Thursday, 9 July 2026

Chinese solar maker Microquanta showed a perovskite-silicon tandem module built for building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) at the Smarter E event in Munich, Germany, pv magazine reported.

The launched unit pairs a perovskite top layer with TOPCon silicon cells arranged in a four-terminal setup, according to pv magazine. Engineers rated the design for strings running at up to 1,500 V and carrying 15 A.

On warranties, Microquanta covers linear power output for 25 years and product workmanship for 12 years, pv magazine reported. The specification sheet lists a 2% drop in the first year, then 0.7% each year after, leaving a guaranteed 80% of starting output at the 25-year mark.

Durability testing put the modules through front and rear static loads of 2,400 Pa, alongside a hail trial using 25 mm hailstones fired at 23 m/s, according to pv magazine.

Microquanta has track record behind the launch. Its 810 cm2 perovskite module cleared a 21.86% efficiency certification from China's National PV Industry Measurement and Testing Center in January 2025, pv magazine reported.

Production is scaling at a gigawatt-scale perovskite line the company is building in Quzhou, Zhejiang province, targeting mass production, according to pv magazine.

Sweden's solar sector is showing early signs of stabilization after two consecutive years of contraction, according to Ludvig Bydén of Svensk Solenergi, as reported by ESS News.

Utility-scale solar led the recovery. Installed capacity in the segment rose roughly 60% year-on-year, according to ESS News.

The recovery follows a policy change. Sweden removed the 60-öre (USD 0.06) micro-production tax credit that previously compensated surplus electricity exported to the grid, according to ESS News.

Demand is now built on a different foundation. "Today, the key driver is no longer subsidies, but resilience against highly volatile electricity prices," Bydén said, according to ESS News.

To support connections, Svensk Solenergi published a new handbook for flexible grid connections, aimed at improving transparency and encouraging the use of modern grid management tools, according to ESS News.

The stabilization marks a turn for a market that had contracted in each of the two prior periods, according to Bydén.

Export Development Canada facilitated $8.3 billion in cleantech business in 2025, with a substantial share going to renewable energy including solar, according to EDC spokesperson Anil Handa cited by Solar Builder. The agency has supported nearly $50 billion in cleantech exports to date.

B.C.-based Stardust Solar tapped EDC in June for $2 million in export trade credit insurance coverage on receivables tied to its 30 MW solar project in Zambia, Solar Builder reported. The $90 million project is being built for ZESCO Ltd, which signed a 20-year power purchase agreement (PPA) at 7 cents per kWh for the array's output.

In 2025, Innergex began work on the 200 MW Palomino Solar Energy project in Lynchburg, Ohio, expected to begin operations in 2027, according to Solar Builder. The project was supported in part by about $30 million in insurance lines that EDC has provided the company.

Leeward Renewable Energy, owned by OMERS, began commercial operations in 2024 at the 200 MW Horizon Solar Energy farm near Pearsall, Texas, Solar Builder reported. The facility supplies electricity to Verizon.

Vesper Energy has broken ground on its Nazareth Solar utility-scale project in Tulia, in northern Texas. The 201 MW project is expected to be fully operational by late 2027, according to Vesper Energy officials.

The project spans about 1,000 acres of private land adjacent to Vesper's 600 MW Hornet Solar site. Vesper secured a $236 million financing round for Nazareth Solar following Hornet Solar's performance.

According to Vesper Energy, Hornet Solar delivered more than $5 million in local tax revenue and 1.5 million MWh to the ERCOT grid in its first year of operation.

Nazareth Solar is expected to generate about $34 million in long-term tax revenue for Swisher County and enough electricity to power 53,000 Texan homes annually. Vesper Energy officials say construction will create more than 200 jobs for contractors across northern Texas.

The groundbreaking ceremony included a $30,000 donation from Vesper Energy to the Tulia Fire Department.

Germany awarded 482 MW of capacity in its latest innovative renewables tender at an average price of €0.0534/kWh, with final prices spanning €0.0475/kWh to €0.0559/kWh, according to ESS News.

