Tuesday, 15 September 2026

GameChange Solar Corp. filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Nextpower Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware on September 9, according to PV Magazine.

The countersuit responds to legal proceedings Nextpower initiated against GameChange on June 1, PV Magazine reported.

GameChange alleges that Nextpower's NX Horizon with Hail Pro single-axis tracker infringes U.S. Patent 12,449,161, which covers high-tilt wind and hail stow technology, per PV Magazine.

Nextpower's original complaint claimed that GameChange's Genius Tracker system and TrueCapture software infringed three patents covering self-powered tracking architecture, according to PV Magazine.

The Delaware federal court has scheduled the trial for August 7, 2028.

The 10-year US Treasury yield topped 5% on Monday for the first time since 2023, according to Semafor Net Zero, as a widening Middle East conflict pushed oil prices higher.

The probability of a rate hike at the Federal Reserve's upcoming meeting this week edged above 90% on Monday, Semafor reported, following a hot US inflation reading.

The ECB raised rates last week, and traders expect the Bank of Japan to do the same on Friday, per the same report.

Branch Energy has closed a USD 33 million Series B funding round led by Piva Capital and Clean Energy Ventures, according to a GlobeNewswire release.

The round also drew Active Impact Investments and Whitecap Venture Partners as new backers, alongside existing investors Prelude Ventures, Zero Infinity Partners and Inovia Capital.

The company's Arc systems arrive by flatbed truck and can be installed in two days, per the announcement. That deployment window is pitched against grid interconnection queues in the United States, where completed generation projects now wait a median of more than five years from request to connection.

Branch Energy is extending its footprint from Texas into Illinois and other markets. The PJM territory, which overlaps with the Illinois expansion, contains roughly 1.2 million commercial buildings and accounts for 20% of US electricity demand, according to figures cited in the release.

European power purchase agreement prices rose 2.2% in August, according to Pexapark's Euro Composite Index cited by PV Magazine.

The United Kingdom led national moves with a 4.9% monthly increase, per PV Magazine, ahead of Germany and the Netherlands at 2.8% each and Italy at 1.6%. France edged up 0.2% while Nordic PPA prices fell 1.2% over the month.

Deal flow thinned sharply. PV Magazine reported 14 agreements covering around 335 MW in August, down from 24 agreements totaling approximately 1.1 GW in July. Corporate buyers signed 13 of the 14 contracts and took approximately 298 MW, equivalent to 89% of reported capacity.

Activity shifted toward flexibility. Eleven flexibility purchase agreements covered approximately 869 MW and 2.4 GWh of storage capacity during the month, according to PV Magazine. Four merchant revenue-sharing deals totaled 374 MW, led by the 300 MW Iceni battery energy storage system in the United Kingdom, the month's largest single agreement. Vattenfall signed a 200 MW tolling contract for the Sirius project in the Netherlands.

Borr Drilling has agreed to sell its 51% stake in Mexican joint venture Perfomex to its longtime local partner, while keeping ownership of three jackup rigs currently deployed for Pemex, according to World Oil.

Under the deal, the local partner becomes sole owner of Perfomex and takes over management and operation of the Galar, Gersemi and Njord rigs, World Oil reported. Borr will continue to participate in the underlying Pemex contracts through bareboat charter agreements covering the three units.

The Njord is contracted through April 2028 with extension options, and the Galar and Gersemi are contracted through May 2030, according to World Oil.

The companies did not disclose a transaction value. Consideration is based on the estimated net book value of Borr's Perfomex interest as of July 31. The transaction is expected to close in September 2026, subject to customary conditions.

Ventura Offshore Holding and SED Energy Holdings have provisionally agreed to combine in an all-share deal, sealed through a letter of intent, according to Offshore Magazine.

The merged entity would sit on a contracted revenue backlog of roughly USD 1.3 billion, per the same report.

Completion is pencilled in for the first quarter of 2027, Offshore Magazine reported. Getting there depends on several gates clearing in parallel: fresh contracts starting on certain rigs, sign-off from shareholders and regulators, and Ventura Offshore's removal from Oslo Euronext Growth.

The combined group's top ranks would draw from both sides. Gunnar W. Eliassen has been put forward as chair. Guilherme Coelho stays on running Ventura Offshore, while Kurt M. Waldeland keeps the chief executive role at Energy Holdings.

Planted Solar, an Oakland, California-based robotics and software firm, has raised USD 31.8 million to scale autonomous solar deployment technology, according to Solar Builder. The round was co-led by Piva Capital and RA Capital Management Planetary Health.

The company is on track for more than 100 MW of project installations in 2026, an order of magnitude above the prior year, Solar Builder reported. Planted Solar estimates its project pipeline currently reaches more than 20 GW.

A next-generation installation robot called Sage will enter solar fields in 2026 with more than double the field productivity of the current fleet, according to the company.

Planted Solar completed the 11 MW Bowes Solar project in 2025. Its most recent project, a 28 MW site serving an AI cloud storage data center, went from initial calls to energization in ten months, Solar Builder reported.

The company frames the funding against global demand: 664 GW of solar was installed worldwide last year, per Planted Solar.