Solar energy is currently the fastest growing renewable energy sector. Growth in electricity from solar energy – mostly photovoltaics (PV) – is expected to remain strong toward 2030 and beyond, with some predicting that solar energy will eventually constitute the greatest source for electricity production worldwide. In the mid-2020s, we find ourselves in the midst of a wave of solar projects of diverse configurations and contexts, from large factories to small electric generating stations, with many more projects and innovations on the horizon. To meet climate action targets, analysts show solar energy needs to expand 10–20-fold over the next two decades. How will this industry develop geographically as it scales up? To what extent will the evolution of new solar spaces of production be spatially concentrated or diffused? How are these spaces connected by similar processes and outcomes?This book is a gathering point for a collection of enquiries that investigate the cognate aspects of solar energy deployment at a milestone-moment in the industry’s development. We choose the term cognate – derived from Latin cognatus, meaning ‘blood relative’ – to draw attention to the diverse set of material, political, institutional and cultural developments tied to the expansion of solar industry value creation. Cognate aspects take root and grow in many diverse contexts but are fundamentally derived from the same starting place: the pursuit of solar energy transitions as a climate mitigation strategy for the electricity sector. In drawing attention to cognate aspects, this edited volume attends to the need for a more geographically-balanced view of solar energy developments as occurring not only in the economic centres of the global economy. For instance, utility-scale solar developments all over the world are rife with political and ecological conflicts between land users and sociotechnical challenges of load balancing and resource planning for grid managers.