[SMM PV News] Austria's Solar Market Slows Down with 1.6 GW Added in 2025

April 15, 2026, official news from Hydro-Québec. The utility’s inaugural 300 MW solar energy tender has been oversubscribed, receiving 60 bids totaling 481 MW. Projects are capped at 25 MW each and must avoid agricultural zones. Proposals are spread across 14 administrative regions, with commercial operations expected by 2029. Selection results will be announced in Q1 2027, marking Phase I of the province's 3 GW solar target for 2035.

April 17, 2026, policy update from Hydro-Québec. To accelerate distributed PV adoption, a new grant program offers CAD 1,000 per kW, covering up to 40% of project costs. Residential customers typically receive CAD 5,000–6,000, while businesses can get up to CAD 45,000. The initiative aims to reduce solar payback periods from 30 years to just 10–12 years. Participants can also opt for net metering to export surplus power back to the grid for electricity credits.

[SMM Flash] Recently, publicly available market information showed that Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical and Gaoce Technology successively entered Tesla's 100GW PV entire industry chain supply chain in Texas, US, with core equipment orders to be delivered in concentrated batches in 2026. According to an SMM survey, Jingsheng Mechanical & Electrical secured a 10GW silicon wafer production line order from Tesla, supplying 210mm monocrystalline furnaces, quartz crucibles, and slicing equipment, expected to be completed in Q3, with an order value of approximately 3 billion yuan. Gaoce Technology won the slicing equipment order, focusing on large-size, ultra-thin silicon wafer processing, to be delivered in H2 2026.