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).

As many PV plants approach the midpoint in their typical lifespan of 25 to 35 years, the industry faces crucial decisions about what comes next. Much of the focus so far has been on managing modules, particularly on recovering their silicon and other materials. But the conversation must also extend to mounting structures. As the backbone of all solar plants, these structures represent a significant share of material use and a plant’s embodied carbon footprint.

In a new update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that early 2026 will bring mixed solar conditions globally, with strong prospects in eastern Australia and eastern China, but cloudier-than-normal outlooks for much of Europe, Asia, and parts of the United States early in the year.

The International Solar Energy Society explains how Australia’s rapid expansion of solar and wind energy has not increased wholesale electricity prices, which have remained stable since 2016. Rooftop solar, now widespread and highly cost-effective, provides the country with resilient, low-emission power, making all-electric homes increasingly independent from the grid.

Over the weekend the federal government announced major changes to its $2.3 billion home battery subsidy program. The changes include nearly $5 billion in extra funding and adjustments to the financial support provided for different-sized batteries. They follow recent reporting that the program is subsidising unnecessarily large home batteries and blowing out in cost.

Renewable energy platform Anza Power has launched in the Australian and New Zealand markets with the acquisition of a 1.4 GW pipeline of solar developments and more than 3.4 GWh of battery energy storage projects from developer Bison Energy.

Synergy’s plans to build a 2 GW solar, wind and battery project in Western Australia’s Mid West have cleared a major regulatory hurdle with the state’s environment watchdog waving the project through.

The International Renewable Energy Agency’s annual review into employment finds solar held more than 43% of global jobs in the renewable energy sector in 2024.

Wood Mackenzie’s 2026 market outlook for hydrogen expects non-biological origin hydrogen to gain momentum and ammonia crackers to reach commercial scale but predicts the Middle Eastern market to retreat and the European Union to abandon its industrial hydrogen mandates.

Renewable energy developer and retailer Zen Energy is up for sale with the Australian firm’s expanding portfolio of solar and energy storage projects and offtake agreements attracting interested from both local and international investors.

The new IQ9N-3P microinverter utilises gallium nitride technology to deliver 427 VA of peak power and 97.5% efficiency for the 480 V three-phase commercial market.

The Chinese manufacturer has unveiled its new TOPCon bifacial TNC3.0 module. The 1,500 V, IP68-rated panel offers over 85% bifaciality, a 0.26%/C temperature coefficient, and a 30-year warranty guaranteeing 88.85% output.

Plans to develop a 90 MW solar farm and a six-hour battery energy storage system to help power the Western Australian town of Broome have joined the queue for federal environmental assessment.

New UNSW research found that about 20% of solar modules in large PV plants degrade much faster than expected. The researchers recommend holistic strategies such as robust materials, advanced designs, and proactive monitoring to decouple degradation pathways and prevent cascading failures.

Solar farms in New South Wales led the way for Australia’s utility scale PV energy output in December, generating 1,052 GWh of renewable electricity to drive all Australian large-scale PV and wind generation up 19% on the same time last year.

An international research team has developed a new two-dimensional perovskite interlayer based on a co-crystal engineering strategy for more robust perovskite films. It demonstrated improved performance in small area perovskite solar cells and, in a 48 cm2 module, contributed to retain 95% of initial efficiency after 5,000 h.

Plans to establish Australia’s first commercial-scale solar ingot and wafer manufacturing plant near Townsville in north Queensland are advancing with developer Stellar PV providing an early glimpse of the proposed 2 GW-capacity facility.

Designed for power ratings of 29.9 kW and 50 kW with scalable capacity up to 216,9 kWh, the new system is aimed at businesses seeking flexible energy storage solutions without the complexity of installation.

A new Perspectives research study on the future of the global PV supply chain outlines how module prices, performance, and lifetimes could evolve over the next 25 years. The work reflects a collaboration among leading solar research institutions worldwide. One of the study’s authors, the director of the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems, told pv magazine that solar module and cell efficiencies could exceed 35% by 2050, with panel prices expected to drop by a factor of two.

JinkoSolar has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with XtalPi, an “AI for Science” platform company, to pursue high-throughput R&D on perovskite-crystalline-silicon tandem solar cells using an AI platform and quantum-physics-based models.

UNSW researchers developed an experimentally validated model linking UV-induced degradation in TOPCon solar cells to hydrogen transport, charge trapping, and permanent structural changes in the passivation stack. They show that thicker aluminum oxide layers significantly improve UV resilience by limiting hydrogen migration, offering clear guidance for more robust TOPCon designs.

China’s Astronergy says its ASTRO N7 Pro module targets utility-scale PV plants and commercial rooftops, offering quarter-cell architecture, bifacial gains, and a 30-year performance guarantee.

China’s Longi says it will begin mass production of base-metal PV modules in the second quarter of 2026 as rising silver prices intensify pressure to reduce metallisation costs.

Chinese manufacturer Fox ESS has launched into the Australian market a 5.99 kWh capacity modular battery energy storage system that can be scaled up to 83.86 kWh per stack.

Wood Mackenzie’s first-half 2025 solar inverter ranking finds the top 10 leading inverter manufacturers have a 71% global market share.

The GWh-scale long-duration energy storage project is expected to reduce curtailment in Xinjiang, a region of China with high solar and wind generation, and transmission bottlenecks. The flow battery installation is co-located with a PV plant.

Plans to generate up to 80% of the Western Australia coastal town of Exmouth’s power from renewable energy sources are progressing well with all 16,700 PV panels installed at a new 9.6 MW solar farm.

The first stage of the biggest approved battery project in Australia is now fully operational with Origin Energy announcing the initial stage of the 700 MW / 3,160 MWh battery energy storage system being built next to its Eraring coal-fired generator in New South Wales has commenced commercial operations.

More than 1.2 GWh of new behind-the-meter energy storage capacity was installed across Australia last month as households and businesses sought to take advantage of the federal government’s revised $7.2 billion Cheaper Home Batteries Program.

Oil and gas explorer Pilot Energy has expanded its renewables ambitions, teaming with Hong Kong-headquartered SN Energy Group to jointly develop a hybrid solar and battery energy storage project on land in Western Australia previously earmarked for a 376 MW solar farm.