Home > News > Australian-made solar robots move towards commercial scale with $31.1 million in ARENA funding
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is providing up to $31.1 million to establish solar robotics manufacturing facilities in Melbourne and Brisbane, supporting faster, safer and more efficient construction of large-scale solar farms across Australia.
Funded under Round 2 of ARENA’s Solar Sunshot Program, the projects will manufacture two complementary technologies in Australia; robots that install solar panels and autonomous systems that drive foundation piles.
The new facilities in Victoria and Queensland will help improve productivity, reduce construction costs and ease workforce constraints as large-scale solar deployment grows, supporting Australia’s goal of ultra low-cost solar.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said these projects will advance the development of technologies previously demonstrated in Australian conditions into locally manufactured products that can be deployed at scale.
“Installing foundations and placing panels are two of the most labour-intensive parts of solar farm construction. It’s hard work in the hot sun,” Mr Miller said.
“Australia needs to install large volumes of solar quickly and cost-effectively. Local manufacturing and automation can improve the way solar farms are built by reducing construction costs and making installation faster, safer and more efficient; an important part of ARENA’s ultra low-cost solar vision.
“Manufacturing these technologies in Australia will help to strengthen local supply chains, develop specialist skills and give solar projects better access to advanced construction equipment when and where it is needed.”
ARENA is providing up to $17.8 million to Luminous Robotics to establish a Melbourne manufacturing facility for its autonomous solar panel installation robots, called LUMIs. The facility is expected to support the manufacture and deployment of around 100 LUMI robots by 2029, helping automate solar panel installation on large-scale solar farms.
Luminous Robotics came through ARENA’s 2024 Solar Challenge, an initiative designed to supercharge innovation and crowdsource ideas from across the world on how to reduce the cost of large-scale solar.
ARENA supported demonstrations of LUMI robots at solar farms in Victoria and New South Wales, where the technology was tested under Australian construction and environmental conditions. The new funding will enable moving the technology from field demonstration to industrial-scale manufacturing in Australia.
“We’ve proven LUMI on real solar farms in Australia, in the heat and dust, doing some of the hardest work on site. With ARENA’s support, the next step is to turn that into scale,” Tenzin Crouch, General Manager, Luminous Robotics Australia said.
“Building a production line in Melbourne, delivering our first hundred robots, and then growing from there. If Australia is going to build renewable energy at the scale and speed we need, robotics will have an important role to play and we are building it.”
Built Robotics Australia will receive up to $13.3 million to establish a Brisbane manufacturing hub and operations centre for autonomous piling systems used in utility-scale solar construction. The facility will manufacture and deploy 12 robotic piling systems, helping automate one of the most labour-intensive stages of solar farm construction.
The project builds on previous ARENA-supported deployments of Built Robotics’ autonomous piling technology in Australia, establishing domestic capability to manufacture, integrate and test piling systems for solar projects.
“Australia has shown the world that construction robotics and physical AI work in the field. Now we’re going to build that technology here,” Paul Kelly, Vice President of Business Development, Built Robotics, said.
“Our Brisbane hub will make Queensland a home for autonomous solar construction, creating skilled local jobs and a supply chain that serves projects in Australia, building on nearly a decade of work we’ve done here.”
Together, the projects will build Australian manufacturing capability at two critical stages of solar farm construction. By moving proven robotics into larger-scale production and deployment, they can help create a domestic equipment supply chain for Australia’s growing large-scale solar industry.
About Solar Sunshot   
The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) is delivering the $850 million Solar Sunshot Program to support innovation in Australia’s solar PV manufacturing industry. Solar Sunshot was announced by the Australian Government in March 2024 and aims to uncover and support innovation to drive scale and diversity in a critical industry.
Australia benefits from strong renewable energy potential, high-quality, abundant raw materials and a long track record of excellence in research and development. Solar Sunshot aims to harness these advantages so that Australia can strengthen and diversify its supply chains and create economic opportunities.
For more information, visit ARENA’s website.
We support global emissions reduction by accelerating innovation and the deployment of renewable energy, electrification and energy efficiency technologies, to the benefit of all Australians.
We present knowledge sharing from experts in energy technology, innovation and business.
Stay up to date with this valuable knowledge by following us on social, or by signing up to ARENAWIRE or the ARENA Insights newsletter.

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“They opened the panels near seat number 34, but nothing was found.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Passengers on India’s Swatantrata Senani Superfast Express were rattled when a snake disappeared into a hidden compartment above an upper berth. When repeated searches failed to find it, railway officials removed that coach and attached another in its place.
Train 12561 was on its Jaynagar-to-New Delhi run when passengers reported the sighting in A2, the AC 2-Tier coach, according to Hindustan Times. After the 5:30 p.m. departure from Jaynagar, travelers said a snake entered a covered space above an upper berth, prompting them to notify the attendant, the TTE, and railway control.
Video recorded by fellow passenger Arun Thakur appears to capture the moment the snake entered the panel while concern spread through the compartment. When the train got to Darbhanga, the animal could no longer be seen and was believed to have moved farther inside the paneling.
Crew members removed the panel to check the area, but they did not locate the snake. The train kept moving, passing through Samastipur on the way to Muzaffarpur Junction.
At roughly 9:38 p.m., after arriving in Muzaffarpur, railway personnel and Carriage and Wagon staff had passengers step out so they could search the coach for nearly an hour.
Inside the sealed AC coach, with overhead panels, berths, and luggage, passengers did not know where the snake was.
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East Central Railway said staff began acting on the report before the train reached Muzaffarpur. East Central Railway chief public relations officer Saraswati Chandra said, “Two staff members escorted the suspected coach from Samastipur to Muzaffarpur. They opened the panels near seat number 34, but nothing was found.”
Inspectors concentrated on the hidden sections where the snake was said to have vanished.
Because the reptile still hadn’t been found, authorities removed the coach and brought in a replacement. Railway staff used announcements and direct assistance to move passengers into the newly attached coach.
Saraswati Chandra said the final decision came down to passenger safety: “However, as an extra precaution and to ensure the safety of passengers, we replaced the suspected coach at Muzaffarpur with another coach and detached the old coach.”
Snakes have turned up in plenty of unsettling places beyond this coach on the Swatantrata Senani Express, as these articles cover. 
• In another Indian coach, a snake glided down the aisle as passengers scrambled.
• In Sydney, a venomous snake slithered through a crowded train station, sparking chaos.
• On a TUI flight from Cancun, a stowaway snake vanished before anyone spotted it.
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“It’s very misleading to the laymen.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A California resident said a city permit office refused to approve the installation of an Anker Home Power Panel. The issue is that the homeowner already bought the product based on a somewhat misleading claim on the Anker website.
The senior building plans examiner said the paperwork submitted did not adequately show the required UL certification. However, the buyer purchased the panel during a sale, relying on support-page language from Anker that said it “supports UL 1741 and UL 1741 CRD-PCS.”
Commenters in an online forum pointed out a subtle wording issue at the root of the homeowner’s problems. 
In a Reddit thread, the poster said the permit application was for operating the home power panel only as an automatic transfer switch when a portable generator was plugged in. Issues arose when the examiner denied it, saying the product did not appear to be certified under UL 1741 CRD-PCS and that the SGS material submitted did not include “a certificate, a file number, or an NRTL name.”
According to the post, Anker support still had not produced a PDF of the certificate and instead sent only a partial PNG image. The examiner also rejected the image, and the poster noted that parts of it seemed cut off compared with other SGS UL 1741 certificates.
The poster said they decided to purchase after finding a support Q&A page asking whether the home power panel supported UL certification and answering that it “supports UL 1741 and UL 1741 CRD-PCS.” 
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If permit approval never comes through, a homeowner can be left with costly equipment they cannot legally install.
The discussion highlighted the difference between marketing-style wording and the documentation a permitting office can accept.
One commenter detailed the distinction: “Support UL certification? Not the same as certified to… lol.” 
A commenter replied: “It’s very misleading to the laymen.”
Another commenter argued that the panel “doesn’t appear the home power panel is certified to the 1741 CRD-PCS nor the newer UL3141 which supersedes CRD-PCS” and pointed instead to a different product line, where that certification is “readily available.” 
A separate commenter, who identified themselves as an electrical contractor in Idaho, described the safety concern that drives permit scrutiny: “The reason this is so important is that there is a possibility that any generation system that is connected to the main electrical panel could, in a failure, back feed the power grid.”
Before buying equipment that requires a permit, buyers may benefit from acquiring the formal certification document itself rather than relying on general support-page language.
It may also be important to confirm which standard a local building department wants to see. In this case, the city reviewer specifically objected that the article did not attach “a certificate, a file number, or an NRTL name.”
The poster described the next step as asking for a return if the promised documentation never arrives and saving screenshots of the company’s claims. 
The poster said that if support did not respond soon, “I’ll have to request a product return. If they don’t, I have screenshots of their website and will be filing a dispute with my credit card. I hate to do that, but if I can’t legally install this per their own claims and they refuse to accept a return, then what else is there to do?”
These articles dig into similar challenges homeowners have faced. They cover California’s changing plug-in solar rules, warning signs around solar sales claims, and other disputes over installation costs and restrictions.
• In California, lawmakers moved closer to allowing plug-in solar with no permit for some homeowners.
• NPR highlighted how predatory solar companies left homeowners facing misleading claims and costly headaches.
• EnergySage executives broke down interconnected factors behind solar costs as homeowners tried to avoid buying mistakes.
• In Wisconsin, one homeowner sought clarification on homeowners association regulations after neighbors resisted planned solar panels.
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Shakti Pumps Invests ₹10 Crore in 2.20 GW Solar Facility  SolarQuarter
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Vena Group has started commercial operations at its 72 MW Maniwa Solar Project in Maniwa City, Okayama Prefecture, Japan. The project was developed on a former golf course, repurposing previously developed land for solar power generation. Vena says the project supports the first virtual power purchase agreement (VPPA) signed by LY Corporation and is Japan’s largest single solar facility dedicated to VPPAs, according to Vena Group. Digital Grid Corporation trades the electricity generated by the project on the Japan Electric Power Exchange. The project is expected to generate enough electricity to meet the annual consumption of approximately 18,500 households. 
New Zealand-based Lodestone Energy has signed electricity supply agreements with Briscoe Group and Farro, expanding its commercial customer base as it develops its solar energy business. Both the brands expect predictable energy costs and greater certainty over energy costs with the deal. The agreements come as Lodestone prepares to raise NZD 75 million to NZD 100 million through an initial public offering (IPO) on the New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX). It plans to use the proceeds to support further solar farm development, grow its electricity retail business and meet general corporate needs. 
Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Energy and Oman’s O-GREEN have signed a strategic cooperation agreement to jointly develop approximately 2 GW of solar and wind power projects, supported by energy storage systems. These will be established across Kazakhstan, Central Asia and other international markets. The partnership aims to supply electricity to wholesale markets, industrial consumers and data centers, including through solutions enabling round-the-clock (RTC) renewable power supply.  
Yude Solar Technologies, a subsidiary of Chinese inverter and energy solutions group GoodWe, has partnered with PT Selaras Daya Utama (SEDAYUSolar), an Indonesian solar EPC company. The duo plan to develop and operate solar projects in Indonesia. The JV will focus on commercial and industrial (C&I) rooftop solar, ground-mounted installations and utility-scale projects. The partners will also explore integrating battery energy storage systems (BESS) into projects. Yude Solar has developed and commissioned more than 3 GW of residential and C&I solar projects, while SEDAYUSolar has delivered more than 250 solar projects in Indonesia since its establishment in 2009.  
ACEN Investments, a subsidiary of ACEN Corporation, has signed a €50 million term loan facility with ING Bank N.V., Manila Branch. It plans to use the proceeds to finance or refinance investments in existing and future renewable energy projects through its subsidiaries and joint ventures. ACEN said that the facility will also support general corporate purposes, according to a disclosure filed with the Philippine Stock Exchange on October 5, 2026. 
Australian renewable energy company LGI Limited has agreed to acquire two operating solar farms in Queensland with a combined export capacity of 54 MW DC/42 MW AC for AUD 22 million. The acquisition covers 34.5 MW DC/27.3 MW AC Brigalow Solar Farm and the 19.9 MW DC/14.7 MW AC Chinchilla Solar Farm. LGI estimates that the acquisition could contribute EBITDA of AUD 2.1 million to A$4 million, depending on revenue synergies and the implementation of its Dynamic Asset Control System (DACS). The company plans to apply DACS to optimize electricity dispatch and improve market returns. It is also evaluating BESS integration at both sites. The acquisition will increase the company’s targeted medium-term pipeline of distributed, renewable and dispatchable capacity to more than 120 MW. 
TaiyangNews 2024

