EU to ban Chinese inverters? – Commission proposal in Cybersecurity mulls ‘high-risk vendors-list’
The European Commission is revising its Cybersecurity Act. While presenting the proposals in European Parliament, the commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said dependency on a very limited number of solar inverter suppliers could “pose a significant security risk.”
Solar to surge 49% as EIA forecasts 70 GW of new capacity by 2027
Utility-scale solar is set to meet rising data center demand in the United States as generation in Texas nearly doubles and battery storage capacity in the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) more than triples by 2027.
Enphase on how distributed energy assets could boost data centers
With data center demand rising and residential batteries evolving from backup power to grid assets, Marco Krapels, SVP and chief marketing officer at Enphase Energy, says the industry must shift from “save with solar” to “get Enphase, get paid.”
Pexapark records 24 European PPAs for 1.4 GW in December
Swiss analytics firm Pexapark says last year Europe’s announced power purchase agreement capacity and deal count fell by approximately 13% and 19% year-on-year, respectively.
Omani polysilicon factory reaches financial close
United Solar Holding has secured more than $900 million to complete the financing required for its 100,000 MT polysilicon manufacturing facility in Oman. Production is expected to begin during the first quarter of this year.
Global BESS demand jumps 51% in 2025 as installations top 300 GWh
Iola Hughes, Head of Research at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, tells ESS News that 2026 is set to be another strong year for BESS, with forecast additions exceeding 450 GWh and no material supply constraints in sight. Meanwhile, the initial impact of rising lithium prices is already visible at the cell level, but the full effect has yet to ripple through to system pricing.
Key takeaways from Abu Dhabi’s World Future Energy Summit
WFES 2025 in Abu Dhabi underscored growing momentum for solar, storage, and C&I renewables across MENA, with batteries emerging as a key enabler for grid stability, agriculture, and data centers. Industry leaders pointed to Iraq, Libya, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia as key growth markets, highlighting rising interest in AI-driven data centers, solar-plus-storage solutions, and a broadening regional supply chain.
Pakistan’s installed PV capacity estimated above 27 GW
Pakistan has imported over 50 GW of solar modules from China, including 18 GW during the country’s last fiscal year. In the absence of official installation figures, Islamabad-based thinktank Renewables First says up to 33 GW of solar capacity could have been deployed in Pakistan to date.
DK Electronic Materials client adopts copper paste in GW-scale cell output
China-based metallization paste supplier DK Electronic Materials says a major unnamed customer has adopted its high-copper metallization paste for gigawatt-scale solar cell production, combining copper paste with a seed-layer silver paste compatible with n-type and tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) 3.0 processes.
French IT services provider develops cybersecurity box for PV plants
France-based IT services provider Cyllene has developed the RC-DC4/5G “Cyllene Box,” a network device for PV power plants that manages multiple internet connections, encrypts data, and supports compliance with the European Union Network and Information Security Directive (NIS 2).
