Solar Now

Robots are most effective in laboratories or controlled environments, such as a factory floor. When robots are required to automate tasks outdoors, the range of applications narrows with the number variables encountered. For this reason, construction sites remain labor-intensive locations resistant to robotics.
Solar construction sites may admit more automation than other sorts because of the regularity and essentially two-dimensional aspect of their layouts. Placement of heavy bases and even tracker tubes have been automated to some degree on many utility-scale solar projects for years. A key goal of these implementations is to have robots take over the more arduous tasks of materials transport and repetitive placement in all weather conditions.
More recently, robotics startups have been developing technologies for placing panels and even performing more dexterous finishing tasks. Some of these companies have received significant investment and contracts with engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) firms.
California-based Gritt Robotics focused squarely on large-scale solar construction for its approach to retrofitting commercial construction equipment with computer control featuring AI for improved flexibility and even site management support. Gritt recently announced it has deployed its robotic construction systems at solar job sites run by EPC Burns & McDonnell. In all, the company says it is it’s working with three top-10 solar EPCs to install six million solar panels in the next two years with a capacity of about 2.8 GW.
Puneet Puri, co-founder and CEO of Gritt, told pv magazine USA that large-scale solar sites have been an excellent proving ground for the company’s AI-assisted robotics technology.
“Outdoors is hard,” Puri said. “Outdoors, there’s going to be a lot of variability. Our thesis is that solar offers an example of a construction site where there are a lot of physically demanding, repetitive steps and materials transport that can be automated. At the same time, because it is outside, we can address aspects of a dynamic environment. We can build an intelligence layer that understands the challenges on the site, like trenches are open, people are moving through, materials may have snow or rain or dust on them, the light changes.”
Thus, large-scale solar construction has that right combination of regularity and variability where a robot with the proper common representation layer that can be trained for individual tasks under varying conditions. Ultimately, Gritt intends to apply the lessons learned from solar sites to data center construction and other infrastructure projects.
At the same time, Puri says solar has many repetitive tasks beyond heavy lifting that can be applied to other types of construction, such as tying rebar, applying fasteners, or attaching cables. It is all a matter of training. An aspect of Gritt’s software driven, AI learning approach is that nearly any type of construction vehicle or robotic arm can be retrofitted to perform specialized tasks autonomously.
“Caterpillar and Bobcat know how to build good vehicles,” Puri said. “For that matter, Kawasaki, FANUC, and KUKA know how to build good robots. Why should we reinvent the base platforms, which in many cases have been working in the harshest environments? We focus on writing the right brain to control them to do their jobs safely and repetitively.”
In terms of training, Vishal Dugar, co-founder and chief technology officer at Gritt, told pv magazine USA that like human workers, AI builds the ability to understand patterns, certain similarities of how to operate from one job site to another.
“When a person learns how to use a particular tool on one job, those skills remain constant,” Dugar said. “The AI also learns. It identifies all the similar patterns that it can reuse to make learning the next job that much faster.”
Puri and Dugar are alumni of the Robotics Institute at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). Other members of Gritt’s leadership team also hail from CMU, or from MIT or other centers of automation research and practical application. There was a time when robots out in the field had to be purpose-built and shepherded by specialists to perform specific functions, whether descending into an Antarctic volcano or surveying the ruins of Chernobyl. Now, robots are on the cusp of taking on a wide variety of tasks guided by tutors rather than wrangled by technicians.
As indicated earlier, if the company views unstructured construction environments as the new frontier for physical AI, large-scale solar projects are proving to be an excellent proving grounds. It’s not just the relatively straightforward process of building out arrays. The industry is signaling a need for workers and warns of a growing shortage. According to recent industry reports, there is a shortfall of 53,000 workers needed to complete ongoing projects. Some estimate that 41% of construction workers nationwide will retire by 2031.
With competition for construction workers heating up, EPCs face a need to move and support personnel for projects in remote locations where accommodations are scarce. If this is the case for large-scale solar projects, it will also apply to data centers and other infrastructure projects facing opposition in populated areas.
“The mission of the company is to help civilization build infrastructure rapidly,” Puri said. “A big part of our vision is to help create the workforce of tomorrow. It’s not the same workforce that is doing the same things in the same way. It’s people who can use the tools we are developing to amplify what they’re able to do.”
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Process overview
A research team member conducts performance tests on the developed technology.
Solar cell samples fabricated using the developed technology
■ Newswise — The Photovoltaic Research Department of the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) has developed a novel catalytic process that extends the lifespan of perovskite solar cells. This technology is designed to eliminate lithium salts, which contribute to the shortened lifespan of perovskite solar cells, and thus will promote the commercialization of perovskite-based tandem solar cells.
* Perovskite: A promising material for next-generation solar cells based on having the same crystal structure as calcium titanate (CaTiO₃), with efficient light absorption
 
□ Perovskite is often used as a material for the top subcell of tandem solar cells. In tandem solar cells, different subcells are stacked to maximize absorption efficiency. Perovskite solar cells are divided into regular and inverted architectures according to the stacking order of their constituent layers. The regular architecture has matured over many years as a single-junction device technology and has achieved high efficiency; however, device lifespan is often shortened under high-temperature and high-humidity conditions.
 
□ Perovskite solar cells include a hole-transport layer that allows the generated electricity to flow out of the cell. In the regular architecture, lithium salts and additives that enhance their solubility are added to the hole-transport layer to improve charge transport efficiency. The challenge is that these additives are prone to evaporation under the actual operating conditions of these devices, including elevated temperatures and high humidity, which causes the formation of undesired gaps between the constituent layers of solar cells. These gaps may result in inter-layer defects and thereby undermine the lifespan of solar cells.
 
□ Furthermore, at elevated temperatures and high humidity, lithium ions released from lithium salts diffuse into the interior of solar cells in an uncontrolled manner, further shortening their lifespan. However, alternative strategies to achieve the same improvement in efficiency, either by eliminating the use of lithium salts and additives or by replacing them with other agents, have not yet been proposed.
 
■ To address these limitations, the KIER research team has developed a novel catalytic and filtration process in which lithium salts are used only to induce the necessary chemical reactions before the lithium ions are extracted together with the catalyst through filtration and subsequently discarded.
 
□ The key to the developed technology lies in the use of nickel oxide (NiOx) as a catalyst. When added to the hole-transport layer solution, this nickel oxide powder exhibits strong interactions with lithium ions, strongly attracting them. This mechanism effectively dissociates lithium ions from lithium salts and attaches them to the surface of nickel oxide without using additives, which pose a major challenge in conventional processes.
 
□ The research team also demonstrated a physical filtration process to remove and discard the used nickel oxide powder after the necessary chemical reactions are complete. During this process, the nickel oxide catalyst with a large particle size, along with the lithium ions attached to its surface, is filtered out. The resulting solution, with the lithium ions removed, can then be used to fabricate a defect-free hole-transport layer that does not contain any additives, residual lithium, or nickel oxide catalyst, all of which could otherwise cause performance degradation.
 
□ The research team further applied the developed technology to fabricate perovskite solar cells and evaluated their durability under high-temperature (85°C) and high relative humidity (85% RH) conditions. These cells retained 95% of their initial efficiency even after 1,000 hours, underscoring their world-class competitiveness.
 
□ Furthermore, these cells achieved a power conversion efficiency (PCE) of 25.24%. Surpassing the value of 25.21% achieved using conventional additive-based processes, this result demonstrates that comparable or even higher efficiency can be achieved without additives.
* Power conversion efficiency (PCE): The ratio of the electrical power generated by a solar cell to the total power of the light it receives
 
■ Se Jin Ahn, Principal Researcher at KIER and the leader of the project, said, “This research has gone beyond widely accepted ideas and strategies in conventional perovskite solar cell fabrication, proposing a novel catalytic and filtration process in which the catalyst is used only to induce the necessary chemical reactions and then removed, along with the target material, through filtration.” The lead researcher added, “This technology will mark a significant milestone in addressing persistent issues concerning the lifespan of perovskite tandem solar cells, paving the way for their commercialization.”
 
