Wednesday, 15 July 2026

The National Energy Regulator of South Africa (NERSA) has granted licences to four solar projects with a planned cumulative installed capacity above 1 GW, according to pv magazine. Contracted capacity across the four projects totals 890 MW.

The licences were awarded under the Renewable Energy Independent Power Producer Procurement Program (REIPPPP) bid window 7.3, pv magazine reported.

Red Rocket SA will develop three of the awarded projects, according to pv magazine: Sculptor Energy at 278 MW, the 277 MW Springhaas Solar Facility 1 and the 206 MW Springhaas Solar Facility 6. The two Springhaas facilities are to be built in South Africa's Free State.

The final licensed project is the 288 MW Corona Energy facility, which carries a contracted capacity of 240 MW, pv magazine reported. Corona Energy is to be developed by France's Engie in the Free State.

With the additional allocations, the amount of solar approved under bid window 7 of REIPPPP now stands close to 5 GW, according to pv magazine.

South Africa's cumulative solar capacity now exceeds 10 GW, after the country deployed 1.6 GW last year, pv magazine reported.

The UK Secretary of State issued a decision on 8 July 2026 on the One Earth Solar Farm development consent order under the Planning Act 2008, according to the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The application was made by One Earth Solar Farm Limited, and the decision was issued by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero.

The project covers a solar photovoltaic generating facility with a total capacity exceeding 50 megawatts, according to the department's decision documentation.

The solar farm is proposed on land surrounding the River Trent in Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire.

The UK government has approved One Earth Solar Farm, set to be the second largest solar farm in the UK. According to the developer, the project could power over 200,000 homes a year, the equivalent of half the homes in Lincolnshire.

The approval marks the 30th nationally significant clean energy project approved by the government since July 2024. It is the 42nd nationally significant project approved during this Parliament.

Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the only way to have energy security is to take a pro-growth approach to building more clean energy in Britain.

Government planning reforms will scrap mandatory pre-application consultation requirements for major infrastructure projects, cutting up to 12 months from the planning process and potentially saving industry GBP 1 billion this Parliament.

Government data shows 2025 was the strongest year on record for solar deployment, with 269,000 installations completed across the UK.

Metacon AB secured SEK 111 million from Klimatklivet to co-finance a 10 MW electrolysis plant at Uppsala Vatten och Avfall's waste facility, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The grant covers about 55% of the SEK 202 million needed to build the plant at Uppsala Vatten och Avfall AB's Hovgården waste management facility outside Uppsala, Hydrogen Fuel News reported.

The plant aims to produce 1,480 tonnes of green hydrogen annually and cut 23,000 tonnes of CO2, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Metacon AB is a hydrogen tech company listed on Nasdaq's First North Growth Market.

Twelve of Algeria's provinces are set to host as many as 20 utility-scale solar projects under a 3.2 GW development plan now in progress, according to pv magazine.

The Africa Solar Industry Association (AFSIA) puts the country's tracked solar at 2.87 GW in its project database, with another 2.6 GW under construction, according to pv magazine.

Scatec's Yacine Boulfrad told pv magazine the company reached tariffs below USD 0.03/kWh in Tunisia and expects to match or beat that level in Algeria.

Sonelgaz plans an electric highway running roughly 800 kilometers to move power between the north and south of the country, according to pv magazine.

Boukhalfa Yaici, Director of Algeria Green Energy Cluster, said Algeria is "moving in the direction to receive international funds" after amendments to its financial law last year, according to pv magazine.

A flock of 100 sheep is now working the ground under a solar array that helps run Volkswagen's car plant in Poznań, Poland, Electrek reported. The animals graze among more than 31,000 panels at the site.

The array carries a capacity of 18.3 megawatts, according to Electrek. Berlin-based Quanta Energy handled construction and now runs the installation. Across a full year, the panels cover about 25% of what the Poznań plant draws from the grid, Electrek reported.

The grazing runs alongside a study led by researchers at Poznań University of Life Sciences, Electrek reported. Their work tracks the effect of the sheep on animal welfare, biodiversity, soil quality, vegetation, and the microclimate around the panels.

Experienced breeders will oversee the flock, which stays on site through the fall, according to Electrek.

Fervo Energy drilled Sawtooth 7, the ninth well built with its 3.0 well design at Cape Station for Phase II, from spud to total depth in 21 days, according to a company announcement carried by GlobeNewswire Energy.

The well reached a measured depth of 19,448 feet with a 7,500-foot lateral in a 460 degrees Fahrenheit resource, according to Fervo.

The drilling time marks a sharp reduction from the company's earliest work. Fervo drilled its first commercial well at Project Red, reaching a depth of 11,220 feet in 70 days using its 1.0 well design, according to Fervo.

Sawtooth 7 is one of the wells supporting Cape Phase II, a 400 MW development set to deliver power in 2028, according to the company.

Fervo CEO Tim Latimer said the company believes Cape Phase II is on track to deliver at $5,500 per kilowatt, and that Fervo remains committed to a goal of achieving $3,000 per kilowatt.

Cape Phase I is fully drilled and on track to deliver first power to the grid later this year, according to Fervo. That phase used the company's 2.0 well design, with 5,000-foot laterals, 7 inch casing at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Two pilot projects are demonstrating that hydrogen can power harbor vessels with zero tailpipe emissions, according to Hydrogen Fuel News. The outlet points to Zero Emission Industries' FCV Vanguard in California and the Port of Antwerp-Bruges' Hydrotug 1 as the working examples.

The FCV Vanguard runs on hydrogen fuel cells, while the Hydrotug 1 uses hydrogen combustion, per Hydrogen Fuel News. Together the two projects show that fuel cells and dual-fuel combustion can meet the demanding needs of quick marine craft.

