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Kolkata, India, 27th October 2026: Vikram Solar, a leading Indian solar PV module manufacturer, has bagged an order to supply 289.87 MWp of N-TOPCon modules to NLC India Limited (NLCIL), on behalf of NLC India Renewables Limited (NIRL) for an 810 MW solar power project at the RUVN Solar Park in Pugal, Bikaner, Rajasthan, one of the largest solar parks in the country. NLC India Renewables Limited (NIRL) is a wholly owned subsidiary of NLC India Limited.
Built on N-type TOPCon cell technology, the modules are designed to deliver higher energy yield and stable output in high-irradiance, high-temperature conditions such as those of western Rajasthan.
Spread across the Thar region, the RUVN Solar Park is central to Rajasthan’s effort to harness its vast solar resource, as the state continues to lead India’s utility-scale solar build-out. A role in a project of this magnitude reinforces Vikram Solar’s standing as a trusted domestic supplier for grid-scale installations, where consistent quality, bankability and timely delivery are critical. The order further adds to the company’s order book as demand for high-efficiency, domestically manufactured modules continues to rise under India’s drive for self-reliance in solar manufacturing.
 
Mr. Sameer Nagpal, Chief Executive Officer, Vikram Solar, said, “As India builds clean energy capacity at gigawatt scale, the industry is placing greater value on technology and supply partners it can rely on over the long term. Being entrusted with nearly 290 MWp of modules for this landmark project is a strong endorsement of our N-TOPCon technology and our ability to deliver at utility scale. As we deepen our integrated manufacturing capabilities, our priority is to give customers the performance certainty and supply reliability that projects of this size demand.”
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Leonardo has outlined plans to finish 43 MW of solar installations spread across 20 sites by the end of 2026, according to pv magazine. The program is intended to cover roughly 10% of the group’s energy consumption in Italy through self-consumption, amounting to about 55 GWh.
The effort is being carried out by Leonardo Global Solutions alongside energy sector operators that the company did not name. As of the reporting date, 64% of the planned capacity is already in operation. Italy holds the largest share of the installations, while the program also covers sites in Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Among the biggest single projects is a 9.8 MW solar plant at the group’s site in Nola, near Naples, which meets about 24% of that facility’s energy needs. The plant uses more than 24,000 panels across a gross area of 80,000 square meters.
The details point to a phased rollout, with the majority of capacity still to be brought online before the end of 2026 and the geographic spread extending beyond the group’s home market. The company has not disclosed the identity of its partner operators or the expected timing of the remaining installations.
Interactive table based on the Store Companies dataset for this report.
This report provides an in-depth analysis of the Solar Panels market in Italy, covering market size, growth trajectory, demand structure, supply capability, trade flows, pricing, competitive landscape, and forecast to 2035.
The study is designed for manufacturers, distributors, importers, exporters, investors, procurement teams, advisors, and strategy teams that need a consistent, data-driven view of market dynamics and a transparent analytical definition of the product scope.
This report covers photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, which are devices that convert sunlight directly into electricity. It encompasses the global market for finished modules, including all major product technologies and form factors designed for a wide range of end-use applications.
The report combines the standard market-statistics backbone with strategic chapters that are useful for commercial planning, sourcing decisions, market entry, competitor monitoring, and portfolio prioritization.
The market is segmented into decision-relevant buckets so that demand drivers, pricing logic, supply constraints, and competitive positions can be compared across the same analytical frame.
The market data is classified and analyzed according to international trade codes, primarily under the Harmonized System (HS) headings for photovoltaic cells and electric generating sets. This ensures consistent tracking of trade flows for assembled solar modules and relevant apparatus across global markets.
Coverage focuses on Italy and includes demand, supply capability where present, trade flows, pricing, competition, and outlook.
The report combines official statistics, trade records, company disclosures, product-level evidence, and analyst validation. Data are standardized, reconciled, and cross-checked to keep market sizing, trade flows, pricing, and forecasts comparable across countries and time periods.
All indicators are mapped to a consistent product definition and reviewed against the segmentation framework used in the Table of Contents.
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Vikram Solar Secures 289.87 MWp Module Supply Order from NLC India for Rajasthan Solar Project  SolarQuarter
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Tuesday, October 27, 2026 at 7:54 AM
By Travis Thayer @eagle993
Two different citizen-led proposals have been submitted. One was at the forefront of discussions on Monday.

(Lawrenceburg, Ind.) – Another meeting was held in Dearborn County on Monday evening regarding zoning changes to regulate solar projects.
The Dearborn County Plan Commission held a work session for over four hours to discuss an alternative draft ordinance that was submitted on October 14 by Laureen White on behalf of concerned citizens within the county. 
There was no public comment during the work session. 
The citizens’ proposal includes project-size and separation limits, which differs from the county's draft ordinance which currently sets a maximum of 1,200 acres. 
The citizens' proposal also seeks a property protection program for homeowners who could potentially see their property values decrease due to nearby solar farms. The county's current draft ordinance calls for solar equipment to be at least 200 feet from neighboring homes. 
Nicole Dailey on the citizens' proposal: 
“There’s a lot of inconsistencies. There’s not a clear permitting process. It’s not a clear conditional use process. I can go through it item by item, but as written I wouldn’t recommend it. If there’s things that you wish to pull out of it; we could talk about that.”
A second alternative ordinance proposal was submitted on Monday by a group identified as Concerned Dearborn County Citizens. This proposal emphasizes protections for neighboring property owners and the county’s rural character. Noise protection is a central concern of this proposal, which is not linked to the proposal submitted on October 14.
The Plan Commission did not vote on Monday. The next scheduled meeting is November 12, when a vote could happen.
The vote would not be for an approval or denial. It would be for a recommendation to county commissioners
“We are not voting on a project. It is the ordinance and not a project,” said Dailey.
RELATED: Dearborn Co. Commissioners Approve One Year Moratorium on Solar Farms
The Dearborn County Board of Commissioners voted in favor of a 12-month moratorium on the processing of applications for commercial solar farms and battery storage facilities in February. 
The moratorium came after a representative from Linea Energy proposed a solar and battery storage development on 1,000 acres in the Manchester area. 
You can see Monday's work session in its entirety at Plan Commision 10/26/26
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This will allow agencies to pursue flexible and innovative solar deployment.
The Energy Market Authority (EMA) launched a government-wide Solar Demand Aggregation (DA) Framework to boost deployment of solar energy technologies across government premises on 27 October.
Under the framework, a panel of solar photovoltaic (PV) installers will assess the solar potential of various government premises and develop tailored deployment proposals.
This is expected to create more opportunities for the solar industry and provide government agencies greater flexibility to pursue solar deployment, the EMA said.
EMA said that the framework will also help open opportunities for innovative solar solutions that make better use of Singapore’s limited space, such as solar carports and building-integrated PV.
This initiative supports Singapore’s target of achieving 4 gigawatt-peak (GWp) solar deployment by 2035, the EMA said. 
It complements existing solar projects in the country, including the Housing & Development Board’s SolarNova programme and JTC’s SolarRoof and SolarLand initiatives. 
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The industry-academia initiative includes developing a 200 kW rooftop solar installation
October 27, 2026
Follow Mercom India on WhatsApp for exclusive updates on clean energy news and insights
As India’s solar power sector expands rapidly and creates new opportunities for renewable energy industry stakeholders, it also faces a widening talent gap that extends beyond technical skills. According to the recently released Mercom India’s ‘Bridging India’s Solar Talent Gap – Aligning Academia with Industry Needs’ report, employers identified gaps across practical exposure, project execution, manufacturing processes, system design, regulatory understanding, commercial knowledge, troubleshooting, and site readiness.
Amid the skill shortage, India needs structured industry-academia collaborations focused on industry-relevant training to help professionals optimize their talent. To that end, Ahmedabad-based Monark University recently signed an agreement with energy storage technology company Ionextraa Power for a rooftop solar project and research and development (R&D) initiative.
The initiative will focus on renewable energy research, industry-academia collaboration, skill development, innovation, real-time data monitoring, and real-world training to students. The university will work with Ionextraa to establish a Center of Excellence of Solar and Renewable Energy and a research and demonstration facility.
The collaboration includes developing a 200 kW rooftop solar installation which is expected to meet a significant share of the university’s electricity requirements. The project will use TOPCon solar modules together with Sungrow inverters.
The university said Sungrow inverters were selected for their reliability and their proven record in commercial and utility-scale installations. They also provide detailed monitoring and data access, a key consideration for the research initiative.
The university said the collaboration was based on a shared need to understand how solar projects operate in actual conditions and to use that understanding to manage them better.
“The rooftop solar project will not only contribute to meeting the university’s energy requirements but also serve as a live research platform for studying solar project performance, energy generation patterns, and grid interaction under actual operating conditions. By analyzing operational data and developing AI-based models for predictive maintenance and energy forecasting, our faculty and students will gain valuable exposure to industry-relevant research,” said Jeel Goswami, Director, Development, Monark University.
The stakeholders have proposed spending ₹7 million (~$73,736) for the program, which will fund the rooftop solar system, a data lab for data collection and analysis, and future expansion through battery energy storage system (BESS) integration.
The collaboration will focus on developing predictive maintenance models to anticipate faults and performance degradation before they cause downtime; energy forecasting to help plan generation and manage campus loads; grid integration; BESS integration; and data collection.
Ionextraa Power will provide the infrastructure needed for the study, supported by its technical expertise in solar project operation and monitoring. This division of roles lets the university focus on research, learning, and model development, while Ionextraa supplies industry-grade systems and domain knowledge that make the research practical.
“Through our collaboration with Monark University, we aim to study the real-world performance of a rooftop solar installation and explore how AI and data analytics can improve solar project monitoring and maintenance. By combining our industry experience with the university’s research expertise, we aim to translate research outcomes into practical solutions that can reduce avoidable downtime, improve operational decision-making, and contribute to the wider adoption of intelligent and sustainable energy systems,” said Arjun Chaudhari, Director, Ionextraa Power.
The university said the collaboration is designed to address operational challenges such as reactive maintenance, a lack of reliable operational data, forecasting, and grid integration that solar developers, engineering, procurement and construction companies, and operations and maintenance providers face today.
The rooftop solar system at Monark University will serve as a live testbed for these problems. It will generate continuous data to train AI-based predictive maintenance models, and custom data-collection hardware will help close monitoring gaps.
Industry experts have pointed out that greater investment in industry-academia collaboration, skilled talent, pilot projects, and testing facilities can boost India’s clean energy competitiveness by aligning manufacturing growth with stronger R&D.
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Digital lending platform Fibe and Canadian fintech-for-cleantech company Hygge Energy Inc. have partnered to integrate digital energy infrastructure with loan financing.
In a press release, Fibe explained that the collaboration aims to simplify the loan financing process for rooftop solar customers and catalyse the adoption of the PM Surya Ghar: Muft Bijli Yojana across India.
As rooftop solar adoption continues to grow across India, digital platforms can play an important role in connecting households with solar providers and financing solutions. Hygge Energy facilitates peer-to-peer rooftop solar energy trading in Bengaluru, Karnataka. Its digital marketplace enables rooftop solar producers and prosumers to trade electricity directly with other consumers, thereby enhancing the economic value of rooftop solar installations.
Having established the infrastructure for a rooftop solar energy trading marketplace, Hygge Energy is now extending its platform to support rooftop solar financing through its partnership with Fibe.
Fibe is a digital consumer lending platform focused on young, aspirational, and tech-savvy Indian consumers. It provides financial assistance to middle-income and underserved groups to help them fulfil their aspirations.
Its range of financial products includes impact loans for sectors such as healthcare and education, as well as rooftop solar financing. The company has also launched digital fixed deposits (FDs), loans against mutual funds, and long-term personal loans. Fibe’s financial solutions are designed for individuals seeking digitally accessible and manageable credit options.
By digitally connecting customers with solar providers and financing opportunities, the partnership aims to expand customer reach, simplify access to loans, and support wider adoption of rooftop solar financing across India.
Commenting on the announcement, Akshay Mehrotra, Managing Director and Group CEO of Fibe, said, “By combining Hygge’s digital energy marketplace with Fibe’s lending capabilities, we aim to simplify the financing journey and support the wider adoption of clean energy across India.”
Prateek Saxena, Founder and CEO of Hygge Energy, said, “We are pleased to announce our first partnership with one of India’s leading digital consumer lenders, Fibe. By integrating Fibe’s financing capabilities with our Canadian-developed digital infrastructure for India’s rooftop solar market, we aim to demonstrate asset tokenization and loan financing, bringing together digital finance and clean energy.”
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China added 110.83 GW AC of solar capacity in 9M 2026, down 54% YoY, according to the NEA  
September installations rose 41.2% YoY and 23.6% MoM to 13.64 GW AC 
China’s total solar capacity reached 1.32 TW AC by September 2026 
China’s solar PV market continued to lose momentum in the first nine months (9M) of 2026, with new installations plunging 54% year-on-year (YoY) to 110.83 GW AC, according to data published by the country’s National Energy Administration (NEA).  
In comparison, the country added 240.27 GW AC in 9M 2025, increasing 79.39 GW AC on a YoY basis, thanks to over 92 GW AC installed in May ahead of the feed-in tariff (FIT) deadline (see China’s Solar PV Capacity Surpasses 240 GW In 9M 2025). 
Nevertheless, September 2026 additions rebounded from a year earlier (9.66 GW AC) by 41.2% YoY and 23.6% month-on-month (MoM) (11.04 GW AC) to 13.64 GW AC. 
Even if China adds an average of 12 GW AC of new solar installations per month in the fourth quarter, installations would reach under 150 GW AC, falling short of the China Photovoltaic Industry Association’s (CPIA) forecast of 180 GW AC to 240 GW AC for the year (see CPIA: China Solar Installations To Dip In 2026 Before Resuming Growth). 
A drop in Chinese installations will also affect global numbers. SolarPower Europe expects 2026 to see the first decline in annual solar installations in over two decades owing to an expected 24% YoY decline in the China market (see Global Solar PV Installs Hit 664 GW In 2025; 8% Drop Ahead).
By the end of September 2026, China’s total installed solar PV capacity had reached 1.32 TW AC, up 16.5% YoY, while wind energy capacity rose 20.4% to 700 GW AC. Combined, solar and wind capacity exceeded 2 TW AC, out of the country’s total installed power generation capacity of 4.13 TW AC. 
The Chinese government targets to grow the combined capacity of solar and wind to 3.6 TW AC by 2035 (see China Announces 3.6 TW AC Solar & Wind Target For 2035).  
TaiyangNews 2024

