgrowing the solar panels while paring down the use of diesel equipment needed for mowing.
Jaworowski was also among those emphasizing that solar power is a land preserver. Unlike other forms of real estate development, solar power plants require minimal surface disruption. Once the solar panels are removed, the land can be returned to farming if desired. “We want to create an energy infrastructure that will draw economic development and do it in a way that preserves our way of life and our agricultural environment. This project is a great example of that,” Jaworowski emphasized.
Perhaps Jaworowski could have a conversation about that with US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, who somehow got the notion into her head that solar power plants are destroying farmland.
On the other hand, never mind. In addition to preserving land in northwest Indiana from destructive forms of real estate development, the Mammoth project has also made a major contribution to the state’s manufacturing sector. Solar panels require racking systems and other hardware, and the Indiana steel industry produced 20,000 tons of steel for these elements of the project.
Doral has stated that it will continue exploring agrivoltaic opportunities in the Mammoth project, “Among others, the company is exploring specialty crops, sheep and cattle grazing,” the firm notes.
Doral is also informed by another subset of the agrivoltaic field, in which solar power plants double as native plant restoration and habitat conservation projects. The firm’s 1.3 gigawatt Vista Sands solar power plant in Wisconsin, for example, received support from conservation groups including the Audubon Society for partnering in a connected grasslands conservation project on private lands.
Conservation groups have also pointed out that the Vista Sands project will enable more than 50 wells to shut down, conserving water in a stressed area while sharply reducing the chemicals leached from fertilizers and insecticides. Doral additionally cited an engineering report indicating that Vista Sands would contribute public health and ecosystem benefits of $630 million in its first year of operation alone.
Work on Vista Sands will reportedly commence now-ish, if it hasn’t done so already. Meanwhile, back in Indiana, Doral has joined an agrivoltaic partnership led by Purdue University aimed at making the case for solar panels on farmland even better.
Under the umbrella of the newly formed Midwest Agrivoltaics for Resilient Communities, the partners are focusing on the energy security angle. “MARC is focused on the transformative potential of agrivoltaics – harvesting food and energy on the same land – to enhance the economic resilience and power security of rural Midwestern communities in the face of severe weather,” Purdue summarizes.
“Producing both food and energy locally can help diversify and stabilize landowner income, reduce power outages, and ultimately create a more prosperous rural Midwest,” the school adds.
“When hail ruins a harvest, heat strains livestock, or windstorms cut electricity, farmers and their communities are hit hard. Our goal is to understand how agrivoltaics can make our nation’s rural communities more resilient and prosperous,” explains Dr. Dan Chavas of Purdue, who holds the post of principal investigator on the project.
For its contribution to MARC, Mammoth has staked out a demonstration zone for the exclusive use of research activities, including robotics testing and advanced monitoring systems as well as crop trials. The project also engages the solar tracker firm Nextpower  (formerly Nextracker) and the utility NiSource.
Somehow the MARC project escaped the Trump chopper, having received funding from the National Science Foundation at its launch. Other federal support for farm-based solar power practically vanished, though, when Secretary Rollins wrote new rules practically shutting farmers out of the low-cost loans and grants that used to support rural solar projects under the longstanding REAP (Rural Energy for America) program.
Or not, as the case may be. Last month two environmental organizations, the Environmental Law & Policy Center and Earthjustice, sued Rollins and the Agriculture Department over the new rules. In addition to shutting down the future solar pipeline, the new rules also retroactively deny payment to existing loan and grant recipients.
“USDA has imposed unlawful anti-solar eligibility criteria on REAP while abruptly changing the rules of the program such that farmers and rural small businesses across the country have been individually stuck with tens of thousands of dollars of unexpected expenses,” the two organizations charged.
Will Rollins back down? Stay tuned…
Photo: The agrivoltaic movement combines solar panels with agriculture, providing farmers with new opportunities to improve their financial situation at a time of skyrocketing fuel costs (cropped, courtesy of Doral Renewables).
CleanTechnica’s Comment Policy
Tina has been covering advanced energy technology, military sustainability, emerging materials, biofuels, ESG and related policy and political matters for CleanTechnica since 2009. Follow her @tinamcasey on LinkedIn, Mastodon or Bluesky.
Tina Casey has 4334 posts and counting. See all posts by Tina Casey

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Commercial and industrial businesses can use solar and battery storage to manage electricity costs while maintaining reliable operations, according to SolaX Power.
Electricity bills can reflect not only the amount of energy a facility consumes, but also its highest demand during measured intervals and the time of day that power is used. For sites with sharp demand peaks, time based tariffs, limited solar exports or growing electric vehicle charging loads, these factors can make costs difficult to control.
Related news: SolaX Power wins TÜV Rheinland “All Quality Matters” award for excellence in utility string inverters
SolaX says its integrated commercial and industrial offering brings together photovoltaic systems, energy storage, hybrid inverters, energy management and electric vehicle charging. The combination is designed to help businesses control when electricity is generated, stored and consumed.
Storage for demand and tariffs
Battery storage can discharge during periods of high demand to reduce the amount of power a site draws from the grid. It can also store electricity when prices are lower or solar generation is abundant, then supply power when it is more valuable.
The company’s ESS TRENE liquid cooled system is specified with 261 kWh of storage and 125 kW of output, with peak output of 137.5 kW. SolaX says the system uses lithium iron phosphate cells and liquid thermal management, with cell temperature differences controlled below 3°C.
For sites seeking an air cooled option, SolaX lists an ESS TRENE configuration rated at 100 kW and 215 kWh. The company says the system includes an IP55 rated cabinet, modular architecture and support for time of use scheduling.
The appropriate system depends on a facility’s load profile and electricity tariff. Businesses need to assess both the power required to manage short demand peaks and the energy needed to sustain discharge for the duration of those peaks.
Using more onsite solar
Where grid export is restricted or poorly compensated, storing excess midday solar generation can help businesses use more of the electricity they produce. The stored energy can then be used later, reducing purchases from the grid.
SolaX’s X3 AELIO hybrid inverter is designed to coordinate solar generation and battery storage across different operating modes, including self-consumption and peak shaving. The company says the inverter is ready for virtual power plant applications and can switch between on grid and off grid operation in less than 10 milliseconds.
Its 49.9 kW model is specified with up to 200% PV input, a maximum power point tracking voltage range of 160 to 950 V, and multiple trackers. These features are intended to accommodate commercial rooftops with different orientations or partial shading.
Coordinating electric vehicle charging
Electric vehicle charging can add to a site’s peak demand, particularly when several vehicles charge at the same time. SolaX says coordinated charging can prioritise available solar power, use batteries to smooth short term demand and schedule grid charging for lower cost periods.
The company presents its solar, storage and charging technologies as an integrated system, rather than separate assets. Actual savings will depend on each site’s load profile, tariff, export arrangements, equipment configuration and control settings.
SolaX recommends assessing interval electricity data and tariff rules before sizing a system. Businesses should also plan for export limits, backup requirements and possible future additions such as more solar capacity, production equipment or vehicle chargers.
Author: Bryan Groenendaal
For enquiries on the African continent, contact Kendall at SolaX Power South Africa: 

 






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Enel Group, one of the largest energy companies globally, has announced plans to tokenize solar panels using Algorand’s blockchain. This partnership, highlighted by the CryptoTwitter commentator @Algorand, emphasizes the growing role of blockchain in sustainable energy solutions. The initiative aims to enhance Algorand’s ecosystem over the next five years, focusing on sustainability and scalability.
The broader crypto market is currently displaying mixed signals, with various assets showing fluctuating momentum. Algorand’s collaboration with Enel Group could signify a pivotal shift in how energy companies utilize blockchain technology for sustainability. This move not only showcases Algorand’s capabilities but also positions it as a key player in the green energy sector, potentially attracting more institutional interest.
