News

South Korea's 'MOIS' has launched a national drive to establish community-owned solar cooperatives, targeting 2,500 'Sunlight Income Villages' by 2030. Under the program, communities will install 300 kW to 1 MW plants on idle land to share revenues among residents. The government is offering long-term, low-interest loans covering up to 85% of costs from a KRW 450 billion renewable energy fund in 2026. To overcome grid bottlenecks, the initiative grants projects priority grid access and 'ESS' installation support, while mandating the use of domestically produced modules and inverters.

Saudi Arabia installed a record-breaking 7.8 GW of solar capacity in 2025, bringing its cumulative solar total to an estimated 12.4 GW. While this cements solar as the nation's dominant renewable source, analysts at 'GlobalData' warn the current growth trajectory falls short of the 130 GW required by the 'Vision 2030' target, which demands over 23 GW of annual additions. To close this gap, experts urge the kingdom to implement standardized 'PPAs', streamline permitting, and heavily invest in grid flexibility and solar-plus-storage. Notably, the Saudi Power Procurement Company recently signed a massive 15 GW renewable energy deal (including 12 GW of solar) to accelerate future deployment.

The UK government has supported over 780 solar projects since July 2024, ranging from school rooftops to utility-scale power plants. Recent data reveals 8.1 GW secured backing through the 'contracts-for-difference' ('CfD') scheme across the sixth and seventh allocation rounds. An additional 2.7 GW gained approval via the 'National Significant Infrastructure Project' ('NSIP') stream, including the massive 600 MW Cottam Solar Project. Furthermore, 'Great British Energy' and the Community Energy Fund have backed hundreds of distributed installations, while the state-owned National Wealth Fund is injecting hundreds of millions of pounds into gigawatt-scale 'BESS' deployments to support the growing renewable grid.

Following the approval of 'Operational Plan 7.4', Spain's grid operator 'Red Eléctrica' has officially launched real-time, setpoint-based voltage control services, allowing renewable energy installations to provide dynamic grid support. Live since March 17, the system enables generation units to adjust reactive power in response to operator signals. Over 50 installations are now actively participating, with 74 facilities (totaling roughly 6.7 GW) already qualified, including 32 PV plants. To incentivize participation and reduce technical curtailment, the framework offers maximum dispatch priority and compensates at approximately €1/MVArh. Looking ahead, the operator plans to roll out zonal reactive power capacity markets by the fourth quarter of 2026.

France's energy regulator, 'CRE', has published reduced Feed-in Tariff ('FIT') and surplus compensation rates for PV systems up to 100 kW, effective April 1 to July 1, 2026. Tariffs fell to €0.805/kWh for 9-36 kW systems and €0.70/kWh for 36-100 kW systems, while the surplus rate dropped to €0.473/kWh. With compensation for systems under 9 kW already eliminated, the 'CRE' is simultaneously offering investment grants to encourage a market shift toward maximizing self-consumption, integrating storage, and electrifying on-site demand rather than selling surplus power.

The project is located in Oudomxay Province in northern Laos and was invested in and constructed by China General Nuclear Power Group. It was Laos’s first large-scale PV project. The project was officially commissioned at the end of 2025 and is expected to generate about 1.7 billion kWh of electricity annually on average. As an important supporting power supply for the China-Laos 500-kV transmission line for power interconnection, the clean electricity generated by the project will be transmitted to Yunnan through the China-Laos 500-kV interconnection project, supporting Yunnan’s energy transition and power supply security.

Slovakia installed 243 MW of solar in 2025, pushing its cumulative capacity to 1,357 MW. The additions were driven primarily by the residential sector (124 MW) and the 'C&I' market (102 MW), heavily supported by the 'green for households' scheme and the Resilience and Recovery ('RRF') facility. The Slovak Association of the Photovoltaic Industry ('SAPI') forecasts between 250 MW and 300 MW of new capacity in 2026, fueled by new 'green for businesses' funding and utility-scale projects racing to meet the June 2026 'RRF' subsidy deadline.