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China’s solar installations fall 54% year on year despite September rebound  pv magazine Global
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Solar panel efficiency has improved considerably over the years, but even high-performance modules struggle when real-world conditions interfere with electricity generation. Shading, dirt, and uneven cell degradation can reduce output across entire sections of a panel. San Francisco-based Optivolt believes the next major improvement in solar performance lies not in the cells themselves, but in how electricity is managed inside the module.
The company has secured $32 million in Series A funding to scale its Power Balancer technology, which integrates active power electronics directly into solar panels.
For eeNews Europe readers, the development points to a different approach to photovoltaic system design. Rather than relying on external optimizers to compensate for power losses, Optivolt is moving power management inside the panel, with implications for efficiency, system architecture, and installation costs.
In conventional photovoltaic modules, cells are connected in groups. When one cell underperforms because of shading or contamination, it can limit the output of other cells in the same group. Bypass diodes protect the circuit but can effectively remove entire sections from power generation.
Optivolt’s Power Balancer addresses this limitation by actively redistributing energy among cell groups as conditions change.
The electronics replace conventional bypass diodes while incorporating monitoring and rapid shutdown capabilities. According to the company, this architecture can eliminate the need for separate module-level optimizers, microinverters, and rapid-shutdown devices in certain system designs.
The challenge is making such electronics efficient and durable enough to operate inside a solar module for decades.
Optivolt turned to engineers experienced in satellite power systems to address thermal management and long-term reliability. The resulting Power Balancer achieves 99.4% conversion efficiency under typical operating conditions, according to the company.
Optivolt reports that panels equipped with its technology generated up to six times more power than panels using external optimizers in internal tests conducted under defined shading scenarios.
While the results do not represent typical gains across all operating conditions, they illustrate the potential impact of managing electrical mismatches closer to their source.
“Solar became cheap enough to compete. I founded Optivolt to make it intelligent enough to power the world,” said Rohit Kalyanpur, founder and CEO of Optivolt.
The company has spent nine years developing the technology and holds 19 issued patents, with another 27 applications pending. It has also obtained UL certifications covering its integrated electronics, enclosure, rapid shutdown, and module safety.
The $32 million round was led by VXI Capital, with participation from RA Capital, Valo Ventures, and Atlas Innovate. Total funding now stands at $42 million.
More than 20,000 panels incorporating the Power Balancer have already shipped. Optivolt intends to use the new investment to expand manufacturing and reach applications ranging from residential rooftops to utility-scale installations.
The company is also targeting large solar projects intended to supply electricity to AI data centers, where demand for reliable power continues to shape infrastructure investment.
With investors including former Enphase CEO Paul Nahi and former SunPower CEO Tom Werner, Optivolt is positioning panel-integrated electronics as a potential next step in photovoltaic technology.
Its central argument is straightforward: improving the solar cell is only part of the equation. Recovering more of the electricity that cells already generate could be just as important. 
All material on this site Copyright © 2026 European Business Press SA. All rights reserved.

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Ember recommends extending subsidies to home batteries under India’s PM Surya Ghar scheme 
A 5 kWh battery could cut daytime solar exports by 85%-90%, but extend the payback period from 3.3 years to around 9 years, without subsidies 
A 50% battery subsidy could reduce payback to 6.3 years, while adding up to 25 GWh of distributed storage capacity 
Home batteries could cut daytime rooftop solar exports to the grid in India by 85% to 90%, according to Ember, but high upfront costs limit their scope. Analysts recommend that the government subsidize batteries to accelerate their adoption. 
In its analysis, Ember modeled a 3 kW rooftop solar system for a household using 350 units per month. This costs INR 87,000 after the INR 78,000 PM Surya Ghar subsidy and pays back in 3.3 years. 
Analysts believe adding a 5 kWh battery system could cut daytime exports by 85% to 90%, shifting about 1,600 to 1,800 units a year to the evening. It will, however, be an expensive proposition, stretching the payback period to nine years. 
At the same time, analysts believe that because India’s net metering system lets households use daytime solar exports to offset evening power use, households have no financial incentive to install batteries. Under the arrangement, discoms must compensate households for solar power exported during the day, even though they may have to buy electricity at a much higher price to meet demand in the evening.  
Ember analysts recommend offering subsidies, preferably under the PM Surya Ghar Muft Bijli Yojana (PMSGMBY), to cover battery costs. A 50% subsidy, for instance, could bring down the payback period for a solar-plus-battery system to 6.3 years. PM Surya Ghar targets 10 million solar rooftops and 30 GW installed PV capacity (see India Eyeing 30 GW Rooftop Solar Capacity With New Scheme).  
“Subsidising hybrid systems for even half of the current scheme’s 10 million target would create 15–25 GWh of distributed storage,” says Ember. 
Supporting hybrid systems for 5 million households could create 15–25 GWh of distributed storage capacity, requiring around INR 280 billion in financial support. State governments could also offer additional battery subsidies to reduce upfront costs for households. 
Batteries installed now would also prepare households for future reforms, according to analysts. They identify two possible policy scenarios: limiting banked solar exports and restricting their use during peak hours. With a 40% cap on banked solar exports, the estimated payback period for a subsidized hybrid rooftop solar system falls to 6.5 years, and 5.7 years under peak-hour (6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.) restrictions and a 20% surcharge. 
Ruchita Shah, Ember Energy Analyst Asia, believes India should integrate battery storage with rooftop solar installations under PM Surya Ghar to manage future grid challenges. Drawing on Australia and the US, she notes that solar power’s value depends not only on how much electricity it generates, but also on when it is used. 
Titled Plugging storage into India’s rooftop solar revolution, the Ember analysis is available for free download on its website. 
In an earlier report, Ember said solar paired with battery storage could supply most of India’s electricity at competitive costs, supplying about 90% of the country’s electricity at about INR 5.06/kWh (see Ember: Solar, Storage Could Meet 90% Of India’s Power Demand). 
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Angus campaigners lose fight against 230-acre ‘industrial’ solar farm  The Courier
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The Robot Report
By The Robot Report Staff | October 27, 2026
The Xpanner X1 Piling R6 is an automated pile-driving system for utility-scale solar and battery energy storage sites. | Credit: Xpanner
Xpanner today announced the X1 Piling R6, a fully automated pile-driving robot built to autonomously install posts for utility-scale solar and battery energy storage, or BESS, sites. Supervised by a single operator, the system uses high-precision GNSS and onboard sensors to place each pile accurately, helping builders keep pace with new power demand despite a shortage of skilled crews.
The core of the robot is Xpanner’s Everstar R6 crawler base machine. The R6 is equipped with the Santa Fe Springs, Calif.-based company‘s automation stack with onboard sensors and controls to autonomously complete the pile driving process for each post.
An operator uploads a plan, then walks X1 Piling R6 machine to the row using a remote control interface. The operator supervises the construction as the machine drives each pile accurately.
The R6 can autonomously navigate to the subsequent pile locations using high-precision GNSS antennas and receivers, precision sensors, and the Xpanner-developed automation controller. One operator can remotely manage the installation process.
“Solar and BESS builders are racing to bring new power online for the grid and for AI data centers, and they can’t find enough skilled crews to keep up,” said Henri Lee, co-founder and CEO of Xpanner. “X1 lets one operator drive every pile plumb with a single touch, keeps people away from the mast, and logs each pile as it goes in. It takes the automation EPCs [engineering, procurement, and construction firms] already trust on PD10 and puts it on a more powerful, more versatile machine.”
X1 connects to Xpanner Connect, the company’s web-based project dashboard. Project teams can load the pile schedule and coordinates, assign machines, and set up a site in minutes.
As X1 works, it records each pile’s position, depth, and plumb and posts it to a live project map, replacing manual counts, phone calls, spreadsheets, and end-of-day reports. Managers can also monitor machine state, cycle counts, and alerts across the fleet without a site visit.
Xpanner said business model is a mixed capex/SaaS subscription model. Customers purchase (or rent) the X1 Piling robot and then license the automation software on a monthly subscription basis for each active technology.
According to the company, the subscription is not tied to a specific project, site, or number of piles driven. Rather, the customer pays for the technology while it is actively being used. Once piling operations or the applicable task is completed, the equipment and technology can be transferred to another project and activated as needed.
Xpanner handles initial installation, calibration, operator training, and technical support, while the contractor provides the equipment operators on-site.
The Xpanner X1 Piling robot autonomously installs the posts for a solar panel farm. | Credit: Xpanner
The X1 Piling R6 is designed to work together with the X1 panel lift, which was released earlier this year, for autonomous solar panel installation.

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Optivolt, a California company that makes adaptive, intelligent solar modules, announced  a recent raise of $32 million in series A funding bringing the company’s total capital raise to $42 million.
Nine years ago Optivolt assembled a team experienced with designing power systems for satellites to work on the problem of heat, created by putting active power electronics inside a solar module. The result is Power Balancer, which embeds active power electronics directly into the solar module and, according to Optivolt, operates as 99.4% conversion efficiency by managing energy among cell groups to recover power lost to shade, dirt, weather and degradation. Optivolt reports that modules incorporating the technology produced up to six times as much power as panels using bolted-on optimizers under defined shade scenarios.
A chart on Optivolt’s website compares the output of solar modules under different soiling or shading conditions using Optivolt’s technology versus microinverters.
 “For nine years, we’ve rebuilt the solar panel from first principles, embedding aerospace-grade power electronics so it can respond to Earth as it actually is, not the ideal conditions of a lab,” said Rohit Kalyanpur, founder and CEO of Optivolt.
Optivolt holds 19 patents and has 27 patent applications pending. Furthermore, its integrated junction-box enclosure, panel-integrated electronics, rapid-shutdown system and solar-module safety have earned UL certification according to the company.
With more than 20,000 modules already shipped, the company says it intends to use the new financing to expand manufacturing and bring the technology to all sectors of the market. In September Optivolt reported on Linkedin that Citadel Roofing & Solar saw its first Optivolt residential installation become operational.
The recent Series A funding round was led by VXI Capital. Optivolt reports it also received backing from founding Enphase CEO Paul Nahi, former SunPower CEO Tom Werner and former New York energy czar Richard Kauffman.
“At Enphase, we transformed rooftop solar by managing power at the output of each panel. Today, rising panel power, the widespread adoption of storage, and the urgent need to reduce costs demand a new approach,” said Nahi. “Optivolt is bringing a new class of power electronics inside the panel itself to unlock the next leap in performance and economics. I helped build the last generation of solar power electronics. At Optivolt we are building the next.”
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Scientists at the Korea Institute of Energy Research (KIER) have developed a catalytic process that could extend the operational lifespan of perovskite solar cells while maintaining high power conversion efficiencies.
The researchers explained that the hole transport layer (HTL) in perovskite solar cells is typically modified with lithium-based salts and additives that improve their solubility to increase electrical conductivity and facilitate charge transport. However, the volatility of these additives poses a significant challenge to long-term device stability.
Under real-world operating conditions, particularly high temperatures and humidity, these compounds can evaporate or migrate from the HTL, compromising the interfaces between adjacent layers. The resulting voids and structural defects can accelerate device degradation and shorten the operational lifespan of perovskite 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,” the researchers explained. “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 issues, the researchers developed a catalyst-assisted process in which lithium salts are temporarily used to drive the required chemical reactions before the lithium ions and catalyst are removed from the solution through filtration.
“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,” the academics said. “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 researchers tested the process in solar cells built with a fluorine-doped tin oxide (FTO) substrate, a tin oxide (SnO₂) electron transport layer (ETL), a formamidinium lead iodide (FAPbI₃)-based perovskite absorber, a spiro-OMeTAD HTL, and a gold (Au) electrode.
The champion device achieved a power conversion efficiency of 25.24%, an open-circuit voltage of 1.175 V, a short-circuit current density of 25.83 mA/cm², and a fill factor of 83.21%. It also delivered a stabilized power output of 25.1% under one-sun illumination.
The cells retained more than 90% of their initial efficiency after 500 hours of continuous operation and 95% under accelerated damp-heat testing at 85 C and 85% relative humidity, indicating improved operational stability.
According to the scientists, the process enables oxidation of the hole transport material spiro-OMeTAD in less than five seconds without the conventional additive 4-tert-butylpyridine (tBP). NiOₓ also facilitates the dissolution of lithium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)imide (LiTFSI) while capturing lithium ions, which are subsequently removed along with the NiOₓ particles through filtration. The process increased the electrical conductivity of the HTL by a factor of 2.5 and produced more uniform films with improved charge extraction.
The new approach was presented in the study “Redox-Active NiOx-Catalyzed Li+ Capture-Extraction Strategy for tBP-Free Spiro-OMeTAD Enables Exceptional Damp-Heat Stability in Perovskite Solar Cells,” published in Advanced Science.
“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,” said Se Jin Ahn, principal researcher at KIER and leader of the project. “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.”
In related research, another KIER team recently achieved a record power conversion efficiency of 26.7% for a tandem solar cell combining a perovskite top cell with a copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) bottom cell. The researchers said the result was confirmed by Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (Fraunhofer ISE) and included in the Best Research-Cell Efficiency Chart maintained by the US Department of Energy’s National Laboratory of the Rockies.