□ This joint research project was conducted by the KIER research team in collaboration with a team led by Prof. Dong Suk Kim at UNIST. The major findings were published as a cover article in Advanced Science (IF 14.1), a top-tier international journal in materials science.
Journal Link: Advanced Science, Jan-2026
Credit: Korea Institute of Energy Research(KIER)
Caption: Process overview
Credit: Korea Institute of Energy Research(KIER)
Caption: A research team member conducts performance tests on the developed technology.
Credit: Korea Institute of Energy Research(KIER)
Caption: Solar cell samples fabricated using the developed technology
Advanced Science, Jan-2026
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The clean-energy transition can’t stop at the easy roofs
Australia has installed around 22 GW of rooftop solar on homes but only about 5.6 GW on commercial and industrial (C&I) buildings – even though businesses use more electricity than households, and use much of it during daylight hours when solar is generating.
The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) estimates the technical rooftop potential across C&I buildings at close to 40 GW, rising above 80 GW when agricultural buildings are included. Yet forecasts suggest the sector may reach only 17–31 GW by 2050.
Policy, tariffs, connection processes and finance all contribute to that gap. But another barrier gets far less attention: many commercial roofs are curved, shaded, structurally constrained or architecturally sensitive.
These buildings shouldn’t be left out of Australia’s energy transition – they need a different design approach.
The easy-roof economy
The commercial solar market has good reasons to favour simple roofs. A flat or low-pitch metal roof with clear access, minimal shading and spare structural capacity can often be designed from an established template, using standard mounting systems and predictable installation methods. Engineering risk is low and margins are easy to protect.
Complex roofs are rarely rejected outright. More often, they are designed down: the array is confined to the clear, unshaded section, and curved, shaded or load-limited areas are excluded. The project may be technically sound, but it is materially smaller than the site could support.
For businesses, solar is a significant capital investment, and a system sized well below daytime demand leaves the site exposed to grid prices for the next 25–30 years. As business capital and public incentives flow into the C&I segment, design decisions like these will determine how much each project returns – and how much of the sector’s 40 GW potential is ever realised.
A different design pathway
The Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) shows how a complex roof can be approached differently.
The venue’s roof is curved and partially shaded by surrounding towers and cables. Structural and aesthetic requirements also limited the suitability of conventional tilted mounting, and a tilted system would have needed wider row spacing to manage inter-row shading, further reducing the usable area. Under a conventional design approach, the project was expected to deliver around 800–850 kW.
Melbourne EPC Next Green Group took a different path, designing around the building’s structural and architectural requirements rather than a standard template.
Power density
The team selected AIKO Comet All Back Contact (ABC) mono-glass modules to maximise generation from the usable roof area. With all electrical contacts moved to the rear of the cell, the front surface has no busbars or grid lines to block light, lifting power density per square metre. On a roof where usable area is the binding constraint, more watts per module means more kilowatts on the same footprint.
Weight
The Comet single-glass modules weigh 28 kg each, giving a high power-to-weight ratio. That mattered: the installation placed 2,016 modules and four kilometres of rail – more than 56 tonnes of equipment – on a steep, curved roof, so every kilogram per module counted against the structure’s limits.
Shade tolerance
In conventional modules, cells are wired in series and grouped behind bypass diodes, typically three per module. A single shaded cell can switch out a whole cell group – about a third of the module – and cause further mismatch losses along the string, while shaded cells that aren’t bypassed can develop hot-spots. That is why designers generally leave shaded roof areas empty.
AIKO’s ABC modules manage shading at the level of individual cells. TÜV NORD testing found they produced up to 30% more electricity than TOPCon modules with a single cell fully shaded, and in separate TÜV NORD hot-spot testing, shaded ABC cells stabilised below 100°C compared with around 170°C for TOPCon. The modules also hold TÜV Rheinland Class A certification for partial-shading resistance. For NGG, that meant the shaded parts of the roof could be designed as generating area.
These characteristics don’t eliminate the roof’s constraints. But they improve the economics of using areas where shading is unavoidable, and give the EPC more design flexibility to use more of the roof and pursue a larger system.
From flexibility to a buildable design
Next Green Group turned that advantage into a buildable design. The team ran a trial installation on the roof’s sharpest curves and completed wind and dead-load testing before full installation. Because tilted racking would have cut across the curved roofline, it installed a flush-mount system that follows the curve – preserving the building’s profile and increasing panel density, since flush-mounted panels don’t need the gaps left between tilted rows.
Flush mounting has a thermal trade-off: with less airflow behind the modules, arrays run hotter, and output falls as cell temperature rises. In independent CEA testing, AIKO’s ABC modules recorded a Pmax temperature coefficient of –0.26%/°C, compared with around –0.29%/°C typical of TOPCon – a difference that applies to every hour of generation over the system’s life.
The completed 1.3 MW array is about 500 kW larger than the roughly 800 kW a conventional, shade-avoiding layout would have allowed – around 60% more capacity from the same roof.
“A complex roof does not necessarily have low solar potential. In many cases, it needs a more site-specific engineering response, paired with modules that can improve the capacity, weight and shading trade-offs.” – Nathaniel Galindo, Executive General Manager – Integrated Energy Solutions, Next Green Group
Generation where the load is
The additional capacity serves MSAC’s energy-intensive daytime load: pools, water treatment, heating and cooling, ventilation, lighting, courts and scoreboards.
The system is expected to generate more than 1 GWh of renewable electricity a year – equivalent to about 254 homes – meeting around one-quarter of the venue’s electricity needs and saving an estimated $70,000 (USD 49,129) a year, according to the Victorian Government.
The SEC owns and operates the system under an agreement with the State Sport Centres Trust. That gives the project a broader public-interest dimension: a higher-capacity rooftop system creates greater value for a major community venue, not just for an individual building owner.
The project also marks a practical shift in how MSAC manages energy. A room beside the main switchboard that once housed a 20-year-old gas cogeneration unit now holds nine 110 kW GoodWe HT Series inverters and the PV distribution board – existing infrastructure repurposed for on-site renewable generation.
Beyond the easy roofs
MSAC is a case study in how detailed engineering and advanced solar technology can overcome roof constraints to deliver materially larger, more valuable solar systems.
For commercial rooftops, the question isn’t simply whether solar can fit. It’s whether the system has been designed to get the full value from the available roof space.
“Many of Australia’s most energy-intensive community and commercial assets have complex roofs. Our aim is to make solar more accessible to these sites, so they can benefit from clean energy rather than being left behind because a conventional design cannot fully respond to their constraints.” – Thomas Bywater, Head of AIKO Australia and New Zealand
Australia’s energy transition won’t be complete if businesses miss out on the benefits of clean energy because their roofs have constraints.
Nor will the full value of the C&I market be realised if systems are designed around what is quickest and most profitable to sell and install, rather than the building’s energy needs and the full potential of its roof.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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“Your usage more than doubled from last year, from 25kWh a day to 61kWh a day.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A Southern California homeowner thought their solar upgrade had backfired after their annual electricity costs increased following installation. However, Reddit users pointed out that the problem seemed tied to a spike in the homeowner’s energy consumption rather than an issue with the solar panels.
In a Reddit thread, the homeowner explained that they had installed 37 panels and three home batteries but still paid more on electricity after going solar. They wrote that adding two more batteries “didn’t change from the previous month” and that they were hoping it was “some sort of metering problem.”
Rather than blame the panels, several commenters pointed to the consumption figures, using data that the original poster provided.
“This isn’t a solar thing,” one commenter replied. “Your usage more than doubled from last year, from 25kWh a day to 61kWh a day.”
Another user pointed out that the OP’s electric bills showed 736 kilowatt-hours in the earlier period compared with 4,800 kWh in the later one, including 3,600 kWh from the grid.
For their part, the OP couldn’t explain why their energy consumption had increased so much. 
“Well it’s a mystery because nothing has changed- even our AC schedule is basically the same,” they wrote in the comments. “No new EV, our house is more insulated than it was then, the only addition is solar.” 
Still, solar remains one of the best ways to save on home energy costs. Homeowners can use EasyHome‘s free explorer tool to compare local pricing and potential savings and get quotes from vetted installers in their area.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
Most commenters agreed that the OP’s screenshots of energy consumption and generation showed a steep rise in day-to-day power demand, while other indicators suggested the solar panels and home batteries were functioning properly. This led several Redditors to recommend investigating the unknown source of the energy use.   
In response, the homeowner shared other details that could have affected their electricity consumption: the property had a pool, one EV was already in the household before solar, and a 9-month-old baby meant more air-conditioning use. The homeowner also added that the utility would not send anyone out to inspect the problem and that the solar company kept “making excuses.”
“Get an amp clamp and start clamping circuits, something is drawing a big almost certainly constant current,” one Redditor recommended. 
A separate line of discussion focused on whether the utility setup was part of the problem. One commenter suggested that if the system was switched on before permission to operate was finalized, the customer could be billed incorrectly for both imported and exported electricity. 
“This is what I was suspecting was happening because I’ve heard it happened from my buddy as well,” the homeowner replied. 
For homeowners trying to avoid the OP’s headaches, EasyHome’s free explorer tool can help make solar price, expected savings, and installer choices easier to compare. EasyHome can also help readers explore backup battery storage, letting homeowners maximize savings while making their homes more resilient during a power outage.
Other solar homeowners have run into similar billing surprises and wondered whether their systems, meters, or energy use were to blame.
• In South Carolina, a solar owner saw app exports clash with a 900-kWh grid bill.
• A new homeowner bought a house with rooftop panels, then got a $420 electric bill anyway.
• After solar service, one homeowner got a strange negative bill.
• One homeowner said rooftop solar cut a sky-high bill enough to take their breath away.
• In Florida, a pitch turned an $800 power bill into a $300 credit.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
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The European Sunrise consortium is working to eliminate the need for glass in certain photovoltaic applications by integrating solar cells directly into fiber-reinforced polymer composites. The approach could make it possible to manufacture lightweight modules that conform to curved or irregular surfaces, expanding the range of applications for integrated photovoltaics.
“The Sunrise project builds on work already validated by several partners before its launch,” Damien Gautier of the Becquerel Institute, who coordinates two of the project’s work packages, and project coordinator Jaime Cuartero told pv magazine.
The consortium brings together expertise in composite processing, particularly lamination and liquid composite molding (LCM), as well as previous experience integrating polycrystalline silicon cells into composite structures. The partners have also developed laser cutting, texturing and replication techniques to produce multifunctional surfaces. Laboratory and outdoor tests of these surfaces have demonstrated reductions in total reflection of up to 50%.
Building on these results, the project will focus on improving cell cutting, reversible electrical interconnections, molding and lamination processes, while developing encapsulants that facilitate module disassembly, repair and recycling. The consortium has already established the responsibilities of each partner and identified the materials and manufacturing processes to be developed.
Spain’s Aimen is leading research into laser cutting, texturing and LCM processes, while Germany’s Fraunhofer ISE is responsible for developing lamination techniques. Sweden’s Sticky Solar Power will develop a prototype string-manufacturing system using ribbon-deposition technology, which will subsequently be tested by Italy’s Solbian.
“At this stage, the work is primarily focused on the development and validation of these various processes,” the researchers said. They added that a roadmap for scaling up production and industrial deployment will be prepared later in the project, with equipment and manufacturing processes adapted to the facilities of the industrial partners.
The project officially began with a kick-off meeting on June 25-26 and is scheduled to run for 36 months, until May 2029. Alongside the development of the manufacturing technologies, the consortium intends to establish an industrial platform for producing glass-free modules and demonstrate their performance through full-scale prototypes tested under conditions representative of commercial applications.
To support this transition from research to industrial production, the partners will adapt the composite manufacturing processes to existing facilities. Lamination developments will be implemented at Solbian and Solitek, while Forster System-Montage-Technik will focus on LCM processes. AIMEN will carry out the laser-related developments and supply the resulting materials to the industrial partners.
Meanwhile, the prototype string-manufacturing system developed by Sticky Solar Power is intended to be installed at Solbian, where it will be used to produce strings for the other demonstrators. Rather than concentrating the entire manufacturing chain at a single site, the project will distribute the processes across three pilot facilities, each specializing in a different stage of production.
“The project will thus rely on three pilot facilities, each dedicated to a specific portion of the developed processes, meaning no single facility covers the entire process chain,” the researchers explained.
The consortium has identified three applications in which the potential advantages of glass-free modules could be particularly significant. The first focuses on vehicle-integrated photovoltaics (VIPV), where reducing module weight is essential for limiting the additional load associated with solar integration. For this demonstrator, the partners aim to achieve a weight reduction of at least 80%, lower system-related costs by 30% and reduce lamination time by at least 50%.
The second demonstrator will target photovoltaic noise barriers, combining electricity generation with roadside infrastructure. In this application, the consortium aims to reduce module weight by at least 30% while achieving 98% of the efficiency of a reference tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) module. The modules will also be designed to withstand a static pressure of 5,400 Pa, addressing the mechanical requirements of infrastructure installations.
The third demonstrator will focus on maritime applications, particularly the integration of PV modules into ship decks. The objective is to develop a continuous solar surface without gaps between individual elements, while incorporating anti-slip properties suitable for use on board vessels. The consortium is also targeting a cost reduction of more than 20% compared with conventional solutions.
Across the three applications, the research aims to demonstrate how composite-based modules could overcome some of the weight and geometric limitations of conventional glass-based PV products. The broader objective is to enable European manufacturing of lightweight, mechanically robust modules that can be integrated into vehicles, vessels and infrastructure without compromising their intended functionality.
The project will also address end-of-life considerations from the design stage, with particular attention to disassembly, repairability and recycling, while ensuring that the resulting products comply with applicable standards.
Sunrise brings together 12 partners from eight European countries, including research institutions, industrial manufacturers and consulting organizations. The consortium covers the value chain from materials development and manufacturing processes to integrated PV applications, while an industrial advisory board will help assess the commercial relevance of the technologies and support their potential deployment.
However, scaling up glass-free photovoltaic technology from prototypes to commercial production in Europe will require overcoming several technical and industrial challenges. One of the main hurdles will be ensuring the reliability and reproducibility of cell processing and encapsulation techniques using fiber-reinforced polymers (FRPs) at an industrial scale. The consortium will also need to demonstrate compatibility with high-efficiency cell technologies, including TOPCon, interdigitated back contact (IBC), perovskite and tandem solar cells, while preserving the recyclability benefits of glass-free module designs.
Certification presents another challenge, as existing standards, particularly IEC 61215 and IEC 61730, were originally developed with conventional glass-based modules in mind. The partners will also need to demonstrate the long-term durability of composite structures under outdoor operating conditions and achieve manufacturing costs that are competitive with conventional PV modules using glass front sheets.
Beyond these technical and economic considerations, market acceptance could prove equally important. “Ultimately, the industrialization of these technologies will also depend on their adoption by a photovoltaic industry that remains largely accustomed to conventional, glass-based encapsulation solutions,” Gautier and Cuartero said.
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Monday, November 23, 2026
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Monday, November 2, 2026
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
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Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026?
Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
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Rooftop solar could displace 20,000 tonnes of CO2 in Mashhad
A single dense residential block in Mashhad, Iran’s second-largest city, could generate roughly 6.4 times its own household electricity demand from rooftop photovoltaic panels, according to a new GIS-based feasibility study. The analysis, built on a high-resolution digital surface model and the ArcGIS Pro Solar Toolbox, identifies 141,150 square meters of usable rooftop area in the block, enough to deliver 36,228,262 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year after system losses. Under a full grid-displacement assumption, that output would avoid an estimated 20,451.7 tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions annually, with seasonal avoided emissions ranging from 3,421.2 tonnes in winter to 8,386.3 tonnes in summer. The study is the first in Iran or the wider Middle East to integrate obstruction-aware, seasonal solar-yield modeling with fossil-fuel displacement and pixel-level carbon accounting at the urban-block scale, producing benchmarks that the authors say can be extrapolated to comparable residential zones across the city.
The context makes the findings striking. Iran’s electricity mix remains dominated by fossil fuels, which supplied 93.9 percent of generation, while solar contributed just 0.18 percent despite the country’s geographic advantage of 280 to 300 sunny days per year. Iran ranked fifth in Middle East solar capacity at 539 megawatts in 2022, and in the 2025 Climate Change Performance Index it placed last among the 63 countries and the EU evaluated. Mashhad alone consumes about 1,500 megawatts of electricity, of which less than one percent, roughly 7.5 megawatts, is currently supplied by solar installations, meaning the city consumes nearly three times the electricity equivalent of the entire nation’s solar output while contributing a negligible fraction of that capacity. The city’s favorable climate, with approximately 2,900 hours of sunshine annually, underscores the scale of the untapped resource.
The methodological core of the study is a 0.5-meter digital surface model obtained from the Mashhad Municipality Geospatial Data Center, produced from stereo aerial imagery acquired in 2022 with a vertical accuracy of plus or minus 0.30 meters based on municipal ground-control checks. Before analysis, the DSM tiles were georeferenced using 14 ground-control points, achieving a final root-mean-square error of 0.21 meters, then mosaicked into a seamless raster, resampled to a uniform 0.5-meter cell size, and clipped to the block boundary. The ArcGIS Pro Area Solar Radiation tool was executed for two representative dates per month at 30-minute intervals, with the three-dimensional building and tree geometry in the DSM generating dynamic shadow patterns for every rooftop pixel. Atmospheric parameters were set to a transmissivity of 0.5 and a diffuse proportion of 0.3, values the authors justify as physically consistent with Mashhad’s semi-arid, predominantly clear-sky conditions, where mean summer cloud cover is about 12 percent and winter cloud cover about 45 percent.
The study block, bounded by Jalal Al-Ahmad, Seyed Razi, Amoozegar, and Imam Ali streets in District 11, covers 0.514 square kilometers and houses an estimated 5,554 residents in roughly 1,420 to 1,480 dwellings. The block was selected because its characteristics match the median profile of Mashhad’s inner-city residential zones documented in the city’s Comprehensive Plan: land use is 88.5 percent residential, rooftops are predominantly flat, average household size is 3.7 to 3.9 persons per dwelling, and building heights of three to six stories are representative of the medium-density zones that account for the largest share of the city’s built-up area. The block is therefore presented as a methodologically appropriate representative case rather than an outlier, and its per-unit-area results can serve as benchmarks for spatial extrapolation to comparable residential districts.
Rooftop filtering applied several constraints to identify suitable installation sites. Roofs needed a minimum annual solar radiation of 800 kilowatt-hours per square meter, a slope of no more than 45 degrees in line with national rooftop-PV practice, exclusion of north-facing orientations unless the slope was 10 degrees or less, and a minimum contiguous area of 20 square meters. Non-residential zones, bare land, and undersized residential structures were omitted. A 65 percent rooftop-usability factor was then applied to account for persistent shading, stair cores, parapets, HVAC units, safety setbacks, and access pathways, a range consistent with the 60 to 70 percent values commonly adopted in urban rooftop studies for high-density blocks. From a total rooftop footprint of approximately 217,150 square meters, these criteria yielded 141,150 square meters of usable area.
The energy-yield modeling adopted a nominal module efficiency of 20 percent, representative of commercially available monocrystalline silicon panels, and a 13 percent system-loss envelope covering temperature derating, inverter efficiency, soiling, mismatch, wiring, and aging. Seasonal average daily irradiance on usable rooftops ranged from 6.22 kilowatt-hours per square meter in summer to 1.73 in winter, with spring at 4.91 and autumn at 3.26. Gross annual rooftop PV potential reached 41,641,681 kilowatt-hours, corresponding to a delivered annual yield of 36,228,262 kilowatt-hours after derating, equivalent to 256.7 kilowatt-hours per square meter of usable rooftop area per year. Summer contributed the largest seasonal share at 14,042,954 kilowatt-hours delivered, reaching approximately 5.5 times seasonal household demand, a generation-to-demand ratio of 549 percent, while the annual ratio stood at 638 percent under the full grid-displacement assumption.
The carbon model derives season-specific effective grid emission intensities by combining IPCC 2019 fuel emission factors with documented seasonal fuel mixes and thermal plant efficiencies: 464.5 grams of CO2 per kilowatt-hour in spring, 597.2 in summer, 480.2 in autumn, and 895.3 in winter. The elevated winter intensity reflects gas-priority heating periods, when natural gas is redirected to residential use and diesel and mazut supply roughly 90 percent of generation at reduced plant efficiency. Multiplying each season’s delivered PV electricity by its intensity yields avoided emissions of 5,148 tonnes in spring, 8,386.3 in summer, 3,496.1 in autumn, and 3,421.2 in winter. The authors stress that the full 20,451.7-tonne annual figure assumes all delivered PV electricity, including exportable surplus, displaces fossil generation at the applicable intensity, an explicit modelling assumption rather than an empirically verified outcome. Under a conservative demand-capped scenario, annual avoided CO2 falls to 3,603.7 tonnes, bounding the plausible range pending grid-injection and curtailment analysis.
A one-at-a-time sensitivity analysis shows module efficiency has the largest influence on annual yield, with a plus or minus 2 percentage-point variation around 20 percent producing a plus or minus 10 percent change in delivered output. The rooftop usability factor produces a plus or minus 7.7 percent change for a plus or minus 5-point variation around 65 percent, and system derating losses a plus or minus 2.3 percent change. The worst-case parameter combination yields 29,405,433 kilowatt-hours annually, and the best case 43,903,145, bracketing the baseline. Because no ground-based irradiance or inverter-meter time series was accessible for the block, direct measured validation was not performed. Model credibility instead rests on published calibration of the Fu and Rich radiation model against meteorological stations, internal consistency of the seasonal totals, and agreement of the modelled summer irradiance with the 5.5 to 6.5 kilowatt-hours per square meter per day reported for climatically comparable Cairo, and with the 1,700 to 2,100 kilowatt-hours per square meter per year global horizontal irradiance documented for Iranian cities at similar latitudes.
Compared with prior GIS-solar studies, the results stand out for their seasonal resolution and integrated carbon chain. A Lisbon suburb study reported a 48 percent annual demand offset, while a Santa Isabel, Ecuador analysis found rooftop PV supplying 4.97 times neighborhood demand; the present study’s higher ratio reflects Mashhad’s stronger solar resource, high residential density, and substantial per-capita cooling loads. The delivered annual output represents an indicative avoided electricity cost of roughly 362,283 to 1,811,413 US dollars per year for the block, depending on whether Iran’s subsidized or cost-reflective residential tariffs apply, though only locally consumed electricity is directly monetizable. The authors propose prioritizing rooftop retrofits in high-solar-access blocks during summer peak months, integrating DSM-based irradiance outputs into retrofit zoning for flat roofs with contiguous areas of at least 20 square meters, embedding a seasonal carbon-accounting GIS layer to target incentives, and progressively calibrating deployment plans with meteorological and inverter telemetry. Future work should replicate the pipeline across Mashhad’s 12 districts to produce a city-wide solar cadastre, validate modelled yields against measured records, and extend the framework to techno-economic and grid-integration dimensions essential for deployment planning.
Subject of Research: GIS-based rooftop photovoltaic potential and seasonal carbon displacement modeling in Mashhad, Iran
Article Title: GIS-based feasibility study of photovoltaic potential and carbon reduction in Mashhad city
Article References: Hashemi, M., Ahmadi, A., Gheibi, M., Mahmood, A., Yeganeh Khaksar, R., Annuk, A., & Moezzi, R. (2026). GIS-based feasibility study of photovoltaic potential and carbon reduction in Mashhad city. Results in Engineering, 32, Article 113436. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2026.113436
Image Credits: AI Generated
DOI: 10.1016/j.rineng.2026.113436
Keywords: rooftop solar, photovoltaics, Mashhad, GIS, digital surface model, carbon displacement, CO2 emissions, Solar Toolbox, Iran, urban energy, seasonal irradiance, renewable energy
News Source: Faith Mcneil. (October 24, 2026). Rooftop solar could displace 20,000 tonnes of CO2 in Mashhad. Scienmag.
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GK Energy has secured an INR 330.29 crore order from Maharashtra State Electricity Distribution Company to supply and install 14,000 off-grid 5 HP solar water pumping systems across Maharashtra under the Magel Tyala Saur Krushi Pump Yojana.
October 24, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