Currently, Algorand’s trading volume remains at 0, indicating a lack of immediate market activity surrounding this announcement. However, the excitement generated by Enel Group’s tokenization initiative could lead to increased engagement in the near future. As the project develops, traders will be keen to monitor any shifts in market dynamics that may arise from this partnership.
Algorand serves as a high-performance blockchain designed for decentralized applications and financial products. Enel Group, a multinational energy company, is leveraging this technology to enhance the efficiency and transparency of solar energy initiatives, falling under Algorand’s jurisdiction for innovative energy solutions.
Traders should keep an eye on how this partnership unfolds, particularly regarding Algorand’s adoption in the energy sector. Potential follow-through could include increased trading volume and interest from other enterprises looking to utilize blockchain for sustainability. Risks may arise if the market response does not meet expectations, but the long-term implications for Algorand’s ecosystem remain promising.

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by Alexis Cooper
DARLINGTON COUNTY, S.C. (WPDE) — Darlington County leaders have voted to amend the county’s ordinance regulating solar energy systems and wind farm facilities as a proposed 417-acre solar farm draws opposition from nearby Hartsville residents.
Residents in the Deer Run and Clyde Road areas have spoken out against Palladium Energy’s proposed Stripe Solar project, raising concerns about its potential impact on their rural community, including the landscape, wildlife and property values.
“County, you have been chosen for such a time as this. Will you protect our families, our homes, our neighborhood? Or will you protect the profits of an outside developer?” one Hartsville resident asked.
Another resident questioned whether the potential tax revenue from the project would outweigh its impact on the surrounding neighborhood.
“We must look beyond the immediate tax revenue and ask the ultimate question. Is it really worth it to the county to place an industrial site in the middle of an established neighborhood instead of perhaps a more appropriate location,” the resident said.
READ MORE: SC Senate candidates to face off in debate as early voting nears
The ordinance amendment increases setback requirements and changes screening standards for solar energy developments. It also establishes financial requirements intended to help cover the cost of removing facilities at the end of their useful lives.
Under the amendment:
The setback and screening provisions are intended to establish greater separation and visual barriers between solar facilities and surrounding properties.
While nearby residents hope the revised requirements will provide additional protections, some landowners involved in the proposed solar project argue that changing the rules could jeopardize investments and commitments made under the previous ordinance.
One proposed solar site lessor said the project has been in development for more than two years.
“As a landowner, we have certain rights to do with our property what is lawfully allowed. This ordinance change is threatening that ability,” the landowner said, adding that changing the requirements could jeopardize the project.
Another landowner also questioned whether it would be fair to apply the new requirements to projects already in development.
“Switching the rules mid game is hardly fair to those already in the process,” the landowner said.
The landowner argued that the county should maintain the previous rules for projects initiated under those requirements and apply the new ordinance to future developments.
Questions remain about how the amendments will affect solar and wind projects already in the planning or negotiation stages.
ABC 15 reached out to Darlington County leaders for clarification on how the changes could apply to those projects. A response was pending at the time of publication.
Meanwhile, residents in the Deer Run and Clyde Road areas say they hope the revised requirements will offer greater protection for their neighborhood.
Last month, county leaders also rejected a proposed nine-month moratorium on new solar and wind energy projects.
ABC 15 will continue to follow developments involving solar energy and wind projects in Darlington County.
2026 Sinclair, Inc.

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India’s rapidly expanding solar energy sector, which now exceeds 168 gigawatts of installed capacity, faces a persistent environmental challenge: keeping panels free of dust in arid regions.
Accumulated grime on photovoltaic cells creates a physical barrier to sunlight, causing power generation to drop by 20 to 30 percent if panels are left uncleaned.
Maintaining these installations through traditional manual washing requires huge quantities of water, consuming up to 24,000 liters per megawatt for a single wash cycle.