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“Otherwise you give PG&E essentially free energy all day long then buy it back at full retail markup once the sun goes down.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A homeowner who works from home wanted to buy a solar panel system to help offset energy costs, but the solar salespeople don’t seem to be playing nice. The homeowner went to an online forum asking: “Are vendors just trying to upsell me?”
While looking to buy a straightforward 12-panel solar system, a Bay Area PG&E customer said nearly every installer instead steered them toward a five-year battery PPA that would cost about twice as much.
Reddit users said that the PPA concern is reasonable, but added that California’s NEM 3 rules can make going without storage far less attractive.
The Oct. 6 post on Reddit described a low-use Bay Area home on PG&E service. The household uses roughly 625 kilowatt-hours a month and relies on gas-powered heating, hot water, a stove, and a dryer, with little electricity demand after dark. 
The homeowner said the household is mostly retired and works from home, and they want a 12-panel system with microinverters rather than a battery-focused financing offer.
A common response in the thread was that NEM 3 changes the equation because excess daytime solar is compensated at much lower rates than evening electricity purchases. As one commenter put it, “Otherwise you give PG&E essentially free energy all day long then buy it back at full retail markup once the sun goes down.”
For homeowners who want to compare options before signing anything, EnergySage can help them explore home battery storage, including competitive installation estimates. EnergySage has teamed up with electrification brand Qmerit to help homeowners get the best price on home battery storage solutions.
The poster also questioned whether the sales pitch made financial sense for their home. The homeowner questioned whether the added complexity was worth it for a house with modest use and a commuter EV. “I am just not convinced that I need one, since it’s twice the price, and dealing with financing,” they wrote. 
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The homeowner also raised concerns about battery lifespan, theft, fire risk, and whether stored power would later charge a commuter EV.
Many replies focused on the deal structure as the main issue, saying a battery is likely worth the effort. One commenter offered blunt advice about PPAs: “DO NOT SIGN A PPA. BUY THE SYSTEM OUTRIGHT OR FINANCE IT. DO NOT DO ANY KIND OF THIRD PARTY OWNERSHIP.” Another commenter said PPA agreements are “often” shady and urged the poster to closely examine the buyout terms.
Given the home’s limited evening load and usage of about 625 kWh per month, another suggestion was to consider a smaller battery or install a system that could easily add storage later.
For homeowners under export rules like NEM 3, battery storage can provide backup power during outages, save money on energy, and let households use more of their own solar production instead of depending on the grid after sunset.
Several commenters said the key is to model the home’s actual consumption carefully, especially if EV charging can be moved around. Replies noted that shifting more use into daylight hours could help, and that a west-facing array serving late-afternoon demand might reduce how necessary a battery is.
For shoppers who do want backup power, there are lower-commitment options worth comparing. Pila offers strong battery backup options, and its plug-and-play batteries cost a fraction of a whole-home backup system. In the Reddit thread, other commenters also suggested paying cash for solar when possible and making sure the system can accommodate a battery later.
One commenter offered a simple solution: “Using battery makes a lot of sense. You have an EV though. I suggest just getting it set up so that connecting a battery will be easy in the future.”
For homeowners weighing solar-only systems against batteries, these stories offer a closer look at how the math changes from one market to the next. 
• In California, PG&E’s NEM 3.0 pays so little that batteries can transform solar savings.
• Across the U.S., net metering rules often decide whether home batteries pencil out.
• In Ohio, net metering may leave big utility charges untouched even after solar.
• In Texas, home solar power purchase agreements promised panels with no upfront cost.
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Two robotics firms based in the United States are set to receive up to AUD 32.3 million, or roughly USD 22.45 million, from the Australian Renewable Energy Agency to build manufacturing sites in Australia. The agency, commonly known as ARENA, is backing Luminous Robotics and Built Robotics as part of a push to localise production of equipment used in utility-scale solar construction.
Luminous Robotics stands to obtain as much as AUD 17.8 million for a Melbourne plant producing its LUMI autonomous solar panel installation robots. Valued at AUD 39.7 million overall, the project should enable the manufacture and deployment of approximately 100 such robots by 2029. Built Robotics Australia is slated to get up to AUD 14.5 million for a Brisbane manufacturing hub and operations centre dedicated to autonomous piling systems, with 12 robotic pile driving systems expected to be built and deployed there.
Darren Miller, ARENA’s Chief Executive Officer, said the new plants would boost productivity, bring down construction costs and alleviate workforce pressures as large-scale solar deployment grows in Australia. Foundation installation and panel placement, he noted, rank among the most labour-intensive phases of solar farm construction, and Australia must install large volumes of solar quickly and affordably. Miller added that domestic manufacturing and automation can enhance solar farm construction by reducing costs and making installation quicker, safer and more efficient.
Australia aims for 82% renewables by 2030. The Australian Energy Market Operator calculates that this will necessitate roughly 38 GW of new solar and wind capacity within the next three years, encompassing about 20 GW of large-scale solar.
Tenzin Crouch, General Manager of Luminous Robotics Australia, said the funding would let the company advance its technology from Australian field demonstrations to industrial-scale manufacturing. He described the effort as building Australian capability that feeds directly into on-the-ground delivery, with robots designed and made locally before being deployed to construct the solar infrastructure the country requires. Crouch said LUMI had been proven on actual solar farms in Australia, enduring heat and dust while handling some of the toughest on-site work, and that scaling up is the next step.
The LUMI robot independently lifts and positions solar panels onto racking structures, traditionally one of the most labour-intensive elements of solar farm construction. ARENA says the robot can install panels as much as 3.5 times faster than current manual approaches and could reduce solar farm construction costs by around 6.2%. Built Robotics’ autonomous piling robots automate the repetitive pile driving process, which is typically time-consuming when establishing utility-scale solar farms. The company estimates its robots could cut piling time by about 82% and labour costs by 88%.
Paul Kelly, Vice President of business development at Built Robotics, said the new Brisbane hub would establish Queensland as a base for autonomous solar construction and create a supply chain serving Australian projects. He said Australia has demonstrated to the world that construction robotics and physical AI function in the field, and the company now plans to build that technology locally.
Both projects fall under Round 2 of ARENA’s Solar Sunshot program. Miller said that beyond enabling more efficient large-scale solar farm builds, the projects would expand Australia’s advanced manufacturing capability. Producing these technologies domestically, he said, would help reinforce local supply chains, cultivate specialist skills and give solar projects improved access to advanced construction equipment when and where required.
This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Solar Panels market in Australia, covering market size, growth trajectory, demand structure, supply capability, trade flows, pricing, competitive landscape, and forecast to 2035.
The study is designed for manufacturers, distributors, importers, exporters, investors, procurement teams, advisors, and strategy teams that need a consistent, data-driven view of market dynamics and a transparent analytical definition of the product scope.
This report covers photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, which are devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity. It encompasses the global market for finished modules, including all major product technologies and form factors designed for a wide range of end-use applications.
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Malaysian 5G operator U Mobile announced on Monday it has signed an MoU with renewable energy developer HLGY Energy to develop 5G-connected smart solar farm solutions in Malaysia.
Under the MoU, both companies will explore deployment of a private 5G network that would form the digital backbone of the smart solar farm.
The network would support applications including autonomous drone inspections, AI-powered analytics and smart CCTV surveillance, enabling remote monitoring, earlier issue detection and faster response to operational and maintenance needs.
HLGY Energy develops and operates utility-scale solar and integrated energy solutions under Malaysia’s Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS) framework. U Mobile would serve as HLGY Energy’s innovation, automation and communications infrastructure provider under the MoU.
“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,” said U Mobile chief business officer How Lih Ren.
“Malaysia’s green energy transition needs renewable energy infrastructure that is reliable, efficient and built for the future,” added Kenneth Yap, chairman and executive director of HLGY Energy. “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.”