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

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India’s solar and energy storage industry has grown to massive proportions, reflected in the more than 54,000 visitors that descended on Greater Noida’s India Expo Center this week for Renewable Energy India Expo (REI) and the Battery Show India, and the more than 1,000 exhibitors that filled the center beyond its capacity, with temporary buildings added and exhibits flowing out into the car park.
After three days navigating the halls and meeting with companies from up and down the solar supply chain, pv magazine has these three key takeaways from REI 2026.
Previous years at REI saw a PV industry highly focused on bringing module assembly to India. And now, analysts estimate the country has more than 200 GW of annual module capacity – far beyond its expected demand for 50-60 GW of PV installations per year out to 2030.
This has many predicting a market shakeout beginning in 2027, where manufacturers operating module capacity only will struggle to find demand, and also to source cells since the country extended its domestic content requirements to the cell sector earlier this year.
Many manufacturers at the show were keen to emphasize their ability to supply “domestic content requirement” modules. Nonetheless, 2027 may be a difficult year for some. India’s market is led by those companies that have been able to invest early in building out local cell manufacturing capacity – expected to reach 80 GW by the end of 2027.
Quality is also emerging as a key differentiator as module manufacturing heads into a highly competitive period. And speakers at pv magazine’s Insight session on day 2 were keen to emphasise their sophisticated quality control procedures, as well as work to ensure their modules are prepared specifically for the varying and often harsh climates found in India.
The next step for India’s domestic content plans is adding solar wafers to the list of components that must be produced in India for modules used in projects receiving government assistance. And many of those same companies are now announcing plans to produce wafers locally as well – Saatvik, Grew, Solex, Zetsol, Navitas, Reliance, Adani, and more all shared plans to have wafer production up and running by the time policy takes effect in 2028.
While India’s ambition to host the entire PV supply chain is clear, opportunities for international collaboration are still there, with some manufacturers happy to discuss OEM deals in place with established manufacturers in China, as well as collaboration with technology suppliers in Europe and the United States.
India’s PV market has long been utility-scale led, and so favored those with the ability to supply and operate at megawatt or even gigawatt scale. Many manufacturers that pv magazine spoke with this year, however, also expressed optimism about the country’s commercial and industrial sector, where companies are keen to secure long term energy prices away from the grid, and to meet decarbonization goals. Several also spoke of new demand from the residential sector, and particularly the opportunity that adding residential batteries to the PV offering will add in the next year or two.
Virtually all of India’s cell manufacturing buildout is focused on tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) technology. And those manufacturers expect this to remain the mainstream for several years at least.
Reliance Industries, which is building out a 20 GW supply chain focused on heterojunction technology, is the most notable exception. A few others still have older passivated emitter rear cell (PERC) production lines that they expect to be able to keep running for a few more years at least. And mentions of back contact were few, and confined to those sourcing cells from abroad or working on OEM deals with Chinese manufacturers.
Most manufacturers told us that they have perovskite tandem cells on their radar, but still see this technology as at least five years away from commercial. Others though, including Grew Solar, Navitas Solar, Rayzon Solar and INA Solar, are partnering with US-based perovskite producer Caelux, and plan to have hybrid perovskite-silicon modules commercially available in India by 2028.
Moves to cover more of the supply chain also extend far beyond the cell and wafer segment. Other module components like encapsulant films, glass, aluminum are not covered by domestic content requirement, nonetheless several manufacturers are investing in capacity to produce these locally as well, while Indian solar glass maker Borosil is itself expanding into module production.
Many manufacturers are also expanding into projects sector, developing and building projects with their own modules. Waaree Energies and other companies more known in the PV module sector have begun producing inverters. Others including Gamechange Energy and Delta Electronics are expanding into production of transformers and other system components in India.
Some on the projects side of the industry said that the shock of the domestic content requirement for cells has pushed prices upward and temporarily slowed plans for new projects, all expect this to be a short-term issue though as India demonstrates that it has the scale and the capital to support an energy system based on components made in India.

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Agrivoltaics is emerging as a promising approach to combining agriculture with renewable energy generation on the same land. By installing solar panels above or between crop rows, farmers can continue cultivating crops while generating electricity, creating opportunities for more efficient land use, additional income and sustainable rural development.
Agriculture provides livelihoods to approximately 46.1% of India’s population. According to the Press Information Bureau (PIB), the Gross Value Added of the agriculture and allied sector is estimated to reach ₹52.08 lakh crore in 2025–26. Reliable and affordable energy is essential for irrigation and other farming activities, making solar power an important option for supporting the sector.
India’s agricultural land offers considerable scope for integrating solar energy with farming. Land Use Statistics for 2023–24 show that the country’s reported area covers 306.96 million hectares, of which approximately 55% is agricultural land. The net sown area stands at 138.99 million hectares, while the gross cropped area is 217.88 million hectares.
Solar-powered irrigation pumps can provide daytime electricity for watering crops and reduce dependence on diesel-powered alternatives. Under agrivoltaic systems, farmers can go a step further by combining crop cultivation and solar electricity generation on the same land.
Agrivoltaics, also known as agrisolar or dual-use solar, integrates agricultural production with solar installations designed to suit local farming conditions.
Elevated solar panels allow crops to grow underneath while providing space for farmers to access their fields and use agricultural equipment. The partial shade created by the panels may help protect certain crops from extreme heat and reduce soil moisture loss, depending on the crop, panel design and local conditions.
These systems can also support livestock rearing alongside electricity generation. Surplus electricity may provide an additional source of income when supplied to the power grid.
The benefits depend on local climate, crop selection, solar-panel arrangement and farming practices, making scientific research and field demonstrations important for successful implementation.
As of August 2025, India had 36 operational agrivoltaic projects with an installed capacity of 37.54 megawatts, alongside 10 pilot projects under development. These projects cover different agroclimatic regions and use elevated structures, interspace layouts and tracking systems.
Estimates cited in the PIB report place India’s agrivoltaic potential between 3,000 GW and nearly 14,000 GW, highlighting the possible scale of solar energy generation alongside agricultural activity.
The report also notes that farmers’ annual earnings could, in some cases, increase from around ₹60,000 per acre to more than ₹1 lakh per acre.
A GIS-based national screening identified 47.35 million hectares of “restricted cropland” as suitable for AgriPV after environmental, agronomic and technical filters were applied.
Fruits, vegetables, spices and medicinal plants are among the crops identified as promising options for cultivation alongside solar installations.
According to the report, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh have high potential for agrivoltaic development. Together, these states account for nearly 50% of India’s estimated AgriPV power-generation potential.
Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Telangana, Bihar and West Bengal are identified as states with moderate potential.
The southern, western and central regions of India offer favourable combinations of solar radiation, land availability and horticultural activity for large-scale deployment.
The Government of India has undertaken several policy, research and implementation initiatives to encourage solar energy use in agriculture.
Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM-KUSUM): Launched in February 2019, the scheme promotes solar energy adoption in agriculture, reduces dependence on diesel and creates opportunities for farmers to diversify their earnings. It envisages central financial assistance of approximately ₹34,422 crore and supports decentralised solar power generation and the solarisation of agricultural pumps.
Centre of Excellence on Agrivoltaics: The National Institute of Solar Energy, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Indian Agricultural Research Institute, has established a Centre of Excellence for research, demonstration and capacity building. Its pilot projects include a 100-kilowatt agrivoltaic system at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
India Agrivoltaics Alliance: Launched in 2023 and anchored by the National Solar Energy Federation of India, the alliance brings together government, industry and other stakeholders. With more than 40 members, it supports policy advocacy, research, pilot projects and scalable business models for combining agriculture and solar power.
Several states are also promoting solar energy for agricultural use through dedicated programmes.
Maharashtra – Mukhyamantri Saur Krushi Vahini Yojana 2.0: Supports solar power generation through 16,000 MW of solar projects across approximately 35,000 acres of government and private land to supply electricity to agricultural consumers.
Gujarat – Kisan Suryoday Yojana: Seeks to expand daytime electricity access for agricultural activities, with a planned supply window of up to 16 hours daily, from 5 AM to 9 PM, through phased commissioning of solar and other non-conventional energy plants.
Karnataka – Surya Raitha Scheme: Promotes solar-powered irrigation pumps and allows farmers to earn from surplus electricity, while reducing reliance on diesel-powered pumps.
Agrivoltaics offers an approach to bringing agricultural production and renewable energy generation together. It can improve land-use efficiency, potentially reduce water loss under suitable conditions and create additional income opportunities for farmers.
As India explores wider adoption, locally appropriate system designs, scientific research and farmer participation will be important to balancing crop productivity with electricity generation.
Through initiatives such as PM-KUSUM, research programmes and state-level schemes, the integration of solar power and agriculture could contribute to more resilient farming and a sustainable rural economy.
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I’ve found that the majority of concerns surrounding utility-scale solar farms are misguided.
by Lucinda Lough
Magazine
October 20, 2026
5:26 PM
Six years ago, I began restoring the property around my home in Northeast Wisconsin back to native prairie land. As a lifelong rural resident, it came naturally to dive deeper into my environmentalism after retiring from a career as an electrical engineer. Each year I have added more acres to the prairie. For the last few of these years, I’ve also watched rooftop solar technology accelerate and come down in cost, planning for my own installation. So I was confused when, a few months ago, a fellow environmentalist from a neighboring community shared a warning on social media about a solar farm development proposed in his township.
The development “threatens” previous work to clean up local waterways, he said in his post, and the community was at risk of being “sold out” if it went through. He included a Change.org link to a petition for the Wisconsin Public Service Commission to deny the project’s approval.
Wait, I thought. Effective implementation of clean energy technologies is a good thing. The climate, the viability of our planet, and our very existence hang in the balance of our ability to steer away from fossil fuel. So I did what a scientist does and started gathering information—including attending town meetings across my corner of Wisconsin.
From standing-room-only township board meetings to community informational gatherings, objections and fears are brought up, some legitimate and others based on misinformation. Tempers flare, voices are raised, and one problematic comparison is repeatedly trotted out. Over and over, large-scale solar is spoken in the same breath as hyperscale data centers with trepidation and disgust.
“Who here is against data [centers]?” one resident polled a packed room at a zoning committee meeting in Shawano County on a weekday in June. Almost every hand shot up. Officials were voting that day on a proposed moratorium on data center construction. The resident followed up with a second question: “Who here is against solar?” There was some confusion, but still a lot of hands in the air.
More and more, the debates about solar energy developments at the utility scale mirror those surrounding the nationwide data center boom supporting the artificial intelligence tech bubble. This is a dangerous false equivalency.
At meetings about solar developments, like those about data centers, residents demand to know which local farmers lease property to developers. The loss of productive farmland is discussed. Queries are made about their impact on water quality and sound levels. Disagreement over land use has driven families apart. Neighboring landowners are appalled at what will be next door or filled with a fatalistic sense that they are witnessing the demise of their environment.
Lucinda Lough
Solar panels at Alliant Energy’s Springfield Solar, a 100-megawatt solar development in Dodge County, Wisconsin.
But I’ve found that the majority of concerns surrounding utility-scale solar farms are misguided. In addition to attending local meetings, I’ve deepened my technical research and have toured the facilities at Geronimo Power’s Portage Solar in Portage County, Wisconsin, and Alliant Energy’s Springfield Solar in Dodge County. What I’ve found has been surprising.
One of the most often-repeated concerns about solar farms is based on anecdotal incidents involving older technology. The “lake effect” problem cited in numerous studies—in which aquatic birds mistake the dark reflective surface of a solar farm for water and either crash land or land and cannot take off again—is based on a single dataset from one solar site installed prior to the adoption of anti-reflective coating on panels.
Other concerns have been addressed by lessons learned within the industry. Complaints about the hum of transformer units are now addressed by properly locating them at the center of solar development sites, and sound readings have been incorporated into the Wisconsin Public Service Commission requirements. In order to meet other such requirements, utility-scale developers now enlist environmental, archaeological, and vegetation management specialists for the project aspects outside of their expertise.
Despite much improvement in standards, there are reports that the fossil fuel industry is exploiting the public’s lack of knowledge on the issue. NPR reported in 2023 that one nonprofit with ties to conservative political figures and fossil fuel interests, Citizens for Responsible Solar, helped to beat back solar projects in at least ten states.
This isn’t to argue that solar and other renewable energy developments are totally free from problems. Some players in the space actively pursue “underutilized” clean energy generation and partner with hyperscale data centers to quickly move in. Renewables can be used to give a green veneer to the otherwise environmentally disastrous endeavor of building data centers. Houston-based Cloverleaf Infrastructure is one such up-and-coming company.
In these cases, rural communities with approved utility-scale solar farms (and often insufficient zoning in place) are perfect targets. But there are better ways to use renewable energy than to power data centers that—unlike large-scale solar developments—are largely unregulated.
I feel a sharp pain from the unnecessary conflict in my communities. Township meetings are about how to keep the roads patched and whether there is enough in the budget for snow plowing. With buy-in from rural landowners, utility-scale solar implementations could bring in financial benefits to keep the snow plowed and redo the whole road, not just patch it.
Communities that host solar energy projects by leasing farmland to developers can generate what in Wisconsin is called “utility aid.” According to environmental advocacy group Clean Wisconsin, “It is calculated using a formula based on the size of the energy project, with $5,000 per megawatt (MW) split between the hosting town, village, or city and the hosting county. For example, a 150 MW solar project would generate $750,000 in annual payments split between the town and county. Over the anticipated thirty-year life of a project, that would be $22.5 million in revenue.”
And the landowners themselves also benefit. According to an estimate by American Clean Power, Wisconsin farmers, ranchers, and landowners receive $15.3 million in annual land lease payments from solar projects. These leases can keep the farms intact for future generations, as upon completion of a utility-scale solar project, the land is allowed to rest as an intact acreage of grassland habitat for twenty to thirty years.
So, how can we engage rural communities and bring all of the stakeholders to the same page? Solar advocates, which in my state include organizations like RENEW Wisconsin and the University of Wisconsin–Madison RESET program, always need support. But at the local level, it makes a difference to attend township and county board meetings—all the time, not just when a major conflict surfaces. Listen more than you speak—sometimes the chatter before and after the meeting is more important than the meeting itself.
Your own ability to change hearts and minds is also significant. Armed with evidence-based research, I have personally quelled the concerns of one to three people at every meeting I have attended. Engage as a community member, not a drop-in. As I have, you might offer assistance to board members who may work full time in addition to holding local public office. If you live in an urban or suburban area, locate a nearby township and adopt it and start attending meetings.
Despite what Big Tech is trying to sell us, data centers to power the artificial intelligence boom are not the wave of the future. But an economy powered by renewable energy is. In order to get there, we need to talk to one another, ask questions, and carefully learn the lay of the land before we build anything on it. 
Lucinda Lough is a retired electrical engineer and country girl residing in rural Northeast Wisconsin with a passion for her planet.
October 20, 2026
5:26 PM

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• The 7th AgriVoltaics World Conference (AWC) 2026, hosted by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), was held in New Delhi from October 21 to 23.
• New Delhi’s call to action was to bring agrivoltaics into the field through sound science, viable financing and sustained cooperation with farmers. 
Scope of generating solar electricity in farm fields
• Agriculture plays a vital role in India’s economy, serving as a key source of livelihood for approximately 46.1 per cent of the population. 
• Sustaining this vital sector requires reliable and affordable energy for irrigation and other farming operations. 
• Solar power can help meet these everyday needs while advancing India’s clean energy transition.
• According to Land Use Statistics for 2023-24, the country’s reported area covers 306.96 million hectares, of which approximately 55 per cent is agricultural land. 
• The net sown area stands at 138.99 million hectares, while the gross cropped area covers 217.88 million hectares. 
• This extensive land base offers opportunities to generate solar electricity alongside agricultural production. 
• Farmers can use solar power to operate irrigation pumps, reduce dependence on conventional electricity and potentially supplementary revenue by supplying surplus electricity to the grid. 
• For instance, solar-powered irrigation pumps can provide daytime power for watering crops while reducing reliance on diesel-powered alternatives.
What is agrivoltaics?
• Agrivoltaics brings together crop cultivation and solar photovoltaic (PV) power generation on the same land. 
• Agrivoltaics, also known as agrisolar or dual-use solar, maximises land-use efficiency, provides shade for crops and creates additional benefits for farmers.
• Solar panels installed above or between crop rows allow electricity generation alongside continued farming. 
• Depending on the crop, panel design and local conditions, partial shading may also help reduce soil moisture loss. 
• This approach can improve land-use efficiency, diversify farm earnings and strengthen both food and energy security. 
Agrivoltaics development in India
• Through research, field demonstrations and policy development, India is exploring ways to adapt agrivoltaics to diverse agricultural conditions. 
• It offers a promising pathway to align farmers’ livelihoods with India’s wider renewable energy ambitions.
• As of August 2025, India had 36 operational agrivoltaics projects with an installed capacity of 37.54 megawatts, alongside 10 pilot projects under development. 
• These projects span diverse agroclimatic regions and include elevated structures, interspace layouts and tracking systems, reflecting India’s evolving approach to integrating solar power generation with agricultural production.
• India holds significant potential for agrivoltaics. 
• Estimates place the country’s agrivoltaic potential between 3,000 GW and nearly 14,000 GW, highlighting the scale of opportunity at the intersection of agriculture and renewable energy. 
• Agrivoltaic systems can also create profits diversification for farmers. In some cases, annual earnings could rise from around Rs 60,000 per acre to over Rs 1 lakh per acre.
Govt initiatives in agrivoltaics development
• The government of India has undertaken a range of policy, research, technology development, and implementation measures to advance agrivoltaics adoption and expansion across the country.
1) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (PM KUSUM): Launched in February 2019, the scheme encourages solar energy adoption in agriculture, reduces dependence on diesel and creates opportunities for farmers to diversify their earnings. It envisages central financial assistance of approximately Rs 34,422 crore. It also enables decentralised solar power generation and solarisation of agricultural pumps, creating avenues of development for solar energy integration with farming.
2) Centre of Excellence (CoE) on Agrivoltaics: The National Institute of Solar Energy, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research’s Indian Agricultural Research Institute, has established a CoE for agrivoltaics research, demonstration and capacity building. It has undertaken pilot projects, including a 100-kilowatt agrivoltaic system at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute.
3) India Agrivoltaics Alliance (IAA): Anchored by the National Solar Energy Federation of India (NSEFI), it is a multi-stakeholder platform advancing the dual use of land for solar energy generation and agriculture. Launched in 2023, the Alliance has grown to over 40 members and works with government ministries and industry stakeholders to advance agrivoltaics through policy advocacy, research and on-the-ground implementation. 