Hydrogen Fuel News reports that the projects deliver zero tailpipe emissions with competitive efficiency.

Spain's Instituto Tecnológico de la Energía (ITE) has completed its HEDERA research project on green hydrogen production, according to Hydrogen Fuel News. The institute is based in the Valencian Community of Spain.

The project focused on Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolyzer degradation and flexible operation powered by variable solar and wind energy, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

HEDERA received backing from the regional agency IVACE+i, with co-financing from the European Union's FEDER program, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The share of Queensland households owning an electric vehicle rose to 15 per cent in 2026 from 10 per cent in 2025, according to RenewEconomy reporting on the Queensland Household Energy Survey.

The survey was carried out by Ergon Energy Network, Energex, and Powerlink Queensland, which interviewed 4,301 people about energy behaviours and attitudes across the state, according to RenewEconomy.

Interest in electric vehicles is running ahead of current ownership. Two thirds of participants who do not own an EV and are considering buying a new vehicle within three years said they were looking at an EV or hybrid, up from 58 per cent in 2025, RenewEconomy reported.

Ownership varies by region and age. South-East Queensland recorded the highest rate in the state at 16 per cent, while ownership among 35-54-year-olds statewide reached 22 per cent, according to RenewEconomy.

Finland's HELO project, a two-year initiative, began in mid-2026 to build a scalable green hydrogen value chain, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is leading the effort alongside the University of Vaasa and a group of industrial and government partners, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

The project aims to integrate green hydrogen production, storage, transport, and demand into an investment-ready value chain, according to Hydrogen Fuel News.

Polaris Renewable Energy has entered a 30-year investment agreement with CFE, the Mexican state utility, to develop three solar-plus-storage sites carrying 248.93 MWdc of solar and 61.6 MW/192 MWh of battery capacity, according to ESS News.

The sites sit in Quintana Roo, Tlaxcala and Sinaloa, with investment pegged at $217 million before grid interconnection and network upgrade costs are counted, ESS News reported.

Polaris' Mexican project entities and Banca Mifel, serving as trustee for CFE, executed the deal on July 3.

Los Girasoles in Quintana Roo anchors the portfolio at 132.57 MW of solar and a 33 MW/101.5 MWh battery, with an estimated $120 million cost and roughly 249,239 MWh of yearly output; Polaris targets commercial operation by Nov. 28, 2028, per ESS News.

In Tlaxcala, Solar Energía Tres Hermanos combines 91.06 MW of solar with a 22.5 MW/71.6 MWh battery. ESS News reported a projected 198,485 MWh a year, a $78 million outlay, and a startup date set for Dec. 1, 2028.

The smallest, Don Humberto in Sinaloa, pairs 25.3 MW of solar with a 6.1 MW/18.9 MWh battery. Polaris puts annual generation at 47,173 MWh and the investment at $19 million, with commercial operation planned for April 1, 2028, according to ESS News.

These three form part of the first tender under CFE's Mixed Development Program, which chose 37 renewable projects: 33 solar totaling about 6.71 GW and four wind totaling about 700 MW, ESS News reported.

The United States has three companies that fit the pure-play solar cell specialist category, according to pv magazine: Suniva, ES Foundry and TALON PV.

Suniva and ES Foundry are already running mass production, pv magazine reported. TALON PV is gearing up to begin production in 2027.

pv magazine argued that between 2026 and 2028 the US downstream solar community should concentrate on domestic solar cell production to build a sustainable manufacturing base, rather than speculating on early-stage raw materials.

Announcements and potential investments toward a fully integrated US solar photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing ecosystem have been abundant since the Inflation Reduction Act was announced in 2022, according to pv magazine.

Looking at companies likely to affect US cell production over the next five years, pv magazine named Corning and Tesla as two outliers falling into that category.

The assessment comes ahead of the Solar Manufacturing USA 2026 conference, scheduled for September 22 to September 23, 2026 in Austin, Texas.

Premier Energies Ltd has inaugurated a 5.6 GW solar module manufacturing facility at Seetharampur in Telangana, southern India, according to pv magazine. The plant lifts the company's total module manufacturing capacity to 11.1 GW, pv magazine reported.

Telangana chief minister A. Revanth Reddy inaugurated the facility, according to pv magazine. The Seetharampur campus spans 75 acres, the report said.

At the same site, Premier Energies broke ground on a 6 GWh battery energy storage system manufacturing facility and an aluminium frame manufacturing plant with an annual production capacity of 18,000 metric tonnes, per pv magazine.

The automated production lines can manufacture one solar module every four seconds, the company said. According to pv magazine, the new facility is equipped with G12R TOPCon module manufacturing lines and India's first Zero Bus Bar manufacturing unit.

A 6.6 MW agrivoltaic plant in Donnerskirchen has begun sending solar power directly into Austria's 16.7 Hz railway grid, according to pv magazine.

The project pairs single-axis trackers with organic farming and routes its output to the traction network without an intermediate conversion step. ÖBB describes it as Austria's first tracking agrivoltaic system built specifically to power rail operations.

Set on a seven-hectare plot, the installation should produce around 8.3 GWh a year, pv magazine reported. That volume matches roughly 32,500 train trips annually on the 60-kilometer route between Vienna and Eisenstadt.

Direct grid feed-in raises supply security and trims energy losses, said Silvia Angelo, board member of ÖBB-Infrastruktur AG.

Austrian Federal Railways (ÖBB) takes the electricity through its rail power network, while Esterhazy Betriebe AG keeps organic farming running on the same land. Burgenland Energie also helped develop the site.