Canal Solar reports, on 4/11/2026, that limits on grid connection and on exporting surplus power are pushing companies and rural producers to Zero Grid, in which the control system curtails generation so as not to inject energy into the grid.
Ex-tariff exemptions for photovoltaic inverters were revoked by Gecex Resolution 573/2024. The Economic Development Committee of Brazil's Chamber of Deputies approved PDL 107/24, which suspends that rule, Canal Solar reported on 3 November 2026.
Stadtentwässerung Stuttgart announced on 29/10/2026 a retractable PV roof over the aeration tanks of the Mühlhausen main treatment plant: 2,745 kWp in 5,280 modules and 120 movable groups about 5 m above the tanks.
Until now, heterojunction (HJT) solar cells have relied on indium-based transparent electrodes. According to pv magazine on 29/10/2026, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences, with Dinto Solar and Anhui Huasun, reached 24.92% efficiency by replacing that electrode with gallium-doped zinc…
Until now, cleaning the panel on a solar streetlight meant sending a crew. Clodesun presents an integrated solar luminaire with self-cleaning, shown in a video by The Energy Shift: a bar travels across the module on top of the fixture.
Floors that generate power from footsteps are circulating again as a sustainable city idea. In a video reposted from The Energy Shift, piezoelectric tiles in Tokyo turn steps into electricity, with a caption saying one step can light 10 bulbs for 20 seconds.
Uruguay has become a transition benchmark in Latin America. In a World Economic Forum video reposted by Yoann Berno, the country appears with 98% of its electricity from wind, solar, biomass and hydropower, around 50 wind farms and about 50,000 green jobs, in a shift that began in 2008.
The Energy Shift presents the solar fences being adopted in Germany: bifacial modules mounted vertically in place of an ordinary boundary, generating power for homes, farms and sheds.
Financing is one of the entry points for solar energy in retail. Banco BV is holding another edition of Feirão Solar from 1 to 30 November, with partners across the country, reduced rates, up to 120 days until the first instalment and cashback of up to BRL 250 for those who open and use a Conta BV,…
In an article published by Canal Solar, lawyer Juliana de Oliveira examines the tariff regime for distributed micro and minigeneration after the transitions of Law 14,300/2022.
Compared with rooftops or fields, the space between rails is almost unused. The World Economic Forum features the solar railway of Swiss company Sun-Ways.
Africa is expected to install 17 GW of solar in 2026, up 45% on 2025, according to Ember and the African Tech Futures Lab. In 36 of the continent's 54 countries, annual volume is expected to be a record, driven by businesses and consumers.
In August, Sunhope, controlled by China's Hangzhou Sunrise Technology, had a BRL 107.56 million project for energy meters in Manaus approved by Suframa.
Street lighting is one of the oldest uses of electricity in cities. The Energy Shift published a promotional piece by Clodesun on solar street lights, with a five-second video showing the unit by day and lit at night, with no figures on screen.
California-based Gritt Robotics says it has deployed its robotic construction systems at solar sites run by EPC Burns & McDonnell.
Lawyer Juliana de Oliveira, of Oliveira & Rohr Advocacia, argues in an article in Canal Solar for caution with the expression "unauthorised expansion", the increase in capacity of micro or minigeneration without review by the distribution utility.
Renewable Energy India Expo 2026, in Greater Noida, drew more than 54,000 visitors and 1,000 exhibitors, according to pv magazine.
In Japan, rice grown under solar panels must yield at least 80% of conventional fields. University of Tokyo researchers published in Field Crops Research a model combining radiation, rice growth and generation, calibrated in Chikusei from 2019 to 2022.
At gigawatt scale, construction is repetition. Lightsource bp released the investigation phase of its NextGen Solar Programme: automated piling, steel instead of aluminium frames, press-fit bolt-free mounting and on-site pre-assembly could, combined, cut direct installation costs by around 22% and…
Until 2024, Switzerland had no technical reference to authorise solar panels between the rails of an operating line. Today there are 48 panels on 100 metres of track in Buttes, Neuchâtel, according to The Energy Shift video, with about 16,000 kWh a year estimated and removable modules.
Offshore platforms usually dedicate float, mooring and cable to a single source. The reposted video shows the prototype of Swedish NoviOcean, which combines waves, wind and sun on one floating structure and shares the grid connection.