Across India’s vast solar footprint, a single nation-wide water cleaning cycle could use over 4 billion liters of water, an amount equivalent to the combined daily water needs of major metropolitan areas like Delhi and Bengaluru.
To eliminate this reliance on water, Coimbatore based startup Solavio has engineered autonomous robotic cleaning devices.
Models such as the Ecobot traverse solar module arrays directly, using an anti-static microfiber cleaning system powered by friction and targeted airflow to remove surface dust.
Operating on onboard lithium batteries, the portable units travel across panels at speeds up to 0.3 meters per second, adjusting velocity based on dust density.
Third-party testing across 10,000 cleaning cycles confirmed that repeated robotic sweeping does not cause surface abrasion or damage photovoltaic modules.
With nearly one thousand units deployed across India and the Middle East, waterless automation offers a sustainable pathway to optimize solar output while conserving vital water resources.
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Luis Reyes
Oct 11, at 8:00am ET
If you’re American, the word Normandy probably makes you think of D-Day. In France, the region’s arguably just as famous for its cows. Normandy butter, cream and Camembert all start out as grass, and that grass stays green because, well, it rains a lot in Normandy.
So it’s a bit of a jolt to hear that a pasture down in the hedgerow country south of the D-Day beaches went brown and stopped growing this summer. TSE, a French solar company, built a canopy of solar panels over part of a farm in Souleuvre-en-Bocage. In results published on September 17, the company says the 14.8-acre open pasture it uses for comparison was “completely unproductive and dried out” from July on. The 7.4 acres under its 5,184 panels kept growing and were still green at the end of August.
The cows noticed too. From the first heat waves in May, the company says, the herd in the open field showed signs of stress while the herd under the canopy lay around calmly. On hot days, the open-field cows start heading back to the barn at 9:30 a.m. The shaded ones stay out until noon, their usual time to come in. So the cows in the shade get a normal morning, and the ones in the sun give up as much as two and a half hours of grazing.
To me, that barn schedule is the most interesting thing in the whole release, because it’s basically the cows voting with their feet.
Yoann Bizet, the farmer who works the land under the canopy, has a pretty simple answer. Once it gets past 68 degrees, he says, the herd in the open field just stands at the gate waiting to be let back into the barn, while the cows under the panels handle the heat a lot better. The company ran an almost word-for-word version of that line from him last fall, so I’d treat it as something he’s seen over more than one summer.
If you’re thinking 68 degrees sounds like a perfectly nice day, you’re right. For you, anyway. A cow runs a lot hotter. Its digestive system is basically a big fermentation tank, and the University of Minnesota Extension points out that digestion and milk production both throw off heat, so a cow’s already warm before the sun gets involved. The extension service says mild heat stress generally kicks in for dairy cows around 72°F at 50 percent humidity, and high-producing cows can start feeling it at 65°F, even in a well-ventilated barn. Humidity drags that line lower, and Normandy isn’t exactly short on humidity.
These are dairy cows, too, and that raises the stakes. Back when TSE was raising money from local residents to build the canopy, it said the farmer had stopped putting his 130 milk cows out to pasture at all, because heat and long dry spells were hurting the grass, the cows’ comfort and how much milk they gave. The canopy was pitched as a way to get them back out on grass.
Now, before you picture some kind of magic grass machine, the company’s results from the previous two seasons say the shaded pasture and the open one grew roughly equal amounts of grass over a full year. The gap opens up when it gets dry. Shade cuts how much sun hits the ground and how much water bakes out of the soil, so the grass under the panels doesn’t brown out as fast. It’s why the strip of lawn in the shade of your house stays green in August after the rest of the yard has gone crispy.
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The September release also covered a cornfield in eastern France we wrote about last month, where corn under a canopy like this one got through the drought with 19.6 percent more dry matter than the open control plot.