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Zambia Approves 61 Energy Licences And Permits For K13.4 Billion (US$662.3 Million) In Proposed Investments  SolarQuarter
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Infinity Power and HAU Energy Secure $566 Million for 1.2 GWp Solar Project in Egypt  SolarQuarter
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An AI-generated image of solar panels hanging between industrial buildings at 15 Woodlands Loop.
PHOTO: EDP APAC
Shabana Begum
Published Oct 27, 2026, 04:00 PM
Updated Oct 27, 2026, 06:57 PM
SINGAPORE – From laying out mobile solar panels to hanging them between buildings, Singapore is finding unique ways to squeeze as much power from sunlight as possible, to meet its new 2035 solar target.
The authorities are pushing ahead to meet the renewed target of harnessing 4 gigawatt-peak (GWp) of solar energy by 2035, by working with government agencies, companies and even home owners.
These were among plans to step up the country’s solar push announced by Minister of State for Energy, Trade and Industry Gan Siow Huang on Oct 27, at the Singapore International Energy Week.
Work is also under way to trial solar panels that resemble clay tiles for installation on heritage buildings without greatly altering their look.
The target 4GWp of solar energy represents about 5% of Singapore’s electricity demand projected for 2035.
The country now generates about 2.3GWp of solar energy and aims to reach 3GWp by the end of 2030.
To encourage more private home owners to install solar panels on their roofs, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) will partner the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore to develop a digital portal.
The portal will provide solar-related information and services, help home owners connect with solar installers and explore group purchase opportunities, said EMA on Oct 27.
There are more than 8,000 residential solar installations now.
In tandem with the push for more private-home solar installations, EMA will embark on a research collaboration with the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) to study and map the capacity of local electricity networks, to accommodate more solar installations in landed housing estates and cope with more power flowing from solar panels back to the grid.
On Oct 27, EMA also launched an initiative to handle the demand for solar energy across all public and government buildings.
A panel of solar installers will be appointed to help government agencies assess the solar potential of their premises and develop tailored solutions.
By amassing demand across agencies, the initiative can create greater economies of scale and also come up with the best solutions for sites with different tenures, operational needs and conditions, said EMA.
Agencies can also explore innovative solutions such as solar roofs at carparks and replacing windows or building facades with special solar panels.
Singapore has installed rooftop solar equipment on more than 5,000 HDB blocks and public buildings through HDB’s SolarNova programme and other efforts, Gan noted.
To further identify where and how the country can maximise solar energy, EMA will collaborate with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore to “assess solar deployment opportunities across diverse types of surfaces”, the authority said.
Apart from HDB, industrial developer JTC Corporation has been another major player in Singapore’s solar deployment – it is responsible for 45% of the country’s current solar capacity, with panels across the industrial estates it manages. It also runs the country’s largest ground-mounted solar installation on Jurong Island.
JTC is now piloting innovative ways to harness the renewable energy from unconventional spaces in its industrial estates.
An AI rendering of solar panels suspended between buildings.
PHOTO: EDP APAC
It includes a project where solar panels will be suspended between two existing industrial buildings at 15 Woodlands Loop. Renewable energy company EDP APAC will build and test this overhanging solar structure over 15 months from October.
Such structures come with engineering and operational challenges, said JTC. For one thing, the overhang structure must safely carry its own weight and that of the panels while withstanding wind forces at height.
JTC also announced an innovation call on Oct 27 seeking portable solar solutions at construction sites with limited access to the national grid. One solution could be deploying solar panels from containers with mobile energy storage systems.
“This solution will help many temporary worksites that have limited or no access to the power grid and currently rely heavily on noisy and pollutive diesel generators,” said Gan.
On the research front, EMA is partnering the Singapore Land Authority and CSEM, a Swiss technology innovation centre, to pilot the use of solar photovoltaic (PV) roof tiles on heritage buildings.
Clay-like solar panels installed on the roof of a building in Switzerland.
PHOTO: FREESUNS
Designed to resemble traditional clay roof tiles, the solar PV tiles enable a larger roof area to generate clean electricity while retaining the character of older buildings, said EMA.
“We are really pushing all boundaries and surfaces, literally, and capturing every opportunity to harness solar across Singapore,” said Gan.
But she noted that there are limits to the amount of solar energy Singapore can harness, due to land scarcity and intermittency because of cloud cover.
Gan said that at most, solar energy can meet 10% of Singapore’s electricity needs by 2050, the year the country has pledged to reach net zero in its carbon emissions.
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Shakti Pumps showcased its solar energy portfolio at REI Expo 2026, including 620 Wp solar modules, solar pumps, AI-powered inverters and other system components.
October 27, 2026. By News Bureau
Shakti Pumps (India) showcased its expanding renewable energy portfolio at the Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo 2026, highlighting its growing presence across solar irrigation, rooftop solar, intelligent energy solutions and domestic solar manufacturing. A highlight was the unveiling of Shakti On Roof’s high-efficiency 620 Wp solar photovoltaic (PV) modules.
The unveiling was led by Dinesh Patidar, Chairman, and Ramesh Patidar, Managing Director, Shakti Pumps (India). The modules are designed to deliver higher power output, enhanced durability and dependable performance, addressing the growing demand for efficient solar energy solutions.
Commenting on the event, Ramesh Patidar, Managing Director, Shakti Pumps (India), said, “The launch of our 620 Wp Shakti On Roof solar modules marks a step in strengthening India’s indigenous solar manufacturing ecosystem. We are committed to developing reliable, high-performance solar solutions that support the country’s energy transition, advance self-reliance and contribute to a more sustainable Bharat.”
At REI Expo 2026, the company presented its comprehensive solar portfolio, comprising solar pumps, solar pump controllers, solar modules, solar inverters and module mounting structures. The integrated offering addresses diverse applications, from agricultural irrigation and rooftop installations to clean power generation and exporting surplus electricity to the grid.
Shakti Pumps’ range of indigenously manufactured solar inverters claims to meet applicable Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) requirements. The products also qualify under the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade’s (DPIIT) Class-I local supplier framework, supporting the Make in India initiative.
The inverters equipped with AI-powered technology, are designed to deliver up to 10 percent higher energy generation, helping customers improve system performance and maximise the value of their solar installations.
The 620 Wp module unveiling builds on the company’s in-house solar module manufacturing facility in Pithampur, Madhya Pradesh. Its module portfolio incorporates 16-busbar (16 BB) TOPCon technology in a G12R bifacial, dual-glass configuration, using 132 and 144 half-cut cell formats and offering power outputs ranging from 600 Wp to 630 Wp. The modules carry a 10-year product warranty and a 30-year performance warranty. Applications for BIS and Approved List of Models and Manufacturers (ALMM) certification have been submitted.
Shakti Pumps is also developing an integrated greenfield manufacturing facility spread across 113 acres, with planned annual capacities of 2.2 GWp for solar cells and 2 GWp for solar modules. Cell manufacturing is currently in progress.

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Caelux agrees 3GW TOPCon-perovskite deal with INA Solar  PV Tech
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The Autumn issue of 2026 is available now! The new issue begins with a regional report on Asia Pacific, looking at the region’s transition from building capacity to building systems. The issue also explores topics such as offshore wind foundations, solar maintenance, training the new workforce, inspection & maintenance, and more! With insights from experts such as Everllence, BW Ideol, EM&I, Watson Farley & Williams, and many more, make sure to check out this issue now.
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Sonnedix has started operations at two of its first large scale hybrid solar photovoltaics and battery energy storage system projects in Portugal.
Sonnedix, a global renewable energy company with a total capacity of 12 GW, has started operations at Sonnedix Acail and Sonnedix Felgueiras, its first large scale hybrid solar photovoltaics (PV) and battery energy storage system (BESS) projects to become operational worldwide. The two projects are the first hybrid installations in Portugal to begin operating connected to the national distribution grid.
Located in northern Portugal, Sonnedix Acail and Sonnedix Felgueiras deliver more than 68 MW of solar PV capacity and more than 140 MWh of storage. The projects’ entry into operation represents a landmark step in Sonnedix’s global hybridisation strategy and demonstrates its evolution as a Next-Gen independent power producer (IPP), with a model focused on industrial customers and the delivery of integrated energy solutions combining generation, storage, trading, and advanced energy management.
The storage systems have been developed in parallel with their respective solar plants, sharing the same fenced perimeter and taking full advantage of construction synergies. This integrated approach optimised construction, while preserving the surrounding landscape, with no requirement for additional land. Both BESS systems are now operating in hybrid mode with full grid charging capacity.
In March 2026, Sonnedix announced the financing of both projects, becoming one of the first structured transactions with commercial banks in Portugal for hybrid solar generation and battery storage facilities.
Gregorio Morales, Chief Commercial Officer of Sonnedix, noted: “Storage is fundamental to our evolution as a Next-Gen IPP. By combining solar generation and batteries, we turn renewable energy into a more flexible, predictable product adapted to our customers’ needs. Sonnedix Acail and Sonnedix Felgueiras are the first step of a global strategy that will enable us to offer increasingly sophisticated energy solutions aligned with real market demand.”
Paulo Pimentel, Director of Sonnedix Portugal, added: “The completion and commissioning of Acail and Felgueiras marks a milestone for Sonnedix in Portugal. These projects reflect the evolution of our portfolio towards hybrid solutions capable of providing greater flexibility to the system and promoting a more efficient integration of renewable energy. With this progress, we continue to consolidate our long-term commitment to Portugal and to the communities in which we operate.”
The projects come online at a moment of strong momentum for renewables and energy storage in Portugal. In January 2026, the country reached 80.7% renewable generation, the highest share in the EU, demonstrating the critical role that flexible assets will play in sustaining and accelerating that progress. 
The Autumn issue of 2026 is available now! The new issue begins with a regional report on Asia Pacific, looking at the region’s transition from building capacity to building systems. The issue also explores topics such as offshore wind foundations, solar maintenance, training the new workforce, inspection & maintenance, and more! With insights from experts such as Everllence, BW Ideol, EM&I, Watson Farley & Williams, and many more, make sure to check out this issue now.
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OLIVE TWP., MI (WHTC-AM/FM, Oct. 27, 2026) – It looks as if Ottawa County will get involved in the ongoing dispute involving the Silver Maple Solar Project.
On the agenda for Tuesday morning’s monthly meeting of the Board of Commissioners are three items directly relating to the proposed 200-megawatt, utility-scale initiative which RWE Clean Energy wants to build over nearly 2,000 acres of farmland in Zeeland and Jamestown townships. The $300 million-plus project is now before the Michigan Public Service Commission for approval under a state law that allows the PSC to overrule any local jurisdiction in such clean energy-related matters.
Zeeland Township has already filed a lawsuit in 20th Circuit Court challenging the constitutionality of this legislation, with RWE asking that the matter be resolved in the federal court system instead. The township has asked the county to intervene with the PSC on this issue.
Commissioners will first vote on whether to authorize County Administrator Patrick Waterman to file a petition by the November 12th deadline. If the board approves this question, then it will decide on retaining legal counsel, along with authorizing $50,000 for covering costs of such action.
The 9 AM Ottawa County Board meeting is in the main meeting room at the County Administration Building in West Olive (12220 Fillmore St.). An online link to the agenda and supporting documents is here.
 
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Media Trust Group (publishers of Daily Trust, Trust TV, Trust Radio, and digital platforms) invites bids from competent, registered, and experienced solar energy contractors for the engineering, procurement, and installation of a solar power system at its headquarters in Utako, Abuja.
The successful bidder will supply, install, test, and commission a high-efficiency solar power solution tailored to the following facility requirements:
Prospective bidders must submit copies of the following documents alongside their technical proposals:
Bids must be submitted via email to: [email protected].
The bids should be clearly marked:
They should be addressed to:
The Chairman, Purchase and Disposal Committee
Media Trust Group.
The deadline for submission is Tuesday, November 10, 2026, at 12:00 PM. Late submissions will be rejected.
Upon receipt of your bid documents, we will send a notification email to you in which account details will be provided for payment of a non-refundable tender fee of ₦100,000. You are required to make the payment within two (2) days of receipt of the notification.
A mandatory pre-bid site inspection and clarification meeting will hold on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, at 10:00 AM at the project site in Utako, Abuja.
Media Trust Group reserves the right to accept or reject any bid and is not bound to accept the lowest or any tender, nor will it be responsible for any cost incurred by bidders in the preparation of their proposals.
Important dates extracted from the document
Mandatory site inspection: Tuesday, 3 November 2026, at 10:00 AM.
Bid submission deadline: Tuesday, 10 November 2026, at 12:00 PM.
Non-refundable tender fee: ₦100,000, payable within two days of receiving the notification email.
Submission email: [email protected]

