Articles written by Mark Hutchins

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Applications & Installations
Holistic approach wins for agrivoltaics There is growing interest across many regions in integrating solar installations into land already being used for agriculture. Lessons learned from early projects in both livestock and crop farming are stacking up. While best practices are emerging, it’s clear that each project requires an individual approach. pv magazine spoke with Jake Morin, chief product officer at Nextpower, about the state of the art in agrivoltaics.
Mark Hutchins
Jul 17, 2026
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Technology & Products
The swiftest route to scale US tandem cell startup Swift Solar acquired an extensive set of intellectual property earlier this year related to heterojunction (HJT) solar cell production from now-defunct manufacturer Meyer Burger. It is also now working with some of the experts who were key to developing the technology. pv magazine spoke with Swift Solar CEO Joel Jean and former Meyer Burger CEO Gunter Erfurt about the company’s plans to apply its newly acquired knowledge to manufacturing in the United States.
Mark Hutchins
Jul 16, 2026
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Markets & Policy
Avoiding IP issues Recent disputes involving tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) solar cell technology illustrate how patent enforcement can shape manufacturing strategy, constrain technology adoption, and create downstream ripples. Solar cell technology provides a useful lens for understanding how intellectual property (IP) risk operates across the US solar industry, as Isaku Begert, an associate at Marshall, Gerstein & Borun LLP, explains.
Isaku Begert
Jul 14, 2026
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Large industrial polysilicon facility in Oman.
Markets & Policy
United Solar completes $1.6 billion raise for Oman polysilicon factory United Solar announced financial close on a $50 million equity investment from the International Finance Corporation. With this, the company says it has completed the $1.6 billion funding for the polysilicon factory it is currently working to bring online in Oman’s Sohar Free Zone.
Mark Hutchins
Jul 13, 2026
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Technology & Products
Spain targets wafer production Spain-based Sunwafe is planning a 20 GW ingot and wafer factory. The project is progressing quickly, with a site secured in northern Spain and a €200 million ($232.6 million) grant, newly appointed CEO Michael Pinto tells pv magazine.
Mark Hutchins
Jul 13, 2026
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Applications & Installations
Notes from the field Across Europe, North America and high-latitude regions in Asia, agricultural operators face rising energy demand, volatile markets and increasing dependence on electrically driven processes. So why isn’t agricultural solar more popular? Based on her observations on an alpine dairy farm in Austria, complemented by additional insights from other farms in the region, Austrian agriculture consultant Maria Weissenböck finds there is a gap in approaches. Farms tend to approach solar as a risk management decision rather than as an energy transition measure.
Maria Weissenböck
Jul 09, 2026
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Markets & Policy
Who maintains Europe’s orphaned rooftop solar? Europe added 65.1 GW of solar capacity in 2025. It also lost 40,000 solar jobs – the first workforce contraction in nearly a decade, according to SolarPower Europe. Behind those job losses is a wave of installer insolvencies that is creating a problem the industry has been slow to acknowledge: a growing population of residential solar systems with no warranty support, no maintenance provider, and no monitoring.
Ben Hayden
Jul 08, 2026
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Markets & Policy
US solar trade and residential market continues to tighten Following the recent Trump-Xi meeting, our industry checks suggest there is little indication that proposed Section 232 actions on polysilicon are at risk of being withdrawn. Most market participants continue to expect the policy framework to move forward, although potentially at a lower tariff rate than initially anticipated. Industry contacts generally do not believe solar-specific trade policy was meaningfully addressed during the summit, with broader anti-China trade positioning still expected to continue.
Jesse Pichel and Lev Seleznov
Jul 07, 2026
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Applications & Installations
Documenting risk PV projects rarely fail because of vision, permitting or demand issues. They fail because of missing proof. Documentation gaps are becoming a key source of financing and execution risk. Intertek CEA Chief operating officer Jeffrey Burkett sees a clear pattern across the market: technically sound and commercially viable projects are still unable to close financing. Not due to fundamental flaws, but because critical documentation was not built up along the way.
Jeffrey Burkett
Jul 06, 2026