Author: solarenergy

UK solar power stations without fixed price contracts will be offered voluntary long-term fixed price contracts from 2026 under a new ‘Wholesale Contracts for Difference’ regime. The policy aims to reduce exposure to volatile wholesale prices driven by gas. April 21, 2026 Matthew Lynas The UK government plans to offer voluntary difference contracts to all existing renewable energy producers without a fixed price contract later in 2026. Image: derek dye, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0 UK solar power stations without fixed price contracts will be offered a new voluntary long-term agreement as part of a wider government push to try…

The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) has unveiled measures to reduce the impact and volatility of the gas market on electricity prices, including an increase in the windfall tax on renewables. The most immediate measure will be to increase the windfall tax on renewable energy sources – through the Electricity Generator Levy (EGL) – from 45% to 55% from 1 July 2026. This is due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and its impact on the cost of living for households and businesses.Introduced in 2023, the EGL was intended as a temporary tax on older…

The Chinese company says the new product focuses on long-term storage, network support and deployment at GWh scale. April 21, 2026 Vincent Shaw Image: Rongke Power, WeChat By ESS news Alian Rongke Power introduced in Beijing what it described as the world’s most powerful single vanadium flow battery storage system, positioning the new product for long-term storage projects related to renewable energy bases, grid peak shaving and microgrids. According to a statement from the company, the new product is called TPower2000, with a capacity of 2 MW/8 MWh, and Rongke sees it as a step towards a more standardized supply…

United Solar Holdings, the parent company of USP, was founded in 2023 by founder and chairman Longgen Zhang, former CEO of Chinese polysilicon producer Daqo New Energy. The company, headquartered in the Middle East at Oman’s port and free zone in Sohar, has drawn up plans for a factory with a capacity to produce 100,000 tonnes of solar polysilicon per year – enough to cover around 40 GW per year of PV module production. The plant produced its first polysilicon in early 2026 and USP aims to have the plant running at full capacity by the end of the year,…

A group of researchers from Cranfield University in the United Kingdom have developed a scheduling model for residential heat pump operation that reportedly minimizes electricity costs while maintaining thermal comfort under time-varying rates and uncertain PV power generation. “In dynamic rate scenarios, the integration of PV generation strengthens the heat pump’s ability to shift load, as it gives the planner an additional low-cost electricity source off the grid,” said the corresponding author Banu Jektin Ekren told pv magazine. “Under dynamic rates, the optimization can coordinate three things at once: when electricity is cheap, when PV is available, and how much…

An international research team has developed an AI-powered robotic platform that autonomously designs, fabricates and optimizes perovskite solar cells, completing the entire experimental workflow in a closed system. Using the platform, researchers fabricated and tested more than 50,000 devices, achieving efficiencies of up to 27%. April 21, 2026 Lior Kahana An international research team has developed an AI-powered robotic platform capable of autonomously designing, manufacturing and optimizing perovskite solar cells. “The core of the research is the idea that robot experiments should do more than automate repetitive actions,” the researchers said in a statement. “Formulas and parameters are encoded into…

At the end of March, UK consumers were given the opportunity to own shares in the first community-operated battery energy storage system (BESS).The community energy offer represents a simple proposal: buy shares in the BESSwhich will be co-located with a solar power plant also owned by the community, and will receive a portion of the project’s profits. The extra profit is spent on community initiatives, focusing on information about renewable energy sources.Community ownership is a model that, in one form or another, has become more common in Britain and will be the focus of the current government’s £1 billion Local…

Tandem PV has opened a 40 MW commercial demonstration plant in Fremont, California, marking a significant transition for perovskite silicon technology from laboratory development to repeatable production at scale. April 21, 2026 Ryan Kennedy By pv magazine USA Tandem PV has opened a commercial demonstration plant in Fremont, California, marking a transition for perovskite silicon technology from laboratory development to repeatable production at scale. The 464.5 m² facility has a nominal annual capacity of approximately 40 MW and produces tandem solar panels approximately 60 times larger than the company’s initial research-scale devices. The company has reported internal test results of…

The Korean manufacturer said its new heat pump system can achieve a seasonal coefficient of performance of up to 4.9 when operating underfloor heating at low temperatures, and about 3.78 when operating at higher temperatures at 55 C. April 20, 2026 Emiliano Bellini Samsung Electronics this week introduced its new Eco Heating System (EHS) heat pump boiler for space heating and domestic hot water in South Korea. According to the company, the air-to-water EHS heat pump boiler can provide stable performance in cold climates. The manufacturer also states that the unit is designed to operate reliably in outdoor temperatures down…

California puts the sun to work on the heavy lift that keeps California hydrated. April 20, 2026 Ryan Kennedy Aerial view of the Edmonston pumping station Image: Tedder, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 By pv magazine USA The California Department of Water Resources and developer Calpine have brought the 105 MW Pastoria Solar Project online in Arvin, marking the largest renewable energy procurement in the history of the State Water Project. Located in Kern County at the foot of the Tehachapi Mountains, the facility uses approximately 226,000 solar panels equipped with tracking technology to follow the sun’s path. The project…