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Chhattisgarh’s Solar Didis Empower Rural Women With Solar Jobs  The Hans India
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CNCEC’s subsidiary signs a low-margin photovoltaic EPC contract in Ghana, testing payment collection capability and project execution capacity.
According to the announcement of CNCEC, its subsidiary Sedin Engineering has signed a 300MW photovoltaic EPC contract in Ghana.
Over the past several months, Guangdong Thermal Power of China Energy Engineering Corporation has just started construction on the 50MW Tamale photovoltaic project in the Savannah Region of Ghana; the agreement for JinkoSolar to sign a 100MW Tiger Pro 3 module order with a Nigerian distributor has come into effect; the 35MWh energy storage system provided by Sungrow for the RESPITE solar-storage project in Sierra Leone has been connected to the local grid.
Four Chinese companies, three West African countries, four completely different market entry strategies. The RMB 2.58 billion deal of CNCEC is the largest among them and the closest to the traditional centralized EPC model. However, it is facing a market where the government has cut the electricity price from 18 cents to 6.5 cents, independent power producers’ arrears are still accumulating, and the gross profit margin of photovoltaic EPC has been compressed to a single-digit range.
Can an engineering company with a background in coal chemical industry and advanced chemical new materials find its own position in the low-margin photovoltaic sector in West Africa?
By the end of 2025, Ghana’s cumulative installed photovoltaic capacity reached 276.7MW, of which utility-scale capacity was only 183.1MW, lower than the previously set target of 347.5MW. The updated 2026-2030 plan sets the new ground-mounted photovoltaic target at 852MW, which will be equipped with nearly 2GWh of battery energy storage, and the private sector will undertake 41% of the utility-scale photovoltaic investment.
The 300MW single project volume of Sedin exceeds 1.6 times the existing utility-scale photovoltaic stock in Ghana. The figures on the demand side are clear, and even a little urgent.
But on the payment side opposite the demand, there is a completely different logic.
The Electricity Company of Ghana collects electricity bills in Ghanaian cedi and pays independent power producers in US dollars. Every time the cedi weakens, arrears return to the accounts receivable of independent power producers in the way of “re-accumulation”.
The Ghanaian Minister of Energy disclosed in October 2026 that the monthly payment ratio to IPPs has increased from about 40% to nearly 100%. The Minister of Finance said that the 2026 budget has allocated 345 million US dollars for energy payments, with the goal of “no new arrears accumulated for the first time”. These improvements are real, but they are also political commitments. For an EPC contract with a construction period of two to three years, the sustainability of the commitment is more worthy of attention than the intensity of the commitment.
The reason why China Export & Credit Insurance Corporation previously required full letter of credit payment in Ghana’s photovoltaic supporting equipment projects, upgrading government credit and commercial credit to bank credit, precisely shows that in this market, the reliability of cash payment is not sufficient to support the risk pricing of a long-term contract.
As the EPC contractor, Sedin does not hold the power station assets and does not directly bear the erosion of the cedi depreciation on electricity bill income.
However, the release of its progress payment and quality guarantee deposit depends on the rhythm of the owner receiving money from the power purchaser. When the cash flow of the power purchaser is squeezed by the exchange rate, the payment milestones in the EPC contract will be extended first. Low price is not the biggest problem, but the opaque payment path is.
In the first half of 2026, CNCEC signed new overseas contracts of 72.935 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 76%, and the proportion of overseas revenue rose to 35%; in the first 8 months, the new overseas contracts signed reached 79.188 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 57.46%. In emerging tracks such as photovoltaic and energy storage, the company’s expression is to “continue to make efforts”.
The most notable public track record of Sedin in the field of photovoltaic EPC is the 150MW DC project in Laos signed in 2025, with a contract value of 528 million yuan, less than half the scale of the Ghana project.
The span from 150MW to 300MW, from Southeast Asia to West Africa, from chemical plants to ground-mounted power stations is obvious.
But Sedin did not enter the market from scratch.
Within the CNCEC system, Hualu Company has long-term accumulation in the engineering of polysilicon materials. The multi-professional interface management, long-cycle equipment procurement rhythm control and overseas on-site construction organization trained by chemical EPC have a considerable proportion of reuse space in ground-mounted photovoltaic power stations.
The problem is that what is reused is engineering discipline, not profit thickness.
The reason why the gross profit margin of chemical EPC is higher than that of ordinary civil engineering is that the process complexity forms an entry barrier; the process barrier of photovoltaic EPC is much thinner, and the competitors are much denser.
The average gross profit margin of Sinoma Energy Conservation’s disclosed overseas new energy EPC projects is about 8.13%, which is achieved under the background of “fierce competition and price pressure for standardized onshore new energy projects”; the gross profit margin of clean energy engineering business is 9.10%, lower than the industry average of 10.25%.
If Sedin’s 0.86 yuan/W corresponds to a power station body with compressed boundaries, the price is not as aggressive as it seems on the surface; if it corresponds to a more complete scope of work, the profit margin will be further squeezed.
The 2.58 billion yuan Ghana project accounts for about 2.6% of CNCEC’s total new overseas contracts signed in the first three quarters of 2026, and will not change the overall profit direction alone.
But it is a verification sample: Can Sedin turn photovoltaic EPC in Ghana from a one-time “new track breakthrough” into a repeatable business category. If it can, there will be negotiation chips for the second and third projects in West Africa; if not, the 2.58 billion yuan will only be a nice-looking announcement.
Looking at the bigger picture, Sedin is not the only Chinese enterprise placing bets in West Africa, but its playstyle is clearly different when compared with several other peers.
China Energy Engineering Corporation follows the path of “centralized EPC + government framework”, binding sovereign-level or utility-level owners to win large orders and act as the general contractor. The payment risk largely depends on the owner’s credit rating and the host country’s fiscal discipline; JinkoSolar takes another path: no involvement in EPC, only selling modules and adopting distribution channels, earning profits from the manufacturing end, betting on whether West Africa’s distributed installed capacity can spread out from the concentration in South Africa; Sungrow is positioned at the equipment and system layer, not bearing the payment risk of the power purchaser, but the financing structure of the project determines whether the equipment payment can be recovered smoothly.
Sedin’s position is heavier than Sungrow’s, and lighter than China Energy Engineering’s centralized EPC.
It does not only earn profits from the manufacturing end like JinkoSolar, nor does it bind the national power company in Senegal to do a 500MW framework like China Energy Engineering. It is taking on a low-margin photovoltaic general contracting project with chemical engineering discipline in a market where electricity prices have been renegotiated and payments are being restored but not yet stable.
The success or failure of this contract will not define the overall trend of the West African photovoltaic market, but it will give a clear reference: When the unit price of centralized photovoltaic EPC is compressed to 0.86 yuan per watt, can an engineering company that crosses over from the chemical industry keep the gross profit margin near the central level of the engineering business by relying on execution efficiency and contract boundary management.
Sedin’s 2.58 billion yuan has bought a ticket to enter the African new energy EPC table.
It has already sat at the table. The heaviest chip on the table is not the quotation, but the payment calendar of the Electricity Company of Ghana and who will stand in front of the contractor when the cedi fluctuates next time.
CNCEC’s chemical industry foundation can help Sedin build the power station, but whether the money after completion can be smoothly recovered along the path from cedi to US dollar depends on whether there is a corresponding arrangement in the contract structure that can shield the contractor from exchange rate risks.
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SINGAPORE, Oct 27 — Singapore will update its Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Roadmap to support its new target of deploying 4 gigawatt-peak (GWp) of solar capacity by 2035, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said.
EMA said it would collaborate with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) to refresh the roadmap, which was last updated in 2020.
“The refreshed roadmap will assess solar deployment opportunities across diverse types of surfaces and help chart the pathways towards maximising solar deployment over the medium to long term, in support of Singapore’s higher solar ambition,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
EMA is also taking steps to encourage greater solar adoption for private residential landed properties to unlock more opportunities for solar deployment.
The authority inked a memorandum of understanding with the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS) to explore the development of a one-stop digital portal to make it easier for homeowners to adopt solar.
It will also embark on a research collaboration with the Energy Research Institute @ NTU to study and map the capacity of local electricity networks.
Meanwhile, EMA has awarded grants totalling S$14.9 million (RM47.68 milliona) to four industry projects that will develop and test practical solutions across four areas to strengthen the resilience of Singapore’s electricity grid.
EMA said the projects would improve the maintenance and operation of grid infrastructure, manage the impact of growing distributed energy resources, provide new forms of support for system stability and enable distributed resources to contribute more actively to grid operations. — Bernama 

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Despite repeated attempts — mostly from the right of the European political spectrum — to slow down electrification to protect carmakers that failed to prepare in time, electric mobility is progressing rapidly across Europe. This was a policy-driven market, and it suddenly shifted to a customer-driven market. The 2026 fuel-price surge now acts as a key driver, independent of subsidies. Finally, the convergence with solar and storage turns the electric car from a transport object into an energy asset: the photovoltaic–battery–plug-in-vehicle triptych is not only the business model of tomorrow but also the key driver of an accelerating energy transition.
Before discussing mobility, one fact must be established, because it structures everything that follows: the European photovoltaic is hitting the physical limits of an electricity system without storage — and storage has become the key enabler for PV to keep growing.
Solar is now Europe’s cheapest source of electricity, but its economics are deteriorating precisely because of its own success. With today Eu’s PV fleet around 450 GW and the minimum power demand in the EU around 200 GW, it is obvious that most countries record negative prices on their electricity market. Germany alone recorded 573 negative-price hours in 2025, and this is developing in 2026. In addition to increased curtailment, the impact is visible on the profitability of all installations depending on merchant business models.
This is where battery storage comes in, driven primarily by utility-scale systems (but not only). Annual installations are expected to exceed 50 GWh in 2026 and will most probably triple by 2030. Storage does three things for PV: it absorbs midday surplus that would otherwise lose its value, it lifts the captured price of solar by shifting delivery to high-value hours, and it relieves congested grids. With storage, each additional solar kWh keeps a value.
But storage isn’t just about batteries, and we count three “storage fleets” in Europe. Putting the numbers side by side is revealing: stationary batteries represent around 100 GWh/20 GW in Europe, to be compared to a maximum of 1300 GWh/80 GW at least of pumped-storage hydro in Europe (including Norway), and more interestingly the roughly 10 million EVs on the road at the end of 2026 in Europe represent at least 500 GWh of energy stored, and at the current speed, the 1 TWh mark will be reached in 2027.
Three lessons emerge. First, stationary batteries are still the smallest of the three fleets. Second, the EV fleet has quietly become Europe’s second-largest storage system: the batteries already circulating in cars on European roads collectively store as much energy as all pumped-storage lakes combined — and unlike pumped-hydro, this fleet will multiply. Third, the comparison redefines the policy question: the cheapest new “storage lake” Europe can build in the 2020s is not carved into a mountain — it is the aggregation of batteries that consumers are already buying for transport, parked and plugged 95% of the time. This is precisely why V2G and the remuneration of distributed services matter more than any subsidy for dedicated utility-scale batteries.
Starting from the Nordic countries, the EV revolution progresses fast, much faster than most policy makers had foreseen. Norway has reached 98% of its market, while countries such as France or Belgium are approaching the 50% threshold.  Lower-income countries such as Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe start from a lower base, but the gap is closing: in 2026, BEV registrations are progressing fast, at a relatively low level. In countries with proactive policies such as Portugal, political will demonstrates that wealth is not the decisive variable. At the same time, Italy remains the large Western European market where electric weighs the least (below 10% BEV): This is probably no coincidence: the country hosts manufacturers (Fiat/Stellantis mostly), whose strategy has been to defend combustion engines and mild-hybrid technology rather than electrify the offer. Remarkably, the companies that lobbied hardest for protection are often the ones that suffered most — not from electrification, but from their own immobility. And the harsh lobbying of Germany, Italy and the EPP group in the European Parliament to water down the CO2 emissions rules won’t change that.
Since February 2026, fuel prices have risen sharply: +29% for petrol and +40% for diesel since the start of the year, with all-time records that led to all-time records EV sales. That acceleration that is visible globally will have long-lasting consequences not only on the automotive market but also the energy system. In France for instance, orders for electric vehicles reached close to 50% in September and the trend is visible almost everywhere (except in the USA).
This is the central point of this paper. Electric mobility is not just an engine substitution; it is the third pillar of a coupled, distributed energy system: charging your car from your own rooftop PV cuts the per-kilometer cost by 50–70% versus grid charging, and makes residential/commercial self-consumption more profitable. Adding a stationary battery absorbs the midday surplus and charges the car in the evening; add now Vehicle-to-grid (V2G) with bidirectional charging, the car becomes a mobile battery that stores excess solar and returns it to the building or the grid — turning every car parc into a flexibility asset that absorbs variable renewables.
Vehicle-to-grid is no longer a laboratory curiosity. In 2024–2026 it crossed into commercial maturity. Regulation has been unblocked in several countries, such as in Germany where the latest version of the Mispel regulation will allow bidirectional charging smartly and almost on a par with stationary batteries. Mercedes-Benz launched its V2G package for private customers in Germany in October 2026, and roll-out to other countries is planned. Renault is the French pioneer: the electric R5 is the brand’s first car with a native bidirectional on-board charger. Renault France now markets the full bundle with an electricity contract with “V2G Hours” gains. Other car manufacturers such as BMW, Ford and Volkswagen/Elli and BYD are following. Notably, Renault’s roadmap also shows the regulatory asymmetry at work: the R5 launched with full V2G capability in France and the UK, but without it in Germany, which was still awaiting its regulatory framework, a perfect illustration that the market moves at the speed of policy.
This will reshape distributed storage: a parked EV is a 60–100 kWh battery that sits idle 95% of the time. Even at low participation rates, the aggregate flexibility of a European EV parc of tens of millions of vehicles dwarfs any conceivable stationary fleet. The aggregation of captive fleets turns each charging session into a dispatchable resource. The system consequence is profound: the marginal cost of flexibility collapses, and the need for dedicated grid-scale batteries in dense urban areas falls accordingly. This could even challenge significantly the business of stationary batteries.
For solar investors, the era of “generate and collect” is ending. As negative-price hours multiply and captured prices fall, the value of a PV asset will increasingly be created by stacking several remunerated services on the same physical asset — and storage is the enabler.
The stack, from the fastest to the slowest timescale:
The numbers validate the model: revenue for a battery in Europe ranges from €40–65k per MW-year in single-market arbitrage configurations to €105–160k+ per MW-year with full multi-market stacking (FCR, aFRR, mFRR, fast frequency response, capacity payments). Germany’s Innovation Tenders go further still, paying a 20-year fixed premium on energy injected from hybrid solar+storage plants. The “solar+storage hybrid” is thus becoming the default design for new utility-scale PV: co-location shares interconnection and balance-of-plant costs, storage lifts the captured price, and grid services provide contracted, financeable income on top of merchant energy sales.
The revenue-stacking figures quoted above are a snapshot, not a trajectory — and the early evidence says unit revenues fall as batteries deploy. The perfect example is Great Britain: frequency services usually made up 80% of the BESS revenue mix in 2022, collapsing to 20% by 2024, with frequency-response prices falling roughly sevenfold as installed capacity outgrew the bounded technical need (the GB grid requires only 0.6–1.5 GW of Dynamic Containment at any time). The same arithmetic is now visible in continental Europe: battery capacity is on the verge of surpassing total FCR demand. Capacity markets are themselves a policy variable, not a constant: Poland’s December 2025 auction downgraded battery availability factors and cut total awards; Germany’s BNetzA grid-fee draft decisions still create uncertainty; and Spain’s brand-new capacity market (€800–900 million per year) has yet to prove that new batteries, rather than incumbent plants, will win the auctions. The decline in capacity prices could cause a sharp drop in BESS revenues, and that the capacity market “is not the definitive solution” for bankability.
Two implications follow for PV-plant strategy: business cases must be built on declining per-MW revenues from existing services, offset by falling battery costs and by the opening of new remunerated services (reactive power, inertia, congestion management  which are precisely the ones not yet saturated). This uncertainty is one more argument for integrating EV flexibility into the stack: adding V2G capacity expands the serviceable market without adding dedicated capex, and demand-side participation grows as legacy stacked revenues decline.
The bankability imperative is clear: services to the grid must be remunerated. Today, most system services (frequency control, voltage regulation, inertia, black start, congestion management) are still not properly remunerated across most of the EU.
The solar–storage–mobility trio must be designed increasingly as one system and will soon provide enough assets to levelized electricity prices throughout the day. The current imbalance between consumption of PV electricity at midday is a temporary situation: with low or negative prices, the market will adapt, and the fast development of BESS is clearly a consequence of that situation. The fast development of EV in Europe will accelerate this rebalancing and it is most probable that PV+BESS+EV will generate and dispatch most of the electricity needed during half of the year in Europe.
The winter challenge requires to further develop wind power, interconnections in Europe and long-term storage of energy, while PV will benefit at that time of the year, of high market prices, that BESS+EV will allow to be bankable.
The question of the bankability of PV+BESS might be helped significantly by EVs while the regulatory situation to support a clear remuneration of the PV and BESS fleet needs to progress fast. The creation of value for every kWh generated will be at the core of all discussions on PV+BESS business models in the coming years, with a fast evolving development of complex revenue stacking business models, having to be adapted locally, regionally and nationally with the increasingly diverse grid services remunerations put in place.
Author: Gaëtan Masson, CEO and Founder, Becquerel Institute.
Becquerel Institute is a strategic consulting and applied research company specialising in solar photovoltaics, storage and energy transition. Founded in Brussels in 2014, with regional offices in France, Italy and Spain, it provides strategic advice across all segments of the PV value chain including market trends, analysis of development conditions and political and regulatory frameworks, assessment of production costs, etc. Becquerel Institute applies this expertise to support companies in Europe, America, Asia and Africa, and is a recognised partner in European and international research projects. The company also actively supports international organisations and associations
The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own, and do not necessarily reflect those held by pv magazine.
This content is protected by copyright and may not be reused. If you want to cooperate with us and would like to reuse some of our content, please contact: [email protected].
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Home > ARENAWIRE > Silicon to Solar Plan: Australia’s manufacturing opportunities
Australia is a hub of solar PV expertise and a producer of many key raw materials, so what would it take to become a major manufacturer and supplier of solar panels?
One nation dominates manufacturing of solar photovoltaic (solar PV) panels and their components – China.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), China’s global share of all the stages of solar panels now exceeds 80 per cent.
Why? China has invested heavily in solar PV over the past decade – around $US50 billion over the past decade, or 10 times total European investment over the same period. It has also leveraged access to cheap fossil fuels and labour.
Manufacturing costs in 2021 were 10 per cent lower in China than in India, 20 per cent lower than in the US, and 35 per cent lower than in Europe.