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Brazil’s micro- and mini-distributed generation (MMGD) segment is expected to add 41.4 GW of capacity over the next decade, according to the country’s draft ten-year energy expansion plan (PDE 2036), prepared by the Energy Research Office (EPE) under guidelines established by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME).
The report projects that the segment will serve 13.5 million consumers by 2036, with average generation reaching 14.1 GW. Solar PV is expected to account for most of the expansion, supported by growing adoption of self-generation systems among residential, commercial and industrial consumers.
The estimates are included in the preliminary PDE 2036, released for public consultation on Oct. 8. The plan sets out projections for Brazil’s energy supply and demand from 2027 to 2036.
The expansion of distributed generation is expected to coincide with rising electricity demand and growth in other generation technologies. Under the PDE 2036 reference scenario, Brazil’s electricity generation is projected to increase from 829.2 TWh in 2026 to 1,132.5 TWh in 2036.
The growth of decentralized generation will also create operational challenges, particularly in integrating distributed energy resources, coordinating generation and demand, and maintaining system flexibility.
The report identifies a need for greater control and monitoring capabilities for distributed resources, alongside closer coordination between Brazil’s National Electric System Operator (ONS) and distribution utilities.
The pace of expansion will depend on equipment costs, electricity tariffs, compensation mechanisms and consumer finances. These factors will determine the economic attractiveness of self-generation systems and influence future investment in distributed generation.
The PDE 2036 also includes projections for technologies designed to improve power system flexibility as the share of variable renewable energy increases.
The plan envisages 7.2 GW of battery energy storage capacity, 2 GW of pumped-storage hydropower and 4 GW of demand response capacity.
These resources could help balance electricity supply and demand, reduce operational imbalances and support the integration of variable renewable generation.
The expansion of utility-scale and distributed solar PV is expected to increase the need for flexibility resources that can align electricity generation with consumption patterns and grid operation.
The PDE is an indicative planning document that presents scenarios for the development of Brazil’s energy supply and demand over a 10-year period. Its projections provide a reference for energy sector planning and investment decisions but do not impose binding capacity expansion requirements on market participants.
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Economic
A Moldovan family in Vatra installed solar panels and battery storage to cut utility bills and feed surplus clean electricity into the grid, supported by a government-backed energy efficiency program.
The household joined the national “Green House” program to overhaul their home, which was built in 2019 and previously upgraded with thermal insulation and a heat pump. The latest installation features 20 rooftop photovoltaic panels paired with a 16 kWh energy storage battery.
Overcoming initial delays
The total investment amounted to approximately €15,500 (approx. 300,000 MDL), with the homeowners contributing more than €5,200 (approx. 100,000 MDL) and state grants covering the remainder.
“Because the costs were quite high, we kept putting it off,” said homeowner Cristina Cebotari. “It was demanding, taking one year and a month from the acceptance notice until the funds were reimbursed by the state.”
The system was commissioned in May, allowing the family to sell surplus power back to the national distribution network while securing significant self-sufficiency ahead of the cold season.
“We commissioned the system in May and already generated credit worth up to 15,000 MDL,” Cebotari added. “According to our estimates, we will cover about 80% of our electricity needs this winter.”
Expanding residential support
More than 1,000 households have applied for financing since the initiative began, with over 700 project files already approved. The scheme primarily co-finances insulation for exterior walls, roofs, and windows, alongside clean energy equipment for energy-intensive households.
“We promote these measures for consumers with higher electricity demand,” said Lucia Arsenii, deputy director at the National Center for Sustainable Energy (CNED). “Beneficiaries planning to install a heat pump, those who already have one, or electric vehicle owners are eligible for photovoltaic systems combined with battery storage.”
The second call of the program operated with a budget of approximately €10.3 million (approx. 200 million MDL). Moldovan authorities plan to launch a new financing round to help more households cushion against rising energy costs.
Translation by Iurie Tataru
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Bogdan Nigai
16 Russians illegally got ID cards with fake documents from Chișinău
Romanian prosecutors have uncovered an illegal scheme in which 16 Russian citizens obtained Romanian passports and identity cards using forged documents—falsely attributed to entities including the Romanian Embassy and Consulate in the Republic of Moldova. After the investigation, authorities cancelled over 1,700 identity cards issued using fictitious addresses.
Liubomir Guțu
Eight detained in Moldova for scams targeting US and Canada victims
Police have dismantled a criminal network in the Republic of Moldova that generated about $2 million a month through cryptocurrency scams. The group lured victims from the US and Canada to fake trading platforms via call centers. Authorities detained eight individuals after raids on October 9.
Bogdan Nigai
The content of this website does not represent the official position of the Department for Relations with the Republic of Moldova.
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Universal Energy, a China-based renewable energy company, inaugurated the 100 MW Gobustan Solar Power Plant in the Garadagh district of Baku, Azerbaijan, on September 16, 2026. President Ilham Aliyev attended the inauguration alongside Energy Minister Parviz Shahbazov, Chinese Ambassador Lu Mei and Universal Energy Chairman Nan Yi. The project marks Azerbaijan’s first solar power plant developed through a competitive auction process. It is also Universal Energy’s first renewable energy project in Azerbaijan. During the ceremony, President Aliyev received a briefing on the solar facility, the developer and its operations in the country. The inauguration marked the completion of the project, adding 100 MW of solar generation capacity to Azerbaijan’s electricity infrastructure.
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The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has committed up to $31.1 million in funding to establish solar robotics manufacturing facilities in Melbourne and Brisbane to support safer and more efficient large-scale solar farm builds.
Funded under Round 2 of ARENA’s Solar Sunshot Program, the projects will manufacture two complementary technologies in Australia—robots that install solar panels and autonomous systems that drive foundation piles.
Related article: Rise of the robots in the race to renewables
ARENA is providing up to $17.8 million to Luminous Robotics to establish a Melbourne manufacturing facility for its autonomous solar panel installation robots, called LUMIs. The facility is expected to support the manufacture and deployment of around 100 LUMI robots by 2029, helping automate solar panel installation on large-scale solar farms.
ARENA supported demonstrations of LUMI robots at solar farms in Victoria and New South Wales, where the technology was tested under Australian construction and environmental conditions. The new funding will enable moving the technology from field demonstration to industrial-scale manufacturing in Australia.
Built Robotics Australia will also receive up to $13.3 million to establish a Brisbane manufacturing hub and operations centre for autonomous piling systems used in utility-scale solar construction. The facility will manufacture and deploy 12 robotic piling systems, helping automate one of the most labour-intensive stages of solar farm construction.
The project builds on previous ARENA-supported deployments of Built Robotics’ autonomous piling technology in Australia, establishing domestic capability to manufacture, integrate and test piling systems for solar projects.
The new facilities in Victoria and Queensland will help improve productivity, slash construction costs, and ease workforce constraints as large-scale solar deployment grows.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the projects would advance the development of technologies previously demonstrated in Australian conditions into locally manufactured products that can be deployed at scale.
“Installing foundations and placing panels are two of the most labour-intensive parts of solar farm construction. It’s hard work in the hot sun,” he said.
Related article: Equans’ Lightspeed solar project scores ARENA funding
“Australia needs to install large volumes of solar quickly and cost-effectively. Local manufacturing and automation can improve the way solar farms are built by reducing construction costs and making installation faster, safer and more efficient; an important part of ARENA’s ultra low-cost solar vision.
“Manufacturing these technologies in Australia will help to strengthen local supply chains, develop specialist skills and give solar projects better access to advanced construction equipment when and where it is needed.”
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The Jollibee Group is transitioning 189 company-owned stores in the Philippines to renewable electricity, aiming to lower energy costs and reduce emissions across its retail network.
The initiative, developed with energy supplier First Gen, covers outlets of Jollibee, Greenwich, Chowking, Red Ribbon, Burger King and Panda Express. The stores represent about 40 per cent of the group’s total Philippine network.
According to the company, the initiative is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by more than 75 per cent and deliver “significant electricity cost savings”.
“Transitioning nearly 200 stores to renewable electricity requires close coordination across our organisation,” said Bong Filart, head of network development at Jollibee Group Philippines.
“By consolidating eligible stores and improving electricity sourcing, we are demonstrating a practical approach that supports operational efficiency while advancing more sustainable business practices.”
The move builds on the group’s broader sustainability strategy, Joy for Tomorrow. Key commissaries and logistics hubs across the Philippines already use 99 per cent renewable energy, combining geothermal power with on-site solar generation.
The group began installing solar panels at selected restaurants in 2014 and plans to extend renewable energy adoption across its retail operations.
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Renewables are forecast to account for 25.9% of total power capacity.
Qatar is expanding utility-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) capacity to diversify its power mix, reduce domestic natural gas consumption for power generation, and curb emissions, whilst maintaining gas-fired generation to ensure grid reliability, according to GlobalData.
The country’s installed power capacity is forecast to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2% from 2025 to 2035, with solar PV capacity projected to expand at a faster CAGR of 12.4% over the same period.
Renewable energy’s share of Qatar’s total power capacity is expected to rise to 25.9% by 2035 from 12.0% in 2025, GlobalData said in its latest report on the country’s power market.
Attaurrahman Ojindaram Saibasan, Power Analyst at GlobalData, said the Qatar National Renewable Energy Strategy is driving the build-out of major solar facilities, including Al Kharsaah, Ras Laffan, and Mesaieed, alongside the large-scale Dukhan development.
Despite the rapid expansion of solar, natural gas will remain central to Qatar’s power and water infrastructure, accounting for approximately 74% of total power capacity in 2035.
Combined-cycle gas turbines and cogeneration plants underpin Qatar’s Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) fleet, providing dispatchable electricity during periods of high summer cooling demand and thermal energy for seawater desalination.
“Gas-fired IWPP facilities provide critical firming capacity to absorb large influxes of solar energy during midday hours whilst securing baseload water desalination,” Saibasan said.
He added that expanding flexible gas generation and modernising grid management would be essential to accommodating the planned four-gigawatt renewable energy target by 2030 without compromising system security.
Qatar’s power sector is governed by the Third National Development Strategy and Qatar National Vision 2030.
Supporting initiatives include the Qatar National Renewable Energy Strategy, carbon-reduction pledges under the updated Nationally Determined Contribution, and net-billing regulations introduced by Kahramaa for distributed generation.
The country operates a single-buyer model, under which Kahramaa purchases electricity and desalinated water through long-term agreements, minimising market risk for project developers and consortium partners.
Saibasan said expanding solar generation could free up natural gas for liquefied natural gas exports whilst reducing emissions from domestic power generation.
He added that sustaining this expansion would require Qatar to balance renewable energy integration with IWPP offtake commitments and growing industrial demand, whilst maintaining transmission reliability across the National Control Centre and regional Gulf Cooperation Council interconnection links.
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Hyperlocal news for Texas communities since 2005.
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Officials with Toyo Co. held an Oct. 6 ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of the company’s manufacturing facility expansion in Humble, according to an Oct. 7 news release. 
Toyo is a global solar energy company that designs, manufactures, and sells solar cells, photovoltaic modules and related components across the solar power supply chain, according to the company’s website. 
With the expansion, the facility—which opened in October 2025—now has the capacity to produce 2 gigawatts of solar modules annually, per the release. 
“Completing our 2 GW module expansion in Texas is an important milestone for Toyo,” Toyo Chairman and CEO Takahiko Onozuka said in a statement. “We thank our employees, the Humble community, and our partners in the United States and Japan for their support.”
Toyo officials said the company is in the midst of another expansion at the site that will include the construction of a heterojunction cell line, which will further increase the facility’s capacity to produce solar modules. 
Expansion completed Oct. 6
6115 Greens Road, Humble
www.toyo-solar.com
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Oswal Pumps Invests ₹456 Crore in 1.2 GW Solar Cell Facility  SolarQuarter
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NTPC Renewable Energy Ltd. (NTPC REL) has issued a tender for the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of a 1 GW (2 × 500 MW) ground-mounted solar PV project at Kambadur in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh. Separately, NTPC Green Energy Ltd (NGEL) has invited bids for the EPC package for a 3,300 MWh BESS at the NTPC REL Khavda solar plant in Gujarat.
The 1 GW solar project at Kambadur, Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, is proposed to be executed in two 500 MW blocks under the EPC mode.
The scope of work includes design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, packing, loading and forwarding, transportation, unloading, storage, installation, testing and commissioning of the solar PV project. The supply of solar PV modules is also included in the package.
The selected bidder will also be responsible for the operation and maintenance of the solar PV plant for three years from successful project commissioning.
The 3,300 MWh BESS project at the NTPC REL Khavda solar plant in Gujarat is divided into four blocks, all located at PSS-1 at NTPC REL Khavda. Three blocks will each have a capacity of 300 MW/900 MWh, while the fourth will have a capacity of 200 MW/600 MWh.
The BESS package will be executed on a turnkey basis. The scope includes design, engineering, supply, packing and forwarding, transportation, unloading, storage, installation and commissioning of the grid-connected battery energy storage system.
The selected bidder will also be required to provide comprehensive operation and maintenance services for 15 years.
The tender specifies a design life of 25 years for the BESS, including its batteries, from the date of commissioning, with capacity degradation to be considered as per the bidder’s proposal for daily single-cycle operation.
In addition, the batteries offered must be rated for a minimum operational life of 25 years under a single-cycle-per-day application.
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The Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) has announced up to $32.3 million (USD 22.45 million) in funding for United States-headquartered companies Luminous Robotics and Built Robotics to establish new manufacturing facilities in Melbourne and Brisbane.
ARENA is providing up to $17.8 million to Luminous to establish a Melbourne manufacturing facility for its autonomous solar panel installation LUMI robots designed to streamline utility-scale solar construction. The $39.7 million project is expected to support the manufacture and deployment of about 100 of the robots by 2029.
Built Robotics Australia will receive up to $14.5 million to establish a Brisbane manufacturing hub and operations centre for autonomous piling systems. It is anticipated the facility will manufacture and deploy 12 robotic pile driving systems.
ARENA Chief Executive Officer Darren Miller said the new manufacturing facilities will improve productivity, reduce construction costs and ease workforce constraints as large-scale solar deployment in Australia grows.
“Installing foundations and placing panels are two of the most labour-intensive parts of solar farm construction,” he said, noting that “Australia needs to install large volumes of solar quickly and cost-effectively.”
Australia is targeting 82% renewables by 2030 and according to the Australian Energy Market Operator that will require about 38 GW of new solar and wind capacity to be built in the next three years. That includes some 20 GW of large-scale solar
“Local manufacturing and automation can improve the way solar farms are built by reducing construction costs and making installation faster, safer and more efficient,” Miller said.
Luminous Robotics Australia General Manager Tenzin Crouch said the new funding will enable the company to move its technology from field demonstration in Australia to industrial-scale manufacturing.
“For me, this is about building Australian capability that translates directly into delivery in the field. Designing and manufacturing robots here, then putting them to work building the solar infrastructure we need,” he said.
“We’ve proven LUMI on real solar farms in Australia, in the heat and dust, doing some of the hardest work on site. The next step is to turn that into scale.”
The company’s LUMI robot autonomously lifts and places solar panels onto racking structures, traditionally one of the most labour-intensive parts of solar farm construction. According to ARENA, the robot can install panels up to 3.5 times faster than current manual methods and has the potential to cut solar farm construction costs by about 6.2%.
Built Robotics’ autonomous piling robots automate the repetitive process of pile driving, which is usually time-consuming when setting up utility-scale solar farms. The company estimates that its robots have the potential to reduce piling time by approximately 82% and labour costs by 88%.
Paul Kelly, Vice President of business development at Built Robotics, said the company’s new Brisbane hub will make Queensland a home for autonomous solar construction and create a supply chain that serves projects in Australia.
“Australia has shown the world that construction robotics and physical AI work in the field. Now we’re going to build that technology here,” he said.
Both projects are supported through Round 2 of ARENA’s Solar Sunshot program.
Miller said in addition to supporting more efficient large-scale solar farm builds, the projects will also grow Australia’s advanced manufacturing capability.
“Manufacturing these technologies in Australia will help to strengthen local supply chains, develop specialist skills and give solar projects better access to advanced construction equipment when and where it is needed,” he said.
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Briscoe Group and Farro ink supply deals with New Zealand solar generator Lodestone Energy  PV Tech
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ZAWYA: Qatar boosts utility-scale solar push to diversify power mix  TradingView
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Pebble was one of the first fifth-wheel manufacturers to truly embrace the promise of automotive-grade lithium batteries, rooftop solar, and public EV chargers bundled into a tech-centric living space.
That’s right up our alley, which is why we cover them regularly here on CleanTechnica. They invited us out to be some of the first in the world to experience the new 2027 Pebble Flow and speak directly with their leadership team about all of the things they’ve learned in their first year of volume production and what upgrades they made as a result.
Disclaimer: Pebble paid for the author’s travel and accommodations to attend this event.
On the surface, the 2027 Pebble Flow looks the same as its predecessor. Digging deeper, you start to see some of the new options and upgrades they’ve added. Pebble added a new external portable solar integrator that plugs directly into the Flow and adds a pigtail with four pairs of solar MC4 connectors. This module will be available for all Flow owners as a retrofit and lets Pebble owners add up to 3 kW of additional solar to the 1.1 kW system that comes on the roof.
That translates to up to 4 kW of solar that can keep the Pebble’s 45 kWh iron phosphate battery topped up. In more practical terms, that means you can use the Pebble for more things, for more hours, on more days of the year. Owners have the option to add as much or as little solar as they want via the new external junction box, and Pebble partnered with Jackery to more seamlessly integrate their 500W foldable solar panels with the system.
A larger solar system pumps out more power in all seasons, opening up new options for owners whether they’re looking to charge their EV from their Pebble, use it as a backup battery during grid outages, or just to run the air conditioner for more hours each day. The new energy upgrade option will begin shipping in December 2026, with an option for existing owners to retrofit their Flow.
Because the Pebble Flow is so capable and is effectively autonomous when it comes to your energy generation and consumption, it can even be used as an accessory dwelling unit (ADU) when you have guests visiting. It’s definitely a non-traditional option, but it’s really cool that you could conceivably host guests in your fifth wheel in the backyard without asking them to sacrifice anything.
Stepping inside the Pebble, perhaps the biggest interior change for the 2027 model year is the option to swap out the queen-size Murphy bed that was the only option in the original Flow for two twin-size beds that come permanently fixed to the ground, which translates to even more storage underneath (photo above).
It’s a good option for couples with older kids that aren’t interested in sleeping in the same bed and want their own space. This configuration gives the kids their own space to sleep on the two twin beds in the front of the unit while the adults can sleep on the convertible dinette bed that seems roughly equivalent to a full-size bed at the rear.
The twin bed configuration is also a great option for people who don’t like climbing into bed from the foot of the bed, which is what you have to do with the queen-size configuration. The two twins have a narrow aisle between them which lets you walk up to the side of the bed before sitting down, which is a preferred way of getting in and out of bed for many people. Of course, that comes with the tradeoff of not sleeping in the same bed as your spouse, which may also be considered a benefit, depending on how you look at it.
The Pebble Flow has electrochromatic glass on all exterior windows as well as along the bathroom and shower section of the Flow. It’s a really cool way to add legitimate privacy, which is perhaps the ultimate luxury in such a small space. It also lets you shroud the entire Pebble Flow in a cocoon of privacy for when you’re at camp changing or just don’t want to have to interact with the outside world.
On the software front, Pebble is shipping Pebble OS 2, which will come as an over-the-air update later this year to all Flow owners and come natively on the 2027 Flow. This unlocks a number of new features, including Boost Mode, which gives you the ability to leverage the Pebble’s 40 kW or 54 horsepower of tow assist.
Towing is definitely one of the strengths of the Flow, thanks to the pair of hub motors located in each of its wheels. These tap into the Flow’s onboard battery to propel the Flow when it’s being towed. It actively detects if the tow vehicle is accelerating or slowing and either accelerates to match the speed or engages regeneration to slow itself down.
Combined with its impressive aerodynamics and its active aerocap up front, the Pebble Flow is a gamechanger. Instead of an EV range of around 100 miles of range per charge with an equivalent 6,000 lb trailer, drivers can achieve upwards of 250 miles of range per charge when starting out with a full EV battery and a fully charged Flow in tow. That’s fewer charging stops, which is always a win.
The twin motors in the Flow can also be used to literally remote control the Flow, which in addition to being a great party trick around camp, makes hitching and unhitching the flow a breeze. You can use the iPad to steer and drive the Flow into exactly the right position before lowering it down onto the hitch and securing it. It’s also super handy if you’re looking to fast charge the Flow, as you can simply disconnect it and drive it into a charging stall. That’s right, it can fast charge, too.
When it comes to actually towing the Flow, I’ve only driven with a trailer once, so I was nervous to tow the Flow. Just the same, I hopped into the Rivian R1S with the Flow in tow thinking I was just taking it for a loop around camp. To my surprise, I was directed to the highway where I discovered just how easy it was to tow.
I couldn’t really tell there was anything behind me for most of the trip as we flipped the Flow into different assist modes. Some provide no to low assist, while the new Boost Mode makes it effectively disappear as a tow vehicle. You can still feel it if there are any crosswinds, but it’s a noticeable improvement and a huge win for folks new to towing.
Overall, spending a long day with it and a night sleeping in the Pebble Flow showed me firsthand that it is a fantastic fifth wheel that makes getting out and adventuring easier and more comfortable than it has ever been. It lets you bring all the comforts of home with you on the road without the stress towing a large fifth wheel used to incur.
The new solar integration and partnership with Jackery makes it easy to boost solar input to up to 4 kilowatts, while its ability to push 12kW back out makes it a great option as a backup power source for your house. It’s a functional microgrid on wheels with generation, storage, utilization, and power output capabilities that are unmatched.
When you’re home, it can serve as an auxiliary living space for guests, or for you if you end up in the doghouse.
I’m seriously tempted to pull the trigger on one myself if I can only find a way to convince my wife. It’s currently $189,000 for the fully loaded Flow Founder’s Edition, $159,000 for the slightly less well equipped Pebble Flow Magic Pack, and presumably slightly less for the soon-to-be-released Pebble Flow Standard.
For more information about Pebble or the Flow, head over to their official website.
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I’m a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. As an activist investor, Kyle owns long term stock holdings in Tesla and Rivian.
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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.
“I have never seen a trap primer attached to a shower valve.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Upgrading to a heat pump water heater can lower the cost of making hot water, so a mysterious stream of warm water heading straight to a basement drain immediately raised red flags for one homeowner, who reached out to Reddit’s r/AskAPlumber forum for advice. 
According to the homeowner, the puzzling part was that the warm water was coming from a “small line” feeding into the same drain used by the heat pump condensate line. 
In this case, the flow appeared only while their wife was showering, and they discovered it only after living in the house for almost 10 years. 
“Any speculation on why this would happen?” the homeowner asked, adding that “our power bills have recently been higher than normal which is now making sense.”
Some weren’t convinced the homeowner showed evidence of a bigger problem. 
One commenter thought the drain line was there on purpose and wouldn’t have a major impact on electric bills, writing: “It’s intended to keep the P trap in the basement floor drain full of water. It’s usually tied into the shower head of the main bath.”
“It’s a very common thing,” another said. 
Others pushed back on that explanation, though. 
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To get started, just answer a few questions about your home — no phone number required. Within a day or two, EnergySage will email you the best options for your needs, and their expert advisers can help you compare quotes and pick a winner.
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“I started plumbing in 1985,” a commenter wrote. “I have never seen a trap primer attached to a shower valve.” This reaffirmed the homeowner’s suspicion that something was wrong. 
“This was like a full tap running,” they noted. 
“It’s not supposed to be delivering that much water. The quantity is the problem, not the principle,” another commenter explained. 
Instead of assuming the root cause of the flow, the homeowner said they planned to try other hot water fixtures upstairs and see whether they produced the same warm discharge. 
The replies also suggested checking the pressure-relief valve on the water heater. Another wondered whether a water softener flush might have happened at the same time as the shower, which would mean the two events were unrelated.
For homeowners who decide it may be time for an equipment upgrade, Cala makes smart heat pump water heaters. Cala‘s customizable smart heat pump water heaters can help homeowners decrease their energy bills by heating water exactly when it is needed. 
For a household already worried about an electric bill, that kind of timing control could be especially appealing, and Cala is built around that approach.
If rising water or power bills have you wondering where your hot water is going, these stories dig into similar plumbing and cost concerns. They cover hidden leaks, drain habits, wastewater heat, and simple ways homeowners try to avoid bigger plumbing expenses.
• A realtor showed homeowners how blue dye can expose hidden toilet leaks behind rising bills.
• A plumber said hot water helps keep kitchen drains clearer before clogs turn costly.
• In Vancouver, Canada, officials found heat in the sewerage system to help warm homes.
• A plumber shared simple drain hacks that helped homeowners avoid expensive sink backups.
• A homeowner tried a plumber-approved hack to clear a clogged drain without a service call.
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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ARENA commits AU$32 million to build solar installation and piling robots in Australia  PV Tech
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KNOX COUNTY, Ind. (WTHI) – The Knox County Commissioners have approved revisions to the county’s solar ordinance, including additional soil and water monitoring and expanded setbacks near homes. The proposed changes will now go before the Knox County Area Plan Commission.
Commission President T.J. Brink said the monitoring requirements are intended to help protect nearby residents and their well water.
“Some of the things we have added in are the soil and water monitoring. Making sure there is nothing leeching into the ground, and of course, these folks out here live on well water. So we wanna make sure their wells are protected,” Brink said.
The revisions also change the required distance between solar projects and neighboring homes. Brink said the setback for a home on one side of a project increased by 100 feet; if a home is on more than one side, the setback is now 500 feet.
“We added in an extra hundred foot for the single setback and if you’re going to be on more than one side of a home, it’s now five hundred foot. So, we’ve added in a little bit of that. Measurement as well, for the homes,” Brink said.
Brink said county officials developed the changes to comply with state law while adding safety measures.
“Indiana has a law that protects solar and you cannot make it egregious to where they do not wanna be in your area, but, we can add in safety measurements. And that’s exactly what we’ve done with this new ordinance,” he said.
The revisions followed discussions with residents about potential changes to the county’s solar regulations.
“We’ve talked to our constituents time and time again and we’ve heard their concerns, most definitely heard their concerns, and we’ve tried to stay within the state law obviously, but be able to provide them with things they’ve asked for,” Brink said.
The proposed ordinance changes will go before the Knox County Area Plan Commission. If approved, they will return to the commissioners for further consideration.
Copyright 2026 WTHI. All rights reserved.

