This week Women in Solar+ Europe gives voice to Iualia Meirosu, Group CFO & Board Member at Romania’s Enexus. She says that Romania’s renewable energy sector is no longer just for engineers – it’s a space where women and men can thrive across operations, finance, strategy, and project management.

In a new weekly update for pv magazine, Solcast, a DNV company, reports that most of Australia experienced above-average solar irradiance in January 2026 due to a hot, dry airmass and clear skies, boosting PV generation despite operational challenges from elevated temperatures, bushfire smoke, and dust. In contrast, northern Queensland and far northern regions saw significant irradiance deficits from persistent monsoonal clouds and Tropical Cyclone Koji, causing widespread rainfall and localized power outages.

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.

Europe’s residential solar market is shifting from rapid rooftop PV growth to a more selective phase, with declining new installations but rising demand for upgrades like storage, smart energy management, EV integration, and balcony systems. Rather than retreating, households are reinvesting in complementary technologies that enhance flexibility, reliability, and self-consumption, redefining residential demand around integrated, intelligent energy solutions.

In its first monthly column for pv magazine, the Becquerel Institute explains how solar PV continues its global expansion despite political uncertainty and market turbulence. In Europe, 2025 was a record year — but the underlying dynamics are becoming increasingly complex.

Hydrostor has secured a 50 MW/400 MWh offtake agreement with California Community Power (CC Power) for its Willow Rock Energy Storage Center, providing firm capacity to six of CC Power’s community choice aggregator members.

EnergyAustralia’s 50 MW/245 MWh Stage 1 Hallett battery energy storage system (BESS), co-located with a gas-fired power station, has reached financial close and is moving into the delivery phase.

PowerBank Corp., a North American developer and operator of solar and battery energy storage projects, reported $22.3 million in revenue for the second half of 2025 and secured new credit facilities to expand its project pipeline.

France’s new Multiannual Energy Program sets a 48 GW solar target for 2030 and outlines 2.9 GW of tenders through 2028, with industry saying the framework restores investment visibility and supports gigafactory plans.

The China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association (CNMIA) says wafer, cell and module prices remain stable, while industry operating rates are edging lower across leading and integrated manufacturers.

Brazilian scientists have developed a slope-based framework for agrivoltaics, finding that sites below 15% gradient offer the best balance between agricultural suitability and technical feasibility. Their review of 30 studies shows that steeper terrain can host PV systems with adapted designs, land-use limits, erosion risks, and rising installation costs.

Naos‑1 is described as South Africa’s biggest private utility‑scale solar and battery storage project, designed to wheel power to industrial customers.

India added 36.6 GW of solar capacity in 2025, up 43% from the previous year, with large-scale projects accounting for 81% of installations, according to Mercom India.

Germany’s latest tender for large-scale PV project concluded with an average final price of €0.0500 ($0.0593)/kWh. The procurement exercise was largely oversubscribed.

The Chinese manufacturer said its 15 kW three-phase low-voltage hybrid inverter is paired with the stackable BP5000 5 kWh battery supporting up to 120 kWh. It features three MPPTs, 150% oversized PV input, and smart load management for optimized self-consumption.

Japanese researchers used supercomputer simulations to reveal how sodium ions form clusters and move within hard carbon anodes, identifying nanopore sizes and transition regions that control diffusion and rate performance in sodium-ion batteries. Their findings offer design guidelines for optimizing hard-carbon anodes to improve energy density, cycling, and commercialization prospects.

Researchers in Saudi Arabia conducted a year-long simulation of fixed-tilt PV panels at different azimuth angles, finding that south-facing panels (180°) maximize energy production, while up to 45° eastward shifts cause minimal losses.

The latest report from the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) Photovoltaic Power Systems Programme (PVPS) says second-life PV modules have the potential to reduce waste and extend the value of solar assets, but their market today remains underdeveloped and requires advances in technical qualifications, scalable reuse infrastructure and supportive policy frameworks.

An interlaboratory comparison between the CalLab PV Modules of Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE and Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt finds the two organizations deviate by less than 0.15% when measuring the performance of photovoltaic modules. The Fraunhofer team says this is one of the most important indications as to whether their analysis is on the right track.

The Chinese supplier said the new product uses high-strength AL6005-T5 aluminum alloy and SUS304 stainless steel. It can be adjusted to a tilt angle of 0-15°.

Researchers in Spain surveyed 238 wine tourists in the Murcia region and found broad support for trellis-integrated agrivoltaics in vineyards, with 94% backing solar integration and most respondents seeing no landscape conflict.

The world’s largest reinsurer has recently introduced stricter requirements for PV warranty insurance to further de-risk insured PV parks and set a higher benchmark for industry wide reliability and production quality.

Jupiter International Ltd has commissioned a 1 GW mono passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar cell manufacturing facility in India, increasing its total installed capacity to nearly 2 GW from 959 MW.

The Silver Institute has said the amount of silver used for manufacturing is set to fall this year, driven by developments in the solar sector. The institute also says the silver market will remain in deficit for the sixth consecutive year. Philip Newman, Managing Director of independent research consultancy Metals Focus, told pv magazine the fact prices have recovered quite well after the end-January correction demonstrates the underlying strength of investor interest in silver.

German researchers found that agrivoltaics costs far exceed agricultural benefits, raising doubts about subsidies and highlighting the need for more cost-competitive system designs.

The world of batteries needs alternative chemistries to skirt weaknesses with lithium-ion. Sodium-ion is a big hope, and in portable power, Bluetti’s new product shows promise, and limitations.

EVE Energy says a 200 MW/400 MWh battery energy storage project in China has entered operation, which it describes as the world’s first utility-scale deployment of 628 Ah lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells.

RenewaFLEXNL, a three-year Dutch initiative led by TNO, aims to accelerate long‑duration energy storage (8–100 h) to reduce grid congestion and better integrate renewable energy. pv magazine spoke with the project coordinator, Iraxte Gonzalez Aparicio, about diverse storage technologies, real-world applications, regulatory guidance, and energy management system tools to support large-scale solar‑plus‑storage deployment in the Netherlands and beyond.

New research finds that battery safety rankings are not universal but highly dependent on application scenarios, and shows that LFP batteries can emit high levels of hydrogen fluoride, challenging their reputation as the “safest” chemistry.

Brazil’s electricity regulator has approved March reserve capacity auctions for thermal and hydro plants with more than 125 GW registered, while guidelines for a separate battery storage auction remain pending even as over 20 GW of projects are under development.