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A University of New South Wales research team in Australia has benchmarked east-west ground-mounted solar arrays against standard single-axis trackers, pv magazine reports. For some degradation pathways, the east-west layout showed rates as much as 40% lower than tracking systems.
The investigation centred on enhanced thermal modelling to forecast module operating temperatures and the degradation tied to them, with special emphasis on the Maverick east-west ground-mounted product from Australian firm 5B, corresponding author Bram Hoex told the publication. The east-west system’s heat transfer coefficients proved similar to those of single-axis trackers, pointing to comparable cooling behaviour, yet its modules run cooler because the plane-of-array irradiance it receives is lower than that of tracking systems.
Maverick is a prefabricated, relocatable ground-mounted product built for swift installation with little on-site labour. Every modular unit carries as many as 90 panels on frames that open in a concertina fashion, with the modules set at a 10-degree tilt. Preconfigured electrical connections, a compact footprint, high power density and modest ground penetration requirements make it suited to sites with constrained usable land or difficult terrain. Because it is modular, it can also be placed on land that was previously underused, including mine waste rock dumps. During 2024 the technology formed part of a 16.9 MW solar project made up of 342 Maverick units at the Jundee gold mine in Western Australia.
According to the researchers, the shallow tilt angles allow more ground coverage and greater energy density per unit of land, and the prefabricated build eases installation. Predicting how such systems will perform, however, demands better thermal models, because module temperature shapes both power output and long-term degradation. Standard models frequently ignore wind direction, mounting configuration, thermal inertia and radiative heat exchange with the sky. The team therefore built a transient thermal model that accounts for sky radiation and checked it against field measurements.
Monitoring data gathered from September 2022 through June 2023 at a 5B Maverick test site close to Bungendore, New South Wales, formed the basis of the analysis. That installation uses JinkoSolar modules rated at 315 W, with thermocouples tracking module temperatures and a nearby weather station logging local conditions. Irradiance, ambient temperature, wind speed, wind direction and electrical output data were collected so the team could develop and validate five thermal models of growing complexity, factoring in wind-dependent heat transfer, radiative exchange with the sky and transient temperature effects. Field measurements were used to calibrate the models, while ERA5 climate data refined longwave radiation estimates.
The team next simulated how Maverick and single-axis tracking systems would perform thermally at Bannerton in Victoria and Clare in Queensland, employing bifacial Longi modules and SMA inverters with differing DC-to-AC ratios for each mounting type. Two degradation mechanisms were evaluated: thermal degradation driven by temperature swings, and photodegradation linked to ultraviolet exposure, temperature and humidity. Expected degradation rates were also charted across Australia to probe the role of regional climate.
Adding radiative heat exchange with the sky and transient temperature effects markedly sharpened simulation accuracy, the analysis found, especially at night and when temperatures changed quickly. Measurements from several modules at the Bungendore site validated the refined model, which performed consistently across differing orientations.
The simulations showed that Maverick modules usually run cooler since their fixed orientation captures less plane-of-array irradiance. Single-axis trackers collect more sunlight and deliver higher energy yields per module, yet that greater irradiance exposure also pushes operating temperatures up. In tracking systems, the combination of hotter operation and more ultraviolet exposure produced greater thermal degradation and photodegradation, with both mechanisms peaking in summer as temperatures and irradiance reached their highest. Simulations spanning Australia showed Maverick systems to be less vulnerable to both mechanisms, and the thermal degradation gap was especially wide in southern and southwestern areas.
Inverter clipping and power curtailment could speed degradation by raising module temperatures, the researchers added. They concluded that the lower degradation rates tied to fixed east-west mounting may make such systems especially appealing for remote installations, where servicing and replacement carry higher costs.
Hoex said the work shows that mounting configuration has a direct effect on module reliability, beyond energy yield and installation costs, and underlines how important accurate module temperature modelling is when forecasting long-term degradation and lifetime energy production. He added that the results offer a framework for building temperature-dependent degradation into system simulations, going beyond the usual fixed annual degradation assumptions, and indicate that low-tilt east-west layouts may bring extra gains from reduced degradation on top of their land-use and deployment-cost advantages.
The results appear in the study Accurate Modeling of Module Temperature for Ground-Mounted PV and Its Impact on Degradation, published in the IEEE Journal of Photovoltaics.
Earlier UNSW work found that single-axis tracking systems suffer more ultraviolet-induced degradation than fixed-tilt installations. The scientists built a global UV irradiance model indicating that trackers in high-irradiance regions can take in as much as 1.5 times the UV radiation of fixed-tilt systems, with degradation rates almost double. That study also stressed how temperature, humidity and atmospheric conditions affect module degradation, especially in tropical and desert settings.
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Across South America as a whole, September irradiance was close to normal, but the total average hides a sharply divided month, according to analysis using the Solcast API. Persistent cloud and exceptional rainfall pushed global horizontal irradiance (GHI) 20–24% below the 2007–2025 normal across southeastern Brazil. The Patagonian Steppe and Tierra del Fuego ran close to 19% below normal, while most of the north of the continent was sunnier than usual. A rapidly strengthening El Niño was an important large-scale influence, reshaping rainfall, drought and cloud patterns from the Amazon Basin to Patagonia.
The Brazilian irradiance deficit was centred on São Paulo state, extending to Rio de Janeiro, coinciding with unusually wet conditions. Rio de Janeiro recorded its wettest September since records began in 1997, with heavy rain, thunderstorms and hail across the region. Rainfall means cloud, directly suppressing irradiance. The pattern is consistent with enhanced cloud banding from the South Atlantic Convergence Zone, a band of cloud and rain that stretches from the Amazon towards the Atlantic. Regional climate assessments had identified southern and southeastern Brazil as a primary wet anomaly under El Niño. The southeast also holds Brazil’s largest concentration of utility-scale and distributed solar assets, so this will have had an outsized impact on generation.
NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center continues to issue a “El Niño Advisory” status since June, and forecasts an 80% chance of a strong-to-very-strong event persisting into early 2027. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) named South America as one of the regions most likely to see major rainfall shifts between September and November. Above normal rainfall was expected across southern Brazil, while drought and extreme heat risks were rising across the Amazon, Colombia and northern South America.
2015 is the only year in recent history with a September super El Niño. In comparison, 2026 shows similar broad patterns, notably sunnier north, but significant local differences . A small area near Ecuador recorded GHI around 20% above normal. El Niño usually brings more cloud to the eastern tropical Pacific although these effects are typically found in the first part of the year. This is a reminder that while El Niño is a significant climate driver it isn’t the only one and what we observe is a combination of atmospheric drivers. Conditions we see maybe associated with El Niño or La Nina but direct attribution can not be made with certainty.
An area of particular contrast to 2015 was in the far south, where there was the deficit over the Patagonian Steppe and Tierra del Fuego was comparable to southern Brazil’s, thousands of kilometres away. In contrast, western Patagonia was much sunnier than usual with the Andes creating a literal and figurative divide in the south of the continent.
Solcast produces these figures by tracking clouds and aerosols at 1-2km resolution globally, using satellite data and proprietary AI/ML algorithms. This data is used to drive irradiance models, enabling Solcast to calculate irradiance at high resolution, with typical bias of less than 2%, and also cloud-tracking forecasts. This data is used by more than 350 companies managing over 350GW of solar assets globally.
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
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Democrat Congressman Rob Menendez of New Jersey has introduced the Socket Full of Sunshine Act, the first federal bill targeting plug-in solar in the US 
It proposes $600 million in federal funding over six years under the DOE, including rebates of up to $1,000 for eligible households 
Rebate-eligible devices would need to be manufactured in the US, a proposal backed by the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition
Following a wave of state-level efforts to legalize plug-in solar, the US is now considering federal action to expand its adoption. A new congressional bill proposes rebates of up to $1,000 for eligible households, along with measures to address regulatory barriers and improve access for renters amid rising electricity bills.
Introduced by New Jersey Representative Rob Menendez, the Socket Full of Sunshine Act seeks to make plug-in solar more accessible nationwide.
The legislation could help expand the market for small-scale solar systems that connect to standard household outlets. These provide an alternative for residents who can’t install conventional rooftop solar.
Plug-in solar systems, also known as balcony solar, typically consist of one to four solar panels that can be installed on balconies, patios, or in backyards and connected to a standard electrical outlet. These systems generate electricity for household appliances, reducing the power drawn from the grid.
However, regulatory requirements vary across the US, and some states and utilities require plug-in systems to follow approval processes and interconnection rules designed for larger solar installations. These requirements can increase costs and limit access, particularly for renters and apartment residents.
Under the proposed legislation, state public utility commissions would be required to consider removing barriers such as utility approvals, interconnection agreements, fees, insurance requirements, and equipment restrictions.
The bill would also set clear safety standards for plug-in solar devices and require labels that indicate expected electricity savings for consumers.
It proposes to create a $100 million annual Department of Energy (DOE) grant program to support state rebates for low- and moderate-income households. Eligible low- and moderate-income households could receive rebates of up to $1,000 toward the purchase of plug-in solar systems. The program will run for six years, from fiscal 2027 through fiscal 2032.
The bill also seeks to protect renters’ ability to use plug-in solar. States would need to provide such protections to qualify for the proposed rebate funding, potentially widening access to residential solar beyond property owners who can install rooftop systems.
The proposal also aims to support domestic manufacturing, an objective backed by the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition. Under the bill, plug-in solar devices would need to be manufactured in the US, with domestically sourced components accounting for more than 55% of total component costs, to qualify for rebates.
Mike Carr, Executive of the Solar Energy Manufacturers for America Coalition, explains, “By prioritizing American-made products and tying federal rebates to domestic manufacturing and content requirements, this legislation can help create new demand for U.S.-made solar products and strengthen our domestic supply chains.”
The proposal comes amid growing state-level interest in the technology. Utah became the first US state to legalize plug-in solar in 2025, and additional states have pursued legislation in 2026. California became the 10^th US state to legalize plug-in solar as of September 2026 (see North America Solar PV News Snippets).
Bright Saver, a clean energy nonprofit organization, believes the bill opens the door to energy equity for renters and homeowners in all 50 states.
The Sierra Club, the New Jersey chapter of the League of Conservation Voters, the Consumer Federation of America, and Evergreen Action also endorse this legislation.
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People can apply through Ameren Illinois’ energy assistance page or call the company while funding is still available.
Photo Credit: iStock
Ameren electric and gas is offering $10 million to help customers in Illinois and Missouri who are behind on utility payments, with $5 million being directed into assistance programs in Illinois.
According to 25News Now, Ameren is boosting its bill-assistance funding. 
For Illinois customers, assistance amounts depend on the group. Eligible households can get up to $500 through Warm Neighbors Cool Friends — a program that matches earlier bill payments. Qualifying veterans and military members can receive $400, and eligible nonprofits and small businesses can get up to $1,000.
For households trying to cut energy costs long term, going solar is one of the best ways to save on home energy. Readers looking beyond short-term aid can use EasyHome‘s free explorer tool to see pricing and savings from vetted installers in their area.
Because the money will go out on a first-come, first-served basis, customers who already know they are falling behind may have a better chance of getting help before Illinois’ share of the new $5 million pool runs out.
This assistance is separate from the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, the federal low-income heating and cooling bill program, meaning some customers may be able to receive support from both instead of relying on only one source for winter utility costs.
People can apply through Ameren Illinois’ energy assistance page or call the company while funding is still available.
For homeowners who want to reduce future power bills instead of relying only on emergency aid, EasyHome‘s free explorer tool can help compare solar quotes from vetted installers in one place. The same tool can also help you explore backup battery storage options, and pairing solar with a battery can maximize savings while allowing you to power your home with solar when the grid goes down.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
Ameren Illinois manager of energy assistance Kim Bond said, “My advice is if you’re having some trouble keeping up with your bills to contact us now and not to wait. There are other options outside of energy assistance programs that we may be able to offer to help manage that bill.”
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Beyond the Rooftop: How Perovskite PV is Redefining Solar Applications  AZoM
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European renewable energy marketplace Solmeria has expanded to include solar and battery energy storage systems (BESS) in Romania.
The marketplace, which spans ground-mounted PV, agriPV, C&I solar and BESS projects at all stages of development, initially went live in July with 25 projects in France.
It added its first two listings in Romania earlier this month. The two offers are both agrivoltaic installations with four-hour storage systems located in Cluj county, northwestern Romania. They have a combined capacity of 6.2 MW of solar and a total BESS capacity of 6 MW/24 MWh.
Maxime Courtaigne, CEO of Solmeria, told pv magazine the Romania listings now also include a ready-to-build hybrid park of 55 MWp with 193 MWh of storage. “The first listings have already received around ten expressions of interest from buyers,” he added.
Created at the request of developers, the marketplace is aiming to bring liquidity to listed projects, accelerate transactions and reduce intermediation costs. Commission is only payable only upon successful completion of a sale and is significantly lower than that of a traditional merger and acquisitions agency, according to previous reports.
Courtaigne also told pv magazine 18 of the 25 French projects listed in the marketplace are now in sale discussions. The marketplace also opened in the Italian market in September.
He added there are more than 300 registered acquirers to date, the majority of which are French and Italian, with “dozens more joining every month.”
“France showed us that selling projects one by one to the right buyer works at every size: a 1 MWp project drew 35 expressions of interest,” Courtaigne said.
“Romania is on the same path, with around ten already on our first listings and a 55 MWp hybrid park now on the platform. Sell one project to the right buyer, and the portfolio will follow.”
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China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has proposed minimum cell efficiencies of 26.2 percent for TOPCon, 26 percent for HJT and 26.6 percent for BC, and module efficiencies of 24.2 percent, 24 percent and 24.4 percent, respectively, for new and expanded solar PV manufacturing facilities.
October 24, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

Evolving Climate Risks Are Reshaping RE Insurance: Amitabh Dewan, Policybazaar for Business

Power Asset Management is Shifting from Capacity to Performance: Kota Bhanu Prakash

