As solar penetration rises, project developers are facing tighter grid availability, curtailment, and pressure on project economics, making flexibility and smarter plant design increasingly important. The TaiyangNews Virtual Conference on Solar & Storage Power Plant Developments will bring together developers, EPCs, procurement managers, and technology suppliers to discuss how battery storage, advanced trackers, high-power modules, hybrid generation, and other plant-level technologies are shaping the next generation of utility-scale solar projects.
We are pleased to have Vijay Menon, Chief Operating Officer of Navitas Solar, deliver the keynote presentation, titled Solar Power Plant Developments – From EPC to Operations.
The conference is scheduled from 09:30 to 13:00 CEST tomorrow, September 17, 2026. Register for free here.
PV inverter and energy storage system provider Sungrow, together with nonferrous metallurgy research institute CINF Engineering and TÜV Rheinland, has released a white paper forecasting that the global mining microgrid market will exceed 90 GWh in cumulative capacity from 2026 to 2030. The report expects mining microgrids to increasingly adopt grid-forming capabilities, integrate mine production schedules into coordinated source-load-storage dispatch, and coordinate short- and long-duration energy storage across different frequency bands.
To address challenges such as weak-grid and off-grid conditions, high reliability requirements, and energy-intensive mining operations, Sungrow proposes a system-level solution that integrates wind, solar, energy storage, charging infrastructure, diesel generation, microgrid control, and carbon management. The solution covers applications ranging from small 500 kW-2.5 MW microgrids to multi-microgrid clusters above 100 MW, supports both grid-connected and off-grid operation, and can use AC- or DC-coupled configurations.
Grid-forming energy storage provides inertia support, frequency and voltage regulation, fault ride-through, grid-connected/off-grid switching, and black-start capabilities. The solution also incorporates AI-based wind, solar, and load forecasting, intelligent dispatch, and battery health management.
On the business side, Sungrow is set to raise prices for selected PV inverter and energy storage products by up to 15% from September 20 (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
The Tianjin Municipal Development and Reform Commission has launched the city’s 2026 mechanism electricity bidding round for incremental renewable energy projects, setting the total mechanism electricity volume at 4 billion kWh and the bid price cap at RMB 0.32/kWh. The mechanism tariff will apply for 10 years.
Eligible projects include wind and solar projects that achieve full-capacity grid connection by December 31, 2027, while distributed projects may participate through bidding agents.
In the previous 2025-2026 round, the clearing mechanism price was RMB 0.3196/kWh, with approximately 940 million kWh selected – less than a quarter of the initial 4 billion kWh allocated for the round.
AI energy storage systems (ESS) provider Guoxia Technology has signed a strategic cooperation agreement with industrial technology company Siemens to jointly develop integrated energy storage and power distribution solutions for energy storage plants, AI computing centers, zero-carbon parks, and microgrid systems. The companies also plan to pursue opportunities in China and overseas markets.
Under the agreement, Guoxia Technology will combine its AI model technology stack with Siemens’ intelligent power distribution equipment, digital low-carbon technologies, and the Siemens Xcelerator platform. The partners will collaborate on technical coordination, product integration, and deploying low-carbon demonstration projects.
China’s large industrial enterprises – those with a minimum annual core business revenue of RMB 20 million – produced 67.02 GW of solar cells in August 2026, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). Output rose slightly from 65.79 GW in July but fell 12.9% year on year (YoY) on a comparable basis. Note that July output was a decline of 9.4% YoY (see China Solar PV News Snippets).
Cumulative output for the first 8 months reached 505.9 GW, down 14.6% YoY.
Power generation by industrial enterprises above the designated size totaled 6,647.6 TWh from January to August. Based on NBS figures, solar accounted for 7.24% of total generation, compared with 10.82% for wind, 63.44% for thermal power, 13.58% for hydropower, and 4.92% for nuclear power.
