Solar PV reached new heights through 2021, with top line estimates pegging total global deployment at the inspiring milestone of 1TW of installed active capacity on the planet. In January 2022, the United States made its latest contribution by bringing 22 projects to commercial operation, adding 952MW of capacity.

There are now enough solar panels installed throughout the world to generate 1 terawatt (TW) of electricity from the sun, according to the latest estimates, marking a major milestone for renewable energy adoption.

Static electricity could remove dust from desert solar panels, saving around 10 billion gallons of water every year. Some of the largest solar farms in the world are in deserts, such as Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park in the United Arab Emirates and Desert Sunlight Solar Farm in California. These environments tend to be very dusty, with particles quickly accumulating on solar panels. One month’s dust build-up can cut a solar panel’s output by around 40 per cent.

It’s an environmental clash that neither side wanted: Solar advocates are squaring off against conservationists. On one side, fans of solar energy are pushing a cleaner alternative to fossil fuels, with massive solar projects popping up across the United States. On the other, conservationists and people who live near the solar projects are watching in horror as green fields are filled with rows of silicon solar panels, damaging ecologically sensitive areas.

China plans to build 450 gigawatts (GW) of solar and wind power generation capacity on the Gobi and other desert regions, the chief of the state planner said on Saturday, as part of efforts to boost renewable power use to meet climate change goals.

Solar panels are not a new way of providing cheap power across much of the African continent, where there is rarely a shortage of sunshine. But growing crops underneath the panels is, and the process has had such promising trials in Kenya that it will be deployed this week in open-field farms.

Scientists in Germany designed a poly-Si on oxide (POLO) interdigitated back-contact (IBC) solar cell integrating photon crystals and found this architecture has the potential to reach a power conversion efficiency of over 28%, which would be 1% higher than the current practical limit set by the scientific community. They also found that by improving passivation, the efficiency may be raised up to 29.1%.

A water and electric utility in central California will install a first-of-its-kind network of solar panels on water canals. Turlock Irrigation District (TID) has secured a $20 million grant from the state to pursue the first-in-the-nation project, which could serve a beneficial double whammy: create renewable energy and save some water in the process.

The rapid rise of low-cost solar power has provided a key solution to lowering energy costs and emissions, but a looming problem with the aluminium required to support solar could undermine its climate credentials, Australian researchers have warned.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused California's government of pushing "anti-environment" legislation. The California Public Utilities Commission put forward a proposal last month that would slash the amount of incentives available to people who install solar energy systems on their roofs. The proposal is due to be voted on later this month.

GAF Energy has developed an innovative new nail-on solar shingle that's allegedly cheaper and easier to install than Tesla's solar roof system.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has slammed California’s plan for homeowners who use solar panels in their homes. The proposal calls for a discounted rate for excess power sold into the grid, as well as a monthly utility charge of $8 per kW to cover the cost of maintaining the state’s power infrastructure. Musk noted that the idea, which essentially penalizes sustainable energy, is “insane.”

Say you want to build a wind farm. You find a nice empty knoll in northern Vermont, where the breeze blows steadily and the neighbors don’t complain about sullied views. (A damn miracle, in other words.) You line up investors, get the right permits, and prepare to install your turbines. Then you hit a snag: power lines.

The U.S. securities regulator has opened an investigation into Tesla Inc. over a whistleblower complaint that the company failed to properly notify its shareholders and the public of fire risks associated with solar panel system defects over several years, according to a letter from the agency.

SPI Energy is a Chinese company founded in 2016 whose main area of activity is in renewable energy and earlier in 2021, the company announced its intention to also launch a fully-electric pickup truck and this is our first look at that vehicle, the EdisonFuture EF1-T.

The photovoltaic effect of ferroelectric crystals can grow by creating crystalline layers of barium titanate, strontium titanate and calcium titanate.

With a number of recent breakthroughs, the race is on to prove that nuclear fusion is not only possible, but integral to a clean energy future

Companies say they are close to commercializing cheap perovskite films that could disrupt solar power — but are they too optimistic?

As global carbon emissions that stem from fossil fuels keep adding to our ever-growing climate change issue, energy companies have turned their focus on renewables to generate fuel. One of those companies is Synhelion from Switzerland. The company harnesses the energy of the heat of the sun and converts the collected carbon dioxide into synthetic fuels, in turn offering a green and sustainable solution.