Policy

Thailand’s Ministry of Energy says it is advancing a community solar plan to add up to 1.5 GW of capacity through small ground-mounted projects selling power to local consumers at THB 2.25 ($0.07)/kWh under long-term contracts.

Italy’s Ministry of the Environment and Energy Security (MASE) says 747 projects have been selected under the nation’s first agrivoltaic program, backed by €1.7 billion ($1.9 billion) from European recovery funds.

The European Network of Transmission System Operators for Electricity (ENTSO-E) says new EU rules will make grid-forming functions mandatory for large-scale storage and renewable plants.

Last year, German network operators received 9,710 connection requests for battery storage systems planned for commissioning at the medium-voltage level. These requests correspond to a total of 400 GW/661 GWh. At the transmission network level, large-scale battery storage projects with a combined capacity of 51 GW have already been approved for development in the coming years.

TWAICE says California’s Senate Bill 283 will shift developers’ focus from hardware redesign to proactive documentation and data-driven safety compliance.

Brazil’s Ministry of Mines and Energy says it has opened public consultation for a 2026 battery storage auction to contract systems of at least 30 MW that can deliver four hours of power daily under 10-year agreements.

While solar modules and batteries have become icons of rapid progress, most energy models are still stuck in the past. A new global analysis shows that the cost of renewable energy has fallen far faster than expected. Solar PV, wind power, and battery technologies have already reached price levels that models once placed many decades ahead – a misplaced pessimism that risks misdirecting billions in climate investment and could distort long-term defossilization strategies.

Qcells says component shipments delayed under the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) have forced temporary production cuts at its Georgia solar manufacturing plant.

Italy’s 2026 budget law limits its “Iperammortamento2026” fiscal incentive to European-made heterojunction (HJT) and tandem perovskite solar panels. Experts say the move gives Italian manufacturer 3Sun a strategic advantage and warn that the exclusion of tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) and back-contact (BC) technologies could distort competition and create market inefficiencies.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Rosilena Lindo, Global energy and climate advisor and former Secretary of Energy in Panama. She says that gender equality is not a women’s issue, but rather a global development imperative. “The gender and energy dialogue has evolved. Women are not victims, they are agents of change,” she states.