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• Stop Calling Appliance Makers "Outsiders" in SolarHome appliances and PV share the same logic in efficiency regulation, manufacturing, channels and smart integration. China's mandatory standard GB 47834—2026, released in June 2026, brings PV modules and inverters into the era of efficiency grades plus minimum entry thresholds.
• Musk Raises 200 GW Again with Jensen Huang: How Long Will This Solar Story Run?On 29 September Musk restated the SpaceX + Tesla target of 200 GW of solar manufacturing capacity a year. From a PV practitioner's view, this article reviews real progress since January (equipment purchases, Tesla's Project Crystal Sun in Texas, moves upstream), the technical and execution hurdles, and what it means for China's PV industry.
• Offshore PV Corrosion Protection Gets an Industry Standard: The Text Isn't Out Yet, but Your BOM Should Be ReadyOn October 21, China's National Energy Administration (NEA) published Announcement No. 4 of 2026 (signed October 9), approving 287 energy industry standards in one batch. One entry deserves the offshore PV community's attention: NB/T 12126—2026, Technical Specification for Corrosion Protection of Offshore PV Structures, effective April 9, 2027.
• Perovskite Modules Head to Orbit Again: What's Different About GCL Optoelectronics' In-Orbit Test?On 1 October, GCL Optoelectronics' single-junction perovskite modules were integrated for an in-orbit validation mission. This article covers the mission and GCL's path to space, and assesses from a materials and reliability perspective why perovskites suit space power, the hard problems of thermal cycling, vacuum, UV and atomic oxygen, and the outlook for GCL's three-step space plan.
• Payrolls Up Just 29,000, Rate-Hike Bets Cool: Can PV Breathe Easier?US payrolls rose only 29,000 in September and bets on an October hike briefly collapsed, but a hot September CPI followed and a December hike is still the market's base case. This article reviews the data and market reaction, maps four channels through which the jobs data reaches PV, and offers three views - the direction has improved but the level hasn't; supply-side consolidation still drives manufacturing; and reliability is worth more when rates are high.
• Will China's PV Market Improve by Year-End? Our View: The Fall Has Stopped, but Recovery Is Still Far OffAfter domestic installations halved, export VAT rebates were scrapped and the five industry leaders lost a combined CNY 14.8 billion in H1, will PV improve by year-end? We look at three signs the decline has stopped, three weights still holding the market down, and the latest late-October price and inventory data, and set out a three-phase view for the next six months plus six indicators to track.
• "China-Made Pellets" for POE Encapsulants: After Going from Zero to One, How Far Has Localisation Come?Three years ago the PV industry was scrambling for POE pellets; today China's nominal POE capacity is about 700 kt a year, imports are falling, and Sinopec Maoming has exported POE to North America for the first time. We review the three barriers behind the bottleneck, progress at each pellet plant, four sober facts about mass production, how film makers are \"swapping the core\", and a four-layer validation approach for introducing domestic pellets.Main section：Encapsulant Films
• The New York Times Says Tandem Cells Could Help the US Catch China in Solar. We Doubt ItOn 5 October The New York Times reported that US solar manufacturers hope to catch China with "a big leap" to perovskite/silicon tandem modules. We take the race apart along five dimensions (certification, efficiency, shipments, production lines and bottom cells), and use reliability, cost per watt and supply chains to show that tandems are the next generation, but the "US breakthrough, China chased" story does not hold up.Main section：Perovskite & Tandem
• First Price Rise in October: Three Module Makers Raise Prices — Is the Slide Over?This week China's module market saw its first meaningful round of price increases since October began: TCL Zhonghuan, GCL and Risen raised quotes on some TOPCon products by RMB 0.01–0.03/W, while four other makers cut prices on selected products. The increases are concentrated in two power bins, 630–640 W and 770–780 W, each driven by a different logic. With upstream prices flat, the transaction-price center unchanged and utility-scale demand weak, this looks like a structural repair, not a trend reversal.
• 55 PV Plants Surveyed: Is One in Five Modules Cracked? How to Read the NumbersA field survey published in the SPIE/GEESD 2026 proceedings covers 55 PV plants across six regions of China. EL imaging found an average microcrack proportion of 19.92%, while UAV infrared inspection found an average hot-spot proportion of 1.51%. Both rise significantly with years in service; mountain plants show the most microcracks, agrivoltaic plants the most hot spots, and Northwest China ranks highest on both. We comment from three angles: data definitions, cell technology, and O&M/warranty practice.Main section：Overview