Manufacturing

United Solar Holding has secured more than $900 million to complete the financing required for its 100,000 MT polysilicon manufacturing facility in Oman. Production is expected to begin during the first quarter of this year.

Kuldeep Gupta-led ChemVolt Global has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to establish a 5 GWh lithium-ion cell manufacturing gigafactory in the state, with a planned investment of INR 2,500 crore.

The European Commission is revising its Cybersecurity Act. While presenting the proposals in European Parliament, the commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said dependency on a very limited number of solar inverter suppliers could “pose a significant security risk.”

Iola Hughes, Head of Research at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, tells ESS News that 2026 is set to be another strong year for BESS, with forecast additions exceeding 450 GWh and no material supply constraints in sight. Meanwhile, the initial impact of rising lithium prices is already visible at the cell level, but the full effect has yet to ripple through to system pricing.

Researchers in China developed a novel two dimensional (2D) seeding agent to regulate crystallization in a 1.80-eV wide-bandgap perovskite film. A perovskite-silicon tandem device made with the resulting optimized subcell achieved an efficiency of 31.13%, outperforming a control device.

Egypt’s Kemet has signed three agreements with Chinese companies over the last week, covering plans for a 5 GW solar cell complex, a 5 GWh battery energy storage factory and Egypt’s first solar inverter factory.

The federal government has unveiled new details of its plan to create a $1.2 billion critical mineral reserve. Three minerals will initially be the focus: antimony, gallium and rare earths (a group of 17 different elements).

Kosol Energie has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Government of Gujarat to invest INR 90,000 crore in the State. The company said the proposed investment will support the development of advanced solar module manufacturing facilities, next-generation R&D centers, large-scale renewable energy parks, and integrated green energy ecosystems.

The newly launched LNK Energy plans INR 10,000 crore investment to build an integrated clean energy platform spanning solar manufacturing, green fuels and renewable power generation. The company will start with a 6 GW solar cell and module facility with integrated ingot and wafer production in Maharashtra, with plans to expand into related component manufacturing, green hydrogen and renewable power generation.

Once considered isolated incidents, spontaneous glass breakages in solar modules are becoming more frequent, highlighting the limits of some manufacturing choices and the need for closer quality control.