Researchers at Cornell and Arizona State University are developing HelioSkin, a lightweight, stretchable, 3D-printed solar fabric inspired by heliotropism, for canopies and facades. The DW video notes it has not yet been tested in the field.
Solar panel cleaning used to rely on crews with water and brushes. The video reposted from AI for Earth shows a different routine at Chinese plants: a robot that travels along the module rows, powered by its own photovoltaic panel.
The reposted video from The Energy Shift presents the Archimedes, a spiral turbine by Dutch designers, as quiet, able to catch wind from any direction and suited to rooftops. It says the design was banned by a power company, without naming the company or the country.
Carrefour Brasil contracted GreenYellow in June to solarise 54 stores under the energy-as-a-service model. Now WEG has been announced as the project's technology partner, according to Canal Solar: around 38 MWp, an estimated 56 GWh per year and, on average, more than 30% of the units' consumption,…
Street lights have always entered the design as consumers. The Energy Shift describes Chinese concepts combining a solar module, a vertical-axis turbine, a battery and LEDs on one pole. The 13-second video shows poles installed on an urban street, naming no city and giving no figures.
The post by Tamires Dias Catarina Alcides proposes the Sertão Solar Vivo project based on Talatan, in Qinghai, China, begun in 2012: according to data released there and credited to satellite in the post's video, evaporation fell by 30%, wind by up to 50% and vegetation cover reached 80%, with…
Operation and maintenance of the Mauriti Photovoltaic Complex, in Ceará, was with JEPCC and now passes to Intrepid Participações S.A., the owner of the asset.
Chinese wafer activity slowed as the country entered the early-October Golden Week. According to the OPIS Global Solar Markets Report of Oct. 6, FOB China N-type M10 and 210R wafers held flat at $0.149 and $0.153 per piece, with inventories estimated at around 25 GW.
The case for dual-use solar in the Netherlands is usually made on land. A post by The Energy Shift lists rooftops, solar carports, greenhouses and floating solar as ways to generate electricity in spaces that already serve a purpose, and concludes that the future of the technology depends as much…
Sun-Ways, the Swiss company behind the pilot, installed 48 removable panels between the rails along 100 metres of transN track near Buttes, canton Neuchâtel. The permit came from the Swiss Federal Office of Transport and runs for three years.
Cuba reached 1,418 MW of photovoltaics in 144 parks, with renewables at 21.4% of electricity generation, according to the Cuban government. In the first seven months of 2026, US exports of photovoltaic equipment to the island totalled USD 6.3 million, up 1,070% on the whole of 2025.
The global PV supply chain is running with supply above demand. In an interview with pv magazine, Edurne Zoco of S&P Global points to Chinese cell capacity above 900 GW a year against global demand of about 590 GW, and margins at the largest module makers falling from around 9% in 2023 into…
The Energy Shift proposes covering market stalls with solar structures: shade by day and, with a battery, LED lighting, fans and phone charging after dark. This is the author's thesis, presented as a concept.
pv magazine has set an industry gathering for 21 October in Milan on how to build more resilient solar supply chains.
China stops treating module efficiency as a commercial differentiator and starts treating it as a legal requirement. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued five mandatory national standards between May and June 2026, effective from 1 January 2027.
After the record heat waves of the northern summer and the performance losses that came with them, active cooling for solar arrays remains a difficult market.
For decades nuclear generated more electricity than solar worldwide. The pv magazine Global weekly edition reports that the order has flipped: solar passed nuclear in annual generation for the first time.
The debate on where to install solar usually stops at available land. The reposted content covers ultrathin cells developed at MIT, around 15 micrometres thick, laminated onto surfaces instead of mounted on rigid structures, generating up to 730 watts per kilogram.
In May this year LONGi had recorded 28.13% efficiency for a single-junction silicon cell. On 24 September the mark rose to 28.29%, on a hybrid interdigitated back-contact cell, verified by ISFH in Germany. It is the company's third record in 2026, after 28.04% and 28.13%.
An opinion piece by Sekhar Tatineni, technology VP at ES Foundry, published by pv magazine on 23 September 2026, separates two routes for solar cell manufacturing in the US.