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Oswal Pumps plans to establish a 1.2 GW TOPCon solar cell manufacturing facility
It expects the investment to reduce its dependence on external suppliers and improve cost competitiveness
It will be funded through debt and the reallocation of previously earmarked IPO proceeds
Oswal Pumps Limited has unveiled plans to establish a 1.2 GW solar cell manufacturing facility using tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology. The management said this investment will expand its manufacturing operations beyond solar modules and pumping systems.
The board of its wholly owned subsidiary, Oswal Solar Energy Private Limited (OSEPL), approved the proposal on October 10, 2026. Commercial production at the facility is expected to begin by April 2028. 
The company intends to use the entire output for its in-house solar module manufacturing lines, securing supplies of domestically manufactured cells for projects that require compliance with domestic content requirements (DCR).
Oswal Pumps said it evaluated long-term supply arrangements with domestic cell manufacturers but found the available commercial terms, including pricing and upfront security deposits, unsuitable for its long-term plans and working capital management.
The company identified cell manufacturing as a priority because domestic cell availability is a constraint for its operations serving programs such as PM-KUSUM and PM Surya Ghar.
“With ALMM List-II now in force, demand for domestically manufactured cells is set to rise sharply. We see this as the right opportunity to invest. Choosing TOPCon technology ensures we are building for the future, with higher efficiency and better long-term performance for our customers,” stated Oswal Pumps Limited Chairman and Managing Director Vivek Gupta.
According to the company, the TOPCon project will cost an estimated INR 456 crore, of which about INR 296 crore is proposed to be financed through debt. The remaining INR 159.85 crore is expected to come from unutilized IPO proceeds of INR 163.04 crore. This was originally allocated to other manufacturing facilities, namely aluminum frame facility, 300 MW EVA encapsulant facility, and 500 MW solar module factory.
The company said its planned cell production will suffice its existing module production capacity of around 570 MW and planned module capacity of 1 GW. Its 1.2 GW EVA encapsulant capacity is also sufficient to support the production of solar modules. It can source any additional requirement for EVA as well as aluminium frames from the market.
It expects the cell facility to reduce the company’s exposure to spot-market price fluctuations, supplier terms and potential supply constraints.
TaiyangNews 2024

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Qatar is fast-tracking utility-scale solar PV projects to more than double the renewable energy share of the country’s total power capacity, diversify its power mix and reduce domestic gas consumption for power generation, according to London-based GlobalData.

The share of renewable energy in the Gulf state’s total power capacity will increase from 12 percent in 2025 to 25.9 percent by 2035, the data analytics firm said in a report.

Qatar’s installed power capacity will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2 percent between 2025 and 2035. Solar PV will be the primary growth engine, expanding at a CAGR of 12.4 percent over the decade.

Attaurrahman Ojindaram Saibasan, Power Analyst at GlobalData, said that Qatar’s power sector is shifting from total reliance on natural gas toward a structured hybrid model.

“Driven by the Qatar National Renewable Energy Strategy, the build-out of major solar facilities such as Al Kharsaah and the recently commissioned plants at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed, alongside the large-scale Dukhan development demonstrate substantial momentum in deploying low-cost clean generation across the peninsula.”

Despite rapid solar growth, natural gas will remain indispensable to the country’s power and water infrastructure. Combined-cycle gas turbines and cogeneration plants underpin the country’s Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) fleet, providing both dispatchable power for extreme summer cooling loads and thermal energy for seawater desalination.

Natural gas capacity will continue to expand in absolute terms, accounting for about 74 percent of cumulative capacity in 2035.

Saibasan said gas-fired IWPP facilities provide critical firming capacity to absorb large influxes of solar energy during midday hours, while securing base load water desalination.

Expanding flexible gas generation and modernising grid management are essential prerequisites for accommodating the planned 4 gigawatt (GW) renewable target by 2030 without compromising system security, he added.
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Posted by Arpita Chowdhury | Oct 12, 2026 | 0

Agrovoltaic project in Agra, India

What if a farm could produce not only food but also electricity?