Tunwal E-Motors’ Jhumarmal Tunwal Eyes Expansion in Emerging EV Markets

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

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

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European solar PPA prices up 0.4% in Europe and 4.9% in the US  PV Tech
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Solex Energy Limited will unveil its TAPI RQ solar module, which combines N-Type TOPCon technology with a quarter-cell design, at the Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo 2026. The exhibition is being held from October 22 to 24 at India Expo Mart in Greater Noida.
The company said the module can deliver power output of up to 670 Wp and efficiency of up to 24.80%. It is designed for utility-scale and other large solar installations where output, durability and consistent performance are important. The module includes an IP68-rated junction box that protects against dust and water ingress.
The launch follows Solex’s earlier product introductions at REI. In 2024, the company presented a solar module using rectangular cells, followed by the concept unveiling of its TAPI Rear Contact module in 2025. The TAPI RQ launch marks its third consecutive year of introducing a new solar technology at the exhibition.
Dr Chetan Shah, Chairman and Managing Director of Solex Energy, said innovation remained central to the company’s growth plans. He said TAPI RQ was intended to provide higher efficiency, reliability and long-term value to customers, while supporting the development of India’s domestic solar manufacturing industry.
Under its Vision 2030 roadmap, Solex plans to build an integrated renewable energy manufacturing ecosystem with 10 GW of solar cell capacity, 10 GWh of battery energy storage system (BESS) manufacturing capacity, and 2 GW of wafer and ingot capacity. The company has proposed an investment of ₹14,300 crore towards this plan.
Solex has also signed a memorandum of understanding with the Gujarat government outlining a proposed investment of ₹4,000 crore. The plan includes a 5 GW solar cell manufacturing facility to be developed in two phases of 2 GW and 3 GW, alongside a 10 GWh BESS manufacturing facility.
The company is also seeking partnerships with dealers and distributors in India and overseas markets, including the United States and Europe, to expand the reach of its solar products. Visitors can view TAPI RQ and other Solex products at Hall 10, Booth B193, during REI Expo 2026.
Headquartered in Surat, Gujarat, Solex Energy has been involved in solar manufacturing since 1995. It operates an automated photovoltaic module manufacturing facility at Tadkeshwar, Gujarat, with a production capacity of 4 GW. The company supplies solar modules to domestic and international markets and provides engineering, procurement and construction services for utility-scale, commercial, industrial and institutional projects.
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TrendForce’s EnergyTrend said on Oct. 22 that polysilicon inventories in China remained above 560,000 metric tons, despite an expected month-on-month decline of approximately 20,000 metric tons in domestic production in October. Supply continued to slightly exceed demand from downstream ingot manufacturers. EnergyTrend said polysilicon producers had discussed maintaining selling prices at or above CNY 43 ($6.32)/kg, although the proposed price floor does not necessarily reflect actual transaction prices. Elevated inventories and weak downstream demand continued to weigh on prospects for a sustained price recovery.
DataBM, a Chinese renewable energy data provider, said centralized solar module procurement tenders totaled approximately 6.6 GW between Oct. 3 and Oct. 16, up from 410 MW in the preceding two-week period. The increase was largely driven by major procurement programs from state-owned enterprises. Meanwhile, projects with announced contract awards or shortlisted bidders totaled 2.81 GW, down 35.4% from 4.35 GW in the previous period. The figures, released on Oct. 19, point to a recovery in tendering activity following China’s National Day holiday, while contract awards remained relatively subdued.
China’s Vice Minister of Ecology and Environment Li Gao said on Oct. 21 that China plans to raise concerns about unilateralism and trade protectionism at the COP31 climate summit in November. Li called for the free flow of green and low-carbon products and technologies, warning that trade barriers could undermine global climate action. Chinese solar modules and other clean energy products have faced increasing trade restrictions in the United States and Europe in recent years, putting the relationship between climate policy and trade measures in focus ahead of the summit.
China’s National Energy Administration (NEA) issued implementation guidelines on Oct. 21 to promote the integration of coal-fired power generation with renewable energy. The guidelines outline five integration models, including coordinated power transmission from renewable energy projects and coal-fired power plants, cleaner heating through combined heat and power facilities, and the integration of renewables with captive coal-fired generation. The measures encourage coal plant flexibility upgrades, transmission capacity expansion, and coordinated operations with wind and solar projects to improve renewable energy integration. Eligible projects may qualify for financial support under existing government programs. The policy aims to facilitate additional renewable energy deployment while reducing emissions from coal-fired generation.
Longi has signed a global supply framework agreement with French energy group Engie covering 800 MW of back-contact (BC) solar modules and 500 MWh of energy storage products over the next two years. Announced on Oct. 19, the agreement covers modules from Longi’s Hi-MO 9 series for projects in Europe and other international markets. It follows the companies’ cooperation on the 1.5 GW Khazna solar project in the United Arab Emirates. The companies did not disclose the contract value or project-specific allocations. The framework volumes do not necessarily represent firm purchase orders.
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Belleville takes action on parking garage, West Main project, sports complex  Belleville News-Democrat
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Long Beach–based space company Rocket Lab has launched a new space-grade solar cell that addresses a key supply chain bottleneck for spacecraft and satellites, while maintaining modern efficiency standards. The solar cell is called Inverted Metamorphic (IMM) Apex, which is produced without germanium substrates. Germanium is a scarce mineral critical to the production of highly efficient radiation-hardened solar cells. Most modern satellites and spacecraft need solar arrays for power generation, and many legacy solar cells on satellites use germanium substrates.
According to the company, the cells are 40% lighter than existing solar cells in the same class, and have a beginning of life solar conversion efficiency of 31.5%. As of 2026, some of the highest performing solar cells that rely on elements like germanium deliver a conversion efficiency around 32%. Silicone-based cells provide around 20% efficiency. While this isn’t the most efficient solar cell the company produces, the omission of germanium removes the supply chain pressure associated with the material. The cells also have the ability to slot into existing solar arrays without the need for redesign.
Rocket Lab also recently announced the introduction of silicon-based solar arrays specifically aimed at powering orbital data centers, suggesting a diversified solar array offering for multiple orbital applications. Apex was built on Rocket Lab’s existing flight-proven solar cells, which were used to power NASA’s Ingenuity Mars helicopter. A new version of the Ingenuity helicopter planned for NASA’s upcoming Skyfall mission will have rotor blades that break the sound barrier.
Germanium is a bottleneck for solar cell production because it’s relatively scarce and it’s used in high-demand materials like fiber optics. China used to be the primary supplier of germanium to the U.S., contributing approximately 41% in 2024. Bans instituted by China from 2023 to 2025 placed strain on its availability. These restrictions are part of a series of political maneuvers between China and the U.S., which also saw China making breakthroughs in homegrown chip manufacturing in response to restrictions on lithography machines.
The scarcity of germanium combined with global geopolitical factors means its cost has risen sharply. In January 2025 the price of European-sourced germanium was $3,150 per kilogram, which rose to over $5,000 per kilogram by October of the same year. China remains the leading producer of germanium, with imports to the U.S. shared by Belgium, Canada, Germany, and Russia.
While the silicon materials used by SpaceX are a viable alternative to current solar cell technology, silicon-based solar cells have limited utility in geostationary orbits or missions to deep space. Solar cell degradation in low Earth orbit is far more contained, where satellites are replaced every five to seven years. Silicon-based solar arrays used by SpaceX are also cheaper, which is necessary given the thousands of Starlink satellites currently in orbit. 
While less efficient silicon cells can be viable on larger solar arrays, deep space satellites already require even larger arrays due to less intense sunlight exposure, which can become a problem where stowed volumes are constrained. Rocket Lab may have an opportunity to see commercial success for the IMM Apex solar cells, however only time will tell.

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South Korea’s installed renewable-energy capacity has surpassed coal-fired capacity for the first time, reaching 41,040 MW on Oct. 21, according to the Korea Power Exchange. That is 283 MW more than the country’s 40,757 MW of coal-fired capacity.
Renewables now account for 25.4% of South Korea’s installed generation capacity, making them the country’s second-largest source of installed capacity after liquefied natural gas (LNG), at 46,788 MW. The gap between renewables and LNG has narrowed to about 5,748 MW, said KPX.
Renewable capacity grew by an average of about 3,504 MW a year between the end of 2020 and the end of 2025, about 4.3 times the roughly 807 MW added annually for LNG. KPX said that if both trends continue, renewables could overtake LNG within two to three years to become South Korea’s largest source of installed generation capacity. The Export-Import Bank of Korea said it expects South Korea to install 3.5 GW of solar in 2026.
The figures refer to installed capacity rather than electricity generation.
KPX said it will support the government’s target of 100 GW of renewables by 2030 by closely tracking deployment, expanding public data disclosure and working with industry and related agencies.
Grid expansion
The milestone follows a government plan to expand grid capacity for renewables. It aims to raise national transmission-level hosting capacity for renewables from 119 GW to 171 GW by 2030 and distribution-level capacity from 84 GW to 110 GW.
The plan also allows solar projects to connect above normal grid limits, with output curtailed when the network is constrained, and raises the solar connection limit on a distribution line from 14 MW to 16 MW and at a substation from 50 MW to 60 MW. Under the plan, grid connection rights will be linked to a reformed renewable portfolio standard (RPS) from January 2027, with access granted to projects selected through competitive bidding rather than on a first-come, first-served basis.
KPX opened a tender on Sept. 22 for 1,100 MW/6,600 MWh of six-hour energy storage on the mainland, plus 80 MW on Jeju Island, under 15-year contracts, with winners due to be announced in November and commissioning required by February 2029.
South Korea’s solar additions surpassed 3.1 GW in 2024 and reached 3.1 GW again in 2025. The country’s First Renewable Energy Basic Plan, published earlier this year, includes roughly 56.2 GW of new solar capacity as part of its 100 GW renewables target.
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Monday, November 23, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
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“Unnecessary restrictions and bureaucratic obstacles.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Norwegian lawmakers are pushing to legalize plug-in solar panels and batteries, arguing that small, low-cost systems could cut utility bills and help citizens in an emergency situation.
Their proposal says an 800-watt setup priced around NOK 5,000, or about $532, could help households keep hot food and water available during a crisis.
Legalization would mark a notable shift for clean energy in Norway, where plug-in solar panels and batteries are currently prohibited.
The effort comes from six members of Norway’s Green Party, or MDG, who were elected to the Storting for the 2025-2029 term. In a proposal published on the Storting’s website, they asked the government to remove what they described as “unnecessary restrictions and bureaucratic obstacles” to plug-in solar and batteries, according to a PV Magazine article.
They argued that legalizing the systems would make it easier for consumers to choose safe, compliant products, strengthen landlords’ rights to produce their own electricity, and remove taxes on clean energy production.
Lawmakers say plug-in solar and batteries could lower household electricity bills, ease peak demand on the grid, and reduce the need for some other renewable energy development. They also pointed out that countries where balcony solar is already allowed, including Germany, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland, have already done most of the heavy lifting on working out implementation logistics.
Going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Readers who want to compare a larger home setup can use EasyHome and its free explorer tool to see pricing and savings from vetted installers in their area.
The proposal centers on plug-in systems that could connect directly to standard grounded sockets if they meet safety requirements, a format often linked to balcony solar and smaller home energy setups.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
MDG’s filing also presents the technology as part of emergency preparedness, saying an 800-watt pluggable solar system could generate enough electricity for a household to keep food and water hot in a crisis. It also says the systems could offer basic resilience during outages or other disruptions.
However, this is only a proposal and does not carry the force of law on its own. MDG is a center-left party and is not part of Norway’s current governing coalition.
The proposal makes plug-in solar a policy question by formally putting it before parliament. Safety standards, consumer rights, and grid rules shape it, not just hardware availability.
The proposal itself is the first step. It asks the Norwegian government to complete a series of actions by the end of 2027.
These include allowing qualifying plug-in solar and batteries to use ordinary grounded sockets and preparing a national guide on how to buy and use them safely.
The lawmakers also called for a digital system to register plug-in solar and batteries, along with a Norwegian specification or similar technical standard addressing electrical and fire safety, grid conformity, and end-user safety.
They also requested an investigation into a VAT exemption for private-household solar cell systems and batteries by Oct. 1, 2027.
For homeowners considering solar, EasyHome is a free explorer tool that helps compare installer options, pricing, and savings. It can also help readers explore backup battery storage, and pairing solar with a battery lets homeowners maximize savings and keep the lights on when the grid goes down.
This proposal has the potential to put into action a list of renewable energy advancements, but now the progress lies in the hands of parliament.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
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Insolation Energy, through its subsidiary Insolation Green Energy, has partnered with US-based Caelux to commercialise 3 GW of Perovskite-TOPCon hybrid tandem solar modules targeting efficiencies of up to 29 percent by 2028.
October 24, 2026. By Mrinmoy Dey

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

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The Ultimate Wedding Gift  Bloomberg.com
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Austria’s Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) funding agency has published the results of the country’s third auction for solar PV market premiums in 2026. Successful bids ranged from €0.054/kWh to €0.0725/kWh, with a volume-weighted average of €0.0642/kWh, slightly higher than in the second auction round.
The auction offered 172.6 MW of solar capacity, but ultimately awarded 173.4 MW across 195 successful bids. The EAG funding agency did not disclose the level of oversubscription.
The bidding round closed on Sept. 24, 2026. Unsuccessful applicants can submit new bids in future auctions, although no further dates have been announced.
Austria’s solar market premium auctions are open to new ground-mounted and rooftop PV installations, as well as extensions of existing systems, with capacities exceeding 10 kW. Projects must not have been commissioned at the time of bidding. Ground-mounted installations on agricultural land or grassland are subject to a reduction of up to 25% in their applicable bid value, a measure designed to favor rooftop PV projects.
Austria’s second solar market premium auction, which closed on June 11, 2026, offered 179 MW of capacity. The EAG funding agency awarded contracts on July 10, with successful bids reaching a maximum of €0.0669/kWh. The ceiling was lower than the highest successful bid of €0.0725/kWh recorded in the third round, indicating an increase in the upper end of accepted bid prices.
The first auction of 2026 closed on March 17, with authorities awarding 170.97 MW against an offered volume of 175 MW. Successful bids ranged from €0.0400/kWh to €0.0680/kWh, with a volume-weighted average of €0.0634/kWh, slightly below the €0.0642/kWh recorded in the third auction.
The government had initially allocated 175 MW to each of the year’s four planned solar market premium auctions, although the capacity available in individual rounds can change. Under Austria’s auction framework, projects compete on their requested support levels, with bids ranked from lowest to highest until the available capacity is allocated.