ClimateHub Kassel and SoLocal Energy recovered 300 modules that ran for 13 years on the roof of an industrial building in Germany and turned them into 150 balcony systems, pv magazine reported on 24 September 2026. Twelve modules showed minor defects and were discarded;
The terrace awning takes on a second job. The Energy Shift featured Germany's SolarMarkise, which builds photovoltaic material into the awning fabric and offers 1.35 kWp and 1.8 kWp versions.
German startup Solar Markise, based in Essen, has built flexible solar cells into the fabric of retractable awnings. According to IIA Science & Innovation, the 3.51 by 3 metre model delivers up to 1.35 kW from EUR 4,499 and the 4.35 by 3 metre model up to 1.8 kW for EUR 5,499.
Brasil Energia reports that module imports fell to 430 MWp in the half-year, with a slower pace of new solar projects.
The government of Alberta announced an environmental fee of CAD 14 on each new solar panel supplied in the province from October 1, with no retroactive effect on installed panels.
D3Energy has energised a 6 MW floating solar system on 12 acres of the Village of Monroeville's reservoir, in Ohio. It spans 9,222 modules across three islands feeding the village's distribution grid, the largest array of its kind in the state and among the five largest in the country.
The Heggelbach agrivoltaic system in southern Germany recorded land use efficiency of 186% in 2018, against 160% in 2017. It has 194 kW installed over one third of a hectare, on a five-metre-high structure, under the APV-RESOLA project.
Around 150 solar plants belonging to eight business groups in São Paulo recorded more than 180 incidents of theft of cables and equipment between September 2023 and September 2026, with estimated losses of almost BRL 15 million, according to a survey presented at a meeting of ABSOLAR with ABGD and…
Between January and August 2026, 75 new photovoltaic plants entered operation in Brazil, totalling 3.52 GW and 72.6% of the new capacity added in the period, according to ANEEL data. The country added 4.85 GW and 91 plants, and total centralised generation capacity exceeds 220 GW.
An installed capacity milestone is often read as a transition already settled. In China, by the end of July 2026, installed solar photovoltaic capacity reached about 1.286 TW, above coal at 1.285 TW, and solar generation between January and July totalled around 802.4 billion kWh.
INEL reported, based on ANEEL data, that between January and August 2026 75 solar plants entered commercial operation, totalling 3,520.93 MW, or 72.6% of all capacity added in the country.
The Federal Court rejected, at first instance, the request for full compensation to solar and wind generators affected by curtailment, and recognised ANEEL's competence to classify curtailment events and define which may be compensated.
Canal Solar reported that installed solar capacity in Brazil reached 77.6 GW, above the 75.9 GW that ABSOLAR had projected for the end of 2026. There are 54 GW in distributed generation, 2.2 GW above forecast, and 23.6 GW in centralised generation, 0.5 GW below the estimate.
Perovskite is advancing through materials. Canon has developed a protective material to improve cell durability, shielding the sensitive layer from degradation by moisture and heat, while Japan invests in the technology to put solar where conventional silicon cannot go.
Rooftop wind turbines about 1.5 metres wide and under 20 kg were presented by The Energy Shift on 10 September 2026 as a complement to building-mounted solar generation, with no manufacturer, model or power curve identified.
Over Easy Solar has installed Ireland's first vertical photovoltaic system in Dublin, 5.37 kW across 21 XM-3 QUATTRO-256S bifacial units, on a Sempergreen green roof, built by the Irish contractor Solar Precision.
Tax lawyer Thiago Bao Ribeiro started from Greener's 2025 survey to list five points that the Tax Reform leaves open in the solar sector, among them the taxation of plant leasing, the shared generation model and the rebalancing of EPC contracts.
Switzerland has a theoretical agrivoltaic potential far above its own consumption and almost no installed capacity in that configuration.
In 2029 the logic for valuing the energy injected by distributed generation in Brazil changes. Marcio Takata, CEO of Greener, wrote that time of day, seasonality and consumption profile gain weight, and cited California, Germany, Australia and the Netherlands as markets in which the change in…
Suno Asset closed the fifth unit issuance of the SNEL11 fund having raised more than BRL 1 billion, earmarked for the purchase of distributed generation plants already in operation. The planned acquisitions could take the portfolio from around 150 MWp to close to 400 MWp.