The exercise drew 46 bids totaling 749 MW, and authorities selected 29 projects, ESS News reported. Every winning project paired a PV plant with energy storage.

Bavaria took the largest share of awarded capacity at 287 MW, according to ESS News. Schleswig-Holstein secured 53 MW and Brandenburg 51 MW.

The result tracks closely with the previous round of the same kind, held in October, when the Federal Network Agency awarded 485 MW at final prices between €0.0479/kWh and €0.0559/kWh, ESS News reported.

Prices have fallen sharply against an earlier round. In a tender held in October 2024, the agency selected 50 projects totaling 587 MW at final prices from €0.0674/kWh to €0.0745/kWh and an average of €0.0709/kWh, according to ESS News.

Equinor has decided to end its offshore wind business activities in Japan and close its Tokyo office by the end of 2026, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The company had operated in the market since 2018 but failed to win any leases in successive auctions.

Equinor said the decision reflects a reassessment of its strategic direction, with a strengthened focus on integrated power markets, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

The withdrawal follows a broader pullback in the company's renewables portfolio. Equinor scrapped its 2030 installed capacity target on June 16, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital. In May, the company cancelled its Bandibuli floating offshore wind project off South Korea, though it remains a partner in the Donghae 1 project.

Equinor has previously scaled back offshore wind development in markets including Vietnam, Spain, Portugal and France, citing rising costs, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. Orsted, described by the outlet as the world's largest offshore wind developer, exited Japan in 2024.

Other developers have retreated from the Japanese market. Mitsubishi Corp-led consortia pulled out of Japan's first three offshore wind projects last year, citing surging costs, in a setback for efforts to reduce reliance on energy imports, per Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

Once new small-scale solar projects enter the count, U.S. renewable capacity may surpass natural gas by early 2027, according to SUN DAY Campaign research reported by Solar Builder.

Through the first third of 2026, renewables led by solar supplied about 30% of total U.S. generation, Solar Builder reported, a stretch when overall electrical generation grew more than 10%.

Utility-scale solar added about 27.6 GW between May 2025 and April 2026, the SUN DAY Campaign says, with small-scale solar contributing another 6.5 GW across the same window.

The group's projection hinges on small-scale solar adding roughly 6,000 MW by May 1, 2027. On that path, renewable installed capacity would reach about 537,606.9 MW against natural gas at 515,744.9 MW, with solar alone holding 20.1% of the U.S. total.

Conventional fuels split three ways over the year-long sample cited by Solar Builder. Coal capacity dropped about 3.5 GW, nuclear edged up just 18.4 MW, and natural gas gained about 7.8 GW.

Battery storage is set to expand more than 47% by April 2027, roughly 22.8 GW of added capacity.

"The steadily accelerating march of solar, wind, and battery storage continues," said Ken Bossong, executive director of the SUN DAY Campaign.

Lent Hill Dairy Farm in Steuben County, New York, is powering an on-site cryptomine using biogas made from cow manure and food waste, according to Grist. The operation, run by Pennsylvania-based Ag-Grid Energy, is the first of its kind in the country.

The farm houses about 4,000 cows and uses anaerobic co-digesters to break down manure and local food waste into biogas, Grist reported. The project claims to recycle more than 45,000 gallons of food waste per day alongside the manure of the 4,000 cows, according to Grist.

Other operators are pairing digester gas with computing infrastructure. In California, Microsoft has partnered with Enchanted Rock to use renewable natural gas for backup data center power, according to Grist.

The digester sector is expanding. Vanguard Renewables, a portfolio company of BlackRock, is developing and operating more than 50 co-digesters across the country and aims to have more than 100 completed projects by the end of 2028, Grist reported.

The feedstock supply is large. Animals raised on factory farms in the United States produce an estimated 941 billion pounds of manure each year, according to Grist.

Not every project has advanced. After more than a year of community opposition, the town of Lind, Wisconsin denied Vanguard's co-digester application in the spring of 2024, Grist reported.