At Dayalbagh Educational Institute in Agra, India, elevated solar panels stand above the land, allowing cultivation to continue underneath. It is a local example of agrivoltaics, combining solar power generation with agricultural production.
The idea is gaining attention well beyond India as countries face the challenge of how to expand renewable energy without putting additional pressure on farmland.
“From the same piece of land, a farmer can grow his crops and sell the electricity from solar energy,” says Joydeep Gupta, India Head of the Earth Journalism Network.
The AgriPV system on Dayalbagh Educational Institute’s Dairy Campus, producing 209 kilowatt-peak, consists of 19 raised solar-panel support structures with 32 panels each.
A 2024 study of the project found that the crops grown beneath the elevated solar structures were not significantly
affected by the shadow. Researchers reported a total vegetable yield of 10 metric tons, higher than India’s average national vegetable yield for the same land area.

How Great Are Potential Benefits?

Around 7.5 million hectares (75,000 square km) of India’s cropland, about 14% of the country’s land area, is technically suitable for AgriPV. That could generate up to 20,000 TWh of electricity, four times India’s projected electricity demand of 5,250 TWh in 2050.
However, “technically suitable” does not mean that all of this land could or should be covered with solar panels. Factors such as crop type, sunlight, water availability, local electricity infrastructure, farming practices and the cost of installing elevated structures determine whether a particular site is viable.
The potential benefits for farming, from the partial shade of solar panels, include around 30% savings of water and yield improvements of 10 to 20% for certain crops. But agrivoltaic systems can produce very different outcomes, depending on the crop, climate, panel height, spacing and design.
In Madhya Pradesh, Anand Jain has integrated elevated solar infrastructure with agriculture, installing the panels 11 to 13 feet above the ground and spacing them to allow tractors to pass.
With a 4.5 MW solar plant, the farm generates up to 25,000 units of electricity daily, supplying any surplus to the grid. Crops on the site include strawberries, lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes and cabbage.
“Combining solar power generation with agricultural cultivation can significantly improve land productivity and provide farmers with an additional source of income,” conclude the Indian Government.
The model is also being tested in Europe. In Germany’s Baden-Württemberg region, the Model Region Agrivoltaics project has brought together researchers, government agencies, and other partners. During its first phase, five pilot facilities with a combined capacity of more than 1,700 kWp were established, focusing
primarily on pome fruit, stone fruit and berries. The second phase, running from 2025 to 2026, has expanded the research to grassland, arable farming, livestock, vineyards, and reforestation.
The project is studying crop-specific designs, including the orientation and transparency of photovoltaic modules as well as their effects on plants and agricultural production. One of its sites is an apple orchard in Kressbronn on Lake Constance. Elevated photovoltaic panels above the orchard allow agricultural machinery to continue operating underneath.
Globally, the experiments are even more diverse, with seven solar-powered agri-food projects across countries including China, Iran, Japan, Malawi, Tanzania, and Uganda. The applications range from crop cultivation and horticulture to aquaculture, sheep, and dairy farming. Researchers emphasize that project design needs to reflect local agricultural conditions, skills, markets, and financing requirements.

Challenges

Estimates of India’s agrivoltaic potential range from around 3,000 GW to nearly 14,000 GW. However, access to finance is one of the biggest challenges, particularly for smallholder farmers. Installing elevated solar structures can require more investment than conventional ground-mounted solar.
India faces particular regulatory and financial questions. Research on AgriPV has highlighted issues around land-use classification, approvals, and the design of policies that can accommodate both agricultural and energy activity.
The installation in Agra is part of a much larger global experiment. From an educational institute in northern India to an apple orchard in southern Germany, farmers and researchers are testing whether one piece of land can perform two functions without compromising either.
The answer will not be identical everywhere. But as countries search for ways to expand renewable energy while protecting food production and rural livelihoods, agrivoltaics offers a model worthy of consideration. This is not a choice between the farm and the solar panel, but the possibility that, with the right design and policy support, the two can work together.
Arpita Chowdhury visited Agra, Uttar Pradesh, as part of the Renewable Energy Workshop, hosted by the Earth Journalism Network.

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Arpita Chowdhury is a journalist, writer, and researcher with a background in the telling of human interest stories. She is currently pursuing an MA in Journalism and International Affairs at University College Dublin in conjuction with CNN Academy. She is a former news reporter at All India Radio.
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Researchers at the Liten research institute of the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) have investigated how increasing PV system voltage affects potential-induced degradation (PID) in solar modules, focusing on the relationship between encapsulant electrical conductivity and module performance.
The scientists said this is the first study to investigate PID in passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar modules at voltages as high as 6,000 V and to identify partial-discharge-induced electrical treeing as an additional degradation mechanism in medium-voltage PV modules. “PERC modules were chosen even though they are progressively being phased out; this cell technology has been well studied and is therefore a logical choice for investigating medium-voltage degradation phenomena,” they explained.
Their analysis considered four encapsulant materials – ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA), polyolefin elastomer (POE), thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), and ionomer – under controlled electric field, temperature, and humidity conditions. For the tests, they used 20 cm × 20 cm glass-glass PV mini-modules, each containing a half-cut bifacial PERC cell.
Conductivity was measured using a parallel-plate electrode configuration with gold-coated polymer samples, applying voltages of up to 3,000 V through alternating two-hour polarization and depolarization cycles. The researchers conducted two experimental campaigns. The first examined PID at 1,500 V, 3,000 V, and 6,000 V using nine TPO-based modules, while the second compared the PID resistance of the four encapsulants at 3,000 V. All modules underwent accelerated aging for 96 hours at 85 C and 85% relative humidity.
Current-voltage (I-V) measurements under standard test conditions were performed before and after aging to quantify electrical performance losses on both sides of the bifacial modules. Electroluminescence (EL), photoluminescence (PL), and external quantum efficiency (EQE) measurements were used to characterize degradation mechanisms.
The analysis showed that encapsulant electrical conductivity strongly depends on electric field and temperature, significantly influencing PID. For example, TPO conductivity increased with applied voltage, while raising the temperature from approximately 20 C to 80 C increased conductivity by two orders of magnitude. Further PID testing revealed progressively greater power losses with increasing voltage magnitude, particularly on the rear side of the modules. At 6,000 V, maximum power losses reached 13.5% on the front side and 19.5% on the rear side.
The researchers also found that front-side degradation was primarily associated with sodium-ion migration, while rear-side degradation was mainly attributed to charge accumulation and polarization. Following testing at 6,000 V, rear-side power losses increased to 26% during dark storage but fell to 9.8% after illumination, indicating partial recovery.
A comparison of the four encapsulants at 3,000 V revealed a strong correlation between electrical conductivity and degradation severity. TPO exhibited the highest rear-side power loss at 23.6%, followed by EVA at 21.7%, ionomer at 13.0%, and POE at 4.6%. Power losses increased approximately linearly with the logarithm of conductivity, at rates of 1.8 and 4.9 percentage points per tenfold increase in conductivity on the front and rear sides, respectively.
POE demonstrated the greatest resistance to PID, although residual fill-factor losses suggested possible metallization-related degradation. EL and PL imaging confirmed the electrical performance trends. The researchers also observed partial-discharge-induced electrical treeing exclusively in ionomer-based modules at 3,000 V, particularly near metallic cell ribbons and glass-encapsulant interfaces. They identified this phenomenon as a new PID degradation mechanism, referred to as PID-discharge (PID-d).
The authors attributed this phenomenon to locally enhanced electric fields associated with reduced encapsulant thickness, ribbon geometry, and possible insulation weaknesses. The discharges appeared to cause localized cavities and delamination, potentially compromising long-term electrical insulation.
Overall, the findings highlight the importance of low-conductivity encapsulants, adequate insulation thickness, and optimized module design for mitigating PID and partial-discharge risks in medium-voltage PV systems. “This study demonstrates that moving toward higher system voltages is not without risks for PV modules; however, these risks can already be effectively quantified and identified through appropriate laboratory testing and material qualification,” the researchers concluded.
Their findings are presented in the study “Degradation of photovoltaic modules at medium voltage with different types of encapsulants,” published in Solar Energy.
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Chinese solar module manufacturer Risen Energy has unveiled a new heterojunction (HJT) solar module featuring a dual-layer optical design to reduce glare.
The company said the new product is part of its Hyper-ion series and is designed for installations with stringent glare-control requirements, such as those near airports and residential areas, where reflected sunlight may cause visual disturbances.
“Risen Energy’s capabilities in photovoltaic optical safety extend beyond product development. It is also the principal drafting organization behind T/CPIA0119-2025, the group standard for Photovoltaic Module Glare Testing Method,” the manufacturer said in a statement. “The launch of Hyper-ion anti-glare module represents the translation of this accumulated technical and standardisation expertise into a commercial product.”
According to Risen Energy, the module uses a dual-layer optical design combining a micron-scale matte glass surface, produced through a process it calls “nanocrystalline phase reconstruction,” with technology to suppress internal reflections. The company did not provide further technical details about the process.
The manufacturer said tests conducted by Germany’s TÜV Rheinland showed a maximum daylight glare probability (DGP) of 0.30, below the Class AAA threshold of 0.35, and a maximum glare luminance of 3,463.94 cd/m², compared with a limit of 20,000 cd/m². The module also achieved a specular reflectance as low as 0.85%, according to the company.
The RSM132-8-710-730BHDG module comes in five versions, with power outputs of 710 W, 715 W, 720 W, 725 W and 730 W. Their conversion efficiencies range from 22.9% to 23.5%, while open-circuit voltages range from 50.01 V to 50.33 V and short-circuit currents from 18.00 A to 18.38 A.
The bifacial module features 132 HJT cells and measures 2,384 mm × 1,303 mm × 33 mm. It weighs 37.5 kg and features 2 mm anti-glare glass on the front and 2 mm heat-strengthened glass on the rear, along with an anodised aluminum alloy frame.
Under bifacial nameplate irradiance conditions, with rear-side irradiance of 135 W/m², the module delivers between 796 W and 818 W, according to the manufacturer’s specifications. With a 10% rear-side power gain, its equivalent power output ranges from 781 W to 803 W.
The panel has a temperature coefficient of -0.24%/C for maximum power, an operating temperature range of -40 C to 70 C, and a maximum system voltage of 1,500 V. It can withstand mechanical test loads of up to 5,400 Pa on the front and 2,400 Pa on the rear, depending on the installation method.
Risen Energy offers a 15-year product warranty and a 30-year linear power output warranty. The company specifies an annual degradation rate of 0.3% over 30 years, with guaranteed power output of 90.3% at the end of the warranty period.
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Staff Writer October 12, 2026Environment, Business, Government, Government & Politics, Headlines
By George D. Rotsch, Delaware LIVE News
DOVER, Del. — Gov. Matt Meyer’s administration has announced plans to accelerate four community solar projects representing approximately $20.3 million in proposed private investment, promising additional electricity generation and savings for participating Delaware consumers.
The projects, proposed by King Energy, would add nearly 10 megawatts of solar generating capacity at commercial properties in New Castle and Sussex counties. Construction is expected to begin in spring 2027.

The announcement comes as Delaware residents and businesses continue to face concerns about electricity affordability, generating capacity and the state’s ability to attract private investment.
Although the administration says the projects will expand local energy production and help customers manage electricity costs, its Oct. 9 announcement did not specify how many households would benefit or how much an average subscriber could save annually.
That distinction matters because community solar programs provide financial benefits directly to participating customers but do not necessarily reduce electricity rates for everyone.

Four projects, $20.3 million in investment

The solar installations are among six projects accepted into the governor’s JobsFirst Permitting Accelerator, an initiative designed to shorten government review timelines for housing, energy and infrastructure development.
The six projects represent approximately $165 million in proposed private investment, including two mixed-use housing developments and the four solar installations.
King Energy would develop the solar facilities at commercial properties owned by Harvey Hanna & Associates and Coastal Trade Supply.

According to the administration, the installations would generate more than 12 million kilowatt-hours of electricity annually after completion.
“King Energy is extremely excited to partner with the Delaware JobsFirst program to accelerate the deployment of rooftop solar programs at four commercial properties, owned by Harvey Hanna and Coastal Trade Supply,” King Energy CEO John Witchel said in the announcement.
Witchel said the projects would help address growing electricity demand and costs by expanding in-state generation.
The installations would connect to Delmarva Power’s distribution system. Construction is scheduled to begin in late March 2027, with completion dates varying by location.

How much will customers save?

Unlike traditional rooftop solar, community solar allows eligible residents and businesses to subscribe to a larger solar installation without purchasing or installing panels on their own property.
Electricity generated by the facility enters the utility’s distribution system, and participating customers receive credits on their electric bills based on their subscriptions.
Delaware law establishes minimum savings requirements for newer community solar projects.
For facilities receiving final operating certificates on or after Sept. 3, 2026, residential subscribers must receive savings of at least 10% on the value of their community solar credits. Qualifying low- and moderate-income subscribers must receive savings of at least 20%.
The law also requires at least 15% of a qualifying facility’s electricity output to serve low- and moderate-income customers.
Those savings percentages apply to the value of solar electricity credits after applicable charges, not necessarily to a customer’s entire electric bill.
For example, a residential customer receiving $100 worth of solar credits would save at least $10 under the standard requirement. An income-qualified customer receiving the same credits would save at least $20.
The actual annual savings would depend on electricity consumption, subscription size and billing arrangements.
While those consumer protections are established in state law, the administration has not released expected annual dollar savings for participants in the four newly announced projects.
The number of available subscriptions, eligibility details and enrollment dates also have not been announced.