An article published in Canal Solar on 3 September 2026 argues that end-of-life photovoltaic modules are secondary raw material, and cites a Brazilian reverse logistics company with more than 190,000 modules managed and a declared efficiency above 80% in material recovery.
Curtailment of wind and solar plants rose from an average of 3.42 GW between January and August 2025 to an average of 4.12 GW in the same period of 2026, an increase of 21% according to ONS.
Sun-tracking occupies a niche band in distributed generation. The publication presents nature-inspired solar projects, among them SmartFlower, which unfolds like a flower and follows the sun through the day to increase capture compared with fixed arrays.
The U.S. spot price for solar modules has risen to roughly USD 0.46 per watt following the Section 232 action, announced on 6 August 2026 and effective from 4 December 2026, which adds a minimum import price of USD 0.38 per watt for modules and USD 0.22 per watt for cells to a 15% tariff.
Brazilian micro and mini distributed generation reached 45 GW installed at the end of 2025, around 44.7 GW of it solar, and produced approximately 54.5 TWh in the year, close to 7% of the country's electricity generation.
Federal deputy Marreca Filho (PRD-MA) introduced in the Chamber of Deputies Bill 4,947/2026, which creates Pronesp and allows the Federal Government to fund up to 50% of solar energy projects in schools and public health units, with priority for municipalities with a lower HDI and more outages.
The page Sustainability Infographics states that solar panels installed several metres above the ground in the Egyptian desert raised watermelon output by around 27% and cut irrigation by up to 25% in the test plots, citing Fraunhofer ISE, SEKEM and Heliopolis University as sources.
The Brazilian solar sector's agenda for 2027 is starting to be set. The smarter E South America announced that Intersolar South America Nordeste returns to Fortaleza on 28 and 29 April 2027, with an official agenda open and declared themes of regulatory direction, investment and partnerships.
Europe's first wind turbines have reached the end of their operating life, and the blade is the component the supply chain still does not treat at scale.
The reposted publication states that utility scale solar costs fell about 84% since 2009 and that, in 2024, solar was the second cheapest source of new power generation worldwide, behind onshore wind.
Greenonomics published a list of what, in its view, sustainable communities do differently, and puts community energy at the top: it would keep more investment inside the local economy, with examples from the Netherlands.
In previous years, the Brazilian solar sector's discussion was about expanding supply. On 23 August 2026, at 12:01, solar generation recorded by ONS reached 35,124.5 MW, around 49.5% of the load of the National Interconnected System, and the Operator triggered, for the second time this year, the…
The Energy Shift posted that scientists are developing hybrid solar panels able to generate electricity from raindrop impact as well, through the triboelectric effect, and notes in the post itself that the energy obtained from rain is today far smaller than that obtained from sunlight.
A photovoltaic module recycling line would require investment of around USD 500,000 to USD 600,000, according to an estimate cited at a panel of the Intersolar South America Conference on 27 August 2026.
The trade fair calendar tends to anticipate where the sector's capital is looking. Canal Solar published coverage of the last day of the fair that closed on Thursday 27 August 2026, after three days bringing together manufacturers, distributors and professionals.
The smarter E South America 2026 published coverage of its three days at Expo Center Norte, in São Paulo, with solar, storage, energy management and electric mobility on the same floor.
Sindienergia-CE recorded its participation in Intersolar South America 2026. In reposting it, Bernardo Bardawil credited the union, Sistema FIEC and president Luis Carlos Queiroz with part of the merit for the advance of renewables in the country.
ONS released clarification material on the Energy Surplus Management Plan, triggered when, even after reducing the generation under its responsibility, it is still necessary to reduce output connected to distribution companies. The Operator states that triggering the plan does not interrupt supply.
The organisers of The smarter E South America announced the opening of the 2026 edition, from 25 to 27 August, at Expo Center Norte, in São Paulo, with Intersolar South America within the same event.
Until July 2026, no wave energy converter had a prototype certificate issued by a classification society. CorPower Ocean's C4, operating in northern Portugal since 2023 and tested by waves of around 18.5 metres, was the first to receive DNV's Prototype Certificate.
