Friday, 24 July 2026

Rayzon Solar and Navitas Solar have each signed five-year agreements with Caelux to develop and manufacture 5 GW of perovskite-silicon tandem modules in India, bringing combined planned capacity to 10 GW, according to pv magazine.

The hybrid tandem panels target efficiencies of up to 28%, compared with around 25% for conventional TOPCon modules, pv magazine reported.

Rayzon Solar said it will use its 11.3 GW bifacial module manufacturing platform to integrate Caelux's perovskite-coated glass into its TOPCon module production, according to pv magazine.

Commercial production of the hybrid tandem modules is targeted for 2028 for both Rayzon and Navitas, pv magazine reported.

Navitas Solar, founded in 2013 and headquartered in Surat, Gujarat, manufactures mono PERC and n-type TOPCon modules with power ratings of up to 720 W, according to pv magazine.

An 11 MW solar plant operated by Luxel escaped a wildfire in France's Pyrénées-Orientales with limited damage, according to pv magazine, after brush around the site was kept cleared. Around 100 of the plant's 43,500 modules were damaged, pv magazine reported.

The fire broke out on July 4 in Trévillach and later spread toward the Ille-sur-Têt area, burning across a front of nearly 18 km, according to pv magazine. It scorched approximately 5,000 hectares, destroyed several homes, and forced the evacuation of around 10,000 residents.

Damage at the plant was confined to two module arrays, pv magazine said, citing a video released by the Ministry of the Interior.

Luxel director Arnaud Ponche attributed the plant's resilience to regular vegetation maintenance at the site and within a 50-meter perimeter around the fences. "Clearing brush, particularly during periods of drought, is more essential than ever to help prevent such disasters," he said, according to pv magazine.

After the alert was issued, Enedis's grid control center disconnected the plant from the grid and shut it down, pv magazine reported. The operator said it follows fire prevention recommendations issued by the departmental fire and rescue services across all its solar facilities and highlighted the work of the approximately 800 firefighters mobilized during the wildfire. By July 10, half of the inverters had been brought back online.

Nearly two years after Hurricane Helene struck Asheville, the largest city in western North Carolina, many residents are still rebuilding and want to be better prepared for the next weather disaster, according to Canary Media.

The effort is taking shape in Emma, a diverse, mostly immigrant neighborhood just northwest of downtown Asheville, Canary Media reported.

French construction group NGE is taking a 50% stake in Fos3F, the serial production line BW Ideol plans for concrete floating wind foundations at Fos-sur-Mer, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The two partners have set up an equal venture to build the manufacturing facility in southern France, which would target floating offshore wind projects in the Mediterranean.

The partners have jointly bid for a 30-hectare site at the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille to house the line, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.

At full capacity, the plant would turn out around 30 floating foundations a year, equal to roughly 500 MW of annual offshore wind capacity, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital.

BW Ideol said the site is expected to supply more than 200 floating foundations between 2030 and 2037 and is projected to create more than 1,300 direct jobs around Fos-sur-Mer.

France's AO10 offshore wind tender is expected to lift the country's planned floating offshore wind capacity above 5 GW, of which 3.7 GW would sit in the Mediterranean, Offshore Engineer OEDigital reported.