Bizet’s said that during hot spells he was harvesting close to twice as much dry forage under the canopy as in the open, but I haven’t seen any tonnage published to back that up. The company’s put out a quality number, though. Forage cut under the canopy last year came in with 15 to 47 percent more protein than forage from the control pasture, with the gap depending on the time of year. More protein in the grass generally means less of it a dairy farmer has to buy in a bag. Oregon State saw something similar with sheep, where the grass under its panels came in thinner but richer and the lambs put on just as much weight.
All the while, the canopy’s making electricity. Its panels add up to 2.9 megawatts, but that’s peak capacity, meaning what they can put out in full sun. Once you factor in nights and Normandy’s clouds, the company puts the site’s output at about 3.59 million kilowatt-hours a year, roughly a seventh of what it’d make running flat out around the clock. By the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s figure for what an average American household uses, that’s still enough for about 330 homes.
The panels sit on motorized mounts that tilt them through the day, and they’re steered depending on the weather. So the shade doesn’t sit in fixed stripes from morning to night. It drifts across the pasture as the panels turn.
The lowest point of the structure is 16.4 feet off the ground, and each row is about 89 feet wide, so most farm machinery on the market can get underneath. That’s frankly a lot more headroom than any cow needs, but the haying equipment has to fit under there too. TSE says the posts holding it all up take about 0.5 percent of the ground, so nearly all of those 7.4 acres are still pasture.
It’s a very different kind of shade from what you get with the vertical panels Rutgers is using in a New Jersey cattle pasture. Panels standing on edge throw long shadows early and late in the day and hardly any around lunchtime. A hot cow wants pretty much the opposite. A roof more than 16 feet up puts its shade more or less straight down at midday, and if I were a cow, I know which one I’d pick.
I’d love to tell you.
But behavior notes are all the release has on the cows. TSE hasn’t put out milk figures from Souleuvre-en-Bocage, at least none I can find. Herd sizes are missing too, and for a release built around heat, it’s a little strange that it skips how hot it actually got on those mornings.
As for who logged the barn times, France’s livestock institute (Idele), the Normandy chamber of agriculture and the national agricultural research institute (INRAE) are all listed as partners on this site, but the release doesn’t credit any of them with the cow observations.
Keep in mind who’s doing the reporting, too. TSE built this canopy, it wants more farmers to sign up for ones like it, and it wrote the release. So I’d want to see the final forage numbers before calling the grass a clear win.
Luckily, that wait’s almost over. TSE says it’ll publish this year’s final forage results from Souleuvre-en-Bocage in October, same as every year.
Did we nail it or blow it?
Luis Reyes · Oct 7, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 1, 2026
Luis Reyes · Sep 23, 2026
Dave McQuilling · Oct 8, 2026
Luis Reyes · Sep 24, 2026
Olivia Richman · Sep 25, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 11, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 11, 2026
Olivia Richman · Oct 10, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 10, 2026
Luis Reyes · Oct 10, 2026
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How To Properly Clean Your Solar Panels (And Why It’s Important)  Yahoo Tech
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OWENSBORO, Ky. — Daviess County Fiscal Court approved two ordinances Thursday that place new limits on utility-scale solar projects, capping acreage, requiring setbacks from homes and other sensitive sites, and mandating financial guarantees for cleanup and road repairs.
The zoning text amendment to Articles 8 and 14 of the Owensboro Metropolitan Zoning Ordinance passed 3-1. Commissioner Chris Castlen voted no. The companion county ordinance creating a new chapter under business regulations for renewable energy and energy storage facilities passed unanimously. Both take effect upon publication.
Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen said residents had asked the court early in the process to ban industrial solar farms outright. He said an absolute ban is not an option under state law, so the ordinances instead establish restrictions intended to protect neighbors and public funds.
“We were asked at the very beginning to just ban industrial solar farms,” Castlen said. “We cannot do an absolute ban. What we can do is put in restrictions that are protective of our community, and that’s what we’ve tried to do.”