China’s low-cost production advantage has brought the world benefits, such as a massive fall in the price of solar panels.
But the concentration of both manufacturing and resulting global supply chains also carries huge risks. And that particularly affects Australia because solar contributes a growing share of Australia’s electricity mix.
Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said Australia will need to install at least 120 GW of solar generation capacity by 2050, which is a four-fold increase on current capacity.
“To achieve net zero, the world needs more reliable supply chains to meet surging demand for solar panels and Australia has what it takes to be a major supplier,” Minister Bowen said.

A new $1.12 million Silicon to Solar study will look at Australia’s options.
Backed by a $541,640 ARENA grant to the Australian PV Institute (APVI), the study will examine opportunities for domestic manufacturing, diversified supply chains, and the policy options needed to achieve them.
Australian solar PV research and development is already world leading. A key solar panel technology, the PERC solar cell, was invented and developed in the University of New South Wales. PERC technology is core to more than 80 per cent of solar PV cells manufactured today.
Australia researchers have held the world record for silicon solar cell efficiency for 30 of the past 40 years.
And in March 2023, an Australian National University research team backed by ARENA funding said it had surpassed a significant 30 per cent solar cell efficiency target. The team’s breakthrough technology offers potentially lower production and operational costs.
Australia also has reserves of many of the raw materials needed to make solar panels.
For instance, solar panels require very high-quality silicon, which starts with high-purity quartz. Currently, a single quartz deposit in North Carolina, US, supplies much of the world’s high-purity quartz. The supply risks of that situation are obvious.
But a recently published CSIRO Australian Silicon Action Plan identifies untapped high-quality quartz (silica) deposits in Western Australia, Queensland, Victoria and the Northern Territory. The report highlights the potential to develop regional silicon production, create jobs and reduce supply chain risks.
The study brings together two strands of solar development: R&D and industry.
The Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics (ACAP) has signed on as a study partner, bringing with it extensive expertise in solar PV research. Other industry partners involved in the study include 5B, AGL, Aspiradac, Energus, Siemens, SunDrive and Tindo Solar.
ARENA CEO Darren Miller said the study will provide a path forward to more secure solar supply chains as the industry scales up dramatically.
“Low-cost solar generation will be the foundation stone of Australia’s net zero economy, so it’s vital that we have reliable supply chains,” Mr Miller said.
“With ARENA’s support, APVI will look at ways to secure our supply of the inputs into solar panels and find opportunities to reap the benefits of manufacturing at home.”
APVI project manager, Dr Muriel Watt, said “Australia has good working relationships with PV manufacturers across the world and is keen to develop diverse and sustainable supply chains as global and Australian demand increases.”
ARENA has also launched a white paper highlighting how ultra low-cost solar can unlock Australia’s potential to become a renewable energy superpower.
The key objectives of the paper are to elevate solar PV in Australia’s national priorities, and to identify and communicate key barriers and innovation priorities for ultra low-cost solar to government, industry and the Australian public.
ARENA has additionally committed $41.5 million to 13 solar PV research projects aimed at technological breakthroughs in ultra-low cost solar.
ARENAWIRE is home to news, analysis and discussion about the projects ARENA funds. Join the discussion by following us on social or sign up to ARENAWIRE to receive our E-news.

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ENNA Solar to acquire Medgidia solar-plus-storage project in Romania  PV Tech
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Minnesota has more than 100 closed landfills, but there is an approach to deal with the waste sites that also brings the state closer to energy independence. It involves repurposing these landfills into solar farms. The Anoka-Ramsey landfill has now been covered with nearly 9,000 solar panels that help power 750 nearby homes.
MPR Chief Meteorologist Ben Cathey spoke with the CEO of Conexus Energy, Brian Burant, and Hans Neve, a program manager with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, about how closed landfills can be transformed and what benefits they can bring to a community.
“Up front, people often say, ‘I don't want to live by solar,’” Burant said. “Then after the system goes up, we've seen housing development go all around it. And when the University of Minnesota came out and did some study and talked to those homeowners, they were happy to live by it. They now know what their neighbor is for the next 30 years. It's something that's silent. There's pollinator habitat and people tend to be happy to be living adjacent to a solar system.”
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India’s Solar Power Generation Reaches 20,176 Million Uuni As Renewable Energy Output Rises 22.81% In September 2026  SolarQuarter
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With Singapore’s new target of deploying 4 gigawatt-peak (GWp) of solar by 2035, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) is stepping up efforts to unlock more opportunities for solar deployment.
This includes identifying new spaces and applications for solar, making it easier for private residential property owners to adopt solar, and ensuring the power grid remains ready to support the increased supply from solar, EMA said in a statement on Tuesday.
To identify where and how Singapore can deploy more solar, EMA will collaborate with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (SERIS) to refresh the Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Roadmap for Singapore, building on the version last updated in 2020.
The refreshed Roadmap will assess solar deployment opportunities across diverse types of surfaces and help chart the pathways towards maximising solar deployment over the medium to long term, in support of Singapore’s higher solar ambition.
EMA is also taking steps to encourage greater solar adoption for private residential landed properties.
EMA and the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore (SEAS) have inked a Memorandum of Understanding to explore the development of a one-stop digital portal to make it easier for homeowners to adopt solar.
The platform aims to aggregate solar-related information and services, helping homeowners understand their options, connect with solar installers, and explore group purchase opportunities.
As solar adoption increases, the electricity grid will have to accommodate more electricity flowing from solar panels back to the grid.
EMA will therefore embark on a research collaboration with the Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) to study and map the capacity of local electricity networks, to accommodate more solar in landed residential estates.
This will help EMA better understand grid conditions, anticipate future needs, and plan ahead to ensure that the grid can keep pace with growing solar adoption.
“With Singapore’s land constraints, we need to make the most of every opportunity to harness solar energy. Strong partnerships will be key to unlocking more opportunities for solar, making adoption easier, and ensuring that our grid is ready to support its growth,” said Puah Kok Keong, Chief Executive, EMA.
JTC to pilot innovative solar solutions in industrial estates in Singapore

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Australia is now facing a solar waste crisis.
The International Renewable Energy Agency, the International Energy Agency and the Australian Government have all identified the issue of solar waste. In her June 2021 National Press Club address the (now previous) federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley described the problem

“The uptake of millions of solar panels across the country from rooftops to solar farms has been vital from an emissions perspective but the explosion of retailers and importers in the area, and the lack of an industry wide approach to collection and recycling means it also looms as a landfill nightmare.”
Over 3.3 million Australian homes now have solar panels, with the oldest of these now beginning to reach their end of life (approximately 25-30 years).
Due to Australia’s limited regulations, and domestic recycling capabilities, when solar panels break or reach their end of life they end up in landfill. Renewable energy laws such as the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000 have successfully accelerated the clean energy transition, however, due to their focus on deploying new renewable energy, these laws do not adopt a lifecycle approach.
To date there has been no Australian legal research on the subject and limited legal research conducted internationally. Associate Professor Penelope Crossley from the Sydney Law School addresses this research gap through her Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA).
“This market failure demands regulatory intervention to fundamentally reorient our regulatory framework governing renewable energy technologies,” said Associate Professor Crossley.
“Australia’s lack of a credible solution coupled with the significant scale, costs and benefits involved, means it provides a perfect test case for my new theoretical approach: circular clean energy regulation.”
Associate Professor Crossley’s project aims to design an analytical framework to improve both regulations and the recovery of solar waste.
This reorientation is urgently needed because up to 90 percent of our photovoltaic solar panels (commonly called a solar cell, a nonmechanical device that converts sunlight directly into electricity) go to landfill as toxic hazardous waste at their end of life.
Solar waste poses not only a serious risk to the environment, but also to human health; it contains cadmium and lead which are known to cause cancer, neurological and cardiovascular problems.

“Victoria is the only state to have banned solar waste from landfill, leading to reports of stockpiling by energy companies looking to avoid recycling.
“Circular clean energy regulation will be mindful of the complex regulatory environment in the energy sector and the challenging aspects of our geography, including the vast distances within Australia and access to recycling centres.”
The current cost of recycling each solar panel in Australia is $28,  roughly six times the cost of sending it to landfill ($4.50) .

This reflects the technical difficulties and high manual labour costs of stripping a typical solar panel with sufficient precision so its elements can be reused.
It also reflects the low values of the materials recovered from recycling; solar panels contain tiny amounts of valuable minerals, often in a film-like coating which makes them hard to extract.
This problem is not unique to Australia, with other major ‘solar powers’, including China, Japan, Korea and the United States, also currently struggling to achieve a commercially viable solution.
In contrast, the European Union legally mandated solar recycling in 2012, on environmental, health, and security of rare metal supply grounds. Amendments not only imposed a legal obligation to recycle, but also guaranteed sufficient scale to make recycling commercially viable.
However, the Australian context presents added difficulties, including long distances involved in shipping panels overseas for recycling; high costs associated with transportation from rural and remote communities; and the relatively high turnover of foreign solar manufacturers and importers due to the lack of a domestic solar manufacturing industry. 
When coupled with the lack of a legal obligation to recycle, these factors also explain why repeated efforts to encourage a voluntary product stewardship model in Australia have failed to gain traction. 
Solar waste contains critical minerals essential to the manufacture of advanced technologies which have been identified by the Australian Government as creating future security of supply issues, yet this has not received sufficient attention from the legal community.
“Our approach needs to shift from merely focusing on the uptake of renewable technologies to a more holistic lifecycle approach that encompasses the potential for recycling and critical mineral recovery at end of life, and principles of energy regulations,” said Associate Professor Crossley.
Many warranties for residential solar batteries are in breach of consumer law, according to University of Sydney and Public Interest Advocacy Centre research.

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Back-to-back project approvals for developer RES.
October 27, 2026
UK-headquartered developer Renewable Energy Systems (RES) was granted planning approval by local authorities in Northern Ireland and Scotland.
RES received its first consent for a battery energy storage system (BESS) in Northern Ireland.
The Mid and East Antrim Borough Council Planning Committee approved the 50MW Ballyross BESS, which RES said is strategically positioned close to the existing Ballyvallagh substation.
The developer said construction is expected to take about 20 months, but did not indicate when that might begin. Although it is RES’ first BESS consent in Northern Ireland, the developer is been active in the region, developing onshore wind and a couple of solar PV plants.
Last year, it submitted a planning application for a project up to 100MW BESS, the Machaire project, to be located near Rasharkin in County Antrim.
Last year, it submitted a planning application for the Machaire project, a BESS of up to 100MW near Rasharkin, County Antrim.
Related:Large-scale solar plant in Nottinghamshire approved by government, second one this week
Causeway Coast and Glen Borough Council’s Planning Committee was, when RES submitted its application, expected to decide the project by the end of 2025. However, planning portal documents show that consultations are still being heard, with the most recent responses received as recently as 16 October.
RES has also been granted permission for its 49.9MW Bonnyknox solar development at Fallaws Farm in Arbirlot, Scotland.
The solar plant will deliver local benefits that could include RES’ ‘Local Electricity Discount Scheme’, which provides energy bill discounts for properties located near the development. This is a relatively new approach that some developers are taking to improve local support for renewable energy projects.
The Bonnyknox solar plant will also enable the agricultural land on which it will be constructed to continue being used, supporting sheep farming alongside the renewable energy generation.
As with the Northern Irish BESS, RES indicated the duration of construction, 12 months for Bonnknox, but not when that will commence.
Molly Green
Section Editor, Informa
Molly joined the team in 2024 and has led coverage on the UK sites. Now shifting to a more global view, Molly is interested in how legislation shapes market dynamics, covering the intersection of policy design, investment patterns, and energy transition pathways.
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Copyright © 2026 Informa PLC. Informa PLC is registered in England and Wales with company number 8860726 whose registered and head office is 5 Howick Place, London, SW1P 1WG.