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Monday, November 23, 2026
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Monday, November 2, 2026
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Socket Full of Sunshine Act calls for first federal-level support for US plug-in solar  PV Tech
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A motorhome that traveled through 10 African countries needed to connect to the grid only about three times during a journey lasting approximately one year. This level of energy independence enabled Brazilian couple Alessandro De Franceschi, known as “Alê,” and Maria Eduarda Cardoso, known as “Duda,” to operate two air conditioners, two refrigerators, an electric stove, and satellite internet equipment, even in remote areas without access to conventional electricity infrastructure.
The couple, who document their travels on social media under the name Getoutsidebr, use a system combining rooftop solar panels, lithium batteries, and charging from the vehicle’s alternator while driving. The system features equipment from Victron Energy, supplied with the involvement of Kamell Comércio Global, and illustrates how integrating solar generation, battery storage, and energy management can increase the autonomy of mobile power systems.
According to Alê, the African expedition began in August 2025. The couple traveled through 10 countries in their motorhome and visited four others without the vehicle. The combination of solar power, battery storage, and alternator charging allowed them to maintain their usual electricity consumption without regularly relying on external power connections.
The motorhome’s electrical system relies on two main energy sources. The first is solar power, generated by rooftop photovoltaic modules that supply electricity to onboard appliances and recharge the batteries during the day.
The second source is the vehicle’s alternator. While the motorhome is moving, a Victron Energy Orion DC-DC charger draws power from the vehicle’s electrical system to recharge the lithium batteries.
The combination enables the motorhome to operate in locations without grid access. The batteries store electricity for later use, while monitoring equipment allows the couple to track the state of charge and power supplied by the different sources.
The system powers a range of appliances beyond basic travel necessities, including an electric stove and oven, an air fryer, two refrigerators, two air conditioners, a television, lighting, and Starlink satellite internet equipment. Water can also be heated electrically, although a diesel-powered option is available.
“Today, we’re able to maintain a daily routine very similar to that of a conventional home, even when we’re far from urban infrastructure,” said Alê.
The motorhome’s electrical system includes three Victron Energy lithium batteries, each rated at 25.6 V and 200 Ah. Based on their nominal specifications, the batteries provide a combined storage capacity of approximately 15.36 kWh, before accounting for discharge limits and conversion losses.
Power conversion is handled by a 24 V, 5,000 VA MultiPlus-II inverter. The system also includes a SmartSolar MPPT 100 V/50 A solar charge controller, Orion charging units, a 500 A SmartShunt battery monitor, a Cerbo GX communication and control hub, and a GX Touch 70 display.
The components work together to manage solar generation, battery charging, DC-to-AC power conversion, and system monitoring.
The motorhome’s energy autonomy depends not only on battery capacity but also on solar generation, electricity consumption, and charging conditions. Running air conditioners, electric cooking appliances, and other equipment simultaneously can significantly increase power demand. The system’s performance therefore depends on the integration of energy sources, battery storage, and energy management rather than installed storage capacity alone.
The system allows the couple to monitor battery state of charge and track electricity supplied by the solar panels and the vehicle’s alternator. The information is available through a display inside the motorhome and can also be accessed remotely via a smartphone.
According to Alê, remote monitoring has proved particularly useful when the couple leaves the motorhome parked while traveling to other destinations by plane. It allows them to check the system’s status remotely and identify fluctuations in solar generation, including those caused by shading on the panels.
In off-grid applications, remote monitoring can help users identify changes in electricity generation and battery charge levels, enabling them to adjust consumption and reduce the risk of power shortages.
However, energy autonomy remains dependent on factors such as solar irradiation, shading, parking duration, and onboard electricity demand. During periods of reduced solar generation or high consumption, the amount of energy available for use may decline.
Alê, 41, from the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, and Duda, 33, from Espírito Santo, previously lived in São Paulo and worked as lawyers before deciding to travel across the Americas. Their original plan was to drive from Brazil to Ushuaia, in southern Argentina, before continuing north to Alaska.
What began as a road trip eventually became a way of life. The couple has been traveling for nearly seven years and estimates that they have visited around 30 countries. They document their experiences through their Getoutsidebr social media project, which has attracted approximately 500,000 followers.
Their experience highlights the potential of solar power and battery storage for mobile off-grid applications. By combining onboard electricity generation, energy storage, and battery charging while driving, the motorhome reduces its reliance on external power connections and provides greater flexibility when traveling through remote areas.
The couple also announced in September 2026 that they were expecting their first child, Martin, marking a new chapter in their life on the road. Maintaining a reliable electricity supply and managing energy consumption will remain important considerations as they prepare to travel as a family.
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Monday, November 23, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, November 5, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026?
Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
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Monday, October 26, 2026
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Solar panels grown above grapevines substantially increased the development and fruit production of the crop—all while generating clean energy.
The technique, known as agrivoltaics, has been well-studied in other settings, but how it would effect the delicate science of viticulture has not.
Researchers from the University of Bari conducted a study on a vineyard in southern Italy’s Puglia region (think the heel of the boot) where intense sunlight and the hot Mediterranean climate produces exceptional growing conditions for all sorts of Italian favorites like olives, tomatoes, and grapes.
Previous research into agrivoltaics shows that growing crops under banks of solar panels produces a synergistic effect: the partial shade helps plants focus on growing and less on protecting themselves from the Sun. The partial shade also increases ground-level humidity under the panels, which in turn radiates up and helps to moderate the temperatures of the panels’ circuitry, modestly increasing their energy output.
Whether this phenomenon would provide a beneficial change to the growth and development of the Primitivo, or Zinfandel grapes on the researchers’ test field wasn’t immediately clear, so they set about installing solar panels over a section of a 2.2-acre vineyard of 8-year-old grape vines.
Giuseppe Ferrara, a professor at the University of Bari’s Department of Soil, Plant and Food Sciences, told PV Magazine that the results suggest agrivoltaics can work wonders on vineyards, yet should not be considered a catch-all technique as shade tolerance will vary between regions and grape varietals.
“Certainly, this applies to grapevines, particularly in a hot, dry climate such as Puglia in summer,” Ferrara said. “We believe similar results can also be expected for other species under comparable climatic conditions, while always considering the shade tolerance of the species being studied.”
The results were striking. The shoots produced during the growing season by the partially panel-shaded grapevines were more than twice as long as those grown under full-sun. The weight of each grape bunch produced by the panel-shaded vines was almost thrice as heavy by harvest time as the sun-grown grapes.
ITALY’S WINE CULTURE: 
The berries also developed lower sugar concentrations and greater amounts of organic acids like polyphenols. In other words, the grapes were healthier as well when grown under the panels. This is because there is less heat stress, photosynthesis can occur more easily, and the plant can invest more energy into other metabolic processes.
Lastly, with limited rainfall, irrigation in Italy’s southern regions can be a challenge. The reduced watering demands of the partially shaded grapes can relieve pressure from aquifers and other local water sources, and lower a grower’s utility bills.
ANOTHER SMART VINEYARD: Coastal Winds Not Only Ripen Grapes, They Power Vineyard’s Winemaking Sustainably
Ferrara and his colleagues cautioned that there are vine-growing regions in Italy, like the morainic-grown grapes of Italy’s lake district, that would not benefit from agrivoltaic setups.
Viticulture in Italy goes back to the Bronze Age, and grape varietals grown on the peninsula have experienced millennia of change and evolution. From the Etruscans and visiting Greeks to the Romans and beyond—up to present day—this process of refinement, experimentation, and continual adaptation continues.
SHARE This Great Experiment Generating More, Healthier Grapes Alongside Green Energy…
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Vietnam’s government has ordered provincial and municipal authorities to introduce support policies for households installing rooftop solar systems for self-consumption by the end of December 2026.
The instruction was issued under Government Office Dispatch No. 10790/VPCP-CN, dated Oct. 22, following a government meeting on electricity supply security and implementation of the revised Power Development Plan VIII (PDP8).
Prime Minister Le Minh Hung called for faster deployment of rooftop PV and battery energy storage systems (BESS) to reduce peak electricity demand and improve local energy self-sufficiency.
Under the directive, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MOIT) must propose rooftop solar deployment targets for individual provinces and cities by Oct. 30. The proposals must specify installation capacities and commissioning schedules, with a particular focus on northern provinces, where electricity supply constraints remain a concern.
The government said implementation progress would be taken into account when assessing the performance of relevant ministries and local officials.
Provincial People’s Committees must introduce support policies for households investing in self-consumption rooftop PV systems by the end of December 2026, in line with Article 22 of Vietnam’s Electricity Law. MOIT has been tasked with providing guidance and monitoring implementation.
The directive does not establish a nationwide subsidy rate, leaving local authorities to determine specific support mechanisms.
Energy storage is another priority. MOIT, in coordination with the ministries of finance and justice and other relevant agencies, must develop policies and guidance to accelerate BESS deployment by December 2026. The government is particularly encouraging rooftop PV paired with storage at industrial parks and industrial clusters, especially in northern Vietnam.
The latest instructions build on Directive No. 10/CT-TTg, issued in March 2026, which set targets for expanding rooftop solar deployment at households, government offices and commercial facilities, alongside electricity conservation and demand-side management measures.
Vietnam has also eased restrictions on surplus rooftop solar generation. Decree No. 243/2026/ND-CP, which took effect on June 26, raised the standard limit on surplus electricity sales from 20% to 50% of eligible generation. Higher percentages may be negotiated until the end of 2030, subject to local grid capacity and operating conditions.
The rules also allow eligible surplus electricity discharged from batteries charged by rooftop PV systems to be sold to the grid.
According to state-owned utility Vietnam Electricity (EVN), the country had 134,410 rooftop solar installations with a combined capacity of more than 11.45 GW at the end of August 2026.
However, the rollout of local support measures has been slow. MOIT reported in September that only two of Vietnam’s 34 provinces and municipalities, Bac Ninh and Lai Chau, had adopted the required household support policies.
The broader electricity security program also targets annual electricity savings of at least 3%, a reduction in consumption of at least 10% during peak summer months, and a cut in peak system demand of at least 3 GW.

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Monday, November 23, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Monday, November 2, 2026
4:00 pm – 5:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Wednesday, October 28, 2026
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, October 29, 2026
11:00 am – 12:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
Thursday, November 5, 2026
10:00 am – 11:00 pm CEST, Berlin, Paris, Madrid
The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
Available in print and digital – get your copy today!
Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026?
Catch up on three days of expert discussions on U.S. solar manufacturing, distributed energy, and solar-plus-storage.
pv magazine hosts its four-day virtual event on European solar and energy storage, exploring market opportunities, solar-plus-storage business cases, technical quality, and cybersecurity in the years ahead.
Monday, October 26, 2026
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Tippah County, MS News

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Every Tippah County property has that one spot with no power: the back barn, the far fence line, the shed where the mower lives. Running conduit out there costs a fortune, but a portable solar panel and a battery turn sunshine into charged gate openers, lit tack rooms, and running trail cameras. Here are five well-reviewed portable solar panels that fit Tippah County barns, shops, and back-forty setups.
Rural Tippah County properties are big, spread out, and full of jobs a long way from the nearest outlet. A 100-watt panel keeps a 12-volt battery topped off for LED lights, electric fences, and cameras. Foldable panels pack into the truck for hunting camp or storm cleanup. And when ice or wind knocks the power out — Mississippi sees its share — a panel feeding a power station keeps phones charged and a fridge running. The panel doesn’t need to power the whole house to earn its keep.
The set-it-and-forget-it pick. This rigid 100-watt panel uses high-efficiency N-Type monocrystalline cells (25% conversion efficiency) with an IP67 waterproof rating, low-iron tempered glass, and a corrosion-resistant aluminum frame. Mount it on the barn roof or a pole and it quietly charges a 12V battery bank for years — backed by a 10-year materials warranty plus a 25-year output warranty.
Price: ~$90.99 (price as of 2026-10-23)
Check price on Amazon
The take-it-anywhere 100-watter. The E.Flex folds down to briefcase size, weighs just 7.28 pounds, and stands on adjustable kickstands so you can angle it at the sun. Beyond MC4 connectors for batteries and power stations, it has a 45W USB-C PD port and dual USB-A ports — charge phones and tablets straight off the panel. IP65 dust and splash resistant.
Price: ~$126.99 (price as of 2026-10-23)
Check price on Amazon
The premium 100-watt folder. The SolarSaga’s ETFE-laminated case with dual adjustable kickstands handles campsite and barn abuse, and its up-to-23% efficiency monocrystalline cells feed USB-C and USB-A outputs for direct device charging. It pairs natively with Jackery Explorer power stations, making it a natural fit if you’ve already bought into that ecosystem for outage backup.
Price: ~$249.99 (price as of 2026-10-23)
Check price on Amazon
Double the watts for serious charging. The PV200’s 200-watt foldable array hits up to 23.4% efficiency, and its parallel-wired cells resist the shade-induced dropouts that kill cheaper panels under a tree line. At 16.1 pounds with standard MC4 connectors, it folds into a briefcase-sized package — enough muscle to recharge a mid-size power station in a few hours of good Mississippi sun.
Price: ~$349.00 (price as of 2026-10-23)
Check price on Amazon
The top of the pile. EcoFlow’s 220W bifacial panel captures sunlight on both faces — the rear side adds up to 28% more energy from ground reflection, and N-Type cells hit 25% efficiency on the front. It’s IP68 waterproof and dustproof under a durable ETFE coating, and the adjustable 30-60 degree kickstand has a built-in solar angle guide so you actually nail the tilt. The MC4-to-XT60i cable is in the box.
Price: ~$399.00 (price as of 2026-10-23)
Check price on Amazon
Rigid vs. foldable: A rigid panel (Renogy 100W) lives on a barn roof or pole permanently and costs the least per watt. Foldable panels go where the work is — camp, pasture, storm cleanup — and store flat the rest of the time.
Do the watts math: A 100W panel makes roughly 400-500 watt-hours on a good Mississippi day — plenty for lights, cameras, and battery maintenance, but not for running a well pump. Size the panel (and the battery behind it) to the job.
Mind the connectors: MC4 is the standard for feeding batteries and power stations; USB-C PD lets you charge devices directly. Check what your battery or power station accepts before you buy.
Shade is the enemy: Even partial shade tanks a panel’s output. Panels with shade-tolerant wiring (like the BLUETTI) and bifacial designs (EcoFlow) handle real-world placement better.
Angle it right: Mississippi sits around 34 degrees latitude — tilt the panel to match, face it true south, and adjust kickstands seasonally for noticeably more harvest.
For most Tippah County barns, the rigid Renogy 100W at ~$91 is the cheapest way to permanent off-grid power — mount it and forget it. Need something mobile? The Renogy E.Flex 100W at ~$127 folds into the truck. And if you’re feeding a power station for real backup capacity, the EcoFlow 220W bifacial at ~$399 squeezes the most out of every sun-hour.
Prices as of 2026-10-23 and subject to change. Check the listing for the current price.
Jon Ross Myers is the executive editor and publisher of the Mississippi News Network, Mississippi’s largest digital only media company. He can be reached at editor@tippahnews.com

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Europe Solar PV Module Recycling Equipment Market
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“The station combines the battery, controller, and inverter all in one.”
Photo Credit: iStock
Because they rent, a Texas Reddit user with “plenty of sun” and backyard room was looking for a small-scale way to try solar without putting anything on the roof or cluttering an indoor room with extra hardware.
People responding in the solar-focused discussion pushed them to pair solar panels with a self-contained portable power station instead of building separate indoor components.
On a Reddit thread in r/SolarDIY, the poster said they were “extremely interested in starting some small solar projects” and wanted to use backyard panels with “a battery/inverter set up” while renting.
They were trying to avoid a messy indoor setup. “Is there a way to set this sort of thing up without having multiple wires/batteries cluttering up the inside of a room I want to power something in?” the original poster asked.
One of the clearest responses was: “Get a power station and solar panels. The station combines the battery, controller, and inverter all in one. Much easier solution when renting.” That same reply also noted that many portable power stations can function as UPS devices and are a “much easier solution when renting.”
Adding solar to your home is one of the best ways to save money on energy bills. For homeowners who want to compare pricing and savings from vetted installers in their area, EasyHome‘s free explorer tool is an excellent place to start.
The question was not about a permanent rooftop system. The renter asked about a portable backyard setup that could be tested and used without making lasting changes to the home.
Another commenter focused on how that setup stays tidier indoors: “With a portable power station you have one box, one cable coming inside from the solar panels.” They also said a renter could “charge it outside then carry it inside to power stuff at night.”
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
As a cheaper way in, that commenter mentioned a unit for $149. According to the comment, it can take 100 watts of solar input, store 288 watt-hours, charge in about “3-4 hours,” and run appliances up to 600 watts.
They also pointed to a bigger option for $999, saying it offers 2,400 watts of solar input, 3,072 watt-hours of storage, expandability to “near 20kWh,” and 3,600 watts of appliance output.
Another commenter said their solar setup began with “a Oupes Mega 1 and a 200 watt portable folding panel.”
Taken together, the replies favored an all-in-one power station over assembling separate batteries, controllers, and inverters. For a renter, that means a more portable project, fewer loose parts, and fewer wires crossing the living space.
Commenters also outlined a few ways to make everyday use more manageable. One joked, “Of course you can. Put the hodge-podge in a different room!” Another described a neater approach: leave the panels outside and bring in a single cable, or charge the station outdoors and carry it inside later.
For homeowners or renters who want to go beyond a starter project, EasyHome‘s free explorer tool adds value by letting them compare solar quotes and installer options in one place. It can also help you explore backup battery storage options, and pairing solar with a battery lets homeowners maximize savings and keep the power on when the grid goes down.
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Transfer-switch design and other wiring choices can influence both safety and total cost.
Photo Credit: Reddit
A Redditor posted to ask for help setting up a solar and battery system but found out there were more risks than they realized. 
The Reddit post came from Southern California, where wind-related outages have pushed one homeowner to compare backup options. According to the post, battery pricing was about $15,000 for 15 kilowatt-hours and about $22,000 for 30 kilowatt-hours.
A 26-kilowatt whole-house generator, roughly $6,500, looked much cheaper at first — until the homeowner realized the existing solar system could complicate the plan.
The search started after lengthy blackouts, including one lasting around 2.5 weeks and another about three days, the homeowner said. The home already has an Enphase microinverter solar system, but it does not include batteries.
Without battery storage, the solar setup shuts off during a grid outage. The concern was that once generator power brought the panel back online, the solar could resume producing electricity and potentially damage the generator.
Based on the quoted prices alone, the generator seemed to offer upfront savings of about $8,500 to $15,500 before adding any solar-related changes to the project.
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That is why users largely focused on ways to ensure the generator and solar system could not feed into each other.
For homes that already have solar, the decision is not just a simple battery-versus-generator comparison. Transfer-switch design and other wiring choices can influence both safety and total cost.
The homeowner also described a practical reason for wanting a different backup solution. The household currently relies on a converted Harbor Freight inverter generator, and the OP said the homeowner’s wife has trouble keeping it running alone.
In a later comment, the OP said, “Because I don’t have batteries, the system stops producing when power is out because there is no where to bleed the excess energy when its not connected to the grid, but when the generator powers up the panel solar will start producing and can damage the generator.”
So while repeated outages can make a standby generator look far cheaper than batteries on paper, an existing solar installation can still add integration issues that buyers need to price in.
A proposed fix in the comments was to relocate the solar interconnection to the utility side of the transfer switch, between the switch and the meter. In that layout, the generator would stay isolated from the solar during an outage.
The OP replied, “Great idea, I didn’t think about doing it this way.” 
Another user also backed the idea: “This is what I did,” suggesting the approach was already in use for at least one other solar owner.
Another user pointed to a different concern: inspection. That person said the original contactor plan might not pass, adding another real-world cost factor for anyone trying to maintain the generator’s lower price advantage.
In other words, the savings question was not just whether a $6,500 whole-house generator beat a $22,000 battery quote. It was whether the system could be rearranged in a way that protected the generator without wiping out those savings.
As one user said: “Move the solar to a line side connection before the transfer switch and after your utility meter. This will completely isolate it from the generator without any additional controls.”
For solar owners thinking through backup power, these stories dig into similar outage questions around cost, safety, and setup.
• Homeowners with rooftop solar say they don’t even notice outages after adding battery backup.
• Across the U.S., many homeowners are ditching their aging generators for solar batteries.
• Families upgrading home power say safer battery systems avoid gasoline risks during outages.
• Palmetto and SunPower customers can now use backup batteries without upfront costs.
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“Ability to island your house is greater than being grid-tied for net metering.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A Reddit thread asking solar owners what they wish they’d known before installing panels produced a strikingly consistent list of regrets: Don’t forget insurance, don’t ignore your roof, and don’t overlook backup power.
In a Reddit thread, the highest-rated reply focused on islanding rather than net-metering benefits, showing how batteries can provide security through backup power: “Ability to island your house is greater than being grid-tied for net metering.”
Cost worries showed up in several forms. One commenter warned that buyers should expect “Home insurance increase and roofing repair extra costs.” Others also brought up roofing, suggesting people consider replacing the roof before panels go up.
Even with the thread’s warnings about leases and roof costs, going solar is still one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Readers can use EasyHome‘s free explorer tool to see pricing and savings from vetted installers in their area.
Mounting choice and system sizing came up in the winter context. A commenter said, “I would go ground mount if you live in a rural place. Cleaning snow from them on the roof isn’t easy.” The same person also said that “over-paneling is a valid thing to do (panel output power exceeds inverter capacity).”
Roof age was a recurring concern. One commenter said their roof was already “15 years old,” so even though they had been researching solar for “3-4 years,” they waited until they replaced it.
Their reasoning was straightforward: “If you think you might need a new roof in 2-4 years I’d go ahead and do that first.” Otherwise, taking panels down and reinstalling them later will “add to the cost,” even though the panels may also “add some years to the life of the roof since they provide coverage.”
Taken together, the comments suggest starting solar planning before ordering equipment. If a roof may need replacement in a few years, doing that first can avoid later removal costs. Meanwhile, homeowners worried about outages may want home batteries for islanding capability.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
EasyHome‘s free explorer tool can also help homeowners compare solar options and explore backup battery storage. Pairing solar with a battery lets homeowners maximize savings and keep the lights on when the grid goes down. The tool can also help readers curate competitive bids from vetted local installers without sharing their contact information unless they choose to move forward.
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New data released by the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) indicates that deployments of solar and battery storage saved Texans approximately $3.55 billion and Californians approximately $2.5 billion in energy costs between June and August 2026, compared to the same period in 2021.
The report evaluated weighted average hourly wholesale day-ahead prices across ERCOT and CAISO using inflation-adjusted 2026 dollars. Despite substantial increases in total load, both regions saw steep declines in wholesale electricity prices driven by rapid capacity additions.
Solar generation scaled dramatically from 2021 to 2026, increasing 421% in Texas and 90% in California. Over the same timeframe, battery storage capacity expanded more than 26-fold in Texas to 33.1 GWh and nearly sevenfold in California to 62.0 GWh installed through the first half of 2026.
The impact across both grid operators highlights how clean assets displaced expensive peaker generation during peak demand hours. In the CAISO market, power consumption rose 2.5% from June through August 2021 levels, yet the average wholesale electricity price fell 51% from $77.54/MWh down to $38.32/MWh.
Peak hourly wholesale prices dropped from $141.75/MWh in 2021 to $59.69/MWh in 2026, with batteries now providing 6% to 7% of daily energy use. In the ERCOT market, total load increased 30.1% compared to the summer of 2021, while the average wholesale price dropped 42% from $54.97/MWh down to $31.77/MWh.
Peak hourly wholesale prices in Texas declined from $110.96/MWh to $57.30/MWh, with storage supplying over 1.3% of the state’s energy. Rooftop solar also expanded significantly, with generation climbing 172% in Texas to 1,533 GWh and 107% in California to 7,997 GWh.
SEIA’s findings show that the proliferation of solar and storage fundamentally alters grid dynamics by shifting the hours where high cost peaker plants set market-clearing prices. Rather than operating merely as supplemental resources, solar and battery fleets actively flatten the net load curve during late afternoon and early evening ramps. This operational shift demonstrates that high penetration renewables successfully mitigate price spikes during extreme summer heatwaves.
Grid operators observed that solar and battery assets significantly expanded the number of hours where they displaced expensive fossil peaker generation and directly set market-clearing prices. As these clean assets absorbed midday overgeneration and discharged during evening peaks, the duration of extreme price spikes contracted sharply.
However, SEIA cautions that wholesale generation savings do not translate uniformly to lowering residential electricity bills.
While wholesale generation costs dropped and residential generation portions of utility bills fell 10% in California and 4% in Texas, overall retail customer bills faced upward pressure from rising utility company transmission and distribution expenses.  In California, transmission costs rose 12%, distribution costs climbed 51%, and other costs like wildfire management overhead rose 90%, while Texas transmission and distribution costs increased 17% and 23%, respectively.
Industry leadership emphasized the broader economic and political significance of the cost-mitigating impact of renewables as power demand surges.
“As the midterm elections approach, delivering affordable, reliable power is a priority that transcends party lines and Texas and California are proof that the growth of solar and storage is driving down prices,” stated Tim Pawlenty, chief executive officer and president, SEIA.
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Nigeria’s Solar Boom Has Newlyweds Coveting Panels  Bloomberg.com
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UKIAH, CA., 10/23/26 — The new solar panels at Nelson Family Vineyards don’t take up any farmland. All 252 float on the irrigation pond.
“There’s nothing fancy about it. It’s just a bunch of solar panels, but they’re floating. And that makes it really, really cool,” owner Tyler Nelson said Friday. “It’s kind of fun to watch, and I love the electricity bill.”
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A DIY solar project sat on hold for 18 months, but when the work was supposed to resume, extra parts raised serious doubts.
For beginners, that kind of confusion can be enough to leave a setup unfinished.
On Reddit, the builder said their goal was to power a shed "for some lights and to maybe charge my tool batteries." What began as a two-panel Renogy kit eventually grew to include two more panels, plus fuses, a breaker, and a power shutoff.
Photo Credit: Reddit