Under the zoning changes, which the Owensboro Metropolitan Planning Commission recommended Aug. 13, a single project’s development area cannot exceed 300 acres. Required buffer areas are excluded from that figure. No more than 1,200 acres of farmland countywide can be used for the facilities. Projects must be at least three miles apart. Equipment must stay at least 1,000 feet from residential neighborhoods, schools, places of worship, hospitals, nursing homes, county parks and public rights-of-way. Project entrances and exits must also meet a 1,000-foot setback from residential property lines. Maximum panel height drops from 20 feet to 15 feet. An 8-foot solid black fence and required landscaping must be installed before construction begins. Developers must provide an irrevocable letter of credit or escrow account for screening and decommissioning.
The separate county ordinance addresses construction, operations, environmental protections and removal. It requires transportation plans, road-use agreements, stormwater controls and a letter of credit or escrow, sized by the county engineer, to cover potential road damage during construction, operation and decommissioning. Projects must include plans to limit soil compaction, control erosion and restore agricultural land. Water quality testing is required quarterly at applicable discharge points. Fire prevention and emergency response plans must be developed with local agencies, with the developer responsible for necessary equipment and annual training for responders. Decommissioning plans must be updated every three years.
Rod Kuegel, a western Daviess County farmer who is the Democratic candidate for judge-executive against Castlen in the November election, addressed the court on the cleanup provisions. He said solar projects frequently change ownership and that a letter of credit or bond may not be sufficient if the company responsible for removal is not the original developer.
“The company that builds this, even under these restrictions, may or may not be the company you’re dealing with in the end that has to clean this mess up,” Kuegel said. “These solar fields trade like commodities. And I would recommend that you look at cash in the bank on the cleanup.”
Planning staff said both ordinances contain decommissioning requirements. The new language increases the amount that must be posted and requires a letter of credit or escrow account payable to the county, with updates every three years rather than every five. The ordinances do not specify that the escrow account must be held at a local bank.
Commissioner Janie Marksberry suggested requiring any new or assigned lease to be recorded at the county clerk’s office within seven to 10 days so ownership changes are publicly documented. County counsel indicated the court could impose such a requirement, but it was not added to either ordinance Thursday.
Kimberly Demarest, who has researched solar regulations in other communities, urged the court to pass the zoning amendment now and make further changes later. She cited a national average property-value decline of about 7 percent associated with proximity to solar projects and described a home near the Haycraft solar project surrounded on four sides by panels. She also said large-scale solar removes productive farmland and affects related agricultural businesses.
Chris Castlen, the west district commissioner and Castlen’s nephew, supported the county ordinance but opposed the zoning text amendment. He said the rules should protect both property owners who host projects and neighboring landowners, as well as the character of the county’s farmland, but that additional work is needed on the zoning changes before he can support them.
“I think that what we have put together is a very good start,” he said. “But there is some more that needs to be done before I can support the changes on this second reading.”
Castlen said after the votes that the court may still revise the rules if needed. He rejected suggestions that a prior solar moratorium was timed to the election and said it was enacted once projects were under active consideration.

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Since 2023, 268 solar panels — many hand-decorated by local students and artists – have traveled thousands of miles from Lander to Ukraine.
A group of Ukrainian children pose with a solar panel decorated by volunteers in Lander. The panel features messages – in both English and Ukrainian – that offer support to those living in a war-torn country. 

A young Ukrainian girl poses with a solar panel decorated by volunteers in Lander. The panel features messages of support like “Love and Peace” and “Glory to Ukraine.”
A group of Ukrainian residents pose with a solar panel decorated by Lander Rotary Club volunteers. The panel features messages of support in both English and Ukrainian.

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A group of Ukrainian children pose with a solar panel decorated by volunteers in Lander. The panel features messages – in both English and Ukrainian – that offer support to those living in a war-torn country. 
A young Ukrainian girl poses with a solar panel decorated by volunteers in Lander. The panel features messages of support like “Love and Peace” and “Glory to Ukraine.”
A group of Ukrainian residents pose with a solar panel decorated by Lander Rotary Club volunteers. The panel features messages of support in both English and Ukrainian.
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