Solar for All

Global renewable energy from wind and solar continues to expand, but fossil fuel use is rising alongside it rather than declining. Commentators note that clean energy growth is being outpaced by overall energy demand, meaning renewables are adding to the energy mix instead of replacing coal, oil and gas.

Farmers are increasingly combining solar panels with agriculture, using the land beneath and around panels to grow crops or graze sheep. The approach, known as agrivoltaics, lets landowners earn income from both energy and food production while shading plants and livestock from harsh sun. Coverage highlights growing interest as farmers seek to diversify revenue and solar developers seek community-friendly land use.

A Washington Examiner report argues that the rapidly growing energy and cooling demands of AI data centers could eventually push this infrastructure into orbit, where solar power is constant and heat can be radiated away. The idea is drawing attention amid rising concern over the strain AI computing places on terrestrial power grids and land.

Google has announced Project Suncatcher, a research initiative to run machine learning infrastructure on solar-powered satellite constellations in orbit. The plan, outlined on Google's research blog, envisions data centre-scale compute in space to tap unlimited solar energy as terrestrial energy demands from AI grow. Early discussion centres on feasibility, launch costs, and whether orbiting hardware could realistically scale.

Researchers have reported detecting a direct radio signal from a planet outside the solar system for the first time. The announcement is being widely shared as a potential milestone in the study of exoplanets, since radio emissions have previously been observed mainly from stars and other cosmic objects rather than from planets themselves. Details about which planet was involved and how the signal was confirmed have not yet been widely reported.

The Trump administration's crackdown on Chinese-linked solar companies is slowing the wave of new solar manufacturing factories in the United States. Efforts to restrict firms with Chinese ties are disrupting planned investments that had been expected to expand domestic solar panel production, raising concerns about the future of the US clean energy manufacturing boom.

The US Energy Information Administration projects that solar power will generate more electricity than coal in Texas in 2026, marking a historic shift in the state's energy mix. Texas, the leading US energy producer, has seen rapid solar capacity growth alongside declining coal generation. The projection highlights the accelerating pace of the energy transition in a state long defined by oil and gas.

New research indicates Mercury is contracting more quickly than previously estimated. The smallest planet in the solar system has been cooling and shrinking for billions of years, causing its crust to buckle and form cliffs and ridges. The revised findings suggest this process is still active and accelerating relative to earlier models, prompting scientists to rethink how rocky planets cool over time.

Google is planning to launch an experimental satellite into orbit, marking Big Tech's first concrete move toward building artificial intelligence data centers in space. The idea is to test whether computing infrastructure can operate off-planet, where solar power is constant and cooling constraints differ from Earth. The announcement has drawn wide attention as tech companies scramble for energy to power the AI boom.

Politico reports that an unexpected figure has become influential in the growing battle over solar projects on agricultural land. Conflicts between renewable energy developers and farmers over land use continue to intensify across the United States, and new players are shaping how these disputes play out at the state and local levels.

A federal judge in Rhode Island has ordered the revival of the $7 billion Solar for All program, which the Trump administration had canceled. The program funded solar energy projects aimed at low-income and disadvantaged communities across the United States. The ruling means the administration must restart the program while related legal challenges over the cancellation move forward.

Nasa scientists are travelling to observe a rare solar eclipse, according to BBC News. Eclipses offer researchers a brief window to study the Sun's corona and test instruments that cannot gather this data at any other time. Teams often deploy to remote viewing paths for just minutes of totality, making each event a costly, carefully planned scientific operation drawing public curiosity.

Texas is turning its attention to solar power as part of a broader shift in its energy mix, long dominated by oil and gas. The move highlights how the state, already a leader in wind generation, is increasingly adding large-scale solar capacity to meet growing electricity demand and diversify its power sources.

A spacecraft built to explore icy moons where life could exist is flying close by Earth, using the planet's gravity to adjust its course. The maneuver is part of a long journey toward the outer solar system, where scientists hope to study oceans beneath the moons' surfaces. The flyby has drawn attention as a milestone in the search for conditions suitable for life beyond our planet.

A new report claims the solar system's first planets were worlds of fire rather than ice, challenging the long-held picture of the earliest planetary bodies forming in cold, icy conditions far from the sun. The suggestion points to a hotter, more violent beginning for planet formation than scientists have typically assumed, and it is drawing attention from space enthusiasts and researchers questioning how the planets we know today first came together.

Renewable sources are now generating 61 percent of Turkey's electricity, according to a report by Informed Comment. The figure is being highlighted against the backdrop of an energy crisis tied to the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint for global oil shipments. Turkey's growing reliance on wind, solar and hydro is being framed as insulation from disruptions in Persian Gulf energy supplies.

A UK study has found that silicon solar cells, a cheaper and more mature technology than the specialist cells currently used in space, could reduce satellite power costs by up to 90%. The finding points to silicon as a viable alternative for powering satellites, potentially lowering the cost of space missions.

The Trump administration cancelled a $7 billion solar energy grant program, but a federal judge in Rhode Island has now ordered the program restored. The ruling is a setback for the administration's effort to roll back renewable energy funding and a win for states and organizations relying on those solar grants. Supporters of clean energy are highlighting the decision as a check on executive power over congressionally funded climate programs.

Japan is developing solar farms on former golf courses because the country has little open land available for large-scale renewable energy projects. As golf's popularity declines, closed courses offer large, already-cleared plots suited for solar panels. The approach highlights the challenge of expanding renewable energy in a densely populated country with limited flat, unused space.

Harvard scientists report detecting a radio signal apparently coming directly from a planet outside the solar system. If confirmed, it would be a rare example of a radio emission traced to an exoplanet, possibly generated by the planet's magnetic field interacting with its star. Astronomers say such detections could open a new way to study distant planets, though further observations are needed to verify the signal's origin.

A new Visual Capitalist graphic breaks down how much clean energy capacity countries have added since 2015, ranking nations by their renewable build-out over the past decade. Readers are sharing it as a quick way to compare national progress on wind, solar and other renewables, and to gauge which countries are leading the energy transition and which are lagging behind.

A new analysis warns that solar activity, including powerful solar flares and coronal mass ejections, could cripple electricity grids, satellites and digital infrastructure worldwide. The piece argues that modern societies' dependence on connected technology makes them increasingly vulnerable to space weather, and calls for better forecasting, hardened infrastructure and international preparedness to limit damage from a major solar event.

An analysis piece argues that the shift to solar power, wind energy, and battery storage cannot be separated from politics, examining how policy decisions, regulation, and partisan divides shape the pace of the clean energy transition. It highlights the tensions between technological progress and the political obstacles that determine whether renewables are deployed at scale.