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World Bank Report Puts $11.4 Billion Price on Off-Grid Solar  Bloomberg.com
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Solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roofs of homes and businesses use energy from the sun to generate electricity cleanly and quietly.
Solar doesn’t generate electricity all the time, but it does generate electricity when it is needed most – during the day and during hot sunny periods when the demand for power (driven by air conditioners) is at its peak.
Another bonus of small-scale solar is that it generates electricity at the point of demand (i.e. where people live and work). This means that there is no need to transfer energy over long distances using expensive electrical infrastructure.
Australia is one of the sunniest continents in the world. Given a stable policy environment, there is massive potential for solar to make a significant contribution to electricity generation in Australia over the coming decades.
In 2023, small-scale solar (systems up to 100 kW) was responsible for 28.5 per cent of Australia’s clean energy generation and produced 11.2 per cent of the country’s total electricity.
Over 3.7 million households now enjoy the benefits of rooftop solar across Australia.
There were 337,498 rooftop solar installations in 2023. This resulted in the industry adding 3.1 GW of new capacity in 2023, the second highest annual total recorded behind the 3.3 GW set in 2021.
The medium-scale solar sector (systems between 100 kW and 5 MW) added 830 MW of new capacity in 2023, which was the sector’s best year.
There is now 3.8 GW of capacity in the medium-scale sector, with over a third of the total being added over the past two years.
The rapid growth has been due to shopping centres, hospitals, schools and commercial buildings installing solar to take back control of their rising electricity costs and increasing their focus on sustainability.
Authorised by J. Trad, Clean Energy Council, Melbourne

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Amid the global momentum toward net-zero emissions and clean energy transition, solar photovoltaics (PV) have become a solid cornerstone of Taiwan’s thriving green economy. To encourage domestic enterprises to continuously innovate, manufacture high-value-added products, and elevate the quality reputation and global competitiveness of locally developed solar technology, the Energy Administration of the Ministry of Economic Affairs established the industry’s highest honor—the Taiwan Excellent PV Award—in 2013. This prestigious accolade represents the gold standard of Taiwan’s solar sector: a definitive guarantee of exceptional quality, high efficiency, and long-term reliability.
To further propel domestic renewable energy development this year (2026), the Ministry of Economic Affairs established the Outstanding Diverse Green Energy Award. Within this framework, the Taiwan Excellent PV Award serves to incentivize green investments across all sectors, expand domestic renewable energy capacity, and drive sustainable industrial growth. Following a thorough evaluation process, the Taiwan Excellent PV Award has been integrated into the Outstanding Diverse Green Energy Award ceremony to create a unified platform that showcases and elevates the global market competitiveness of Taiwan’s PV products.
Leading the Future: Extraordinary Achievements Born from Rigorous Standards
The official results for the first-ever (2026) Outstanding Diverse Green Energy Award—specifically the Taiwan Excellent PV Award under the Outstanding Supply Chain Category—have been officially announced. Having passed multiple tiers of demanding assessments, the winning products prove their complete dominance in quality and reliability. Evaluation criteria for this year’s awards not only aligned with the latest and highest IEC standards, but also introduced intensified, highly challenging testing conditions specifically tailored to Taiwan’s harsh climate of high temperatures, high humidity, and frequent typhoons.
Innovations in Standard Setting: Across-the-Board Improvements in Terms of Environment Resilience and Cybersecurity
A major highlight of this year’s award criteria focuses on the comprehensive upgrades of product weatherability and cybersecurity protection standards:
Crowned with Glory: Winners of the Taiwan Excellent PV Award Revealed
Under such demanding test conditions, warm congratulations go to the following companies and their products for successfully passing evaluation to earn this year’s Taiwan Excellent PV Award:


^{The presentation ceremony for the 1st Outstanding Diverse Green Energy Award – Outstanding Supply Chain Category – Taiwan Excellent PV Award. (Source: Energy Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs)}
Taiwan Excellent PV Award: The Cornerstone of Confidence for High-Quality Selection
The significance of the Taiwan Excellent PV Award extends far beyond honoring outstanding companies: it provides system integrators and end-users with a trustworthy, high-performance, and high-reliability hallmark of quality. At the same time, it catalyzes technological upgrades and innovative R&D across the entire solar PV value chain.
The presentation ceremony honoring this year’s Taiwan Excellent PV Award recipients will take place on October 16, 2026, during Energy Taiwan & Net-Zero Taiwan 2026. This prestigious recognition serves as both a grand tribute to their dedication and inspiring proof of Taiwan’s solar PV industry continually striving toward the highest caliber. The Taiwan Excellent PV Award continues to lead Taiwan’s green energy sector forward with uncompromising quality. For upcoming event details and the complete winner list, please visit the official Taiwan Excellent PV Award website (https://ea03.moeaea.gov.tw/s0307/).

^{Winners of the 1st Outstanding Diverse Green Energy Award – Outstanding Supply Chain Category – Taiwan Excellent PV Award. (Source: Energy Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs)}
（Header Image Credit: Energy Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs; Caption: 14th Taiwan Excellent PV Award Ceremony; Source: Energy Administration, Ministry of Economic Affairs）
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Researchers at Central South University in China have investigated how the surface-protrusion density of silver-coated copper (Cu@Ag) powder particles affects the rheological properties and electrical conductivity of conductive pastes, aiming to develop high-performance, low-temperature conductive pastes without the addition of silver (Ag) nanoparticles.
The large-scale industrial adoption of Cu@Ag pastes remains relatively limited compared with conventional Ag-based formulations, mainly due to challenges involving long-term stability, oxidation resistance, processing conditions, and electrical reliability. Improving the performance of Cu@Ag pastes through particle surface engineering could therefore support their broader industrial adoption.
“Silver-coated copper core–shell powders have gained significant attention as promising alternatives to pure Ag fillers due to their lower cost, excellent electrical conductivity, and improved oxidation resistance provided by the protective Ag shell,” corresponding author Minggang Li told pv magazine.
The researchers focused on the influence of surface-protrusion density on the rheological behavior and electrical conductivity of Cu@Ag conductive pastes containing just 17 wt% Ag. They synthesized Cu@Ag powders with low, medium, and high surface-protrusion densities by adjusting the addition rate of silver nitrate (AgNO₃) during the coating process.
Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize particle morphology and quantify surface protrusions. The resulting pastes were screen-printed onto polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrates and cured at 200 °C for 15 minutes. Rheological measurements showed that all formulations exhibited shear-thinning behavior, while higher protrusion densities led to a significant increase in viscosity.
Higher protrusion densities also improved thixotropic recovery, with the final recovery ratio rising from 72.1% to 83.2%. In addition, the linear viscoelastic region expanded from 11.96 Pa to 23.34 Pa, indicating greater structural stability and resistance to shear-induced deformation.
The researchers attributed these improvements to stronger interparticle interactions promoted by the roughened particle surfaces. Electrical measurements also revealed a progressive reduction in bulk resistivity as protrusion density increased, reaching 0.72 × 10⁻⁴ Ω·cm for the high-protrusion-density paste. The improvement was potentially linked to more effective conductive contacts between particles during curing.
Notably, these improvements were achieved without adding extra nano-Ag particles. The findings suggest that surface-protrusion engineering could provide an effective strategy for improving the printability, structural stability, and electrical performance of low-silver Cu@Ag conductive pastes for photovoltaic applications.
“Since no additional nano-Ag was incorporated into the paste, combining surface-protrusion engineering with reduced nano-Ag loading in practical applications offers a promising and flexible strategy for lowering silver consumption and associated material costs in photovoltaic conductive pastes,” Li concluded.
The findings are presented in the study “Surface-protrusion engineering of Cu@Ag core–shell fillers for low-silver photovoltaic conductive pastes,” published in Materials Letters.

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Rooftop solar panels on the Bryant Community Center in Ann Arbor on Oct. 20, 2026. (Photo by Jon King/Michigan Advance)
Since 2021, Michigan lawmakers have drafted six community solar bills in the House and Senate under both Republican and Democratic leadership, but no bill has been passed into law. Two separate House bills and two tie-barred Senate bills are currently languishing in committee with no hearings scheduled. 
Polling shows strong support for community solar among Democrats, Republicans and independents alike. Yet despite that bipartisan appeal, Michigan lawmakers have struggled to advance legislation that supporters say could improve energy affordability and reliability in a state facing high energy rates and persistent power outages.
Community solar allows municipalities to develop small-scale solar projects that supply electricity to subscribers who cannot install their own panels because they rent, cannot afford the upfront costs or have unsuitable roofs. Subscribers receive credits on their utility bills for the energy generated, and some programs offer battery backup during grid outages. 
Senate Bills 518 and 519 were introduced by state Sens. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) and Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah) in 2025, with seven Democratic and two Republican co-sponsors. It was the second set of bills introduced by the senators since 2023. 
The legislation would require 60% of capacity to come from projects smaller than 40 kilowatts, and no project larger than 5 megawatts of solar. The bills contain broad language about energy affordability for ratepayers and labor equity for solar project workers. 

