Friday, 9 October 2026

Texas has installed nearly 54 GW of solar capacity and more than 29 GWh of batteries, according to pv magazine, citing records from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA).

The state is by far the fastest-growing solar market in the United States, pv magazine reported.

Most of that buildout is recent. More than 65% of Texas solar capacity and more than 85% of its batteries were installed since the beginning of 2023, according to pv magazine.

The Dominican Republic's national electric system will run a series of tenders covering renewable energy, battery storage and firm generation by 2028, Energy and Mines Minister Joel Santos announced. The minister said the tenders are aimed at safeguarding national energy security.

Prime Minister Mark Phillips will represent Guyana at a regional energy meeting in the Dominican Republic, according to Kaieteur News.

The Cookhouse Wind Farm Community Trust is pursuing a four-hectare greenfield development 7km outside Cookhouse in the Eastern Cape, according to GO! & Express. The project combines artisan training, retail and sustainable design, and aims to turn passing highway traffic into a permanent economic engine for Adelaide, Bedford, Cookhouse, and Somerset East (KwaNojoli).

In a separate development, developers of the proposed Morven Offshore Wind project launched a new round of public consultation on plans to connect the development to the National Grid near Seaham on the County Durham coast, according to the Northern Echo. The wind farm could power three million homes a year.

Researchers at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands modeled a 200 MW electrolyzer in the Rotterdam-Rijnmond industrial cluster and calculated levelized hydrogen costs of about EUR 7.2/kg to EUR 7.3/kg under power purchase agreement (PPA) and hybrid power configurations, versus EUR 7.7/kg with wholesale electricity, according to pv magazine.

The study compared wholesale electricity purchases, green PPAs, and a hybrid setup combining dedicated renewable generation with PPA-backed supply, pv magazine reported. All three configurations remained financially unviable without additional support.

The researchers found that long-term revenue guarantees are essential for the financial viability of large-scale green hydrogen projects, according to pv magazine.

Monte Carlo simulations indicated that a hydrogen contract for difference covering 100% of production over 15 years could improve project bankability by stabilizing revenues and reducing financing costs, pv magazine reported.

Pakistan's registered net-metering capacity is concentrated among higher-income customers in the best-served utility areas, according to a new study reported by pv magazine.

The country had 6.1 GW of net-metering capacity across 378,339 consumers by June 30, 2025, pv magazine reported.

In the better-served utility areas, the researchers said solar adoption is driven primarily by electricity prices rather than outages.

The pattern reverses where the grid is least reliable. In those parts of the country, unregistered off-grid and behind-the-meter systems dominate, the study found.

Fraunhofer ISE evaluated high-temperature heat pumps able to supply process steam at up to 160 C and pressurized hot water, according to pv magazine.

The technologies reached their target operating conditions in real-world settings when components, hydraulic integration, controls and operating strategies were properly designed and sized, pv magazine reported.

Since 2023, the Reallabor GroßWP project has gathered operating data from five large-scale heat pumps installed in German district heating networks, according to pv magazine.

Solar irradiance ran around 10% to 20% above average across the southern US states and much of Mexico during August and September, according to pv magazine analysis using the Solcast API.

A historically quiet Atlantic hurricane season and persistent high pressure brought sunnier-than-average conditions to Mexico and the southern United States over the two months, pv magazine reported.

The prolonged dry weather created conditions for solar-panel soiling losses to build across the region, according to pv magazine.

Tropical Storm Isaias formed in the Bay of Campeche and was forecast to become the Atlantic season's first hurricane before reaching the central US Gulf Coast, pv magazine said.

Researchers at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO) in Spain developed an optical configuration to reduce Boltzmann losses in organic solar cells and raise their power conversion efficiency, according to pv magazine.

The approach uses an optical cavity that restricts photon emission to a narrower angular range, bringing it closer to the range of incoming sunlight, pv magazine reported. The team tested it with an inverted organic solar cell based on a PM6 blend, placing the device in a cavity that suppresses photon emission at high angles while maintaining absorption of incoming sunlight.

According to pv magazine, the conventional Shockley-Queisser theoretical efficiency limit is 33.16%, based on the model's intrinsic loss mechanisms. By narrowing the emission cone to more closely match the angular range of incoming sunlight, efficiencies could in principle approach 43%.

Topsides and jackets for two offshore substations serving Germany's 927 MW Gennaker offshore wind farm have left the Netherlands for installation in the Baltic Sea, according to Offshore Engineer OEDigital. The shipment forms part of the OST-6-1 offshore grid connection project.

The two substations, OSS Zingst and OSS Darß, each have a capacity of about 450 MW, OEDigital reported. They will help connect Skyborn Renewables' Gennaker wind farm to the onshore grid operated by transmission system operator 50Hertz.

The structures sailed from separate ports. The topside and jacket for OSS Zingst departed from Schiedam, while the corresponding structures for OSS Darß left Vlissingen, according to OEDigital.

With both substations transported from their construction yards, the OST-6-1 project is moving into its offshore installation and commissioning phase, OEDigital reported.

Louisiana's offshore wind industry has fixed on a single date: January 21, 2029, the first day after President Donald Trump is scheduled to leave office, according to Grist.

Trump's policies have brought offshore wind development to a near standstill across the country, Grist reported, with his administration paying developers roughly USD 4 billion to walk away from projects.

Developers have relinquished 12 offshore wind leases in exchange for federal payouts, Madelyn Smith said, according to Grist. Those relinquished plans include a 2 GW wind farm in the Gulf of Mexico south of Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Industry leaders in Louisiana say they are trying to preserve their expertise and supply chain, with the aim of reviving offshore wind projects under the next administration, according to Grist.

JetBio plans to deploy new technology for commercial-scale renewable diesel production from ethanol at its USD 2 billion biofuels plant in São Paulo state, Brazil, according to The AgriBiz.

The technology was developed by Honeywell UOP and licensed to JetBio, and will let the same facility produce either renewable diesel or sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), according to The AgriBiz. The AgriBiz reported the capability could create a major new source of demand for Brazil's expanding ethanol industry.

Construction of the plant is expected to begin in 2027, with production scheduled to start in 2030, according to The AgriBiz.