Australia has led the charge in solar energy, setting the standard for solar panel adoption worldwide. The Snapshot of Global PV Markets 2024 report published by the International Energy Agency Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme shows that more than 30% of Australia’s households are fitted with rooftop solar PV units, harnessing the sun’s power to meet their energy needs.

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.

Iola Hughes, Head of Research at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, says 2026 is set to be another strong year for battery energy storage systems, 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.

Smart Commercial Energy has unveiled a new prefabricated vertical rooftop solar system for the Australian market as part of a collaboration with Norwegian clean energy company Over Easy Solar.

The working theory for a new energy precinct in South Australia: first come batteries, then comes novel long-duration thermal energy storage.

Australian households, small businesses and community organisations have installed a record-setting 200,000 battery energy storage systems since the launch of the federal rebate in July with the $7.2 billion initiative now expected to deliver more than 2 million home batteries by 2030.

The Australian government will pump almost $25 million into a national solar panel recycling program in a bid to reduce landfill and recover valuable metals and minerals that can support the renewable energy transition.

Fortescue’s plans to build one of Australia’s largest solar farms have cleared another regulatory hurdle with the federal government’s environmental watchdog providing the tick of approval for the 644 MW project planned for Western Australia.

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.

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.

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.

Researchers at the University of New South Wales have achieved a record-setting power conversion efficiency with solar cells made from antimony chalcogenide, an emerging PV material regarded as a strong candidate for next-generation solar technology.

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

University of New South Wales researchers found that some POE encapsulants can trigger severe corrosion in TOPCon solar modules, causing up to 55% power loss under damp-heat conditions. Their study highlights that module reliability depends on the exact encapsulant formulation, not just the polymer type.

Incat Tasmania has started harbour trials of the largest battery-electric ship constructed to date with the 130-metre vessel moving under its own battery-electric propulsion for the first time.

Researchers from Australia’s national science agency have teamed with Malaysian authorities to explore how different battery chemistries perform under tropical stressors like heat, humidity and corrosion, and what this means for durability, safety and cost-effectiveness.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.