Magazine Archive

Demand in the US solar market remained broadly stable in 2025, but the supply-side landscape told a markedly different story. Shipments to the United States from major vertically integrated module manufacturers plunged by more than 40% year on year in the first half. Analysis from InfoLink’s Alan Tu reveals that the challenge lies not in end-market demand, but in whether supply chains can effectively function under current conditions.

Securing connection to the grid has increasingly become a bottleneck for solar and energy storage projects, partly due to short supply of transformers and other vital components. Manufacturing expansions are moving ahead but will take time. Renewable energy companies are making investments in the grid equipment space, both to secure connections for their own projects and to take advantage of a market that’s expected to see significant growth out to 2030 and beyond.

Demand for gas turbines has never been higher, with an anticipated spike in future energy demand filling order books for years to come. Complex engineering makes expanding manufacturing capacity tough, but can solar and energy storage plug the gaps left by gas?

As vertical PV innovators make inroads with their proprietary solutions, including projects in locations with snowy winters, pv magazine looks at four providers: Helioplant, an Austrian solution for high-elevation PV sites, Norway’s Over Easy, Germany-based Next2Sun, and pv magazine Deutschland Top Innovation 2024 prize winner Solyco.

Brad Heavner, Executive Director, California Solar and Storage Association argues distributed solar paired with storage can ease congestion on the grid.

While silver prices are skyrocketing and new solar cell technologies demand more of the precious metal, researchers are exploring ways to reduce or even eliminate silver from PV manufacturing. With copper, aluminum, or nickel on the front and rear of cells, novel metallization strategies are achieving silver-level efficiencies, and manufacturers are taking note.

Sweeping import tariffs and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) made waves for the US clean energy industry in a tempestuous 2025. While solar developers chase safe harboring deadlines, US energy storage manufacturing could benefit from rules that encourage onshoring, provided there is policy certainty to bank on, as Phoebe Skok reports.

How PV modules are treated at the end of their life is an increasingly important issue, but some recycling practices leave a lot to be desired. Scott Azevedo from Intertek CEA explores how asking the right questions, paying closer attention to end-of-life treatment, and steering volume toward good recyclers can have positive long-term consequences for the solar industry.

Policy decisions from China to the United States could have a major impact in 2026, while grid bottlenecks continue to obstruct progress. Despite this, solar pushes on.