Author: solarenergy
Austrian engineering group Andritz has signed an agreement to supply the pumped turbine units for a 500 MW pumped storage facility in South Korea, the country’s first new pumped storage project in more than a decade. January 22, 2026 Patrick Jowett Rendering of the new pumped storage installation Image: Korea Hydro & Nuclear Energy By ESS news Austrian technology group Andritz has been selected by South Korean industrial company Doosan Enerbility to supply its turbine units for the pumped storage plant in Yeongdong. The 500 MW Yeongdong project, which will be built in South Korea’s southwestern Chungcheong province, is a…
A report from McKinsey and Company says the relative ease of building out solar projects means the US and Europe are likely to meet their deployment targets by the end of the decade, despite current gaps in the pipeline of around 205 GW and 181 GW. January 22, 2026 Patrick Jowett The US and Europe are likely to meet their 2030 solar energy targets, despite current project pipelines being smaller than their end-of-decade targets, according to a report from global management consultancy McKinsey and Company. McKinseys “Tracking the energy transition: where are we now?” The report analyzes the trajectory of…
A new scientific review describes how a little-understood class of cathode materials for lithium-ion batteries could support safer, higher energy storage while reducing reliance on critical metals such as cobalt and nickel. Researchers have synthesized and analyzed recent global advances in cation-ordered rock salt, or DRX, cathode materials, which are emerging as a promising alternative to the layered cathodes that dominate lithium ion batteries in electric vehicles, consumer electronics and networked storage systems. Unlike conventional layered materials, DRX cathodes rely on a flexible crystal structure in which lithium and transition metal ions are randomly mixed rather than arranged in well-ordered…
Spanish tracker manufacturer Solar Steel has introduced an improved single-row 2P tracker designed to simplify assembly, improve standardization and support deployment in complex terrain, including agricultural voltaic projects. January 22, 2026 Pilar Sanchez Molina By pv magazine Spain Solar Steel has unveiled the TracSmarT+2P, an enhanced version of its 2P single-string tracker, previously marketed as the Compact model, and now also available in a dual-string configuration with row lengths up to 41 meters. The company said the new design builds on the original concept with changes aimed at improving versatility and adaptability for PV projects of different scale and site…
Global investment manager Quinbrook has sold its energy optimization business Flexitricity to Drax Group.The £42 million transaction values Flexitricity at £36 million, with a further £6 million covering estimated net working capital and cash adjustment. Completing the acquisition will require UK government approval and UK energy regulator Ofgem to review the transaction, but these are the only remaining conditions to completion.Quinbrook acquired Flexitricity in 2020 for £15.2 millionat which point Flexitricity had a contracted portfolio of 540MW of flexible energy assets. Quinbrook said it has since overseen the doubling of the company’s portfolio to approximately 1.3 GW of distributed capacity.…
Scientists conducted a literature review in six areas of agrivoltaic energy, taking into account sustainability, cover crop productivity, socio-economic resilience, solar energy generation, spatial efficiency and species. They found that, under optimal conditions, agrivoltaic energy could generate more than $1 trillion in additional global agricultural income. January 22, 2026 Lior Kahana Researchers from Western University in Canada have conducted a multi-dimensional study on agricultural voltaics and concluded that this form of energy production could help improve energy production. more than 1,800 million tons annually in global crop yields. “This research looked at agrivoltaic studies between 2018-2024 and synthesized them across…
Fujiyama Power Systems has begun production at its 1 GW solar cell manufacturing facility in Dadri, India, with all output intended for internal use to strengthen supply chain security and support domestic content programs. January 22, 2026 Uma Gupta Image: Fujiyama Power Systems By pv magazine India Fujiyama Power Systems, a provider of rooftop solar solutions in India, has started production at its 1 GW solar cell factory in Dadri, Uttar Pradesh. The company said the facility will fully cater to internal consumption, strengthening backward integration and supply chain security. The company currently operates 1.6 GW of solar panel production…
Electrical research and production cooperative (ERMCO), a manufacturer of distribution transformers, opens a new factory in Maricopa County, Arizona. The investment will create more than 500 jobs for the community. ERMCO The facility, located in Waddell, approximately 30 miles west of Phoenix, will expand ERMCO’s three-phase transformer manufacturing capabilities while exploring new manufacturing opportunities. ERMCO is trying to meet the demand for more energy distribution. This marks the first time ERMCO has expanded manufacturing operations west of the Mississippi River. Arizona is closer to major customer regions in the western US, reducing transportation time and costs for transformer projects on…
Scientists from the French research institute CEA-Liten have identified hydrogen migration in doped selective layers as the main driver of UV-induced degradation in silicon heterojunction solar cells. They also found that combined light and thermal light treatments can partially restore performance and improve long-term UV stability. January 22, 2026 Emiliano Bellini Researchers from the department of new energy technologies and nanomaterials (Liten) of the French Alternative Energy and Atomic Energy Commission have investigated UV-induced degradation (UVID) pathways in heterojunction (HJT) solar cells and found that light treatments that combine thermal and light activation gradually restore the selective conductivity of the…
Rising silver prices are pushing PV manufacturers towards copper-based metallization, with DK Electronic Materials targeting large-scale deployment of high copper paste solutions by 2026, while Fraunhofer ISE warns that efficiency compromises remain unacceptable. January 21, 2026 Lior Kahana Silver prices are rising, with $100 per troy ounce within reach, putting heavy pressure on the PV supply chain, where at current levels at least a fifth of module costs go to silver for cell metallization. Highlighting this trend, China-based metallization paste supplier DK Electronic Materials revealed that a gigawatt-scale customer will use its copper-rich paste for commercial production. “We expect 2026…