Italian energy agency GSE said upcoming FerX renewable energy auctions planned for 2026 and 2027 will allocate 10GW of PV capacity and 16GW of wind power. The goal is to hold one auction by the end of this year and two more in 2027, pending final EU approval. The first FerX auction awarded 7.7GW of PV capacity at an average price of EUR 0.05682/kWh, while the second solar auction allocated 1.1GW and was the first to apply NZIA resilience criteria, excluding Chinese modules, cells and inverters for PV projects above 1MW. SMM believes Italy’s FerX scheme is supporting renewable deployment while strengthening Europe’s push for localized and diversified clean energy supply chains.

Taoyuan in Chinese Taiwan has issued local guidelines for solar projects to strengthen environmental protection, safety management and panel recycling. The rules require self-inspections for projects on hillsides or environmentally sensitive areas, encourage early communication with local residents, and introduce third-party equipment checks after operation begins. Operators must also prepare damaged-panel storage plans after natural disasters. SMM believes the move reflects tighter local oversight on PV project siting, O&M safety and end-of-life recycling in Chinese Taiwan.

The European Commission revealed plans on April 23, 2026, to restrict funding for PV projects using inverters from "high-risk" countries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. This ban affects projects funded by the EIB and EIF, as well as grid-connected projects in neighboring regions. Citing cybersecurity threats to critical infrastructure, EU officials argue that inverters act as the "brain" of power grids and require tighter oversight. While switching to non-Chinese suppliers like Huawei or Sungrow may increase total project costs by less than 2%, the EU is moving forward with a phased-out approach scheduled to fully take effect by April 2027.

The European Commission has moved to restrict funding for solar projects utilizing inverters from "high-risk vendors" to bolster cybersecurity. Effective immediately, new guidelines require compliance with strict security standards. Pipeline projects have specific transition windows (notification by May 1, 2026), while non-EU-connected projects must phase out high-risk hardware by April 15, 2027. This decision follows growing EU concern regarding over-reliance on limited inverter suppliers and potential security vulnerabilities, echoing recent preventative measures taken by nations including Lithuania and the Netherlands.

As of March 31, Italy had 3,670 PV grid connection applications totaling 144 GW, according to the grid operator Terna. Ready-to-build (RtB) solar projects increased to 210 applications representing 9.34 GW. Solar accounts for 62.5% of renewable connection applications and 44.64% of the total 322.67 GW renewable capacity requested. Regionally, Puglia leads in number of PV applications, while Sicily ranks first by capacity at 37.39 GW. Approved PV projects reached 1,139 applications totaling 46.49 GW. Integrated storage requests remained stable, while stand-alone storage declined slightly. Meanwhile, data center connection requests rose to 480 projects totaling 82.63 GW, reflecting rising electricity demand from digital infrastructure.

Recently, the State Grid New Energy Cloud published the results of the unified competitive bidding for mechanism electricity prices in Zhejiang Province for 2026. The PV mechanism electricity price was 0.3816 yuan/kWh, with the shortlisted mechanism electricity volume totaling 4.29 billion kWh and 31,024 shortlisted projects. The vast majority of the projects were distributed PV projects, with only 24 centralized PV projects shortlisted.