More generation does not necessarily mean lower statewide rates

The facilities would add locally generated electricity to Delaware’s energy supply, an objective emphasized by the Meyer administration as electricity demand grows.
Solar generation can reduce demand for electricity from other sources during periods when sunlight is available. However, solar panels do not produce electricity at night, and generation varies with weather and seasonal conditions.
The four proposed projects do not include a battery-storage component in the information released by the administration.
As a result, the installations could contribute to Delaware’s electricity supply but would not independently address the need for dependable generation during nighttime hours or other periods when solar production is limited.
The state has not released an analysis quantifying how these four projects would affect wholesale electricity prices, grid reliability or utility rates for customers who do not subscribe.
Those questions are relevant as Delaware considers how to balance renewable energy development with dependable, affordable electricity from a variety of generating sources.

Private investment and public incentives

One notable feature of the announcement is its emphasis on private-sector investment rather than a newly announced state construction appropriation.
King Energy is identified as the developer, with approximately $20.3 million in proposed investment across the four facilities.

However, private financing does not necessarily mean a project operates without public incentives or other financial support.
Depending on eligibility and applicable rules, solar developers may receive tax benefits or generate revenue through renewable energy credit programs.
The governor’s announcement does not identify the specific tax incentives, grants or other public financial assistance, if any, expected to support these installations.
It also does not provide a detailed accounting of utility interconnection expenses or program administration costs.
Those financial arrangements would help establish the projects’ overall economics and clarify whether any associated expenses could affect taxpayers or utility customers who do not subscribe.

Meyer promotes faster permitting

The governor’s JobsFirst Permitting Accelerator is intended to reduce unnecessary delays by coordinating reviews across state agencies.
Established through Executive Order 18, the initiative assigns participating projects a central point of contact and seeks to complete complex permitting reviews within 120 business days.
Existing environmental, public safety and regulatory requirements remain in place, according to the administration.
“The JobsFirst Permitting Accelerator is about cutting unnecessary red tape, moving projects forward faster and making it easier to invest in Delaware,” Meyer said.
“These projects will help lower costs, create opportunities and strengthen the communities Delawareans call home.”
Thomas Harvey, managing director of Harvey Hanna & Associates, said the permitting improvements could help bring needed energy projects online more efficiently.
“We believe projects like these can play an important role in addressing Delaware’s growing need for reliable, affordable energy,” Harvey said.
The approach has implications beyond solar development. More predictable permitting timelines can reduce uncertainty for businesses considering investments in manufacturing, housing and infrastructure.
However, acceptance into the accelerator does not constitute final regulatory approval or guarantee that construction will begin on schedule.

Construction jobs expected

The administration also says the four installations will generate local construction employment.
The announced construction schedules range from approximately five to eight months, depending on the facility.
The state did not specify the number of construction positions, expected wages, how many workers would be Delaware residents or whether the projects would create permanent jobs after construction.
Those details would help evaluate the employment impact of the investments, particularly because the permitting initiative is part of the administration’s JobsFirst economic development program.

Part of a larger solar initiative

The newly announced facilities build on Delaware’s efforts to expand community solar.
In September, the Delaware Public Service Commission highlighted four previously accepted community solar projects in Seaford, Townsend and Clayton.
Those projects represent more than 16 megawatts of proposed generating capacity and over $73 million in investment.
According to the commission, state officials estimated that the earlier projects could provide electricity cost reductions of 10% to 15% for more than 16,000 Delaware households.
Those estimates apply to the earlier projects, not the four King Energy installations announced in October.
The additional facilities would expand the number of proposed solar installations moving through the state’s accelerated permitting process.

Measuring the benefits

The latest announcement represents another step in the administration’s effort to encourage private investment, expand energy generation and reduce regulatory delays.
The projects offer potential benefits, including additional electricity production, savings for participating customers and construction-related economic activity.
Whether those investments also produce broader affordability benefits will depend on actual electricity output, project costs, subscriber participation and how the facilities operate within Delaware’s electricity system.
Several questions remain unanswered in the announcement, including how many Delawareans will subscribe, what average annual savings will be, whether public incentives are involved and how the administration will measure the results of accelerated permitting.
For consumers concerned about rising electricity costs, those figures will help determine how much of the promised benefit ultimately reaches Delaware households and businesses.
The four installations remain proposed developments, with construction planned for 2027. Their economic and energy benefits will become measurable once the facilities are completed and begin operating.
Delaware LIVE collaborates with a network of professional journalists to cover a diverse range of stories across various fields.  Staff Writers include experienced journalists and young professionals.  If you have questions, please feel free to contact [email protected] or our publisher, George D. Rotsch, at [email protected]
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Cox, a Spain-based water and energy utility, has signed a 15-year power purchase agreement with Empresas Públicas de Medellín (EPM), the main public energy group of Colombia. Cox has been present in Colombia since 2021, and it regards the country as a priority market in which it is developing more than 20 PV projects. Under the agreement, EPM will buy approximately 115 GWh of renewable energy annually from a portfolio of solar PV projects that has a total installed capacity of 58 MW. Those projects are being developed by Cox in different municipalities of Colombia, and the agreement will involve an investment of €40 million (~ $44.81 million). The energy will be delivered to EPM progressively from 2027, as the solar parks come into operation. Once all of the projects are in operation, their energy is estimated to be sufficient for nearly 55,000 homes and to avoid more than 45,000 tonnes of CO2 annually.
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Install solar panels on large bodies of water like Lake Wilson, Ala Wai Canal and Ho‘omaluhia Botanical Garden. The power generated by the panels will offset their cost and maintenance while supplying power to the grid.
Both the aquaponics and agrivoltaics systems would be on land under the solar panels. The agrivoltaics system would have grow beds about four to five feet above the ground and both systems would have LED lights above to provide 24/7 lighting powered by an attached battery system. Raising the agrivoltaic grow beds above the ground helps eliminate the effects of land flooding and will minimize both bugs and weeds.
The entire area could be fenced to let either goats or sheep roam the area to act as animal lawnmowers to keep the weeds and grass to a minimum. The result would be vegetables, fish, meat, cheese and milk. Wool if sheep are used.
Ken Takeya
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Swiss section of Great St. Bernard tunnel to get 1,000 solar panels  SWI swissinfo.ch
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AI-Powered Solar Irrigation Framework Cuts Water Use by Nearly 29 Percent in Simulation
In the arid expanses of Egypt’s New Delta region, where every drop of water counts and the sun beats down relentlessly, a team of Egyptian engineers has built a virtual farm of the future. A new study published in Scientific Reports presents a MATLAB-based simulation framework that fuses artificial intelligence with Internet of Things (IoT) architecture to manage solar-powered irrigation, and its headline numbers are striking: a projected annual water saving of 28.57 percent compared with a conventional fixed-schedule baseline, and a 74.74 percent reduction in motor energy use through adaptive pump-speed control.
The research, led by Ahmed Mashaly of Mansoura National University, together with Ragab A. El-Sehiemy of Kafrelsheikh University and Mohamed Elgohary of Delta University for Science and Technology, addresses a persistent gap in the smart agriculture literature. According to the authors, most existing studies concentrate either on IoT monitoring platforms or on AI prediction models, but rarely integrate both into a single, coherent system. Their framework does exactly that, coupling a long short-term memory (LSTM) neural network for predicting irrigation water requirements with a complete renewable energy management layer that includes photovoltaic generation, battery state-of-charge (SOC) management, and a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm.
At the heart of the predictive engine sits the LSTM network, a specialized form of recurrent neural network designed to capture long-range temporal dependencies in sequential data. That architecture is well suited to agriculture, where irrigation demand depends not just on today’s weather but on patterns of solar irradiance, temperature, and humidity unfolding over days. Trained and tested on real environmental data drawn from NASA’s POWER database for the New Delta region, the LSTM classified the operating states of the irrigation pump with an accuracy of 96.11 percent. Its recall of 0.9820 indicates that it rarely misses a genuine irrigation event, while its precision of 0.9100 shows that false alarms are comparatively uncommon. The resulting F1-score of 0.9446 balances those two qualities into a single figure of merit.
Those numbers matter because the model was not operating in isolation. The team benchmarked the LSTM against two widely used alternatives, an artificial neural network (ANN) and a support vector machine (SVM), and found the LSTM outperformed both. Robustness testing across multiple independent training runs showed stable performance, an important consideration for any system intended to run autonomously in the field, where retraining conditions vary and overfitting to a single dataset can quietly degrade reliability.
The energy side of the framework is equally deliberate. A photovoltaic system, whose output power depends on solar irradiance and panel efficiency, feeds the irrigation pump through an MPPT algorithm that continuously adjusts the operating point to extract the maximum available power from the panels. A battery storage subsystem, tracked through its state of charge, buffers the mismatch between when the sun shines and when the crops need water. Rather than running pumps at fixed speed, the framework adapts pump speed to actual demand, which is where the dramatic 74.74 percent reduction in motor energy consumption comes from. In conventional irrigation, motors often run at full power regardless of need; adaptive control trims that waste.
Water savings arise from a different mechanism. Instead of irrigating on a rigid timetable, the system predicts how much water the crops will actually consume and schedules irrigation accordingly, using a soil-moisture error term to correct deviations between predicted and measured conditions. Against an assumed conventional fixed-schedule baseline, the simulated annual water saving reached 28.57 percent. For a country like Egypt, which faces severe water scarcity and is developing the New Delta as new agricultural land, savings of that magnitude could translate into substantially more farmland served by the same water allocation.
The researchers also stress-tested their design. A sensitivity analysis examined how the system responds to moderate variations in environmental and operating conditions, and the model remained stable. That resilience is critical for real-world deployment, where sensor noise, weather variability, and component aging are the norm rather than the exception. The framework further includes a conceptual IoT communication architecture, envisioning field sensors, controllers, and remote monitoring linked through technologies such as GSM and long-range wide area networks, so that the intelligence demonstrated in simulation could eventually govern physical hardware.
It is worth emphasizing what the study does and does not claim. This is a simulation framework, validated against real environmental data but not yet demonstrated on deployed hardware in a working field. The water and energy savings are estimates relative to a modeled baseline, and the authors position the work explicitly as a promising start toward future hardware implementations of intelligent, solar-powered irrigation devices. Even so, the integration is what sets the work apart: prediction, power management, storage control, and communication are designed together rather than bolted together after the fact.
The broader implications extend beyond Egypt. Agriculture consumes the majority of the world’s freshwater withdrawals, and solar-powered irrigation is expanding rapidly across regions where grid electricity is unreliable or absent. A framework that pairs machine learning forecasts with renewable energy management could help farmers squeeze more output from both scarce inputs, water and sunlight. The MATLAB environment also makes the approach reproducible and adaptable, allowing other researchers to plug in local climate data and re-tune the models for their own conditions.
From the sun-scorched fields of the New Delta to the growing literature on AI-driven smart farming, the study offers a template for how simulation can de-risk the next generation of agricultural technology. If future hardware trials confirm the simulated gains, the combination of LSTM forecasting, adaptive pump control, and solar energy management could become a cornerstone of sustainable irrigation in water-stressed regions worldwide.
Subject of Research: An AI-IoT simulation framework using LSTM networks for smart solar-powered irrigation and renewable energy management
Article Title: A MATLAB-based AI-IoT simulation framework for LSTM-driven smart solar irrigation and renewable energy management
Article References: A MATLAB-based AI-IoT simulation framework for LSTM-driven smart solar irrigation and renewable energy management. (n.d.). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-74935-0
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-74935-0
Keywords: smart irrigation, LSTM, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things, photovoltaic systems, renewable energy, MATLAB, water efficiency, maximum power point tracking, battery state of charge, smart agriculture, Egypt
News Source: Faith Mcneil. (October 12, 2026). AI-Powered Solar Irrigation Framework Cuts Water Use by Nearly 29 Percent in Simulation. Scienmag.
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Azerbaijan Inaugurates 100 MW Gobustan Solar Power Plant Equipped with Sungrow Inverters  SolarQuarter
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Qatar fast-tracks utility-scale solar PV projects to diversify power mix: Report  TradingView
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Navitas Solar’s Vijay Menon identified grid-connection delays and curtailment as major challenges for solar project development
He cautioned that excessive cost reduction during design and procurement can weaken long-term plant performance
Predictive maintenance, better use of plant data, and robotic cleaning can support a more proactive O&M approach
Solar power plants should be planned, built, and operated as one integrated chain, according to Vijay Menon, Chief Operating Officer of Navitas Solar. Speaking at the TaiyangNews Solar Power Plants & Storage Conference 2026, he said decisions made during development and engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) directly affect plant yield and operating costs throughout the project’s lifetime.
Menon identified grid-connection queues as one of the main challenges facing solar project development. Project deployments are outpacing grid expansion, while developers and EPC companies have limited control over transmission availability.
He cites curtailment as another concern for operating projects. Solar generation typically peaks around midday, while electricity demand is often higher in the mornings and evenings. This mismatch can reduce the amount of electricity sold and affect project returns.
Menon said developers should consider co-located storage early to shift solar generation to periods of higher demand. Grid access, land acquisition and community engagement should also progress in parallel. Other challenges include volatile development costs and different commercial and compliance requirements among regional and international investors.
Recycling also needs to be considered beyond the manufacturing stage. Menon said the industry requires solutions for damaged and end-of-life modules as well as other project components. Regional recycling hubs are beginning to provide these services in response to regulatory and voluntary requirements.
EPC and Project Quality
Solar construction has become faster with higher-power modules, improved trackers, and cleaning systems. However, Menon said EPC services don’t follow a single global standard, even though individual components may comply with UL or IEC requirements. Tight margins and the availability of skilled personnel also remain concerns.
Menon said digital tools are already changing project execution. He referred to design software and drone surveys as examples. In his view, quality control should extend beyond factory audits and cover risks that may emerge after the equipment has been supplied.
He also questioned the focus on reducing upfront project costs, adding that lower capital expenditure (CapEx) can come with compromises in design and product selection, which may later reduce output. He said lowering lifetime costs may require spending more on quality at the beginning.
Operations and Maintenance
The real test of a solar project comes after commissioning, when the plant must deliver the expected energy yield, said Menon. Yet operations and maintenance (O&M) is still often handled reactively. Teams step in after a fault appears, while construction-related issues can remain unresolved for long periods.
Weather conditions and equipment quality can also result in unexpected degradation. At the same time, useful plant information remains divided among inverter, tracker, and other equipment providers. The project needs to use this data across teams rather than keeping it with individual specialists.
AI tools, drones, and predictive maintenance platforms can assist O&M teams, while robotic systems can support cleaning. Menon also advocated for repowering older projects whose output has declined. This may be necessary where a power purchase agreement (PPA) requires the plant to supply a minimum amount of electricity.
The commercial conditions for O&M remain difficult. Service providers must meet high performance guarantees, although the available maintenance budget may not cover the work needed to deliver those results.
Storage in Solar Projects
Menon said storage is becoming part of more solar projects in India. Solar plants can be built quickly, but their output varies through the day and cannot provide firm power on their own. Storage can store some midday generation and supply it when demand is higher.
Lithium-ion is currently the main technology used for this purpose, although work continues on other storage options. Menon expects deployment to increase as systems become available at larger scale and more competitive prices. In his view, combining solar with storage offers opportunities both within and outside India.
Watch the presentation on the TaiyangNews YouTube channel here.
TaiyangNews 2024