France's energy regulator, CRE, has proposed rule changes for solar installations over 100 kWp to encourage solar-plus-storage projects. Submitted to the Lévy-Tuot task force, the adjustments aim to align renewables with grid needs, improve public spending, and combat solar 'cannibalization' and negative pricing by revising the premium mechanism and risk-sharing.

[SMM Silicon-Based PV Morning Meeting Summary] Silicon Metal: Spot silicon metal prices remained in a stalemate consolidation. Yesterday, SMM east China oxygen-blown #553 silicon was at 9,100-9,300 yuan/mt, and #441 silicon at 9,300-9,500 yuan/mt, unchanged from the previous day. The quote center of some silicon enterprises was slightly lower than that of trading firms engaging in both spot and futures market, while downstream users mainly transacted at lower prices, and overall market trading activity was subdued. Polysilicon: N-type recharging polysilicon was quoted at 38-47 yuan/kg. Polysilicon prices continued to decline somewhat recently, mainly affected by market sentiment and inventory clearance by some leading enterprises. At present, low-priced polysilicon has already fallen below the cost line of some manufacturers, and the sentiment to hold quotes firm has strengthened somewhat. The upstream market was also still watching wafer price movements.

Combined US utility-scale wind and solar generation reached a record 17% of the electricity mix in 2025, producing 760,000 GWh. Utility-scale solar drove this surge, jumping 34% year-over-year. Including small-scale solar pushes the combined 'wind and solar' share to 19%. As electricity demand rises—fueled by data centers and electrification—the grid is preparing for a historic 86 GW of new capacity in 2026, with solar and battery storage making up 79% of these planned additions.

Smart meter deployment in the UK has hit a slump, prompting the government to introduce stricter regulations for energy retailers to ensure full domestic coverage by the end of 2030. While 21.8 million smart electricity meters were operating by the end of 2025, 7.8 million traditional meters still need replacing. To meet the 'Clean Power 2030' target, suppliers must submit binding annual deployment plans to Ofgem, replace outdated 2G and 3G meters before the 2033 network switch-off, and adhere to a strict 90-day window to repair faulty units or face penalties. This regulatory push aligns with the UK's broader efforts to integrate residential batteries and EVs into grid flexibility markets.

On 24 March, Haitian Co., Ltd. issued an announcement regarding the signing of a strategic cooperation agreement with Tongwei Solar Co., Ltd. The announcement states that the collaboration aims to strengthen in-depth technical discussions in the field of photovoltaic cells, with a view to achieving continuous technological innovation and enhancing cost efficiency. The scope of the cooperation includes, but is not limited to, the following: both parties have agreed to regard each other as key strategic partners; in future collaborations, Tongwei will give priority to using Haitian’s pastes and other related products, provided that all other conditions are equal. The parties will continuously expand the scope of their cooperation and increase the scale of their collaboration.

Türkiye's cumulative solar capacity reached 25,827 MW by the end of January 2026, representing a 641-fold increase since 2014. Following a 4.7 GW expansion in 2025 and the recent launch of its first major solar-plus-storage project (49.2 MW/34.1 MWh), solar now accounts for nearly 21% of the nation's total power. The government expects 2026 to be another record year, targeting an $80 billion investment pipeline to reach 120 GW of combined solar and wind capacity by 2035.

Beijing CRE (002350.SZ) announced that it recently received the notification of award for the 2026 Inverter Framework Agreement Procurement Bidding (Section 2) of China Huaneng Group Co., Ltd. The winning bid amount is 576 million yuan, and the target content is PV inverters. As a framework bidding, the specific amount is subject to the officially signed contract. The company has received the notification but has not yet signed the formal contract. This project is expected to have a positive impact on the company's performance in 2026 and beyond, without affecting its operational independence.