In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that January 2026 began with relatively mild, solar-favorable conditions across much of the eastern U.S., but ended with Winter Storm Fern, as a polar vortex disruption triggered widespread cold, clouds, and sharply reduced solar generation. A rare S4-level solar radiation storm was also recorded in mid-January, though it had no direct impact on photovoltaic performance or solar data quality.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

Norbut Solar Farms shifted from traditional US real estate development toward long-term land stewardship, generating renewable energy alongside crops and livestock.

India’s renewable energy industry is urging the government to use Union Budget 2026 to unlock stalled projects, lower financing costs, and accelerate domestic manufacturing across solar, storage, and grid infrastructure.

Renewable generation supplied more than half of Australia’s electricity in the fourth quarter of 2025, driving wholesale power prices down by nearly 50% and coinciding with record battery output, according to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO). Coal-fired generation fell 4.6% year on year to a record quarterly low, while gas-fired output dropped 27% to its lowest level in 25 years.

Solar Energy Corp. of India (SECI) has awarded 1.2 GW of renewables-plus-storage capacity, covering 4.8 GWh of daily peak supply, at a lowest tariff of INR 6.27 ($0.069)/kWh.

Rooftop solar installations in Australia declined sharply in January, with small-scale technology certificate (STC) volumes down 32% month on month after four consecutive months of growth, according to market analyst SunWiz. It says the result was broadly in line with seasonal norms and does not signal a trend for 2026.

Indian module manufacturer GREW Solar has won a 550 MW repeat supply order from an independent power producer (IPP), with deliveries of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) modules scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2026.

Industry leaders convened in Boston to tackle grid modernization and accelerate the region’s renewable energy goals.

Beijing’s new rule lets standalone storage earn fixed-cost payments for availability, not energy delivered.

Armenia enjoyed a record year for solar deployment last year, surpassing 1 GW of cumulative solar capacity. The market is currently led by autonomous solar producers, of which there are now more than 50,000 in the country.

Brookfield has appointed Santander and Barclays to manage the sale of X-Elio, valued at more than €4 billion ($4.7 billion) including debt. If completed, it would be the company’s second major divestment in Spain in two years.

Swiss startup Sun-Ways is testing removable solar panels installed on an operational railway line through a pilot project with French railway operator SNCF in Switzerland.

The 120.8 MW project, built by Lithuanian renewables developer Green Genius, is the largest single-site project in the Baltics. Work is currently underway on constructing a 50 MW/100 MWh battery energy storage system on-site.

Indonesia surpassed 1 GW of cumulative solar capacity in 2025, with an estimated 546 MW of added solar last year, led by deployments in the rooftop C&I segment.

The multi-project cluster includes the world’s largest single-site electrochemical energy storage facility: the 4 GWh Envision Jingyi Chagan Hada Energy Storage Power Station.

Xilia Group has introduced composite frames for solar modules made from glass fiber–reinforced polyurethane. The company says the frames reduce weight, resist corrosion, and eliminate the need for grounding.

German researchers have developed a sodium-ion battery technology using lignin-based hard carbon as the negative electrode. The 1 Ah battery cell prototype showed no significant degradation after 100 charging and discharging cycles.

The company’s new ASTRO N7 Pro PV modules achieve 2% higher cumulative energy yield over the project lifecycle compared to conventional previous-generation modules, according to Astronergy Head of Global Product Management Baohua He.

German inverter and battery manufacturer SMA Solar Technology AG has unveiled a modular lithium iron phosphate battery system for commercial and industrial applications, with capacities ranging from 89 kWh to 197 kWh and integrated cybersecurity features.

Tariff reductions under the new U.S.-India trade agreement lower import costs for solar modules and energy storage components. Reciprocal tariffs were effectively reduced from 50% to 18%.

The Chinese PV equipment provider said the result was certified by Germany’s Institute for Solar Energy Research in Hamelin (ISFH). The cell was fabricated with Maxwell’s in-house heterojunction production-line equipment and an end-to-end process flow.

Chinese researchers have demonstrated a single-step submicron structured surface texturing process that improved the absolute efficiency of a TOPCon solar cell by 1% through broadband anti-reflection and lower electrical resistance. The cell-level performance was validated in laboratory and outdoor tests.

Module quality, reliability, and proven field performance are at the core of bankability assessments and investment decisions for solar PV projects, according to Chao Jia, President of LONGi Europe for DG. He says this is why advanced module technologies like back contact are gaining relevance.

The WTO ruled that U.S. clean energy tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act violate international trade rules by giving domestic products preferential treatment over Chinese goods. The decision specifically targets the ITC and PTC Domestic Content Bonus Credits.

Rystad Energy says it expects global battery energy storage system (BESS) additions to exceed 130 GW/350 GWh in 2026, led by China, the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany.

The government of the Philippines has announced a series of reforms to its net-metering scheme, including faster permitting, the introduction of multi-site and aggregate net-metering, as well as allowing qualified end users to retain ownership of Renewable Energy Certificates for trade on the Renewable Energy Market.

The Chinese manufacturer will supply 5.5 GWh of energy storage products to Saudi Arabia and another 6 GWh to Egypt, as it works to expand its global footprint.

Indian solar manufacturer Loom Solar has launched a 125 kW/261 kWh CAML battery energy storage system (BESS) for commercial and industrial (C&I) applications. The BESS is scalable up to 1 MWh.

The 100 MW/200 MWh battery energy storage project in Kiisa began operation on Feb. 3 as scheduled – just two weeks after a testing fault at the facility caused the most significant disturbance to the regional power grid since Estonia’s desynchronization from the Russian electricity system.