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State Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) introduced HB 4590 in June 2025 with 22 Republican co-sponsors. The bill directs the MPSC to establish rules and credits for community solar projects, including for low-income participants. 
House Bill 6041 was introduced this year by state Rep. Donavan McKinney (D-Detroit) and co-sponsored by 27 Democrats. The bill contains more specifics about environmental justice and prevailing wage protections, including a 40% set-aside for low-income households. Subscriptions must provide at least a 10% utility bill savings for standard residential subscribers and at least a 20% savings for low-income households.  
Neither the House nor Senate community solar proposals would override local zoning rules. 
McKinney represents Michigan’s 11th district, which includes northeast Detroit. In a phone interview with Michigan Advance, McKinney said he has personally experienced fifty power outages since 2022. 
“This community solar legislation provides opportunities for everyone, in particular to target underserved populations and over burdened populations when it comes to energy shutoffs and power outages. It provides more opportunities for people to produce their own energy in a clean, responsible way, and get some tax credits for it,” McKinney said. 
Michigan remains one of roughly two dozen states without a community solar program. 
A 2023 statewide poll of registered Michigan voters commissioned by Data for Progress found that 73% of respondents supported increasing the share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources. Rather than political ideology, the differences between lawmakers appear to center on who pays for the community solar assets, and concerns that these costs could be shifted onto nonparticipating customers. 
DTE and Consumers Energy contend that community solar programs would force nonparticipating ratepayers to bear the costs of community solar assets, although they declined to provide details on how this would be the case. 
In a statement to Michigan Advance, DTE spokesperson Ryan Lowry points to the utility’s own solar program MIGreenPower, which allows customers to support solar and wind energy “without having to spend tens of thousands of dollars on solar panels for their homes and businesses.” 
Subscribers of the MIGreenPower program can pay as little as $1 to access 21% clean energy. To achieve 100% clean energy, the average household would pay $155.52 annually. 
“It is important community solar proposals do not have the opposite effect of its intended purposes – raising costs for all customers,” says Lowry.
Katie Carey, director of media relations for Consumers Energy, echoed DTE’s concerns in a statement to the Advance. 
 “We support community solar policies that benefit customers, but we cannot support legislation that shifts costs onto customers who do not participate, particularly those who can least afford higher bills. Our existing community solar programs are designed so participating customers pay the full costs of the program.”
Consumers Energy has two community solar programs. Based on its published 2024 solar credits, the average household would pay approximately $578 annually to subscribe to enough Solar Gardens Community Solar Program capacity to match its electricity consumption.  
While subscribers of the utility-run programs do bear the full cost of the programs, they do not benefit from the lower cost of renewable energy. According to Lazard Inc.’s 2025 report, Levelized Cost of Energy+, unsubsidized utility-scale solar and onshore wind have been the lowest-cost sources of new electricity generation in the United States for a decade. 
Supporters of community solar claim that energy generated in small solar fields close to end users is less expensive than utility-scale solar because it does not rely on expensive grid infrastructure for delivery.
Dr. Laura Sherman, president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, believes that utility bias toward owning energy infrastructure is baked in. “Investor-owned utilities in Michigan earn ~10% return on equity for their capital investments, so they have a strong bias to own as much infrastructure as possible.”
Rep. McKinney believes that HB 6041 can’t get a hearing because elected officials take campaign contributions from utilities.
“I have to say, a lot of people’s decisions come down to who’s giving the money. It’s politics, and that’s why the utilities hate our legislation. That’s why they blocked it from a hearing,” he said. 
State Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R-Watervliet) chairs the House Energy Committee. In an email to the Advance, she denied that utilities had lobbied her to hold the bill. “I haven’t taken up the bill because I oppose the policy,” she writes.
Wendzel’s concerns about HB 6041 focus on who covers the costs of maintaining the electrical grid. If community solar customers are paid credits that are greater than the cost of generating the power, then the costs of maintaining the grid would be passed on to customers that do not participate in the program. Wendzel says that would be unfair because community solar subscribers also utilize the grid to deliver power.
HB 6041 proposes minimum savings for subscribers, including greater savings for low-income participants. Wendzel argues that requiring those discounts doesn’t establish whether the underlying solar generation is economical or who absorbs any shortfall. 
“Whatever the credit pays beyond what a facility saves the system has to be recovered somewhere. The bill doesn’t say who pays it, and it bars charging subscribers in a way that cuts into their savings. That leaves general rates, which every customer pays,” Wendzel said.
McKinney responds that the MPSC is responsible for ensuring that costs of the law would not be shifted onto nonparticipating ratepayers, and he plans to work with the commission to ensure the law is applied equitably. 
Community solar programs in other states demonstrate that cost shifting is a risk but is not inevitable, and depends on program design and on how the full value of electricity and grid benefits is calculated. 
A study commissioned by the state of Massachusetts found that its distributed solar incentive program, which includes community solar, delivered $1.49 in direct ratepayer benefits for every dollar spent, including savings for nonparticipating households, while Minnesota found that credits in its original community solar program exceeded the value of the electricity generated and redesigned the program to address cost shifting.
In 2020, the City of Ann Arbor adopted A2Zero, a $1 billion plan to achieve community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030. To help reach its goal, Ann Arbor voters authorized the creation of the Sustainable Energy Utility, also known as A2SEU, in 2024, the nation’s first renewable, supplemental energy utility. 
Rather than support the creation of off-site community solar facilities, the program finances, owns, installs, and maintains custom-built solar and battery systems at customers’ own homes and businesses. Customers remain connected to the DTE grid for any power needs that exceed the A2SEU system. 
Missy Stults is the director of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability Innovations, which led the creation of A2SEU. She would like it to serve as a model for other cities that do not have state laws that support community solar.  
“I don’t want to just solve this for Ann Arbor,” she said. “Climate change does not care if Ann Arbor solves this problem and we do it in a way that’s not replicable or transferable to anyone else.”
Passing community solar legislation in Michigan will depend on whether lawmakers can agree on a bill credit formula that saves subscribers money without shifting the burdens of maintaining the electrical grid onto ratepayers who do not participate. 
According to Sherman, customers will continue to pay a premium for renewable energy if utilities own the assets. 
“Utility-owned resources are often more expensive and slower to construct than third-party-owned resources,” she explains. “Allowing for third-party owned community solar with a guaranteed bill savings would correct that problem by removing utility profits and high costs from the equation.”
From Detroit to Marquette, Michigan Advance helps keep you informed. If our reporting matters in your community, help keep it going by supporting us today.
by Trilby MacDonald, Michigan Advance
October 27, 2026
by Trilby MacDonald, Michigan Advance
October 27, 2026
Since 2021, Michigan lawmakers have drafted six community solar bills in the House and Senate under both Republican and Democratic leadership, but no bill has been passed into law. Two separate House bills and two tie-barred Senate bills are currently languishing in committee with no hearings scheduled. 
Polling shows strong support for community solar among Democrats, Republicans and independents alike. Yet despite that bipartisan appeal, Michigan lawmakers have struggled to advance legislation that supporters say could improve energy affordability and reliability in a state facing high energy rates and persistent power outages.
Community solar allows municipalities to develop small-scale solar projects that supply electricity to subscribers who cannot install their own panels because they rent, cannot afford the upfront costs or have unsuitable roofs. Subscribers receive credits on their utility bills for the energy generated, and some programs offer battery backup during grid outages. 
Senate Bills 518 and 519 were introduced by state Sens. Jeff Irwin (D-Ann Arbor) and Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah) in 2025, with seven Democratic and two Republican co-sponsors. It was the second set of bills introduced by the senators since 2023. 
The legislation would require 60% of capacity to come from projects smaller than 40 kilowatts, and no project larger than 5 megawatts of solar. The bills contain broad language about energy affordability for ratepayers and labor equity for solar project workers. 
State Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) introduced HB 4590 in June 2025 with 22 Republican co-sponsors. The bill directs the MPSC to establish rules and credits for community solar projects, including for low-income participants. 
House Bill 6041 was introduced this year by state Rep. Donavan McKinney (D-Detroit) and co-sponsored by 27 Democrats. The bill contains more specifics about environmental justice and prevailing wage protections, including a 40% set-aside for low-income households. Subscriptions must provide at least a 10% utility bill savings for standard residential subscribers and at least a 20% savings for low-income households.  
Neither the House nor Senate community solar proposals would override local zoning rules. 
McKinney represents Michigan’s 11th district, which includes northeast Detroit. In a phone interview with Michigan Advance, McKinney said he has personally experienced fifty power outages since 2022. 
“This community solar legislation provides opportunities for everyone, in particular to target underserved populations and over burdened populations when it comes to energy shutoffs and power outages. It provides more opportunities for people to produce their own energy in a clean, responsible way, and get some tax credits for it,” McKinney said. 
Michigan remains one of roughly two dozen states without a community solar program. 
A 2023 statewide poll of registered Michigan voters commissioned by Data for Progress found that 73% of respondents supported increasing the share of electricity produced from renewable energy sources. Rather than political ideology, the differences between lawmakers appear to center on who pays for the community solar assets, and concerns that these costs could be shifted onto nonparticipating customers. 
DTE and Consumers Energy contend that community solar programs would force nonparticipating ratepayers to bear the costs of community solar assets, although they declined to provide details on how this would be the case. 
In a statement to Michigan Advance, DTE spokesperson Ryan Lowry points to the utility’s own solar program MIGreenPower, which allows customers to support solar and wind energy “without having to spend tens of thousands of dollars on solar panels for their homes and businesses.” 
Subscribers of the MIGreenPower program can pay as little as $1 to access 21% clean energy. To achieve 100% clean energy, the average household would pay $155.52 annually. 
“It is important community solar proposals do not have the opposite effect of its intended purposes – raising costs for all customers,” says Lowry.
Katie Carey, director of media relations for Consumers Energy, echoed DTE’s concerns in a statement to the Advance. 
 “We support community solar policies that benefit customers, but we cannot support legislation that shifts costs onto customers who do not participate, particularly those who can least afford higher bills. Our existing community solar programs are designed so participating customers pay the full costs of the program.”
Consumers Energy has two community solar programs. Based on its published 2024 solar credits, the average household would pay approximately $578 annually to subscribe to enough Solar Gardens Community Solar Program capacity to match its electricity consumption.  
While subscribers of the utility-run programs do bear the full cost of the programs, they do not benefit from the lower cost of renewable energy. According to Lazard Inc.’s 2025 report, Levelized Cost of Energy+, unsubsidized utility-scale solar and onshore wind have been the lowest-cost sources of new electricity generation in the United States for a decade. 
Supporters of community solar claim that energy generated in small solar fields close to end users is less expensive than utility-scale solar because it does not rely on expensive grid infrastructure for delivery.
Dr. Laura Sherman, president of the Michigan Energy Innovation Business Council, believes that utility bias toward owning energy infrastructure is baked in. “Investor-owned utilities in Michigan earn ~10% return on equity for their capital investments, so they have a strong bias to own as much infrastructure as possible.”
Rep. McKinney believes that HB 6041 can’t get a hearing because elected officials take campaign contributions from utilities.
“I have to say, a lot of people’s decisions come down to who’s giving the money. It’s politics, and that’s why the utilities hate our legislation. That’s why they blocked it from a hearing,” he said. 
State Rep. Pauline Wendzel (R-Watervliet) chairs the House Energy Committee. In an email to the Advance, she denied that utilities had lobbied her to hold the bill. “I haven’t taken up the bill because I oppose the policy,” she writes.
Wendzel’s concerns about HB 6041 focus on who covers the costs of maintaining the electrical grid. If community solar customers are paid credits that are greater than the cost of generating the power, then the costs of maintaining the grid would be passed on to customers that do not participate in the program. Wendzel says that would be unfair because community solar subscribers also utilize the grid to deliver power.
HB 6041 proposes minimum savings for subscribers, including greater savings for low-income participants. Wendzel argues that requiring those discounts doesn’t establish whether the underlying solar generation is economical or who absorbs any shortfall. 
“Whatever the credit pays beyond what a facility saves the system has to be recovered somewhere. The bill doesn’t say who pays it, and it bars charging subscribers in a way that cuts into their savings. That leaves general rates, which every customer pays,” Wendzel said.
McKinney responds that the MPSC is responsible for ensuring that costs of the law would not be shifted onto nonparticipating ratepayers, and he plans to work with the commission to ensure the law is applied equitably. 
Community solar programs in other states demonstrate that cost shifting is a risk but is not inevitable, and depends on program design and on how the full value of electricity and grid benefits is calculated. 
A study commissioned by the state of Massachusetts found that its distributed solar incentive program, which includes community solar, delivered $1.49 in direct ratepayer benefits for every dollar spent, including savings for nonparticipating households, while Minnesota found that credits in its original community solar program exceeded the value of the electricity generated and redesigned the program to address cost shifting.
In 2020, the City of Ann Arbor adopted A2Zero, a $1 billion plan to achieve community-wide carbon neutrality by 2030. To help reach its goal, Ann Arbor voters authorized the creation of the Sustainable Energy Utility, also known as A2SEU, in 2024, the nation’s first renewable, supplemental energy utility. 
Rather than support the creation of off-site community solar facilities, the program finances, owns, installs, and maintains custom-built solar and battery systems at customers’ own homes and businesses. Customers remain connected to the DTE grid for any power needs that exceed the A2SEU system. 
Missy Stults is the director of Ann Arbor’s Office of Sustainability Innovations, which led the creation of A2SEU. She would like it to serve as a model for other cities that do not have state laws that support community solar.  
“I don’t want to just solve this for Ann Arbor,” she said. “Climate change does not care if Ann Arbor solves this problem and we do it in a way that’s not replicable or transferable to anyone else.”
Passing community solar legislation in Michigan will depend on whether lawmakers can agree on a bill credit formula that saves subscribers money without shifting the burdens of maintaining the electrical grid onto ratepayers who do not participate. 
According to Sherman, customers will continue to pay a premium for renewable energy if utilities own the assets. 
“Utility-owned resources are often more expensive and slower to construct than third-party-owned resources,” she explains. “Allowing for third-party owned community solar with a guaranteed bill savings would correct that problem by removing utility profits and high costs from the equation.”
Michigan Advance is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Michigan Advance maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Jon King for questions: info@michiganadvance.com.
Our stories may be republished online or in print under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We ask that you edit only for style or to shorten, provide proper attribution and link to our website. AP and Getty images may not be republished. Please see our republishing guidelines for use of any other photos and graphics.
Trilby MacDonald is a journalist, nonprofit strategist, and grant writer advancing community‑led environmental solutions, equitable food systems, and land access across Michigan. Trilby was founding editor of the Ann Arbor Observer’s weekly news publication a2view, served as chief editor and staff writer for Current Magazine, and writes for the Ecology Center’s online environmental newsroom.
© Michigan Advance, 2026
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BEIJING: Chinese researchers have achieved a significant breakthrough in improving the efficiency and durability of flexible organic solar cells, developing a technology that could help address the problem of layer separation under high temperatures.
Researchers at the Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering have achieved a power conversion efficiency of 20.4% in organic solar cells, according to findings published in the scientific journal Joule on October 21.
Unlike conventional silicon-based solar panels, organic solar cells use carbon-based materials to convert sunlight into electricity. Their lightweight, flexible and potentially transparent properties make them promising alternatives for applications where rigid and heavy solar panels are difficult to install.
Potential applications include building windows, vehicle roofs, smartwatches and other surfaces that could benefit from integrated solar power generation.
However, maintaining the durability of organic solar cells under prolonged exposure to sunlight and high temperatures has remained a major challenge. Heat can weaken the bonding between different layers of a solar cell, particularly at the interface between the electrode and the solar film. This can lead to layer separation, potentially reducing electricity generation efficiency and shortening the device’s operational life.
The newly developed technology aims to improve the stability of these interfaces, helping the cells maintain their structural integrity and performance under demanding environmental conditions.
The breakthrough could support the development of more efficient and durable flexible solar technologies, expanding the potential use of solar power beyond conventional rooftop and ground-mounted installations.
If further research and commercial development prove successful, organic solar cells could offer new opportunities for integrating renewable energy generation into buildings, vehicles, portable electronics and other everyday applications.
The reported efficiency of 20.4% represents a promising development for organic photovoltaics, although their wider commercial adoption will also depend on long-term stability, manufacturing costs and performance under real-world operating conditions.

