Solar power

Are you wondering what kind of results you’d get if you added a home solar system to your roof? Homeowners are sharing their results online — and the real-world data might surprise you!

First Solar just cut the ribbon on a huge new factory in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, and it dwarfs the New Orleans Superdome. The company’s $1.1 billion, fully vertically integrated facility spans 2.4 million square feet, or about 11 times the size of the stadium’s main arena.

First Solar, the US’s largest solar panel manufacturer, has now announced the location of its new solar factory. The company says it will build a new facility in Gaffney, South Carolina, to handle the final production steps for its Series 6 Plus thin film modules. Those components are currently made by First Solar’s factories overseas, but once the South Carolina plant opens in the second half of 2026, they’ll be finished on US soil.

Solar and wind are growing fast enough to meet all new electricity demand worldwide for the first three quarters of 2025, according to new data from energy think tank Ember. The group now expects fossil power to stay flat for the full year, marking the first time since the pandemic that fossil generation won’t increase.

For years, Tesla Powerwall has been the go-to recommendation for “normals” looking for a painless, low-effort experience from their first home solar and battery backup solutions. But with a recent recall on more than 10,000 home batteries over fire safety concerns, more and more people are beginning to look for alternatives to the trailblazing Tesla brand. The good news: there are plenty of other great home solar battery solutions are there!

UPDATE 13NOV2025: added a new, American brand choice.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) says renewables and AI are reshaping the world’s energy future, and that transformation is happening faster than anyone expected. In its new “World Energy Outlook 2025,” the IEA warns that energy security risks now stretch far beyond oil and gas. Critical minerals essential to clean tech, defense, and AI have become the new fault lines in global supply chains. The IEA also states that energy has become a central focus of geopolitical power struggles, making it one of the defining economic and security challenges of our time.

Just as we saw with EVs in September, there’s a broad, documented surge in demand for home solar tied to the 30% Federal tax credit expiring December 31st. And, while it’s still not too late for many Americans to go solar, contractors in North Carolina, Florida, and Arizona say their 2025 calendars are jammed.

Solar panel giant Qcells announced today that it’s temporarily furloughing 1,000 US workers – 25% of its workforce – and reducing pay and shifts at its factories in northeast Georgia due to supply chain delays caused by US Customs.

The world is barreling toward another record-breaking year of solar and wind deployment in 2025, says a new analysis from energy think tank Ember. If current trends continue, we could actually triple global renewable capacity by 2030 – but only if governments catch up to what’s already happening on the ground.

Rondo Energy and energy producer EDP are installing a massive 100 MWh renewable-powered heat battery at HEINEKEN’s brewery in Lisbon, Portugal. The project will deliver round-the-clock renewable steam and reduce emissions without altering the facility’s beer brewing process.

The Australian government is floating a scheme that would share the benefits of solar power with everyone on the grid, offering totally free electricity to ratepayers in the middle of the day, when the sun is shining the strongest.

Solar and wind together accounted for 88% of new US electrical generating capacity added in the first eight months of 2025, according to data just released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) which was reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign. In August, solar energy alone provided two-thirds of the new capacity, marking two consecutive years in which solar has led every month among all energy sources. Solar and wind each added more new capacity than natural gas did. Within three years, the share of all renewables in installed capacity may exceed 40%.

Starting this month, parking lots in South Korea with more than 80 spaces will be required to install solar canopies and carports. But, unlike similar laws that have been proposed in the US, this new law doesn’t just apply to new construction – existing lots will have to comply as well!

First Solar (Nasdaq: FSLR), the US’s largest solar panel maker, announced it will open a new 3.7-gigawatt (GW) factory in the US to finish production of its Series 6 modules started at its overseas factories.

New data from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) shows that the US solar supply chain has been fully reshored, with manufacturing capacity growing across every part of the solar and storage sector.

Enphase Energy just launched a new off-grid system that lets homeowners power their homes without a utility connection – even for extended periods. The California-based Enphase says the off-grid setup delivers a seamless way to live independently from the grid while still using solar, batteries, and a standby AC generator.

Meta just signed more power purchase agreements (PPAs) with ENGIE North America, expanding their partnership to more than 1.3 gigawatts (GW) of solar across four projects in Texas. It’s just a shame the social media giant is also going big on gas plants in Louisiana to power its data centers at the same time.

Solar and battery storage continue to dominate growth among energy sources, while fossil fuels and nuclear power have stagnated. That’s according to data just released by the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), which was reviewed by the SUN DAY Campaign.

Electricity demand is surging in Texas, and solar, wind, and battery storage are meeting it.

According to new data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA), electricity demand across the Texas grid managed by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) hit record highs in the first nine months of 2025. ERCOT, which supplies power to about 90% of the state, saw demand jump 5% year-over-year to 372 terawatt hours (TWh) – a 23% increase since 2021. No other major US grid has grown faster over the past year.

For the last few weeks, we’ve been running a sidebar survey about some of the factors that are convincing Electrek readers to add home solar power systems to their homes. After receiving over a thousand responses, here’s what you told us.

XCharge North America (NA) has opened Oregon’s first solar + storage DC fast charging station at Arrowhead Travel Plaza in Pendleton, part of the Wildhorse Resort & Casino complex owned by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation.