Author: solarenergy
French utility Engie has acquired 100% of British electricity distributor UK Power Networks (UKPN) for a share value of £10.5 billion.According to Engie, the enterprise value of UKPN, which manages the electricity grid in London, the South East and East of England, is £15.8 billion. Engie said the acquisition is part of a strategy to strengthen its position in regulated electricity networks “to become the best energy transition company.”The acquisition also expands Paris-based Engie’s UK presence, making it its second largest country of operations.UKPN, a distribution network operator (DNO), has been owned for the past fifteen years by a Hong…
The Irish heating specialist has launched a high-temperature heat pump that delivers hot water up to 110 C and heating capacities from 100 kW to 370 kW for industrial and district heating applications. The system achieves a temperature coefficient of up to 4.63. February 26, 2026 Emiliano Bellini Ireland-based heating technology manufacturer Trane has launched a new range of high-temperature water-to-water heat pumps for industrial and commercial applications. The City RTSF HT heat pump operates in heating mode with source-side temperatures ranging from 30 C to 62 C and can deliver heat sink temperatures up to 110 C, making it…
By Martin McConnell February 26, 2026 Amy Harder, national energy correspondent for Axios and hosting the keynote panel on Thursday, February 19 at Intersolar and energy storage North America 2026opened the day’s discussion with an extremely blunt – and largely true – statement. “We live in fractured times, to say the least, with regard to virtually everything on this planet, including clean energy.” Since President Trump’s retaking of the Oval Office in November 2024, the solar industry has been on somewhat shaky footing. Federal policy changes like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) have eroded Biden-era renewable energy policies…
The Viennese company’s new battery storage system SALT 110 has a usable capacity of up to 110 kWh. The storage system is reportedly capable of 6,000 charge cycles at a 95% depth of discharge. February 26, 2026 Sandra Enkhardt By ESS news Salzstrom has unveiled a sodium-ion energy storage system for use in commercial applications. Salzstrom had previously launched a residential photovoltaic storage system based on its sodium ion technology. The market reaction to that system significantly exceeded Salzstrom’s expectations. Even before the market launch of its new battery storage system, the company reported strong interest from commercial and industrial…
British perovskite solar company Oxford PV has signed a licensing agreement with US cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film module manufacturer First Solar.The non-exclusive patent license gives First Solar access to Oxford PV’s existing and currently pending technology patents in the US. The company said the license covers “the potential manufacturing and distribution” of perovskite products in the US and excludes crystalline silicon semiconductors.Mark Widmar, CEO of First Solar, said the license would allow the company to “continue to pursue viable routes for the production and commercialization of thin-film perovskite products,” and that it “reflects the confidence we have in our R&D…
Germany’s large-scale battery industry is urging regulators and grid operators to accelerate the approval of utility-scale connections as applications exceed available grid capacity. February 26, 2026 Sandra Enkhardt By ESS news The German “Large-Scale Battery Storage Cooperation Forum” was founded in August 2025 under the umbrella of the Research Center for Energy Economics (FfE or “Forschungsstelle für Energiewirtschaft”). This was caused by the many uncertainties and challenges facing the storage industry at the time: a real boom in grid connection requests for large-scale battery systems led stubbornly to severely limited grid connection capacity and overburdened grid operators. To structure the…
Swedish researchers developed two new single-axis solar tracking strategies that dynamically adjust the panel’s tilt based on the crop’s light needs, balancing photosynthesis and energy production. One strategy prioritizes integral daily light targets before moving to energy capture, while the other uses the light response curve to optimize photosynthesis, delivering improved dual-use efficiency compared to conventional tracking methods. February 26, 2026 Emiliano Bellini Researchers from Sweden’s Mälardalen University have proposed two new single-axis solar energy tracking strategies aimed at improving crop yield in agricultural voltaic projects. “We have embedded crop light demand directly into the tracker control, enabling dynamic prioritization…
Renewable energy produced more than a quarter of U.S. electricity in 2025 and was responsible for more than a third of newly installed generating capacity, according to a review of U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) data by the SUN DAY Campaign. SUN DAY expects solar, wind and battery energy storage systems to add 60% more electricity to the grid this year than in 2025. A solar installer stands next to an assembled row of single-axis solar trackers. SOLV Energy These findings come from EIA’s latest “Electricity monthlyreports with data through the end of 2025. Utility-scale solar thermal and photovoltaic deployment…
The New South Wales government in southeastern Australia has granted priority status to two large-scale pumped hydro projects, which provide long-term energy storage (LDES) to strengthen the reliability of the electricity grid. February 25, 2026 David Caroll By pv magazine Australia The New South Wales government earlier this month granted priority planning status to two pumped hydro projects, with a total capacity of 1.8 GW, with the aim of accelerating the assessment of proposals to strengthen the reliability of the electricity grid and support the transition to renewable electricity. Zen Energy’s AUD 3.5 billion ($2.47 billion) Western Sydney pumped hydroelectric…
By pv magazine USA First Solar reported its fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 financial results on Tuesday, highlighting annual net sales of $5.2 billion and providing guidance for 2026. The US solar manufacturer simultaneously announced a patent licensing agreement with Oxford PV to advance the development of perovskite solar technology. Importantly, expectations for 2026 were lower than analysts expected, leading to the price of First Solar’s NASDAQ-listed shares falling more than 12% in extended trading. During the company’s earnings call, CEO Mark Widmar discussed the reasons for the lower expectations, which he said were partly due to the company’s strategic underutilization…