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OPINION
27 October 2026 · By Geoff Wilkinson
Architects are specifying solar systems on roofs without considering the fire risk implications, warns Geoff Wilkinson 
Within the next two to three years, most architects will find themselves specifying solar photovoltaic systems as a matter of course. Net-zero carbon ambitions, Building Regulations Part L requirements and client expectations have shifted the conversation from ‘should we have solar?’ to ‘where and how many panels?’ In most cases, the answer is on the roof. This means that architects need to start considering the fire risk. As principal designer, the responsibility lies with them, not the PV installer.
Across the UK, nearly 172,000 solar installations have been fitted since the start of 2026, with increases everywhere over the past 12 months. More than 19,800 rooftop solar panels were installed in July alone – equivalent to an installation every two minutes. At the same time, solar panel roof fires in the UK have risen 133 per cent, from 91 incidents in 2022 to 212 in 2025, according to a report by insurers QBE European Operations. QBE’s data shows most incidents involving a solar panel took place in residential buildings, with 102 fires in 2025. However, commercial and industrial property fires involving solar panels also rose from 2024 to 2025.
PV panels are electrical components, so the risk of fire can never be truly eradicated
A lot of the focus to date has been on the panels themselves, inverters, battery storage banks and damaged or faulty wiring. These are the causes of fires. However, architects need to consider not only that the products being tested are suitable but, as principal designer, also how a known fire risk can be controlled or mitigated so it does not spread disproportionately.
Here, considerations such as hidden voids beneath arrays, long cable runs and risk of animal damage are important risks to design out. Furthermore, evidence is emerging that panels placed too close to the roof surface can accelerate flame spread during a structural fire. Historically, roofs were primarily considered not to need fire resistance, unlike structural elements such as floors or walls. The focus was therefore on preventing burning material from an adjacent building fire landing on the roof and spreading the fire from one building to another. Architects will be familiar with this and the need for space separation between buildings – and for roof surfaces to have a BROOF (t4) fire performance classification.
The standards that apply are:
Key design considerations for architects are:
Many architects do not think about these issues during design. They specify solar PV, hand the detail to the electrical engineer and assume building control will check it. The result: installations go ahead with suboptimal fire stopping, inadequate cavity closures, or roof membrane penetrations that are not properly sealed.
PV panels are electrical components, so the risk of fire can never be truly eradicated. But the damage done if a fire occurs can be reduced by increasing the fire resistance of the assembly. A simple way is to use non-combustible materials wherever possible and install fire-rated cover boards between the waterproofing and insulation layer.
On your roof plans and sections, clearly indicate that any penetrations through fire-rated elements (ceiling, roof, party walls) will be sealed in accordance with BS 9414. Specify that penetrations in cavities will be backed by cavity barriers. If ventilation cavities continue beyond the panel area, specify how they are closed or fire-stopped.
Ensure that the design details presented to building control and the contractor are sufficiently detailed: sketch how the panels will be mounted, where penetrations will be and what fire stopping solution you propose. If building control raises a concern, address it in the specification stage, not during construction. If the building has complex roof systems – HVAC plant, cable trays, and so on – involve the M&E team early. Confirm that the solar mounting system does not interfere with ventilation, does not route cables next to high-temperature plant and does not create new fire paths between systems.
Geoff Wilkinson is managing director of Wilkinson Construction Consultants
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Vikram Solar Ltd announced that its 9 GW n-type TOPCon solar cell manufacturing facility at SIPCOT Industrial Park, Gangaikondan, Tirunelveli district, Tamil Nadu, is on schedule to produce its first cells in December 2026. The full 9 GW will be commissioned in phases thereafter.
At full capacity, it will supply high-efficiency TOPCon cells for the majority of Vikram Solar’s module production. The company said the facility will enable modules made in India from cell to frame for the country’s utility-scale, rooftop, PM Surya Ghar and PM-KUSUM programs where domestic content requirements apply, as well as for global customers diversifying their supply chains. The company intends to seek ALMM List-II enlistment for cells produced at Gangaikondan in due course.
The cell plant is the second of three phases in Vikram Solar’s integration roadmap at Gangaikondan. The first, the 6 GW module plant, was inaugurated in August 2026; and the third is a 9 GW ingot and wafer facility, which is board-approved and targeted for FY29. Within the cell phase, the capacity is planned to expand to 12 GW.
On completion, Gangaikondan will be one of the few sites in India where ingots, wafers, cells and modules are made together. The campus will provide more than 2000 direct and indirect employment. The facility is being developed through the company’s wholly owned subsidiary, VSL Green Power, on its nearly 200-acre integrated campus, where co-location shortens supply cycles, tightens quality control and lowers logistics cost.
“Cells are where the value, the technology and the risk in a module sit, and in December we start making them here. It is the most important step in our integration journey, and not the last: our roadmap runs from wafer to module, on Indian soil,” said Gyanesh Chaudhary, chairman & managing director, Vikram Solar.
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Australia has long been a global leader in the adoption of solar energy, with one of the highest per capita rates of rooftop solar installations worldwide. Solar power has become a cornerstone in the nation’s commitment to sustainability, contributing significantly to reducing its carbon footprint and reliance on fossil fuels. However, as solar panels reach the end of their lifespan, the issue of solar panel waste is rapidly emerging as a significant environmental challenge that could escalate in the coming decades.
The Growing Problem
The rapid increase in the adoption of solar energy, particularly residential installations, has led to the inevitable question: what happens to these panels once they are no longer functioning efficiently? Solar panels typically last between 20 to 30 years, after which their efficiency diminishes, making them economically unfeasible for continued use, especially in large-scale utility projects. This issue is already beginning to surface, with waste volumes from decommissioned solar panels expected to rise dramatically in the near future.
Research indicates that the challenge of managing solar panel waste is more immediate than originally anticipated. While earlier forecasts predicted significant volumes of solar panel waste would not materialise until post-2030, studies have revealed that the problem could begin to intensify within the next two to three years. This surge in waste is expected to be concentrated initially in major Australian cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide. However, by 2030, as large-scale solar systems near the end of their life cycle, the volume of waste will grow at a faster rate in regional and remote areas, posing new challenges in these less densely populated regions.
The Projected Scale of Solar Panel Waste in Australia
The numbers are staggering. This year the cumulative volume of end-of-life solar panels in Australia is projected to reach 280,000 tonnes.
The University of New South Wales, in collaboration with the Australian Centre for Advanced Photovoltaics, conducted a study on the end-of-life management of solar panels in Australia. The study highlights that the cumulative volume of waste from small-scale and large-scale solar projects will reach approximately 685,000 tonnes by 2030, with projections growing to 1.157 million tonnes by 2035. On an annual basis, waste volumes are expected to exceed 50,000 tonnes by 2025, potentially reaching up to 100,000 tonnes per year from 2030 to 2035—equivalent to approximately 1.2 gigawatts of solar capacity. Initially, most of the waste will stem from residential solar installations, but by 2035, large-scale solar farms are projected to contribute a greater share, with their proportion of total waste increasing from 9.8 per cent in 2023 to 22.9 per cent by 2035.
Figure 1: Projected cumulative PV waste in tonnes in Australia from 2022 to 2035, comparison between small and large-scale systems
Source: Scoping Study: Solar Panel End-of-life Management in Australia, March 2024
Where Will the Waste End Up?
One of the primary concerns with this growing volume of solar waste is how it will be handled. If not properly managed, these panels could end up in landfills, contributing to environmental issues. In Queensland, for example, despite the opening of the state’s first solar panel recycling plant in 2024, which can process 240,000 panels annually, an estimated 800,000 panels could still be at risk of ending up in landfill. Similar challenges are emerging in other states, and the need for robust recycling infrastructure is expected to become increasingly urgent.
While solar panels are made of valuable materials like aluminium, glass, silicon, silver, and copper, which can be recovered and recycled, the current methods of recycling are costly and inefficient. Recycling costs range from $500 to $1,000 per tonne, which includes transportation and the processing of materials. However, recycling is often more expensive than simply landfilling the panels—at about $2 per panel compared to $10 to $20 per panel for recycling. This disparity in cost means that many consumers and businesses opt for landfilling, as it is the cheaper option.
The Recycling Landscape in Australia
In Australia, there are two primary methods for recycling solar panels. The first, mechanical delamination, separates panels into bulk materials, which are then sent to existing material recovery factories for further processing. The second method, still in development, involves dedicated full material recovery facilities that are specifically designed for solar panel recycling. These facilities are expected to achieve higher recycling rates and generate greater revenue from recovered materials.
While recycling solar panels is technically possible, the country faces a significant logistical challenge. Australia’s vast size and dispersed population mean that coordinating the collection and transportation of waste from remote regions to recycling facilities will be complex and costly. The Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) is currently working to redesign the National Television and Computer Recycling Scheme to include solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. This scheme, set to be implemented by the end of 2025, will require solar manufacturers, importers, and all stakeholders in the solar panel supply chain to take responsibility for the end-of-life management of panels, helping to reduce landfill waste and promote recycling.
Turning Waste into a Resource
While the potential scale of the waste issue will be challenging, there is a significant opportunity.  A typical 20kg solar panel contains over $22 worth of recyclable materials, and by 2035, the study found there could be potential to unlock a cumulative material value of $1 billion. The transition to a circular economy, where materials are continuously reused rather than disposed of, is vital to addressing the growing issue of solar waste.
Australia’s approach to solar panel recycling can be expected to need to evolve rapidly to meet the anticipated surge in waste. More innovative recycling solutions, such as local recycling or reuse programs, are likely to be essential to avoid overwhelming landfill capacities. There will be a need to find ways to bring down the cost of recycling. Greater investment in recycling infrastructure and incentives for consumers and businesses to recycle solar panels are considered to be crucial to ensure that valuable materials are recovered and reused either in the production of new panels or other products.
Our Solar Report 2024 considers the emerging waste challenge along with the growth of rooftop installations and residential battery storage. You can read the report here.
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PLN Indonesia Power Services (PLN IP Services) said it is providing engineering, procurement and construction services for a solar project on Nusa Penida, an island off Bali in Indonesia, using modules made by PT Trina Mas Agra Indonesia (TMAI). The company did not give the project’s capacity, cost or commissioning date. PLN IP Services is a subsidiary of PLN Indonesia Power, part of Indonesian state utility PT PLN.
TMAI’s factory in the Kendal Special Economic Zone in Central Java began operating on June 19, 2025. It has 1 GW of cell and 1 GW of module capacity and makes 720 W tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) panels with efficiencies of up to 23.3%, according to Sinar Mas Group energy company PT Dian Swastatika Sentosa (DSSA). DSSA, whose subsidiary PT Daya Sukses Makmur Selaras is a partner in TMAI alongside Trina Solar and PLN Indonesia Power Renewables, said the modules reach local content of up to 60%.
Nusa Penida, together with the neighboring islands of Nusa Lembongan and Nusa Ceningan, runs as an isolated power system supplied mainly by diesel generation, according to state news agency Antara. Antara also reported that PLN Indonesia Power already operates a 3.5 MW solar plant with battery storage on the island, which came online in November 2022.
PLN IP Services linked the project to Indonesia’s 100 GWp solar program, which President Prabowo Subianto launched at Gilimanuk, Bali, on Aug. 25. Its first phase covers 14 projects in six provinces totaling about 5.3 GWp, and Prabowo set a target of 100 GW within three years.
Indonesia’s cumulative solar capacity reached 1.49 GW at the end of 2025, according to the energy ministry. PLN’s 2025-2034 electricity supply business plan 17.1 GW of new solar capacity.
Utility-scale deployment has lagged those plans. PLN’s supply plan called for 777 MW of utility-scale solar in 2025, but the largest plants commissioned that year were the 50 MW Nusantara and 25 MW East Bali projects. Fabby Tumiwa, chief executive of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), said that indicates a large gap between PLN’s planning and execution.
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Greater Noida, October 26, 2026: GREW Solar, one of India’s leading solar PV manufacturers from the Chiripal Group, concluded its presence at the Renewable Energy India (REI) Expo 2026, held from October 22–24 at India Expo Mart, Greater Noida. GREW Solar showcased its solar PV module portfolio and engaged with industry stakeholders on manufacturing capabilities, module technologies and the evolving requirements of India’s renewable energy sector.

Carrying the spirit of #BrewWithGREW, the company welcomed conversations with developers, EPC partners, channel partners and other industry stakeholders. Visitors had the opportunity to explore GREW Solar’s N-type TOPCon G12R DCR module, understand its product portfolio and discuss applications and project requirements with the team.

Also in attendance at the exhibition was Mr. Brijmohan Chiripal, Managing Director of the GREW Solar and Mr. Vinay Thadani, Director & CEO, GREW Solar and the leadership team of GREW Solar, marking the group’s participation in the advancement of the renewable energy sector.

GREW Solar continues to focus on expanding its manufacturing capabilities and strengthening integration across the solar value chain, with plans to scale module manufacturing and develop cell, ingot and wafer manufacturing capabilities.
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SINGAPORE (Oct 27): Singapore will update its Solar Photovoltaic (PV) Roadmap to support its new target of deploying four gigawatts-peak (GWp) of solar capacity by 2035, the Energy Market Authority (EMA) said.
The EMA said it would collaborate with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore to refresh the road map, which was last updated in 2020.
“The refreshed road map will assess solar deployment opportunities across diverse types of surfaces and help chart the pathways towards maximising solar deployment over the medium to long term, in support of Singapore’s higher solar ambition,” it said in a statement on Tuesday.
The EMA is also taking steps to encourage greater solar adoption for private residential landed properties to unlock more opportunities for solar deployment.
The authority inked a memorandum of understanding with the Sustainable Energy Association of Singapore to explore the development of a one-stop digital portal to make it easier for homeowners to adopt solar.
It will also embark on a research collaboration with the Energy Research Institute @ NTU to study and map the capacity of local electricity networks.
Meanwhile, the EMA has awarded grants totalling S$14.9 million (RM47.5 million) to four industry projects that will develop and test practical solutions across four areas to strengthen the resilience of Singapore’s electricity grid.
The EMA said the projects would improve the maintenance and operation of grid infrastructure, manage the impact of growing distributed energy resources, provide new forms of support for system stability and enable distributed resources to contribute more actively to grid operations.
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KP Group’s KPI Green OMS Pvt. Ltd. launched the SR 2000 V3.0, an advanced waterless solar panel cleaning robot for 1P tracker and fixed-tilt solar plants, at The Renewable Energy India Expo 2026 (REI Expo) at the India Expo Centre & Mart, Greater Noida.
Dust on modules quietly erodes the output of solar plants, and cleaning them with water is difficult in the dry, remote locations where many large plants are built. The SR 2000 V3.0 addresses both problems. It cleans without water, using a UV-resistant PBT brush that runs at 130 rpm to deliver a cleaning efficiency of 99.5%, while operating below 60 dB.
The robot is designed for single-axis trackers. Its ±25° body twist and 20 mm module undulation tolerance let it follow the table as the tracker moves, and four-wheel drive allows it to handle climbs of 25° to 30° and terrain slopes of up to 10°. It also suits fixed-tilt plants.
On a single charge, the SR 2000 V3.0 cleans up to 3,600 modules in one run, covering up to 6,000 metres at 18–20 metres per minute. Its LFP battery operates on a 24 V system, charges itself, and takes about six hours to recharge. Operators can connect to the robot over LoRa, LoRaWAN or 4G using the Modbus RTU / TCP protocol.
Built for harsh site conditions, the robot is IP65 sealed and rated C5 for corrosion resistance. It operates between −20 °C and 60 °C, works in winds of up to 15 m/s and, when docked with its mechanical locking engaged, withstands winds of up to 55 m/s. Measuring 2,700 mm x 450 mm x 350 mm and weighing 45 kg, it carries ISO, BIS and UL certifications and is compatible with trackers from NEXTracker, GameChange Solar and Arctech, among others.
Commenting on this, Dr. Faruk G. Patel, Chairman and Managing Director, KP Group said, “Solar capacity is growing rapidly across India, and keeping plants performing at their best over decades matters as much as building them. Dust is a constant challenge, and water is not always available where plants are located. With the SR 2000 V3.0, we have built a waterless, intelligent robot designed specifically for trackers, helping plant owners keep modules clean, protect generation, and reduce the effort of routine upkeep. Launching it at REI Expo 2026 reflects our commitment to practical, reliable technology for India’s renewable energy sector.”
Key specifications
Parameter
Specification
Application
1P tracker / fixed tilt
Cleaning method
Waterless (dry)
Cleaning efficiency
99.5%
Cleaning speed
18–20 m/min
Range/modules per charge
6,000 m / 3,600 modules
Brush
UV-resistant PBT, 130 rpm
Noise level
Below 60 dB
Power
LFP battery, 24 V, self-charging, 6 h charge time
Dimensions and weight
2,700 x 450 x 350 mm; 45 kg
Drive
4WD; 25° to 30° max climb; terrain slope up to 10°
Protection
IP65, C5 corrosion class
Wind tolerance
15 m/s operating; 55 m/s docked
Operating temperature
−20 °C to 60 °C
Communication
LoRa / LoRaWAN / 4G; Modbus RTU / TCP
Certifications
ISO, BIS, UL
Design life
20 years

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