Dr Madhur Gupta attributes the conflict between solar plants and land use to planning rather than to the technology. He argues that covering entire stretches of fertile farmland raises food security and farm income questions, and that car parks, commercial rooftops, motorways, railway corridors and…
Until now, excess generation in the SIN was handled by curtailing centralised generation and by the emergency surplus plan at Type III plants.
The original text of Bill 1,112/2025 provided for a reduction of up to 20% in the ISS rate for solar energy companies in São Paulo.
Replacing an inverter at a GD I plant does not entail automatic loss of grandfathered rights, provided there is no increase in approved installed capacity. The publication of 19 August 2026 points to REN 1,000/2021, as amended by REN 1,059/2023, as the rule on expansion.
Solar generation on existing infrastructure corridors avoids competition for new land and shortens licensing. In Buttes, in the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, the startup Sun-Ways installed 48 panels of 380 W between the rails of a 100-metre stretch of active track, totalling 18 kWp, with more than…
The rooftop turbine from Germany's SkyWind NG weighs around 19 kg, has a 1.5-metre rotor and reaches 1,000 watts peak, with certified reference annual output of 615 kWh at an average wind speed of 6 m/s. The publication presents the equipment as a complement to solar generation.
Osda announced the start of operations of its manufacturing base in Jiaxing, China, with 107,000 square metres, a 6 GW module line and 3 GW of integrated generation, storage and charging equipment. According to Osda's own timeline, the base has been operational since 2025.
Until 2028, the Law 14,300 transition charges an increasing percentage of the TUSD on compensated energy: 60% in 2026, 75% in 2027 and 90% in 2028.
The ONS published its snapshot of installed and planned capacity in the SIN, based on the August 2026 PMO. Micro and mini distributed generation rises from 20.6% of capacity in August 2026 to 24.8% in December 2030, the second largest share in the system, while wind falls from 13.5% to 12.5% and…
The publication attributes to Poland's Saule Technologies the development of printed perovskite cells and reports that an independent test by Germany's Fraunhofer ISE measured 25.5% efficiency under cold white LED lighting of 1,000 lux, a level common in offices.
Solar energy already accounts for almost half of installed renewable capacity worldwide, and the fleet built over the last decade is beginning to age.
Covering canals with solar panels is presented as dual use of existing infrastructure, with no new land. Project Nexus covered stretches of Turlock Irrigation District canals in California and was commissioned at both sites in August 2025, with more than 1.6 MW of generation.
Researchers have achieved recovery of almost 100% of the silver contained in end-of-life photovoltaic modules, one of seven topics in pv magazine Global's weekly newsletter, which also covers a USD 10.1 billion investment by Tesla in solar manufacturing and possible solar generation cuts of up to…
Intersolar South America is the annual gathering at which the Brazilian solar market presents itself. In August 2026 ABSOLAR invited the sector to its stand in the Green Pavilion, with content and market connections.
Solar expansion no longer depends on latitude and now follows equipment cost and connection rules. According to the publication, BloombergNEF projections indicate that the Nordic countries have, for the first time, installed more solar than wind capacity, with growth in Lapland, the north of…
Canal Solar reports that a restaurant in Fortaleza installed a photovoltaic carport with 358 modules in 119 DAH Solar SolarUnit kits, with estimated generation of around 26,000 kWh per month.
Uruguay closed 2025 with 339 MW of grid-connected solar photovoltaic capacity, according to IRENA data cited by pv magazine Latinoamérica.
The reposted article, from the series Desenvolvimento Econômico em Perspectiva, argues that the Northeast has consolidated its leading role in wind and solar and that the next stage requires delivering electricity after sunset.
BRIEF · EP194:16
Solar & generation
On 6 October 2026, ANEEL approved a rule to organize generation cuts caused by oversupply. The new order seeks to redistribute the cuts among sources.
BRIEF · EP094:00
Solar & generation
A first-instance ruling by the 13th Federal Civil Court of the Federal District rejected the request by ABSOLAR and ABEEólica for full compensation.
BRIEF · EP054:25
Solar & generation
ANEEL, Brazil's power regulator, opened Public Consultation 033/2026 to expand observability and command capacity over distributed energy resources.
BRIEF · EP024:13
Solar & generation
Consumers still have power at the socket, but the generator loses revenue. How surplus energy in the power system turns into financial risk.