Markets & Policy

Cash grants and state-backed loans to support solar and battery storage installations in millions of UK homes as part of government Warm Homes Plan. UK government says investment has the potential to triple the number of homes with rooftop solar by 2030.

Despite strong industry interest, India’s Advanced Chemistry Cell Production Linked Incentive (ACC PLI) scheme, launched in October 2021, is yet to translate policy ambition into realised capacity. As of October 2025, only 2.8% (1.4 GWh) of the targeted 50 GWh capacity has been commissioned within the stipulated timeline, entirely by Ola Electric—according to a new report by JMK Research and the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA).

While global solar corporate funding in 2025 fell to the lowest level recorded since 2020, deal count rose to its highest level since 2017. Mercom Capital Group says investors favored smaller, lower-risk, execution-ready projects last year amid policy uncertainty, trade pressures and higher financing costs.

China’s PV manufacturing sector is operating at full capacity ahead of an April 1 export tax change, contributing to module price increases of 20% to 30% in parts of the supply chain and raising risks for price-sensitive European commercial and utility-scale projects in early 2026.

Aerem Solutions, an end-to-end platform for distributed solar, has raised $15 million in a Pre-Series B funding round led by SMBC Asia Rising Fund, the venture capital arm of Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp. (SMBC).

United Solar Holding has secured more than $900 million to complete the financing required for its 100,000 MT polysilicon manufacturing facility in Oman. Production is expected to begin during the first quarter of this year.

The European Commission is revising its Cybersecurity Act. While presenting the proposals in European Parliament, the commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, Henna Virkkunen, said dependency on a very limited number of solar inverter suppliers could “pose a significant security risk.”

Iola Hughes, Head of Research at Benchmark Mineral Intelligence, tells ESS News that 2026 is set to be another strong year for BESS, 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.

ICRA expects the Indian steel industry’s decarbonization to be gradual, with near-term emission reductions driven mainly by higher adoption of renewable energy and improvements in operational efficiency, as high costs and technology constraints limit faster decarbonization.

Energy storage for homes—anchored by hybrid inverter systems—will lead the next phase of solar growth in India. Not as an upgrade, but as a necessity for a nation building toward energy independence by 2047.