This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Elodie Colliard, director of Switzerland’s Green Giraffe. She explained she encountered her fair share of gender-based assumptions and biases. “While the disparities remain obvious and women are still a minority, I take comfort in seeing more of us join the industry, bringing our skills and perspectives to the table,” she states.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, says much of East Asia enjoyed a sunnier-than-usual start to the year due to a persistent Siberian high and delayed La Niña onset. However, a fully developed La Niña brought heavy cloud cover and flooding to other parts of the region, especially Indonesia.

As the global transition toward sustainable energy intensifies, building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) has emerged as a critical innovation in merging renewable energy with architectural design. The recently published guidebook “Building-Integrated Photovoltaics: A Technical Guidebook,” edited by IEA PVPS Task 15 experts Nuria Martín Chivelet, Costa Kapsis, and Francesco Frontini, offers a comprehensive resource for architects, engineers, and urban planners looking to integrate BIPV into the built environment. This article explores the book’s key insights, including applications, challenges, and future pathways.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Josef Kastner, the CEO of Austria-based Nexun. He says professional decisions must be based on ability, not gender. “Societal expectations influence leadership styles, but fairness is non-negotiable. Everyone deserves the same rights and opportunities,” he states.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, analyses a new AI-driven weather model from the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF). 

Avangrid said its 150 MW Powell Creek solar project in Ohio is now delivering power to the grid, after employing 500 workers at peak construction.

SPI’s panel-manufacturing plant in California has suddenly ceased operation and its cell-production site in South Carolina never got off the ground.

Westwood Global Energy Group says just 17% of the European Union’s hydrogen projects will advance without intervention, while Smartenergy says Spain’s Orange.bat project has cleared a key environmental hurdle and will launch in May 2028.

The Nigerian government plans to ban solar panel imports to boost domestic production, but the Centre for the Promotion of Private Enterprise, a Lagos-based consultancy, warns the country is unprepared for such a restriction.

Astronergy says it plans to invest $500 million in a solar cell factory in Turkey, expanding its presence beyond its existing 850 MW module assembly facility.

An Italian startup supported by a group of scientists is developing a V-shaped agrivoltaic system that can reportedly find optimal application with bifacial modules and single-axis tracking. The proposed system configuration is claimed to reduce land use by 24 % compared to conventional setups.

Scientists in China have designed a solar self-insulated composite exterior wall panel, integrating a solar collector panel, PV panel, and insulation board. The proposed experimental setup has reportedly a static payback period of 1.1 years.

The MyGrid 10k home generator includes a 10 kW inverter and is rated for 6,000 cycles.

Italy has launched a second agrivoltaics tender, allocating €323 million ($348.4 million) in unused funds from the first round, which awarded 1.5 GW of capacity in December 2024. Developers have until June 30 to submit bids.

Energy Island Power, a German startup, has developed a connection kit that allows electric vehicle owners to use their car’s power to support home energy needs by integrating with the solar inverter and the home grid.

US scientists have developed a lithium-ion battery for electric vehicles that enables high range and fast charging in cold weather. The battery uses a single-ion conducting glassy solid electrolyte coating and does not require changes to chemistries or production processes.

The U.S. heating specialist has agreed to invest an unspecified sum in Dutch startup Blueheart Energy, which is developing a 6 kW heat pump that works on acoustic waves and is able to produce both heat and cold air.

Spacelis is developing lightweight, rollable space-grade perovskite-organic tandem solar PV technology targeting space and terrestrial portable energy applications.

The Chinese battery maker has launched its next-gen lithium iron phosphate cell which can be integrated with both 1,500 V and 2,000 V platforms. It plans to establish mass production by June 30 with an annual manufacturing capacity layout of more than 80 GWh.

Scientists in Japan have conducted a field experiment in rice plantations hosting agrivoltaics systems and have found that rice growth can be affected by reduced biomass and reduced panicle number. However, their analysis has also shown that gross return in lowland rice agrivoltaics can be 14 times higher than rice growth without PV.

India’s solar module manufacturing capacity nearly doubled from 38 GW in March 2024 to 74 GW in March 2025. PV cell manufacturing capacity tripled from 9 GW to 25 GW.

The United States is on track to reach 13 GW of cell manufacturing capacity and 65 GW of module assembly in 2025, says Clean Energy Associates.

Days after entering office, the Trump administration announced tariffs on key US trading partners. While Canada and Mexico negotiated a one-month stay, it appears tariffs are set to play an even larger role in US trade policy through 2029. Paula Mints examines the history of U.S. tariffs with a focus on the solar industry.

Tongwei says it will bring in strategic investors for its polysilicon subsidiary, Sichuan Yongxiang Co., raising CNY 10 billion ($1.38 billion) at a CNY 27 billion valuation, with investors acquiring a stake up to 27.03%.

Scientists in Australia have shown how pre-cooling and pre-heating could be implemented in Australian buildings with the support of excess solar power. Their analysis has demonstrated that summer has the highest potential for air conditioning demand reduction.

A Roth Capital Partners survey of residential solar and energy storage installers has revealed an apparent market shift away from the leading home battery provider in some parts of the United States.

Akasaka Heating & Cooling Supply says it will use green hydrogen produced at an unspecified location in Japan to produce heat and electricity for its Akasaka 5-chome district heating system in central Tokyo.

Austa has launched an all-in-one residential storage system with a three-phase inverter offering output from 5,000 W to 15,000 W and storage capacities ranging from 10 kWh to 30 kWh.

With electricity market volatility increasing in many European countries, the opportunity for battery energy storage is expanding fast. Market analyst Rystad Energy expects battery installations to accelerate as project developers with falling solar capture prices and increasing frequency of negative price events.

A month after India introduced an energy storage mandate for renewable energy plants and China scrapped its own, Mexico has stepped forward with an ambitious 30% capacity requirement, alongside plans to add a further 574 MW of batteries by 2028.