Photo Credit: Reddit

The builder returned to the project with a four-panel, 100-watt-per-panel setup and used the Reddit thread to ask about two parts of the wiring plan: whether the extra 40-amp and 10-amp inline fuses between the controller and battery were needed, and whether a shutoff should also go on the battery-to-inverter connection.
"You absolutely want a fuse or an overcurrent protection breaker between the battery and inverter because batteries can put out a huge amount of current if something goes wrong," one comment said. "I wouldn't worry as much about inline fuses between the panels.
Aside from powering small-scale off-grid projects, going solar is one of the best ways to save money on home energy. Homeowners looking beyond a shed-sized system can use EasyHome to check pricing and estimated savings from vetted local installers.
The original poster's situation is common for first-time builders: a modest off-grid project grows from a basic kit into something more customized, and every added part brings another decision.
A family wedding delayed the build, and with an 18-month break between buying parts and doing the work, a system that once seemed easy to follow became tougher to sort through, especially as the safety components were added in stages.
On a small shed array meant for lights and charging tool batteries, unnecessary hardware can mean extra upfront spending, more wiring complexity, and more chances to second-guess the setup before the system is ever used.
To get organized before turning anything on, the builder created a visual diagram showing where each component would go. That layout raised questions about whether the inline fuses between the controller and battery had a clear purpose or were simply extra parts.
But that kind of planning is crucial when taking a DIY approach, helping to make the difference between a safe setup and one that could quickly become a hazard.
For anyone considering a larger home solar array, EasyHome's free explorer tool can help compare vetted installers, local pricing, and potential savings. EasyHome can also help readers explore backup battery storage, as pairing solar with a battery lets homeowners maximize savings and keep the lights on when the grid goes down.
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U.S. residential solar prices increased in the first half of 2026 as installers navigated the expiration of the 30% federal residential solar tax credit, rising labor costs, and continued trade pressures, according to the latest Home Electrification Marketplace Report from EnergySage.
The report, which analyzed solar and storage quotes submitted through the EnergySage marketplace between January and June 2026, found that the median quoted residential solar price reached $2.57 per watt, a 3.2% increase from $2.49/W in the second half of 2025.
For a system at the median size of approximately 12 kW, that translates to an upfront cost of $30,712 before incentives. The average estimated payback period increased from 10.1 years to 10.9 years, although EnergySage noted that a methodology change contributed to the increase.
Median quoted residential solar prices rose 3.2% in the first half of 2026 to $2.57/W, while solar-only pricing remained flat from the previous six-month period.
The pricing trends differed between solar-only and solar-plus-storage installations. Solar-only pricing remained flat at $2.62/W compared with the previous six-month period and decreased 1% year-over-year. Meanwhile, the solar portion of solar-plus-storage quotes increased nearly 5% to $2.55/W, excluding the battery cost.
EnergySage attributed the narrowing price gap between solar-only and solar-plus-storage systems partly to increasing labor costs, as combined installations typically require additional installation time and complexity.
Third-party ownership expands following tax credit expiration
One of the most significant developments in the report was the rapid expansion of third-party ownership (TPO) financing, as installers sought alternatives to traditional solar loans and cash purchases following the expiration of the Section 25D residential tax credit at the end of 2025.
The share of installers quoting third-party ownership products through EnergySage climbed from approximately 14% to 41% between January and June 2026.
The share of installers quoting TPO options on EnergySage increased from approximately 14% in January to 41% by the end of June. EnergySage noted that some of the increase reflects the introduction of TPO products to its marketplace in mid-2025.
Unlike directly purchased residential systems, qualifying third-party-owned projects can continue to access federal commercial tax incentives through 2027, providing an alternative financing pathway for homeowners.
Pre-paid power purchase agreements (PPAs) and leases emerged as particularly competitive options. EnergySage found that pre-paid PPAs offered a 57% lower effective cost per kilowatt-hour than cash purchases, while pre-paid leases were 39% lower.
Traditional PPAs also offered a lower cost per kilowatt-hour than solar loans, although cash purchases remained approximately 33% more cost-effective than conventional PPAs over the comparison period. EnergySage cautioned that the long-term savings associated with newer pre-paid TPO offerings have not yet been established.
Financing remains a challenge for the industry. Median quoted solar loan interest rates held steady at 7.5% for the third consecutive reporting period, while median loan terms shortened from 25 to 20 years.
Pre-paid PPAs and leases offered the lowest modeled cost per kilowatt-hour among financing products quoted on EnergySage in the first half of 2026.
In EnergySage’s contractor survey, 49% of respondents expected the share of customers selecting pre-paid leases and PPAs to increase in 2026, while 37% anticipated declining loan usage and 40% expected cash purchases to decline.
Labor costs squeeze installers as pricing becomes more competitive
Despite the overall increase in median solar prices, the gap between the highest and lowest quotes offered to EnergySage shoppers narrowed.
The average spread between the lowest and highest quotes declined from $0.72/W in the second half of 2025 to $0.56/W in the first half of 2026. The average highest quote decreased to $2.94/W, while the average lowest quote increased to $2.38/W.
The findings suggest that installer pricing is becoming more concentrated following the rush to complete installations before the 2025 tax credit deadline.
At the same time, contractors continue to face higher operating costs. Nearly 74% of contractors surveyed reported increases in hourly labor rates over the previous year. Labor represented an average of 22% of total installed system costs, second only to equipment at 36%.
Affordability remains a central concern for the industry. Approximately 70% of contractors identified electricity bill savings as the primary motivation for customers purchasing solar, while 63% cited cost or pricing as the leading driver of lost sales.
Regional pricing differences also remained substantial. Among the ten largest residential solar states examined, Illinois recorded the highest median quoted price at $3.07/W, compared with $2.00/W in Texas, a 53% difference.
Qcells and Hyundai overtake REC in module marketplace share
The report also identified substantial changes in solar equipment preferences as installers responded to supply chain constraints and evolving sourcing requirements.
Qcells and Hyundai each captured 18% of quoted module share on the EnergySage marketplace in the first half of 2026, surpassing REC, which declined to 17%.
After leading EnergySage’s module marketplace for two years, REC fell to third place with a 17% share of quoted panels, down from 43% a year earlier.
Qcells and Hyundai tied for the leading position, each accounting for 18% of quoted modules. Hyundai experienced particularly rapid growth, increasing its share from 4% in the second half of 2025.
SEG Solar also gained ground, reaching a 17% share, while JA Solar and Canadian Solar saw their shares decline.
EnergySage suggested that the increasingly fragmented module market reflects installers’ efforts to diversify suppliers, manage existing inventory, and navigate restrictions involving foreign entities of concern.
The inverter market, by contrast, remained highly concentrated. Enphase increased its share of quoted inverters to 63%, up 11 percentage points from the previous six-month period. Tesla followed with 29%, giving the two manufacturers a combined 92% share of inverter quotes.
Battery interest rises despite higher costs
EnergySage also reported growing homeowner interest in energy storage, although higher prices continued to limit adoption alongside solar.
Storage interest reached 76% among EnergySage solar shoppers, but attachment rates declined to 31%.
Median quoted battery storage prices increased 5% from the previous six-month period to $1,130/kWh, representing a 9% year-over-year increase.
Despite those costs, 76% of EnergySage solar shoppers expressed interest in battery storage, up from 73% in the previous period. However, the share of solar installations quoted with storage fell from 39% to 31%.
Among contractors surveyed, 64% identified price as the primary reason customers did not add storage to their solar systems.
Tesla remained the most frequently quoted battery manufacturer, with a 52% marketplace share, although Enphase increased its share from 20% to 35%.
Installers look beyond solar for growth
As the industry adjusts to changing solar economics, contractors are increasingly pursuing opportunities beyond traditional rooftop installations.
In EnergySage’s contractor survey, 58% of respondents identified expanding into adjacent products and services as a leading growth strategy for the next three years, including EV charging, HVAC services, and electrical upgrades.
The findings point to a residential solar industry increasingly focused on flexible financing, cost management, and broader home electrification services to maintain its competitiveness in a market without the longstanding federal consumer tax credit.
EnergySage’s findings are based on quotes submitted through its online marketplace and its contractor survey, rather than a comprehensive census of U.S. residential solar installations.
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NEVER LEASE IR PPA SOLAR!!! YOU’RE GOING TO REGRET IT IN THE LONG RUN… And you are only paying those overpriced installations because of greedy American Companies….
As an ASES lifetime member, I am really disappointed in the two solar organizations in America, ASES & SEIS, that did not help bring down the cost of installing solar panels!!! Why is it America is still paying three times the cost of any other country???
And what about all the bad installers??? What have you actually done to get rid of BAD or scam Installers??? Or even warn the American People of the potential bad solar company….
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Wednesday, October 28, 2026
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The new issue of pv magazine Global is out now!
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Missed pv magazine USA Week 2026?
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“They have you sign saying it will be $350 if it’s not their fault.”
Photo Credit: iStock
A Southern California homeowner turned to Reddit after noticing water stains on a ceiling near Tesla solar panels installed three to four years earlier and still under warranty. 
The responses highlighted a frustrating reality for solar customers: when something goes awry, there is a lot of uncertainty.
After finding “water stains in ceiling” near the array, the homeowner asked on Reddit whether an outside inspection should happen before opening a Tesla ticket.
Fees mentioned in the thread varied when Tesla decided the problem was unrelated to its installation. One person dealing with a cracked tile at a mounting point said, “They have you sign saying it will be $350 if it’s not their fault.” Another commenter shared Tesla had quoted them a $600 fee in their case.
One user who mentioned they had dealt with a similar issue described a different number. Tesla told them the inspection would cost $300 only if the company was not responsible, while “there’s no fee for the inspection and the repair would be done free of charge” if it was. That commenter said the repair was eventually completed, but the process was confusing, and communication was limited.
Going solar remains one of the best ways to save money on home energy when the installation is done well. Readers comparing options can use the free explorer tool from EasyHome to see pricing and savings from vetted installers in their area.
Finding the true source of a leak can be tricky, especially around a solar array. After checking the attic, the homeowner declared, “Tile roof and no evidence of water,” and one commenter cautioned that visible stains can be misleading.
They also said tile roofing changes what inspectors should look for. They advised checking for “cracked or blown out of place tiles on your roof,” since tile is meant to shed water but the underlayment and battens below it can still allow moisture in.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
They also advised caution with any third-party inspection. As one commenter put it, “If you chose to have a 3rd party inspector before the Tesla inspector make sure they don’t change anything having to do with the install.” Their concern was that altering the area too soon could make it harder to determine liability.
The thread also suggested that even routine service can drag out. One commenter noted appointments in their area were running about three weeks out and that a follow-up took longer because Tesla needed to source the roof tile. Another suggested that if Tesla doesn’t accept responsibility, the next step is likely hiring a roofer.
Before anyone touches the roof or the solar hardware, users gave the original poster urgent advice.
One wrote: “GET A 2ND OPINION! And get them out there before Tesla. Take TONS of pictures.”
This could help ensure the original poster doesn’t get overcharged or assume liability for something that wasn’t their fault.
EasyHome’s free explorer tool from EasyHome can help homeowners compare solar offers more clearly before signing any contract. It can also help readers explore backup battery storage; pairing solar with a battery lets homeowners maximize savings and keep the lights on when the grid goes down.
Get TCD’s free newsletters for easy tips, smart advice, and a chance to earn $5,000 toward home upgrades. To see more stories like this one, change your Google preferences here.
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SHERIDAN — One solar energy project in the town of Sheridan is in the process of moving forward, while another appears to be on hold.
The Town Board granted a one-year extension to the special use permit issued to RIC Energy for the Sheridan II Solar Project. Sheridan II Solar is a 3-megawatt solar energy system to be located at 2979 Middle Road. The project abides by the Town’s solar energy laws and setback guidelines.
Weston Hillegas from RIC Energy stated the process has taken more time than anticipated working with National Grid, but after the Town Board granted an extension, the permit renewal fee was paid and the project is moving forward.
The project’s amended Decommissioning Plan and Host Community Agreement were approved earlier this year. The Host Community Agreement will pay the Town $1,800 per megawatt in Year One, with an escalator of 2% each year for 25 years.
Code Enforcement Officer James Crowell said a project on Newell Road, however, has gone silent in recent months. After the Board approved Kingbird Solar NY, LLC, for a 20-megawatt solar energy system from Newell Road to Cook Road, the Town has yet to hear back from anyone associated with the project.
The Town Board stated it seemed strange that the project would not move forward after it was approved. Crowell told the Board that in many cases, solar energy projects submit plans to municipalities after the land is secured, but companies often wait to secure funding until after the project is approved by local government. In such cases, projects can end up being scrapped even after approval if appropriate funding is not secured. Crowell believes that might be the case with the Newell Road project.
The month of September was one of the busiest months that Crowell has had in recent years. He received 20 building permit applications in September, mostly stemming from renovations to residences in the town. Crowell also issued four certificates of occupancy and four notices of violation. He conducted 27 inspections on construction, one public safety inspection, and five investigations of a complaint, while preparing information for court proceedings four times. Crowell also attended training Sept. 16-18 at a cost of $350. A total of $1,127.50 was collected and turned over for distribution.
In August, Crowell received 10 building permit applications. Six certificates of occupancy and one certificate of compliance were issued in August, and there were 18 inspections on construction, one public safety inspection, two investigations of a complaint, and one property investigation. Crowell issued one notice of violation, one stop work order, and an address change. A total of $550 was collected in August for distribution.
In the month of September, the Town Justice Court received 153 Vehicle and Traffic Law cases with 141 disposed of; four Penal Law Cases with two disposed of; one Civil Law case received and one disposed of; and received one case each of Regulatory Law, Town Ordinance Law, and NY Code Law. A total of $15,753 was collected and turned over for distribution.
In August, the Town Court received 149 Vehicle and Traffic Law cases and disposed of 141, along with four Penal Law cases received and seven disposed of. A total of $15,949 was collected in August and turned over for distribution. In the month of August, the Town Clerk’s Office collected $276.50 in revenue, with $248.50 turned over to the General Fund and $28 sent to the State Department of Agriculture and Markets.
The next meeting of the Sheridan Town Board will be on Wednesday, Nov. 4, a week earlier than usual due to Veterans Day. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a pair of public hearings – regarding building codes and the 2027 budget – before the regular meeting commences.

