Thursday, 24 September 2026

Solex Energy has confirmed plans to build a 5.2 GW solar cell factory in India, according to PV Magazine.

The company plans to invest INR 40 billion in the expansion. Alongside the cell facility, Solex Energy intends to establish 10 GWh of battery pack and container assembly capacity.

The combined program pairs upstream solar manufacturing with downstream storage assembly under a single capital plan, spanning cell production and battery pack integration.

Zelestra has started construction of the 38.5 MWdc Detershagen solar project in Rostock, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, according to reNEWS.

The site will comprise approximately 62,000 solar panels, reNEWS reported, and was awarded through Germany's EEG tenders.

Once operational, Detershagen is expected to generate around 40,200 MWh of clean energy annually and help avoid approximately 13,300 tonnes of CO2 emissions per year, per reNEWS.

Full commercial operation is anticipated by the second quarter of 2027, according to the same report.

The attorneys general of California and New York filed suit against the Trump administration on Tuesday to stop deals unwinding federal offshore wind leases, KTAR and Tribtown reported.

New York Attorney General Letitia James headed a seven-state coalition targeting two arrangements: the Invenergy buyback and a separate proposal with Bluepoint Wind, the developer that agreed in April to halt a project planned off the coasts of New York and New Jersey.

The administration announced in June that it would repurchase Invenergy's federal leases covering four projects sited on the East and West coasts. Taken together, the transactions would channel USD 1.4 billion in taxpayer funds to energy companies in return for scrapping several projects.

NTPC Renewable Energy Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of NTPC Green Energy Limited, brought two wind project segments in Gujarat into commercial operation on September 22, 2026, according to Event Registry filings relayed via equitybulls.com.

The fourth part of the Vanki Wind Energy Project at Nakhatrana, Kutch, with a capacity of 6.3 MW, was declared on commercial operation from 00:00 hours on that date. The same filing places the segment within the 1,050 MW wind component of the 500 MW REMCL RTC Project.

Separately, the first part of the Jamjodhpur Wind Energy Project at Jamnagar entered commercial operation from 00:00 hours on September 22, 2026 with a capacity of 50.4 MW, also within the 1,050 MW wind component of the REMCL RTC Project.

Following the additions, the group's total installed capacity stands at 10,977.23 MW, according to psuconnect.in.

India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas has issued operational guidelines covering all six components of the Rs 23,731-crore GOBARdhan scheme to develop the compressed biogas sector.

Under the pricing framework, producers will receive an Administered CBG Price of Rs 2,110 per million British thermal units.

The guidelines also introduce a Compressed Biogas Obligation on city gas distributors. Distributors must source CBG equal to 3 percent of relevant gas supply in 2026-27 and 4 percent in 2027-28, rising to 5 percent from 2028-29.

Larger turbine components, constrained vessel availability and port congestion are complicating construction and maintenance across offshore wind projects, according to Offshore Magazine, which reports that IMCA is working with partners worldwide to sharpen situational awareness, vessel suitability and incident prevention.

Offshore Magazine reports that rising vessel traffic, bigger turbine parts and expanding offshore infrastructure are pushing up operational complexity across the sector.

IMCA is developing safety and competency standards spanning walk-to-work personnel transfers, lifting operations, marine assurance and workforce training, according to Offshore Magazine.

The association is also pressing for practical decarbonization policies alongside greater investment in specialized vessels, cable-repair capability and offshore power networks, Offshore Magazine reports.

Solar module prices in the United States are spiking after the Trump administration's Aug. 6 Section 232 decision, according to research from solar and energy storage data firm Anza cited by Solar Builder.

The decision imposes new tariffs on polysilicon materials, a move Solar Builder said could have wide-reach effects across American industry.

Anza said the module market moved quickly from uncertainty to repricing in the month after the decision, with developers now rushing to secure lower-cost supply before a minimum import price takes effect.

Vertical solar is gaining a foothold in Canada, with East Vancouver-based VREC Solar deploying the technology across urban and off-grid sites, according to Solar Builder.

Norwegian vertical PV specialist Over Easy Solar completed its first commercial installation in Canada at Science World in Vancouver in April, Solar Builder reported.

The design case rests on generation patterns that differ from conventional tilted panels. Research from the University of York, cited by Solar Builder, found that vertical solar produced 26.9% more energy in early morning hours and 22.9% more in late afternoons than conventional tilted arrays over a full year of monitoring. The same research found vertical panels produced up to 24.52% more electricity in winter conditions.

SLPE, part of Smulders, has landed a contract from EnBW to engineer the wind turbine foundations for the 1 GW Dreekant offshore wind farm in the German North Sea, according to Offshore Engineer.

The scope covers concept engineering, front-end engineering design and detailed design of the foundations, the outlet reported.

Offshore Engineer said SLPE is also expected to support Dreekant through fabrication, installation and commissioning once the detailed design phase is complete.

Imported blue wafers arrive at U.S. solar factories with their P/N junction already formed, putting them closer to a partially completed cell than to a raw input, according to PV Magazine. The specialist outlet reports that these wafers typically carry the anti-reflective coating responsible for their blue tint, leaving metallization and other finishing steps as the main work still to be done domestically.

PV Magazine draws a line between two very different domestic operations. A U.S. plant that imports gray wafers and runs the critical cell-making processes at home covers a different manufacturing scope from a plant that imports blue wafers and performs only the remaining downstream finishing, the publication reports.

The policy concern flagged by PV Magazine is one of incentives. If nearly completed cells can enter the country as wafers and receive the same treatment as cells manufactured domestically from the initial stage, the market may reward finishing operations on par with more comprehensive manufacturing, the outlet writes. Over time, according to PV Magazine, that equal treatment could weaken the incentive to invest in the full range of capabilities the United States offers.