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BLC Energy, a United Kingdom-based renewable energy developer, has received planning approval for the 40 MW Kirknewton Solar and BESS Farm in West Lothian, Scotland. The approval was given unanimously by the planning committee of West Lothian Council on 7 October, and it followed a recommendation from the planning officers of the council. The farm will comprise around 83,000 solar panels and a 9 MW BESS, which will store the excess energy and release it to the grid when it is most needed. BLC Energy has stated that the project will generate enough renewable energy to power over 12,500 homes each year. The company will also provide a community benefit fund that is worth GBP 26,000 (~ $34,410) a year throughout the 40-year life of the solar farm. Construction is to take around six months, and the solar farm will begin exporting electricity to the National Grid in 2030, which is its grid connection date.
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Buyer beware: Going solar turned into a ‘nightmare’ for a Richmond man  WRIC ABC 8News
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New analysis of more than 15 million UK rooftops suggests solar panels and battery storage could save households almost £950 a year on average, with some areas seeing even bigger returns
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Installing solar panels and a home battery could cut the average household’s electricity costs by almost £950 a year, according to new modelling of more than 15 million UK rooftops.
The research, from solar software company GreenSketch, estimates that the average home it analysed could save £946 a year with an optimised solar and battery system.
But some parts of the country appear considerably better placed than others to recoup savings. Torbay in Devon topped the rankings for annual savings, with the modelling estimating that households could save an average of £1,069 a year. Maidstone in Kent and Plymouth were close behind, both at £1,047, followed by Ashford at £1,045 and the Isle of Wight at £1,044.
Torbay also recorded the shortest estimated payback period, at just over seven years. Plymouth came next at 7.23 years, while Maidstone and the Isle of Wight were calculated at 7.24 years.
The results suggest that location can make a noticeable difference to the financial case for solar, although the potential isn’t confined to the sunniest parts of southern England.
GreenSketch found average annual savings above £800 across all four UK nations, with its modelling putting the average at £954 in England, £951 in Wales, £930 in Northern Ireland and £869 in Scotland.
In Wales, the southwest produced particularly strong results, while GreenSketch said some of Northern Ireland’s best-performing areas were in the east, suggesting how local weather conditions can be as important as simply how far north or south a home is.
Read more: Best solar panels, compared
Rather than applying the same theoretical solar system to a regional average, GreenSketch says it analysed individual rooftops using satellite imagery, geographical data and artificial intelligence.
The modelling takes factors such as a roof’s slope, orientation and available panel area into account before estimating electricity generation using local solar data. It then models how electricity would be used, stored in a battery or exported to the grid.
There are, however, some important caveats to the headline savings.
The figures are based on a modelled 5.17kWp solar installation paired with a 5kWh battery, costing around £7,845. The calculations also assume particular electricity tariffs, including an export rate of 26p per kWh and an off-peak import rate of 8p per kWh.
Those rates won’t be available to every household, while the amount you could save from solar panels will also depend on factors including your electricity use, roof suitability, the price of your installation and how much generated power you can use or store at home.
GreenSketch estimates the average payback period across the homes it analysed at around 7.9 years.
Prashant Aggarwal, chief executive of GreenSketch, said homeowners should start viewing their roofs as an “energy and financial asset” rather than simply another part of a property that needs maintaining.
The company calculates that the combined potential savings across the 15 million homes included in its analysis could reach £14.2bn a year.
While that figure is theoretical, the research provides another indication that Britain’s famously grey weather doesn’t necessarily rule out solar. Solar panels generate electricity from daylight rather than requiring uninterrupted sunshine, meaning even homes outside the south of England can still produce significant amounts of power.
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Data from Bulgaria’s transmission system operator (TSO) Electricity System Operator (ESO) show that the country produced 12.24% more electricity year-on-year, while domestic consumption grew by 8.45%, according to the Association for Production, Storage and Trading of Electricity (APSTE).
Power generation from renewable energy sources reached 11.5 TWh, up by nearly 34% from the previous year. Renewables have accounted for nearly 80% of the country’s total power generation growth.
The expansion of energy storage systems has been particularly remarkable
The expansion of energy storage systems has been particularly remarkable. From the start of the year until October 4, grid-scale batteries delivered 1,720 GWh of electricity to the power system. It is a more than ninefold increase from just 190 GWh that was recorded a year earlier.
This enabled cheap electricity generated during the day to be stored and used during hours of higher demand and higher prices, APSTE pointed out.
Of note, Bulgaria’s BESS capacity is approaching 6 GW / 17 GWh.
APSTE stressed that the benefits of the new energy mix became particularly clear during the summer.
Despite prolonged heatwaves and low water levels on the Danube river that constrained nuclear and hydro power generation across the region, Bulgaria remained a net exporter and maintained prices lower than neighboring markets during key periods.
This success was driven by a combination of solar power plants, battery storage, and the Kozloduy Nuclear Power Plant (NPP).
Gazdov: While neighboring markets suffer from high prices and power shortages, Bulgaria generates and stores more and more of its own electricity
“While neighboring markets suffer from high prices and power shortages, due to constraints on their nuclear plants and high natural gas prices, Bulgaria generates and stores more and more of its own electricity. This translates into more competitive prices for households and businesses, greater energy security, and a stronger position on the regional energy market,” APSTE chairman Nikola Gazdov explained.
A striking example occurred on October 8, when Unit 6 of the Kozloduy NPP underwent planned maintenance and Unit 5 operated at reduced capacity due to low water levels on the Danube.
Despite these constraints, in the early afternoon photovoltaic systems were producing nearly 4,300 MW, exceeding total national demand of 4,100 MW, while batteries were charging at over 4,000 MW, storing cheap electricity for peak evening demand, the update reads.
However, APSTE warned that the successful expansion of solar energy and batteries is not enough. In the winter, solar generation decreases while demand rises. To secure more of cheap domestic power during the colder months, Bulgaria must accelerate wind energy deployment.
Since 2020, PV capacity in the country has grown by about 600% to nearly 7 GW, while BESS capacity is close to 6 GW / 17 GWh. APSTE estimates that total investments in photovoltaics, batteries, and related infrastructure since 2020 have reached approximately EUR 7 billion.
However, Bulgaria has only 716 MW of installed wind capacity, with no major new wind farm built since 2013. Wind power complements solar with a different daily and seasonal generation profile, capable of providing substantial power output during winter, APSTE added.
Gazdov: Sun and batteries have significantly enhanced Bulgaria’s energy security
“Sun and batteries have significantly enhanced Bulgaria’s energy security amid one of the most severe energy crises. This is very important, but it is not enough. We must build on this success by attracting investment into wind power as well,” he said.
This road will secure cheaper local electricity not only in the summer, but also in the winter, Gazdov added.
Achieving this does not require new subsidies, but clear rules and a genuine easing of construction procedures for new capacity, in his view.
According to APSTE, Bulgaria could attract over EUR 4 billion in additional private investment in wind farms and energy storage systems by 2030, provided institutions ensure predictable regulations and remove unnecessary administrative constraints, including for projects located outside renewable energy acceleration areas.
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On Maxxen Day 2026, Maxxen Energy opened its factory in Türkiye to the European energy storage industry and showed the most advanced BESS factory in Europe. Maxxen Day 2026 brought together more than 300 guests from 18 European countries and nearly 120 companies across the battery energy storage system (BESS) value chain. Discussions covered the […]
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Austria issued around 43,300 application tickets in the first 10 minutes of its final 2026 solar subsidy funding call 
The government has increased the round’s budget to €38.5 million using funds released from incomplete projects 
It plans to replace the current subsidy arrangement with a new funding model from 2027 which will give greater weight to battery storage 
Austria received around 43,300 application tickets within 10 minutes of opening its final solar PV subsidy round for 2026. The strong demand has highlighted pressure on the existing funding system, which the government plans to replace with a continuous application process from 2027.  
The Austrian Ministry for Economic Affairs, Energy and Tourism increased the budget for the latest funding round from €8 million to €38.5 million. The revised amount includes unutilized funds from allocations for earlier projects that were not completed or were only partly implemented.  
“The total funding volume for photovoltaic systems and electricity storage will thus reach 128.5 million euros in 2026,” states the ministry.  
The funding call started on October 8, 2026. Around 19,600 application tickets were issued in the first minute and 40,800 in five minutes. After 10 minutes, the number increased to around 43,300. In comparison, in the previous call, a total of 24,900 applications were submitted.   
The latest call offers subsidies for new or expanded solar PV systems and associated energy storage facilities. Applications will be accepted until October 22, 2026. Details of the call are available on the dedicated Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) portal.  
The ministry said the high demand underscored the need to change the current system, under which applicants compete for limited funding during specific application windows.  
From 2027, Austria plans to introduce a continuous application process. Under the proposed model, applicants would be able to apply after completing their projects and receiving the final invoice, rather than competing to secure funding when a call opens  
Through the revised funding model, the government aims to make funding more predictable and reduce the amount of money tied up in projects that are never fully implemented. It would also place greater emphasis on battery storage and energy management system (see Austria Launches ‘Storage Offensive’ As Solar Output Peaks).  
“The fact that so many remaining funds can now be reallocated shows how much money was tied up in projects that were not implemented or only partially implemented. We are changing that,” said State Secretary for Energy Elisabeth Zehetner. “Anyone who actually realizes their project should have access to funding. This makes funding more reliable for customers and the use of funds more efficient.” 
The new funding framework is still being finalized. The government is preparing the necessary legislative amendment, which requires a two-thirds majority in parliament, shared Zehetner.  
TaiyangNews 2024

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KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — U Mobile, Malaysia’s best 5G network provider, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with HLGY Energy Sdn Bhd to collaborate on the development of next-generation smart solar farm solutions in Malaysia, enabled by U Mobile’s ULTRA5G network. The collaboration brings together private 5G connectivity, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and industrial automation to enhance the monitoring and management of solar farm operations.
HLGY Energy is a Malaysian renewable energy developer focused on developing and operating utility-scale solar and integrated energy solutions under Malaysia’s Corporate Renewable Energy Supply Scheme (CRESS) framework, including the Kedah Rubber City Solar Power Plant.
Under the MoU, both companies will explore the deployment of a private 5G network that would form the digital backbone of the smart solar farm. U Mobile would serve as HLGY Energy’s innovation, automation and communications infrastructure provider. The network’s dedicated, secure and reliable connectivity would support applications including autonomous drone inspections, AI-powered analytics and smart CCTV surveillance, enabling remote monitoring, earlier issue detection and faster response to operational and maintenance needs.
The partnership supports U Mobile’s enterprise growth strategy by applying the capabilities of its ULTRA5G network to the evolving needs of the renewable energy sector. Its network capabilities have received independent recognition by Ookla and Opensignal for speed and availability. The collaboration also strengthens U Mobile’s role as a digital solutions partner supporting businesses in their digital transformation.
“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,” How Lih Ren, Chief Business Officer of U Mobile, said.
“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).”
“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,” Kenneth Yap, Chairman and Executive Director of HLGY Energy, said. 
“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.”
The initiative supports HLGY Energy’s longer-term renewable energy plans including opportunities under CRESS. It demonstrates how advanced connectivity and automation can transform the management of critical energy infrastructure.
The collaboration reflects the growing convergence between digital infrastructure and renewable energy, demonstrating how advanced connectivity and intelligent technologies can support the digitalisation of Malaysia’s energy infrastructure.
Enterprises interested in learning more about U Mobile’s private 5G and smart infrastructure solutions or exploring collaboration opportunities across renewable energy and other critical infrastructure sectors, can visit U Business for more information.
 

