Employment

Robots on solar sites are not new; they have been deployed to automate everything from operations and maintenance to inspection and cleaning. In recent months, there has been an uptick in interest in robots for installation, particularly among utility-scale solar developers dealing with staff shortages, safety concerns, rising costs, and pressure to build.

Smart Energy Week 2025 in Tokyo highlighted Japan’s shifting energy priorities, with officials promoting perovskite solar at PV Expo and companies showcasing solid-state battery tech at Battery Japan.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Brigite Gonçalves, Head of Utility-Scale PV Business Developer at Portugal’s EnergyCon. She says Women in the solar industry face unique challenges, such as underrepresentation in decision-making roles and the persistence of unconscious biases. “To achieve equity, the solar sector must prioritize structural changes, including accessible mentoring and sponsorship programs tailored for women,” she states.

Enphase Energy says it plans to restructure its operations, reducing its global workforce by 17% – about 500 employees and contractors – and closing its contract manufacturing site in Mexico.

Now that incentives from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) are well understood, global manufacturers are announcing factories in the United States to constitute much of the solar supply chain. While some plans have been scrapped already, and more cancellations are expected, the broader trend is unprecedented growth.

There may be a global solar boom but a drastic revision of California’s net metering program has ruptured the industry overnight and is affecting everyone from installers to financiers to makers of power electronics.

With the size of utility scale solar projects in the nation having ballooned, the lessons learned from South Africa’s first big solar field continue to help developers roll out PV as a key energy source.

The production of PV ingots and wafers remains the most highly concentrated of all the production stages in the silicon solar supply chain. Yet efforts to re-establish production in Europe and the United States are not for the faint-hearted.

Native American lands boast serious PV potential in the United States but getting projects off the ground hasn‘t always been easy. Different tribes are willing to take power generation into their own hands and the landscape could be shifting, thanks to funding from the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and other programs.