/daily ·28 JUL 2026 ·TUESDAY ·2 MIN READ ·6 STORIES

Malaysia orders the grid; Australia scales the cell

Southeast Asia's largest ever solar-plus-storage tender lands in Malaysia; Australian researchers push perovskite-silicon cells toward commercial area; and Archer reveals a cargo VTOL running on hybrid-electric power.

01 / The Day

TUESDAY 28 JUL 2026, ranked

Australian team certifies 30.2% efficiency for a 10 cm² perovskite-silicon tandem

University of Sydney researchers independently certified a 30.2% conversion efficiency for a perovskite-silicon tandem solar cell at 10 cm² — a cell area closer to commercial module dimensions than the 1 cm² specimens behind most efficiency records, including yesterday's LONGi 35.5% result.

Why it mattersPerovskite efficiency claims routinely collapse between 1 cm² and commercial scale; holding above 30% at 10 cm² is the architecture demonstrating it can survive that transition.

01 pv-magazine.com↗

Malaysia tenders 2.5 GW of solar with a mandatory 50% co-located storage requirement

Malaysia's government issued a procurement for 2.5 GW of solar capacity with a 1.25 GW mandatory co-location of battery storage — the largest combined solar-plus-storage tender issued to date in Southeast Asia.

Why it mattersMandating storage at 50% of generation capacity at this scale signals a regional policy shift away from solar-only procurement and creates direct gigawatt-scale demand for battery supply chains across the ASEAN market.

02 energy-storage.news↗

Vietnam's capital switches on its first grid-scale BESS: 50 MW / 100 MWh

Hanoi Power Corporation commenced pilot operation of five battery energy storage systems at city substations, the first large-scale BESS deployment in Vietnam's capital, intended for peak shaving and grid frequency regulation.

Why it mattersVietnam has installed solar at pace without matching storage; Hanoi's first grid-scale BESS is the operational proof-of-concept that precedes the rollout needed to manage a rapidly growing midday solar surplus.

03 energy-storage.news↗

Massachusetts adds vehicle-to-grid discharge to its utility virtual power plant

Massachusetts utilities expanded ConnectedSolutions — an active demand-response programme — to include V2G bidirectional EV discharge, making it one of the first utility-scale VPP programmes in the US to treat EV batteries as compensated dispatchable grid assets.

Why it mattersV2G has been a proof-of-concept for years; inclusion in a live, compensated utility VPP marks the transition to operational infrastructure and creates the business case for bidirectional chargers.

04 energy-storage.news↗

Illinois mandates 3 GW of battery storage — and Chicago's spare land is suddenly valuable

A new Illinois law requiring 3 GW of battery storage deployment is reshaping the economics of underutilised urban parcels in the Chicago area, which are emerging as cost-effective sites for grid-scale energy storage infrastructure.

Why it mattersBattery mandates work best when siting costs are low; Chicago's distressed industrial land fills that role and illustrates how storage policy creates localised real-estate economics that can become self-reinforcing.

05 canarymedia.com↗

Archer unveils Halo, a hybrid-electric autonomous cargo VTOL for long-range missions

Archer Aviation announced Halo, an autonomous VTOL aircraft using a series hybrid-electric powertrain — rather than the fully electric drivetrain of its Midnight passenger vehicle — designed for heavy cargo payloads and extended range in demanding environments.

Why it mattersPassenger eVTOL range limits confine most designs to urban hops; Archer applying its electric aviation technology to a hybrid cargo platform opens the logistics market, which has clearer unit economics and tolerates different noise and certification constraints.

06 dronedj.com↗

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Past days

The Daily Archive

/SAT 01 AUGThe Heat Is the Story /FRI 31 JULCalifornia hits 51% monthly solar; China sets record targets /THU 30 JULThe Billion-Dollar Build Edition /WED 29 JULWednesday, 29 July — Sodium-ion arrives; Australia breaks records /TUE 28 JULMalaysia orders the grid; Australia scales the cell /MON 27 JULA Solar Farm Becomes a Data Centre, Wisconsin Campaigns Against Solar, and LONGi Breaks the Tandem Efficiency Record /SUN 26 JULThe Build-Out Accelerates /SAT 25 JULUS battery storage breaks Q1 record; China tightens polysilicon /FRI 24 JULShock and Shine /WED 22 JUL194 gigawatts and a record solar cell /TUE 21 JULStorage everywhere, blockages everywhere /SUN 19 JULTwo US LFP milestones, one weekend /SAT 18 JULOvercapacity meets the taxman /FRI 17 JULFriday in Energy: Sodium Scales, Silicon Shines /WED 15 JULRecords fall, costs diverge /MON 13 JULSolid-state gets a quality stamp /SAT 11 JULThe grid just got bigger /FRI 10 JULSodium, Zinc, and CO2: Storage Diversifies Its Chemistry /THU 09 JULThe grid bottleneck, the cell plant, and the inverter ban /WED 08 JULLDES lands, sodium-ion signs 60 GWh, and US solar manufacturing hits 3 GW /TUE 07 JULSodium Goes Commercial