Three new NERC standards — PRC-028, 029 and 030 — are designed to improve grid reliability

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that last month North America saw a stark solar divide, with southern regions like northeastern Mexico, southeastern Texas, and much of California experiencing 20–25% above-average irradiance, while Canada, the Great Lakes, and the northeastern U.S. faced persistent cloudiness and below-normal solar conditions. This contrast was driven by high-pressure systems and a southwestern heat dome in the south versus a polar vortex bringing cold air and storms to the north.

This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Margarita Licht, Product Manager BESS & Charging at Germany’s Goldbeck Solar. She says diverse perspectives and cognitive styles are essential in the solar and energy storage sector, enabling smarter solutions, effective problem-solving, and long-term planning. She also emphasizes that creating inclusive environments, fostering allyship, and choosing workplaces that value authentic strengths empower growth and drive meaningful impact.

An IEA-PVPS report finds that solar power above 60° North is not only viable but rapidly expanding, driven by cold-climate performance gains, bifacial technologies, and rising energy security needs. While challenges like extreme seasonality, snow, permafrost, and scarce data remain, Arctic PV is emerging as a critical—and technically distinct—frontier for global solar deployment.

Achieving a system cost of $0.65/W through the secondary market and do-it-yourself assembly demonstrates a viable pathway for US plug-in solar to provide immediate utility bill relief to renters and apartment dwellers.

AleaSoft Energy Forecasting’s latest analysis finds negative hourly electricity prices returned to the French and German markets last week, while the British, Dutch and Nordic markets registered their lowest daily averages since October 2025 and the Belgian market saw its lowest daily average since May 2025.

Aurora Energy Research has found that energy storage is raising the value of negatively priced solar electricity by up to $42/MWh in the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) wholesale market.

Australia’s rooftop solar market has surged 19% in the past month with the latest data revealing a record 341 MW of small-scale rooftop PV capacity was registered across the country in March as consumers also raced to install battery energy storage systems.

New Zealand’s Electricity Authority has introduced a 10 kW default export limit for residential solar and battery systems to standardize grid access and support higher penetration of distributed energy.

Analysis from Wiki-Solar finds the world’s 33 largest utility-scale solar markets had a cumulative capacity of 1,008 GWac by the end of last year.

Germany’s revised VDE standard enables simplified registration of larger plug-in photovoltaic systems and storage, removing previous capacity limits for self-installation.

Norwegian vertical solar specialist Over Easy Solar has installed its first rooftop vertical solar installation in the U.S. market. The 100 kW system, combined with a green roof in New York, is expected to deliver around 120,000 kWh annually depending on factors including albedo, azimuth and local shadowing.

The Bangladesh Power Development Board plans to build a 442 MW solar plant near the Rampal Power Station with a $200 million investment, targeting the country’s largest installation and lower tariffs than comparable projects.

Switzerland’s photovoltaic market slowed in 2025, with newly installed capacity falling 15% to 1,526 MW, according to Swissolar. Despite the decline, growth in residential storage, building electrification, and EV integration points to a gradual market recovery.

IT security firm Jakkaru has identified a vulnerability in microinverters from AP Systems that could enable a “kill switch” scenario, potentially shutting down tens of thousands of inverters simultaneously and disrupting grid operations.

Wood Mackenzie’s latest analysis explores how 13 of the world’s leading power markets are impacted by the current fuel crisis, with those most reliant on fuel imports facing the greatest risk exposure. The consultancy says the average cost of generation is set to increase by $2.30/MWh across these 13 markets if a de-escalation of the conflict enables fuel price moderation in the latter half of 2026, increasing to an average of around $8.30/MWh if current elevated price levels persist through the year.

A Japanese–Chinese team developed a titanium molten salt redox-flow battery using abundant titanium ions and molten salt electrolytes to enable high-voltage, fast, and stable grid-scale energy storage. The system demonstrates high efficiency of over 97%, strong cycling stability, and improved cost and scalability compared to vanadium-based batteries, with further optimization underway.

Inpow Battery has launched a 587 Ah semi-solid-state storage cell with safety-focused design features, while outlining plans for a 6.5 GWh production line.

Aroma Solar has opened a 1.2 GW tunnel oxide passivated contact (TOPCon) module facility in in the northern Indian state of Haryana, using automated production and AI-based quality control.

A new sodium-ion cell for ESS may further improve competitiveness in large-scale systems against the weight of the lithium-ion battery sector.

Chinese power transformer manufacturer TBEA introduced a grid-forming string power conversion system (PCS) for utility-scale storage, renewable energy base projects, and weak-grid applications. The TE435/392K-HV-BL high-power converter focuses on improving power density and grid support. According to TBEA, its fully integrated liquid-cooling design increases volumetric power density by 78% and gravimetric power density by 32% […]

GCL Technology says its GCL Optoelectronic subsidiary plans a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) in 2026, alongside a potential 500 MW factory in the United States and a roadmap for space-based solar.

Company statements in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission indicate it will seek an arrangement between itself and creditors that may allow it to survive “as a going concern.”

Median solar module pricing in the United States reached $0.28 per watt as the market adjusted to intensified trade enforcement and new Foreign Entity of Concern compliance requirements, according to the Q1 2026 Quarterly Pricing & Domestic Content Report from Anza.

A UNSW-led team found that annealing conditions significantly affect stress, strain, and microstructure in copper-plated heterojunction solar cell contacts, with fast annealing increasing microstrain in both copper and indium tin oxide.

Brazil’s National Electric Energy Agency (Aneel) has authorized a 5 MWh battery system co-located with a solar plant, setting a regulatory precedent for integrated storage.

Renalfa Power Clusters plans to combine newly acquired solar and battery assets in Romania into a hybrid project using lithium-ion and sodium-ion storage.

Greece’s PPC Group has finished construction of its 2.13 GW solar portfolio in northern Greece. The company is now working on its third large-scale battery storage facility in the area, with plans for two pumped-hydro storage projects also progressing.

Lambda Wärmepumpen GmbH said its Eureka heat pump series uses a patented fluid mechanics system that reportedly improves heat transfer by four to six times while maintaining a temperature difference of just 3 K between the air and the refrigerant. Its seasonal coefficient of performance ranges from 4.50 to 6.10.

Battolyser Systems and VDL Hydrogen Systems have merged to form Alquion, while Ming Yang Smart Energy Group plans to invest more than $10 billion in hydrogen and renewable energy projects in Ethiopia.