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The Pulse
The field looks whole from the road.
Row after row of dark panels still stand upright on their steel posts outside a stretch of Nebraska farmland.
Get closer and the glass tells a different story.
A web of white cracks runs across nearly every surface, as if a thousand windshields had been struck at once.
Nothing scattered across the dirt.
So what actually happens inside a panel when ice the size of a baseball hits it, and why did the field end up standing but useless?
A solar panel’s front surface is tempered safety glass, four to six times stronger than ordinary window glass and engineered to break into small blunt fragments rather than long shards. Behind it, a clear polymer encapsulant bonds that sheet to the cell stack under heat and vacuum.
So when the glass does fail, the pieces stay stuck where they are. When hail driven by winds of 100 to 150 miles per hour came down outside Scottsbluff on June 23, the glass reached its limit, and that fracture is not cosmetic.
Underneath sit thin silicon wafers wired together with metal ribbons, and a broken cover lets moisture reach energized conductors, which ends a module’s working life even when some current still flows. A utility official compared the panels to a car windshield, saying it “fractured the glass, but there wasn’t breakage in pieces all over the place.”
That one detail explains the strange scene of a field that looks intact from a distance. An engineer with the firm that manages the array said afterward that the panels “weren’t rated to quite that high of an impact,” a different kind of failure than wind tearing metal apart.
The numbers from that one afternoon are hard to picture until you walk the rows. The solar farm north of Scottsbluff is the second solar farm built in the area, and the 5.2 megawatt facility consisted of 14,000 solar panels, delivering 4.375 megawatts of alternating current to the grid.
Of those, 13,650 panels were destroyed in a single storm. That storm did not single out the solar farm.
It was part of a supercell that moved out of eastern Wyoming and across the state line, bringing a tornado, downed power lines and shattered windshields with it. The panels sit on trackers that follow the sun across the sky through the day.
Utility officials have said other solar sites in the state have taken hail before, but described this one as an extreme weather event. Early reporting from the scene described most of the array shattered, with the occasional intact panel standing out among the rest.
Much of the public worry after the June 2023 storm was about debris, and whether fragments of panel had littered the field and the farmland around it. Officials said that was not what happened.
Because of the way the modules are built to resist shattering, damage was mostly isolated to the modules themselves, with little impact on the other components of the solar farm. That detail mattered for cleanup, since a field strewn with loose glass would have meant a longer, messier recovery, possibly with fragments migrating into surrounding fields.
Instead, cracked panels sat in place, inert, waiting to be unbolted one at a time rather than swept up. Inspectors moved fast once the skies cleared.
Those involved in the project conducted multiple on site inspections using specially qualified contractors, and crews were on the site within days of the storm.
The utility later confirmed that the facility had been repaired, re commissioned and returned to operation, with the damaged panels removed from the site to be recycled.
The asset manager worked with a specialist recycling company, the kind of operation built to pull glass, aluminum frames and metal wiring apart and feed them back into manufacturing. It echoes the same recovery math behind crushed panels that researchers have shown can give up most of their silver content using nothing more than water and air bubbles.
Rebuilding the field itself took a 17 person crew, including 12 workers from Scottsbluff. That same resilience question is already shaping how solar gets built on hail prone ground, much the way land beneath arrays elsewhere has been reimagined for new purposes once the panels go up.
This stretch of the high plains is no stranger to violent weather, and the same system that wrecked the array damaged homes, trees and vehicles across the valley. The hail that reached the panels was described by the utility as softball and baseball size, and the storm as exceptionally intense.
Even in hail country, it was an outlier. The array came back online about six months later, carrying the same sun tracking hardware but sturdier expectations about what a Great Plains sky can throw at it.
The panels did the one thing their glass is designed to do under conditions they were never rated for, cracking in place instead of scattering. That design choice is the real story behind a field that looked destroyed and came back.
The rebuild itself was completed without safety incidents, according to the contractor that did the work, and the episode reads less as a verdict on solar power than as a question about durability standards catching up with Plains weather.
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Qatar is accelerating the deployment of utility-scale solar photovoltaics as part of a national strategy to diversify its power mix, reduce domestic gas consumption for power generation, and curb emissions intensity, while maintaining gas-fired generation as the bedrock of system reliability. The solar drive is expected to help lift renewable energy’s share in the country’s total power capacity from 12.0% in 2025 to 25.9% by 2035, says GlobalData, a global intelligence and productivity platform.
GlobalData’s latest report, reveals that Qatar’s installed power capacity will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.2% between 2025 and 2035. Solar PV will be the primary growth engine, expanding at a CAGR of 12.4% over the decade.
“Qatar’s power sector is shifting from total reliance on natural gas toward a structured hybrid model. Driven by the Qatar National Renewable Energy Strategy, the build-out of major solar facilities such as Al Kharsaah and the recently commissioned plants at Ras Laffan and Mesaieed, alongside the large-scale Dukhan development demonstrate substantial momentum in deploying low-cost clean generation across the peninsula,”Attaurrahman Ojindaram Saibasan, Power Analyst at GlobalData, comments.

Despite rapid solar growth, natural gas will remain indispensable to the country’s power and water infrastructure. Combined-cycle gas turbines and cogeneration plants underpin Qatar’s Independent Water and Power Project (IWPP) fleet, providing both dispatchable power for extreme summer cooling loads and thermal energy for seawater desalination. Natural gas capacity will continue to expand in absolute terms, accounting for approximately 74% of cumulative capacity in 2035.
Saibasan adds: “The cogeneration of potable water and power is a structural feature of Qatar’s utility system. Gas-fired IWPP facilities provide critical firming capacity to absorb large influxes of solar energy during midday hours while securing baseload water desalination. Expanding flexible gas generation and modernizing grid management are essential prerequisites for accommodating the planned 4GW renewable target by 2030 without compromising system security.”
The policy landscape is centrally directed under the Third National Development Strategy and the Qatar National Vision 2030. Key initiatives include the Qatar National Renewable Energy Strategy, carbon-reduction pledges under the updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), and net-billing regulations introduced by Kahramaa for distributed generation. Meanwhile, Qatar continues to operate a single-buyer model, under which Kahramaa purchases electricity and desalinated water through long-term agreements, minimizing market risk for project developers and consortium partners.
“Qatar is leveraging its world-class solar irradiance and robust balance sheet to free up valuable natural gas volumes for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export markets while decarbonizing its domestic matrix. Sustaining this pace will require continuing to align renewable integration with IWPP offtake commitments, meeting growing industrial demand, and maintaining high transmission reliability across the National Control Centre and regional GCC interconnection links.”
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A research team in Indonesia has proposed a novel grounding strategy to mitigate lightning-induced overvoltage in PV systems by identifying optimal grounding-point locations and evaluating different grounding configurations.
“Previous research has generally protected solar panels using a Lightning Protection System (LPS) with lightning rods connected to down conductors, such as Franklin rods,” the scientists emphasized. “This study considers the possibility of direct lightning strikes on solar panels or their supports, even if an LPS is installed. This occurrence allows current to flow through the solar panels to the grounding point.”
The researchers developed an equivalent electrical circuit model to investigate the transient overvoltage response of PV systems to lightning strikes. The simulated array comprised ten solar panels, each rated at 200 W, representing a section of a larger PV installation. Using ATPDraw 7.2 software, they modeled the electrical characteristics of the PV frames, mounting structures, grounding conductors, and electrodes through equivalent resistance, inductance, capacitance, and mutual inductance parameters.
Lightning strikes were simulated using a Heidler current source with a peak amplitude of 50 kA and an impulse waveform of 1.2/50 μs. Two configurations were investigated: direct grounding through the PV module frames and grounding through the mounting structures. The simulations assessed the effects of soil resistivity, grounding-point location, and the number of grounding connections on transient voltage distribution.
The researchers varied grounding-point locations to determine how the electrical path between the lightning strike location and the grounding connection influences overvoltage levels. They also compared single- and dual-grounding arrangements to assess the benefits of additional connections. The model assumed electrically interconnected metallic PV frames and evaluated voltage differences relative to a reference potential, excluding physical damage mechanisms and potential differences involving PV power conductors and inverters.
The results showed that increasing soil resistivity from 30 Ωm to 3,000 Ωm significantly raised transient voltage levels in both configurations. At lower resistivities, the highest voltages occurred near the lightning injection point, whereas at 3,000 Ωm, they shifted toward the grounding connection. Grounding through the mounting structures generally resulted in lower maximum voltages due to their lower electrical resistance.
At a constant soil resistivity of 30 Ωm, maximum voltages ranged from 1.97 MV to 2.64 MV for frame grounding and from 2.14 MV to 2.43 MV for mounting-based grounding, depending on the connection location. In both cases, positioning the grounding point closest to the lightning injection point minimized peak voltages by shortening the current discharge path and reducing its impedance.
Introducing a second grounding point further reduced transient voltages by 47.5% to 54.8% for frame grounding and by 43.2% to 50.7% for mounting-based grounding. The researchers attributed these improvements to lower grounding impedance and more efficient lightning current dissipation. The simulated peak current reached 48.78 kA, which the researchers described as being within the safety limits of IEEE Std 80, the IEEE Guide for Safety in AC Substation Grounding.
The findings indicate that grounding-point location and the number of connections have a greater influence on transient voltage mitigation than the choice between frame- and mounting-based grounding. In particular, shorter discharge paths, lower grounding resistance, and multiple grounding connections can substantially improve grounding performance.
Overall, the study highlights the importance of strategically positioned grounding points, low-resistivity soil conditions, and multipoint grounding in reducing lightning-induced overvoltage and improving the reliability of PV installations.
The new methodology was presented in “Study of the selection of an individual grounding location point against direct lightning strikes on solar panel systems,” published in Results in Engineering. The research group comprised scientists from Indonesia’s Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember and Universitas Hasanuddin.
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Elgin has acquired the 40MWp Kilderry Solar Farm in County Kilkenny, Ireland, from BayWa r.e. as part of its continued growth strategy in the country.
The independent power producer (IPP) said the project is located close to several of its existing development assets, strengthening its growing Irish renewable energy portfolio.
Elgin added that the deal follows its recent acquisition of the approximately 200MW Blackhall Solar Farm in County Meath and reflects its strategy of combining acquisitions with organic development.
The latest transaction supports Elgin’s continued investment in renewable energy projects aimed at accelerating Ireland’s transition to a low-carbon energy system.
Elgin chief executive Dermot Kelleher said: “Kilderry is a strong addition to our Irish portfolio and further demonstrates our commitment to growing our presence in Ireland.
“Alongside Blackhall, this acquisition reflects our strategy of combining selective M&A with our organic development pipeline to create value and accelerate the delivery of renewable energy infrastructure.
“We see opportunities to replicate this approach across our portfolio, identifying strategically located projects that complement our existing assets and enhance overall project economics.”
BayWa r.e. UK managing director Gemma Hamilton said: “Kilderry reflects both the quality of projects we are bringing forward and the strength of our position in the Irish market, where we continue to invest in the growth and delivery of our renewable energy portfolio.
“Given the project’s location and particular strategic fit with Elgin’s existing assets in the area, this transaction creates a unique opportunity to accelerate Kilderry Solar Farm towards delivery under Elgin’s ownership.
“We remain firmly focused on progressing our wider 1 GW solar pipeline and playing a significant role in the continued growth of renewable energy across Ireland.”
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