This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Dounia Ziyati, Solar Engineer at EDF Renewables. She urges women to envision themselves thriving in leading roles. “Today, we witness women in uniforms operating heavy machinery on construction sites and bravely tackling risks head-on,” she states.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that February saw a stark contrast in solar conditions across Europe, with eastern regions benefiting from strong irradiance while western and southern areas faced setbacks due to storms and persistent cloud cover.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, OPIS, a Dow Jones company, provides a quick look at the main price trends in the global PV industry.

The solar energy industry continues to push the boundaries of efficiency and reliability. However, as innovative photovoltaic cell and module technologies emerge, they also bring a new set of challenges in durability and performance. A new report from IEA PVPS Task 13, titled “Degradation and Failure Modes in New Photovoltaic Cell and Module Technologies,” offers a comprehensive analysis of degradation and failure mechanisms in current photovoltaic technologies.

Taking inspiration from the 3D photonic structures on a Morpho butterfly’s shimmering blue wings, scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE have developed colored solar panels that can be incorporated into a building’s exterior practically invisibly while maintaining high efficiency.

Kenya has launched a tender for two 40 MW solar projects in its southern regions. Apex consultancy is leading the search for an engineering, procurement, and construction contractor for the Isinya and Makueni solar farms, both set to develop in Kajiado and Makueni counties.

Uganda’s Ministry of Water and Environment has opened a tender for the supply, installation, and commissioning of four solar energy packages for water supply schemes across the country. Applications are due by March 27, 2025.

Sungrow’s new residential battery energy storage system features a compact 182 mm design and is capable of handling a maximum charge/discharge current of 50 A.

A Franco-German consortium is launching the EO4ER project, which uses next-generation satellite data to anticipate the impact of variable solar generation on electricity grids. Through a digital twin prototype, it aims to refine intraday forecasts and integrate the effects of climate change on PV energy production.

China Huadian has started building a 19.24 GW wind-solar-coal-storage project in China’s Qinghai province. The $11 billion project will deliver 36.5 TWh of electricity per year to Guangxi province.

A photovoltaic system on the roof of a warehouse caught fire in the northern German town of Norden, triggering a large-scale operation by the volunteer fire department that lasted for hours and involved the use of two water cannons on Monday. On the same day, in Erftstadt, near Cologne, a garage in the area of ​​a PV system caught fire, according to the local fire department.

The announcement comes after the EPA instantly froze the funds last month.

Scientists in China have analyzed the performance of a system linking a solar-air source heat pump heating system to sand-based thermal storage floor and have found it can maitain an average indoor temperature of 18.8 C, even when outdoor temperatures range from −18.4 C to 12.3 C.

Plug Power reported an almost 6-fold increase in electrolyzer revenues in 2024, despite the financial troubles. Meanwhile, Finland’s first large-scale plant goes into operation.

Karl-Heinz Remmers examines Pakistan’s startling growth in solar energy use, which could serve as an inspiration not only for developing countries but also for Germany and the EU.

Blackhillock in Scottland is not only Europe’s biggest operating battery storage project. It is also the first one to provide a special set of grid stabilization services, procured under the electricity system operator’s Pathfinder 2, while also generating revenues from other critical services.

An international research team has developed a novel approach for predicting inverter temperature through symbolic regression based on particle swarm optimization.

The Spanish company says its new storage system has a capacity ranging from 2.4 kWh to 9.6 kWh and a depth of discharge of 90%.

A research group in India has embedded a hybrid heterojunction solar cell as a bottom device in a four-terminal perovskite-silicon solar cell using a solution processing technique. The novel cell architecture, according to its creators, could be produced at significantly lower costs compared to conventional perovskite-silicon tandem designs.

UNSW researchers were able to recover silicon from end of life solar PV panels pure enough for re-use in silicon carbide-based devices. Their novel multi-step method which includes thermal and chemical processes, also recovers silver.

The translucent 320 W solar module will be presented for the first time in Rimini, Italy. It will be produced by production partner Agora in Slovakia from the third quarter.

Ecoprogetti has supplied US solar manufacturer CS Solar MFG LLC with an 800 MW production line to produce bifacial glass-glass passivated emitter rear cell (PERC) panels with over 22% efficiency.

Goldi Solar has opened a PV module manufacturing line, powered by automated optical inspection (AOI) and artificial intelligence, at its Kosamba factory in India.

Researchers in Italy have developed a sun-tracking PV system design for stadium covers. The proposed approach is said to offer both strong structural response and high energy yield compared to systems based on fixed structures.

Researchers from the U.K.’s University of Sheffield and Power Roll, a perovskite solar PV technology company, have achieved 12.8% power conversion efficiency in indium-free devices based on novel back-contact process. A slot-die coating process was demonstrated, compatible with roll-to-roll manufacturing.

Sumitomo Electric’s new system comes in three versions, providing up to 10 hours of storage. It achieves improvements in output and energy density, through component enhancements, thereby reducing cost and physical footprint.

Ambitious capacity targets and diverse revenue opportunities support case for battery energy storage system (BESS) investment in key European markets, new report from Aurora Energy Research finds. The fourth edition battery markets report also predicts Europe’s grid-scale BESS fleet will reach 55 GW by 2030.

The United Nations Office for Projects Services has kicked off a tender for the development and construction of a solar and battery storage minigrid in Papua New Guinea. The deadline for applications is March 24, 2025.

Battery manufacturer Vaulta is using lessons learned from Australia’s growing off-grid energy sector to spearhead the development of its next-generation battery energy storage technology.

The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) projects 32.5 GW of solar, 18.2 GW of energy storage, and 7.7 GW of wind will be deployed this year. These additions will make up nearly 93% of total new capacity, which is expected to hit a record 63 GW.