Solar ... In the news

70sbudgie

For interest, the Electricity Act  https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1989/29/contents

I haven't located the relevant bit yet. I am starting to think it may be under the license conditions which fall under the Act (and are mentioned)

JKenH

Hidden devices found in Chinese-made inverters in the US, reports Reuters

Unexplained communication devices have been found inside some Chinese-made inverter devices, according to a Reuters report.

The news agency claims US energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices according to two unnamed sources. This follows discovery of rogue communication devices not listed in product documents in some Chinese solar inverters, according to Reuters.

Reuters’ revelation comes as discussion around cybersecurity and electricity infrastructure heats up in the European Union. SolarPower Europe released a new report on April 29 which identified smart inverters as a vulnerable gateway for cyberattacks. Written by cybersecurity services provider DNV, the report claims a targeted compromise of 3 GW of generation capacity could have significant implications for Europe’s power grid. 

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/05/14/hidden-devices-found-in-chinese-made-inverters-in-the-us-reports-reuters/

michaels

JKenH said:

Hidden devices found in Chinese-made inverters in the US, reports Reuters

Unexplained communication devices have been found inside some Chinese-made inverter devices, according to a Reuters report.

The news agency claims US energy officials are reassessing the risk posed by Chinese-made devices according to two unnamed sources. This follows discovery of rogue communication devices not listed in product documents in some Chinese solar inverters, according to Reuters.

Reuters’ revelation comes as discussion around cybersecurity and electricity infrastructure heats up in the European Union. SolarPower Europe released a new report on April 29 which identified smart inverters as a vulnerable gateway for cyberattacks. Written by cybersecurity services provider DNV, the report claims a targeted compromise of 3 GW of generation capacity could have significant implications for Europe’s power grid. 

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/05/14/hidden-devices-found-in-chinese-made-inverters-in-the-us-reports-reuters/

I have always thought you would only need to switch on and off a small amount of demand or supply simultaneously at the right frequency to destabilise and crash the grid.  There are probably enough cheap Chinese smart switches and sockets out there already to do so.

Wouldn't even need to be a state actor, just a company or hacker group.

QrizB

The Reuters article is here:

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/climate-energy/ghost-machine-rogue-communication-devices-found-chinese-inverters-2025-05-14/

It's all very vague - the sources are unattributed, the equipment involved is not specified. Hopefully more details will emerge in the next few days or weeks.

Coastalwatch

Wtih two large Solar Farms in this county being referred back for further information on environmental issues the Toolkit descibed below could prove useful to others prior to submitting planning applications. On the other hand there may well be a best practise schedule to follow already in place here. I don't believe many of us dispute the need for solar farms on here, indeed I welcome them along with onshore wind turbines also, but accept they do need to meet minimum environmental standards coupled with community benefits as a matter of course.

New biodiversity toolkit helps solar farm developers fast-track projects

Biodiversity offset specialist Thesium has launched a new product designed to help solar farm developers de-risk and accelerate their projects.

The Biodiversity in a Box tool is built for infrastructure and energy developers and decision makers facing complex regulatory environments by providing a structured assessment of biodiversity offset risks, and delivering a tailored offset strategy, credit feasibility analysis, and board-ready stakeholder documentation.

https://www.pv-magazine.com/2025/05/16/new-biodiversity-toolkit-helps-solar-farm-developers-fast-track-projects/?utm_source=Global+|+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b708102aa3-dailynl_gl&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6916ce32b6-b708102aa3-159300013

Martyn1981

Article (mostly charts) breaking down some of the PV numbers around the World. Obviously China is in a league of its own with over 1TWp now, but great to see India accelerating.

Chinese Solar PV Market More Than 3 Times Bigger Than US & EU Markets Combined

QrizB

I don't know quite how big China's demand for electricity is, but would 1TWp be enough to satisfy 100% of it, at least theoretically - in the unlikely situation that every panel was simultaneously producing its rated output?

The UK's demand is around 40GW, about 700W per person. 1TW would be about 800W per person in China?

Martyn1981

Fun question.

Google AI guess is that China's leccy demand in 2025 will be 10,498TWh, so that's an average of 1.2GW, so very close, and if they install ~350TWp again this year, then that theoretical 100%cf would do it.

The scale of PV capacity and generation growth, this decade and next, is too great for my ickle mind to even comprehend now that it's going exponential.

Martyn1981

Further to QrizB's comment, this article and chart is an eye-opener (for me). It looks at the %age of leccy coming from solar, and ranks countries accordingly. Greece, Netherlands and Spain take the podium positions with %ages in the mid 20s.

[Note - the article starts of by looking at PV gen per capita, and for that, the podium positions go to Netherlands, Australia and Germany.]

To save anyone counting, I've miscounted probably for you, and China ranks 19th with 13.1%. India comes in 24th, the US are 27th, and the UK ranks 33rd with 5.8%. I think that's a decent 'score' for the UK, but given that our 'poor(ish)' efficiency is similar to Germany's, then their 7th position with 19.8% of leccy gen, is remarkable.

Also, it appears to me that solar is absolutely nowhere near saturation yet, not even halfway there. So with generation costs very cheap, and still falling, plus storage options doing the same, the journey has barely started. I wonder how many years/decades before it's providing ~50% of worlwide leccy consumption.

The Best Solar Power Countries in the World Will Shock You

Looking at the share of countries’ electricity generation, Greece leads the world, with nearly 28% of its electricity now coming from solar power! The Netherlands did still get on the podium, with a silver medal placement here (if they gave out medals for this). And then there’s Spain with the bronze (or the imaginary bronze). Australia and Germany also get into the top 10, but then there are less well known solar leaders like Hungary, Chile, Estonia, Cyprus, and Israel.

QrizB

The source for that article is the IEA (link below) who historically have underestimated the growth in PV.

With that in mind, it's amazing to see them report that the global PV "value chain" can now supply 1TW of new PV annually. That's ~45% of the total current installed PV capacity that could be supplied in 2025.

https://iea-pvps.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/Snapshot-of-Global-PV-Markets_2025.pdf