This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to Anna Sauter-Getschmann, co-founder of Germany-based Academy for Climate Jobs. She says that the renewable energy industry must reshape vocational training and make new opportunities visible. “We can start to redefine the typical image of an electrician or plumber,” she stated.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that October delivered record-high irradiance across much of the United States, with a high-pressure system over the Eastern and Central regions driving a sustained period of warm, dry, and clear weather. Meanwhile, contrasting conditions in Canada’s coastal provinces and extreme weather in Florida underscored this month’s diverse impacts on North American solar generation.

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 allure of the open road is strong in the United States, where highways can snake through breathtaking landscapes. Recreational vehicles (RVs) make adventuring easy but powering portable homes with diesel generators is a poor solution for today’s travelers. Briter Products President Avanti Lalwani tells pv magazine how her company is putting solar on wheels.

This week, Women in Solar Europe (WiSEu) gives voice to María Mura, Head of Southern Europe Origination at Spain-based Nadara. She says pressure to be outstanding stems from the higher level of scrutiny women face in leadership. “Women are not only challenged by their peers and superiors, but also by themselves, urging to prove that they didn’t achieve success by mistake or by chance, but through undeniable competence and hard work,” she states.

Australian Vanadium Limited (AVL) has moved a vanadium flow battery (VFB) project to design phase with the aim of developing a modular, scalable, turnkey, utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS).

A study on the benefits of co-locating solar energy and sheep grazing shows that sheep grazing in the shade of PV modules may produce higher-quality wool than those on traditional agricultural properties.

Datta Infra, EG Energy (Enfinity Global), Gentari Renewables, Juniper Green, and Sunsure Energy have emerged as winners in SJVN’s latest auction for 1.2 GW of wind-solar hybrid capacity.

Argonne Lab uses magnetic resonance to track chemical changes inside working lithium battery cells. without destroying the test cells.

Uniper has told pv magazine that it has delayed its 2030 hydrogen investment target.

The U.S. Department of Energy’s latest solar cost model shows that residential solar prices are up, commercial solar is getting cheaper and utility-scale pricing remains flat. The addition of batteries increases costs by $1.75/W for residential projects and $0.75/W for larger installations.

The OffGrid portable power station provides power for outdoor adventures as well as in hurricane-ravaged areas.

India has installed 12.8 GW of new solar capacity from January to June 2024, according to Mercom India. This includes 11.7 GW of large-scale solar projects, with 3.7 GW of off-site commercial and industrial (C&I) projects, and more than 1.1 GW of rooftop PV installations.

Indielux and EPP Solar have released the “world’s largest” plug-in PV system, a 6 kW unit with a power storage option that connects to existing electrical setups via a safety plug. It is available in Germany, France, Austria, Poland, and Spain.

pv magazine examines recommendations and precautions for flooding, as water exposure to electrical devices such as inverters or battery packs can have serious consequences.

An international team of scientists have combined cyclic-olefin copolymers with a powder of aluminum oxide to create a filament that can be used by a 3D printer to create anti-reflective covers for PV modules. The proposed innovation can reportedly improve PV cell efficiency by over 25%.

The Sweden-based heat pump provider said its new product is one of the slimmest and most compact system available on the market to date.

An international research team has built an all-perovskite tandem solar cell based on a wide-bandgap top perovskite cell with a 20.5% efficiency. The 1-cm2 scale tandem device achieved the highest efficiency ever reported to date for all-perovskite solar cells of this size.

A study by German research institute Fraunhofer ISE has revealed a troubling trend. Data shows that modules are increasingly attributed higher power ratings than they actually have. Though the percentages are incremental, it all
adds up.

A European research team has sought to combine for the first time perovskite solar cell technology with textile ceramic in a novel building-integrated photovoltaic device. The result is a solar brick with potential for future commercialiation, according to its creators.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) says in its latest report that 2023 was a record-breaking but tumultuous year for solar development. It says the manufacturing industry faces pressure from supply-demand imbalances, with overcapacity causing prices to collapse.

Jeffrey Saltman, partner at US intellectual property law firm Fisch Sigler LLP, recently spoke to pv magazine about the rising number of patent lawsuits between PV module manufacturers. He said this increase in litigation mainly stems from the industry’s convergence on tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) tech and noted that the number of lawsuits is likely to rise in the near future.

Servotech Power Systems has developed a new range of solar solutions, including on-grid microinverters and inverters, hybrid inverters, battery energy storage systems, and solar pump controllers. The microinverters feature maximum power point tracking, built-in WiFi, and reverse power transmission.

A research group has proposed a novel method to control ramp rates in power networks. Its control optimization is based on weather, load and production forecast data. The scientists simulated the operation of the proposed technique and reached a ramp rate reduction of up to 76.2%.

Metrel, a Slovenian measurement equipment supplier, says its new electrical installation safety tester can assess systems with a maximum voltage of up to 1,500 V and a maximum short circuit current of 40 A.

Replacing diesel, the Noronha Verde project will be carried out by Neoenergia with an investment of BRL 300 million ($52.1 million).

Svensk Solenergi has shared new guidelines for installing stationary battery storage systems. Its publication comes as the number of battery installations in Sweden, across both the residential and larger-scale markets, is accelerating.

The Swiss manufacturer said the cell was developed in partnership with Echion Technologies, which supplied the niobium-based active anode material. It has greater energy density and faster charging compared to LTO technologies.

A cross-Atlantic subsea pumped storage collaboration will seek to overcome the land-based challenges plaguing traditional pumped hydro storage technology.

The UK government has confirmed new hydrogen plans, while RWE says it has secured construction and environmental permits to build a 100 MW electrolyzer in the Netherlands.