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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.
“We are very rural here so there are very limited options for service.”
Photo Credit: Reddit
For one western North Carolina homeowner, a years-long solar headache happily ended not with a five-figure repair, but with a DIY microinverter fix.
“I am posting this purely as a service to others who might be facing similar problems,” they shared on Reddit’s r/solar. 
In the thread, the homeowner said they installed a 12-kilowatt, 36-panel microinverter-based system in stages starting in 2018. 
Four years ago, breaker trips began intermittently affecting one, sometimes two, and even three circuits. That began a cycle of continued maintenance. First, their installer replaced and reset a breaker, but the trouble returned. The homeowner then turned to another solar company after, in their words, the original installer was “too busy and not interested in helping us out.”
That company also replaced a breaker, and the system then worked for a few months. By July, however, the same circuit tripped again and wouldn’t stay reset, leading to quotes of $10,000 for replacement Q cables and $13,000 for a full rewiring job.
Going solar is still one of the best ways to save money on home energy, but a major repair can dent those savings. If you’re seeking a vetted installer, EasyHome’s free explorer tool can help you compare pricing and projected savings from local providers.
Repair costs, installer availability, and changing utility compensation rules can affect a system’s value years after installation. In this case, agreeing to one of the quotes looked even harder to justify because the poster’s mountain home would lose its net-metering tariff in January. 
“We will be on month-to-month balance reset so we would never see a payback big enough to justify this kind of expense,” they explained.
With energy prices through the roof, there’s never been a better time to go solar — and EasyHome can help you find the best prices from the best installers in your area.
EasyHome takes the guesswork and headaches out of energy upgrades by showing you estimated savings from a network of vetted local partners. To get started, just enter your ZIP and share a few details about your home — seeing your estimate is really that easy.
They added, “We are very rural here so there are very limited options for service.”
After installing six panels themselves and gaining some working knowledge of the system, the homeowner started replacing the Q cables on the inverters. Their equipment included T40 socket drive bits, a DeWalt battery impact driver, Q cables, PVC pipe, duct tape, heavy-duty spring clamps, and a 100-foot climbing rope and harness. 
They determined they needed to order a replacement inverter, and after they installed it, the system started “working perfectly.” A key step was also using the Enphase Installer Tool kit app to ensure solar-production numbers would sync properly.  
For people shopping for solar now, serviceability matters just as much as upfront price. EasyHome’s free explorer tool helps homeowners compare installer options and understand their choices before signing. The tool can also help homeowners explore backup battery storage to maximize savings and keep their home powered when the grid goes down.
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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Voltalia Q3 results show strong growth, improvements in curtailment metrics  PV Tech
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Energies Media
A field of solar panels outside Badajoz carries more wiring than its own inverters can legally swallow at once.
On paper that sounds like a design flaw.
In practice it is the plant’s whole strategy.
Ninety two thousand panels feed twenty inverters that, combined, cannot accept all the power those panels can make.
The engineers who built it did that on purpose, chasing a deliberate capacity gap that pays for itself before the sun even climbs high.
What happens when a plant is built to waste some of its own electricity, and why does that waste pay for itself?
A solar inverter turns the direct current a panel makes into the alternating current a grid will accept, and every inverter has a hard ceiling on how much it can push out at once. The old approach matched that ceiling to the panels almost exactly, a one to one ratio, so nothing was ever wasted and nothing ever throttled.
That made sense when panels were expensive. A watt of silicon in the 2010s cost three to four dollars, so every panel added was a serious capital decision, and nobody wanted spare capacity sitting idle doing nothing for most of the day.
Then panel prices collapsed. As cells became cheap enough to overbuild, engineers realized the inverter, not the panel, was now the expensive, underused part of the plant, since a panel only hits full rated output for a sliver of the day.
So the fix flipped, and plants began installing more panel capacity than the inverters could ever fully carry, choosing a ceiling the array would exceed on sunny afternoons.
The Badajoz plant puts a number on that idea. Its ninety two thousand panels, rated at five hundred forty five watts apiece, add up to just over fifty thousand one hundred forty kilowatts of direct current capacity standing in rows across the plain.
Wired beneath them sit twenty inverter units, each rated at one point nine five megawatts of alternating current, for a combined ceiling of thirty nine thousand kilowatts. That gap gives a loading ratio of about one point two nine, meaning the array can theoretically produce nearly thirty percent more direct current than the inverters will ever send to the grid.
On a clear summer noon, that excess gets clipped, the industry’s word for power the panels generated but the inverter refused. The interesting part comes in the long morning and evening hours, when the sun sits low and the panels alone could never reach that ceiling, so the extra wiring finally earns its keep.
Modeling from solar engineering analysts at pv magazine, drawing on standard yield simulation software used across the European solar design industry, shows panels rarely operate at their rated maximum because real sunlight keeps them below the factory test standard most of the day. That gap between rated capacity and actual output is exactly what an oversized array is built to close.
Research from the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems, examining the same tradeoff with minute level solar data, found that minimal clipping losses occur at an ILR of 1.25, while at an ILR of 2.0, 16% of potential annual generation is lost.
Badajoz, at 1.29, sits just past the safest end of that range, trading a small, measured slice of midday output for a much larger gain across the thinner hours of the day. A separate peer reviewed analysis found the pattern is predictable, since clipping losses follow solar insolation and peak around noon.
As one solar design engineer who works on European utility scale projects put it, “you are not sizing for the one hour of peak sun, you are sizing for the other nine.”
The ratio is not a free lunch, and the industry’s own data makes that plain. Push the mismatch further, toward a loading ratio of two to one, and sixteen percent of potential annual generation gets thrown away at the inverter’s doorstep instead of a tolerable sliver.
Climate matters too. A plant in a cloudier region with more diffuse light behaves differently than one on the sunbaked Extremadura plain, because the hours spent near the inverter ceiling shrink when the sky rarely delivers full, cloudless irradiance for long stretches.
There is also a mechanical limit nobody can model away. Every clipping event is a thermal event, current pushed to a ceiling and held there, and that heat cycling is the same stress that shows up decades later as a maintenance bill.
None of this requires new hardware, which is what makes the Badajoz approach worth watching. The panels, the inverters and the wiring are all catalog parts; only the ratio stamped on the design sheet changed before the first trench was dug.
That same logic now shapes decisions far beyond solar fields. Grid operators evaluating distributed battery fleets face a similar question of sizing capacity against what equipment can actually move at once, and pumped storage designers choosing turbine counts for projects like the proposed Nevada City station wrestle with the same tradeoff.
Even so, the lesson from Badajoz stays modest, since a ratio of 1.25 to 1.4 is backed by real operating data but no single number fits every site, every climate or every grid contract. The plant on the plain simply shows what happens when engineers stop treating the inverter’s ceiling as sacred and start treating it as one more variable to tune.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.
Hugo is an engineer with strong technical expertise. Multilingual from an early age, his writing combines technical clarity with a strong interest in science and energy.

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TCL Zhonghuan Powers India’s Energy Transition with PV Innovations at REI Expo 2026  ACROFAN USA
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Tesla’s proposed $10 billion “Project Crystal Sun” solar factory in Texas could get up to 35 years of local tax breaks on its equipment, according to the four agreements Fort Bend County commissioners approved on Thursday.
The vote was 4-0. And Tesla still hasn’t committed to building the plant in Texas.
As we first reported in August, Tesla applied for a 10-year school property tax limitation under the state’s JETI program, through Lamar CISD and the Texas Comptroller. The plan is a vertically integrated solar plant near Richmond, southwest of Houston, that would make everything from silicon ingots to finished modules, with commercial production targeted for Q1 2029.
Lamar CISD approved the school tax piece in September. The county was next.
On October 22, the commissioners court approved items 25A to 25D on its agenda: a Chapter 312 tax abatement, a Chapter 381 incentive agreement, a foreign trade zone agreement with a payment in lieu of taxes (PILOT), and a “true up” PILOT agreement. Interim County Judge Daniel Wong abstained because his engineering firm has worked with Tesla.
Each agreement covers a different slice of Tesla’s tax bill, and together they run for decades.
The Chapter 312 agreement abates 100% of county property taxes on Tesla’s equipment and other tangible personal property at the plant for 10 tax years. The clock starts in tax year 2029 by default, but Tesla can move it to the first year after production starts, as late as 2031 without needing the county’s approval.
Tesla’s JETI application splits the $10.1 billion into $1.52 billion of real property and $8.6 billion of personal property, mostly production equipment.
Land and buildings aren’t part of the deal. Anything that isn’t eligible for the abatement, including the land and buildings, stays “fully taxable at all times,” according to the agreement.
Inventory goes through the foreign trade zone deal instead. Tesla’s site would be part of Port Freeport’s Foreign-Trade Zone No. 149, which exempts eligible inventory from local property tax. In exchange for the county not objecting, Tesla agreed to make PILOT payments, set at “zero dollars or 0%” of the forgone taxes for as long as the abatement is in effect.
When the abatement ends, the Chapter 381 agreement takes over. Tesla starts paying county taxes on its equipment, and the county pays 90% of them back as an annual grant for 20 years. The county keeps 10% for its general fund.
Inventory follows the same pattern. After the abatement, Tesla’s FTZ payment rises to 10% of the taxes that would otherwise apply.
There’s one more lever. If Tesla averages at least 12,000 employees for any two consecutive years during the first decade, the first five years of the rebate period become a 100% grant, and the rebate period stretches from 20 to 25 years.
That pushes the agreement out to Project Year 35. It’s also 2,288 jobs above the 9,712 Tesla says it will create.
To keep the tax breaks, Tesla has to start construction by June 30, 2027, begin “regular commercial production of solar cells” by December 31, 2030, and invest $10 billion by the later of December 31, 2031 or two years after production starts. Force majeure and “ERCOT Delay” provisions can extend those dates.
The jobs ramp is 2,500, 5,000, 7,500, then 9,712 employees by the fourth year of operations, with an average compensation of $55 per hour. Tesla gets the full abatement as long as it hits 90% of the headcount target, which is about 8,741 people.
The penalties are mild. Missing a jobs or wage target for one year only costs Tesla that year’s break, and two misses in a row lets the county terminate the agreement. Full recapture of abated taxes, plus a possible 15% penalty if they aren’t repaid within 60 days, is reserved for “Material Defaults” like missing the $10 billion investment, blowing the construction deadlines or abandoning the plant for 12 months.
Under the Chapter 381 deal, grants from earlier years can’t be clawed back for a headcount shortfall.
The county’s floor is small. The true-up agreement only guarantees that Fort Bend collects at least $2 million a year, and 25% of the taxes Tesla pays on its real property, the county’s 10% share and the FTZ payments all count toward that total.
For scale, Tesla’s own consultant, Kroll, estimated in the JETI filing that the project would pay $276.5 million in Fort Bend County general taxes over 38 years without incentives, peaking at $16.2 million in 2030. That estimate lumps land, buildings and equipment together. The equipment portion is the one the county just agreed to give back, for most of those years.
In its application, it says the economics of the Fort Bend site are “not competitive” with an unnamed site in another state without the JETI limitation and local abatements. The competing state is redacted in a confidential supplement.
None of the documents state a production capacity. The only big number is a quote from Elon Musk at Davos in January, cited in the application: “The SpaceX and Tesla team, both separately, are working to build to 100 GW a year of solar power in the U.S., of manufactured solar power.”
For comparison, Qcells is spending $2.5 billion on its ingot-to-module campus in Cartersville, Georgia, where a 3.5 GW cell line started production this year. Crystal Sun’s budget is four times that.
Tesla has been here before. New York spent $950 million on the Buffalo factory for Tesla’s solar business, and when the solar plans fell apart, Tesla turned to things other than solar to meet its employment requirements, including data labeling for Autopilot. Tesla did announce production of a new solar panel in Buffalo last year.
We want this factory to happen. A US plant making its own ingots, wafers, cells and modules would be rare, and it’s one of the few parts of Tesla’s business that still lines up with the mission it used to talk about before its “awesome abundance” pivot based on AI.
But corporate America loves its tax breaks. For 10 years, Tesla pays no county tax on the $8.6 billion of equipment that makes up most of the project. For the next 20, it gets 90% of it back. In return, the county’s guaranteed minimum is $2 million a year, on a $10 billion plant. And Tesla still hasn’t said it’s coming.
That’s how site selection works now. Companies file, collect offers from several states, and the county that bids the most wins. Fort Bend’s economic development director, Carlos Guzman, told ABC13 the county “would’ve been eliminated from consideration” without these agreements. Hard to argue with that, and it’s exactly why these deals keep getting richer.
That bonus for extra workers looks like an invitation to gaming (if things get that far). Paying people for make-work for a couple of years could yield tax breaks well exceeding their combined wages.
The protections are thin too. One bad year costs Tesla a year of breaks, and past rebates can’t be clawed back over a headcount shortfall, even though the county’s goal is obviously long-term employment.
Then there’s the equipment. Reuters reported in March that Tesla was in talks to buy $2.9 billion of Chinese solar equipment, and its supply chain is already caught in a patent fight between Chinese suppliers.
The state still has to sign off on the school-tax piece. After that, it’s on Tesla. Is it actually building in Texas, or is Fort Bend’s offer just leverage against the other state? From what I’m hearing, Tesla is set on the Houston-area location.
Tesla wants to start making solar panels in Texas by 2029, but you don’t have to wait that long to go solar at home. With electricity rates up almost 10% last year and expected to keep climbing, going solar is one of the best ways to protect yourself against rising costs. And with lease and PPA options, you can do it with zero upfront cost and start saving immediately. If you want to find the best deal, check out EnergySage. It’s a free service with hundreds of pre-vetted installers competing for your business, so you save 20 to 30% compared to going it alone. No sales calls until you pick an installer. Get your free quotes here.
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